“For that flag every true American has not simply an appreciation, but a deep affection. No American, nor any foreign-born person who enjoys the privileges of American citizenship, ever looks upon it without taking pride in the fact that he lives under this free government” (Supreme Court, Halter v. Nebraska, 1907).

That situation of deep respect for the icon of American freedom, Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes, America’s national flag, continued generally till the campus rebellions of the late 1960s.

Today the situation is vastly different.

Old Glory is desecrated it seems almost daily by some dissident or foreign group reinforcing the point that America has little pride in its waning power.

The sad fact is that America has its own lawmakers to blame for the all-too-ready willingness of those disgruntled and jealous at the obvious freedoms America offers in comparison with the rest of the world to trash the American flag.

Old Glory is the most potent symbol of Americanism—American national identity.

The red, white and blue cloth icon officiates at each and every formal state function. It graces the offices of the civil services, of the nation’s legations and ambassadorial residences, its schools, courts of law, colleges and universities.

It is flown high at America’s military bases and on the stern of its navy’s ships. It is symbolic of the nation’s chief office, that of the presidency.

Yet, over the past years the incidences of desecration of Old Glory have accelerated most dramatically, year by year. And the U.S. government remains either clueless or unwilling as to how to handle the denigration of its chief symbol of nationhood.

Since 1968 when the first overt efforts at flag desecration became public, U.S. courts have overruled efforts at criminalizing such acts in deference to the classic fall-back position of the politically correct—the right to free speech.

This supine position of the courts has led to the position today where it’s no holds barred when it comes to each and every morally deprived dissident being prepared to spit upon, trample on, burn, shred or otherwise desecrate Old Glory.

Yet why should we even be concerned about the way a common piece of colored cloth is treated?

Simply because Old Glory is not, symbolically, just another old colored piece of rag. Once the nation’s icon, the marks of its national flag, are sewn onto or imprinted on that piece of cloth, it becomes worthy of veneration by each and every citizen of the United States. Not only that, time was when it became the obligation of each and every foreign-born ethnic who took advantage of living within the U.S. and enjoying its hard-won freedoms, to similarly venerate that flag.

All that has been powerfully spoiled by the liberal-socialist do-gooders within America over the past half century.

Though the U.S. is probably the most flag-oriented of the Anglo-Saxon nations, the average American does not even begin to know let alone understand the depth of the heritage reflected in the nation’s highly symbolic flag.

The symbolism dates back, believe it or not, 4,000 years. It can be tracked back to the godly design of the tabernacle God had constructed by the patriarch Abraham!

So, what is a flag?

According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary, it is “a piece of cloth … used as a country’s emblem or standard. An ensign, from the same source, is a banner or flag. A standard is a distinctive flag. In the same sense, an emblem is a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge.”

From ancient times, nations have used such devices as a means of identification. Marxists and anarchists and their liberal-socialist camp followers are either ignorant of or deliberately reject the fact that such symbols are embedded in the most ancient records of biblical history as typifying the particular national characteristics of a peoples. Those interested can check Genesis 49, then check the heraldic symbols that currently identify these nations. For that you will need a copy of the book we recommend at the end of this article to help you match the ancient biblical names with the modern names of the major nations today.

Of what significance are the colors of the traditional flags of the English-speaking peoples? In this context it should be mentioned that the original Canadian flag also sported these colors prior to the imposition of the innocuous maple leaf as that nation’s standard.

Just what is the significance of the English-speaking peoples being branded by these three colors—red, white and blue—in addition to the colors of their royalty being gold and purple?

The nations of Israel, following the conquest of the northern kingdom by Assyria and the southern kingdom later by Babylon/Chaldea, progressively lost their individual and collective identity. The marvel of it is that the most dominant of those nations, the Josephite nations prophesied to inherit magnificent national blessings from the beginning of the 19th century, have unknowingly carried the signs of their national identity throughout their period of greatness over the past few hundred years! Those colors—red, white and blue—and the colors of royalty—purple and gold—were the very colors chosen by God to embellish His temple in ancient times! Yes, believe it or not, the English-speaking peoples have a direct connection to ancient Israel! Every high-flying American flag is a witness to that reality!

It’s not just national symbolism that is being increasingly denigrated and eliminated from use in the English-speaking nations. It’s their very link as nations chosen by God for a very special purpose!

Americans, constituents of the last bastion of truly free speech on the planet—yet witness to a litany of rapidly diminishing freedoms in the rest of their national life—need to reflect on and to wonder whether there is a correlation between their current rapid descent from national greatness—just as their sister nation Britain lost her imperial power half a century ago—and the denigration of their national heritage by ungrateful dissidents and enemy foreign elements from both within and without the nation.

If you really feel the need to be refreshed in the origins of the once greatly respected heritage of the Anglo-Saxon nations, that which explains the true reason for the historic greatness of their past, then read our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.