By Garry Lovette

Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord. Psalm 33:12

America celebrates Independence Day each year on July 4, commem-orating the day in 1776 when the colonists declared their freedom from British rule. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, which was approved and signed by members of the Continental Congress of the United States of America.

In 1951, Red Skelton gave the following discourse on the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. (It was given to him and his grade-school classmates by their teacher.)

I: Me, an individual, a committee of one;

Pledge: Dedicate all of my worldly goods, to give without self-pity;

Allegiance: My love and my devotion;

To the Flag: Our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom, wherever
she waves there's respect because your loyalty has given her a
dignity that shouts freedom is everyone's job;

of the United: That means that we have all come together;

States of America: Individual communities that have united into
forty-eight great states of America, forty-eight individual
communities with pride and dignity and purpose all divided with
imaginary boundaries yet united to a common purpose and that's love of country;

and to the Republic: Republic, a state in which sovereign power is
invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern and
government is the people and its from the people to the leaders,
not from the leaders to the people;

For Which It Stands, One nation,: one nation meaning so blessed by God;

Indivisible: Incapable of being divided;

With Liberty: Which is freedom, the right of power to live one own
life without threats, fear or some sort of retribution;

And Justice: The principal or qualities of dealing fairly with others;

For All; For all, which means boys and girls, its as much your
country as its mine. And now boys and girls, let me hear you
recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE,
WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

Red Skelton, 1951.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: UNDER GOD. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too? (Red Skelton)

In June of 1954 an amendment was made to add the words "under God". Then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower said "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

In 1963, The Supreme Court in its infamous ruling, took prayer out of our public schools. History shows there is a significant downturn in our education system since this ruling was enacted. Once again, the church sat by and did vitually nothing to stop it, and the push to get God out of our society began to escalate after that.

In June 2002, virtually the entire Senate showed up for a morning prayer on a Thursday, heads bowed as they stood at their desks, to affirm that the United States is "one nation under God" after a federal appeals court declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional in schools.

And now, just in the last few days of June 2006, that same governing body who bowed their heads in that prayer voted down an amendment to the Constitution that would give the government power to punish those who burned our flag. I can’t think of a bigger slap in the face that the Senate could have given to our Veterans than this.

The measure failed by only one vote, and experts say since the vote was so close it is sure to come up again in the near future. As a citizen of this country, I was outraged that 33 out of 100 Senators thought so little of the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made to defend what that flag stands for. Sure, the argument can be made that they ought to have the “freedom” to burn the flag. A really good measure to me would be that if those flag-burners hate our country so much, then there are hundreds of other countries where they can go to live.

There are many who would love to have a “God-less” society, based on every man being their own “god”. They even want to rewrite history so as to make it appear that our country wasn’t founded on Christian principles. (I encourage everyone to read the book “Under God” by Toby Mac & Michael Tait. It is a collection of stories and examples of the great sacrifices that have made our nation great.)

Every time the 4^th of July rolls around, my heart swells up with pride as I think about what this country means to me as I believe that it does to the majority of Americans. This is a country that was founded on Judeo-Christian values, settled by immigrants (who came here legally) who had come for a better life. Many of them came here for religious freedom. Thank God for that! (My own roots have been traced back to Ireland and Scotland. My ancestors came over to find a better life in the late 1700’s.)

I am proud of this country. One has to only visit another country, many in our own hemisphere to find out that we really have it good here compared to most of the rest of the world. These freedoms and blessings came with a great price. Much blood has been shed in many foreign countries, as well as the soil of our own land to preserve this precious gift. At this writing, there are over 130,000 of our men and women defending the precious gift of freedom in the country of Iraq alone. That is not counting the hundreds of thousands of other military and support personnel who make up the rest of our armed forces stationed here and in countless other countries around the world. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!

The sacrifices that have been made to preserve this “One nation, under God” concept have been personal within my own family. My father, Cecil Calvin Black, was one of the fortunate ones who wasn’t killed when our soldiers stormed the beaches at Normandy in France to begin the liberation of Europe during WWII. (He would receive the purple heart for injuries he sustained while fighting in Germany). I am very proud of my father and what he did to preserve freedom at home. I look forward to the day when I can see him again and thank him.

We are still the greatest country in the world. I have no doubts about that. I believe that I speak for the majority of Americans when I say that we believe that God has truly blessed America, and that her greatest days are ahead. These freedoms will not continue unless we turn our hearts toward God and acknowledge that we are “One Nation, Under God”. It will take even more struggle. It will take even greater determination, but I believe that we are headed in the right direction. Never mind what the pundits are saying. Never mind what the liberal papers like the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times are saying. We are winning the war for freedom…not only in Iraq and other countries of the world, but here at home as well.

As America turns 230 this year, let us fall on our knees and thank God Almighty for these great freedoms that we are so privileged to enjoy. Let us never take for granted the great sacrifices that others have made and are making so we can live in glorious freedom. And let us never forget the God of our fathers, who through his Great Love and Tender Mercies have lavished great things upon us. GOD BLESS AMERICA. We are still ONE NATION, UNDER GOD!