Pledge of Allegiance of the United States

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Today it reads:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Section 4 of the Flag Code states:

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute."






Friday, June 10, 2011

DAY 17 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (PEACE) - JUNE 10, 2011

June 10



Ephesians 2:14 (New International Version)


14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

DAY 17 - DAILY PRAYER (PEACE) - JUNE 10, 2011

June 10


Father in Heaven,


As a nation that has been born out of Your great mercy and blessings, we humbly come to You today seeking a renewed peace in America.  Father, Your word tells us that You will give strength unto Your people; and You will bless Your people with peace (Psalm 29:11).  It is as believers that we come to Your throne today to ask for the fulfillment of this promise.  Give us a peace from the natural disasters which have wrought utter calamity across this country.  Give us a peace and prosperity in the finances of this nation, and it's people.  Grant us a reprieve from the many social and personal failings that we have experienced as Your people.  Grant us a peace and removal from the addictions that Satan has bound us with.  Give us a peace to share with the people of other countries, and a shining light of hope for all nations in Your name. 


We worship, and adore You...all blessings come from Your loving hand, and Your great mercy.  Please be merciful upon Your people.  Let there be a season of peace across this land, and let Your people lift up their praise for this answer to prayer.  We speak our hearts desire to You now Father, and beseech Your great blessing of peace upon this nation.


In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen!


Wally Ziolo
40DAYPRAYER4USA
Christian

Thursday, June 9, 2011

DAY 17 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 10, 2011


American Minute for June 10th:


    The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduated its first class on JUNE 10, 1854. The Academy was established under George Bancroft, Secretary of Navy for President James Polk. On June 16, 1845, Polk issued Order 27 to Secretary George Bancroft: "The President...with heartfelt sorrow announces to the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps the death of Andrew Jackson...The 8th day of June, about 6 o'clock, he resigned his spirit to his Heavenly Father...He believed the liberties of his country imperishable... He departed from this life in a full hope of a blessed immortality through the merits and atonement of the Redeemer." George Bancroft, known as the "father of American history" for compiling the nation's first comprehensive record, wrote in Progress of Mankind: "The Divine Being should...be known, not as a distant Providence...but as God present in the flesh...The consciousness of an incarnate God carried peace into the bosom of humanity." George Bancroft continued: "The idea of GOD WITH US dwelt and dwells in every system of thought that can pretend to vitality; in every oppressed people, whose struggles to be free have the promise of success; in every soul that sighs for redemption."


Endnotes


JUNE 10. Bancroft, George. Address titled, "The Progress of Mankind." George Bancroft, Literary & Historical Miscellanies, pp. 502, 504. Stephen Abbot Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, TX), pp. 24-25. Semi-centennial celebration. Fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the New York Historical Society. Monday, November 20, 1854. 
by George Bancroft; New-York Historical Society.


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DAY 16 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (HEAL) - JUNE 9, 2011

June 9


Psalm 103:2-4
King James Version (KJV)


 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:


 3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;


 4Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
June 9




A Prayer for Healing




To preserve our blessed land we must look to God... It is time to realize that we need God more than He needs us... We also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard to our country, that "If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."


Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step, in humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance, in seeking His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on ourselves, our nation, our friends in the defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always.


The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America... Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal. Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on Earth.


If I had a prayer for you today, among those that have all been uttered, it is that one we're so familiar with: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace...." And God bless you all.


Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States (1981–1989),


--From a speech to the American people, February 6, 1986


http://www.beliefnet.com

DAY 16 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 9, 2011


American Minute for June 9th:

    Withholding taxes from people's paychecks began JUNE 9, 1943. Congress passed it as an emergency measure to get money to fight Hitler. The idea came from Beardsley Ruml, treasurer of Macy's and chairman of New York's Federal Reserve Bank. Called the "pay-as-you-go" tax, so much money came in with so few complaints that it continued after the war. John F. Kennedy told Congress, April 20, 1961: "Introduced during the war when the income tax was extended to millions of new taxpayers, the wage-withholding system has been one of the most important and successful advances in our tax system in recent times. Initial difficulties were quickly overcome, and the new system helped the taxpayer no less than the tax collector." But Americans weren't always so taxed. In his 2nd Annual Message, 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "To proceed as we have begun in substituting economy for taxation." President Andrew Jackson stated in his 8th Annual Message, December 5, 1836: "There is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together the property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose of dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people. Indeed, it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the States when they adopted the Constitution." In his Message to Congress, May 27, 1830, Andrew Jackson said: "Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent Providence our country is blessed with general prosperity and our citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less favored portions of the human family are obliged to bear."


