5. One Nation Under God

ONE NATION UNDER GOD
Just imagine; you are a businessman making a routine flight from your home base in New Jersey to one of your customers in the Midwest. You have flown this route many times before without mishap, but today it will be different. The plane that you are on has been hijacked by a terrorist group who have taken over the cockpit of the plane. One terrorist has even strapped a bomb to his chest with a red belt. These terrorists believe that bringing down the plane and killing innocent souls will bring glory to their god. You realize you have only minutes to make the toughest decision of your life- to do nothing or to do the heroic. This is Todd Beamer’s story. And with his famous last words, “Let’s roll!” he stopped these terrorists from killing thousands more innocent lives on that infamous day, September 11, 2001. About 3,500 citizens from eighty-seven nations perished due to terrorist attacks upon the United States of America on 9-11.
What would YOU be willing to do for your nation? Would you be willing to assassinate a major leader? How about plant a bomb in a car to explode in a populated area of the city? Better yet, why not infect thousands by placing a drop of anthrax on a stamp? Some nations in this world teach that these terrorist acts are glorifying to their god. The website article, “Motivation of the Islamic Terrorists,” states that a much higher, a religious, motivation exists. According to the Koran these terrorists are definitely not committing suicide but showing respect to Allah. So, what does it really mean to be one nation under God?
Some believe that the United States is a Christian nation. Is this true? By definition, a Christian nation is a group of people with a common culture that are conformed to the image of Christ and profess belief in his teachings. I John 2:6 declares that whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. After all, if one is not “within” God, one must necessarily be “without” God. We have been preserved these many years, in peace and prosperity and have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But as the website article, “One Nation under God? - What’s Wrong with Our Nation” states “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.“ “In God we Trust,” our national motto, is slipping away from our memories. In a nation where the freedom to murder unborn persons is a cherished “right,” the freedom to express one’s religious views is politically incorrect. Christians must not bow to political pressure to be silenced. However, we are not the first generation to abandon God. In Deuteronomy 32:4-5, the Bible says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation.” In Christianity Today‘s article, “One Nation under God- Sort of,” it expresses the thought that we have placed to much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.
The Pledge of Allegiance has become a very controversial topic in the world today. In that same article from Christianity Today it reveals that if reciting the Pledge is unconstitutional simply because it refers to a nation “under God,” then reciting the Declaration of Independence, which refers to the Creator as the source of rights, is surely cast in doubt. If they remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge then does that mean they can take it from our hearts? That’s FALSE. If God is in our hearts, then he will forever be there, deeply branded into our actions each and every day. On the contrary, saying the Pledge and actually pledging allegiance are two totally different things. Just by reciting the Pledge and verbalizing it does not mean that we have given our allegiance to Him. Our nation has to promise our loyalty to Jesus Christ, pronouncing that we are His and He rules our nation.
Are we one nation under God or are we citizens of the secular world? Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all in all.” Get the picture. Here, let me help you. The keyword is ONE. We must be united as one group of people established on the belief of Christ. The Bible says it well when it declares that where two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be also. If our nation truly walks with Him, then it will be obvious who we are- a Christian nation. In John Piper’s sermon, “What the Law Could not do, God did, Sending Christ,” Piper replies, “The true and only God sent this divine Person, Jesus, into the world and in his flesh condemned sin, sentenced it, punished it, and executed it. This is the gospel we preach to the entire world.” According to Piper, God did this so that all who believe might be saved from his wrath and for his glory. The most loving thing we can do for our nation is to peacefully, meekly, and sacrificially proclaim to them the gospel of Jesus Christ, without which no one will be saved.
Now, here’s where you come in. Remember the story of Todd Beamer. He had a choice to make. We, too, have a choice to make- will we stand firm and become a nation whose basic principles are from God or do we just let our society continue to decay? Personally, I say, let’s truly be one nation under God- Let’s Roll!