Rev. David Holwick T
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 30, 2002
Deuteronomy 4:5-9
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I. Swimming against the tide.
A. The sneeze.
They walked in tandem, each of the 93 students filing into
the already crowded auditorium.
They wore rich maroon gowns the traditional caps.
This class would not pray during the commencements - not by
choice but because a recent court ruling prohibited it.
The principal and several students were careful to stay
within the guidelines allowed by the ruling.
They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one
mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings
on the graduates or their families.
The speeches were nice, but they were routine - until the
final speech.
A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone.
He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then he
delivered his speech - a resounding sneeze.
The rest of the students rose immediately to their feet,
and in unison they said, "GOD BLESS YOU."
The audience exploded into applause.
The graduating class found a unique way to invoke God's
blessing on their future - with or without the court's
approval. #19554
B. Where will it end?
1) Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - God bless 'em!
a) A godsend for a pastor on week of the Fourth of July.
2) Some believe other religious references could fall:
a) National motto - In God We Trust.
b) Symbolism on money.
c) Chaplains in Senate.
d) Swearing in on Bible in court of law.
C. What should a Christian think?
II. Where the Pledge of Allegiance came from.
A. Written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister.
1) He was also a socialist! He thought capitalism was evil
and the government should control and distribute all
goods.
2) In honor of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus,
Bellamy organized a flag ceremony.
(some say he was interested in selling more flags)
As part of the ceremony, he composed a pledge.
Originally it had only 22 words:
'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic
for which it stands, one nation, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.'
3) In 1924, the words "my Flag" were changed to "the flag of
the United States of America."
Bellamy didn't care for that change.
4) Then in 1954, President Eisenhower heard a sermon in a
Presbyterian church that suggested adding the words
"under God."
The Catholic Knights of Columbus had been advocating this
for several years.
By an act of Congress the two words were added. #17734
Eisenhower said, "In this way we are reaffirming the
transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage
and future...
in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual
weapons which forever will be our country's most
powerful resource in peace and war." [1]
5) Where did phrase originally come from? -- Abraham Lincoln.
He was no fundamentalist. Yet he realized that his own
brilliance was not enough to guide the Union in its hour
of peril.
So he promised in the Gettysburg Address that we "resolve
that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this
nation, Under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."
Those words would perhaps now earn the Great Emancipator
a lawsuit in San Francisco. #17733
6) Bellamy's granddaughter - he wouldn't have liked this
change, either.
a) His Baptist church had fired him because he stressed
socialism in his sermons.
b) When he retired and moved to Florida, he found much
racism in the churches and stopped going altogether.
B. The pledge has become woven into American life.
1) Saying the pledge as a child in public school.
2) Ledgewood Baptist modeled its pledge to the Christian flag,
and the Bible, after it.
III. Is America becoming anti-Christian?
A. Christians feel more pressure, as reflected in popular hoaxes:
1) Religious broadcasting taken off the airwaves.
2) Proctor and Gamble profits diverted to Satan.
B. A strong secularizing trend has been building for years.
1) The motivation is not necessarily anti-Christian.
a) America is more diverse than ever.
2) How do we apply the great principles of Constitution?
IV. Separation of church and state.
A. Our government cannot establish a religion.
1) We do not have a state church like England or Norway.
2) The court said the phrase amounts to a government
endorsement of religion in violation of the
Constitution's Establishment Clause.
"A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical,
... to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,'
a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a
nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions
can be neutral with respect to religion."
(Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, writer for the three-judge panel)
B. Our government cannot hinder the free exercise of religion.
1) We can believe whatever we want.
2) We can practice what we believe.
a) (Even Stalin and Mao admitted belief cannot be forced
but they went big-time after practices.)
C. Baptists believe in religious freedom.
1) Baptists established Rhode Island, gave freedom to all
faiths.
2) Baptists fought for First Amendment.
3) Faith cannot be forced and it cannot be outlawed.
a) Let people believe what they want.
b) They may choose the wrong way, but forcing them to
believe will never produce the right way.