Endnotes


Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, April 20, 1961, Special Message on Taxation, April 20, 1961. Public Papers of the Presidents-Containing Public Messages, Speeches & Statements of the President, (Wash., DC: U.S. Gov. Printing Office.) Jackson, Andrew. May 27, 1830, Veto Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages & Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature & Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. II, p. 489.


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DAY 15 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (FIRE) - JUNE 8, 2011

June 8


Deuteronomy 4:12  New International Version (NIV)


12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

DAY 15 - DAILY PRAYER (WILDFIRES) - JUNE 8, 2011

June 8

El-Shaddai (All Sufficient One),


We come to you in need for the Arizona wild fires.  The wild fires that burn there endanger homes, business, human and animal lives.  Lord, we seek Your sufficient mercy, and deliverance in this area of our nation.  Command the roaring fires to be extinguished in that land.  May the winds be silenced at Your voice, and the plumes of smoke dispersed with a wave of Your mighty hand.  Prevent the smoke from these fires from causing harm to those with breathing problems, and clear the skies of it's damaging effects on this earthbound environment.


Lord, we also ask your great mercy across this entire nation.  Spare other cities across the county the disastrous effects of wild fires.  Grant mercy to those areas prone to fires, and give a reprieve to the people who inhabit those areas.  Bless us with Your unending goodness, and spare us from the threat of wild fires in our land.


We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ,


Amen.


Wally Ziolo
40DAYPRAYER4USA
Christian

DAY 15 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 8, 2011

American Minute for June 8th:

Withholding taxes from people's paychecks began JUNE 9, 1943. Congress passed it as an emergency measure to get money to fight Hitler. The idea came from Beardsley Ruml, treasurer of Macy's and chairman of New York's Federal Reserve Bank. Called the "pay-as-you-go" tax, so much money came in with so few complaints that it continued after the war. John F. Kennedy told Congress, April 20, 1961: "Introduced during the war when the income tax was extended to millions of new taxpayers, the wage-withholding system has been one of the most important and successful advances in our tax system in recent times. Initial difficulties were quickly overcome, and the new system helped the taxpayer no less than the tax collector." But Americans weren't always so taxed. In his 2nd Annual Message, 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "To proceed as we have begun in substituting economy for taxation." President Andrew Jackson stated in his 8th Annual Message, December 5, 1836: "There is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together the property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose of dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people. Indeed, it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the States when they adopted the Constitution." In his Message to Congress, May 27, 1830, Andrew Jackson said: "Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent Providence our country is blessed with general prosperity and our citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less favored portions of the human family are obliged to bear."


Endnotes


Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, April 20, 1961, Special Message on Taxation, April 20, 1961. Public Papers of the Presidents-Containing Public Messages, Speeches & Statements of the President, (Wash., DC: U.S. Gov. Printing Office.) Jackson, Andrew. May 27, 1830, Veto Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages & Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature & Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. II, p. 489.


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Monday, June 6, 2011

DAY 14 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (PRAISE) - JUNE 7, 2011

June 7



2 Corinthians 1:12 (New International Version)


Paul’s Change of Plans


 12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity[a] and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.

DAY 14 - DAILY PRAYER (FOREIGN RELATIONS) - JUNE 7, 2011

June 7


For Good Foreign Relations




O my Jesus, I pray for the international relations of my nation, because our global influence has allowed us into other countries to spread Your Holy Word in the past. I pray that those You raise up would give favor and offer safety to the missionaries in their respective nations.




Raise up wise men and women to fill our diplomatic corps, persons of skill, morals, and understanding in foreign affairs and in the affairs of state. Grant safety to our embassy personnel in every foreign land so they will be able to maintain good relations in their posts, and so that even our enemies will be at peace with them. I ask that Your Hand would be with our diplomats to such a degree that even the most fanatical of our enemies would fear attacking our embassies and their personnel. Rather, Lord, let our enemies begin to see the United States as an ensign of peace to the world and realize that living in peace is preferable to living in fear and bondage. 




