CHARACTERISTICS OF NORTH AMERICANS

• We yell for the Government to balance the budget, then take the last dime we have to make the down payment on a car that will take 5 years to pay off.
• We demand speed laws that will stop fast driving, then won't buy a car if it can't go over 100 miles an hour.
• We know the line-up of every baseball team in the American and National Leagues but mumble through half the words our national anthems.
• We'll spend half a day looking for vitamin pills to make us live longer, then drive 90 miles an hour on slick pavement to make up for lost time.
• We tie up our dog while letting our sixteen year old son run wild.
• We will work hard on a farm so we can move into town where we can make more money so we can move back to the farm.
• We get upset we're spending over a billion dollars for education, but spend three billion dollars a year for cigarettes.
• In the office we talk about baseball, shopping or fishing, but when we are out at the game, the mall or on the lake, we talk about business.
• We're supposed to be the most civilized Christian place on earth, but we still can't deliver payrolls without an armored car.
• We have more experts on marriage than any other country in the world and still have more divorces.
• We're the country that has more food to eat than any other country in the world and more diets to keep us from eating it. 

THE LAW IS THE LAW
So if the US government determines that it is against the law for the words "In God We Trust" to be on our money, then, so be it; And if the Supreme Court determines that it is against the law for the words "under God" to be in the Pledge of Allegiance, then, so be it; 
And if the supreme court in their infinite wisdom decides that it is okay to burn the flag which so many of our citizens have given up their lives for to protect and honor...so be it !!  
And if that same government decides that the "Ten Commandments" are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it.  
And since they already have prohibited any prayer in the schools, of which they deem their authority, then so be it.  
BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I'D LIKE?  
I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter, as well as Sundays.  
I'd like the US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday &  Easter as well as Sundays.  
I'd like the Senate and the House of representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the "Christmas Break."  
I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices & services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter.  
It shouldn't cost any overtime since those would be just like any other days of the week to a government that is trying to be "politically correct".  
This would not affect any "non-governmental" business since everyone else still has the freedom of religion, we could all still enjoy our holidays 
So I guess if they continue to bow to the wishes of the few, and if this e-mail gets out to the right people, maybe they would bow to the wishes of the many.  
So be it...........

VIEWS FROM THE CAPITAL

As you walk up the steps to the Capitol Building which houses the Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view - it is Moses and the Ten Commandments!
As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.
As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments! There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.
Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.
Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.

WASHINGTON'S LEGACY (c) 2004 Steven W. Allen.

Some would argue George Washington's legacy is no longer relevant, and others seek to mar his legacy by spreading myths and rumors. The fact is had he not served as its leader, America, as we know it today, would not exist. His contributions to our nation are more applicable today than ever before.

Not only did Washington lead the colonies to victory in the Revolutionary War -- often overcoming insurmountable difficulties -- but he also played a pivotal role in the development of our Constitution, presiding over the Constitutional Convention and ensuring all arguments and opinions were considered. For example, Washington permitted the convention to vote 60 times on the method to be used in selecting a president. This eventually led to the creation of the

Electoral College to protect the rights of the smaller states from the power of the larger ones.

Of course, much of Washington's strength came from his religious beliefs; in fact, he once wrote, "No man has a more perfect reliance on the all-wise and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have, nor thinks His aid more necessary." He was the one who spontaneously added the words, "so help me God" to the Presidential oath of office, and he often acknowledged that we would have suffered disaster in the struggle for independence had God not intervened in our behalf.

If he, as one of the greatest leaders in our country's history, felt prayer was important, how much more important should it be for each of us? If he was humble enough to recognize God's

role in his accomplishments, how can we not do the same?

At his request, Washington was buried without any funeral oration, so the lack of celebration of his birth would doubtlessly not bother him. However, we can honor his life by emulating his example of welcoming and listening to all viewpoints as well as placing God first in our

lives and acknowledging His blessings.

GIVE ME LIBERTY AND GIVE ME GOD

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, '"Give me liberty or give me death."' But in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he actually said: '"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."'

