Today is Bastille Day, or French National Day, which commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. I don’t normally observe Bastille Day, my French Huguenot relatives having left in the late 1600s before settling just a little west of here on the James River.
There is no question that America has been a nation that has been blessed by almighty God. There is no other nation in the history of mankind that has done what this nation has done – and it’s because of God’s hand and His blessing.
American evangelist and missionary, Franklin Graham, was born on this day in 1952.
Graham has become something of a controversy, choosing to take a more political route than his father, a spiritual advisor to a long string of Presidents. Graham speaks his mind. Conservative. Christian.
You may disagree with his approach.
But you cannot say that God has not blessed this country. Granted, it was often when we did not deserve it.
And, if you study history honestly, you cannot deny the fact that the Founding Fathers, and our leaders throughout the course of our history have believed in a higher power.
It wasn’t until the past fifty years or so that this really started to be a problem. And, well, look at where we are now.
Wait, don’t get ahead of yourself and start hyperventilating (I’ve said that more than once this week).
I am in no way asserting that we are a Christian nation. However we are founded on Judeo Christian values, whether you like it or not.
So, how did we get to a point where a picture of ministers praying with and for the president caused controversy?
I know some of the reasons.
But those who cry the loudest over Christianity being “hostile” are some of the one who are most hostile towards Christians.
The Interstate system runs both ways.
I will be among the first to tell you and, if you’re a long-term reader you know I already have, that a whole lot of hate has happened in the name of Christianity. The fact that we’ve not always gotten it right and have sometimes gotten it more wrong doesn’t change the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I’m not saying that Christians are being persecuted here in the United States. We’re not. But there is a growing hostility.
We just need to remember that Jesus told us there would be days like this.
While I’m sort of on the subject, can we just get over the nonsense that says Jesus was a liberal or Jesus was a conservative?
Jesus didn’t have a whole lot to do with the government other than to say pay your taxes. When he did have interactions with the Romans, they nailed him to a cross.
At the request of the religious leaders.
No matter where you fall on the religious or political spectrum, it’s time we all learned to be a little more tolerant, a little more accepting.
Diversity is not when everyone agrees with your opinion.
Let’s remember that God has indeed blessed this nation.
May he continue to do so.
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