French diplomat, historian, and philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, who had visited America in 1831, wrote a book titled Democracy in America. And though not a direct quote, a popular but accurate summary of much of what he said is this:
“I sought for the greatness of America in her harbors and rivers and fertile fields, and her mines and commerce. It was not there. Not until I went into the churches and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness of her power. America is great because she is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
The phrase “American Exceptionalism” is back in vogue. Relative to Europe, China, and other countries and regions of the world, America is demonstrating it still stands much taller by many measures. In last week’s blog post, I wrote about how American commitment to biblical goals and aspirations began from the start, and continued with the exceptional commitment to a literal application of the Bible and to world missions. Consider that by the end of the 19th century, over 60% of all Protestant missionaries in the world were from America. And most of the funding for world missions and the development of Church and para-Church missions organizations has come out of America. Indeed, there has been something special in regard to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ coming from commitment to a literal Bible and to the spread of the gospel from America – “from these very shores” as the famous dedication given at the founding of Jamestown in 1607 put it, reviewed in last week’s post. And, as mentioned, there is to be an official re-dedication celebration to “one nation under God” on the National Mall, on May 17, in honor of America’s 250th anniversary this year.
Repentance, rebirth, and renewal are the ways of Christianity – and there certainly is a need for national repentance!
In his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln famously portrayed the United States as accountable to God, saying about the Civil War, “if every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,” the judgment would be just, as he quoted Psalm 19:9, “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether”. And at Gettysburg, Lincoln called the Civil War a test of whether a nation “so conceived and so dedicated (in liberty under God) can long endure, and he called the country to a new birth of freedom – “that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom”.
Freedom is very biblical. Even the opening phrases of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy begin by introducing God as a freedom-giving God. As He told Moses, “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2, Deuteronomy 5:6). And Jesus launched his ministry from the synagogue in Nazareth by reading from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because He hath anointed me to… proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). “Then He (Jesus) closed the book, and he gave it to the minister, and He sat down… And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:20-21).
The United States of America has quite arguably been a force for freedom against tyranny and oppression in the world, in the civic arena and in the spiritual arena. And today, we are caught up in a continuing battle against tyranny. Whether you consider the tyranny of “science” under evolutionism in censoring and excluding acknowledgement of our Creator in all the common sense and evidence thereof. Or whether you consider the creeping and subversive influence of cultural Marxism, a humanist atheist tyranny which has made great strides in world institutions with a revised post-Cold War strategy.
The question is whether we have as Christians the civic and spiritual stamina, the moral fiber, and moral courage for another Civil War, albeit a Cold Civil War fought on a spiritual and civic level, but one which is global as well! Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation about and warning for America continues to this day.
Image: Mt Rushmore, from Washington to Lincoln, Robi5crew, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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