FOUNDATION OF THE BIBLE

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: '"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John
17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments. James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: '"We have staked the whole future of our new nation not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."'

DISOBEYING UNJUST LAWS Charles Colson

In the spring of 1963, King was arrested for leading a series of massive non-violent protests against the segregated lunch counters and discriminatory hiring practices rampant in Birmingham, Alabama. While in jail, King received a letter from eight Alabama ministers. They agreed with his goals, but they thought that he should call off the demonstrations and obey the law.
King explained why he disagreed in his LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL. "One may well ask, how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer "is found in the fact that there are two kinds of laws: just laws . . . and unjust laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws," King said, "but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
How does one determine whether the law is just or unjust? A just law, King wrote, "squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law . . . is out of harmony with the moral law."
Then King quoted Saint Augustine: "An unjust law is no law at all." He quoted Thomas Aquinas: "An unjust law is a human law not rooted in eternal or natural law." From the time of Emperor Nero, who declared Christianity illegal, to the days of the American slave trade, from the civil rights struggle of the sixties to our current battles against abortion, euthanasia, cloning, and same-sex "marriage," Christians have always maintained exactly what King maintained.

STATES AND RELIGION Edward Fudge gracEmail

Ten of the original 13 colonies had official ("established") state religions, including Anglicanism, Congregationalism and Protestant Christianity in general. Under the First Amendment, the states remained free to designate official state churches. States could levy taxes in order to support the official state church, pay its ministers and build and maintain its meeting-places. So far as the First Amendment was concerned, states could discriminate against all forms of religion other than their own established churches. (Some states themselves passed laws that prohibited these things and they were free to do that as well.) But whatever individual states might do, the First Amendment said that the federal Congress -- the law-making branch of the national government -- could neither promote one form of religion above another (the Establishment Clause) nor hinder any particular religion (the Free Exercise Clause).

"AMERICA: THE GOOD NEIGHBOR"
Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is
the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not once, but several times-and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America!

CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF FOUNDERS

• “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty; through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.” Dying words of Alexander Hamilton July 12, 1804
• “This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed.” Patrick Henry “Last Will and Testament” November 20, 1798
• “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only Law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited… What a paradise would this region be!” John Adams, 1756
• “It is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to His chastisement; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action.” Abraham Lincoln, declaring a National Day of Prayer and Fasting following the Battle of Bull Run
• “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor.” George Washington Oct. 3, 1789 Proclaiming a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving
• “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” Daniel Webster, 1821
• “We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.” Benjamin Franklin – Statement before the Constitutional convention, Jun 23, 1787
• “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Thomas Jefferson, 1781

A group of S. Dakota high school students typed the Declaration of Independence in manuscript form as a project to celebrate the Bicentennial back in 1976. They stripped it of its parchment appearance, removed from it the old English type, Xeroxed copies of it, and circulated the copies as petitions around the community.

Fifty % of those approached refused to sign it. In a similar experiment in Miami in 1979, they got even fewer signatures. In that experiment they asked a man if he would display the document in his store window. He said, "Well, the boss makes those decisions around here. But I can tell you right now, he’s not going to like what you’ve written.

THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE material taken from Signers of the Declaration National Park Service, 1973

Contrary to widespread misconception, the 56 signers did not sign as a group and did not do so on July 4, 1776. The official event occurred on August 2, 1776, when 50 men probably took part. Later that year, 6 others were added. Those who did sign on August 2 undoubtedly did not realize that others would follow them and thus allowed no room to accommodate the signatures of the later six men. Two of them, George Wythe and Richard Henry Lee, found ample room above their fellow Virginians. One, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, crowded his name into the space between the Massachusetts and Rhode Island groups. Two others - Thomas McKean and Oliver Wolcott - signed at the bottom of columns following their State delegations. Only Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire needed to add his name separately from his colleagues - at the bottom of the 1^st column on the right at the end of the Connecticut group.

The most impressive signature is that of John Hancock, President of Congress, centered over the others. The other Delegates signed in the six columns which ran from right to left.

