Originally published at: JUST A REMINDER OF WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE CELEBRATING
Just a reminder that America was not founded as a country with a caste system, political dynasties, and for the benefit only of the Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Biden famdamnlies, or the permanent federal bureaucracy: In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human…
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well. this Martin Luther King speech is something to behold of.
i really do hope that people over there (i am a Middle-European) will find this heart and courage again. we all need that, i think. here in Europe too.
we, Hungarians, have been fighting for liberty and justice for a 1000 years. we shed the blood, we paid our honors, we never forgot our ancestral history. many of the people from the Snake try to suck us dry, but we revived from generation to generation. Spirit is not a thing to be dismissed. It cures the sick, strengthens the bold, lifts the downtrodden to their feet. i believe, that contrary to all of our infights and quarrels (here on the forum as well) it is still our Lord Jesus’ Word that cleanses and blesses Us!
happy 4th of July to the united States of America!
God bless Us all!
Lit the candle 4 Independence. still burns. will burn.
And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’kindness yet,
For auld lang syne …
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Thank you, Dr. Farrell for posting that. I unexpectedly received a similar reminder yesterday during worship at our small, rural church outside a small town not far from the Ohio River. Understand that I am relatively new to the area and had not yet attended a July service. We typically sing from the hymnal with piano accompaniment.
I was dismayed to see that we would be singing “America the Beautiful.” The evil progressively poisoning our once-great country has produced a negative bias that I carry within me; in this case, I was immediately suspicious that someone had arrogantly selected a song that presumed God’s unending blessings on our nation despite the rampant wickedness.
As we segued from the familiar first verse to the second, my sour attitude evaporated in silent admonishment as I digested the words. Each of the stanzas clearly reflect the heart of the author who was inspired to write them during a trip to Pike’s Peak in 1893. Instead of arrogance, we have a hymn of godly admiration, appreciation and awe, that so well captures the Grace that God had indeed poured out upon America.
It was most befitting for us to hear and sing that hymn yesterday, and no one, including the preacher, made any pretense or offered any suggestion that we should expect blessings from God without genuine repentance.
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Oh beautiful for halcyon skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrims foot and knee!
Oh beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once and twice for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till selfish gain no longer strain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
-Katherine Lee Bates
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Boy that’s for sure… this long holiday weekend has driven my poor little Shiloh absolutely nuts
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I know Doctor. That’s why I commented like this. Give Shiloh the best in such moments, keep her busy with other things, keep her close to you, pet her, walk her. That will surely reduce her stress and thus she will not have permanent PTSD consequences. Be it weather disasters, fireworks or whatever else. She is and will remain your most faithful friend and companion. Take care of each other.Everything, and I mean everything else, can wait.
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This is good news on the freedom front.
“US District Court Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, determined Tuesday that the White House likely colluded with Big Tech to censor protected speech during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During … a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth,’” Doughty wrote in his 155-page order.”
The case:
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And don’t forget…the “unofficial” national anthem
A 24-year-old theological student, Samuel Francis Smith, penned these lines on a scrap of paper in less than 30 minutes in 1832.
“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” — William Penn
My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride,
From ev'ry mountain side let freedom ring!
My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love:
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills like that above.
Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song:
Let mortal tongues awake, let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.
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!
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Thank you, Joseph. This is so beautiful, yet so sad to see how far we have gone astray.
I currently live in Maryland, one of the 13 states.
Reading from our Family Geneology book, I see that on May 31, 1637, Peter Prudden sailed for New Enland with 15 families from his native Hertfordshire, my family among them. They landed in Boston, then split off with a small group to set up camp in New Haven, CT. as they went to work to settle nearby Milford, CT as “free planters” in 1639.
“Ship money” was a tax levied by King Charles I in 1636, and it led to widespread discontent. My ancestor cherished a rugged, individualistic hatred of the tax-collector, and his name was found on the “delinquent” lists when failing to pay tax in 1637 and 1638, and then in 1939 he was in Milford.
It seems that our family surname can be traced back to the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the first of the Plantagenet kings. What fun!
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