Many of you are old enough to remember Paul Harvey and his news broadcasts.  For many years he was on our local radio station at noon. I remember that when I worked for my brother-in-law in construction, we always looked forward to lunch break because it was “Paul Harvey Time!”  I loved his human interest stories where he gave the background to events that most of us were unaware of, giving the story a whole new meaning. He called it, “The Rest of the Story.”  

     Well let me give you “the rest of the story” about “Wisdom of the Week” from July 3, 2023, entitled “Blessed Is The Nation.”   I wrote about a biblical viewpoint of why our great nation has been so blessed in its brief history of just under 250 years.  I mentioned three reasons: First, because of our Christian foundation and God’s promise, “Blessed is that nation whose God is the LORD” (Psa. 33:12); Second, because of our support of Israel and God’s promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you…” (Gen. 12:3); and Third, because of how our nation has had a history of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to foreign lands and has always been there to help in times of natural disaster or war (see Ro. 10:13-15).  If we are going to continue experiencing God’s blessing, these things need to continue to be true, but we are struggling in all areas.

      I don’t know how many of you caught my mistake in the article from July 3rd, but one of my readers did.  When quoting part of the Pledge of Allegiance I mistakenly put a comma where there should not be one. I had “one nation, under God” and it should have read, “one nation under God.”   I appreciate the person  pointing it out to me (and they did it lovingly!).  Not only were they correct, but it caused me to do some more research into how we got the phrase “under God” in our pledge to the flag of the United States of America.  So, here’s “the rest of the story”!

     The first version of the Pledge of Allegiance has been attributed to Baptist pastor Francis Bellamy who wrote it for the Columbian Exposition in October 1892. The Exposition marked the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival. Bellamy worked for a family magazine, “Youth’s Companion,”  which printed his pledge, making it known to the public.  It read: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands–one Nation indivisible–with liberty and justice for all.”    Over the next few decades, schools and organizations that chose to recite a pledge used variations of the one in Youth’s Companion or made up their own. None of the pledges had any reference to God. 

     On June 22, 1942 just six months after the U.S. entered WWII, the government officially recognized a standard version of the pledge when President Franklin. D. Roosevelt signed “The Flag Code,” which included a version of the pledge from Youth’s Companion, but still no mention of God.

     In 1952, the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, began petitioning the federal government to add the phrase “under God” to the pledge. U.S. Representative Louis C. Rabaut (D-Mich) was persuaded by the petition and introduced legislation to add the phrase, adding that it “would give students a deeper understanding of patriotism.” 

     Then President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as many presidents had done, attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The presidents would sit in the pew where Lincoln sat when he attended there. On Feb. 7, 1954, pastor George Doherty, with President Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln’s pew, delivered a sermon entitled “A New Birth of Freedom,”  based on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. He argued that our nation’s might lay not in its military strength but rather in its spirit and higher purpose. He noted that our Pledge’s sentiments could be those of any nation and suggested, “There’s something missing and that something is the character and defining factor in the American way of life.” He cited Lincoln’s words from the Gettysburg Address, “under God,” as the defining words that set the U.S.A. apart from other nations. 

     President Eisenhower, a recently baptized Presbyterian, responded enthusiastically and acted on the suggestion the very next day. Representative Charles Oakman (R-Mich) introduced a bill to that effect and Congress passed the bill which President Eisenhower signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

     And now you know “the rest of the story.”  Praise God that many have acknowledged that the thing that has made our nation great and that has made it distinctive  is God.  Praise God for how He has used this nation as a lighthouse to the world. Pray that there will be a spiritual revival in our country that will keep that light shining. 

Forever His,

Pastor Dave