Savor the majesty of President Roosevelt's prayer. It echoes the language of the King James Version of the Holy Bible, an essential, foundational document of Western Civilization.
Pay special attention to the boldfaced words. They remain as true as the day President Roosevelt uttered them. Yet they have been banished from the lexicon by ignorant people -- unbelievers, most of them -- whose great cause in life is not to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, to save others from destruction but whose great cause in life is to complain about public displays of reverence for God.
Here's how it was done and should have been done:
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 an greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
And so, in this poignant hour, 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 protect our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come at rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken by the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we arise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayerbe on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows as they may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our unitedcrusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving our our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
The only false note in the prayer was the advertisement for world unity, meaning the United Nations, which lay just over the horizon. The president was right about everything else, but he was wrong to suggest that the UN would guarantee "a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men."
Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Ceaucescu, Kim Jong Il, Gadhafi, Assad Jr. and Sr., Ahmadinejad, Ida Amin, Castro, Ernesto Guevara, Shining Path guerillas, the 9/11 hijackers, and countless others -- have committed their atrocities largely unmolested by the United Nations or, more recently, by Barack Hussein Obama.
But everything else in the prayer was right, and gloriously so.
Thank God for President Roosevelt, ordained to lead our nation through that great and terrible war.
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This is a slightly edited version of a post that I have run twice before.
