Changing Landscapes and Enduring Foundations

By Dr. Anthony DeMarco

The author served in the United States Marine Corps during WWII and was a combat veteran in the South Pacific. He graduated from Temple University, magna cum laude, earning his Doctoral Degree in Urban Education. He married Dorothy Stumbaugh and they were blessed with five children that have grown to ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. He was employed by the Philadelphia School District until retirement and then moved to the Central Coast of California.

As a member of the California Chapter of the Second Marine Division Association, he was appointed chaplain. He was appointed National Chaplain of the SMDA in 2003 and remains at that position to this day.

The National Chaplain of the SMDA is responsible to work with the Second Marine Division Chaplains in coordinating the Memorial Service at Camp Lejeune, NC each year at the Birthday Celebration of the Division. He is also responsible for coordinating the Memorial Service at each Annual Reunion of the SMDA at geographical locations across the United States.
He is obviously responsible for any prayers necessary during the gatherings at each of the annual events, as well as being available to any individual who asks for prayer. During his tenure, he is responsible to present a Memorial Address at each of the two events annually. He has been awarded the Most Distinguished Award for his services.

Each chapter in this book is a Memorial Address delivered by Dr. DeMarco to the Marines, families and friends at Camp Lejeune, NC and also to the Association Reunion gathering at various locations across America. All the material in this book deals largely with American history, political science in general and the effects of religious thought of the times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781468528176

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© 2011 by Dr. Anthony DeMarco. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 12/21/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4685-2816-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-2817-6 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011962352

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Changing Landscapes and Enduring Foundations

Our Sacred Honor

The Glory of America

When in the Course of Human Events

Keepers of the Spring

These Truths Are Self-Evident

Resiliency in Challenging Times

America: A Chosen People

The Founding Fathers’ Providential Perception

Men of Valor

Embracing the Spirit of America

Lest We Forget

What Is Your Passion?

Beyond the Horizon

The Religious Heritage of America

Making a Difference

What Do These Stones Mean?

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Changing Landscapes and Enduring Foundations 

Joshua 24:1-13

The bible story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho are well known to most everyone. Some say it never happened, others say it was an exaggeration, but there are those who believe every word of it because with God all things are possible. I chose this story because the valuable lesson derived from it is applicable to us today. It is a story of a godly people who honored God as they conquered adversities and distress as the nation grew, then lost it all when they turned their back on the same God who gave them success in one epic battle after another.

The story begins with the children of Israel moving northward from Egypt to the Promised Land, defeating one kingdom after another until they reached the Jordan River. At this point, Joshua sent out two spies into the city of Jericho to get a full report on its weaknesses and strengths. The spies entered a house where this kind of information was readily available and that was Rahab’s house of prostitution. Someone recognized the men as spies and notified the city guards who immediately responded and demanded Rahab to turn them over for punishment. However, someone got to Rahab before the guards got there and she hid them on the roof of her house. After searching the premises, the city guards left empty handed. Rahab gave the spies all the information they needed, including the fact that the whole city was afraid of them and their hearts were melted with fear. She asked only one favor in return that when the Israelis invaded the city she and her family be protected and saved. The promise was given and they left Jericho.

Joshua received the full report from the spies and then knelt before God in prayer and asked God for guidance, courage and wisdom to take the city. And this is the answer that God gave Joshua. All the people, including 40,000 armed men and seven trumpets for seven priests, were to march around the city quietly once a day for six days. Then on the seventh day, they were to march seven times around the city. The priests were ordered to blow the trumpets long and loud and the people were to give a loud shout and the walls of the city would come crumbling down. The people obeyed, the walls came down and the Israelis took the city destroying everything in it but Rahab and her family were saved.

The story about Israel’s relationship with God was that as long as Joshua and those who witnessed the miracles live, no nation could prevail against them. But after they all died, the people got involved with the culture of the day and distanced themselves from the awesome God who led them to epic victories over all enemies. The result was Israel was conquered by a stronger nation and became subject to their laws that, as the bible story tells us, became snares and traps to them, whips on their backs and thorns in their eyes, until they perished from the good land that God gave them.

The valuable lesson derived from this story is that historically, good God-fearing people founded our nation. For scores of years, they braved the primitive existence of pioneering and establishing colonies that acknowledged God as their protector and provider. As each colony was chartered, they incorporated words in Latin or English that honored God. The day arrived when our founding fathers gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Although the times in which we now live has changed dramatically from those in past centuries, we must remember the foundation for freedom and justice was established by God and man, and must never give in to the winds of change. We should forever be grateful for what our founding fathers created and bequeathed to us and to our posterity. The God-given right for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was purchased by the blood, courage and prayers of our forefathers. We must not ever diminish the price that was paid for our freedom nor should we ever forget the blessings of Almighty God toward us.

