One Nation, Under God

Corey and I spoke in Church yesterday. Here's a copy of Corey's Talk

"One Nation, Under God"

To help get us in the right frame of mind for the 4th of July, we've been asked to speak on the phrase: "One Nation, Under God."

The words, of course, come from the United States' pledge of allegiance. The pledge is an oath of loyalty recited at many public events. When I was in school, we'd frequently recite the pledge before the start of class. My wife is an avid student of history, but I have a lot more to learn. I just assumed that the pledge of allegiance spontaneously appeared (by inspiration of course) on July 4, 1776 along with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Star Spangled Banner, Washington D.C. and many other tokens of America.

So, I was quite surprised to learn that the pledge was actually written in 1892 by a Socialist by the name of Francis Bellamy. Bellamy was forced to leave his ministerial position at a Baptist Church in Boston because of his extreme socialist sermons. He later went to work for the National Public School System where he published the pledge in a children's magazine. The pledge originally read like this: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all". It did not refer to the United States and did not have the phrase "under God". Bellamy revered the slogan of the French Revolution "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and strongly considered putting the word "equality" into the pledge.

Today, we put our hands over our heart when we recite the pledge, but in Bellamy's day, children would raise their arm straight toward the flag just like the Nazi salute. I was quite surprised to learn about this seemingly un-American aspect of the pledge. It was the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution that pushed for the change from "my Flag" to "the Flag of the United States of America.". When reading history, it's interesting to see how things that we take for granted often come with a struggle, and evolve over time. Only in very rare occasions does God seem to intervene in a moment. Most of the time, it He lets things take their natural course. And even when He does intervene, he usually does so through people actively seeking to do His will. It seems that our Heavenly Father prefers that we struggle back-and-forth through this life with the consequences of our own decisions – both good and bad.

The pledge is a good example of this. It started out with a socialist bent, but was later modified to contrast with the socialist Soviet Republic. In the 1950's, the Catholic Fraternity Knights of Columbus adopted resolutions to urge Congress to include the words "under God" in the pledge. Without it, they felt like the socialist Soviets could utter the same pledge to their flag and country. Inserting "under God" emphasized the contrast.

The Knights of Columbus took inspiration from Abraham Lincoln who, when giving the Gettysburg Address, spontaneously inserted the words "under God". Lincoln made a proclamation during the Civil War that gives insight into what he meant by the words "under God." After the Union army's defeat at Bull Run, Lincoln wrote:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

"But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
"Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Lincoln warned that we had become "too self-sufficient". To me this is a great paradox. God clearly wants us to be self-sufficient. We have the example of Oliver Cowdery who was admonished to "study it out in [his] mind; then … ask if it be right". The Lord likewise left it up to the Brother of Jared to decide how to cross the ocean with light. "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" The Lord led the Children of Israel out of Egypt with pillars by day and by night, but they still had to exercise faith. Latter-day Saints followed the prophet to their own promised land, but they still had to pull their wagons with their own strength. It seems that the Lord takes every opportunity to stretch us, and yet simultaneously declares:

"And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things
As with so many Gospel things, it's easier to understand the nature of our Heavenly Father through our own life lessons in parenting. We recently decided that it was time our baby girl Abigail sleep through the night on her own. We prepared a room and a crib and left her alone to cry herself to sleep. I sat outside listening to her tears, and in a moment of weakness, went inside to assure her. I held her until she fell asleep and - of course - the moment I left she was again screaming her version of "why have you forsaken me?" I couldn't think of any way to communicate that it was for the best. In reality, she would just have to suffer through it. In time, she would grow and mature enough to endure it well.

Speaking of endurance, about a year and a half ago I took my pregnant wife and five children on an adventure, leaving our townhouse in Northern Virginia to live in São Paulo, Brazil. We went to do market research for a business idea that I had that uses popular movies to teach English. Brazil has a huge English-teaching industry and we spent four months in the country to determine if this business idea had validity.

Before making the move I had done significant research on how we would make it work – but I hadn't totally committed to the venture. Everything was lined up, but I still needed to do some irreversible things such as: put money down on a place to live, quit my job, and end our housing lease. I was very anxious about the decision and went to the temple for guidance. I reasoned that the worst-case scenario was that we would return back to the US broke, in debt, with no job or place to live and would have to move into my parent's basement. I thought that things would surely go better than that, and decided to take the risk.

