Bless the Lord, O My Soul

In light of the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I would post a message that I recently gave at my church about the blessings of God from Psalm 103. May you be encouraged by this passage. (If the Flash Player doesn't work for you, click here.)

Peace through Violence

I recently gave a message to our college group at Grace Covenant during our annual Christmas fellowship. A few weeks before, I began thinking about what I might share with the group of young adults. Of course I knew that I would bring a message on the topic of “Christmas,” but the more I began to think about it, the more I realized how many topics and subtopics can flow out of the heading, “Christmas.” Literally thousands of sermons could be preached on the topic of Christ’s birth—the actual event and surrounding events, the prophecies foretelling it, the implications of his arrival, the essence of his person, the miracle of a Virgin birth, the faith of his parents, et cetera, et cetera!

But as I read the 2000-year old story in Luke 2 about the birth of our Lord, God seemed to bring one concept to my mind more than anything else.

As I read that passage in preparation for the devotion, it was verse 14 that really jumped out at me:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels sang this song from the heavens on that ever-so holy night, they were both proclaiming a doxology of praise to God and passing along the very almost-unbelievable promise of “peace on earth.”

You see, it was this part about peace on earth that stuck with me after reading this passage.
And I’ll tell you why as I ask you—When you read the daily news and see the world’s headlines on TV, does it look to you like there’s “peace on earth”?
No. Of course it doesn’t.

So I had to think deeper on the matter—what exactly were the angels telling those shepherds? How would there be peace on earth through the birth of one little baby in a small town in Bethlehem?

Here’s what J.C. Ryle said about this “peace on earth”—

“Now is come to earth the peace of God which surpasses all understanding,—the perfect peace between a holy God and a sinful man, which Christ was to purchase with his own blood,—the peace which is offered freely to all mankind, the peace which, once admitted into the heart, makes men live at peace with one another, and will one day overspread the whole world.”

You see, I think that this peace on earth is a spiritual peace, not necessarily a physical peace between warring nations or peoples.

Matthew Henry said in his commentary on Luke,

“God's good-will in sending the Messiah introduced peace in this lower world, slew the enmity that sin had raised between God and man, and resettled a peaceable correspondence. If God be at peace with us, all peace results from it: peace of conscience, peace with angels, peace between Jew and Gentile.”

This peace is the peace that God makes with us when he turns our hateful and rebellious hearts of stone into obedient and humble hearts of flesh. This peace is the peace that comes with salvation! Look at these 2 verses that speak about this kind of peace…

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Colossians 3:19-20

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:1

So the question, and the ultimate point of that message, is this: How exactly did God the Father secure this peace on earth through that baby Jesus? The angels said that there would be peace on earth, but how would this peace become a reality? How would this peace be given, or transferred, to us??

This is where things get interesting!

Let’s read what God’s prophet Isaiah said to help us figure this out…

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5

Whoa!

How was peace brought to us?...through His punishment!
You see, the answer to the question is this: God used violence to bring peace!

I know what you’re thinking: “That’s crazy!”…”How can violence produce peace?”
Well just look at the wars of history—World War II is a good example. Through violence (war), peace was eventually established in both Europe and between America and Japan. Further, throughout the Old Testament we see God using violence to achieve His purposes. One of the most used, God-ordained practices in Israel was blood atonement which always included the killing of an animal. Why do you think God had the Israelites sacrifice to Him like this?...to point to the ultimate sacrifice which came in the person of Jesus Christ!

“In him we have redemption through his blood”
Ephesians1:7

God brought us peace through violence.

The way in which Christ was killed was one of the most violent popular methods of execution known in all of human history! The Romans were brutal when it came to punishing criminals. And yet this is the way God showed His love for us—by allowing His only, beloved Son to come to earth and bring us peace by dying this horrific death. What a Savior we have who was willing to offer Himself in this fashion! And what a Father we worship who gave us this opportunity to find peace in the Prince of Peace, Himself!

