Birth Of Our Nation

(With The Homecoming Story)

By:  Z. B. Duncan

            Today we are celebrating the birth of our nation.  What does it mean to be an American?  Was not America once a nation that was founded on religious principles?  Was not freedom of religion the order of the day?   Were we not one nation indivisible under God?  Did not we have stamped on our monies and in our heart in God we trust?  The America of yesterdays gone by generations were people who were very industrious, honest, God-fearing people.  They were mainly pioneers who founded a nation under God for free man, in a free world.  No nation has ever been blessed more than this nation.  This nation was founded for a refuge from religious opposition.  When the doors were opened to this country, many fled their homeland to start all over in a land where man could worship God according to his own convictions.

            When I was a boy, you did not have to lock your doors.  You could trust all your neighbors to be God-fearing.  They would not take a grain of your salt.  They were people who feared God and none of them had half as much as we have today.  They were content with what they had.  There were no social programs, but men loved their neighbors as themselves.  Neighbors would take care of a neighbor burned-out, or in sickness and devastation.  The love of God seemed to flow through them like the morning sun that rises each day to bless the whole world.  Sunday mornings you would see many people walk to church, for many had no automobile.  They did not mind the long walk to church.  They went into the houses of God to praise their Creator.

            Patriotism was a thing akin to respect for God.  Those of us who were Americans then were proud, happy, and counted it a privilege to be an American citizen.  We believed that God had granted to us the blessedness of being born in the greatest country on earth.  It was during World War II that I really learned to appreciate my country, my native land.  When one of our fellow servicemen gave his life for our freedom and Taps were sounded, or to see our flag hoisted over the ground which the enemy had held, your heart would beat with a freedom of patriotism that only those who love freedom can know.  I will never forget the cold morning in October as we were coming home.  Hundreds of men on deck stretching their eyes for the first look of home.  Most had been away for at least two years.  Battles behind, battlefields forgotten, early in the morning we were waiting for the first sight of that land called America , the United States of America .  Suddenly, there in the distance, one could see the Statue of Liberty.  It was a great feeling to know that statue stood there as a symbol to the whole world that we were one nation indivisible under God.  It was a wonderful joy to know that through all those battles you had gone through you now were coming home, and how God had blessed you as you had arrived at this moment.  Somehow you thought back about your friends who did not make the return trip and you felt a little sad, but how glad you were to be there and experience this great homecoming.  After having seen so many cities bombed and devastated, how great it was to see our homeland in the distance beyond the Statue of Liberty and see kids playing in the parks, children riding bicycles, and all the buildings, yes, all the skyscrapers in tact.  No sign of war.  No sign of destruction.  There were tears in many eyes, as men who had fought hard wars were moved more, I think, by thanksgiving to God that our children could play in peace and our cities were spared the ravages of war.

            We boarded a train and all along the way for miles, thousands were waving and cheering.  You were so glad to be an American.  Your heart felt like it would burst.  The foxholes, and sound of shells bursting, bombs and rockets were all behind and no moment could take away the thrilling experience of being home, looking forward within a few days to be back at the old home place, wives, children, mothers, dads, and loved ones.  Glad that I could do my part that they might live in security.  A few days later we boarded a train and headed for North Carolina .  I was anxious to get home, for I had a child now going on two years old, whom I had never seen.  At Salisbury , instead of waiting on a train for several hours, I caught a bus and headed home.  I will never forget that morning about 4:00, after getting off of the bus.  I stopped at the railroad track 1/2 mile from home.  The stars were shining brightly.  I set my gear on the ground beside the track and I lifted my hands to Heaven and I surely did thank God for being an American, for being home, for his love and protection that had been with me all the way.  It seemed like those moments of prayer of thanksgiving, just was a blissful moment when God seemed to say go on home, son, your wife is waiting for you.  I came in sight of the house.  Everything was dark.  I walked into the house, the doors were not locked.  You trusted people in those days.  I snapped on the light, walked to my wife's bedroom where she lay asleep and quickly I took her in my arms.  Suddenly the whole house was lit up, and the little girl I did not know, awake to see who this stranger was.  The joys experience can never tell the half by mortal tongue, but it felt like all the joy God could give any individual had rolled into that home.  Did you regret all those many thousand miles you had traveled?  Did you feel bitter at all the hardships you had gone through?  No.  You did not mind to serve your country or your nation, for God had been good to all of us.  And I was glad to be an American.  People often cannot understand why I shed tears when I hear the "Star Spangled Banner" or why I in church service shed tears when I hear " America ", but I fell in love with my native land from a boy and I love her still.  Sure, there are many things in our nation today that is in a sad state of affairs.        Sure there are many problems, surely we are in the midst of trying times.  Pollution everywhere, justice fallen in the streets, many heartaches.  But America is my homeland, even with all its problems and perplexities.  It is still my homeland and I love her as much as ever.

            One of the sad things about our nation today is that so many have seemed to forgot God.  A great warning comes from the word of God.  Psalms 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God."  If America ever fails it will be because we as a people forget God.  Sure, the Supreme Court ruled prayer out of schools and many ministers went along with it.  But we were denying the very existence of our creator by refusing for our children to pray to God.  Look at how this nation is going down today.  Sure, we love it and will not stop loving it, but we need to get back to God.  We had better believe that if we forget God we will be turned into hell.  Crime, increasingly violent crime, adultery and fornication, divorce, abortion, you name it.  We have seen all kinds, increasing in every category that takes men away from God by breaking the laws of God.  Having no regard for his statutes.  The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will cause thee to hear my words.  Then I went down and listened to what God said.  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and pull down and to destroy it.  If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.  We can see just like the city of Nineveh to whom Jonah was sent to preach unto them concerning the almighty God that when they repented, God spared the whole city.  And so will God remove any evil coming our way if we will turn from our wickedness and our iniquities and turn to the Lord.  And at what instance God says in Jeremiah 18:9 I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.  We can quickly see that God is in control and we must trust in God.  That we must serve God.  That we must do good in his sight.  Revere him and love him more than anything else.  The prosperity of any nation depends on their relationship with God.  The pathway back to God is one of repenting, turning from evil and pleasure of sin, back to the living God, and loving in righteousness.  Where we stand or fall depends on our attitude toward the creator of this world, Almighty God.  The Psalmist told God in Psalms 89:14 "Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.  Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.  In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.  For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.  For the Lord is our defence: and the Holy One of Israel is our king."

            God desires that each citizen seek justice.  God wants us to live in mercy and in truth.  God desires that we, each individually and collectively as a nation, seek to serve our God.  The undoing of any nation that falls is their own doing.  Their failure to serve God as God desires us to serve him. When America was young and poor her people went to church and served the Lord.  But when America became older and blessed with prosperity she forgot the hand that was blessing her.  She went astray.  The churches began to become only partially attended.  People began to find other things to replace service to God in the church.  Our troubles began.  Today let us consider our path.  Let us ask for the old paths wherein is the good way and let us walk therein.  No nation ever existed on this earth which was shown the sureness of the judgments of God more than Israel .  It was defeated with the sword, scattered abroad, and that because they forgot God.  Even though they were God's chosen people.  Today we all know there is a need to get back to God.  To return to those paths of righteousness, mercy, truth and really serve God is the only cure for our nation today.  The greatest thing one could give to this nation today is prayer.  Prayer for the survival of the old-time religion which gets into the hearts and souls of men and changes them for Jesus Christ. The next greatest thing would be to give of yourself to righteousness, holiness, and dedicated service to God.  Unless we do, the government of the people for the people and by the people will continue to be turned in a way we will not like,  Let us call upon the Lord.

(Amen)