Who Is with You?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to 2 Kings 2-7 and a lesson titled “There Is a Prophet in Israel.” The following information introduced the lesson material. 

A prophet’s main mission is to teach and testify of the Savior Jesus Christ. Our record of the prophet Elisha, however, doesn’t include much of his teaching or testifying. What the record does include is the miracles Elisha performed, including raising a child from the dead (see 2 Kings 4:18-37), feeding a multitude with just a little food (see 2 Kings 4:42-44), and healing a leper (see 2 Kings 5:1-14). So while we don’t have Elisha’s words about Christ, we do have Elisha’s ministry and miracles, which do testify of Christ. They are powerful manifestations of the Lord’s life-giving, nourishing, and healing power. Miracles happen more often in our lives than we sometimes realize. To see them, we need to seek the faith Elisha had when he prayed on behalf of his fearful young servant: “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see” (2 Kings 6:17).

The scripture block for this week teaches four main principles, including the following: (1) God can work miracles in my life (2 Kings 2-6); (2) The Lord will fulfill His words given through His prophets (2 Kings 4:8-17; 7:1-16); (3) As I am humble and obedient, Jesus Christ can heal me

(2 Kings 5); (4) “They that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:8-23). This essay will discuss the last principle about those who are with us being more. First, we will study the scripture verses (2 Kings 6:8-18).

8 ¶ Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

9 And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.

10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?

12 And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

13 ¶ And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

Even though I try to follow Christ, there are times in my life when I feel outnumbered and fearful, much like the young servant of Elisha. I remember this experience of Elisha and his young servant, and I try to stay faithful in difficult circumstances. Sometimes it helps to make a list of those people who are in my life and support me. It helps to remember that God has probably placed me in the lives of other people to help them.

President Henry B. Eyring taught the following about this scripture story: “Like that servant of Elisha, there are more with you than those you can see opposed to you. Some who are with you will be invisible to your mortal eyes. The Lord will bear you up and will at times do it by calling others to stand with you” (“O Ye That Embark,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 58). 

In Doctrine and Covenants 84:88, the Lord describes the support that He offers to us: “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” Consider times when you felt the Lord supporting you. You might also consider this question: What does God want me to see?

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles referred to the story in 2 Kings 6:8-23 when he said the following:

We may or may not have chariots of fire sent to dispel our fears and conquer our demons, but the lesson is clear. The Lord is with us, mindful of us and blessing us in ways only He can do. Prayer can call down the strength and the revelation that we need to center our thoughts on Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. The Lord knew that at times we would feel fear. I have been there and so have you. … In this Church we may be few in number by the way the world counts influence, but when we open our spiritual eyes, ‘they that be with us are more than they that be with them’ [2 Kings 6:16]” (“Be Not Troubled,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 18, 19). 

Since God has probably placed people within your sphere of influence, how would you use these words to help those who feel anxious or afraid?

How Can Families Be Strengthened?

Families are stronger when “responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere … promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”). Strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. 

The above referenced proclamation was read by President Gordon B Hinckley, as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was later published by the Church of Jesus Christ.

While researching information on strengthening families, I found a web site sponsored by the State of Alaska, Department of Family and Community Services. The web site is titled “Strengthening Families Alaska.” 

According to the web site, Strengthening Families Alaska “is a research-informed, strength-based approach to helping families reduce stress, address risk factors, and promote healthy development.” The site continues: “The overarching goal is the promotion of child and family well-being .. based on engaging families, programs and communities in building five protective factors that help families succeed and strive, even in the face of risk and challenges.”

The Strengthening Families approach

·       Benefits ALL families and communities

·       Builds on family strengths, buffers risk, and promotes better outcomes

·       Can be implemented through small but significant changes in everyday actions

·       Builds on and can become a part of existing programs, strategies, systems and community opportunities

·       Is grounded in research, practice and implementation knowledge

What is special about this approach?

Communities, providers, and families can embed five protective factors seamlessly into their ongoing work to the benefit of families and children. Five Protective Factors are the foundation of the Strengthening Families Approach…. Research studies support the common-sense notion that when these Protective Factors are well established in a family, the likelihood of child abuse and neglect diminishes. Research shows that these Protective Factors are also “promotive” factors that build family strengths and a family environment that promotes optimal child and youth development.