Revelation 5:12 reminds us how important an event Christ’s death was for us by telling us that in heaven, the eternal song of the redeemed will be a song about death…

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”

So it’s as if even the manger was in the shadow of the cross—Christ’s entrance into this world was for the purpose of dying for us in order to bring eternal peace between God and men.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

May we not forget this important lesson this Christmas season in the middle of all of our shopping and gifting and celebrating; instead, thank Jesus for coming to earth, dying for you, and may God indeed receive the glory for all these things.

Where Are You Thanksgiving?

It was November 1st and I was in Target. My wife, Paige, was looking for some Thanksgiving decorations for our dining table. But we noticed rather quickly that the Halloween merchandise that was being taken down or moved to the Clearance section, was being replaced with Christmas decorations. No fall decorations anywhere.

The other day I was driving through my neighorhood and noticed at least 3 families putting Christmas lights on their houses.

Within the last week or so, I realized that the radio, and most large retail stores, are all playing Christmas music.

It's the middle of November. Have we simply forgot Thanksgiving? There's a song sung by country music star Faith Hill called "Where Are You Christmas?". Well, I would like to sing a song called, "Where Are You Thanksgiving?"

As much as I enjoy the holiday season--and admitedly, Christmas in particular--I can't help but feel bad for the Thanksgiving holiday. I mean, do people even consider the importance of this holiday anymore? What about the those Pilgrims (do I dare say "Puritans"?) who risked everything by leaving England and coming to the New World for the sake of religious freedom? What about the Indians who welcomed the Pilgrims and with whom the Pilgrims established friendship? What about the glorious good news of Jesus Christ which the Pilgrims brought with them to New England? And what about the Pilgrim's gratefulness to the God of the Bible? These things are what Thanksgiving is about.

And all of this talk begs the question: Who's to blame for shoving Thanksgiving into the holiday broom closet?

My best guess would be that we have the retailers to blame. Stores which sell Halloween items from July 5th to October 31st, then Christmas decor from November 1st to December 25th pay little respect to Thanksgiving. It's bad enough that many modern history textbooks pervert the true meaning of Thanksgiving from the Pilgrims thanking God, to the Pilgrims thanking the Indians. But now, it seems to me that Thanksgiving is dwindling to a blip on the yearly holiday radar.

Let this not be the case for you and yours this Thanksgiving! Give thanks to God for your freedom. Give thanks to God for the Puritan Pilgrims. And give thanks to God for His abounding mercies to this fallen race.

Remember the Mayflower!

Good Friday

The following is a message that I delivered at Grace Covenant Church at the 2005 Good Friday service. It has been mildly edited for the purpose of this blog. --DG

‘When he received the drink, Jesus said,
“It is finished.”
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.’

It has been said that these words were
“The greatest words ever uttered by the Greatest Man who ever lived!”

Allow me to briefly set the stage: Just over 33 years before these words were spoken, an angel named Gabriel was sent from heaven to a young virgin girl in Nazareth in Galilee. Gabriel told this girl, who we know was called Mary, something that greatly troubled and confused her. But the angel comforted Mary and said, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High!...” And to Mary’s betrothed, a man named Joseph of the line of David, the angel spoke, “Do not fear...that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins!” And so it was as the angel Gabriel had said.

As the years passed, this baby named Jesus, from the town of Nazareth, grew and became a man. At the right time, He called twelve men out from their professions to forsake all to follow him and become his disciples. He began to travel and testify to others about God and himself. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, even raised the dead to life....and then on a day which we refer to today as Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, we see what is likely the biggest false profession of faith in history, as the Jews there waved their palm branches high and threw there coats at his feet shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna!”

Just five days later, those same people were standing on those same Jerusalem streets, but this time, there were no palm branches in their clenched fists and no shouts of joyful celebration. Instead, Jesus met a mob of his accusers and murderers. This time they shouted “Crucify him! Crucify him!” and it was done as they requested.

As we look at the Apostle John’s account of the last moments of Christ before His death, we are told that Jesus spoke three important words, “It is finished.” In the Greek text, however, the phrase actually just one word: tetelestai.

“IT...IS...FINISHED!” and he died there on that tree.

