If we’re going to preserve the foundation of America, we have to preserve religion and morality—not only in our private lives and families, but also in business, education, and government.
One of the greatest influences in the founding of this nation and throughout its history has been the Bible.

• Over 257 idioms in the English language come from the Bible. (e.g.: “handwriting on the wall,” “nothing new under the sun,” “signs of the times,” “fly in the ointment”)
• Hollywood, high school drama departments, and Broadway all have movies/plays based on Shakespeare—and Shakespeare’s dialogue included over 2,000 Bible verses.
• Can you name the five Bible verses on which the free market economic system was based or the thirty New Testament verses on which the first amendment guaranteed the rights of religious conscience are based?
• The opening prayer session in Congress in September 1774 ran for two hours.
• Congress called the nation to prayer fifteen times during the American Revolution.
• By 1815, there were 1400 official government issued calls to prayer in America.
• Out of the 56 guys who signed the Declaration of Independence, 29 of them held what we call today seminary or Bible school degrees.

When America was founded, society believed that you should read through the Bible from cover to cover once a year. In fact, that’s what they did in public schools. Everyone knew the Bible so well, it was considered odd when someone didn’t know the Bible. The Bible was part of America; it shaped our economic system and our education. Our political leaders recognized the importance of the Bible:

• The Bible is the rock on which our republic rests. –Andrew Jackson
• The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and so entwined with our civic and our social life, it would be impossible for us to figure what life would be if these teachings were removed. –President Teddy Roosevelt
• With regard to the history contained in the Bible, it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. –President John Quincy Adams

If we took out of America the things that have been built by the Bible, you would not even recognize America today.

The scripture tells us in Psalm 33:12:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” America has been a blessed nation because people have made covenants with God and committed this nation to Him. They took what they understood out of scripture and tried to apply it; they wanted God involved in public affairs.

We’re also told in Psalms 11:

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The most important part of any structure is not what you can see; it’s what you can’t see. If America is going to endure, we have to preserve its foundations.

What are its foundations? In George Washington’s final address to the nation, he said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

If we’re going to preserve the foundation of America, we have to preserve religion and morality—not only in our private lives and families, but also in business, education, and government. Nothing is going to work well if you separate religion and morality from it.

In 1801, a man named Mathias Burnet spoke to the legislature in Connecticut. After he finished speaking to the entire state government assembled, he looked up in the balcony to all the citizens who had just voted these guys into office and he said, “To God and posterity, you’re accountable for your rights and your rulers. … Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up those rights and prostrating those institutions which your fathers delivered to you.”

You and I didn’t ask to be born in America, but God put us here. He’s trusted us with this nation and this government and told us to take care of it until He returns. We will answer to Him for how it turned out for us and our posterity (unborn generations yet to come).

Election time is a little over a week away. Whether it’s a vote for city council, the mayor, or the President of the United States, let’s be godly stewards of what God has given us. Vote for the candidates you believe will uphold the pillars of religion and morality in America. That is how we will stay strong as a nation.