According to Professor J. Rufus Fears, PhD of Harvard University, There are certain events that have changed our views, our attitudes, our culture and our country, that while many of us are taught that anonymous social, political and economic forces are the driving factors behind events of the past, there are those who firmly believe that it is individuals, acting alone or together, who have altered the course of our history. These events have given us spiritual and political ideas, catastrophic battles and wars, scientific and technological advances, cultural works of unparalleled beauty and as well as influential world leaders.

We are now in the midst of another presidential election. The candidates are being carefully scrutinized. Volumes have been said and written about each president of these United States of America. We don’t know for certain who will lead our nation for the next four years. Our nation faces unprecedented, unforeseen political and economical challenges that will require more than collegial rhetoric. If I could look at all the past presidents and choose perhaps two that as a leader mostly embodied the spirit of freedom and honor, I would choose the first and sixteenth president of the United States. They were two presidents who served our country during times of great distress and adversities. Although neither ever attended college, they each demonstrated an outstanding ability to bring this nation together during perilous times and were totally devoted to their country. Their names are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Let me tell you a few things about each of them. George Washington was born in 1732 into a wealthy, well-connected family in colonial Virginia that owned tobacco plantations and slaves. Not much is known about his boyhood, but by the time he was in his twenties, Washington had some experience as a surveyor and a militia soldier. At age 22, he was sent to fight in the French and Indian War with a Lt. Colonel commission from colonial Virginia. When the Revolutionary War began, the Continental Congress commissioned Washington to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. When Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783, officially recognizing the independence of the United States of America, Washington retired to his plantation in Virginia. He was persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787.

He was unanimously elected president of the convention, and in 1789, he was unanimously elected to be the first president of the United States by the Electoral College. He is the only president ever to be elected unanimously in both elections. In 1797, Washington retired from the presidency to Mt. Vernon. He died there two years later of what is known today as pneumonia. He was 67 years old.

During those formative years of our nation, some serious questions had to be answered in order for it to survive. One of the first questions they might have asked is, Upon what principles of law and government would the new Constitution be formed? Fortunately for them and for us, the source of the answer had already been written and adopted and in principle were woven into the charter of the thirteen original colonies. These principles, found in the Holy bible, gave our nation its enduring political foundation. The colonies were bound together by the Holy Bible from Maine to Georgia. The solid foundation of our government was totally different from the legislative foundations of other nations, which were built upon the shaky foundations of socialism, communism, and other godless philosophies, only to see them crumble. America always stood for the right because of our faith and hope in God who is our beacon of hope and freedom in a world of hopelessness and oppression.

In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French historian, traveled through America as it was coming into its own. He recorded his observations in his book, Democracy in America.

This classic book provides unique insights into what made the United States such a rapid success, which he clearly believed to be Christianity. In one of Tocqueville’s observations, he describes what he saw as American settlers spread across the continent:

I have known of societies formed by the Americans to send out ministers of the Gospel into the new Western States to found schools and churches there, lest religion should be suffered to die away in those remote settlements and the rising States be less fitted to enjoy free institutions than the people from which they emanated. I met with wealthy New Englanders who abandoned the country in which they were born in order to lay the foundations of Christianity and of freedom on the banks of the Missouri or in the prairies of Illinois.

It was during this time that Abraham Lincoln was born in the hills of Kentucky in 1809. His father moved to Indiana when he was eight, and his mother died when he was ten. Lincoln admitted that he didn’t know much growing up, except that he somehow learned to read, write and do his arithmetic. He worked on a farm, helped keep a store in Illinois and served as a captain during the Black Hawk War. Lincoln spent eight years in the Illinois Legislature and rode the circuit of courts for many years.

From 1840 to 1860, economic, political and moral problems began to surface and the issue of slavery became paramount. South Carolina had already seceded from the Union, and more states were threatening to follow. Lincoln debated against Stephen Douglas and was elected to be the sixteenth President of the United States and the first Republican in office. After his inauguration, our nation split in two and the Civil war began.

On November 19, 1863, two years into Lincoln’s presidency and in the midst of the Civil War, he was invited to say a few words at the dedication of the Gettysburg Pennsylvania Cemetery, where most of the northern and southern soldiers had been buried. As he pondered what he would briefly say, his thoughts traveled back in time to an historic event to the days of our Founding Fathers. He remembered what our founding fathers went through to adopt the Declaration of Independence and establish the Constitution of the United States of America. Some historians say that Lincoln was still penciling the words of his speech as he traveled to the cemetery, thinking about the lives that wee lost and the painful results of the war. As he stood to his feet and looked at the crowd of people, he spoke in somber tones as he began with these words: Four score and seven years ago… our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation… conceived in Liberty… and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…

Lincoln was there to honor all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives… confederate and union, black and white, slave and free. His words came out of his heart that was touched by the brave men who fought and struggled there and who consecrated those hallowed grounds with their sweat, blood and tears. He looked beyond the field of crosses and lifted his eyes toward the heavens and made this promise…"That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of