The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. The Liberty Bell, America's Liberty Bell, very famously, it's got a crack in it.
Well, do you know the first ringing of the Liberty Bell was not July 4th, 1776, but July 8th, 1776. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Bell's inscription was also read, and it's a Bible verse on the Liberty Bell, Leviticus 25, verse 10. It says, quote, proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
This is very, very special, very, very meaningful, because it is our nation's 250th birthday. And later on in the program, I'm going to talk about the present that we might give our nation. At its 250th birthday. But think about that verse on the Liberty Bell: proclaim liberty throughout all the land. It doesn't just say freedom.
In the sense of militant autonomy, we could do whatever we want to do. But liberty. And as the Baptist preacher Roger Williams said, he was the founder of Rhode Island. In fact, very, very Christian. He named the capital Providence, Rhode Island, as in the Providence of God.
But Roger Williams said, in America, the principles of good civil government united with the principles of the Bible. And very famously, even though this sentiment has been turned on its head in recent years, he said, in America, Quote: The wall of separation between the garden of the church and the Eden. of the world God hath for ever broken down. In other words, in uniting the principles of the Bible with the principles of good civil government, the wall of separation has been broken down.
Now, in our day, it's like separation of church and state has been construed to mean the abolishment of the influence of the Bible, the church, God. God's word, God's presence being abolished from culture. That's the farthest thing in the world from what the founders meant. And so I'm going to talk about at this July 4th season, this amazing milestone, a quarter millennia, 250 years, July 4th. I'm going to talk about the biblical basis of our nation and then what we could give as a birthday gift, an appropriate present for the birthday of our nation.
July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, we've talked about it so many times. We've studied it. We've read it. But the Declaration of Independence declared that the 13 colonies would be a new and independent nation free of British rule.
Now, the rebellion of the colonies, the American Revolution, writers have speculated, was it legitimate? Legitimate. If you're going to build a Christian nation, was it biblically justified or biblically sanctioned that the American colonies would revolt? The Declaration lists the grievances of the colonists, and in one of the most famous sentences in the Declaration, which has become one of the most famous sentences in history. It exclaimed at the beginning of the second paragraph, quote, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, sometimes phrased as unalienable.
Those words are synonymous. In other words, you can't legitimately take these away. Unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Now that is called the penumbra. P-E-N-U-M-B-R-A, the penumbra of our God-given rights. The role of government is not to give you rights. The role of government is to guard the rights you've already been given by your Creator, God. And so it's just amazing what we have had in America.
Really.
Now, the founders, the 56 signers of that declaration, they were believers. Even Jefferson and Franklin, that people love to cite as maybe not necessarily Christian.
Well, they made professions of faith before they died. In fact, the famed Presbyterian evangelist George Whitfield, who went up and down the eastern seaboard, in fact, I'm sitting. On land, probably where Whitfield preached. We do know some of the places that he preached. He solidly led Benjamin Franklin to Christ before he died.
But even Thomas Jefferson, and we've talked about this in many a program. Jefferson made a commitment to Christ before he died. I would encourage you to read the book, Doubting Thomas: Question Mark, by Peter Lilbach and Dr. Jerry Newcomb, two amazing scholars. But it's amazing.
I love July 4th. It's my probably third or at most fourth favorite holiday behind Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. You know, two of our key founders, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both passed away on July 4th, 1826. Uh and they were Passionate about America, and if you go into the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, you'll see in Statuary Hall so many statues of our Christian. Figures.
Billy Graham, my home state of North Carolina, has in the Capitol a statue of Billy Graham. There's a statue of the Baptist preacher Roger Williams, who coined the phrase about the wall of separation God has broken down, which is very much used as a billy club by the secularists, the leftists who want to say there's a wall of separation between God and country, church and state. Jefferson, in the early 1800s, when he was called upon to clarify the role of Christianity in American life, he was quick to point out that we are a Christian nation, but we just don't have one Christian denomination.
Now, the Declaration of Independence was predominantly written by five men.
Now, mostly, of course, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. By the way, the state of Virginia is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents so far. But also contributing to the Declaration were John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. As far as we know, all Christians.
And so let me read, lest we forget that the founders really came to the table with a biblical worldview. Let me read one of the prayer journal entries. from George Washington, our first president, one of our most godly people. In the founding era, but Washington in his prayer journal wrote, O eternal and everlasting God. increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel.
