(This day of June 14 is authorized by our Congress as Flag Day in America. I think it is important for our people to undestand how and why that day came about, and why it should be celebrated. Below I have attempted to answer both of those questions. Do read it to ‘fine out’.)
Thirteen Stars and Thirteen Stripes.
It was on JUNE 14, 1777, that the Second Continental Congress selected the FLAG of the United States. Our founders were in the midst of fighting an eight year long war to come out from under the dominion of the most powerful globalist king in world history.
Twenty years after the Civil War, Union Army Captain George Thatcher Balch wrote the first version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1885. Balch became auditor of the New York City Board of Education where he authored Methods of Teaching Patriotism in the Public Schools, 1890. He is largely responsible for flag poles being placed in front of public schools.
Balch ‘s Pledge, called a “salute to the flag,” was: “I give my heart and my hand to my country—one country, one language, one flag.”
Balch’s Pledge was revised in 1892 by 36-year-old Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, who was ordained in the Baptist Church of Little Falls, New York. Bellamy was a member of the staff of The Youth’s Companion, which published the Pledge of Allegiance on September 8, 1892, in Boston, Massachusetts. The magazine recommended the Pledge be part of school programs celebrating the first “Columbus Day,” together with prayers, patriotic speeches, the singing of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, also known as “America,” written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith.
The fourth stanza stated: “Our father’s God, to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee we sing, Long may our land be bright With Freedom’s Holy Light. Protect us by Thy might, Great God, Our King.”
Students were also encouraged to read President Benjamin Harrison’s proclamation July 21, 1892: “Let THE NATIONAL FLAG float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. Let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence.”
Public-school children first recited the Pledge at the National School Celebration dedicating the Chicago World’s Fair, October 12, 1892, for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson designated JUNE 14 as “NATIONAL FLAG DAY.” “I call your attention to the approach of the anniversary of the day upon which THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES was adopted by the Congress as the emblem of the Union. I therefore request that throughout the nation, the FOURTEENTH DAY of JUNE be observed as FLAG DAY with special patriotic exercises to give significant expressions to our thoughtful love of America, our comprehension of the great mission of liberty and justice for an America which no man can corrupt, no influence draw away from its ideals, no force divide against itself. Done at the City of Washington in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.”
In 1954, the Knights of Columbus led a campaign to add “One Nation Under God” to the Pledge, resulting in Congress passing Public Law 396.
President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954: “Section 7”. The following is designated as the Pledge of Allegiance to THE FLAG: ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
Such pledge should be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart. However, civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention, men removing the headdress. Persons in uniform shall render the military salute.”
President Eisenhower then stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and recited the revised Pledge of Allegiance for the first time. The words “under God” were taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863: “that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
In 1979, a publication approved by and printed under authority of Congress titled “The Capitol-A Pictorial History of the Capitol and of the Congress” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979), p. 24, commented regarding the Pledge: “This Pledge attests what has been true about America from the beginning. Faith in the transcendent, sovereign God was in the public philosophy — the American consensus. America’s story opened with the first words of the Bible, ‘In the beginning God’. We are truthfully one nation under God ‘and our institutions presuppose a Divine Being,’ wrote Justice William O. Douglas in 1966:
“Only a nation founded on theistic presupposition would adopt a first amendment to ensure the free exercise of all religions or of none. The government would be neutral among the many denominations and no one church would become the state church. But America and its institutions of government could not be neutral about God.”
Speaking of the Flag, President Calvin Coolidge stated May 31, 1926: “Our condition today is not merely that of one people UNDER ONE FLAG, but of a thoroughly united people who have seen bitterness and enmity which once threatened to sever them, and a spirit of kindness and good will reign over them all.”
Coolidge stated May 25, 1924, at the Confederate Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia: “It is the maintenance of our American ideals, BENEATH A COMMON FLAG, under the blessings of Almighty God. We know that Providence would have it so.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated November 13, 1935: “OUR FLAG for a century and a half has been the symbol of the principles of liberty of conscience, of religious freedom and equality before the law; and these concepts are deeply ingrained in our national character.”
During World War Two, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated on FLAG DAY, June 14, 1942: “The belief in man, created free, in the image of God – is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face today. We ask the German people, still dominated by their Nazi whip-masters, whether they would rather have the mechanized hell of Hitler’s ‘New’ Order or – in place of that, freedom of speech and religion.
