In this season of Thanksgiving, it's good to remember that the greatest American ideas are rooted in a Bible heritage and faith in God. I mean ideas like the dignity of people and equality before the law. I know that our forefathers were not saints. I know that many were not even Christians. However, they were greatly influenced by biblical faith. The repeated mention of God in our documents, our songs, and on our money is an evidence of this. By denying, ignoring, and outlawing God, we are in danger today of cutting ourselves off from our cultural roots.
Ours is a cut flower civilization. Flowers cut from their roots will last for a few days, but their days were numbered from the day they were cut. So it is with us. These foundational ideals can live a few years after they are cut from their roots, but their days are numbered.
If you want to know the ultimate result of a nation that rejects God, then look at Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. Picture the six million Jews slaughtered in Germany for no other reason than that they were Jews.
Remember Wernher von Braun, the great American space scientist? He was originally a German scientist who invented the V-2 rocket that Hitler’s forces fired into the cities of Great Britain. In the latter stages of Hitler’s regime, von Braun became convinced of the primacy of “ethical values in a material world.” So he defected and came to America. You can have no lasting ethics without God. History seems to indicate that it is better for a nation to have many gods than no God. Friends, we’d better hope there is a God. He is our only hope. If God is dead we had better find his tomb and weep until he rises again.
Following the Civil War, Abe Lincoln was in Richmond, the capital of the Southern Confederacy. He passed a group of slaves digging at a river landing. One of them, an old man, saw Lincoln and leaped forward, crying “Bless thee Lord, here is the great Messiah! He’s come at last to free his children from bondage! Glory, hallelujah!” The old man fell on his knees and kissed Lincoln’s feet. Surrounded by these kneeling men, Lincoln said, “Don’t kneel to me, kneel to God only, and thank him for liberty.” Will you join me in that kind of thanksgiving today? And let us pray, also, “God bless America … again.”