Protective Factors

The Center for the Study of Social Policy initially spent two years researching and identifying five protective factors that prevent child abuse and neglect. Since the introduction of the Strengthening Families approach, the research base that originally informed the development of the protective factors framework, as well as scientific advances in various disciplines, has burgeoned. These advances in knowledge have deepened the understanding about child development and behavior, the developmental impacts of trauma, and the pathways to child and family well-being…. The five protective factors associated in research that are related to the prevention of child maltreatment are:

·       For adults:

§  Parental resilience

§  Social connections

§  Knowledge of parenting and child development

§  Concrete support in times of need

·       For children:

§  Healthy social and emotional development

What Is the First Freedom and Why Is It Essential?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that “religious freedom undergirds the very existence of America.” President Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints authored an essay about the First Amendment, moral absolutes, and why the Constitution was created for a religious people. The essay was published at the Deseret News and was adapted from an earlier address given at Chapman University School of Law. 

Here is a note from the Editor: The centrality of religious freedom to the revelatory nature of America’s founding is why we’ve curated seminal selections on this first freedom in honor of America’s 250^th anniversary. These essays highlight the critical role faith played and continue to play in living out the inherent truths of the Declaration of Independence.

The first provision in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution is what many believe to be its most important guarantee. It reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

For almost a century, the First Amendment’s guarantee that the United States shall have “no law (prohibiting) the free exercise (of religious)” has been understood as a limitation on state as well as federal power. The guarantee of religious freedom is one of the supremely important founding principles in the United States Constitution, and it is reflected in the constitutions of all 50 of our states.

As noted by many, the guarantee’s “pre-eminent place” as the first expression in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution identifies freedom of religion as “a cornerstone of American democracy.” The American Colonies were originally settled by people who, for the most part, came to this continent for the freedom to practice their religious faith without persecution, and their successors deliberately placed religious freedom first in the nation’s Bill of Rights.

So it is that our federal law formally declares: “The right to freedom of religion undergirds the very origin and existence of the United States,” So it is, I maintain, that in our nation’s founding and in our constitutional order, religious freedom and its associated First Amendment freedoms of speech and press are the motivating and dominating civil liberties and civil rights. Religious teachings and religious organizations are valuable and important to our free society and therefore deserve special legal protection.

Our nation’s inimitable private sector of charitable works originated and is still furthered most significantly by religious impulses and religious organizations…. Religious beliefs instill patterns of altruistic behavior.

Many of the great moral advances in Western society have been motivated by religious principles and moved through the public square by pulpit-preaching. The abolition of the slave trade in England and the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States … were driven primarily by individuals who had a clear vision of what was morally right and what was morally wrong. In our time, the Civil Rights Movement was, of course, inspired and furthered by religious leaders.

Religion also strengthens our nation in terms of honesty and integrity. Modern science and technology have given us remarkable devices, but we are frequently reminded that their operation in our economic system and the resulting prosperity of our nation rest on the honesty of the men and women who use them…. These standards and practices of honesty and integrity rest, ultimately, on our ideas of right and wrong, which, for most of us, are ground in principles of religion and the teachings of religious leaders.

Our society is not held together just by law and its enforcement, but most importantly by voluntary obedience to the unenforceable and by widespread adherence to unwritten norms of right or righteous behavior. Religious belief in right and wrong is a vital influence to advocate and persuade such voluntary compliance by a large proportion of our citizens.

Others, of course, have a moral compass not expressly grounded in religion….

My final example of the importance of religion in our country concerns the origin of the Constitution. Its formation over 200 years ago was made possible by religious principles of human worth and dignity, and only those principles in the hearts of a majority of our diverse population can sustain that Constitution today. I submit that religious values and political realities are so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of religion in our public life without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms.

The founders who established this nation believed in God and in the existence of moral absolutes – right and wrong – established by this Ultimate Lawgiver. The Constitution they established assumed and relied on morality in the actions of its citizens. Where did that morality come from and how was it to be retained? Belief in God and the consequent reality of right and wrong was taught by religious leaders in churches and synagogues, and the founders gave us the First Amendment to preserve that foundation for the Constitution.

