From jasnews at johnankerberg.org Wed Jul 5 16:31:09 2006 From: jasnews at johnankerberg.org (John Ankerberg Show Staff) Date: Wed Jul 5 16:31:43 2006 Subject: JAS News - News from The John Ankerberg Show Message-ID: <002001c6a071$f36c2fa0$0201a8c0@WEBMASTER> Dear Friends, One of the most exciting parts of Internet ministry is that through this medium we have been privileged to provide information to people from countries around the world. Yesterday was the birthday of our home country, the United State of America. With this in mind, we have been thinking back to our Founding Fathers who in 1776 were called to the task of creating a government for the fledgling United States of America. While this letter talks about the founding fathers of the United States, each of you live in a country that needs your prayers. In fact, we all are to pray for those in authority over us (I Timothy 2: 1,2). In the United States there is a great deal of debate concerning the spiritual state of the framers of the Constitution, but many of their quotes reveal an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God over our nation. Ben Franklin made the following statement: I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth---that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We've 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: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move--that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. -- Benjamin Franklin - The Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787 Many people say Franklin was a deist, but if so, this "deist" believed that God governs in the affairs of men and they can't build their political building without His help, and that prayers imploring His assistance be given from the assembly of the government before proceeding to business. Did you know that our Founding Fathers believed that there was no judgment seat of Christ for nations, only for believers? That is, God doesn't wait until the future to reward or take away rewards from nations. Rather, our Founding Fathers believed that if a nation disobeys God, refuses to honor Him and obey His moral laws, that God will immediately let things happen to their nation--such as withering crops, diseases, and the breakdown of families. The Founding Fathers quoted such passages as Judges 2:12-15: They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. There's no doubt that our country was founded as a Christian nation. The United States Congress, Public Law 97-280 of the 96th Statute 1211, dated October 4, 1982, stated: The Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinct and blessed nation.... Deeply held convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of our nation.... Biblical teaching inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. President Woodrow Wilson said, The Bible...is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and need of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation... America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. We're sure that your heart has rejoiced as ours has to see our Congressional leaders as well as our fellow Americans sing "God Bless America" It's interesting to me that President Abraham Lincoln once said: It is the duty of nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: That those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. As Noah Webster said in 1833: All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. How many of our students, how many of our reporters, how many of our leaders have forgotten what George Washington said in his Inaugural Speech to Congress, April 30, 1789? No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.... We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. As the war in Iraq continues and our nation faces judicial decisions concerning abortion, same-sex marriage, stem-cell research and many other vital issues directing the moral future of our country, we believe we need to pray that God will intervene, give our leaders wisdom, and providentially protect our troops. There's no doubt, we need to pray. In Him, The John Ankerberg Show Staff http://www.johnankerberg.org _____ Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (A.T.R.I.) P.O. Box 8977 Chattanooga, TN 37414 USA (423) 892-7722 For credit card orders only: 1-800-805-3030 http://www.johnankerberg.org PLEASE NOTE: The John Ankerberg Show respects the privacy wishes of those subscribed to the John Ankerberg Show news list. This email is being sent to you because you have expressed an interest in receiving communications from The John Ankerberg Show. If you wish to be removed from this list, please click here to unsubscribe. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. For further information, email jasnews@johnankerberg.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/johnankerberg-list/attachments/20060705/e62a91fb/attachment-0001.html