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From the Founding Fathers to the present day, America’s identity has been shaped by Christian faith. As the nation turns 250, the call to prayer has never been more urgent.

The wife of John Adams, one of America’s brightest founding fathers, wrote in 1775,

“Even the devils ‘believe and tremble’, and I really believe they are more afraid of the Americans’ prayers than of their swords.”

Less than a year later, the Continental Congress would formally declare independence from Britain.

Thirteen former colonies under a tyrannical British king had revolted to become one nation under God.

What the Puritans established as a refuge from religious persecution in 1620 had become a cash cow for aristocrats with a lust for domination.

As Abigail Adams declared during the early days of the American Revolution,

“How is it possible that the love of Gain and the Lust of domination should render the Humane mind so callous to every principle of honour, Generosity and Benevolence?”

To this she added,

“May that day be far distant from America when trade’s unfeeling train shall usurp this land and dispossess the Swain.”

Adams’ 1775 prayer for the fledgling nation petitions for an America free of tyranny.

A Nation Born in Prayer

George Washington would later cement a similar sentiment into America’s foundation. This was just as targeted at internal and external powers, and how that power is wielded.

On 26 November 1789, Washington designated a national day for “public prayer and thanksgiving.”

“It is the duty of all Nations,” he said, “to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour.”

America’s first president used his proclamation to direct the hearts and minds of every American citizen, past, present and emerging, to “the great Lord and Ruler of Nations.”

Under this guidance, the great General petitioned God to pardon America’s transgressions and “to render [the United States] Government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed.”

Washington recognised that chariots and horses of fire guide and guard a nation in a greater sense than horses of flesh and chariots of iron. (2 Kings 6)

Washington further formalised the establishment of a nation that knew that government as God was a government gone wrong.

This is a truth that Abraham Lincoln would later expand on, describing the United States at Gettysburg as being “for the people, by the people, of the people.”

Instead of revolution, Lincoln was leading a country embroiled in a “great civil war.”

Marking the battle, he too proclaimed,

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

One Nation Under God

This wasn’t just about uniting a nation split between two competing cultural and ideological identities.

The emerging moral battle line became a clear resolve to abolish slavery.

From two Great Awakenings, Indian wars, rumours of wars, past Reconstruction into the Industrial Revolution, Americans met the dawn of the 20^th century, flawed but still faithful.

True to the Spirit behind America’s pilgrims and pioneers, Woodrow Wilson stated in 1911 that “America was born a Christian nation.”

The man who would go on to serve as the United States President during World War I was also adamant that “if Americans would see America free and pure, they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Scripture.”

To this he added,

“Part of the destiny of America lies in [the] daily perusal of this great book of revelations.”

In 1917, Wilson leaned in harder. “The Bible is the Word of life,” he asserted.

“I beg that you read it and find this out for yourselves.”

America, imperfect as it is, has sown into its national identity the imperative to seek God and be Holy as He is Holy.

Wilson’s contemporary and former President and Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was as ardent, stating in 1901, that,

“The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally — I do not mean figuratively, I mean literally — impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed.”

Throughout the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover leaned on the same directive.

Hoover’s presidency spoke in quieter tones, yet still asserted the importance of America’s inherent Christian character.

His Thanksgiving proclamation on 5 November 1929, for example, pays tribute to the faith of the nation’s forebears.

On 6 June 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) D-Day invasion announcement was a prayer, devoid of platitudes.

“In this poignant hour,’ he said, “I ask you to join with me in prayer.”

“O Lord, give us Faith,” FDR prayed, “Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled.”

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.”

90% of FDR’s entire 586-word speech is to a power far greater than the might of the entire American military industrial complex combined.

These biblical Christian foundations permeated the era of Truman, Eisenhower, and even Kennedy.

Flawed but Faithful

Exemplifying the flawed, but faithful theme, America’s foundations appeared to waver throughout Vietnam, the numerous assassinations on Lyndon Johnson’s watch and the mistakes of Nixon.

If Christian Jimmy Carter fumbled the ball, Christian Ronald Reagan picked it back up again.

Reagan’s cultural commentary, political speeches, and eventual presidency, which began in 1963 with A Time for Choosing, ended the Cold War.

After a resurgence of Biblical Christianity, which included Billy Graham, the Jesus Revolution, the rise of Evangelicalism, and Contemporary Christian Music, America still led the way.

Today, the results of Clinton, Bush, and Obama giving the religion of secularism the right of way have split the American nation in two again.

The poster boys for these two emerging cultural and ideological identities have been Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Instead of North vs South, it’s neighbour vs neighbour. Instead of truth vs. falsehood, it’s left vs. right, black vs. white.

It’s this very precipice that summons us with urgency to pray and intercede, with thanksgiving, for the soul of this Christian nation.

The Soul of a Nation at the Crossroads

On 17 May, America will rededicate itself to Almighty God and the fervent faith of its forebears.

Such as John and Abigail Adams, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jnr., Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham.

This prayer event marks 250 years of an imperfect Christian heritage.

This heritage is as rich in depth and the process of sanctification, as it is haunted by times of deep depravity, conflict, crisis, compromise and applause for sin.

All of that goes to testify to Paul’s exposition about the weapons and nature of our warfare. (Ephesians 6)

Responding to this momentous Kairos moment, The Canberra Declaration (CD) is adding 17 May to its annual intercession for the United States.

Known as USA72AUSPRAY, this will be the 14^th time since 2013 that CD has gathered to specifically pray for the land of the free and home of the brave.

Answer the Canberra Declaration’s call to prayer here.

Found out more here:

God Bless America!

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Image courtesy of Adobe.