The preservation of religious freedom in our nation depends on the value we attach to the teachings of right and wrong in our churches, synagogues and mosques. It is faith in God that translates these religious teachings into the moral behavior that benefits the nation.

Articles of Faith: What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Godhead 4?

 

Article of Faith 1

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ,

                                and in the Holy Ghost.

 

This is the fourth article on the Godhead in my series on the Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The past few weeks, I discussed a statement by the Prophet Joseph Smith in a lecture on faith titled “The Character of God.” Early in the lecture, he shared three things that are necessary to have faith in God strong enough to lead to salvation. The statement is important enough to repeat in this discussion. 

Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.

First, The idea that he actually exists.

Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.

Thirdly, An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to his will. — For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding, it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Two weeks ago, I discussed the personality of each member of the Godhead, or Trinity. Last week, I used the words of Elder James E. Talmage to share some of the divine attributes of the Godhead (The Articles of Faith [1890], pp. 42-44). This week, I will share the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 45-50) to discuss how God is or can be known to everyone.

1. God is known by instinct.

All men are spirit children of God the Eternal Father. In the premortal life we all dwelt in his presence, saw his face, and heard his voice. We were as well acquainted with him in that day as we are with our earthly fathers in this. The spirit within us is the offspring of God. Now housed in a tabernacle of clay, it is the intelligent, sentient, believing, knowing part of the human personality. The mind of man is in the spirit.

The probationary nature of our mortal estate calls for us to forget the life we lived and the experiences we had when we dwelt in the courts of the Eternal King. But it does not divest us of the spiritual and mental talents we acquired while in that eternal world. We are born into mortality with every innate capacity, every instinct to believe truth and cleave unto light, every faculty and ability with which we were then endowed.

Further, as part of life itself, all mortals are endowed with a heavenly gift called the light of Christ. This divine endowment manifests to us the difference between good and evil. We do not need to be taught what is right and wrong. This knowledge is bred in our bones; it is hereditary; it is innate, inborn, and intuitional in nature. Call it conscience, if you will, say that it is a divine inheritance from a Divine Parent; identify it as a spark of divinity sent by Deity to fire the soul with the flames of righteousness; call it the Spirit of Christ – it has many names. But what counts is that it is real. It is “the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (D&C 93:2.) Of it Mormon said: “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.” (Moroni 7:16.) In a revelation to Joseph Smith the Lord called it “the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world.” All receive a divine inheritance at birth. It is a free gift as far as any act performed in mortality is concerned….

2. God is known by reason.

Man’s instinctive belief in God and his inborn desire to worship a Supreme Being is strengthened by reason. The seeds of belief are watered from the wells of reason, and the tree of faith soon sprouts in the believing soul. And the more man learns about himself and all the mysteries and marvels of the human body; the more he knows about life in all its forms and varieties; the greater his knowledge becomes about the planets and suns that sweep through the starry heavens – the more he knows about all things, the clearer it becomes to him that there is a divine hand, an omnipotent power, a supreme person, a ruling law that first created and now governs all that is. Truly, all things attest that there is an Almighty God. “All things denote there is a God,” Alma said, “yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea and all the planets which move in their regular form do witness there is a Supreme Creator.” (Alma 30:44.)

But seeking God by reason alone and through intellectual processes without more is fraught with peril. It is easy for a rational mind to see order in the system of creation and to learn of the laws by which worlds and galaxies are controlled. There are evidences of design on every hand; cause and effect operate in the animal and vegetable kingdoms as well as with the rocks and the rains. The peril lies in assuming that the laws and powers are God, in worshipping and serving “the creature more than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25.)

Neither instinct nor reason, nor the two combined, sets forth the nature and kind of being whom men must worship to gain salvation. Both simply lay a foundation and chart a course leading to a knowledge of the true and living God. Every rational person knows there is some supreme power, some first great cause, some omnipotent force in the universe. The reasoning step that follows this recognition is that the design is not the designer, the contrivance is not the contriver, the law and power are not the being by whom these came. The existence of created things simply bears witness that there is a Creator….

