And chances are this little girl, when they come, how things change. Amen. My dear people, we are getting older. Amen. Hope we're gonna be like a fiddle now, the older it gets, the sweeter it plays. Max Prestwood told me, he said, I've heard all these years about these golden years. Said, I'm trying to find out what's so golden about them. Amen. Y'all ever get tickled at people? I seen a car in a parking lot the other day. It said, the closer you get, the slower I go. Boy, there's all kinds of funny people out there, ain't there? I think some of them put that in practice, don't they? Amen. Okay, Leviticus 25. Thank God for you visitors. I wanna tell you, I praise God you're here. Now don't tell me now, kids, but I want to know after service if some of this stuff I'm going to preach on, I want to know if you've ever been taught this in school, okay? And some of you adults, I want to know if you've ever been taught this. Because our history is glorious. Now there's a lot of, always gotta, always gotta qualify this, this caveat. There's a whole lot of our forefathers I'm not a proud of. They done a lot of bad things. A lot of bad things, but they've been a lot of good things done too. I don't believe you can look at American history from a Christian standpoint and not know God was in this thing. God wasn't in everything that was done. But the reason God raised up America, it had been hid from the knowledge of Europe and civilization for the most part for 5,500 years. This great expanse over here called America, all these natural resources and all this unknown to the world. When the Spaniards, when Columbus came, he wasn't the first one that came, but he got all the credit for it. But when Columbus came to America and the Spaniards heard about the gold, you know, then they went to South America and done all their plundering down there. But the Spaniards and the French and the English, all had an interest in this part of the world, and God gave it to the English. Now you think about some of the purchases of land that America has got, some of them's not been legal and some have been, but the Louisiana Purchase. Who would ever believe France would turn that loose for what they did? What about America buying Alaska from Russia for about nothing? I'm saying God's in this stuff. What about Hawaii in the Pacific? That's been strategically located. What about America being protected by two great oceans? and by two countries that are our friends, Mexico and Canada. Who'd ever believe you could have a country that has got the fortifications and the security that we've got? And God hid all of this from the knowledge of the world. And God was gonna raise up a nation where there could be religious liberty and freedom and the gospel could go out to the world. And it has from this place, from America. And anytime God does a new thing, if you'll study history, there's a lot of suffering. When God called Abraham out of the earth to the Chaldeans, he had to come to Israel or to Canaan land back then. And he never had a resting place. He was a nomad. He was taking his cattle, going from one place to the next. There was a lot of suffering. He left his home. He left all that wealth and earned the Caldeas to obey God. Anytime there's an opening of a dispensation or God doing a new thing, there is lots of suffering because Satan comes against it with a fury. Take the early day church, all of the apostles of Christ but one was martyred for their faith, all of them. Simon Peter was crucified upside down. He requested it. They was gonna crucify him like the Lord. He said, I'm not worthy to die like my Lord, crucify me upside down. Oh my soul, that's something. John the Beloved was boiled in a cauldron of oil and supernaturally survived. They put him to the Isle of Patmos. He died over 100 A.D. He was about 16 years old when Christ was on this earth. He so miraculously survived. He's the only apostle that did not die a martyr's death. And he would have had not God intervene. all the hardships of this country. We're enjoying the fat of the land. I think about how our forefathers have fought for the truth. But Jeremy, we're starting all over having to fight all these battles all over again. There's this replacement theory coming to many of our churches that believe the church replaced Israel and that God has no future for the nation of Israel. You got all this perversion of the gospel going on and we're fighting war. The devil has come with a fury like I've never experienced, just against me personally. And I know it's against you too. You know what? His things are wrapping up, that's why. And the antichrist is gonna put, he's coming to the throne. He's probably alive right now. I don't know that, but I'd say he is. When God is gonna set up a nation, when God's gonna birth a nation, he doesn't just turn the switch on. You don't just flip a switch and get a George Washington. You don't flip a switch and get a Patrick Henry or a Thomas Jefferson. These men were made in the crucible. of circumstance, the great awakening is what shaped the atmosphere of the political thought of our forefathers. Though many of them were not converted, some were, many were, all were not. But as far as I know, of the founding fathers, Thomas Paine's the only one that didn't believe in God. That's right. He would be considered now really an agnostic and not an outright atheist. Rest of them knew divine providence. And all these lies about deism, all this deism they believe. Well, they didn't believe it too strong because Benjamin Franklin's crying for prayer to open up the constitutional Congress. And I'm not going to read it today. You ought to hear the first prayer ever read before Congress. Glorious. Amen. but July the 4th, 1776. It had been voted on, ratified, Declaration of Independence, and then it was all worked out and everything finalized. It was publicized July the 4th, 1776. The day before, we were not a nation. The next day, we were the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence is our birth certificate. In Leviticus 25 verse 10, I'll read this verse again. You shall holler the 50th year, that's the year of Jubilee. Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and all the inhabitants thereof. And of course, I mentioned last week about how that George Washington found out the 9th of July, he assembled his men and the celebration they had, no one, the hardship that was to face them. The 56 brave men that signed the Declaration of Independence were signing their own death warrant. However, one of them, when they put their signature, it was not made public who the signers were for six months. These men knew they would have to run for their life. They knew if they were not successful that every one of them would hang by the neck for treason. As soon as they signed the Declaration of Independence and Britain found out, they began to search them down one by one to kill every one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. These men knew all of that was coming. Yet, they were such men of character, they were willing. I'm talking about rich men. All of them but Samuel Adams were rich men. And Samuel Adams would be blessed after that. Here's the last paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, that's God, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor. I wanna talk to you today about our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor. What a statement. Our lives, that's what it's probably gonna cost us. Our lives, it's gonna cost us our fortune. It's gonna cost us, but it will not cost us our sacred honor. We mutually pledge one to another. that will pay the price. Thomas Jefferson finished the draft of the Declaration of Independence in 17 days. These men measured what they signed. 25% of that original Declaration of Jefferson was taken out and many of the words were changed to that reflect more of unalienable rights that come from God Almighty. What I want you to understand, these men did not do this with blinders on. They knew what their wives would pay. They knew what their children would pay. They knew that even if they won, it would come at a great price, great war. Probably their houses, their plantations, their possessions would all be destroyed even if they won. But there was such a desire in their heart for freedom, for liberty. The great awakening that started under Jonathan Edwards and was spread like wildfire under George Whitefield and the tenant brothers and other men of God. There was such a presence of God in this country that when men get saved, when they're influenced by Christianity, they hate tyranny. They desire liberty. It's in the heart of every saved man to be free and to have liberty to worship his God and to work and provide for his family. Of the 56 men that signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British and tortured multiple times before their death. 12 had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War. Another two sons were captured. Of the 56 brave men that signed the Declaration of Independence, Eight of them died from wounds or hardships produced during the war. Benjamin Franklin was the only elderly man among the signers, and he was 70 years old. 18 men were in their 40s. Three men were in their 20s. Of the 56, nearly half of them were judges and lawyers. 11 were merchant men, nine were plantation owners and farmers. The remaining 12 were doctors, preachers, and politicians. Now, all but two of these men had families. The vast majority were men of education and great standing among their community. Listen to me now. They had everything to lose and nothing to gain. What they fought for was not themselves. They were fighting for the next generation. It'll come in the history of every church for the older people in the middle age and the younger to fight for the truth for the next generation. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th century. Of course, that's the 1700s. Each one of them would lose from the revolution and lose greatly. One signer, I forget his name, but when he signed the Declaration of Independence, he said, my hand is a trembling, but my heart is not. Oh, thank God for men that understood liberty. You can't have preaching without liberty. You can't spread the gospel without liberty. You can't make a living when the government's taking everything you've got. Amen. Benjamin Franklin noted, indeed, we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately. You know what Benjamin Franklin said? He said, when we sign the Declaration of Independence, we reach the point of no return. Carl Braxton, from Virginia, a wealthy planter, plantation owner, trader, saw his fleet of ships sunk, bombed by the British Navy and the number of his plantations destroyed. He sold his home, his properties to pay his debts and died in rags and in poverty. These men knew the rest. They knew what was gonna happen. Yet, it was liberty, it was freedom. It was taxation with representation. It was being able to have a court system. It was to be able to have wrongs made right. That I preached on last Sunday. All those 27 grievances against King George III of England. It's why they fought. Listen to some more of these men and the price that they paid, and it was a great and an enormous price. Thomas Nelson Jr., another signer. All these men are signers of the Declaration. Before the war, he also was a Virginia soldier, statesman, and plantation