Sound of Faith

R. G. Hardy: If we were to look at all of these buildings, and I'm just scratching the surface—there's so much more that time doesn't afford me the opportunity to go into—but I think you get the idea. Our nation and our Christian foundation were set on a hill that cannot be hid. If we look at the Declaration of Independence that started the whole thing, that was the very first thing that birthed our nation.

We would find that this group of men gathered together on hot summer days. Remember, they didn't have air conditioning. There they sat in their white powdered wigs and their ruffled collars and their tights in those hot, un-air-conditioned buildings. They had come together for their convention so that they could put together their official document that would become the Declaration of Independence.

They labored for three hot, sweaty weeks and got nowhere. They looked at all the forms of governments throughout Europe looking for a model that would speak to them after which they could model this government of the United States. But they couldn't find anything. They found nothing that was what they felt that God wanted for this nation.

After three sweaty, long, miserable weeks, a short, stocky, bespectacled man stood up by the name of Benjamin Franklin. He said, and I quote, "I have lived a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of the truth that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, it is probable that no empire can rise without His aid."

"We have been assured, sirs, in the sacred writings—in case you don't know what that is, that's the Bible—that except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel." Because a city set on a hill cannot be hid, they were not out to build a Babel. They were out to build a city of righteousness that cannot be hid.

So they penned the Declaration that has given us the legacy of our freedom. The most recognizable, famous words of the entire Declaration are these: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

And at the end of the Declaration: "And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." America was going to be like unto a city set on the hill that cannot be hid.

Isn't it sad today that in our public schools, they cannot teach creationism? Our very Declaration says these truths are self-evident. All men are created—not all men evolved equally—but are created equal. They had a designer and a creator, and they have been endowed with certain rights of that creator. That's our Declaration. That's what started this nation. That's what birthed this nation. That is where this nation was conceived, and today it's illegal to teach creationism in our public schools. What has become of that city set on a hill?

Today, our pledge to the flag says, "one nation under God." A lot was going on prior to September 11th. Lot by lot, our Christian influences were being erased. Baltimore has the dubious distinction of being the city where Madalyn Murray O'Hair lived and brought the lawsuit that allowed prayers to be taken out of school.

As we approach September 11th, more and more of these things were happening, but we thought that post-September 11th, there would be a change. There was, but the devil doesn't lay down and play possum. It was only a matter of two weeks after the terrible tragedy where all around on marquees, from McDonald's to public schools, to signs in windows of stores, it said, "God bless America."

Everywhere you turned: "God bless America." You could buy everything from pins to tie tacks to coffee mugs with "God bless America." An elementary school out in California had "God bless America" on their marquee, and a parent sued to have that removed. The devil is still busy, and we have got to still be busy.

Recently, a father in California sued, and the case went to the federal court of the ninth district that takes in that part of California. He sued to have "under God" taken out of the pledge. It was flashed all over the news when that first came to be. Every news channel carried this story. But only the Christian news channels a few days later bothered to tell the story that he wanted that taken out of the pledge because his little eight-year-old daughter would be offended should she have to say "under God."

It turned out, and no one reported this but only the Christian news stations, that his little eight-year-old daughter doesn't even live with him. His daughter lives with her mother. They're not married anymore. They are Christians; they go to a Pentecostal church, and she doesn't have a problem with saying "under God." She didn't have anything to do with it.

But of course, he couldn't bring that lawsuit on his own behalf; he had to make it for his daughter. Don't you think the way that news reporters usually dig up dirt where there is none? They've got super vacuum cleaners to get in all the corners. They dig up all the dirt because the first law of any decent news reporter is to check your sources and make sure your story is correct to the best that you possibly can.

They couldn't even try to check the story because the girl didn't even live with her father. She lives with her mother, she's a Christian, and she goes to a Pentecostal church. That lawyer who took the case—what kind of lawyer doesn't check? Didn't he think it was going to come out and come to light? But it shows you the fanaticism. They're so fanatical, they're like rabid dogs to jump on something. In this case, it backfired because now there's a stay and it's got to go to the higher court of appeals. Having all this brought to light, I don't see where he's got a leg to stand on.

That didn't discourage him. Now he wants to bring a lawsuit to force the Senate and the Congress to remove their chaplains. They have had them since day one. Since George Washington took the first office and the first Senate and the first Congress, they have had a chaplain. Each one has their own chaplain and they pray. If a senator or a congressman wants to on his own volition, he can go to his chaplain and get counsel or get prayer, whatever he needs.

This same man who wanted to get "under God" taken out of the pledge is now suing to have it forced that they can no longer have those chaplains because they're being paid for with taxpayer money. We are supposed to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. But if we're not careful and if we think that everything is just smooth, we've got to be just as zealous and just as fervent. We've got to stand up for our liberties. If we don't, we're not going to have them.

The demonic warfare that's at work in the spiritual places against America is both internal and external. I cannot believe after what has happened to our nation and the pictures flashed around the world of that horrible scene in New York and Washington. At first, all the nations and all of the rulers were sending their sympathies and their regrets and saying we stand with you against terrorism no matter what their political views are.

Now Europe hates America. They've got signs up; they hate George Bush. They say that America is so selfish, all she cares about is getting more power. The nation that gave us the Statue of Liberty was France. It was a gift from France because there were certain people in France that so admired our form of government. They so admired what had taken place in this tiny little nation.

During the Revolutionary War, it was the French with Lafayette and others that helped when George Washington was going to lose. At that point, they were doing it for selfish reasons because they wanted to be able to control the fur trade, and it was a big war between England and France even in Europe. So the French came in partly as a selfish thing. But that Statue of Liberty that was given to us a hundred years later was because they admired our form of government and gave it as a symbol of the freedom of this nation.

Today, one of the most vicious nations standing against America is France. They hate America. They have gone so far as to say, and one of their authors just released a book in ten languages called *9/11: The Big Lie*. They accuse America and people within the government of staging this whole thing. They claim we staged that horrible thing so that it would allow us and give us an excuse to rise up and retaliate and increase our power.

What kind of people would stage such a thing to kill their own people? But this is the kind of sentiment that is taking place around America. They hate us. They say we're warmongers and we only care about ourselves and our needs. They even destroyed a McDonald's in one of the cities in France just to show they're anti-American. This is France who gave us the Statue of Liberty. Saints, we've got to be praying. We can't just think everybody up there in Washington will take care of it.

We're the only ones standing with Israel, and I believe that most of the blessings that are upon us are because we're standing with Israel. But now all these nations are turning against us and they're tightening the screws against us. How long will America stand for her principles? Will she bow? If she does, we're in big trouble. It's bad enough when you've got the devil after you, Al-Qaeda after you, and a bunch of crazy people after you, but don't get God mad at you.

If we turn on Israel, we're going to cause God to pull the hedge back even more. It's not so much that God is not blessing us; it's that He's pulled the hedge of protection back to let us see what would happen if we don't have the hedge around us. It was France that gave us that Statue of Liberty. Engraved on the bottom of that beautiful statue is this poem by Emma Lazarus: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

America is not only a city set on a hill that cannot be hid, but America is a golden door for all of those who yearn for liberty and freedom and to serve God in liberty and in truth. I want to talk about the golden door. I want to take you first to 1 Corinthians 16:9.