The question that is begged is simply, “WHAT is ‘finished’?”...

Well, I believe that Scripture clearly shows us elsewhere, outside of this passage in John, exactly what Christ meant when He made this proclamation.

Here we are going to look at 3 ways in which Jesus Christ finished the job.

I. He fulfilled prophesy.

Matthew Henry: "[At the moment of this utterance], The hatred of his persecutors had done its worst!" They had finished their evil deed of crucifying a faultless man.

But what many, if not all of his persecutors did not realize was that they were playing a huge role in fulfilling Old Testament prophesy.

The first prophetic words in the Bible were given by God Himself in the Garden:

Genesis 3:15—“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; and he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

Though God was specifically addressing the serpent here, He said it for Adam and Eve to hear the promise He was making so that in this they could hear the hint of grace and see the door of hope opened to them in spite of their tremendous fall from perfection. We are also led to understand that it was by faith in this promise that the patriarchs were justified—they believed God’s promise of a Savior to be true.

And now, here in our passage in John, we see the fulfillment of this promise—the seed of the woman was Jesus. And we can see as Christ hung on the cross with nails through both of his feet that Satan had now truly struck and bruised his heel. But at the same time, when Christ said “It is finished,” and he gave up his spirit, he put the head of Satan under his foot, and I believe that on the Last Day, He will crush him forever!

He fulfilled the first prophecy in the Bible in three simple words, “It is finished!”

Elsewhere in the Old Testament, we see prophesy pointing to the crucifixion of Christ.

Isaiah 53:5—“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
(also Psalms 22 and John 3:14-15; 12:32-33)

When Christ said, “It is finished,” he was saying, “All of the types and prophesies of the Old Testament pointing to the sufferings of the Messiah, I have now accomplished and answered.”

It is finished!

II. He did the will of His Father.

Just a year ago a motion picture came to movie theaters that caused quite a stir in Hollywood

and around the world. The movie, of course, was The Passion of the Christ. Before its World Premiere, a number of outspoken Jews criticized the film for being anti-Semitic because it portrayed the Jewish people as the ones responsible for Christ’s crucifixion. Obviously, those offended Semites had not read the New Testament Gospel account very closely! And I wondered also why the Italians were not speaking out because it likewise portrayed the Roman soldiers as rude and violent and torturous, and just as responsible for putting Christ on that cross.

At the center of the controversy was the movie’s creator, a very wealthy and charismatic Catholic man named Mel Gibson. In a post-premiere television interview with Gibson, Dianne Sawyer asked him a very pointed question, “So who is responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus?”

Gibson gave a reply to the effect of, “Well, we all are; I am, you are, everyone is responsible for the death of Jesus.” While I was surprised and initially pleased with his bold response and agree with it from one perspective, I think that we need to consider a greater, ultimate perspective.

We must realize that the death of Christ was on one hand, the doing of sinful men while on the other hand, at the same time, the will of God the Father. Christ could have in an instance leaped from the cross upon which He hung and swept every last one of his murderers into hell! But he didn’t!

When Jesus gave his disciples the Lord’s Prayer—a prayer by which to pray by—he prayed to His Father, “Thy will be done.” And now, it was as if he was saying, “Thy will IS done!” Christ told his disciples in John 4:34,“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” He was on a mission from the Almighty, a divine, heavenly errand which only He could complete! Later on in Acts we see that the whole thing was part of God’s plan and purpose:
Acts 2:23—“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge...”

What an amazing God we have who would love us enough to give up His only Son to die for us! And what an amazing Savior we have who would do the will of His Father, though it meant humiliating Himself as a man and dying a torturous death on the cross! Thank God it is finished!

III. He finished the work of atonement. (John 19:30)

First, Christ did not come to merely set us an example. In his book, Manly Dominion, author and pastor Mark Chanski shows his readers how Christ was a good example for men to imitate and follow:

• He lived his life serving and helping others, while simultaneously, He was the greatest leader to ever live!
• He was obedient to God in all circumstances.
• He was patient in suffering and affliction.
• He was humble.
• He was loving.
• He set the standard for love by His own sacrifice.
• Et cetera.

