A DISTANT UNCLE

April 27, 2009 Blog

My wife is somehow related to Samuel F. B. Morse, so we call him Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam was born this very day in 1791, and Google honored him by using the code he invented to spell "Google" on its home page. Happy Birthday Uncle Sam!

My mother was a direct descendant of William Cooper, who founded Cooperstown, NY, That is where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located. We call him Grampa Bill.

Grampa Bill had a boy named Jimmy, who grew up and wrote a bunch of books. Most have heard of James Fennimore Cooper but we call him Uncle Jim. Uncle Jim was two years older than Uncle Sam, but they were close friends. Uncle Sam not only invented the telegraph, but he was also a pioneer in the field of photography and a talented artist. He produced over 300 masterpieces, and one of them, The Gallery of the Louvre, is considered by many to be the greatest piece of American art ever produced. Uncle Sam painted it for Uncle Jim as a token of their friendship. Unfortunately, we didn't inherit the painting, which, according to TIME, brought the highest price ever paid for an American work of art.

Uncle Sam came from good stock. His father wrote the first geography book in America and his grandfather was President of Harvard University. Together with his brothers, Uncle Sam published the New York Observer and Journal of Commerce. Uncle Sam believed that all men should be educated and to help attain this end, he founded the National Academy of Design.

Although Uncle Sam attained great fame during his life, he repeatedly gave the Creator credit for all his worldly achievements. He held biblical teachings to be the most important aspect of education. He once stated, "Education without religion is in danger of substituting wild theories for the simple commonsense rules of Christianity". The first sentence spoken on his telegraph was a Bible verse from Numbers 23:23; "What hath God wrought?"

Although most citizens of our nation readily enjoy the cultural and scientific achievements of this man, they largely reject his faith and the Creator to whom he gave all credit.

Education, science and religion have one common denominator. Each is a learning experience that seeks to establish truth. None of these three is ever perfected in this life. We continue to learn until death. A person who receives a diploma and thinks he is educated, has been badly deceived. A scientist who retires after making a great discovery ceases to be a scientist. Anyone who shies from theological debate by claiming, "I have my religion," lays bare his own spiritual depravity.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Sam! You wouldn't be very happy today if you could see what has become of the nation you loved and served. Just like you told us, education without religion is substituting wild theories for the simple commonsense rules of Christianity. Today, you might text message, "What hath man wrought!!"

The American people voted for change and it's coming faster than any of us could have imagined. Fortunately, God has not changed.