Thursday, June 28, 2012

June 28, 2012

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains  and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs;  the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,  “I have installed my king  on Zion, my holy mountain.  I will proclaim the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my son;  today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,  the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.  "Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear  and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."  Psalm 2

American exceptionalism is a concept that has become despised by many nowadays, and our nation is suffering because of it. The ideas behind American exceptionalism come directly from the Word of God. Perhaps that is why they are under assault.

Psalms 2 gives a cogent presentation of these principals that our Founders understood and built into the fabric of the design and documents which formed our Republic.

If you think about it, Psalms 1 gives the idealism of a perfect society while Psalms 2 shows the realism of the world. The great notion of the Founding Fathers that lead to the establishment of a new nation built on a system that would build Psalm 1 ideals into the Psalm 2 reality.

Here is that notion expressed in their own words:

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  John Adams

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"   Benjamin Franklin

"Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." Benjamin Franklin

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence

"It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains." Patrick Henry

"It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.”   George Washington

What's obvious is that the first thing exceptional about America was our Founders who dared to fight for the right to establish a new nation on this idealistic notion that a people who are lawless and rebellious by nature, could live in peace and prosperity and freedom under the rule of law!  Inspired by that ideal, guided by the truths of the Book that inspired it, and strengthened by the God Who wrote that Book, they did indeed create One Nation Under God!

The  question is, "Can we sustain it?"




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