Opinion/Faith/Encouragement

By Summer Lane

Photo: Deposit

The religious foundation of America itself has been swept aside by mainstream culture.

The nation as a whole has careened away from the historical roots of its founding, turned away from its faith-based heritage, and embraced a pervasively godless culture.

America itself is perched carelessly on the cusp of a looming abyss: what waits beyond is internal chaos, global world war, economic collapse, and the demise of liberty itself. Wedged tightly between rapidly approaching communism and fading freedom, the American people will soon be faced with a choice…retreat or move forward, surrender or fight on.

The America we know and love is plummeting toward increasingly darker depths, and yet, hope still rises to meet us, spanning the gap between what’s happening now and what will soon come to pass.

These perilous times are reminiscent of the founding of our country, when militiamen and intellectual landowners banded together to stop a tyrannical British King from solidifying his hold on the early colonies. Even in these young days of the great American experiment, the hand of God hovered providentially over these freedom fighters, bending weather and elements to His will, saving the life of General George Washington (many times), and perplexing the ranks of the British forces.

Perhaps the most fascinating example of this is during the Battle of Long Island (1776), wherein General Washington found himself and his men backed up against the river, surrounded by British General Howe’s forces. Washington ordered his forces to evacuate – a large contingency of 9,000 men.

Winds off the coast of the Atlantic fortuitously prevented British man-of-war ships from sailing up the East River to wreak death upon the Continental forces. However, the men were perilously exposed in the stinging light of day to entrenched British forces, and the evacuation could have resulted in the annihilation of Washington’s troops and, easily, the defeat of the American war effort.

In his book, The American Miracle, Michael Medved recounts the miraculous story of how an unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime fog rolled over the river, the first that the locals had ever recorded during the hot days of summer.

Medved shared the account of Major Tallmadge, who wrote:

“As the dawn of the next day approached, those of us who remained in the trenches became very anxious for our own safety, and when the dawn appeared there were several regiments still on duty. At this time a very dense fog began to rise and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner on both encampments. I recollect this particular providential occurrence perfectly well, and so very dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance.”

Even more incredibly, the New York side of the river, Medved recorded, was crystal clear – the fog over the river perfectly ensconced the desperate retreat of Washington’s men from British forces.

Only an hour after the Continental forces had retreated across the river, safe and sound, did the fog suddenly lift. The American Revolution was saved, General Howe was deprived of capturing General Washington and crushing the Continental Army, and the colonists went on to, eventually, win their independence.

America’s founding is filled with many of these supernatural accounts, pointing clearly to an overarching protective force, or a “providential agency,” as Washington would say. For the Christian, it is clear that God’s hand was upon the founding of America.

America’s very conception was based upon impossibilities, dreams, and fierce individualism bred in the jagged, unforgiving wilderness of the New World. What the King of England and the British Army never expected was the passion and the integrity of Americans in those early days. They severely underestimated Washington and the Continental War effort, and that underestimation ultimately led to Britain’s defeat.

So it is today. We find ourselves once more as early Americans, facing tyrannical forces, having peeked behind the veil, and understood, sadly, the deeply corrupt rot at the heart of our own government and leadership.

We are not so different from those early colonists. We have many of the same feelings, the same arguments, and the same underpinning values. While culture screams at us to cast aside our morals and live our best lives, we must, as those first patriots did, embrace a broader horizon: the battle for liberty.

“Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” wrote Benjamin Franklin.

Thomas Jefferson, also pointed out, “The price of liberty is, always has been, and always will be blood. The person who is not willing to die for his liberty will lose it to the first tyrant willing to take it away.”

As long as devotion and spirit and faith burn bright in the hearts of enough Americans today, liberty will survive, day by day, week by week. As the pendulum has been swung farther left, farther into the murky territory of neo-Marxist revolution and destruction, it has begun to move back toward the center – toward common sense, toward traditionalism, and toward foundational values.

The battle for the soul of America has begun in earnest, and to win back our liberty in 2024 and beyond, the people have no choice but to cling to their faith, cherish our miraculous history, and work toward a brighter tomorrow together, with a unified devotion toward life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

For those of us who have been reborn in Jesus Christ, who conquered the grave and offered us freedom in salvation, we can reflect on this verse, which is enshrined in stone in the tomb of General and President George Washington and his wife, Martha:

“I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Even in death, Washington is teaching Americans today that ultimate freedom lies in faith, and for those of us who would like to see our country’s greatness restored, faith is the only way to survive in these tumultuous times. If nothing else, our history has taught us that faith has saved this country in its most desperate moments, and we can hold tightly to that fact as we forge forward, unflinching, in the face of seemingly untenable odds.

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The opinions in this article are specific to its author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire Counter Culture Mom team. This specific article was written by Summer Lane, and may not be reproduced, except to quote for reviews or interviews, without the express permission of the author. 

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Summer Lane is the #1 bestselling author of 30 books, including the hit Collapse Series. She is an experienced journalist and columnist who reports on news within the U.S. She covers policy, lifestyle, and ag for The Epoch Times. She formerly served as the Associate Editor for Right Side Broadcasting Network.

Now, she owns Write Revolution News, where she provides a rapid-fire feed of the nation’s most important America First news and events.

Summer is also a mom and wife who enjoys rural country living, herding cats and ducks, and reading fiction. She is passionate about writing on women’s issues, parenting, and politics from a theologically-grounded perspective that points readers to the good news of the gospel.

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