Send Your Holy Spirit to alert our personnel of any potential attacks, and give them the power to quell them before they happen. Keep them always in the safety of Your Arms. 




Amen.




"Pray for Our Nation," published by Harrison House, © 1999.

DAY 14 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 7, 2011


American Minute for June 7th:


    The island of Jamaica was captured from the Spanish in 1655 by British Admiral William Penn, father of Pennsylvania's founder, but it was too far from England to defend, so the city turned to privateers, pirates and buccaneers for protection. The likes of Blackbeard, Calico Jack and Captain Henry Morgan, namesake of the rum, attacked Spanish ships and returned with their booty. Soon Port Royal, Jamaica, surpassed Boston as England's most prosperous settlement. Called "the Sodom of the New World" for its "pirates, cutthroats, whores," drinking, gambling and slave trading, it was "the richest and wickedest city in the world" until JUNE 7, 1692, when an earthquake and tsunami sank it under the sea. Over 2,000 drowned, graves opened and bodies washed about. Eye-witness Rev. Emmanuel Heath, wrote: "Port Royal was terribly destroyed by an earthquake and breaking in of the sea upon it. The destruction was sudden...in four minutes multitudes were killed by the falling houses...I believe God I never in my life saw such a terror...the earth opened and swallowed up people before my face...The sea swallowed up the greatest part of that wretched sinful place...They are so wicked, I fear God...will utterly destroy all by this dreadful Judgment."


Endnotes


http://www.sephardim.org/jamaica/1600/port_royal1.jpg www.sephardim.org/jamaica/1600/port_royal2.jpg www.sephardim.org/jamaica/1600/port_royal3.jpg www.sephardim.org/jamaica/main.html


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DAY 13 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (RENEW) - JUNE 6, 2011

June 6


Revelation 2:4-5 ESV 


But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

DAY 13 - DAILY PRAYER (RENEWAL) - JUNE 6, 2011

June 6


“Almighty God, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have
set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our
Religion and our Civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...


Help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.”


President Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States (1933–1945)
Episcopalian

DAY 13 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 6, 2011


American Minute for June 6th:


    D-Day was JUNE 6, 1944. 156,000 troops landed on the Normandy coast of France in the largest invasion force in history. Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower issued the order: "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade...The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you...Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely...Let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking." President Franklin Roosevelt stated JUNE 6, 1944: "My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation...I ask you to join with me in prayer: Almighty God, Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization...They will need Thy blessings...Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom." FDR concluded: "Help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith to Thee."


Endnotes


Eisenhower, Dwight David. June 6, 1944, in his "D-day Orders of the Day." Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1948), back cover.


(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

DAY 12 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (STRENGTHEN) - JUNE 5, 2011

June 5



Isaiah 45:5 (New International Version)


5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; 
   apart from me there is no God. 
I will strengthen you, 
   though you have not acknowledged me,

DAY 12 - DAILY PRAYER (STRENGTH) - JUNE 5, 2011

June 5


Dear Father,




We come to You a people reminded of how wholly dependent on You we are; our lives, our health, our prosperity, our freedom, our families, our jobs all blessings at Your hand alone.  We recognize that as the beneficiaries of so great a fortune, we have grown complacent, entitled, and ignorant.  We repent.  May our repentance be with all sincerity.  




Father strengthen us in our resolve to engage our world for Your kingdom's sake.  May we find the fortitude to love our neighbor as ourself, to love You with our heart, mind, soul and strength.  In so doing, may we know Christ's freedom; from fear and anxiety and addiction.  May we know deep, abiding, healing joy as Your will becomes our purpose, infuses our life with meaning, and brings renewal to our hearts and our land.




Thank you, Father for hearing us.  Amen.