3. God is known through history and tradition.

Because God created man in his own image and likeness and placed him on earth as an essential requirement for gaining salvation, because salvation is gained through a knowledge of God and an obedience to the laws of his gospel, and because eternal life itself consists of knowing the Father and the Son, it follows that God must in necessity reveal himself and his laws to man. This he did. Adam our father, the first man of all men, the primal parent of the human race, received a knowledge of God by revelation. God the Eternal Father walked and talked with him in the Garden of Eden; the Lord Jehovah appeared to him after the fall; and from angelic ministrants and by the gift of the Holy Ghost he learned the saving truths of the gospel. This was the beginning of the knowledge of the true God among man. “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.” (Moses 5:12.)

Adam is the pattern. He stands as earth’s first prophet, and among his righteous descendants a host of prophets are numbered. At least eight generations of descendants lived to hear his teachings. Presiding high priests representing seven of these generations (Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah) were all with him at Adam-ondi-Ahman when the Lord Jehovah appeared and ministered among them. (D&C 107:53-55.) To see and commune with either the Father or the Son is to know them both, for hey are in the express image of each other and are one in all they do….

4. God is known by revelation.

Though every man in his inner being, by instinct and in the very marrow of his soul, knows there is a God; though logic and sense and reason, and the persuasive voice of nature, and the thunderous trumpet of creation, all bear witness that there is a God; though the voice of our fathers, carried to us by history and tradition, speaks the common consensus of all men that there is a God --- yet, in the final and supreme sense, there is only one way to know God. That way is by revelation. Where religion and divine beings are concerned, we are in the realm not of the mind and of the human senses, but of the Spirit. God stands revealed or he remains forever unknown. The Holy Ghost is a revelator. His mission is to reveal truth and to bear witness of the Father and the Son. There is no other way to gain knowledge of the true and living God; revelation alone is the source of that perfect wisdom….

“How do men obtain a knowledge of the glory of God, his perfections and attributes?” the Prophet [Joseph Smith] asked. His answer: “By devoting themselves to his service, through prayer and supplication incessantly strengthening their faith in him, until, like Enoch, the brother of Jared, and Moses, they obtain a manifestation of God to themselves.” (Lectures on Faith 2, Questions and Answers.) “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.” (D&C 93:1.)

What Will Democratic Socialists Do to the Political Picture?

Democratic Socialists are in the process of taking control of the Democratic Party. First, there were Senator Bernie Sanders and “the squad” in the US House of Representatives. Then Zohran Mamdani was elected to be the mayor of New York City. Last week, Colorado Democrats chose a Democratic Socialist to be the Democrat nominee for Congress. There is a definite movement towards Communism, which Michael Freund discusses in his article published in The Daily Signal. 

Every political movement eventually reveals what it truly believes. And when it does, voters have a choice to make.

For years, Americans were told that the radical Left was little more than a noisy fringe, loud on social media but marginal in real life. That claim is now hard to sustain. Candidates aligned with or inspired by the Democratic Socialists of America are winning elections, shaping debates, and pulling the Democratic Party further from the mainstream. As Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., recently warned, “There are many Mamdanis popping up,” in reference to New York City’s far-left mayor.

For Republicans, this is not only a warning sign. It is also an opportunity.

The rise of the DSA and the broader radical Left has created a widening gap between the Democratic Party’s activist base and many of its traditional voters. Millions of Americans who long considered themselves Democrats are discovering that the party is no longer the same as the one they joined.

Political realignments begin when voters feel that their old political homes no longer reflect their values, concerns, or common sense. That is how Reagan Democrats emerged in the 1980s. It is how many blue-collar voters drifted away from a Democratic Party that seemed more interested in elite cultural causes than working families. As Ronald Reagan himself once quipped, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.”

A similar opening may now be developing.

Many Jewish voters, for example, have supported Democrats for generations out of habit, conviction, and a belief that the party stood firmly against bigotry. But especially since the Hamas massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many of them have watched with unease and horror as anti-Israel activism and outright antisemitism became more prominent in progressive politics. They have seen Jewish students harassed on campuses, anti-Zionist rhetoric treated as fashionable, and too many elected officials speak with moral ambiguity about Hamas when clarity was required.

