Ivan Thompson

The Making of a Great America Ivan Thompson

"Make America Great Again" has quickly become one of the most divisive phrases in our nation. It most certainly begs the questions when was America great, what things made it great, and what things need to be done to restore its greatness?The answers to the questions above have driven me back to study the Founding Fathers' vision of America and what they set out to achieve. I am a born-again Christian. As such, I share the belief that America's greatness is inextricably connected to its foundational aim, as expressed in the pledge of allegiance, to be "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."I know that for non-Christians, these words may have a myriad of interpretations. This book is not written for them. This book is written for those who profess the lordship of Jesus Christ and acknowledge the inerrant doctrinal authority of the Bible: 2 Tim 3:16 (NKJV) "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,2 Pet 1:16, 20-21 (NKJV) "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Scriptural principles reflected in the pledge of allegiance were valid long before it was created and are still relevant today. As I study the Founding Father's application of these principles; however, I believe that they did not go far enough in their pursuit of the tenets of liberty and justice for all. Though these Founding Fathers were great visionaries, likely the greatest visionaries our country has ever known, their revelation of God's plan for our nation was incomplete. I will show in this book how the Founding Fathers had difficulty extending the application of these principles outside themselves (British settlers). They had difficulty extending these principles to native Americans, enslaved Africans and even to other European immigrants (Irish, German, etc.) Why would I go to the trouble of pointing this out? I do so to point out that many of the issues that we are dealing with today (division along racial lines, racism, distrust of immigrants) are not new issues. Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NKJV) says, "That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." The central point of this book is that America will never achieve the greatness that God envisioned if today's leaders in government and the church make the same mistakes as the leaders of America at the time of the Founding Fathers.