In the darkest winter of the Revolutionary War, at Valley Forge, George Washington is said to have knelt in the snow and asked God for help.
The story has endured for generations. Turning to God in a time of crisis is one of this country's oldest habits. Washington declared days of prayer, Lincoln called the nation to prayer and repentance during the Civil War, and Dr. King spoke of God's justice.
Now, 250 years later, on July 4, 2026, America marks its 250th birthday. Even as the world's most powerful nation, it faces deep division, broken families, and moral confusion, while beyond its borders, forces that reject God are growing stronger.
It is in exactly such a time that words spoken half a century ago are being read again โ not merely as an old speech, but as a timely message of blessing and responsibility coming true today.
The Couple Who Loved God Deeply
The message came from Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920โ2012) and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han, who together founded the Unification movement in Korea. What makes their words carry such weight is not abstract theory, but a life forged in love for God and firsthand knowledge of suffering.
Rev. Moon was imprisoned by the communist regime in North Korea as a young man and endured over two years of torture and forced labor in a prison camp. Dr. Han was also born in the North; at the age of five, she fled south with her family in the middle of the night after her mother and grandmother were taken by communist authorities.
Having witnessed what happens when a system denies God, the couple chose a different path.
Married in 1960, they dedicated their lives to realizing Godโs will out of deep love for Him. Their mission became the restoration of true families and a world of peace. In 1971, they moved the center of their work to America, which Rev. Moon called โGodโs last bulwark.โ
Rev. Moon called this country "God's last fortress."
1976: A Call to 300,000
In 1976, America's 200th year, Rev. Moon spoke at two huge rallies in the United States (the year before, he had drawn about 1.2 million people to Yoido Plaza in his home country of Korea).
On September 18, the roughly 300,000 people who gathered at the Washington Monument made up the largest religious rally the capital had ever seen. The first thing Rev. Moon said was that God had been at work in the birth of this nation.
"I am certain that the United States of America was truly created by God."
Why could he say this? According to Rev. Moon, there were two kinds of people among the nation's founders. One kind came seeking wealth; the other came seeking God and freedom. And it was the people who put God first, he said, who built this country.
"The only reason the first settlers came to North America was God. Because they came seeking God, they found not only God but also freedom and wealth. But the people who went to South America seeking gold found neither gold, nor God, nor freedom."
Rev. Moon also saw God's hand in America's own history. At Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War, Washington asked God for help and defeated the British army that many had thought could not be beaten. In a very short time, the world's strongest nation was born. Hard work alone cannot explain this, Rev. Moon said: "If God had not been the main partner, today's America could never have come into being."
The greatest enemy threatening this nation of God, Rev. Moon warned, was communism, which denies God. Seeing the Cold War as a struggle between God and those against God, Rev. Moon called America "God's last fortress" and argued that the free world must one day set the communist world free.
"Godless communism is the worst of all. This is not America's problem alone. It is a problem for people of faith, and a problem for God himself."
Blessing comes with responsibility, Rev. Moon taught. But at the root of his words was not scolding โ it was a deep love for America.
"I came to America because this is the country God has chosen. Even if America turns away from God, God will not give up on this nation. God's will is to make America a model of a faithful nation that other countries can follow. To save the world, America must lead the way."
The Warning Came True
These words carry weight because much of what he said came true.
Back in 1972, Rev. Moon predicted that communism, which began in 1917, would fall apart by the late 1980s โ around its seventieth year. At the time, almost no one in the West expected the Soviet bloc to end. Yet in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and in 1991 the Soviet Union broke apart.
The problems he named at home โ broken families, moral confusion, and young people who have lost their way โ are now worries shared across the political left and right.
Carrying the Call Forward
After the passing of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Dr. Han took over the movement he had built.
She calls America a special nation with the responsibility to lead the countries of the world. But her message is not some far-off ideal. The place to begin rebuilding society, she says, is the home closest to us.
"A family that is not built on God carries conflict within it and will break apart in time. And a nation made up of such families will also fall into decline."
When husband and wife are joined by real love and raise their children with care, the health of each single family supports the stability of the whole nation. This is what Dr. Han has taught again and again.
Dr. Han continues to share this conviction wherever she goes:
"I have lived my whole life to bring the dream of our Creator, the Heavenly Parent, to life on this earth."
