By W.H. Lamb
Category: W.H. Lamb

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” - Psalm 107:1-2  (KJV)

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good: his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.” - Psalm 107:1-2  (NIV)

Rev. D. James Kennedy )1930-2007). Christian Patriot Extraordinaire!
Rev. D. James Kennedy )1930-2007). Christian Patriot Extraordinaire!

One of my great “Heroes of the Christian Faith”—a man who I admired for decades--was the late Rev. Dr. D. James Kennedy (1930-2007), Founder and long time Pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Founder of Evangelism Explosion International (the first Bible ministry to be established in EVERY nation and territory on the planet).  For many years he was Chancellor of Knox Theological Seminary, and was the Founder of the Center For Christian Statesmanship in Washington, D.C.  He was also the Founder of theCenter For Reclaiming America, a nationwide network of Christian activists and Bible believers  whose goal was to restore virtue to American culture.

Dr. Kennedy also founded Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale to assist Christians with the increasingly serious need for quality Christian education.  He also started a Christian radio station in Fort Lauderdale, WAFG.  He was also the author of a great number of Biblically and patriotically oriented books, many of which I have read.  He had NINE university degrees, including several doctoral/PHD degrees, ALL of which were EARNED, not ‘conferred’ on him!  One wonders what Dr. Kennedy did in his “spare” time.  Hah!  When Dr. Kennedy spoke, people listened and learned.  I know that I did.  How I miss his wisdom, his guidance, his patriotism, and his Christian statesmanship.  Had he lived in colonial times prior to our first American Revolution, he would surely have been counted among the “Black-robed Regiment”, and rightly so!

If you are familiar at all with Dr. Kennedy’s life and accomplishments, you know that he was also a humble American patriot, not an extreme “nationalist”, a man who loved his nation and its founding principles, but who increasingly regretted what Americans—including American Christians—had cavalierly allowed to happen to our once strong and honorable constitutional republic.  He often reminded his 10,000 members of Coral Ridge Church, plus the untold millions who listened to his radio and TV sermons and broadcasts (including my wife and I), that it was easy to blame the pagans, the non-Christians, the luke-warm Christians, the progressive/leftist followers of Satan, for all of the problems that are attacking our nation.  But when he, and other Bible-believing pastors strongly accused true Christians, including those who call themselves “patriots”, of being the ones who were MAINLY to blame for allowing our nation to teeter on the edge of a collectivist Hell, one often heard “crickets” from them.  Guilt can be a strong “silencer” for sure.  I knew at those times that Dr. Kennedy might be speaking to others, but I shriveled inside when I admitted that he was referring to ME. 

If you log onto djkministries.com, you’ll see a large number of Dr. Kennedy’s old recorded Coral Ridge sermons, all of which are amazing.  My wife and I watch at least one of them every week, along with the ministry’s weekly  TV broadcast, “Truths That Transform”, an excellent program itself.  One of his old sermons that we came across was titled, “REMEMBER”, which he delivered years ago on a Memorial Day weekend.  I’m going to base this article on that message from Dr. Kennedy, using my words as much as possible, but using his words or paraphrasing them whenever I must.  Admittedly I’ll be copying them from his printed sermon that day, because I can never match his eloquence and brilliance.  I’ll try to communicate his thoughts from that memorable sermon and do honor to his memory.

AMERICA:  THE FIRST NATION WITH FULL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

I’ve written before, here in The Times Examiner, about God’s “Providence” for mankind in general and for His people in particular.  Dr. Kennedy often reminded his listeners that our nation, the U.S.A., was unique “because this was the first nation in the history of this planet that had freedom of religion”.  Many people then, as now, failed to realize that truth, as though religious freedom was commonplace.  It wasn’t then, and it still is NOT.  Religious tyranny was the common lot of mankind over most of humanity’s troubled and barbaric history.  A few nations, such as Great Britain and The Netherlands, slowly began to promote some degree of religious tolerance (not total), but only here in America did people experience full religious freedom for the first time in history! 

Once a year, on Memorial Day, we as a nation (at least some of us) honor those brave countrymen and women who gave “the last full measure of devotion”, yielding their lives in what they were told, somewhat inaccurately unfortunately, was that they were giving their lives for their country, to “preserve freedom” and our way of life.  Whether or not that was truly the case (especially after WW11), we as Americans and Christians increasingly seem to have overlooked the “One who fought the longest to give us what we enjoy most and who often is the most forgotten.  In fact, there is a strange lament we find in Scripture that says, “My people have forgotten me days without number” (Jeremiah 2:21).”  What a condemnation of the people of Jeremiah’s time—a condemnation that is ringing louder here in America with each passing year.  If you deny that, you are part of the problem.

HOW HAS GOD’S PROVIDENCE WORKED IN HISTORY?

Dr. Kennedy told his congregation that “I would like to remember Him who ‘plants His footsteps in the sea and rides  upon the storm’—the invisible hand of that One whose providence centuries gone by brought us to Plymouth Rock and established this nation of religious freedom that we have, alas, almost lost in our generation.  Remember the providence of God, the  unseen, the invisible hand of Him who was the real architect and general of our freedom.”

Many of our early leaders have acknowledged God’s providence for our nation.  Back in 1778, General George Washington wrote a letter to one of his friends, saying:  “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all of this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations (of gratitude to God).”  Only our Heavenly Father knows how many millions of people in this world, and sadly in our America, who refuse to give thanks to that One who rides upon the storm.  Long before the British colonies became “America”, and for a long time thereafter, our people loved and worshipped this God of Storms, both as the One who created our nation of liberty and who brought about His miraculous deeds among humanity.  For example:

However, the Muslim army was laden down with all of the stolen treasures, gold, silver, gems, etc. they had looted in Spain and in France over two decades.  Facing the smaller Frankish army they seemed unwilling to fight, for they’d have to lose control of their loot.  Their commanding general ordered them to put all of it in one place, and then for the next seven days both armies played a wait and see game, staring at each other across the plain.  “Finally the Islamic general commanded them to charge.  And so they came—this wall of Arab horsemen galloping across the plain.  Then God sent a whisper.  It was simply this:  ‘The enemy is stealing our spoils’.  First one column of horsemen reeled and turned to go back and defend their loot, and then another and another and another.  Then the rest of the vast army, not knowing why the others were turning around, decided that a retreat had been called and suddenly the whole (Muslim) army reeled around and began to flee!”

Well, as my wife has recounted many times, it was then that her ancestor, Charles Martel (grandfather of the great Emperor Charlemagne—also my wife’s direct ancestor), attacked with his smaller force.  At the end of that day’s carnage, the hordes of Islam had been thoroughly defeated, and the threat of Europe being conquered and forcefully  converted to Islam ended until our time, when that same threat has re-emerged.  But thanks to God’s providence, Islam withdrew from Europe for hundreds of years, thus allowing the Protestant Reformation to flower.

NEXT TIME:  God’s Providential miracles help establish our nation and preserve the life of General George Washington.

Hits: 1086

No comments

Leave your comment

In reply to Some User