Some, who were initially for independence, didn't sign it - like Robert Livingston of New York who worked on the drafting committee but couldn't bring himself to put his name on the completed document.

The signers ranged in age at the time from 26 (Edward Rutledge) to 70 (Benjamin Franklin).

Among the signers, by occupation, were farmers, doctors, 4 ministers, merchants, shippers, and lawyers. For their dedication to the cause of independence, the signers risked loss of fortune, imprisonment, and death for treason. The homes of nearly 1/3 of the signers were destroyed or damaged, and the families of a few were scattered when the British pillaged or confiscated their estates.

LOWER EDUCATION IN COLLEGE John Leo in U.S. News & World Report 9/16/96 p.24

"The real problem is students who won't study," wrote a Penn State professor A retired professor from S. Connecticut State said: "I found my students progressively more ignorant, inattentive, inarticulate." "Unprecedented numbers of students rarely come to class," said a Virginia Tech teacher. "they have not read the material and have scant interest in learning it." Another professor said that many students only come to class when they have nothing better to do. At one of his classes, no students at all showed up.

So far the best depiction of these attitudes is in the new book "Generation X Goes to College," by "Peter Sacks," the pseudonym for a California journalist who taught writing courses to mostly white, mostly middle class groups at an unnamed community college.

"Sacks" produces a devastating portrait of bored and unmotivated students unwilling to read or study but feeling entitled to high grades, partly because they saw themselves as consumers "buying" an education from teachers, whose job it was to deliver the product whether the students worked for it or not.

"Disengaged rudeness" was the common attitude. Students would sometimes chat loudly, sleep, talk on cell phones and even watch TV during class, paying attention only when something amusing or entertaining occurred. The decline of the work ethic was institutionalized in grade inflation, "hand holding" (the assumption that teachers would help solve students' personal problems) and watering down of standards "to accommodate a generation of students who had become increasingly disengaged from anything resembling intellectual life."

But the book goes well beyond conventional arguments about slackers, entitlement and dumbing down. Students, he says, now have a postmodern sensibility - distrustful of reason, authority, facts, objectivity, all values not generated by the self. "As children of postmodernity, they seem implicitly to distrust anything that purports to be a source of knowledge and authority."

BARNA REPORTS ON AMERICAN RELIGION Generation Next (Ventura: Regal Books, 1995), p. 31 as reported by Family News from James Dobson

* "Consider the issue of truth. About 3/4 's of all adults reject the notion that there are absolute moral truths. Most Americans believe that all truth is relative to the situation and the individuals involved. Similarly, at least 3/4's of our teens embrace the same position regarding moral truths. Not only do more than 3 out of 4 teenagers say there is no absolute moral truth, 4 out of 5 also claim that nobody can know for certain whether or not they actually know what truth is. This may also explain why a majority of teenagers (57 %) say that lying is sometimes necessary - not merely convenient, common, understandable or acceptable, but necessary."

* "Because the Bible and most religious activities are foreign to them and seem irrelevant to what 'real life' is all about, they perceive 2 parallel worlds coexisting: the spiritual, impractical world that contains many pure and absolute (and impractical) dictums (such as truth, morality, love, faith), and the real world, the one they inhabit, which deals with the hard stuff of daily living. Truth may be a wonderful concept to explore further. Millions of those who do have the interest do not have the philosophical, intellectual, and spiritual foundations to take such an exploration to the next level."

* "Teenagers are not flocking to Christian churches, but they are intensely interested in spiritual matters.... Many teenagers believe that a major component of America's illness is that we have lost our sense of the divine and the mystical. Millions of teenagers are seeking to incorporate their spiritual understanding into their daily existence, making faith more than a Sunday experience, but rather a life filter. 'Spiritual,' though, is no longer synonymous with 'Christian.'"

* "Teenagers noted that they spend incredibly little time with their family during the week. It is becoming less common these days for a teenager to have time isolated for focused interaction with family members. Most of the time they spend with their family is what you might call 'family and time': family and TV, family and dinner, family and homework, etc.

