This year, we celebrate the 235th Anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen colonies in 1776.

Many people have read the Declaration of Independence but not many understand that it is also a Declaration of “Dependence” upon God. Look closely at these excerpts: “…the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitled them…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions… with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

Of the 55 men who signed the Constitution of the United States, 52 of them were deeply committed Christians. The other three believed in the Bible as divine truth and in God’s personal intervention. America was founded on “In God We Trust.”

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number one was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures.

On July 4, 1821, President John Adams said, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”

James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation not upon the power of government; far from it.

We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”

Today, we have judges that have been appointed — not elected by the people — ruling it’s unconstitutional to display those same Ten Commandments on government property. “Big Government, Little God” seems to be the motto of many government leaders today.

At this time in our nation’s history, when we are facing the worst terrorist threats this country has ever known, we need to seek God instead of turning away from him.

As we salute the Red, White and Blue we must remember that this country was founded on freedom of religion — not freedom from religion.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy in the classroom of one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us that the justices of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because they were still in school when prayer was removed from their classrooms.

What do you think our government will be like one generation from now if they are successful in removing every vestige of God from our nation today?

While we celebrate our independence as a nation, let us remember what our forefathers taught us: do not forget our total ‘dependence’ on God for divine protection!

Doug Johnson is the senior pastor of Bethel Temple Assembly of God in Huntington, W.Va., and a Chesapeake resident