Forsyth Park Caller
July 2023
Pastor’s Corner
As we enter the month of July, our thoughts again turn to our nation and its birthday. I have been doing a series of messages about America’s Religious Heritage, using a book called One Nation Under God by Dr David Gibbs as a guide. We have looked at the Pilgrims and Puritans coming to America, dissenting with the Church of England (Anglican church-today the Episcopalian church) and searching for religious freedom.
We then looked at the Great Awakening, a time when the Holy Spirit of God moved across America in the 1700s. It started with the evangelist Jonathan Edwards and spread from New England to Georgia. Then came George Whitefield and like-minded pastors, together called the “Black-robed Regiment” who preached about religious liberty and how God has blessed us with our liberties. They referred to people such as John Locke; Montesquieu of France; and William Blackstone of England-and the future fathers of our country listened.
As I write this, I am preparing a message about the Declaration, our “national birth certificate”. Later we will look at both George Washington and how God blessed him, and finally Thomas Jefferson and the so-called “separation of church and state”. Our nation was founded upon Christian ideals and a strong belief in God. It is such a shame today we see our country turning away from both God and His commands for us. May we pray that God will continue to bless our great nation, and that people will open their eyes, and again love our flag; be filled with pride as they sing the National Anthem, and be able again to say with conviction “May God Bless America.”