For many American Jews, this has been a painful awakening.

Republicans should not assume that Jewish voters will abandon a century of voting patterns overnight. But they should recognize that a door has opened. The GOP can make the case that it is the party most committed to defending Israel, combating antisemitism, protecting religious liberty, and preserving the freedoms that have allowed Jewish life in America to flourish.

But Jewish voters are only one part of a much larger political story. Across the country, millions of moderate Democrats increasingly feel politically homeless.

They have never thought of themselves as conservatives, but they do believe in public safety. They want police to be supported, not vilified. They believe parents should have a meaningful voice in their children’s education. They want a strong economy, affordable energy, secure borders, and a government that lives within reasonable limits.

They do not wake up thinking about revolutionary politics. They just want normalcy, stability, opportunity, and a country they can proudly pass on to their children.

These voters are not unreachable. But they must be reached.

That requires persuasion.

Republicans need to speak to disaffected Democrats in a language that invites rather than alienates. Joining the GOP does not require having voted Republican one’s entire life. It does not require abandoning compassion, concern for the poor, or civic responsibility. It only requires recognizing that the supposedly good intentions of Democrats are no substitute for sound policy, and that a free society cannot survive if every institution is captured by ideology.

The GOP should become the natural home for Americans who believe in ordered liberty, economic opportunity, strong families, religious freedom, public safety, and patriotism without apology.

Reaching these people means showing up in communities Republicans have too often written off. It means speaking directly to Jewish voters and independents in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and even California. It means addressing suburban parents ignored by school bureaucracies. It means talking to working-class Democrats who believe their party now cares more about academic slogans than grocery bills, crime, housing, and wages.

Most of all, it means offering a positive vision.

Voters rarely switch parties due to anger alone. They switch when they believe there is somewhere better to go.

Republicans should resist making this moment only about what the Left has become. They must also explain what the Right has to offer: a country where hard work is rewarded, children are taught to love America, religious communities are respected, streets are safe, allies are defended, and government serves the people.

When one party moves too far from the center of gravity of the American people, the other has a chance to build a new majority.

But that opportunity will not seize itself.

The rise of the DSA is bad for the Democratic Party and dangerous for the country. But it may also become the catalyst for a broader Republican coalition – one that brings together conservatives, Jews alarmed by antisemitism, moderates tired of extremism, parents fighting for their children, and traditional Democrats who still believe in the promise of America.

The radical left is pushing them away. Republicans should now act to welcome them in.

 

What Is the Connection Between Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence?

My VIP for this week is President Abraham Lincoln and his connection to the Declaration of Independence. According to Justin Collings in his article titled “Lincoln transformed the Declaration of Independence” published in the Deseret News, “Lincoln placed the Declaration’s ideals at the moral heart of America – and he was willing to defend them in the name of ‘all men.’” Collings wrote, “Abraham Lincoln arguably advanced the cause of the Declaration of Independence more than any other American – even the Declaration’s author.

The setting was as symbolic as the moment was tense.

On February 22, 1861, a crowd gathered in Philadelphia’s Independence Square for a flag-raising ceremony in honor of George Washington’s birthday. The speaker – tall and gangly, with a craggy visage and a high-pitched voice – was Abraham Lincoln, president-elect of the United States.

Over the previous nine weeks, seven Southern states had seeded from the Union. Many feared that more would follow. Before exiting the south entrance of Independence Hall for the ceremony, Lincoln spent a few reflective moments in the Assembly Room – the storied space where the Declaration of Independence had been signed and where the Constitution had been crafted.

Perhaps he thought of Thomas Jefferson, who had composed the declaration’s first draft, or of Washington, who had done more than any other to secure independence on the fields of battle and to establish the Constitution in the councils of state. Liberty and union – these were the high ideals that Lincoln had long championed.

These were the principles that secession imperiled.

Lincoln stood on a temporary wooden platform draped in bunting. As he looked out over the crowd, Independence Hall – the shrine of the founding – stood behind him. The future before him was profoundly uncertain; the prospect of national ruin was real. He spoke without notes.

The setting all but compelled Lincoln to speak about the Declaration of Independence. What surprised his audience was not the subject he chose, but the fervor with which he addressed it.

