America - Where is her beauty?

What makes America beautiful?

America the Beautiful

by Katherine Lee Bates

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Questions;

• How can America be united again? By the grace of God alone will we be united in brotherhood.
• How can America’s flaws be “fixed?” The hand of God alone.
• When will our laws reflect true freedom? When His law is within it.
• When will the gold within America be refined and the dross removed? When our efforts are God-focused, He will remove our wickedness and dross.
• How will our success be defined? Not by our economy, but our gains toward heavenly divine goals.
• When will America be truly beautiful? When we acknowledge Him from sea to shining sea.

What American presidents have said about God in America:

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.” ~ George Washington

“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained.”  ~ George Washington

“We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!”  ~ John Adams

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.”  ~ James Madison

“Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.”  ~ James Monroe

“Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic unto the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.”  ~ Andrew Jackson

“The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“You can’t divorce religious belief and public service. . . I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.” ~ James Earl Carter, Jr.

“If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” ~ Ronald Reagan

“We asked for God’s help; and now, in this shining outcome, in this magnificent triumph of good over evil, we should thank God.”  ~ George H. W. Bush

“Each day millions of our citizens approach our Maker on bended knee, seeking His grace and giving thanks for the many blessings He bestows upon us.”  ~ George W Bush

For more quotes from our Presidents and founding fathers, http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=8755

I pray America will look to God for all these answers, for there alone will America be the beauty she could be.