This is George Washington. Give me repentance from dead works, pardon my wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. Make me watchful always over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber. George Washington's Prayer Journal.
But daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy Son Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends, and kindred.
Now that's just one of many similar prayers. By our first president. And on this July 4th, in this season, as we celebrate our 250th birthday, I'm going to come back. I'm going to talk about more of God's word that directed and influenced our founding and our founders. Stay tuned.
We've got a brief break. We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Would you invest a financial contribution to see young people saved, people give their lives to Christ, and people care about God and country?
If you would please make a donation securely online, you can give at alexmacfarlane.com or please mail a check to TNG P.O. Box485 Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. Your gift will be faithfully handled, fruitfully used, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Do you know prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of God? Hi, Alex McFarland here, encouraging you to download our free PDF of 31 Days of Prayer for Our Nation.
Discover how consistent prayer can transform your heart and our nation. These are times of uncertainty. People need hope, and specific prayers get specific answers.
So go to alexmcfarland.com and download the free PDF of prayer, and I challenge you to make this next 31 days a time of powerful prayer. Uh He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here.
I hope you're having a wonderful 4th of July weekend, 4th of July. I hope you can be with family and friends and really pause and pray and thank God for our freedoms, our bounty. If you listen to this show much, you've heard me tell stories of being all around the world and just, you don't have to go far to realize the bounty that we have and how abundantly God has blessed us. I mean, we are so blessed and so prosperous. People have to rent storage units to put all their stuff.
People have to join gyms to try to shed the pounds. I mean, while so much of the world starves, we have too much food and we are overweight because of it. We have so much abundance that we just really almost don't know what to do with it. And this year, Americans, and 85% of whom are American Christians, will give $1.7 trillion, T trillion, to benevolent causes. We are so blessed.
And at this 250th birthday, all we can say is: look what God has wrought. You know, Catherine Lee Bates wrote the song America the Beautiful in 1893. It was originally titled Pike's Peak, by the way. I've spent much of my life up on Pikes Peak because my wife and I lived in Colorado and I've taught and ministered in Colorado, working for Dr. Dobson and Karis Bible College.
But Pike's Peak is pretty amazing. And Catherine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful, and it was first published in the July 4th edition of a magazine called The Congregationalist. And Catherine Lee Bates, she was 33 when she wrote the poem that became America the Beautiful. She went out west and she taught English at Wellesley College. And she had been in Colorado for the summer and touring America.
And she said as she got to the top of Pike's Peak, the famed front range mountain peak there in Colorado, she had, quote, one ecstatic gaze as she looked toward the plain, and she said it was, quote, the most glorious scenery I ever beheld, she wrote in her diary. And she began to write this poem. Let me read it to you. And then I want to tell you something that is often overlooked. You know, O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
America, America, God shed His grace on thee.
Now, the word shed, S-H-E-D, is a word that. really refers to two things, water and blood. The blood of Jesus was shed for the washing away of our sins. Roofers know the word because they do flashing around walls and chimneys to shed the water away.
Now when something is shed, it is poured out in abundance.
Well, Catherine Lee Bates said God shed his grace on Thee.
Now, you know some of these lyrics, I hope you do. Beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern, impassioned stress, a thoroughfare for freedom beat across. this wilderness. America, America, God, mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul. in self-control.
by liberty in law. In other words, our freedoms Our, as Jefferson wrote, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, but it needs to be bound or fenced in in God's law. There are moral guardrails. O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. In other words, folks, the stars and stripes were won and preserved by scars.
and stripes. Wars. It's Romans 13, 1 through 7. The soldier that has preserved our liberty, the law enforcement officers that, according to God's word, are ministers of the gospel because it's a fallen world. And that was one of the unique things about our founding: that the founders understood human nature, that we're fallen sinners.
Do you know there was a Barna study at the end of June 2026? That Only about half of professed Christians who Even believe that we're sinners. May I say this? Humans are sinners. That's why we needed a Savior.
But, O beautiful, for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self. their country loved, and mercy more than life. America, America, may God thy gold refine, till all success be nobleness. And every gain divine. See, Catherine Lee Bates understood, 2 Corinthians 5:21, that the purpose of life is to be conformed to the image of Christ in righteousness.
In other words, success is defined as righteousness, nobleness, not monetary gain. Final verse O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears Now, what is the patriot dream? Arnold Guyot in 1896, who wrote a book, it was used in public schools up until the 1980s, Comparative Physical Geography. He wrote in the introduction, this was a public school book, that the purpose of America was to contribute to the Great Commission. Isn't that amazing?
