Grace Deadwood/Blessed Emmanuel Sturgis 

JULY 2026 Newsletter 

Brothers and sisters!

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     This July 4th is special as it is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Our nation

was founded on July 4th, 1776, when the forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence,

part of which states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that

they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty

and the pursuit of Happiness." Thomas Jefferson penned these words, but they are almost Biblical

in their presentation and content. There is a lot to celebrate in these words.

     The first thing to mention about these words of the Declaration is that they acknowledge we

have a Creator. We confess this every Sunday in one of the creeds, that God is our Father, the maker

of heaven and earth, and indeed all people. In Genesis 1 it says that God created mankind in His

image, and blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue

it” (Gen 1:28). It is a basic tenet of our faith that we have been created by God, both male and female,

and that He made us to have a family, sons and daughters, who are to be stewards of the

earth and indeed make His blessing known to all. From the truth of our Creator the founding fathers

of this country drew their inspiration and calling. In fact, they held these truths to be “selfevident,”

which is what we call the “natural law,” that is, the law of God that everyone can

acknowledge or at least ought to acknowledge is true.

     Please note that the Declaration of Independence is saying it is not governments that grant

these unalienable rights, but it is God who does so. God has “endowed” or gifted us with these

rights, which are: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. These are God-given rights that

ought to belong to all people. Just pause for a minute and meditate upon that! Life, Liberty, and the

pursuit of Happiness are gifts that God our heavenly Father has endowed every human being,

whether they are in the womb or preparing for the end of earthly life.

     There is so much to discuss in these simple lines. What does it mean to have life, what does

it mean to have liberty, what does it mean to have the pursuit of happiness? All these aspects, given

by our Creator, are what make our country great. There is nothing like it in all the world, and indeed,

people have recognized this throughout our history and have sought to implement these principles

into other nations around the world. We used to have what they called a “manifest destiny”

and we still ought to, for we have much to be thankful for. God has certainly blessed us, not just

for ourselves, but to be a blessing to others. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn

1:4). Let us use this blessed occasion of our nation’s birthday to inspire us all to share the Gospel

of Jesus Christ with others, even to all the world, for “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”

(2 Cor 3:16).

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With love in Christ,

Pastor Hinckley and family