We ask the Japanese people, trampled by their savage lords of slaughter, whether they would rather continue slavery and blood or – in place of them, freedom of speech and religion. We know that man, born to freedom in the image of God, will not forever suffer the oppressors’ sword.”
Roosevelt continued: “I am going to close by reading you a prayer: ‘God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind. Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and Nations. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. Grant us valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong.'”
After the Revolution, on June 14, 1783, General George Washington sent a “Circular Letter” to the thirteen Governors of the newly independent states. He stated: “I am now preparing to resign. Before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty to make this my last official communication, to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor. The Citizens of America are from this period to be considered as the actors of a most conspicuous theater, which seems to be particularly designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Heaven has crowned all its other blessing, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with.”
Washington continued with a warning: “According to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided, whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.”
(Washington’s concern for “unborn millions” was indicative of the founders, who sacrificed prosperity for posterity. Today, some are willing to sacrifice their posterity for prosperity, yoking future generations with ungodliness and unpayable debt.)
John Adams wrote, April 26, 1777: “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
Washington concluded with an admonition to follow the example of “the Divine Author of our blessed religion”: “I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the state over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles spoke of the American flag, May 8, 1783, describing how this nation is different from others which dominate their people through concentrated power: “That symbol of union, THE AMERICAN FLAG with it increasing stripes and stars, may have an equally combining efficacy for ages. The senatorial constitution and consulate of the Roman Empire lasted from Tarquin — the last Roman king, 509 B.C. — to Caesar — Roman dictator, 49 B.C..
The Assyrian endured without mutation through a tract of one thousand three hundred years from Semiramis — legendary ancient Babylonian queen — to Sardanapalus — alleged last Assyrian ruler, 627 B.C.. Nor was the policy of Egypt overthrown for a longer period from the days of Metzraim — upper and lower Nile kingdoms, c.3,300 B.C. — till the time of Cambyses — Persian conqueror of Egypt, 525 B.C. — and Amasis — last great Egpytian ruler, 526 B.C. — The Medo-Persian — 550-330 B.C. — and Alexandrine Empires — 356-323 B.C. — and that of Timur — 1370-1405 A.D. — who once reigned from Smyrna to the Indus, were of short and transitory duration. Pragmatic sanction secured the imperial succession in the House of Austria for ages — Habsburgs, 1020-1780. Whatever mutations may arise in the United States, perhaps hereditary monarchy and a standing army will be the last.”
Ben Franklin warned June 2, 1787: “There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. There is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government. I am apprehensive that the government of the states may, in future times, end in a monarchy.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles continued: “This great American revolution, this recent political phenomenon, will be contemplated by all nations. Navigation will carry THE AMERICAN FLAG around the globe itself; and display the thirteen stripes and new constellation at Bengal and Canton, on the Indus and Ganges, on the Whang-ho and the Yang-tse-kiang; and with commerce will import the wisdom and literature of the east. That prophecy of Daniel is now literally fulfilling – there shall be a universal traveling to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. This knowledge will be brought home and treasured up in America: and being here digested and carried to the highest perfection, may re-blaze back from America to Europe, Asia and Africa, and illumine the world with truth and liberty.”
Ezra Stiles added: “John Adams observes — in letter from Amsterdam, April 28, 1782: ‘But the great designs of Providence must be accomplished. The progress of society will be accelerated by centuries by this revolution. American ideas of toleration and religious liberty will become the fashionable system of Europe very soon. Light spreads from the Dayspring in the west — Luke 1:78; and may it shine more and more until the perfect day — Proverbs 4:18.”
Stiles concluded: “The United States will embosom all the religious sects or denominations in Christendom:
The Presbyterian, the Church of England, the Unitas Fratrum, Moravian bishops, Ancient Bohemian churches, the Baptists, the Friends. Quakers, the Lutherans, the Romanists, the Dutch, and Gallic, and German reformed or Calvinistic churches, a Greek church brought from Smyrna, Wesyans, Mennonites, all who will give the religious complexion to America, Episcopal, Greek and Armenian patriarchates. With a most generous benevolence of a friendly cohabitation of all sects in America, proving that men may be good members of civil society, and yet differ in religion. Little would civilians have thought ages ago, that the world should ever look to America for models of government.”
President James Buchanan stated March 4, 1857: “We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations in a spirit of Christian benevolence toward our fellow-men. The people, under the protection of THE AMERICAN FLAG, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty.”