Now, that wouldn't dare be said in public schools today. But 35 years ago, a geography textbook that understood the patriot dream, as Catherine Lee Bates wrote, that saw beyond the years to alabaster cities. I'm going to come back to that. Undimmed by human tears. America, America, God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
Now what I want to do, I want to look at the biblical allusions within these precious lyrics. Because the song, America the Beautiful, you might hear it. If not the words, you'll at least on July 4th hear the melody. And the song is taken straight out of the Bible. and history.
And let's not forget There is God's word, God's Holy Scripture in history.
Okay, let's talk about this. America, America, God shed His grace on thee.
Okay, this line is adapted from Psalm 45, verse 2. God's grace is shed into our lips. Poor, some translations say. God's grace. and the grace of God is unmerited favor.
Grace.
Some people say grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. And crown thy good with brotherhood. From sea to shining sea.
Now, this comes from God's Word. You know, Roger Williams said it, others of the founding era have said, We're a city set on a hill, the citadel.
Some, in the early years of America, they call this America the New Jerusalem. This was before the rebirth of Israel, May 14, 1948. Reagan quoted, he said, We are a city set on a hill, we are a light, and we don't hide our light under a bushel. That was from the Sermon on the Mount. And so we've got to take a break.
We're going to come back and talk more about the biblical basis of America, the beautiful. Because there's a biblical basis for America itself. Here at the 250th birthday of our country, let's bow. Humbly, repentantly. Gratefully thank God.
And let's do our part to call our nation back to our founding and our foundations. Which is God and His Word. Stay tuned. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this.
Hey, producer Mike here for the Alex McFarlane Show, and I'm here with Alex in the studio. Alex, I was just thinking about the Cove and the great time I had last summer out there with my wife. It's coming up again this summer. What's going on? Oh, wow, Mike.
Well, thank you. We love the Billy Graham Conference Center in Western North Carolina. It is beautiful. The presence of God is so strong there because, you know, Billy Graham and his wife, they prayer walked over those hillsides. And a visit to the Cove will change your life forever.
I'm going to be there July 17 through 19 teaching Bible prophecy. Then I'll be back July 27 through 31 with world-renowned scholar Gary Habermas teaching apologetics how to defend the faith confidently in any situation.
So go to the website thecove.org, T-H-E-C-O-V-E, theCove.org, make your reservation, and we'd love to see you there in the summer of 2026. Um He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years, thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears. America, America, God shed his grace on thee.
Alex McFarland's here, unapologetically in love with the United States of America. Look, I'm a Christian. I know my home is heaven, but I do love this nation. It's been my joy. Oh my goodness, what a privilege for 30 plus years to travel to all 50 states, the lower 48 about a dozen times each.
There are a couple of states I've only been to like one or two times. I think Wyoming, I've only preached there once. Idaho, I've only preached once. But most of the 50 states I've been to dozens of times. And I thank God for the privilege of seeing America.
I love the Upper Northeast, the birthplace of the American Revolution, really, the land of the first great awakening. I love my home, the Bible Belt, the Lower Southeast. I've been all over. And I love the West Coast, you know, to be a country boy. I've preached at least two dozen times in California, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, Nevada, Utah, been out to Utah, Mormon country, preached the gospel throughout Utah.
And we've seen God work in so many ways: 50 states, 2,000 churches, and I give God the glory. I'm going to, in the interest of time, forego the usual commercial. I'll simply refer you to Albert. AlexMcFarland.com. We've got several hundred articles the Lord's allowed me to write.
If you look at my calendar, we're coming soon to a city near you. Our youth camps are going on, our conversations that matter. I'm not going to do a commercial because I want to devote this program to a happy birthday, America. And in the previous segment, we are talking about the song America the Beautiful and how it comes from God's Word. You know, let me say this: where the lyric is: O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife.
who more than self their country loved Now listen, and mercy more than life. That's a line from Hosea. the Old Testament book of Hosea about how we're to love justice and love mercy.
Now, America, America, may God thy gold refine. That's a line from Revelation 3, verse 18. That God challenges His church to seek the pure gold, refined. And you know, in the song, Our Faith is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness, it talks about God refining. Our gold.
