CRUMPLED CONSTITUTION

From My Perspective - - - 

As this nation was being formed and foundational principles were being established, particular documents were written that defined who we were as a people and what the parameters of government should be. One of the early documents was the Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776. The visionary statement with which it began was: “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” 

Eleven years later, a document known as The Constitution of The United States was written. It begins with these solemn words and pledge: “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America - September 17, 1787.” The Constitution details the design and limits of government as well as expressing what true liberty includes. On December 15, 1791, amendments, called the Bill of Rights, were ratified and became part of the United States Constitution. These ten amendments addressed: (1) Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition; (2) Right to keep and bear arms; (3) Conditions for quarters of soldiers; (4) Right of search and seizure regulated; (5) Provisions concerning prosecution; (6) Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc.; (7) Right to a trial by jury; (8) Excessive bail, cruel punishment; (9) Rule of construction of Constitution; (10) Rights of the States under Constitution.

Whatever happened to the prominent place of the Constitution of the United States in the life of the nation? Is it no longer viable or applicable? Has it just become an encased object in a Museum? Can one person with a pen and a phone ignore the foundational principles of government? Whatever happened to men of values who will echo the words of a brave few who signed the Declaration of Independence under these words: “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor”? How did we become a nation that either avoids or ignores these foundational principles? In addition to a major shift away from the Constitution and other foundational documents, there has also been a major shift away from God and any reference to Him.

The shift in religion reminds us of the grievances of God spoken by the prophet. Isaiah 29:15-16 indicates: “Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker: He did not make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it: He has no understanding…?” To a different generation, Jesus repeated these same thoughts in Matthew 15:7-8, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” We need to realize that religion has become more of a business and a game that people are playing. For some time, there has been a failure to take a serious God seriously. Just as a nation has allowed a Crumpled Constitution to occur, in the same way the church and the professing christian has allowed for the Word of God to be crumpled and trampled underfoot. Will we return to the Lord? When will we do it? Consider these things with me.