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Delegates from the American colonies had begun the Continental Congresses on their knees, crying to the God of heaven for help. They had knelt signifying that their rights came from God and that they were appealing to Him to show that their cause was just. Now, in July of 1776, they were again declaring their dependence on Him as they 
considered declaring their independence from England. It was in this spirit that Virginia delegate, Richard Henry Lee, would propose the resolution on June 7th that,
“…these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
(John Adams and the American Revolution, Catherine Bowen, Little Brown and Co., Boston, 1950, p. 583)
A committee was appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson would do most of the writing of that Declaration, in which he would declare the reason that caused the separation:
“…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government…” (emphasis added) Continue reading
be decided was: Who was the source of their rights of life, liberty, and property? Was the source God or government? England thought the colonies existed for the good of the Mother country. Thus, they thought the rights of the colonists were “government granted”. The people in America thought they existed for the “glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith”, as the Pilgrims had stated. Thus, Americans believed that their rights were “God given”. What had to be decided was: Is Parliament and the English King the highest authority, or is there a higher law in place? If there was a higher law, did the colonists have to submit to laws that disagreed with that higher law?
I have hope for our land because I am seeing more and more people beginning to pray. Some are praying for revival. Some of them are beginning to see the necessity of repentance if our prayers are to be heard. Some don’t yet know enough of God’s truth to know to pray for revival, they are just praying that God will help us in America and do something to change the direction in which our nation is headed. Some know the Lord so well that they are crying out to Him in very specific prayers, the particular revelations of which would amaze most of us if we knew just how specifically God is leading them in prayer. I am so grateful for all who are praying for us, be they a citizen here or a citizen elsewhere. I recently heard a group of South Koreans praying for us with such appreciation for America and such intensity in their cry for Revival and Transformation for us that I was brought to tears. I knew God was listening intently to their praying.
just like all other men. He laughed and wept just as all humans have since the dawn of creation. He had to manage money and relate to relatives. Yet the peace and confidence with which He did it all was amazing. It was as if He wasn’t weighted down as others were. He talked about His Father and His Spirit in such a familiar way that They seemed close, not far off in an unreachable heaven. His followers would later come to recognize this uniqueness as the very fulfillment of what God intended man to be all along. In short, they would come to know they had seen God’s presence living in a human body (2 Corinthians 5:19).
At this time each year we celebrate Memorial Day: A time when we visit the graves of departed loved ones. Where did this tradition begin? Why was this day established as a national holiday?
The unveiling of this centerpiece of “His Story” begins in an obscure village in Palestine called Nazareth. An unknown young maiden is startled one day by a visit from an angel who identifies himself as being no less than Gabriel himself. He tells Mary (for that was her name) that she will have a child and that this child will be called “the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). It was further revealed to her perplexed fiancé, Joseph, that, “She shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Mary is shocked! She? Bear the long-awaited “Anointed One”? She was to give birth to the One Who would pay man’s debt to God? She was to bring into this world the One Who would fix what we had messed up in the Garden of Eden? This seemed incredible! Yet, the credibility of this mighty angel standing before her is hardly debatable.
By miracles, He brings Abraham’s children to the desert mountain known as Sinai. In an awesome display of thunder, lightning, and the quaking of this huge mountain, God shows these “children of Israel” that He is the God who created them and is worthy of their utmost respect. To begin this mind-altering process in man, God calls Moses up on the mountain, and, with His torch-like Hand, begins to engrave letters into the rock. Moses watches in awe as ten commands are burned into the side of Sinai. God then with His finger cuts the outline of two tablets separating them from the rest of the rock bed. Moses, watching the smoking tablets, begins to read them: “You shall have no other gods before Me…” (Exodus 20: 3). Ten such commands reveal how God thinks about Himself, about man, and how He expects us to treat Him and those He has created. God tells Moses to take them to the people at the foot of the mountain. He wants men to know how He thinks, and, because He wants them not to forget it, He’s written it down.
So what now?
Besides the Tree of Life, there was another Tree in that Paradise: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree represented the opposite way of life. This way of living would be motivated by what happened outside of man. Instead of being inspired by the moving of the Life of God deep within him, if he chose to eat of this tree man would be rejecting God’s offer to come inside him and be his life. He would be choosing a way in which he would make his own decisions, instead of allowing the flowing will of God to come through him.
The clause “It is finished”, in the Greek language in which Jesus spoke it, means to reach a goal. It also means to pay a debt in full, so that the books balance. Jesus had reached His goal of paying our debt. But to understand the “debt” Jesus was paying, we must revisit the scene in the Garden of Eden: When God begins to work with a pile of dust. He carefully shapes it into the form of a man. Once this human body is finished to perfection, God “blows” His own breath into the nostrils of this pile of clay. All of a sudden, the form moves! Light comes to its eyes! It gets up and stands erect like God. I can see Father God turning to the rest of His creation and saying,