Troy
Christian

DAY 12 - DAILY HISTORY - AMERICAN MINUTE FOR JUNE 5, 2011


American Minute for June 5th:


    JUNE 5, 1967, the Six-Day War began. Egypt sent 80,000 troops and 900 tanks to attack Israel. Jordan and Syria, with Soviet weapons, violently shelled Jerusalem and Israeli villages. Cairo radio announced: "The hour has come in which we shall destroy Israel." The hot line between Washington and Moscow was used for the first time. In a surprise move, Israeli Air Force destroyed 400 Egyptian planes, courageously drove Syria from the Golan Heights and captured all of Jerusalem. In a CBS-TV interview, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated: "In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." Seven months after the War, on Jan. 7, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson toasted Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, saying: "Welcome to our family table...All Americans-and all Israelis-know...that none...can ever live by bread alone...One of your ancestors said it for all men almost 2,000 years ago...for peace it is written, 'pursue it.' That is our intention in the Middle East...To pursue peace...If we are wise, if we are fortunate, if we work together - perhaps our Nation and all nations may know the joys of that promise God once made about the children of Israel: 'I will make a covenant of peace with them...it shall be an everlasting covenant.'"


Endnotes


Ben-Gurion, David. Oct. 5, 1956, comment in an interview with Edward R. Murrow, "Person to Person," CBS-TV. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1957), p. 302. Public Papers of the Presidents: Toasts of the President & Prime Minister Eshkol at a Dinner at the LBJ Ranch. Jan. 7, 1968, "Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Eshkol: Welcome to our family table. We are honored and happy to have you here in our home. Here, we ask only that you enjoy the warm ties of friendship and partnership that mean so much to each of us, and both our peoples. Our peoples, Mr. Prime Minister, share many qualities of mind and heart. We both rise to challenge. We both admire the courage and the resourcefulness of the citizen-soldier. We each draw strength and purpose for today from our heroes of yesterday. We both know the thrill of bringing life from a hard but a rewarding land. But all Americans-and all Israelis-also know that prosperity is not enough-that none of our restless generation can ever live by bread alone. For we are equally nations in search of a dream. We share a vision and purpose far brighter than our abilities to make deserts bloom. We have been born and raised to seek and find peace. In that common spirit of our hopes, I respect our hope that a just and lasting peace will prevail between Israel and her neighbors. This past year has been a busy one for America's peacemakers-in the Middle East, in Cyprus, in Vietnam. Wherever conscience and faith have carried them, they have found a stubborn truth confirmed. Making peace is punishing work. It demands enormous courage, flexibility, and imagination. It is ill served by hasty slogans or half-solutions. I know you understand this, sir, better than most men. One of your ancestors said it for all men almost 2,000 years ago: 'Other precepts are performed when the occasion arises . . . but for peace it is written, '"pursue it."' That is our intention in the Middle East and throughout our world. To pursue peace. To find peace. To keep peace forever among men. If we are wise, if we are fortunate, if we work together-perhaps our Nation and all nations may know the joys of that promise God once made about the children of Israel: 'I will make a covenant of peace with them . . . it shall be an everlasting covenant.' Let that be our toast to each other-our Governments and our peoples-as this new year begins. Its days are brighter, Mr. Prime Minister, because you lighten them with your presence here and the spirit you will leave behind."


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Friday, June 3, 2011

DAY 11 - DAILY BIBLE VERSE (ISRAEL) - JUNE 4, 2011

June 4



Genesis 12:3 (New American Standard Bible)




3 And (A)I will bless those who bless you, 
And the one who [a]curses you I will [b]curse. 
(B)And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

DAY 11 - DAILY PRAYER (ISRAEL) - JUNE 4, 2011

June 4



Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of the people Israel; Bless the State of Israel, with its promise of redemption. Shield it with Your love; spread over it the shelter of Your peace. Guide its leaders and advisors with Your light and Your truth. Help them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our Holy Land. Deliver them; crown their efforts with triumph. Bless the land with peace, and its inhabitants with lasting joy. And let us say: Amen. (translation from Siddur Sim Shalom)
http://www.uscj.org/koach/israel-prayer.htm
______________________________________________________


God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

As a nation that has stood in the gap for Israel, we beseech Your continued guidance for our leaders.  May they continue to call Israel a friend, and support their cause for all that You have given them.  In these troubling times in the world's view of Israel, may You grant a renewed strength to the leaders and people people of Israel, and all that have called upon Your Holy name!  Lord, continue to bless all nations that bless Israel, and may the United States of America continue to benefit from this union in friendship and peace with Israel. 

In Jesus' name.  Amen!

Wally Ziolo
40DAYPRAYER4USA
Lancaster, Ohio
Christian