By Rev. Mark Creech
Christian Action League
May 7, 2020
There is a remarkable story told in the devotional book, In God We Still Trust, written by Dr. Richard G. Lee. It reads:
“The first lunar landing occurred on July 20, 1969, and Buzz Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 space mission. He was also the second person to set foot on the moon, descending the module after Neil Armstrong.
“Aldrin had taken with him a tiny Communion kit, given him by his church. So, that morning, he radioed, ‘Houston, this is Eagle…. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening…to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours and to give thanks in his own individual way.’
“During the radio blackout, Aldrin took the Communion elements and read John 15:5: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.’ Aldrin had been asked to not read the verse publicly because of the legal challenge against NASA already brought by famed atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair after the Genesis account of creation was read during the Apollo 8 mission.”
Incredible!
O’Hair’s atheism in that historic moment succeeded in quashing the public expression of a profoundly significant American sentiment – trust in God. Other actions taken by her had a great deal to do with taking America down the long dark road to secularism, which is nothing less than practical atheism.
Secularism is ill-fitted for America. Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous French statesman who came to this country in 1831 to observe the cause for our nation’s unprecedented liberty and success, wrote:
“Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.
“I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion – for who can search the human heart? – But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.”
Oh, that God would turn our hearts back so that such sentiment is once again pervasive and public.
Today is our National Day of Prayer. Let us pray to this end.
Let us repent of our individual sins and turn to Christ, God’s Son, for forgiveness. May God give us the grace to see our national sins and turn us away from them. May the praises of God and thanksgiving be lifted toward heaven – praise and thanksgiving, which recognizes all the good that we are, all the good that we have, and all the good that we shall ever become is because of His amazing grace.
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Prayer: Holy God. We repent of our denials – the way we have denied both your Sovereignty and grace. We unashamedly acknowledge and confess you before men. Grant that we should hear your voice in the living Word, Jesus Christ, in the written Word, the Bible, and in human experience measured and tested by your revelation. Grant that we should not forget you and that we should find the strength to do your will. Restore us to our former glory that you might be rightly exalted among us.
In Christ’s name. Amen.