I went to the bank to wire a housing deposit to Brazil, but was still scared. I sat in the bank lobby for over an hour trying to muster up the courage to take the plunge. The longer I waited, the less courage I had. I felt like I knew the Lord's answer, but wanted assurance. I wanted him to reach down from heaven and compel me to the counter – but he didn't. I felt like I was all on my own and had to eventually force myself to the window before the bank closed. It was an extremely scary decision, but after I committed myself all sorts of wonderful things began to happen. In the days and weeks that followed I thought often of the inspirational quote frequently attributed to Germany's Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: (gerte)

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

For the next several weeks after making the decision I was on an emotional (perhaps even spiritual) high. I felt like I had near perfect faith and could do anything, that the power of faith transcended even the physical. Joseph Smith once said:

"If I were sunk into the lowest pit of Nova Scotia and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, I ought not to be discouraged, but hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I should come out on the top of the heap."

In the excitement of committing to my dream, I began to wonder if Joseph wasn't speaking figuratively, but literally. It felt like the power to move mountains was almost within reach.

So, we moved to Brazil. But true to pattern, God let us suffer and struggle often in our new environment. We lived in the country about 20 minutes form civilization. We drank water from a well and my poor wife washed cloths and dishes by hand. Tiffanie began to think often about Lehi sojourn into the wilderness and freely confessed she would have been part of the murmur ing side of their family as they followed their visionary patriarch into the wilderness. It felt like we had to struggle for everything. Nothing seemed to just work out like we hoped or expected.

For instance, it took many days before we could purchase a car – nobody at the used car dealership seemed to be in any hurry and I had to wait and wait and wait. It took a long time to select a car and then more days to come back and actually buy. They had cars that wouldn't sell in the US for $500 washed and ready to go with the year brightly painted on the front window: "'92, '89, '90". Part of me cried inside that we agreed to pay $6,000 for a '92 VW Santana station-wagon. But I was told it was a great deal by the locals and would be very reliable. And, we could sell it back in a few months at about the same price. The dealership also had a 100% guarantee and assured me that we could pay with our American Express credit card.

The next day we discovered that the dealership doesn't accept credit cards, but their buddies down the street at a gas station would arrange for us to buy several thousand dollars of gas instead. It didn't occur to me until later that we probably violated the terms of agreement on my credit card. I used every bank card I had and ran around for a couple of hours to various ATMs trying to pull out the most cash I could before my daily limit was reached or my account was locked on suspicion of fraud. It was bizarre circus, but I was finally satisfied with myself when I gave the dealership a combination of cash and gas credits. I was proud to drive home in our fancy new ride and felt a degree of accomplishment to have actually gotten something done.

The next morning when the car wouldn't start I learned that their guarantee didn't apply on holidays or weekends. We rigged a work-around with some wire until the dealership could apply a patch. Weeks later the car overheated and the engine mount cracked – this was getting expensive. Weeks into the country, we were still carpooling, borrowing, and ferrying groceries home on the wild bus rides. I finally went back to the dealership with Ethan and Hyrum late one night to pick up our fixed car. My friend Luis drove us towards the dealership, but his car broke down on the way. Nothing in Brazil seemed to work.

We walked for several blocks with my tired and anxious kids on our shoulders fearing the dealership had closed. But, we were thrilled to see that our salesperson was still there. It was a great moment to get back into that car. 20 minutes later, my boys and I were on the freeway when the front hood flew up and cracked the windshield. I couldn't see anything as we were driving about 55 MPH. I carefully veered off the side of the road into the grass and sat in the dark night with my scared sons wondering what to do. The accident could have easily been fatal, and yet I felt warm assurance of protection. The words of Hyrum Smith to his brother Joseph in a more difficult situation immediately came to my mind "The Lord is in it." Almost as if he were waiting for us, a man with an official-looking uniform with a flashlight ran over to help us. He called a tow truck and we were soon at Luis' house with our broken car.

I had done my absolute best and failed. We didn't have the resources to buy or rent another car and our situation was looking grim. As you can imagine, Tiffanie was very stressed - and so was I. We had done all that we could do, and I couldn't think of anything else. Fortunately God's grace entered the picture. As I paced the floor in worry, one of my friends contacted me to ask how we were doing, and if he could lend us his car for the rest of our stay in Brazil. It was an absolute miracle – without a doubt. God had directly intervened through another person. He was aware of our situation and cared. And it turns out that the car we borrowed – a 2-door hatchback – was just the right size for a family of 7.

We had some positive experiences in Brazil, but it was about 90% struggle. One of my greatest experiences there was teaching classes to members of the church interested in attending graduate school at BYU. My classes aimed to help them pass the GMAT entrance exam. One of our students once told me 'If you wanted to stay in Brazil and teach these classes to the public – you could live like a king.' I thought for a moment about the money he said I could make and then responded that "In America, everyone lives like a king." Comparatively speaking, it's absolutely true. We have been tremendously blessed. Our time in Brazil made us all the more aware of the wonderful blessing we have in this country.

