I wish to open these thoughts with mention of fifty-six individuals who pledged themselves to serve this nation. Of these fifty-six individuals five were captured and tortured before they died. Twelve lost their homes. Two lost their sons in battle. One had two sons captured. Nine died in war from its hardships, or its bullets. Who were these individuals?
These fifty-six individuals were not warriors of any modern era wars. They were individual signers of America’s Declaration of Independence! What courage and responsibility these men manifested in this declaration, and what validity such commitment gives to the familiar quote, “Freedom is not free!”
Here we are 246 years later, honoring men and women who continue to sign their names on paperwork that leads them to lay their lives on the line to keep America “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
What a privilege it is for us at God’s Word for Warriors to be a partner with you who honor and remember these through our ministry. What a responsibility we all take upon ourselves to preserve the freedoms and the republic the signers of the Declaration ushered into history. You, our partners in this ministry have joined the charge of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, “For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
I believe one of the great challenges we face today is the avoidance of taking for granted the freedoms we are now enjoying because of the sacrifices of generations before us.The following words from the Roman historian of the 1st century, Velleius Paterculus, are very relevant: “Rome fell,not gradually but in headlong course, from virtue towards vice.The old discipline was deserted and the new introduced.The state turned from vigilance to sleep, from military affairs to pleasures from work to leisure” (from History of Rome 2.1.1).
Tom Seals