As described in the Book of Genesis (15:18-21), the land promised by God to the Israelites came to be known as “The Promised Land.” Over the centuries, “The Promised Land” evolved into a catch-all epithet for any society ripe with promise and opportunity.  The United States of America was once “The Promised Land.”  This is obvious in our Declaration of Independence, which states, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that amongst these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The key words in that statement are “unalienable” and “Creator” (God).  Defined as “impossible to take away or give up,” the concept of “unalienable” laid the foundation of our Republic, a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people.  “Creator” describes a being far greater than us, the Supreme Being who fashioned this world and everything and everyone upon it.  For nearly 200 years, our government honored our unalienable rights and demonstrated our faith in God.  But in recent years, the fabric of our “Promised Land” has unraveled.

Where the Supreme Being once permeated our way of life, right down to our currency (“In God We Trust”), God has now been usurped by civil law.  Secular groups now challenge our religious freedoms, mounting concentrated attacks upon Christianity.  The Ten Commandments, whose principles form the basis of our law, have been removed from court houses.   Christians are no longer allowed to display The Cross or even humble Nativity scenes on public land.

Despite these facts, Congress still has a chaplain that opens sessions with a prayer!  That must surely be a slip, because the Supreme Court in the judicial branch of our government has ignored the tenets clearly spelled out in our Constitution.  The way the wind is blowing, the Supreme Court may change the unalienable rights bestowed upon us by our Creator.  If this occurs, the destruction of our “Promised Land,” of the land envisioned by our Founding Fathers, will come from within.  If it does, it won’t be the first time that a nation has committed the unthinkable.

In less than a century, Germany transformed itself from an aristocracy to a dictatorship.  Hitler’s “super race” and thirst for world domination sparked the torture and cold-blooded murder of six million Jewish people as well as three million Italians and Greeks, leading ultimately to World War ll.  This is what happens to a country when its people accept full control by government.

The America “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is rapidly becoming a government-controlled State.  The executive branch is assuming powers formerly controlled by Congress, as the rights of individual States are commandeered by the Federal government.  The precious freedoms we boast about are more rhetorical than cherished.  It’s starting to look like Springtime for Hitler again.

Our only defense is a vigilant citizenry to oversee government.  Such a citizenry will work to protect our God-given rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence.  This citizenry consists of me, you, our families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  It consists of communities defined not only by a geography that stretches from “sea to shining sea,” but by ideology.  Only when we band together can we preserve this land for ourselves as well as generations yet to come.