On the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States stated the the following:
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most reverted festival returns on this day? It is not that, in the chain of human history, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked to the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the redeemer’s mission on earth? That it laid the corners torn of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of Hebrew prophets 600 years before.”
This amazes me coming from a President. It sounds more like a theologian than a politician. The men of this period felt the United States was founded on the basis of God’s leadership and the Bible. Th men, many of them pastors, knew well, the greatest former of America was the Word of God. The greatest gift America has for the world is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray God will give us strength and the ability to share this true message of hope around the world. This July 4th week, let’s boldly live out our faith, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving,” (Colossians 2:6-7).
Then as instructed in, “And He said unto them. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” (Mark 16:15). This, my friends, is what has made America great!
Dr. David Bouler of Global Faith Ministries, Chattanooga, Tennessee, contributed this column to the Journal Review. He can be reached by email at debouler@aol.com.
