Title:  I Love To Be Free

Submitted by
Wesley Byrd
E-mail WESB1045@aol.com

The Fathers of our land
Drew up a simple plan
For freedom and liberty
While walking on this sod
All men might know that God
Has blessed us and made us free
While holding fast
to that standard from the past
The dream, we know not all men share
We must shine our light
A beacon in the night
Displaying to the world that we care

CHORUS

God bless America, land of liberty
I love America, and I love to be free

We'll stand and proclaim
Mere mention of that name
That's blessed us, as days go by
Preserving for our sons
For each and everyone
The freedom, for which we die
With mighty hand, this nation dare stand
Declaring this right for one and all
Hearts filled with love
That comes from above
America will never, never fall

©Wesley Byrd 2003

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:  

Poems/I Love To Be Free

Title:  God's Delight

Submitted by Jim Preston
drjpreston@juno.com

Not serried ranks with flags unfurled,
Nor armored ships that gird the world,
Nor hoard wealth, nor busy mills,
Not cattle on a thousand hills,
Not sages wise, nor schools nor laws,
Not boasted deeds in freedom's cause -

All these may be and yet the State
In the eyes of God be far from great.
That land is great which knows the Lord,
Whose songs are guided by His Word.
Where justice rules 'twixt man and man,
Where love controls in art and plan,
Where breathing in his native air,
Each soul finds joy in praise and prayer.
Thus may our country, good and great,
Be God's delight - man's best estate.

Alexander Blackburn

Title:  Quotes

Submitted by: Jim Preston
drjpreston@juno.com

"Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it is redeemed spiritually.   It can  be saved only by becoming permeated with the Spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out of that Spirit."

Woodrow Wilson   1923

"We have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined that all things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.   Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

Abraham Lincoln

In the will of Patrick Henry who gave the famous speech on "Give me liberty or give me death" he wrote:

"I have now disposed of all my property to my family.  There is one thing more that I wish I could give to them That is the Christian religion.  If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that and i had given them the world, they would be poor."

Title:  On this Date

   On July 4, 1776, George III wrote in his diary, "Nothing of importance happened today." He, of course, had no way of knowing what had occurred that day 3,000 miles away in the colonies, in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in particular. Other things have happened on July 4. In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated. In 1754, George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to the French and Indians. In 1802, the United States Military Academy opened at West Point. In 1817, construction of the Erie Canal began. In 1821, slavery was abolished in New York State. In 1826, Stephen Foster was born and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died, and in 1831 James Monroe died. In 1845, Texas voted for annexation to the United States. In 1848, the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid. In 1862, on a historic (literally) cruise and picnic, Lewis Carroll made up the story of a little girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole and has wondrous adventures. In 1863, Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrendered to the Union army. In 1866, half of Portland, Maine, was destroyed by fire. In 1872, Calvin Coolidge was born. In 1884, the Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States by France. In 1946, the Philippines were granted their independence by the United States. In 1954, meat rationing ended in England (after 15 years). In 1976 the U.S. bicentennial was observed.

See:  Deut 32:7; Psa 143:5

Title:  What is Written

   Men through the centuries have inscribed on stone history, teachings, and revelations that have been considered significant to their lives. The Babylonians devised the Code of Hammurabi, a stone monolith of royal history. The Egyptians created the expansive hieroglyphics.
   The Americans and French placed the lone inscription, July 4, 1776 on the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty. But the most significant inscriptions ever placed on stone or parchment are found in Exodus 20, "And the Lord spoke all these words saying, Thou shalt..."

See:  Psa 119:6-11

Title:  Thomas Paine Quote

In 1776 Thomas Paine, American Revolution patriot and writer, wrote about the price of freedom:

   What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value.  Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.

source unknown

On September 1, 1939, Adolph Hitler launched his attack on Poland.  Then, in six short months, his armies rolled practically unopposed through Norway, Denmark, Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium.  In April 1940, he was ready to invade France.  The French believed, along with most military experts, that the Ger-man advance would be stopped at the French border. Helping the French were more than a quarter-million British soldiers - nearly the entire defensive force of England.

The French army was routed.  40 days after the German as-sault began, the Germans had advanced to within 15 miles of ul-timate victory, trapping nearly 500,000 French and British troops in the town of Dunkirk.  The British parliament was in a panic.  If the force at Dunkirk were lost, as seemed inevitable, Britain would be left defenseless. That was the situation on May 23, 1940.  500,000 troops waited at Dunkirk, expecting to be killed or imprisoned by the Germans.  But that day in England, the churches, supported by King George VI, their political leaders, and the nation's newspa-pers, issued a call for a national day of prayer to be held on Sun-day, May 26.

24 hours after the call for prayer went out, Adolph Hitler, to the amazement and dismay of his own generals, ordered his ar-mies to halt.  Two days later, on May 26, the people of England met to pray.  They poured into the churches to plead with God to spare their husbands, sons and fathers at Dunkirk.

At 7:00 o'clock that evening, an order was issued to attempt a desperate evacuation of Dunkirk.  Anything that could float was sent across the English Channel to rescue as many men as pos-sible.  And while the evacuation took place, Hitler's armies re-mained in place, allowing 336,000 Allied soldiers to be rescued.

To this day, it baffles the historians.  Hitler held victory in the palm of his hand, yet he prevented his troops from finishing the job.  Many have speculated on why Hitler held his soldiers at bay, but from a military perspective, none make any sense.  But there is, in light of the Word of God, a very plausible explanation.  In response to the prayers of a nation, the same God who parted the Red Sea and stopped the mouths of lions halted the armies of Hitler.

Many historians see Dunkirk as the turning point of World War II.  Hitler never regained his momentum.  And if Dunkirk was the turning point of the war, then the outcome of World War II was not ultimately determined by the entrance of the United States into the war or Hitler's foolish attack on Russia.  Hitler's defeat began when thousands of men and women fell to their knees before an Almighty God and asked Him to save their nation.

Title:  America The Beautiful

The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama.  Judge Moore was recently sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. After a lengthy appeal process the case has been dismissed and the Ten Commandments remain on display.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

America the Beautiful, or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride; I'm glad they'll never see.

Babies piled in dumpsters, Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty, your house is on the sand.

Our children wander aimlessly poisoned by cocaine,
Choosing to indulge their lusts, when God has said abstain.

From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love and a need to always pray.

So many worldly preachers tell lies about our Rock,
Saying God is going broke so they can fleece the flock.

We've kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool, and Heaven is His throne.

We've voted in a government that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges who throw reason out the door,

Too soft to place a killer in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby before he leaves the womb.

You think that God's not angry, that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait before His judgment comes?

How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do, but stem this evil tide?

If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face and mend our evil way:

Then God will hear from Heaven and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land and those who live within.

But, America the Beautiful, if you don't then you will see,
A sad but Holy God withdraw His hand from Thee.

~Judge Roy Moore

Submitted by J. Henry
Email - Jhenrytpm@aol.com

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British.

We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by please sending this to as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

--