Week Twenty-Seven, 2026
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1
It is a birthday celebration like no other… the 250th birthday of the United States. It is a time to celebrate the greatest nation on our planet. It is also a time to realistically examine where we have come and how we got here, as well as the dangers of where we are going.
John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” That was true then, and it is true today. Our Founding Fathers believed that only a moral and virtuous people could remain free.
America was founded on the belief that our rights come from God, not government. In officially atheist nations, including Communist China and North Korea, government is god, and you have no inherent and unalienable rights.
The 1787 Northwest Ordinance, one of America’s first laws, states, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
In his farewell address, President George Washington wrote:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness…
“And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
There hadn’t been a war in Europe since Waterloo in 1815, but in 1898, Robert Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury and prime minister of Great Britain, warned that any danger to Europe would arise from dying nations. Most Europeans didn’t think of England, Germany, Austria, and France as dying nations, but with the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, it became evident to all how dead the nations of Western Europe—the former Holy Roman Empire, the “Christianized” nations—really were. They were as dead as godless Darwinism, Marxism, fascism, democracy, etc., can render a people.
For decades America has been preparing its downfall. The hatred, incivility, murder, violence, obscenities, moral perversion, and crime that is spewed are everywhere. But just because America is dying doesn’t mean the church is dying with it. It has always been in times of societal decay that the church, the pillar and ground of the truth, has flourished.
While our rights come from God, a nation is only as strong as the faith of its people. That leads me to a disturbing report from the American Bible Society, which found that “less than a third of American parents pray with their children.”
Whenever they have power, secular leftists do all kinds of things to restrict our religious liberty. But nobody can tell you what you can do in your home with your children. If you’re not doing such a simple thing as praying regularly with your children, step up!
There is much to do; there’s work on every hand. May God give us the strength to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world in this dark and decaying hour.
Sometimes True Stories
“The Lord preserves those with knowledge, but he ruins the plan of the treacherous.” – Proverbs 22:12 (NLT)
As we get older, it seems life gets more complicated, perhaps because we continue to gain more useless information. How we sort this accumulation of information can determine the life we lead. A quick Google search says that over 40% of the information found on the internet is false. A search of evolution vs. creation is a prime example. A little common sense will tell you that much of the science on this subject is nothing more than theories and assumptions. Please understand that I am not implying that all science is bad; in fact, I enjoy science and use it in my business daily, but it has its limitations. This Proverb says the Lord will preserve those with knowledge. That knowledge is gained through the eyes of the Lord to discern truth, wisdom, and understanding.
“For all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” – 1 Peter 1:24-25 (NIV)
The science of man vs. the Word of God? One withers, the other endures forever! – Tony Ferguson
Quotes You Can Use
We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. – C.S. Lewis
The book of Proverbs warns against ignoring God, because true wisdom and knowledge cannot exist without a foundation of reverence for our Creator.
A woman who fears the Lord lives with wisdom, strength, and confidence because her hope is in the Lord.
Our refuge is the name of the Lord.
There is something about everything to be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.
When faced with the choice of being kind or being right, choose to be kind; we can always be right.
A good friend loves you no matter your mood.
Whatever our planning and preparation for the future may be, doing so without consulting God is done at our own peril. Learning to yield to the plans of the Lord and concede that God is in ultimate control is the beginning of a peaceful life.
It hurts to see our character destroyed by short-term selfish thinking when it has taken many lives and many acts of courage over many years to build that trust.
You have to compare the end result of a life of wickedness with the end result of a life of righteousness.
Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life. – Proverbs 4:23
God’s will is tomorrow’s unknown factor.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little himself.
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