Throughout history there have always been those who refuse to see Christ as anything more than a good man and a wise Jewish teacher. They’ll say he was a role model, a good example, an icon of morality, but they will refuse to accept Him for who he really is!

In his gospel account, John gets to the point right off the top: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

I was teaching this to my third and fourth grade Sunday School class just a few months ago, and they came to understand that the “Word” that John speaks of here is the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, God’s only Son! And we need to accept that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but is God Himself, otherwise, His atonement was useless and empty.

In the final hours leading up to Jesus’ death, he faced, what Chanski calls, “wholesale desertion.” First, one of his own twelve closest friends betrayed him for a meager 30 pieces of silver. Then, in the Garden, in the moments of extreme mental and emotional agony, his disciples slept while he prayed, and once they woke, they fled. Then one of his dearest disciples, Simon Peter, denied—not once, not twice, but THREE times—that he even knew this man named Jesus!

But the ultimate desertion came at Christ’s darkest hour—as he hung upon the cross under the unbearable weight of the sins of you and I as the sole object of His Father’s wrath. But it was at that moment of Christ’s death that mankind’s liberation from the bondage of sin was procured by a merciful Lord!

Spurgeon: The last word but one, "It is finished." There is the complete justification of the believer, since the work by which he is accepted is fully accomplished.

He hung there until His Father’s will was accomplished, until his errand was completed, until his chore was done, until His people had been redeemed, until He said resolutely, “IT...IS...FINISHED!”

Philip Graham Ryken: When Christ said, “It is finished,” he was not merely uttering a sigh of relief or a moan of resignation...He was announcing a victorious proclamation: “IT IS FINISHED!”

Secondly, He came to deliver us from the wrath of God and to take away our sins.

(Romans 1:18, 3:21-26, 5:6-11) When John the Baptist proclaimed in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,” he was giving Christ more than a name or title. He was supplying us with a wonderful description of Jesus the Messiah!

In the Old Testament, the priests would shed the blood of animals which symbolized a covering of one’s sins. But Christ’s death and the shedding of his blood did much more than cover the sins of sinners, it took their sins away entirely!

Matthew Henry says that with Christ’s statement, “It is finished,” came an end to transgression and the bringing in of an everlasting righteousness to those who call upon His name!

Many people have criticized Christianity for holding the cross in such high esteem. They see the cross as a symbol of death and suffering; but as Christians we look at the cross and see life! “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”

Hebrews 9.27-28—"Just as it is appointed for man to die once and then to face judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him!"

He came and died once to bear our sins on himself, and after that...It Is Finished!

APPLICATION:

Hebrews 12:1b-2—“...And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We must understand that as Christians, we have been called of God to live a life holy and pleasing to him. We have been called out of our worldly pasts, out of our sinful lives, to be lights that reflect the Glory of God! However, it is important for us to acknowledge that this was not of our own choosing! If it were left to us, as many professing believers believe that it is, we would still be clinging to our much-loved sinful flesh, doing the works of evil, in complete rebellion to God’s Law, and under the full condemnation of God’s judgment! But God, in his infinite mercy and grace, decided before the foundation of the world, before the beginning of time and space, to call a people for His own, not by anything good in themselves, but entirely because it pleased Him to do so!

Though the Christian life is long and hard and full of trials and temptations, Christ said it: “It is finished!” God, through the death and resurrection of His Son, has given us an object to put our faith in, a faith that He Himself initiates in us and carries out to completion! He gave us this promise in I Thes. 5:24—“He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it!”

Let me share with you a quick story that Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on John, gives. It’s the story of a rather eccentric evangelist who was once approached by a young man. The young man asked the evangelist flippantly, “What must I do to be saved?”The evangelist was quick to respond, “It’s too late!” and continued what he was doing. Naturally surprised, the boy asked, “Do you mean that it’s too late for me to be saved?!... Isn’t there something that I can do?!?”

“Too late,” said the evangelist. “It’s already been done...Now just believe!”

