George Washington would say, "see, I told you so'

On the 291st birthday of our Founding Father, America should do what he said

George Washington’s 291st birthday is February 22. America’s Founding Father died in 1799 but left us some advice that we would be wise to heed today.

In 1796, after serving 8 years as our first president, Washington wrote in his Farewell Address:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

If he could see America today he would surely say, “See, I told you so.”

Washington was educated in schools that taught the Bible. Fact: from 1647 to 1963, the Bible was taught in public schools. But the U.S. Supreme Court case Abington v Schempp in ‘63, removed the Bible from the classroom. And when we removed ourselves from God’s instruction, we removed the Biblical basis for morality.

As Washington wrote, “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” He was right.

After ‘63, our schools replaced the Biblical teaching of Creationism with the theory of Darwinism. It should be no surprise that teaching children they are evolved animals would produce adults who act like animals.

Why else is our society increasingly more violent, corrupt, unjust, unloving and unforgiving today than it was just a few decades ago? Why are Americans today so susceptible to destructive behaviors like addictions and sexual abuse?

The Bible says we are reaping what we have sowed. And when we rejected God, He gave us what we wanted: ungodly leaders.

Daniel 2:21 (NLT) says, “He (God) controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.”

Unsurprisingly, ungodly politicians make laws legalizing behavior that the Bible calls sin. And professing our freedom from religion, we became slaves to sin.

Americans faced this problem before. On March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for a day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. In it, he explained the reason for the proclamation:

“Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”

He continued:

“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.”

It doesn’t go well for nations that forget their Creator. In 1983, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’”

If only Americans would remember our Godly heritage, repent of our national and personal sins and return to God.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This may be happening at the Asbury Revival at Asbury University in Kentucky. There are reports that this spiritual revival of sorts, is spreading to other Christian colleges like Cedarville University in Ohio.

There is still hope for America’s future if we do what our first and sixteenth Presidents said.