The same call โ "return to God" โ now rings out from the center of American politics as well. In his January 2025 inaugural address, President Trump spoke of surviving an assassin's bullet the year before and said, "I was saved by God to make America great again."
He went on: "We will not forget our country, we will not forget our Constitution, and we will not forget our God." Turning to God in times of crisis is not only America's oldest tradition; it is something people, and this nation, need in order to keep standing.
The Choice at 250
Why did God bless this nation?
The founders who put God first were given, along with God, both freedom and wealth โ that, Rev. Moon taught, is America. But the blessing was not for this country alone.
God raised America as a model for the world to follow, placed it at the head of the free world, and gave it a mission: to rise above the forces that deny God and build "one world under God." The blessing was given for that purpose.
From many places where freedom and faith are under threat, people still look to the last fortress. Now, while forces that challenge God remain, can America rise again as "God's last fortress," rebuild the family, and offer hope to the world?
For a country that has turned back to God in every time of crisis over these 250 years, this is not decoration for an anniversary year โ it is a choice that cannot be avoided.
God Bless America โ so that its true blessing may be won back.
Sources
1. 1976 Rallies & "God's Hope for America" (movement archives)
"God's Hope for America" full text โ Yankee Stadium, June 1, 1976 https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon76/760601.htm
Same speech (mirror) https://www.aclc.info/gods-hope-for-america
Same speech (mirror) https://familyfedcommunity.org.uk/gods-hope-for-america-by-rev-sun-myung-moon/
Fuller text โ North vs. South America; "principal partner" https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/sm-gww/GWW-14.htm
Biography โ Washington Monument rally, Sept. 18, 1976, ~300,000 https://www.tparents.org/library/unification/publications/smm-org/life_biography.html
Biography (UPF) https://www.upf.org/about/founders/rev-dr-sun-myung-moon
2. 1975 Yeouido Rally, Korea (movement archives)
~1.2 million; "Korea in the World"; June 7, 1975 https://unificationnews.eu/50-years-since-huge-12-million-rally-in-seoul/
Ward & Swarts account of the rally https://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Ward/Ward-RtH.htm
3. Anti-Communism & the 1972 Prediction (movement archive)
Rev. Moon predicted communism would not last past its 70th year https://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Publications/Smm-Org/works_communism.html
4. Persecution Under North Korean Communism (movement archives)
Rev. Moon's imprisonment, Hungnam camp https://eume.upf.org/who-we-are/founders/rev-dr-sun-myung-moon
Dr. Han's family jailed by communist police in 1948; fled south https://www.upf.org/about/founders/dr-hak-ja-han-moon
5. Dr. Han on America & the Family (movement archives)
"The Path for America and Humankind in the Last Days" https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/hakjahanmoon/HH000408-19.htm
1993 address on family breakdown & America https://www.unification.net/hjh/hjh930701.html
On marriage & raising children https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/hakjahanmoon/hh960921.htm
6. Dr. Han's 2025 Arrest & Trial (independent news)
CNN โ arrest, Sept. 22, 2025 https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/asia/unification-church-leader-arrested-bribery-case-south-korea-intl-hnk
Al Jazeera โ arrest warrant https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/22/south-korean-unification-church-leader-faces-arrest-in-bribery-case
Al Jazeera โ detention https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/23/unification-church-leader-arrested-in-s-korean-ex-first-lady-bribery-case
Modern Diplomacy โ trial opened Dec. 1, 2025 https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/12/01/bribery-trial-opens-for-south-koreas-unification-church-leader-han-hak-ja/
OhmyNews (Korean) โ Dr. Han's courtroom statement https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0003242690
7. Trump's 2025 Faith Statements (independent / official)
White House โ inaugural address ("saved by God"; "we will not forget our God") https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address/
CBS News โ inaugural transcript https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-trump-inauguration-speech-2025/
Religion News Service โ "saved by God" coverage https://religionnews.com/2025/01/20/at-trumps-inauguration-president-says-he-was-saved-by-god-to-make-america-great-again/
PBS โ National Prayer Breakfast ("bring God back") https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-delivers-remarks-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast-in-washington-d-c
White House Faith Office โ "God welcomed back in our public square" https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/trump-transcripts/transcript-president-trump-remarks-at-a-white-house-faith-office-luncheon-71425