Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6th
1911-June 5th 2004) was the 40th President of the United States. No
matter what anyone thought of his politics, they couldn't help but love
The Great Communicator who spoke with disarming humor and a positive
outlook. Those who spoke with him always remarked at how he had the
knack of making them feel as if they were the only person in the world
who mattered at that moment!
Art of Eloquence uses humor to
teach a generation of Christians to speak up as eloquently for their
beliefs and accomplish the work the Lord has for them! During the Say
What You Mean Convention 2008, we strive to help Christian families
teach their children to speak as eloquently.
Ronald Reagan was a man of faith
who felt strongly about a America's ties to her Creator. He had a way
of using humor and God's Word to speak gently and respectfully of his
vision and his beliefs. I thought you might enjoy reading a little of
The Great Communicator's whit and wisdom of faith and politics:
“Our Nation’s motto – ‘In God We
Trust’ - was not chosen lightly. It reflects a basic recognition that
there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes
homage.”
“We can’t have it both ways. We
can’t expect God to protect us in a crisis and just leave Him over
there on the shelf in our day-to-day living. I wonder if sometimes He
isn’t waiting for us to wake up, He isn’t maybe running out of
patience.”
"America needs God more than
God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God,
then we will be a Nation gone under.”
"Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement."
"I have wondered many times
about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run
them through the U.S. Congress."
“In 1962, the Supreme Court in
the New York prayer case banned the...saying of prayers. In 1963, the
Court banned the reading of the Bible in our public schools. From that
point on, the courts pushed the meaning of the ruling ever outward, so
that now our children are not allowed voluntary prayer...Cases were
started to argue against tax-exempt status for churches. Suits were
brought to abolish the words ‘Under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance,
and to remove ‘In God We Trust’ from public documents and from our
currency. Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting
of the conscience....without God there is a coarsening of the society;
without God democracy will not and cannot long endure."
“The First Amendment is to
protect not government from religion, but religion from government
tyranny....The polls show that it is overwhelming, the percentage of
people who want prayer restored....We refer to ours as a country under
God. It says ‘In God We Trust’ on our coins. They open the Congress
sessions with a chaplain. I’ve never been sure whether he prays for the
Congress or for the nation.”
“I have been one who believes
that abortion is the taking of a human life.... The fact that they
could not resolve the issue of when life begins was a finding in and of
itself. If we don’t know, then shouldn’t we morally opt on the side of
life? If you came upon an immobile body and you yourself could not
determine whether it was dead or alive, I think that you would decide
to consider it alive until somebody could prove it was dead. You
wouldn’t get a shovel and start covering it up. And I think we should
do the same thing with regard to abortion.”
"Freedom is never more than
one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children
in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for
them to do the same."
“While never willing to bow to
a tyrant, our forefathers were always willing to get to their knees
before God. When catastrophe threatened, they turned to God for
deliverance. When the harvest was bountiful, the first thought was
thanksgiving to God. Prayer is today as powerful a force in our nation
as it has ever been. We as a nation should never forget this source of
strength. And while recognizing that the freedom to choose a Godly path
is the essence of liberty, as a nation we cannot but hope that more of
our citizens would, through prayer, come into a closer relationship
with their Maker.”
“Its been written that the most
sublime figure in American history was George Washington on his knees
in the snow at Valley Forge. He personified a people who knew that it
was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness, that they
must seek help from God - their Father and Preserver. Where did we
begin to lose sight of that noble beginning, of our convictions that
standards of right and wrong do exist and must be lived up to?”
“Do we really think that we can
have it both ways, that God will protect us in a time of crisis even as
we turn away from Him in our day-to-day life?”
"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this planet is a government program."
“The Book of St. John tells us,
‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life.’…We also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard
to our country – ‘That if my people who are called by my name humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their
land.’...To preserve our blessed land, we must look to
God....Rebuilding America begins with restoring family strength and
preserving family values.”
"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."
“The public expression
through prayer of our faith in God is a fundamental part of our
American heritage and a privilege which should not be excluded by law
from any American school, public or private. One hundred fifty years
ago, Alexis de Tocqueville found that all Americans believed that
religious faith was indispensable to the maintenance of their
republican institutions. Today, I join with the people of this nation
in acknowledging this basic truth, that our liberty springs from and
depends upon an abiding faith in God.”
“Prayer is one of the
few things in the world that hurts no one and sustains the spirit of
millions. The founding fathers felt this so strongly that they
enshrined the principle of freedom of religion in the First Amendment
of the Constitution. The purpose of that amendment was to protect
religion from the interference of government and to guarantee, in its
own words, ‘the free exercise of religion.’ Yet today we’re told that
to protect that First Amendment, we must suppress prayer and expel God
from our children’s classrooms. In one case, a court has ruled against
the right of children to say grace in their own school cafeteria before
they had lunch. A group of children who sought, on their initiative and
with their parents’ approval, to begin the school day with a one-minute
prayer meditation have been forbidden to do so. And some students who
wanted to join in prayer or religious study on school property, even
outside of regular class hours, have been banned from doing so. A few
people have been objected to prayers being said in Congress. That’s
just plain wrong. The Constitution was never meant to prevent people
from praying; its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to
pray.”
"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives."
“It’s
not good enough to have equal access to our law; we must also have
equal access to the higher law - the law of God. George Washington
warned that morality could not prevail in exclusion of religious
principles. And Jefferson asked, ‘Can the liberties of a nation be
thought secure, when we’ve removed their only firm basis, a conviction
in the minds of people that these liberties are the gifts of God?’ We
must preserve the noble promise of the American dream for every man,
woman, and child in this land. And make no mistake, we can preserve it,
and we will. That promise was not created by America. It was given to
America as a gift from a loving God - a gift proudly recognized by the
language of liberty in the world’s greatest charters of freedom: our
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.”
“God bless you and welcome back....I wonder if we could all
join in a moment of silent prayer....When the first President, George
Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he stood less than a single
day’s journey by horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. So much has
changed. And yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago....One
people under God determined that our future shall be worthy of our
past.”
"The Taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal Government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
“Either he was what he said
he was or he was the world’s greatest liar. It is impossible for me to
believe a liar or charlatan could have had the effect on mankind that
he has had for 2000 years. We could ask, would even the greatest of
liars carry his lie through the crucifixion, when a simple confession
would have saved him? ... Did he allow us the choice you say that you
and others have made, to believe in his teaching but reject his
statements about his own identity?”
“Let us go
forward, determined to serve selflessly a vision of man with God,
government for people, and humanity at peace.”
May we
all teach our children to boldly speak out in grace and truth as Reagan
so eloquently did! Now is the time to teach them! For if not now,
when...?
