To begin this message, I would like to first read from Psalms 144.
Psa.144:1] Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
[2] My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Now let me share this message taken from “American Minute”.
U.S. Army veteran Charles Michael Province wrote the poem:
“It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.”
The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization. It was formed in 1919 with the help of four chaplains:
Charles Brent, Roman Catholic;
Francis Kelly, Episcopalian;
Thomas Wiles, Baptist, and
John Inzer, Baptist.
Baptist Chaplain John Inzer spoke at the American Legion’s founding meeting in St. Louis in 1919:
“Gentlemen … if you can only think about this Legion … as the jewel of the ages … I cannot say anything greater than this: I believe God raised up America for this great hour. I can say that the strong young man of the time is to be The American Legion in this country and in the world.”
The Preamble to the American Legion Constitution begins “For God and Country.”
In 1954, the American Legion sponsored a Back-to-God program. President Dwight Eisenhower addressed them in a broadcast from the White House, February 7, 1954:
“As a former soldier, I am delighted that our VETERANS are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives.
In battle, they learned a great truth-that there are no atheists in the foxholes. They know that in time of test and trial, we instinctively turn to God for new courage and peace of mind. All the history of America bears witness to this truth. Out of faith in God, and through faith in themselves as His children, our forefathers designed and built this Republic …”
Eisenhower continued:
“We remember the picture of the Father of our Country, on his knees at Valley Forge seeking divine guidance in the cold gloom of a bitter winter. Thus Washington gained strength to lead to independence a nation dedicated to the belief that each of us is divinely endowed with indestructible rights.
We remember, too, that three-fourths of a century later, on the battle-torn field of Gettysburg, and in the silence of many a wartime night, Abraham Lincoln recognized that only under God could this Nation win a new birth of freedom …”
Eisenhower concluded:
“Today as then, there is need for positive acts of renewed recognition that faith is our surest strength, our greatest resource.
This ‘Back to God’ movement is such a positive act. As we take part in it, I hope that we shall prize this thought:
Whatever our individual church, whatever our personal creed, our common faith in God is a common bond among us. In our fundamental faith, we are all one.
Together we thank the Power that has made and preserved us a nation. By the millions, we speak prayers, we sing hymns — and no matter what their words may be, their spirit is the same — ‘In God is our trust.’”
The next year, on February 20, 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower again addressed the American Legion Back-To-God Program:
“The Founding Fathers … recognizing God as the author of individual rights, declared that the purpose of Government is to secure those rights …
In many lands the State claims to be the author of human rights … If the State gives rights, it can – and inevitably will – take away those rights. Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life.
Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first-the most basic-expression of Americanism.”
Let’s go to his throne
Father, we thank you for your word and ask that you bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.