“I have never,” he intoned, “had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” Rather than surrender the declaration’s core principles, he continued, “I would rather be assassinated on this spot.”

These were not idle words at a time when the risk of assassination was clear, present and pervasive. Lincoln summarized the declaration’s principles as an overarching commitment to “liberty for all.” The stakes of secession’s threat to those principles were colossal – almost cosmic.

Accordingly, Lincoln affirmed and extolled “that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men.”

Lincoln was not exaggerating when he said that the whole of his political thought derived from the Declaration of Independence. For Lincoln, the declaration was more than revolutionary.

To Lincoln, the declaration was the “apple of gold”; the Constitution and Union were the “picture of silver” framed around it. Lincoln’s life and thought present an extended commentary, in word and deed, on the declaration’s key clauses. It is the richest and most consequential commentary in our history.

The principle of liberty “clears the path for all; gives hope to all, and, by consequence, enterprise and industry to all.” – Abraham Lincoln

It is a commentary worth revisiting as we commemorate our national semiquincentennial – the declaration’s 250^th birthday. For Lincoln not only expounded the declaration; he transfigured it. When we celebrate the declaration this year, it is Lincoln’s declaration that we honor.

Lincoln’s understanding of the declaration evolved over time, finding its fullest formulation in his most canonical statements – the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural speech.  Intriguingly, the textual arc of his understanding proceeded in reverse, emphasizing the declaration’s sonorous clauses in the opposite order from how they appear in the text….

  

Why Are Christian Roots Essential to Return America to Greatness?

The discussion for this Constitution Monday focuses on America’s 250^th birthday and restoring America to greatness. Americans and friends of America celebrated 250 years sine the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, America’s official birthday. However, the celebration will continue until the end of 2026. Many columns and posts are written about this birthday, including an interesting piece authored by Victor Joecks. 

The pages of tomorrow’s history are written by today’s decisions.

History is littered with failed republics and democracies. The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire. Democracy in ancient Greece turned into an aristocracy.

This didn’t just happen in ancient history. In 1961, a new constitution in Venezuela divided the government into three branches. But in 1999, Hugo Chavez swept to power and rewrote the country’s constitution. He eventually became a dictator.

The Founding Fathers were well aware of the fleeting nature of our form of government. In 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

For context, in Federalist 39, former President James Madison defined a republic as “a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people; and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.”

The term “democratic republic” references the role that popular elections play in selecting some of our leaders. But the Founding Fathers held a much dimmer view of democracy by itself. In Federalist 10, Madison observed that democracies “have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

Even as America celebrates her 250^th birthday, there are plenty of reasons to wonder about the country’s future. America has abandoned her Christian heritage. Government0funded schools teach children to hate America and Western Civilization more broadly. Birth rates have generally been below replacement level for decades.

You can see the fruit of those trends. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democrat congressional nominee from New York City, founded a group that seeks “the total eradication of Western Civilization.” Chants of “Death to America” have rung out on college campuses and the streets of New York City. Muslims are openly plotting to turn America into a Muslim country.

But concerning trends are not outcomes. Americans still have the freedom and ability to change course. The most important thing is for America to return to her Christian roots. Listen to our Founding Fathers, not the misinformation taught in most modern history classes.

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” Thomas Jefferson wrote. A version of that quote is on the Jefferson Memorial.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,” George Washington said in his farewell address. “In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”

You can’t force people to become Christians. But students should learn historical truths, not skewed leftist narratives. Institutions should also elevate and honor other pillars of America’s past – like the ideas of Western Civilization and the family.

Part of this requires political action. You can’t win the war of ideas when the government subsidizes the losing side. America needs leaders who will act vigorously to defend America’s values. That includes deporting immigrants who hate America.

But it also requires individual action. Pray for your country. Urge your friends to vote. Use whatever influence you have to advance these ideas. Send your grandchild a great work of literature and talk about a chapter a week. Revive the lost art of matchmaking to encourage one more marriage. Offer the practical help, like watching kids or helping buy a home, that could help a responsible young couple have one more child.

A few of those choices would make headlines. Most wouldn’t. But every one of them would help restore America’s greatness.