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln commented to State Senator James Scovel of New Jersey: “If God gives me four years more to rule this country, I believe it will become what it ought to be — what its Divine Author intended it to be — no longer one vast plantation for breeding human beings for the purpose of lust and bondage. But it will become a new Valley of Jehoshaphat — Joel 3:2, 12, where all the nations of the earth will assemble together UNDER ONE FLAG, worshiping a common God, and they will celebrate the resurrection of human freedom.”
When Lincoln died, President Andrew Johnson stated April 25, 1865: “In order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion with the Father in heaven. I appoint the 25th day of May next, to be observed, wherever in the United States THE FLAG OF THE COUNTRY may be respected, as a day of humiliation and mourning, and I recommend citizens assemble in their respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God.”
President Rutherford B. Hayes noted in his diary that during the Civil War: “Archbishop John Baptist Purcell strung THE AMERICAN FLAG, in the crisis of our fate, from the top of the Cathedral in Cincinnati April 16, 1861! The spire was beautiful before, but the Catholic prelate made it radiant with hope and glory for our country!”
When Rutherford B. Hayes died, President Benjamin Harrison described him, January 18, 1893: “He was a patriotic citizen, a lover of THE FLAG and of our free institutions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home.”
President Andrew Johnson stated while serving as a Senator from Tennessee (The Life and Public Services of Andrew Johnson-State Papers, Speeches and Addresses, by John Savage, NY: Derby & Miller, 1866, p. 247, appendix p. 87, January 31, 1862): “Let us look forward to the time when we can take THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto: ‘Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,’ and exclaim, ‘Christ first, our country next!'”
In dedicating the Oregon Trail, President Warren G. Harding stated July 3, 1923: Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity. The missionaries led under the banner of the Cross, and the settlers moved close behind under the STAR-SPANGLED SYMBOL OF THE NATION.”
On January 10, 1963, Democrat Congressman Albert Sydney Herlong Jr., of Florida, read into the Congressional Record the 45 communist goals for America, which included:
“12. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible.
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned …
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the ‘common man.’
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the ‘big picture’.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ‘united force’ to solve economic, political or social problems.”
Socialist Howard Zinn wrote A People’s History of the United States, 1980, in order to debunk America’s heritage.
An exposé revealing Zinn’s manipulation of the facts was written by Mary Garbar, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America, 2019.
The Founding Fathers, for all their human failings, gave a present to future Americans, namely, each citizen gets to determine their own destiny, in a sense, be the king of their own life, and then all citizens, together, are the king of the country.
The pledge is “to the Flag and to the Republic for which it stands.”
A “republic” is where the people are king, ruling the country through their public servants called representatives.
Kings have subjects, who are subjected to the king’s will. Republics have citizens. The word “citizen” is Greek for co-ruler, co-sovereign, co-king.
When a person pledges allegiance to the Flag, they are pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves. They are saying that we, the people, are the king, not some power-usurping globalist totalitarian deep state dictator.
When someone protests the flag, they are effectively saying: “I don’t want to be the king anymore, I protest this system where I participate in ruling myself, I would rather relinquish authority over my life to deep-state government bureaucrats.”
Whether they fully realize it or not, those who dishonor the flag are effectively rejecting:
- equality before the law,
- freedom of speech,
- freedom of conscience,
- freedom of religion, and
- inalienable rights from the Creator.
“Kneeling” is the universal sign of surrender. Old Testament believers, such as Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would rather be thrown into the lion’s den or into the fiery furnace than kneel to something other than God.
Early Christian believers would rather be martyred in the Roman Colosseum than kneel to something other than God.
At the Dodger versus Giants baseball game, July 23, 2020, Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod was to only player not to kneel. When asked why, Coonrod stated: “I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God.”
The Christian Post reported, August 3, 2020: “Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac was the lone player to stand during the national anthem. He cited the Gospel later when asked to explain his reasoning. ‘I don’t think that kneeling for me, personally, is the answer. For me, black lives are supported through the Gospel, all lives are supported through the Gospel. My life has been supported by the Gospel. Everyone is made in the image of God and we all share in His glory.'”
Isaac continued: “We all make mistakes but I think the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us and that Jesus came and died for our sins, and that we all will come to an understanding of that and that God wants to have a relationship with us.”
Ron
True Texan Tales 