owner. His home was abruptly taken away at the Battle of Yorkton, and the British General, Cornwallis, set up his headquarters in the home of Thomas Nelson, Jr. Nelson became incensed at American guns at the Battle of Yorkton. He was asking them, why are you not bombing the headquarters of Cornwallis? They all said, sir, out of respect for you. He said, out of respect for me, give me that cannon. And he bombed his own house because it was a headquarter of the enemy, knowing what he was doing to his own family and his own, I'm talking about men that had a steel about them. that we honor to this day. That would not be the end of his heroic deeds. Thomas Nelson Jr. would raise at his own signature $2 million pledging his estate to support the revolutionary cause. and to send money to have a provision for the French fleet or Navy to come. After the war, he personally paid back the loan, which wiped out his entire estate, and he was never reimbursed by the government. He died at 50 years of age, a pauper hammed in rags. That pledge cost him his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor. John Hancock was one, if not the richest man in the 13 colonies. John Hancock had a price of 500 pounds on his head. Oh, Hancock, you know, he signed his name in enormous letters. He said that the king majesty could read his name without glasses and double the amount that was on his head. Boy, that's courage. This is not hyperbole. This is not saturday night live. They knew what it was gonna cost them. Thomas McKeon was so hounded by the British, he was forced to move his family constantly. He had to move them five times and in five months to escape the British. He served in the Congress without pay. His family had to be kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was his reward. That day that they signed the Declaration of Independence, they became traitors under the sentence of death and they knew that. John Hancock, six months after he signed the Declaration of Independence, him and his wife were on the move. She lost carrying their little girl. Complications at childbirth over them having to move to escape the British. Philip Morris of Philadelphia, A merchant man lost all his ships. William Ellery of Rhode Island lost everything. Benjamin Harrison lost everything. Pennsylvania George Clymer lost everything. New York Phillip Livingston lost 150,000 acres of real estate seized by the British, but he continued to contribute to the colonial cause until he run out of money. The strain of the revolution depleted his health and he died less than two years after he signed the Declaration of Independence. Here are some more men that lost it all, died in poverty. George Lyman Hall, New Jersey's Francis Hopkinson, Three of the South Carolina signers, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward Jr., and Arthur Middleton were captured by the British at the Battle of Charleston. They were held in a dungeon of rats, No heat and no blankets and no changes of clothes. And a rare prisoner exchange brought them out of prison. By George Washington, New Jersey, a farmer, John Hart's wife, died just before he signed the Declaration of Independence. He became a single father of 13 children. at her dying bedside. He had to flee for safety because the British were coming. His 13 children were taken by sympathetic families and raised and kept in hiding from the British and from the Loyalist. He never saw them again. He died alone, wrecked with grief three years later and never saw his children again. I'm talking about when you waved that flag, that caused some men, all of it. 17 of the 56 men were wiped out financially and died as paupers. Because of the war, they declared that they were willing to do it. New Jersey State Supreme Court Justice Richard Stockton rushed to Princeton, New Jersey, 1776 to rescue his family from approaching British troops. He was captured and thrown into prison where he was repeatedly beaten and kept near starvation. As a result of his treatment, he became an invalid and died in 1781 before the war was even over. His home was looted. His wife and children lived the rest of their life on charity as paupers. Of the 56 signers, they all, every one of them, all 56 had to flee their homes after the war. started and 12 returned to find only rubble. Robert Morris issued over a million dollars of personal credit to finance the war effort and raised 200,000 to defeat the British in Yorktown. In 1798, his personal finances had collapsed. He was never reimbursed by his country. He spent three years in a debtor's prison. Are we listening? Next time you see these snowflakes on these college campuses, have no concern or love for this nation, they ought to leave. That bunch of anti-gun, anti-American, anti-God, anti-Bible, that's what they are. Joseph Hughes of North Carolina gave tirelessly of himself to create a navy and help George Washington working without adequate food and rest. He lost his health and died 1779. before the war was even over at age 49. John Morton was criticized by many of his Pennsylvania neighbors for breaking the tie of the Pennsylvania delegation in favor of independence. The criticism sent him into such deep depression that early in 1777, one year after the Declaration was signed, he became ill and died at the age of 51. Thomas Hayward Jr. served in the army and was taken prisoner. The British raided his plantation while he was in prison and burned all of his buildings. His wife became ill and died before he was released from prison. William Hopper of North Carolina was hunted by the British. He fled, they burned his home and burned his lands. Francis Lewis was the son of a preacher born in Wales. He, the British, burned his home, seized his wife, held his wife in prison for two years with no bed. No change of clothes. After she was released after two years of suffering and failed health, she died a few months later. Thomas Lynch Jr. was a third generation rice grower and an aristocrat. On the large plantation, after he signed the Declaration of Independence, his health failed. He and his wife set sail to France, trying to recover his health. The ship never got to France. They disappeared somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Vandals looted the properties of Ellery, Klamer, Hall, Gwinnett, Walton, Wayward, Rutledge, and Middleton. The Hessians seized those German mercenaries. They came to America. At one time, Washington was fighting 10,000 of them, hired assassins and hired killers. Hessian seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey. Thomas Hayward Jr. was captured when Charleston fell. Louis Morris saw his land destroyed, his family scattered. Philip Livingston died within a few months from the hardships of the war after signing the Declaration of Independence. Folks, I'm trying to get us to say, and I'm sure you are, some of y'all are in shock, you never heard this stuff. Is that right or wrong? Why has our history been stolen from us? You know what the communists say? You know what Shoza Nixon said? To destroy a society, you must first separate them from their history. You know what Malcolm X said about black people? He is a leader of the Black Panthers. Here's what he said. He said, you know why black people ain't done nothing? Ain't doing nothing? Cause they ain't never been told they've ever done anything. It matters what your history is. You got pedigree. You got forefathers that fought for a cause. It means something to you. It ought to mean something to us as we see the liberals in this country trying to destroy everything we hold dear. Oh my God, if they'd have won the White House in that last election, we'd have probably lost our religious liberty and freedom. Right there, a thread. I mean, saved by a thread. This battle has to be fought again. It's coming. This nation is divided more than the Civil War, between blue and red. I've never seen such hatred. American campuses, Berkeley, California, where the so-called free speech movement was started in the 60s, Woodstock days. Now, if you're a conservative, they won't even let you speak on campus. Won't even allow you to. Shutting down any kind of speech they don't agree with. That's tyranny. You hear what I'm saying? These congressmen and senators like Barack Obama, they are the product of the 60s generation. That's where they come from. Listen to me now. That rebellious generation of which I was born in was a teenager in the 1970s. I know something about that. These snowflakes in the next 20 years will be the legislators. They'll be the senators and the congressmen. They'll take the... Listen to me. They're gonna be in charge. Can you tell me to calm down? This ain't serious. God's let us catch our breath again and we better take advantage of it. Let me show you the metal and the steel of these men. John Hancock stood outside Boston. It was a terrible night and Boston was on fire. John Hancock, the richest man in the 13 colonies, had all that wealth there. He said, burn, Boston, burn, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it. He lived up to the pledge, our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor. Hitting this something. I'll tell you what, Lord lets me preach not on Valley Forge. You talk about 2,000 men that didn't even have shoes that walked through the snow. Out of the 12,000 men, 2,000 didn't have any shoes. They stayed at Valley Forge because the British had run them out of Philadelphia. 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia was Valley Forge. And Washington set up headquarters there in September. They had to build huts. They built 2,000 huts. And George Washington would not get out from under his leaking tent until the last hut was built for his men. I'm talking about men of steel. Men that cared about others. By February, 2,000 died at Valley Fords. By the spring, 2,500 died. One out of 10 deserted, but nine out of 10 stayed. This is a volunteer army now. Not getting paid. Constitutional Congress didn't have any money. Not getting paid. Hungry. Almost to starve. Almost starved to death. Till God, in about, and I'm about to preach that sermon, in about January, God began to move, cause old Isaac Potts, a Quaker, and a loyalist, a Tory, an English sympathizer, had been out in the woods, heard old George Washington out there, callin' on God! He said such a prayer my ears have never heard. Washington is in such prayer he didn't even know Potts was there. Potts had become his friend and let him stay in his home where Washington's headquarters would become. Let me get off of that or I'm gonna steal all my thunder. I'm telling you, when you wave that flag, it costs something. The great generation, World War II, they wasn't just liberating the nation, they liberated the world. Or the world be speaking German or Russian. Right. Our men's giving their lives. World War I, went over there and fought for France. I think we about paid them back for coming and helping us in the Revolutionary War. We saved their bacon in two world wars and been their army for the last, since World War II. While they play around with socialism, we're paying the bill for their defense in all of Europe and that needs to stop. All these countries need to start paying us for being their protector if we're gonna be. Amen. I'm talking about a price being paid. I'm talking about a price these men knew was coming. Oh, thank God for George Washington. England had King George III, we had George Washington. John Adams, said to my posterity, you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you make good use of it. I'll read that again. John, it sort of makes you a patriot. I'm not talking about worshiping America. I'm talking about the God. There was a time in America when revolution come out of North Carolina, when revival came out of North Carolina. It was our Baptist forefathers that fought for religious liberty of all religions in America. Up until the 1831, religion was not even disbanded in the state of Massachusetts, and Baptists were outlawed. They was outlawed during this war right here. But liberty was coming. Liberty was coming. And the First Amendment to the Constitution is because of 40 Baptist preachers that hounded the Constitutional Congress, and James Madison, and George Washington, and Patrick Henry were the friend of the Baptists, and Virginia voted for the ratification of the Constitution. If the Baptists got religious liberty and the first amendment, the government shall not. But the religion clause, that's because of us, our forefathers. In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, this church could not have even been in operation in North Carolina, because the Anglican church outlawed it. See, we don't know our history. At one time, 43 Baptist preachers was in prison in Virginia by the Anglican Church for preaching the gospel. Obadiah Holmes was publicly beaten on the streets of Boston because he come from Rhode Island and gave Holy Communion to an old man that was blind. That was a member of the church in Rhode Island. And they came and gave him 30 lashes. A man offered to pay 30 pounds of one lash for every pound. Obadiah Holmes said, if I accept the money to be paid, I'm admitting guilt. I'm guilty of nothing. They whipped him with a whip that had three strands and metal and bone in those strands. Every time that big hefty spit on his hands. Every ten, every ten stripes he spit on his hands. Get that grip to plow into the back of Obadiah Holmes thirty 30 stripes across or 30 licks across his back would have been 90 stripes digging into his back because he's a Baptist preacher. I'm telling you what we got today, call somebody. It's gotta be fought for again. I'm talking about the spiritual battle is waging and the enemies of Christ are trying to shut down the gospel. you something. You can hate your president all you want to, but I'm going to tell you something. He's a supporter of Israel, and he's a big supporter of the church, and you better leave him alone. He may do everything backwards because he ain't a politician, but he loves Israel, and he loves the church, and he knows how to talk to a common man. Amen. One of the great preachers in the state of Texas, Robert Jeffers, is one of his best friends. Thank God. Ronald Reagan said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Every church is one pastor away from apostasy. When you water down the gospel and conviction and salvation, you are a heretic and an apostate. Call it like it is. If these men had enough guts to put their name on a document, they knew it'd cost them everything. God's men ought to stand up and call it like it is. Hardships of the Continental Army. George Washington's a rich man. Living out there in all that deprivation, I'll tell you one thing, at Valley Forge, his men respected him. But at Valley Forge, they learned to love him. And at the end of the war, soldiers hadn't been paid in a long time. Constitutional Congress, Washington kept sending for acquisitions and trying to get supplies. They thought he's exaggerating. Said they'd just print more money and send them money, that was worthless. And many of the farmers, America wasn't in starvation, the army was. Me and the farmers wouldn't sell our army their goods, because they didn't think they'd ever get paid. And those men were gonna petition Congress. Washington met with all the army. At the end of that war, He said, men, we must be patient. Those men went back to their communities. There were no parades. At the Constitutional Congress, while Washington Valley Forge about to die, the critics are in Philadelphia where the Capitol was and criticism trying to overthrow him and put in another man. I tell you, this thing was hanging by a thread. George Washington was so loved, there was a big petition and a big groundswell to make him King George of these United States. King George would not, King George, George Washington would not do military activity without the approval of the civilian government. He said, I am not interested in being king. You don't need a king. We don't need a king in America. We need a president that's ruled by civilians and not the military. He turned down being king of America, George Washington. And I'll tell you what, I'm sick of fake news, I'm sick of liberal press, and I'm sick of these books that want to just disparage our founding fathers. I don't believe half of any of that stuff. That's right. All you got to do is have one hater of America write some book and claim something made up. Even the old gray lady in the newspapers and the news outlets of great reputation of the past, they're having to go, you can't believe a word they say. And get caught and go back to lying the same day. When King George, says Chancellor, you come on. When King George III heard Washington turn down the opportunity to be king, you know what King George said? King George III of England, if Washington did indeed surrender his authority to civilian government, He's the greatest man in history. Listen now. King George III, hungry for power. By the way, the War of 1812 was fought when the British started kidnapping our men on American ships going to Europe and making naval sailors out of them and kidnapping our men. That was some of it right there. King George, at one time, the British Empire controlled more land and more countries of any empire in world history. British Empire. The sun never set on the British Empire. King George III said, I'm emphasizing this, if George Washington did indeed surrender his authority, chance to be king to civilian government. He's the greatest man in history. I say King George III, he is not the greatest man in history for the son of God surrendered his position on the right hand of God the father and came and let civilian people, let the creature crucify the creator on the cross of Calvary. That's the greatest man of history. That's the greatest man that ever lived because he loved your soul and he loved my soul. It gave it all for you and I. Well, I could go on and on and on with this and we'd be here all day. Has Christianity ever cost you anything? Has it ever cost you anything? Does it cost you five minutes of devotion every day, anything? I'm not trying to jump on us. I'm trying, I want God to stir my heart. I can't expect you to do what I don't do. Leadership's supposed to set a standard. I believe that. You can say, well, the preacher ought to be just one of the old boys. Yeah, that's what's wrong with most churches now. He's just one of the old boys. That's when he loses his respect. I ain't no better than you. I'll talk car racing than anything else to you. I like it all. But I'm gonna tell you something. God's man is to represent this Bible. Godliness. And to have a prayer life and be able to pray for his people that God's put under his care. And a man can't do a thing without somebody to follow him. You hear tonight about the women and children. Praise God. Follow them Valley Forge men and help them. Takes everybody. Takes everybody. You gotta have a leader and you gotta believe in him. You gotta know he loves you. You gotta trust him. If that trust is broken, you can't have a leader. George Washington said, if my critics don't want me, let the people, let me know and I'll step down. That's what he said. Folks, We better get in line with God. That little boy right there, you think about this, I know you do. What kind of a world is he gonna be raised in if God don't touch the church? Much I appreciate. Now, I've done talked about our president. Our president's a patriot. He's a multi-billionaire. He don't need the money. He don't need the job. He loves his country. There's a lot of things about him I don't agree with in his past. He sure has loved the women. Now, I don't agree with all that, but I'll tell you one thing. You go back 20 and 30 years ago, he is talking this language of the common man back then. He's hated by Democrats, Republicans, Independents, about everybody. That's the elite of Washington. because he's for the people. I'm for the people. Hey man, I'm for the people. Did you hear now? Donald Trump ain't a Republican or a Democrat. He ain't neither one. That's why they all hate him. He ain't bald. We need to pray for him. I don't think salvation lies in Donald Trump. I don't think Donald Trump can turn this country around. I think God's got to do it. But thank God, at least we got somebody, our friend. Amen. Have a preacher can't stand. I'll tell you who done the preaching before 1776. Hells of men of God stood in the pulpit and demanded liberty and freedom and to break away from England. It was God's men. As God's men, like John Gonneau, a Baptist preacher, baptized George Washington by mercy. It was those men of God that went to those camps and fought and shot muskets and encouraged those men to fight. Amen. Because God gave them some backbone. Praise God for the mercy. Well, you can tell I get stirred up. I get stirred up and I feel the dynamite of God going off in my soul. God raised this thing up. Man's tried to mess it up every step of the way. That's right. All that big government crowd, I hate to say it, like Adams and some of them big government men. You had little old Jefferson, Patrick Henry, some of them screaming, limited government, limited government. From the very inception, there's been this war. against federalism, states' rights, and all this stuff. But in the midst of it all, God's kept his hand on this thing. Amen. You better appreciate it. I know Matthew's going, so I ain't jumping on him. But all you kids that grow up, God help you if you ain't got no more foundation to let some stupid professor talk you out of God and out of everything you've been taught. Amen. A bunch of dope-smoking hippies, an anti-God crowd, on so many drugs just to live, many of them, because they have no peace. That's right. Well, let me get off that. I love y'all. I love this country. I started preaching 35 years ago, 36 years ago. And I haven't been preaching no amount of time. And then I picked up a couple of books on the history of America. I'd never heard it. I'd never heard it. I'd heard some of it. I'd certainly never heard the Baptist history of America. And I don't think all Baptists are saved. I don't think most of them are. That sounds so self-righteous. Listen, I'm not preaching salvation by denomination, but I'm not ignorant of history either. I am some, but I'm not as bad as I was. I gained a love for history. I always did, but man, when I got to studying God's hand on like the Battle of New York, how God intervenes so supernaturally. I'm telling you, even old Cornwallis got so frustrated because God kept changing the weather on him. Said it's like God opening the river and oceans for them and closing it for us. Amen. Serve the Lord with gladness. Serve him. Let's be a part of this solution, okay? Let's bow our heads in prayer.