Very often we are taught history as if it were predetermined, and if that way of teaching begins early enough and is sustained through our education, we begin to think that it had to have happened as it did. Any great past event could have gone off in any number of different directions for any number of different reasons. We should understand that history was never on a track. It was never preordained that it would turn out as it did. In our case it was I believe men of God or men lead of God who helped put down those immortal words that we live by today.
We think that there had to have been a Revolutionary War, that there had to have been a Declaration of Independence, that there had to have been a Constitution, but never was that so. Historical Characters who listen to God play an oh so important role.
Jefferson, Adams, George Washington—they didn’t walk around saying, “Isn’t this fascinating living in the past? They were living in the present, just as we do. The great difference is that it was their present, not ours. And just as we don’t know how things are going to turn out, they didn’t either.
We can know about the years that preceded us and about the people who preceded us. And if we love our country—if we love the blessings of a society that welcomes free speech, freedom of religion, and, most important of all, freedom to think for ourselves—then surely we ought to know how it came to be.
Wherever liberty has prospered so has the gospel. God is eminently the author of liberty. And just as we should know our historical heritage as an American - we ought to know the church history that has come before us. How often has Bro. Ward exhorted us to recall the history of the church lest it be repeated (holds up neck-tie). As we raise our children and impart our American and church history, may we be judged by our actions and come up worthy of being named an American and most importantly a Christian.