To the unbeliever: There is no one work or series of works that you could do that would add to the one work that Christ finished that day on Calvary! Just as “money can’t buy you love,” money can’t buy you heaven! Nothing can get you to heaven, save the righteousness of Jesus.

Anything that we in our own devices may attempt to do to earn our own salvation is done in vain. WHY?—Because Scripture says that all of our deeds are sinful, like filthy rags before Him who is holy.

But consider Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, who came to earth as a baby boy, lived a life of perfection, and then died a faultless man at the hands of angry sinners just like you and I! It was for you that He came! It was for you that he suffered! It was for you that he poured out his life unto death and rose again on the third day! Put your faith in Jesus! Turn from your sins with a repentant and sorrow-filled heart and call upon the name of the only one who saves you, the name of Jesus Christ!

And to you, dear Christian, take comfort here in that you do not have to work for your own salvation—It has already been worked out for you! Even if you tried your best to work toward heaven, as some teach that we can do, you would fall miserably short and would only find eternal death and damnation as the fruit of your labors! Stop trying to win His favor! Stop trying to climb to heaven! Jesus has already climbed that mountain for you and at the end of your life, He’ll carry you to the top with him!

In conclusion dear friends, when Christ cried, “Tetelestai!......It is Finished!” he sealed our pardon with his blood. It was all done. There was no more pain to be inflicted upon this spotless lamb. He had suffered all that the Father willed, and now He died with the weight of the sins of the world upon His back.

It had been completed. The law and prophesies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled perfectly throughout his life, and now, ultimately in his death.

The debt had been paid. The holiness and justice of God demanded a penalty for Adam’s sin; and now Christ, the one and only Son of God, had paid that ransom which relieved men from God’s eternal judgment.

The door had been opened. Now there was a way for sinners to directly meet with God the Father through God the Son. At Christ’s death, the curtain in the temple tore, symbolizing a new-found access to the very throne room of the Almighty. Christ became the new High Priest and Mediator between God and man.

And it could not be reversed. The death of Christ was once-and-for-all! It was a perfect, eternal atonement that could not and need not be altered or added to. Praise God for His Infinite Love!

The Captain of our Souls has already won the Victory! And on that Last Day, the trumpets will blare, the clouds will part, and Christ, the Servant-King, will ride triumphantly threw the ranks of His servants and will take each faithful follower up into Heaven to eternally live with Him!

He speaks now from on high,

“Behold, I am coming soon!

My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

the First and the Last,

the Beginning and the End.”

It is finished, indeed! Amen.

President's Day

[I intended to post this on Monday, but due to technical difficulties, I haven't been able to access the internet from home. Thankfully, however, God has now blessed us with permanent internet capability! SDG]

In an age when Secularists deny that God had anything to do with the founding of this great country, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few quotations from some of America's past Presidential leaders.


George Washington


Excerpt from 1st Inaugural Address:
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence."


Proclaiming the first Thanksgiving Day:
"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to commend to the people of United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness, now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next, to be devoted to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or will be." October 3, 1789


John Adams
"The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite...And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity..." In an 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson.

"It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship."

John Quincy Adams

Excerpt from Inaugural Address:
"To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that "except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country."


Abraham Lincoln

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated through this Book; but for the Book we could not know right from wrong, All the things desirable to man are contained in it."


"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch (sic) as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which has 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. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." March 30, 1863


Theodore Roosevelt

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

Woodrow Wilson


"America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scripture."

Harry Truman



Excerpt from Inaugural Address:

"Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we will advance toward a world where man's freedom is secure. To that end we will devote our strength, our resources, and our firmness of resolve. With God's help, the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace." January 20, 1949


"The fundamental basis of this nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teaching we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul."


Ronald Reagan


Excerpt from 1st Inaugural Address:
"I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer." January 20, 1981







Sources:
http://www.bartleby.com/124/index.html
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/inaug.htm
http://www.earstohear.net/Heritage/quotes.html
http://members.tripod.com/~greatamericanhistory/gr02004.htm

http://www.geocities.com/cott1388/valley-forge.html
http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/washington/advice.html
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g011.html
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm