President Trump has called Americans to come together to rededicate our country to God as we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“To be a great nation, you have to have RELIGION. You have to have FAITH. You have to have GOD,” the President said when announcing plans for the ceremony earlier this year. “We’re inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks, and… we are going to rededicate America as one nation under God.”
A solemn prayer ceremony will be held on the National Mall this upcoming Sunday, on May 17th, which marks exactly 250 years from the time the Second Continental Congress called Americans to a pivotal day of repentance.
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That proclamation was first issued on March 16, 1776, three-and-a-half months before the Declaration of Independence. The Congress resolved to earnestly recommend the 17th of May as a solemn day of fasting and prayer:
- It urged American colonists to “confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions” and rely on Divine Providence.
- It called on them to “publickly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God” and to rely on “the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ” for forgiveness.
- It took aim at the war threats from the British monarchy, asking for “the Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies” to grant victory to American forces in their battle for independence.
And it wasn’t the first time for such a day of prayer and fasting. The House of Representatives reports in a historical blog, “One year earlier, the Continental Congress appointed John Adams and Robert Treat Paine of Massachusetts and William Hooper of North Carolina to a committee to draft ‘a resolve’ naming July 20 that year “as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.”
In 1775, Adams had written to his wife Abigail, “We have appointed a continental Fast… Millions will be upon their Knees at once before their great Creator, imploring his Forgiveness and Blessing, his Smiles on American Councils and Arms.”
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress then announced more days of fasting – twice in 1776, and at least once a year from 1778 to 1782.
In honor of the 250th anniversary of that day of prayer right before the beginning of the war, Sen. James Lankford and Sen. Raphael Warnock submitted the following resolution, which Congress approved:
RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the passage of the resolution of March 16, 1776, which declared May 17 as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.
Whereas, on March 16, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer;
Whereas the preamble of the March 16, 1776, resolution stated, “In times of impending calamity and distress; when the Liberties of America are imminently endangered by the secret machinations and open assaults of an insidious and vindictive Administration, it becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy Colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publickly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God; to confess and deplore our offences against him; and to supplicate his interposition for averting the threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue, and posterity.”; and
Whereas the March 16, 1776, resolution resolved that “The Congress therefore, considering the warlike preparations of the British Ministry to subvert our invaluable rights and privileges, and to reduce us by fire and sword, by the savages of the wilderness, and our own domestics, to the most abject and ignominious bondage: Desirous, at the same time, to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God’s superintending providence, and of their duty, devoutly to rely, in all their lawful enterprises, on his aid and direction, Do earnestly recommend, that Friday, the Seventeenth day of May next, be observed by the said Colonies as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayers; that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness; humbly imploring his assistance to frustrate the cruel purposes of our unnatural enemies; and by inclining their hearts to justice and benevolence, prevent the further effusion of kindred blood. But if, continuing deaf to the voice of reason and humanity, and inflexibly bent, on desolation and war, they constrain us to repel their hostile invasions by open resistance, that it may please the Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies, to animate our Officers and Soldiers with invincible fortitude, to guard and protect them in the day of battle, and to crown the Continental arms, by sea and land, with victory and success. Earnestly beseeching him to bless our civil Rulers, and the Representatives of the People, in their several Assemblies and Conventions; to preserve and strengthen their Union, to inspire them with an ardent, disinterested love of their Country; to give wisdom and stability to their Councils; and direct them to the most efficacious measures for establishing the Rights of America on the most honorable and permanent basis—that he would be graciously pleased to bless all his People in these Colonies with Health and Plenty, and grant that a spirit of incorruptible Patriotism, and of pure undefiled Religion, may universally prevail; and this Continent be speedily restored to the blessings of Peace and Liberty, and enabled to transmit them inviolate to the latest Posterity. And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations, to assemble for Public Worship, and abstain from servile Labor on the said Day.”: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate commemorates the 250th anniversary of the passage of the March 16, 1776, resolution, declaring May 17 as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.
Join CBN News on May 17 at the National Mall as Americans come together for Rededicate 250 to rededicate America as one nation under God. If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch Live on the CBN News YouTube channel from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m ET.
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