God bless America...

Greg Laurie wishes you a happy and blessed Fourth of July:

... Imagine what kind of world we would live in today if there had been no America. No one to turn back the rise of Nazis and their allies in World War II. No one to stand up against the tyranny of Communism over the years. No one to stand up for the small nations that cannot help themselves. Then there are the billions of dollars in aid we have sent around the world to help those in need.

Why has America been able to do all those things? Because we have a foundation that has taught us what right and wrong are, taught us there is a God who has given us His Word to guide us and taught us there is a responsibility that comes with His bounty.

We learn those things from the book our country was founded on: the Bible.

Thomas Jefferson is said to have written, "The Bible is the cornerstone for American liberty." Of Holy Scripture, Andrew Jackson said the Bible is "the rock on which our republic rests." Abraham Lincoln stated, "All the good Savior gave to the World was communicated through this Book. But for this Book we could not know right from wrong. All the things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found in it."

The Fourth of July is this week. As you know, our Founding Fathers framed a document we call the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson and signed in 1776.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

We often forget that in declaring independence from an earthly power, our forefathers made a direct declaration of dependence upon God Almighty. The closing words of this document declare: "With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

So it's not only a "Declaration of Independence" from foreign tyranny. It's also the "Declaration of Dependence" on God Almighty. ...

-Home-