Burning out the dross. And you know, I'm sure you've heard some illustrations how the refiner's fire, gold or silver, was purified and refined when the The jeweler could see his reflection in the gold. And we're to reflect the image of Jesus Christ. It says, till all success be nobleness and every gain divine.
Well, every gain divine, that's a line from Mark 8:36. That the true wealth, the true riches, The true gain, Proverbs calls it equity, the true value is when we are building our life on Christ as the foundation.
Now, listen to this. America, America, God mend thine every flaw. confirm thy soul in self-control.
Well, that's a line from Galatians 5, 22, 23. that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control.
Now thy liberty in law. That's James 1.25. It says, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty. and perseveres. Not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.
He will be blessed in his doing. It's amazing America the beautiful from God's Word. The lyric, oh, beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years. I mentioned how that was the patriot dream. You know, the pilgrims came here, and the Mayflower Compact said, having transported here for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.
That was their purpose. You see, America was not just this economic experiment, not just let's see if we can get free from Britain and usurp the North American continent. No, it was part of the Great Commission. The founders understood that God was entrusting this land to us, this opportunity to us. This freedom was entrusted to us so that we could build our families, be a part of church.
Evangelize our children. Matured them to be servants of Christ, and they understood. that the birth of America, the westward expansion, Go to the Museum of the Westward Expansion in Saint Louis, and you'll see it was God at the center of American life, the center of every community, and the center of every colonist's heart. God was at the forefront of the patriot vision.
Now Catherine Lee Bates wrote this line, Thine alabaster cities gleam.
Now alabaster is in First Chronicles 29, 2. It was the building material for the temple. And you know, of course, in Mark 14, 3 through 9, and John 12, 1 through 8, the woman broke an alabaster box to anoint the Savior's hair. Before his crucifixion. The alabaster box was broken.
Perfume filled the house.
Okay, the perfume of America, as Catherine Lee Bates poetically wrote, the perfume of America once alabaster, Has filled the world. I just had an article published. It was on townhall.com. I would encourage you to go read it. Do non-Americans love America more than Americans?
And how all around the world. People love The building blocks of America, not just liberty, but American culture has filled the world. And it was taken from the Gospels, Mark and John. The perfume of the alabaster filled the house.
Well, the perfume of America has filled the world. And it says, Thine alabaster cities gleam. You see, in the Old Testament, there was the temple. But you, if you're a believer, you're headed to God's holy temple. And it says, undimmed by human tears.
That's a line from Revelation 21:4, the day when, quote, there will be no more tears. And folks, at this Independence Day, a very holy day. The 250th birthday of our country. I want to challenge all of us. to receive that independence.
That comes only from knowing Jesus. Not only being born again, but the Independence Day of being grateful for our nation. A birthday, that's an important date on the calendar. This is our nation's birthday, an opportunity to celebrate, to reflect. And of course, if you're ever invited to a birthday, you bring a gift, right?
Well, you want to choose the right gift, a very appropriate gift. I would submit to you, dear friends, listeners, the gift that we should give our nation at this 250th birthday is a gift that can't be really bought in a store, can't be manufactured, can't make it in the kitchen, can't be engineered or legislated. The gift our nation needs is a revival, a move of God's Holy Spirit. And now, a revival can't be forced. But it can be sought.
And believers play a key role in preparing the ground for such a movement. Prayer is the starting point. And when individuals and communities intentionally seek God and pray and ask for revival, God in His mercy will send it. I truly believe it. As America turns 250 years old, the question is not how we're going to celebrate, but what will we give?
Maybe you've been to birthday gatherings where some vacuous unneeded gift clutters the table. Cake is cut, sentiments are shared. But before the drive home is completed, the birthday gifts are opened. For this birthday, for our home, America, this nation under God, could we please all pitch in? for something much, much better than a fading material gift.
A gift that can't be purchased, but it can be pursued. The gift we need to give our blessed nation. The nation has given so much to us. You've heard the term alma mater. It means the mother who birthed me.
We are the children of America.
So beginning today, Rather than opening presence, let's open our hearts, cry out in prayer, and appeal to God for a national revival. Thank you, Lord, for America. a nation of a hundred and twenty million Christians and three hundred and forty five thousand churches, a nation with a history taken straight from the pages of Scripture, O God, send a revival to America. and use our lives in the process. Happy birthday, America, and dear Lord, who birthed this country.
Cleanse us, fill us, send us, use us. and let the great awakening Begin in each of our hearts. Today. Thank you, God, for the United States of America.