Not only do we live in abundance, but we are free from fear. We tend trust our public officials and believe in the rule of law. I absolutely love Brazil, but it's kind of like the wild-wild west where most everyone lives behind iron bars outside their home. Everyone, it seems, has first-hand stories of kidnappings, ransoms, shootings, and altercations with the police. Back home in Utah everything seems to abound in wealth, beauty, and peace. The other night Tiffanie and I recognized the contrast when we discovered our greatest annoyance with our house has been the dead spots on our lawn.

We've had about a dozen students from my classes admitted to BYU. One wrote me after arriving in Utah saying simply: "You live in an amazing country!" He's absolutely right.

We felt protected by God while living in Brazil, and I looked forward to things getting easier when we returned home. We had significant market research on the English teaching industry and a working product prototype. However, things with our business didn't just take off as expected. In fact, my worst-case scenario came true. We returned to the US broke, in debt, with no job or place and living in my parent's basement. We kept working and waiting for something to happen, but it never seemed to come. Apparently Lord felt there was more we could do on our own. It has been a rough ride, and I find myself often wondering about the hand of the Lord – and wanting more direct help on his part.

A few weeks ago our children were out learning to ride bikes for the first time. Joseph didn't have any sense of balance, so I held onto the bike most of the time and chased alongside him. The most comfortable position for me was to grab onto the back of his neck. As a result, he tended to lean into me and ride at about a 70 degree angle. He put all of his weight into my hand with absolute and total dependence. I wanted to be there for him, but I also wanted him to be self-sufficient. Eventually I felt like the best thing to do was to let him struggle on his own. I stayed near and gave tips and advice – but he had to figure his way through it. Joseph can now ride just great – and likewise – things are beginning to pick up with our business. The Lord is there, but he stands back enough so we can grow.

I've often wished that the Lord would hold onto the back of my neck – that he'd hold me and let me ride above my ability. And then sometimes, I wish he'd back off a little. Years before I married my wife I hung up from a phone call with her. I felt very much in love and said a quick prayer telling the Lord that she was the woman I would choose to marry. To my great surprise, I had a very strong, immediate, and unambiguous answer of "Yes!" It shocked me – and I even resented it. I wasn't really ready for that answer and certainly not to commit myself. I actually felt like my free agency had been taken away. It was only my first year of BYU and there were lots of women I'd still like to date.

No, God's usual pattern is to whisper. Rather than seek God's overt intervention – it's better to seek his will. That is what I believe being "under God" truly means. Don't seek for divine intervention; seek out his will. Elder Neil A. Maxwell has said:

"The submission of one's will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God's altar. The many other things we 'give,' … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God's will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!"

The Lord is not going to intervene and dictate the words of the Pledge of Allegiance. If the recent movement to remove the words "under God" from the pledge succeeds, God will not stop it. Likewise, God will not unilaterally stop the redefinition of the family that is occurring in many parts of our world. God is also not likely to overrule the voice of the people in who we elect as our next President. Frankly, he's placed us here to steer our nation and put it "under God." We live in a land that is both promised and cursed. If we seek the Lord, we "shall prosper upon the face of this land; and … be kept from all other nations." Our country was established for the Lord's purposes, and we must not distance ourselves or our country from Him.

That said, we also live in a pluralistic society – with a belief that the separation of Church and State is absolute. So, I can understand the hesitancy one may have to keep God in the public sphere. However, if we choose not to be a nation "under God"; we aren't choosing to be independent and free from influence. We will simply choose another influence.

In this month's First Presidency message, President Henry B. Eyring says:
"men and women have falsely argued from the beginning of time, that to take counsel from the servants of God is to surrender God-given rights of independence. But the argument is false because it misrepresents reality. When we reject the counsel that comes from God, we do not choose to be independent of outside influence. We choose another influence….In rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred.

Our country was founded and has prospered on a Christian world-view. We now appear to be adopting a new State religion of Secularism. Adherence to God is being replaced with piety for Mother Nature. My point is, if we drive God out of our country, he will not intervene, and we will simply believe in something else. During the First World War, German prisoners of war were all found with Bibles. But in the Second World War, there was hardly a Bible found. Germans instead carried with them lucky charms, lucky swastikas, and rabbits' feet.

We should not sit on the sidelines expecting God's voice to thunder when things go wrong. We should seek to discover His will and advance it. That is what it means to be "under God."

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.