V. America is founded on values.
A. Many of those values were religious, even Christian.
1) The founders saw God's hand in our nation's birth.
2) The Declaration of Independence includes phrases like
"of nature's God" and "endowed by their Creator."
3) Since 1789, every president -- starting with George
Washington -- has ended his oath of office with the
words, "So help me God."
4) The Constitution itself states flatly that it was adopted
"in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-seven." Is the Constitution unconstitutional?
5) The Supreme Court itself begins each of its sessions with
the phrase 'God save the United States and this
honorable court.'"
B. They did not want one religion to dominate the others.
1) But they did not demand the exclusion of God from the
public square.
2) Jefferson's "wall of separation" is not in the
Constitution, and the phrase was used only once by him.
C. There needs to be a foundation.
1) "Rights" are not self-evident, but God-based.
a) We cannot avoid this conclusion.
b) Nothing in nature says, "Criminals have right to fair
trial" or, "The police cannot barge into your house."
c) Rights are either human-produced or God-produced.
1> If human-produced, determined by majority vote?
2) Bible's view - our principles must come from God.
a> Nations need his laws, not tyrannical leaders. Deut. 4
1> Israelite kings were given the Book of the Law
and told to keep it.
2> Kings came and went, but the Law remained.
3> America's emphasis on the rule of law is
considered one of our greatest strengths.
b> We are not God's special nation like Israel was,
but we have been guided by him in the past.
c> We must pass these principles on to our children.
3) We need religion in society.
a) Note fate and repercussions of godless communism.
b) Positive role of faith in America:
1> Innumerable charities.
2> Schools and hospitals.
3> Personal ethics and acts of love. (volunteerism)
D. America has always been noted for strength of its religion.
In 1831 a French statesman, Alexis de Tocqueville, made a
study of democracy in our young country.
Perhaps his most famous observation was this:
"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her
commodious harbors and her ample rivers,
and it was not there.
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her
fertile fields and boundless forests,
and it was not there.
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her
rich mines and her vast world commerce,
and it was not there.
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her
public school system and her institutions of learning,
and it was not there.
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her
democratic congress and her matchless constitution,
and it was not there.
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard
her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand
the secret of her genius and power.
America is great because America is good, and if America
ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
#17342
VI. Pray for America.
A. Become involved in its political process.
1) Share your opinions.
2) Note that politicians are falling all over themselves
to defend the phrase "under God." Due to convictions or
their reading of polls. (polls!)
3) If we are quiet, they will be as well.
B. Live a consistent faith.
1) Many religious people give bad impression.
2) Hatred and intolerance do exist.
C. America needs the Lord.
1) President Eisenhower, under whose administration "under God"
was added, said we "need to have faith in faith."
a) He rarely gave specifics.
2) We need something meatier.
a) Rock-solid faith in Jesus.
b) We can be proud to be American, but it won't get us to
heaven.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "I Pledge Allegiance," John Yeats, Oklahoma City, Baptist Press,
wwww.baptistpress.com, June 26, 2002.
#17342 "de Tocqueville on What Makes America Great," Alexis de
Tocqueville in "Democracy in America," (source on internet
misplaced).
#17359 "The Pledge Of Allegiance - A Short History," Dr. John W. Baer,
http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm, 1992.
(not quoted directly in sermon but the sources for many
details on Pledge)
#17360 "Was The Pledge Of Allegiance A Socialist Plot?" Amy [?],
http://www.whatdoyaknow.com/pledge-plot2.htm. (alluded to
in sermon)
#17733 "America's Pledge," Victor Davis Hanson, military historian,
guest editorial, Nypost.com, June 28, 2002.
#17734 "How The Pledge Got God," Tom Gibb, Post-Gazette staff writer,
http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20020628undergod0628p3.asp.
#19554 "The Sneeze," email submitted by Rev. Dick Lewis on July 27,
2001. Does anyone know the location of this incident?
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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