This past Tuesday we celebrated the birthday of our nation and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was a momentous decision for each one of the men who placed his name upon that Declaration.As John Adams signed, he said, “Whether we live or die, sink or swim, succeed or fail, I stand behind this Declaration of Independence. And if God wills it, I am ready to die in order that this country might experience freedom.” It was that kind of patriotism which led men to fight a battle with what was the most powerful nation in the world. Many of our leaders paid a terrible price in the Revolutionary War, but they won the victory so that you and I might be citizens of this “land of the free & home of the brave.”But we often forget that in declaring their independence from England, our forefathers made an equally strong “Declaration of Dependence” upon the Almighty God. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins with these words: “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.”It is important that we remember this declaration of their dependence upon God, for now in a time of world turmoil, the United States today is rapidly forgetting the God of our fathers, the God who gave this nation its birth and its greatness. But most of all many are forgetting the very words and commands of God!Patrick Henry said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians — not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Then in his “His Last Will and Testament,” Henry noted: “I have now given everything I own to my children. There is one more thing I wish I could give them and that is Christ. Because if they have everything I gave them and don’t have Christ, they have nothing.”God gave to Israel a warning, which could apply to the US today. After telling them He was bringing them into a land of blessings, He said, ““Beware. . .lest, when you have eaten & are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them. . .and your silver and your gold multiply,
