As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, I want to express my gratitude for this country and for the freedoms we often take for granted.
When Lee Greenwood's song God Bless the U.S.A. begins to play and the words, "I'm proud to be an American," fill the air, it is hard not to thank God for this wonderful nation.
Having traveled around the world and enjoyed nearly every country I've visited, there is still something special about landing back home in "the land of the free and the home of the brave," walking through customs, seeing the American flag, and hearing the customs officer say, "Welcome home."
This country was founded on the conviction that our rights come not from government but from God. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, representative government, due process under the law, and the recognition that every person is endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights have made America unlike any other nation in history.
To love God and country does not make someone a “Christian nationalist.” It simply makes one a grateful citizens who recognize that every good gift comes from above (James 1:17).
None of this means America is perfect. No nation is. Like every nation, we have fallen short of the principles we profess. We have our share of painful chapters that should not be ignored or rewritten.
At the same time, those failures should not keep us from thanking God for the remarkable ways He has used this country.
As Bible students, we have even greater reason to be thankful. We understand that God works through nations to accomplish His purposes. Daniel tells us that He "removeth kings, and setteth up kings" (Daniel 2:21). Throughout history, God has raised up kingdoms and governments at just the right time to accomplish His will.
I believe America occupies a unique place in that providential history. God raised up this nation as a refuge for religious liberty and as a base from which the everlasting gospel could be carried to the world. He called this nation to a unique role in preparing the world for Christ's return.
One of the great mistakes Christians make when discussing Revelation 13 is forgetting Revelation 12.
Before John ever describes a beast with lamb-like horns, he tells us about a woman fleeing into the wilderness where God had prepared a place for her (Revelation 12:6, 14).
Seventh-day Adventists have long understood that God used the United States, represented by the beast coming up out of the earth (Revelation 13:11), as a refuge for His church.
This nation provided a place of safety from Satan's attempts to destroy God's people at the close of the prophetic 1,260-year period (Revelation 12:15-16).
That does not mean God approved of everything America would ever do. It means He provided a place where His people could worship according to conscience and proclaim the everlasting gospel without the religious persecution that had plagued much of Europe for centuries.
Ellen White recognized God's providence in this nation's history when she wrote,
"The United States is a land that has been under the special shield of Omnipotence" (The Great Controversy, p. 441).
She later expanded on that thought with these remarkable words:
"The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines. Here He provided an asylum for His people, where they could worship Him according to the dictates of conscience. Here Christianity has progressed in its purity. The life-giving doctrine of the one Mediator between God and man has been freely taught. God designed that this country should ever remain free for all people to worship Him according to the dictates of conscience." (Manuscript 17, 1906; Review and Herald, December 17, 1914.)
Those are remarkable statements!
The Lord gave America a unique role in the closing proclamation of the everlasting gospel by making it a refuge for religious liberty.
That should fill our hearts with gratitude on this 250 year anniversary and remind us of the responsibility that comes with such a privilege.
Nowhere has God's providence been more evident than in the worldwide spread of the gospel.
America has been one of the greatest missionary-sending nations in history.
Missionaries left these shores and carried the gospel to every continent. Adventists, equipped with the Three Angels' Messages, established churches, schools, hospitals, clinics, publishing houses, and orphanages. They translated the Scriptures, preached Christ, and served people they would never meet again this side of heaven.
Millions of people around the world have heard the gospel because they were reached by men and women who enjoyed the religious liberty this nation provided. They were free to preach, free to publish, free to establish schools, and free to send missionaries wherever God called them.
Shouldn't that fill our hearts with gratitude during this 250th anniversary? Shouldn't it also inspire us to carry the torch of mission while we still can?
Some people wonder why Americans celebrate July 4, 1776. After all, America was not yet an independent nation. The Revolutionary War had only just begun. Victory was far from certain, and many believed the colonies would lose.
King George III had declared the Revolution an act of treason. Anyone who joined the cause of independence risked everything.
Historian Bret Baier notes that five signers of the Declaration of Independence were captured by the British and tortured. Twelve had their homes burned. Two lost sons serving in the Continental Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine died from wounds or hardships suffered during the Revolutionary War.
These men were not signing a fair-weather document. They were putting their lives, their families, their fortunes, and their future on the line because they believed liberty was worth the sacrifice.
So why is July 4 so significant?
It was the day representatives of the thirteen colonies united around one extraordinary truth: our rights come from God, not from kings.
The Declaration of Independence boldly proclaimed:
"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."
Those words are among the most powerful ever written in the history of nations. They remind us that our rights do not originate with kings, presidents, judges, or legislatures. They come from our Creator.
Government does not grant them. But Government is called to protect them.
That conviction shaped the character of this nation. It also created an environment where the gospel could flourish unlike anywhere else in the world.
As Christians, we should never confuse gratitude with idolatry. We do not worship America. We worship the God who has so graciously established and blessed America.
Neither should we imagine that patriotism requires us to ignore our nation's failures. It does not. The same nation that became a refuge for religious liberty will one day “repudiate every principal of its constitution.”
In light of this, shouldn’t we be bolder in our appreciation for the freedoms we still have?
Shouldn’t we be more committed to defending religious liberty and teaching the principles of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence to our children?
Religious liberty is not merely an American ideal. It is a biblical principle.
Ellen White reminds us that this sacred responsibility has now been entrusted to God's last-day people:
"The banner of truth and religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by God's witnesses during the centuries that have passed since then, has, in this last conflict, been committed to our hands." (The Acts of the Apostles, p. 68.)
While those freedoms remain, let's use them to finish the work Christ has given His church.
Let’s use them to proclaim the three angels messages to “every nation, kindred tongue, and people.”
Sadly Bible prophecy tells us that a day is coming when this same nation will “speak like a dragon.” In other words, America will “repudiate every principle of its constitution…”
Already we are hearing prominent and powerful people within politics and the church, claiming that separation of church and state was not the intent of the founding fathers.
Now is the time for Church Leader‘s and members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to stand up in pulpits, lecterns and living rooms around the country and like Alonso T. Jones, who stood before the United States Congress during the Blair Sunday law debates, defended liberty of conscious with the same remarkable courage and Biblical conviction!
So yes, along with millions of others who love freedom and understand that what we fail to appreciate and defend will eventually be taken from us, I am celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.
God bless the USA!
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Gary is the President of the Northern New England Conference