Our Christian Nation

The Book of Mormon declared the God of this land to be Jesus Christ,

Ether 2:8-12
8 And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.
9 And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.
10 For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.
11 And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God--that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.
12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written. (emphasis added)

Also, Lehi had this to add,

2 Ne 1:7
7 Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

It is also important to note that the Lord declared that he raised up our founding fathers that established our constitution,

D&C 101:80
80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I have up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

Below is an excellent response by a minister to President Obama's statement that we have never been a Christian Nation. I realize that this is a little late but it was just brought to my attention by a very good friend.

Hi, my name is Dutch Sheets, and I have a short but very important message to share with you.
President Obama has said twice now—in his inaugural address and on a recent trip to Europe
—that America is no longer a Christian nation. In fact he implied in his inaugural address that we never have been a Christian nation, that it was many faiths that shaped and defined who we are as America.

In a recent Newsweek magazine they basically agreed with our president. The headline read, “The End of Christian America.”
What are they and others really saying about America when they say we are not a Christian nation? In essence, they are saying we lost the culture war for America. They’re either saying that we never were a Christian nation, that we’ve always been a mix, or they’re saying maybe were at one point, but are no longer—this culture war is over and we are announcing Christianity has lost.

What is the truth about our roots as a nation? The following are a few quotes that demonstrate clearly what we were in the founding of this nation, and what our founding fathers and early leaders really wanted us to be.

The first one is from, of all places, the United States Supreme Court in 1892. “From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…that this is a Christian nation.” I guess the Supreme Court of that point in time did not agree with our current President. John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, said, “Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved Son.”
Is that a Christian statement? I believe it is.

Fisher Ames is the author of the first Amendment. (By the way, remember that the first Amendment is what the revisionists try to use saying our forefathers didn’t want Christianity influencing our government or anything in the public square.) Here is what the author of that first Amendment said: “Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book?” I don’t think he agreed with today’s version of separation.

John Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and our 2nd President, said this: “The general principles of which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity.” Our second president and signer of the Declaration of Independence certainly thought we were a Christian nation, founded upon Christian principles.

Here’s something that will really surprise many of you. This is a statement in the Handbook of Harvard University in 1642 called “The Rules and Precepts:” “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3)…and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.” Our educators today do not agree with it, but that
was in the handbook of Harvard University.

Here is one final quote and I want to read a portion of it to you: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, power, as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied, enriched, and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” Who made that powerful statement--some great preacher? A spiritual leader in our
nation, perhaps? A statement made even recently? No, that statement was made in 1863 by none other than President Abraham Lincoln. It was made during the Civil War when he called our nation to prayer and fasting, asking God for His help in that troubled time.

What our founding fathers and early leaders believed about God and this nation, and the connection there, is indisputable.

Why does our history matter? Why do our roots in this nation really matter? Why is it important to revisionists and secular humanists that they re-write and distort our history? You know, if it really didn’t matter what our history was, they wouldn’t bother to re-write it and distort it. I’m here to say to you that it matters much whether or not we were a Christian nation in our roots. Why--first of all, because God honors covenant. The Bible says he keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations. You’ll find leaders all throughout scripture, when calling upon God for his help and His mercy, basing it on covenant – promises made in the past between God and people. And when we call upon God, we have to call upon Him, at times (of course always based on scripture), based on the fact that we are honoring the covenant that we made with Him as a nation. Our history is also important because it demonstrates that God had a purpose in the founding of this nation. God was involved. Our forefathers knew that God was involved, and it demonstrates our Godly heritage that
our founding fathers believed in—that purpose and destiny--and dedicated this nation to it.

The liberals, humanists, and those who want to re-write our history, they don’t want you to know that God had a purpose in the founding of this nation and that our forefathers intended to honor that purpose. Our history also demonstrates that our founding fathers were influenced by God’s word and His ways when writing the Constitution and forming our government. Those who don’t like this and want to twist the meaning of our founding fathers and founding documents try to negate God’s influence by rewriting our history.

Is it important to know that in our roots we are a Christian nation and do have a God-given purpose and destiny? You better believe it is! We know that we were a Christian nation in our early days. We know what our founding fathers and early leaders wanted, but have the humanists, secularists, atheists, and revisionists really won this culture war? Are we, as Newsweek said, at the end of Christian America? No, they have not won the war! It is true that they have made great gains and, in many areas of our culture, they do currently rule: education, media, government, and so on.
And many in government—the President, Congress, Judges—are pulling out all the stops to remove anything and everything that would make us a Christian and godly nation. They are attacking biblical values and life.

President Obama, who voted for the right to finish taking the life of a baby born alive after a botched abortion and many in Congress, are trying to reverse every restriction ever placed on abortion through the Freedom of Choice Act. They are trying to pass legislation making it illegal, even
for churches, to refuse to hire an individual who violates their moral beliefs. They are trying to make doctors violate their consciences by forcing them to perform abortions. They want to remove tax deductions for you if you donate money to your church. They want to make it illegal for ministers to preach and quote scriptures calling various behaviors a sin. They are requiring you and me to fund abortions. Whether you know it or not, or like it or not, they are requiring you and me to fund abortions, even in other nations. The current administration and Congress have the most radical anti-Christian, anti-Bible agenda in the history of our nation. They are serious and they have pulled out all the stops. In essence they are saying, “We have won the culture war—now we are going to shove it down your throats.”