…beware lest thou forget The Lord… lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. – Deut. 6:12a, 15b, KJV

The United States of America has a Godly heritage, but the average American has no idea that this is so. More and more we have forgotten our roots, and we have done so at our own peril.

Our tendency to forget our roots isn’t a new phenomenon. In 1853 a group of individuals challenged the Christian influence on government in America. In response, the House Judiciary Committee conducted an exhaustive study of founding-era documents to determine what the Founders’ intentions were concerning religion and government. On March 27, 1854 Mr. Meacham of the House Judiciary Committee reported:

At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not any one sect [denomination]. Any attempt to level and discard all religion would have been viewed with universal indignation. The object was not to substitute Judaism or Mohammedanism, or infidelity, but to prevent rivalry among the [Christian] sects to the exclusion of others. It [Christianity] must be considered as the foundation on which the whole structure rests. Laws will not have permanence or power without the sanction of religious sentiment, – without a firm belief that there is a Power above us that will reward our virtues and punish our vices. In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity: that, in its general principles, is the great conservative element on which we must rely for the purity and permanence of free institutions. That was the religion of the founders of the republic, and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants. There is a great and very prevalent error on this subject in the opinion that those who organized this Government did not legislate on religion. (William Federer, America’s God & Country, pgs. 169-70.)

It is unfortunately arguable that we now live in a post-Christian society, one where our cultural leaders are striving to substitute Christianity with something – anything – else. The more we as a nation push God out of our culture, the more we kindle the very anger that Moses warned Israel about in Deuteronomy 6. Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, a governor of the State of Virginia, and the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, echoed Moses’ warning when he wrote the following in 1781:

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (William Federer, America’s God & Country, p. 323)

Indeed, His justice cannot sleep forever, and may we remember the true Founder of our nation before it is too late!