MEMORIAL DAY – GOD BLESS AMERICA



MEMORIAL DAY

Samuel Ling

The program was ending on TV. My eyes were tearing up as I watched the members of the United States armed forces stand up and be recognized as the National Symphony Orchestra played in the background. Members of the Chiefs of Staff came on the stage and saluted. Then, across the great lawn, they stood up one by one to be counted: African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic; women, men and children; young and old; Coast Guard, Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Army. These individuals have either served, or their spouses are currently serving, or some of their loved ones died for the country.

The scene: Washington, D.C., near the U.S. Congress. The occasion: the Tenth Annual Memorial Day Concert. The program: a television broadcast on public TV.

The concert ended with the singing of “God Bless America.” My heart was stirred.

Why do I care?

I am Chinese by ancestry; my family came to the United States when I was fourteen years old. I have spent more years in the United States than in any other place on earth (Hong Kong was my home during my childhood). I am American; I am Chinese; I am a born-again Christian minister of the gospel.

I am an American citizen. The United States is where I pay taxes and receive my passport for travel. My country is not perfect. It is filled with problems. Today, the church in the United States is fighting for any chance to impact this post-Christian, pagan culture with Biblical moral values. Today, high school students can kill their friends in the cafeteria and library. Today, doctors can kill patients. Today, Satan worship is practiced freely in America. America needs help; America needs prayer and biblical preaching from Christians around the world, especially in the Two-Third World.

The United States is engaged in a war of words with China. The United States is also maintaining order for the sake of the world – not always appreciated and not always warranted. In many ways, because many Americans have abandoned the God of the Bible, the United States does not know her place in the world, nor does she know how to act in the world.

But America is my home. And I am grateful for this adopted home of mine.

The United States armed forces are not always appreciated. I went to college during the Vietnam War, and since I had dedicated my life to go to seminary for full-time ministry, I did not have to serve in the military. Many of my schoolmates criticized the United States for their involvement in Vietnam and openly ridiculed the armed forces.

The founders of America were not all Bible-believing Christians. Some individuals were, like Dr. John Witherspoon, president of Princeton University and a Presbyterian minister during the Revolutionary War (1776). Princeton University was a battlefield during that war. Others were Deists (like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin), who only believed that God created the world; they did not believe in sin, salvation and miracles.

America was not founded purely on Christian principles. Yet she was an experiment in freedom and order, and she was an experiment in multi-cultural coexistence. Today, Christians still have an opportunity in America, albeit within certain limits, to preach the gospel. No, Americans do not enjoy full religious freedom any more; sometimes Christians are harassed for standing up for their faith. But the freedom that we enjoy here is still much broader than in some other countries.

Yes, American history included a long period of slavery and racial prejudice: Japanese-Americans were sent to concentration camps; Chinese-Americans were denied the option of bringing their families here (1882-1943); Native Americans suffered more cruel fates. But there is still opportunity for God-fearing Christians to bless America. By standing firm on the Bible as being the inerrant inspired Word of God, we can proclaim with our lives and our words that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of sinners, of whatever race or background.

May God bless America with a profound change in values and attitudes. May our

generation seek the wisdom of God. May our children’s generation take America to a place in the twenty-first century, where love, tenderness and encouragement (hallmarks of the next generation) will join with justice, courage, faith, and genuine hope grounded in truth.

“From the mountains, through the Prairies, to the ocean white with foam… God bless America, my home sweet home.” And may God bless China, and every land, which needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, loud and clear.

“The Son of God goes forth to war … who follows in his train?”

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