I remember sitting with my mother in our living room watching the returns on the 1960 presidential election. This was a big day for many Catholics in America. A year or so after that the nuns ushered us out of school to line Genesee Street in Buffalo, New York. The motorcade passed by slowly and I stared in awe as President Kennedy waved to the Catholic elementary school students. Two years later I was in a different Catholic elementary school in Pittsburgh. On that balmy Friday my homeroom sister came in to the classroom crying. She told us that the president had been shot. We were released to go home.
It is greatly weathered but I still have in my possession that magazine sized book Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy. It took me close to a half a century to zero in on what the editors described in it as "President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas."
That speech that was never given concluded with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." So the full verse is:
"Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
I find that pretty astonishing. God as much as surveyed this land....in this world that He created. He brought our forefathers here for a purpose. We would grow great and strong. The schemes of Marx and Lenin would stop at our shores. The nightmare of the Nazis ended with the sound of American bombers and tanks. Israel exists because America exists. Poland stands strong and free because there was an America to back up their courage. In like manner South Korea is not communist because of America. The Gospel of Jesus Christ went out to every corner of the earth from the United States of America. This was our purpose.
We will labor in vain as we try to make America great again. "Except the LORD build the house.....Except the LORD keep the city." We have had a string of disasters, increasing in frequency, defilement and ruin, since those shots were fired 54 years ago from that building and that grassy knoll. Donald Trump is not a reprieve....Ronald Reagan was the reprieve! Jonah is no longer our prophet telling us to repent or else.....Nahum is now telling us what is about to happen....therefore repent! Go find someone to prophesy peace and safety if you want. They're all over the place....or rather listen to Paul...."But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief."
It is greatly weathered but I still have in my possession that magazine sized book Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy. It took me close to a half a century to zero in on what the editors described in it as "President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas."
That speech that was never given concluded with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." So the full verse is:
"Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
I find that pretty astonishing. God as much as surveyed this land....in this world that He created. He brought our forefathers here for a purpose. We would grow great and strong. The schemes of Marx and Lenin would stop at our shores. The nightmare of the Nazis ended with the sound of American bombers and tanks. Israel exists because America exists. Poland stands strong and free because there was an America to back up their courage. In like manner South Korea is not communist because of America. The Gospel of Jesus Christ went out to every corner of the earth from the United States of America. This was our purpose.
We will labor in vain as we try to make America great again. "Except the LORD build the house.....Except the LORD keep the city." We have had a string of disasters, increasing in frequency, defilement and ruin, since those shots were fired 54 years ago from that building and that grassy knoll. Donald Trump is not a reprieve....Ronald Reagan was the reprieve! Jonah is no longer our prophet telling us to repent or else.....Nahum is now telling us what is about to happen....therefore repent! Go find someone to prophesy peace and safety if you want. They're all over the place....or rather listen to Paul...."But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief."