OLD TIME RELIGION IN AMERICA from survey by George Barna 1996 reprinted in AFA Journal 2/97

Nearly 9 out 10 adults (87%) state that their religious faith is very important in their lives. A majority of adults describe themselves as "religious" (60%). But it is important to note that 1/3 of those who say religion plays in their lives reject the label of "religious."

Although most adults consider religion to be a core element in their own lives, the prevailing perception is that most people have experienced a declining degree of spiritual commitment over the past decade. While 1/5th of adults (21%) say that the spiritual commitment of Americans has improved in the last 10 years, 36% say it has remained unchanged and 37% say it has gotten worse.

Cross cultural studies comparing developed nations show that Americans are perhaps the most religious people in the world. A key shift, however, is the fact that our nation is moving away from being the most Christian oriented nation on earth to a nation of people who are religiously diverse and who maintain a high fascination with the spiritual realm.

Two out of every 3 adults (67%) say they have made a "personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today." This level of commitment has shown a slight increase in the past decade, rising from the 60% level in the early and mid 1980s.

People may view themselves as Christian, but their intensity of commitment to the faith is lukewarm. Less than half of its self proclaimed adherents (41%) say they are "absolutely committed" to Christianity. A similar proportion (44%) say they are "moderately committed" to the faith.

Americans are quite label conscious and are careful about the descriptions they adopt for themselves, 18% chose the term "evangelical." Almost twice as many people (29%) chose the term "fundamentalist." A more popular religious term was "born again" selected by almost 4 out of 10 adults (39%).

Three quarters of all adults (74%) say it would be "very desirable" to have a "close relationship with God." Two thirds of all adults (68%) claim they have felt that they were in the presence of god at some time in their lives. In fact, many of those people regularly sense the presence of God; half believe they are in His presence at least one time each week.

Not quite half of the public (45%) strongly agree that the Christian faith is relevant to their lives these days. An additional 1/3rd state that they agree with this notion, but only moderately so.

Two thirds of all adults (68%) believe that the Christian faith has "all the answers to lead a successful life." Six out 10 people (58%) also contend that there is no single religious faith which has "all the answers to life's questions and challenges." A slight majority (54%) rejects the notion that "all religious faiths teach equally valid truths."

WHAT DO PEOPLE BELIEVE IN:

God 93%

Christ's death and resurrection 85%

Holy spirit indwelling 82%

Power of prayer 82%

Accuracy of Bible 63%

Satan's existence 40%

Tarot Cards 9%

Astrology 8%

Power of Crystals 7%

Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed, his family scattered.

Philip Livingston died within a few months from the hardships of the war:

John Hancock is well-remembered, mostly due to a quirk of fate rather than anything he stood for. That great, sweeping signature, attesting to his vanity, towers over the others. One of the wealthiest men in New England, he stood outside Boston one terrible night of the war and said, "Burn Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it." He, too, lived up to the pledge.

Of the Fifty-six, twelve had their homes - from Rhode Island to Charleston -sacked, looted, occupied by the enemy, or burned. Two lost their sons in the army. One had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six died in the war, from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets.

I don't know what impression you had of the men who met that hot summer in Philadelphia. But I think it is important what we remember about them:

They were not poor men or wild-eyed pirates. They were men of means: Rich men, most of them, who enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal living.

Not hungry men, but prosperous men. Wealthy landowners, substantially secure in their prosperity.

But they considered liberty-indeed they had learned that liberty-so much more important than security that they pledged their lives,. ..their fortunes....and their sacred honor. And they fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price.

And freedom was born.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas. To pay his debts he lost his home and all his properties.

Thomas Lynch, Jr. was a third-generation rice grower. An aristocrat. A large plantation owner. After he signed, his health failed. With his wife he set out for France to regain his health. Their ship never got to France-was never heard from again.

Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress without pay. His family lived in poverty and in hiding.

Vandals looted the properties of Elery, Clymer, Hall, Gwinnett, Walton, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.

And Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, raised two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the French fleet. After the war, he personally paid back the loans, wiping out his entire estate. He was never reimbursed by his government.

In the final battle for Yorktown, Nelson urged General Washington to fire on Nelson's own home, which he believed was occupied by Cornwallis. He died bankrupt. Thomas Nelson had indeed pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor.

The Hessians seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey.

Francis Lewis had his home and belongings destroyed, his wife imprisoned. She died within a few months.

Richard Stockton was captured and mistreated. His health broke to the extent that he died at fifty one. His estate was pillaged.

Thomas Heyward, Jr., was captured when Charleston fell.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside while she was dying. Their thirteen children fled in all directions for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves and returned home after the war to find his wife dead, his children gone, and his properties gone. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart.

Here are some interesting definitions:

Communism: You have 2 cows, the government takes 1 and gives you part of the milk.

Socialism: You have 2 cows, the government takes 1 cow and gives it to your neighbor.

Fascism: You have 2 cows, the government takes both, and sells you the milk.

Nazism: You have 2 cows, the government takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucracy: You have 2 cows, the government takes both, shoots one, milks one and pours milk down the drain.

Capitalism: (Of course we understand this one) you have 2 cows, you sell one, and by a bull.

In the 1830's Alexis de Tocqueville toured America. When his tour had been completed, he made this observation (and I paraphrase):

"I have toured America, and I have seen most of what you offer. I've seen the richness of the fields and the wealth of your mines. I've seen your industrial might, the beauties of the rivers, the streams, the lakes, and the grandeur of the mountains. I've noticed the abundance of the forests and the marvelous climate with which you are blessed.

In none of these things did I see the cause for the greatness of America. It wasn't until I went into your churches that I saw the reason for America's greatness. America is great because America is good; and as long as America is good, America will be great. If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great."

Many are unaware that the Declaration of Independence did not come into being until a day of fasting and prayer had been observed. Appointed by the Continental Congress, it was kept by all the colonies on May 17, 1776. At that time in our history, God and the Bible were given more reverence and recognition than they are today. When the nation was finally born, our forefathers rang the Liberty Bell with great enthusiasm, and a legend says that it cracked as they zealously proclaimed their freedom. Years later the White Chapel Foundry of London offered to recast the huge carillon, but their proposal was of course refused. Apparently the symbolic value of the damaged bell, which recalls the religious and patriotic fervor of those early days, is something that America still wishes to preserve. This in itself is good; but in view of our nation's moral decline, the crack may also suggest a break in our basic ideals and a serious defect in our

spiritual attitudes. We can remedy the situation and avert the judgment of the Lord only by repentance, prayer, and a return to the faith of our fathers. In this sense, there is no time for delay in "mending the bell."

A convention was called in 1787 in America to revise the "Articles of Confederation." For weeks delegates reviewed ancient history and analyzed governments of modern Europe in search of insights. But nothing suited the circumstances of this infant nation. Finally, one of the distinguished gentlemen, Benjamin Franklin, addressed the group. Referring to their meager progress, he said, "In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth and scarcely able to distinguish it when it is presented to us, how has it happened that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?" Those early leaders were not all evangelical Christians, yet many of them believed in a sovereign God and sought His wisdom in the affairs of state.

In a major address, before the assembly at Connecticut Ezra Stiles praises the Lord for his help to the colonists.

To Whom but the Ruler of the Winds shall we ascribe it that the British reinforcements, in the summer of 1777, was delayed on the ocean three months by contrary winds, until it was too late for General Clinton to help at Saratoga: a turning point of the war.

Eugene O. Peterson wrote a book entitled Run With the Horses, that I dare you to read sometime. In the book he makes this statement:

The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly, but so inanely. Not so cruelly, but so stupidly. There's little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities, but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs. Infamous criminals act out the aggressions of timid conformists. Petulant and spoiled athletes play games vicariously for lazy and apathetic spectators. People aimless and bored amuse themselves with trivia and trash. Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness get headlines.