If They Will But Serve The God of the Land

I attended the 4th of July pancake breakfast and program at our church a while ago. Lucy made up some kind of crock pot casserole the night before, lots of hash browns and cheese.

Our local Boy Scout Troop was in charge of the flag raising ceremony and we all took part in the Pledge of Allegiance prior to breakfast. The thought occurred to me that we might well be involved in something peculiar to small town middle America, an old fashioned reverence for that which we have been blessed with from Above; not some commercial fireworks display at the shopping mall parking lot.

The program featured traditional American tunes and hymns along with some not so traditional tunes, at least I had never heard them. In between the musical numbers there was a slide show, very high tech as it originated from a laptop computer and was magically converted to a large viewing screen on the stage. ( I still look up when airplanes fly over, amazed at such marvelous inventions )

I obtained a copy of the notes used during the narration because I wanted to share some of what had been imparted, the hope and dream that is America. Today, as you contemplate the blessings we have been given, take the time to ponder, to permit the Spirit of the Lord to visit your mind and to place his testimony on these simple truths; skipping down a bit:

“Christopher Columbus, in a letter to the Spanish hierarchy wrote, “Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my emprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?” (Quoted in Mark E. Petersen, The Great Prologue, Deseret Book Co. 1975, pg 26)

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“No constitution on earth has endured longer than this one. We seek, and usually find, the answers to today’s questions in this document of yesterday. It was and is a miracle. Both Washington and Madison referred to it as such. It is an inspired document written under the guidance of the Lord. James Madison, commonly called the father of the Constitution, recognized this inspiration and gave the credit to “the guardianship and guidance of the Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispersed to this rising republic” (The Great Prologue, pg 95)

“We believe that the Constitution was brought about by God to ensure a nation where liberty could abound and where His gospel could flourish. Joseph Smith said, “The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard – it is founded in the wisdom of God – it is a heavenly banner.” (The Great Prologue, pg 75)

“Among other things, the Constitution guaranteed the religious freedom that allowed the Reformation to continue and flourish. Many of these great reformers stated that their effort was to reassert the basic Christian teachings of the Bible – but they acknowledged that they possessed no authority to administer the ordinances of the Church, or to reestablish the original church of Jesus Christ. Luther said, “Christianity has ceased to exist among those who should have preserved it.”

Roger Williams, founder of the Baptist Church in America said, “There is no regularly constituted church on earth, nor any person qualified to administer any church ordinances.” (LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, Deseret Book Co. 1973, pg 29)

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“Many years ago in a volume entitled Beacon Lights of History, Dr. John Lord, referring to the discovery of America, said, after speaking of her great potential, “The world has witnessed many powerful empires which have passed away and left ‘not a track behind’. What remains of the antediluvian world?. . .What remains of Nineveh, of Babylon, of Thebes, of Tyre, of Carthage---those great centers of wealth and power? What remains of Roman greatness even, except in law and literature and renovated statues?. . . What is the simple story of all the ages?---industry, wealth, corruption, decay, and ruin. What conservative power has been strong enough to arrest the ruin of the nations of antiquity?”

“Now if this is to be the destiny of America---an unbounded material growth, followed by corruption and ruin---then Columbus has simply extended the realm for men to try material experiments. Make New York a second Carthage, and Boston a second Athens, and Philadelphia a second Antioch, and Washington as second Rome and we simply repeat the old experiments.”

“But has America no higher destiny than to repeat the old experiments and improve upon them and become rich and powerful? Has she no higher and nobler mission? If America has a great mission to declare and to fulfill, she must put forth altogether new forces, and these not material. And these alone will save her and save the world…The real glory of America is to be something entirely different from that of which the ancients boasted. And this is to be moral and spiritual---that which the ancients lacked.”

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“Let me reiterate the message left with the Saints at the general conference in April 1917 when Elder Anthony W. Ivins, after discussing religious liberty and the Constitution, said, “I feel authorized to say, here this afternoon, that these liberties which have come to men, both religious and civil, have not been established by the Lord to be destroyed, but that they are here to remain until liberty shall prevail from the rivers to the ends of the earth, until God’s kingdom shall be established among men, and his will done upon earth as it is done in heaven. Until the universal Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man shall be recognized, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of Christ, who shall reign as Prince of Peace.” (Conference Reports, April 1917, pg 54-55)

“Only as we accept and live the teachings of the gospel can the destiny which God planned for America be realized and the world united in peace and brotherhood. That this may speedily come to pass I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”