The Battle Hymn of the Republic is a song that always puts tears in my eyes. It was written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe. purportedly after hearing Union Troops stationed along the Potomac singing "John Brown's Body".This was early on in the Civil War and was a warning to the nation about what could be its fate if slavery continued as much as anything. It is a song which warning still is in place to the nation for its practices.
This Blog came about because my friend Ron (Retired in Delaware Blog) sent me an email with a version of the song sung by combined choirs from some public schools. You can hear the version he sent me and see the beautiful graphics added by clicking on the title of this post.
But as I listened and watched, I was struck by a couple things.
First, it was introducted as a "patriotic song". I know it has become associated with the Civil War and is often played by military bands at patriotic affairs, but it really isn't a patriotic song at all. It isn't a song in praise of the United States. Its a religious song in praise of God. The chorus is "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah". Hallelujah means "Praise ye the Lord". It is what the Heavenly Living Creatures sing continulously in Heaven in Revelation 19.
Second, it is amazing that public school choruses were allowed to perform this song given all the separation of church and state that has taken place in these times. I'm sure those fools (yes, I used the word fools as in Proverbs 1:7) who sued to remove "In God We Trust" from our money, would wish to remove this song from public music director's songbooks.
Third, I though of a kind of game. Go through the lyrics of the song and find all the Bible verses being referenced. For instance, is the whole song inspired by Jeremiah 25:30?
"Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them:
'The LORD will roar from on high;
he will thunder from his holy dwelling
and roar mightily against his land.
He will shout like those who tread the grapes,
shout against all who live on the earth.'" Anyway, here are the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic if you'd like to try and find all the Biblican References:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
Hallelujah! Praise God, he is marching on!
Nice posting Lar. Bet you were surprised that came from me weren't you? You just never know. It brought tears even to my eyes. I hope a lot of folks see and hear it.
ReplyDeleteHi Larry,
ReplyDeleteI have a favor to ask of you. For the sake of promoting peace by preparing hearts, will you consider what you will do with the following information?
Obama's born Conspiracy
The link above will take you to a blog from one of the analyst who determined Barak Obama's Certificate of Live Birth to be a forged copy. The blog will tell you exactly what he did to discover the fraud and display the evidence. It took me nearly two hours to get through this.
Give credit to Christine of Talk Wisdom for sending this on to me.
I believe if you ask your friends and readers to take this link, and distribute it to as many people as they possibly can, we may be able to avoid a race war which the mainstream media is setting us up for by not reporting the story as it unfolds. What we can do is soften the shock and ease anger before the possibility of The SCOTUS announcing they will try the case.
Hi Larry,
ReplyDeleteThe problem, though Obama's mother is an American, is that the Constitution forbids dual citizenship.
Something else, if Obama's mother was not an adult (over 18) when she gave birth, Barak is not eligible to be a U.S. Citizen before his primary allegance, namely the British Empire, which occupied Kenya prior to Obama's birth, and for the first two years of Obama's life.
This information has caused Obama to squirm a bit. He added a confession to his Fight The Smears Website. The confession says he was a Kenyan citizen, but his citizenship expired. Also, Kenya, at that time had a law opposing dual citizenship.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, the United States doesn't forbid duel citizenship. Here is the stand on duel citizenship:
Based on the U.S. Department of State regulation on dual citizenship (7 FAM 1162), the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a “status long recognized in the law” and that “a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other,” (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952). In Schneider v. Rusk 377 U.S. 163 (1964), the US Supreme Court ruled that a naturalized U.S. citizen has the right to return to his native country and to resume his former citizenship, and also to remain a U.S. citizen even if he never returns to the United States.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) neither defines dual citizenship nor takes a position for it or against it. There has been no prohibition against dual citizenship, but some provisions of the INA and earlier U.S. nationality laws were designed to reduce situations in which dual citizenship exists. Although naturalizing citizens are required to undertake an oath renouncing previous allegiances, the oath has never been enforced to require the actual termination of original citizenship.[14]
Although the U.S. Government does not endorse dual citizenship as a matter of policy, it recognizes the existence of dual citizenship and completely tolerates the maintenance of multiple citizenship by U.S. citizens. In the past, claims of other countries on dual-national U.S. citizens sometimes placed them in situations where their obligations to one country were in conflict with the laws of the other. However, as fewer countries require military service and most base other obligations, such as the payment of taxes, on residence and not citizenship, these conflicts have become less frequent. As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of people who maintain U.S. citizenship in other countries.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what his mother's age of 18 has to do with it, except that under the regulations for his birth period, at least one parent is required to be an American Citizen and have 5 years continuous residency after the age of 14. I don't know what age his mother was at his birth. If she was 18 or less, then she couldn't have met the 5 years after age 14 requirement by the time she was 18. However, it is not clear she must have the 5 years continuous, only that she must have 5 years residency after age 14. It is not even clear if this must be before the birth, even though one might assume that.
Actually I don't think, at this point, people should pursue this on that narrow a basis. I am concerned for my country as much as anyone and I can't imagine the chaos that might occur if this presidency was overturned at this point on these type of technicalities. This is not common knowledge for most people and would be totally misunderstood, and who knows what that could lead to. (There was the same type of question about McCain because he was born in the Canel Zone.)
I believe God has a plan for His world and I'll put my trust in that more than these politicians. That is just my own opinion.
Here are the current rules on natural-Born Citizenship :
Born Between 12/24/1952 and 11/13/1986
If both parents are U.S. citizens, at least one resided in the U.S. before the child’s birth.
Additional Restrictions: None.
If one parent is a U.S. citizen, the U.S. citizen parent must have resided in the U.S. for 10 years, at least 5 of which were after age 14.
Additional Restrictions: None.
After 11/13/1986
If both parents are U.S. citizens, at least one resided in the U.S. before the child’s birth.
Additional Restrictions: None.
If one parent is a U.S. citizen, the U.S. citizen parent must have resided in the U.S. for 5 years, at least 2 of which were after age 14.
Additional Restrictions: None.