"America! America! God shed His grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the free!"-Katharine Lee Bates

"Our fathers' God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King."-(My Country, 'Tis of Thee-Samuel F. Smith, 1808-1895)


I thank the Lord for allowing me to be born in America. It's a wonderful nation in many ways. Especially the freedom we have. But it's a sinful nation as well. How does God work with nations? And how does a nation, or republic, relate to the Church?

Here are some words from Charles Spurgeon that I thought may help:

" ... the Master overcame the world, in that He did not stoop to use its power. He did not use that form of power which is peculiar to the world even for unselfish purposes. ...But He conquered the world in that He would not employ in the slightest degree this form of power. He might have gathered a troop about Him, and His heroic example, together with His miraculous power, must soon have swept away the Roaman empire, and converted the Jew; and then across Europe and Asia and Africa His victorious legions might have gone trampling down all manner of evil, and with the cross for His banner, and sword for His weapon, the idols would have fallen, and the whole world must have been made to bow at His feet. But no, when Peter takes out the sword, He says, 'Put up thy sword into its sheath, they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.' Well did He say, 'My kingdom is not of this world, else would My servants fight.'

And He might if He had pleased have allied His church with the state, as His mistaken friends have done in these degenerate times, and then there might have been penal laws against those who dared dissent, and there might have been forced contributions for the support of His church and such like things. You have read, I dare say, of such things being done, but not in the Gospels, nor in the Acts of the Apostles. These things are done by those who forget the Christ of God, for he uses no instrument but love, no sword but the truth, no power but the Eternal Spirit, and, in the very fact that He put all the worldly forces aside, He overcame the world."


Some wonderful words here to ponder.
May the Lord help us be a courageous Church, and never shrink back from speaking the truth in love, and at the same time show all meekness and gentleness as our Lord Jesus calls us to, and who said Himself, "Learn of Me, for I am gentle and meek." And in matters of government, and vengence, let us give way to the Lord's hand there, as He is certainly sovereign over ever nation, and the governing powers, in order to use the sword through His ministers against evildoers, and keep justice in His hand of providence. Amen.