While preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ on the continent of Africa more than 600 years ago, a Spanish monk named Ramon Lull was severely beaten and lay near death. Two Italian men sympathetic to Lull's gospel message rescued him and put him on a ship to Spain.

Lull did not make it back to Catalonia, his home province. As he lay dying in the bow of the ship crossing the Mediterranean, Lull uttered his last words: "Beyond this sea which washes this continent we know lies another continent we've never seen whose natives are ignorant of Christ. Send men there!"

"Send men there!" Those haunting final words lived on in the minds of those two young Italians who cared for Lull in his dying hours. One of them was Stefano Colombo, or Stephen Columbus.

The words of the Catalonian martyr passed from generation to generation. They eventually stirred the heart of one of Stephen Columbus' descendants, the adventurous young Christopher, who became convinced that God had chosen him to travel beyond the seas to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

After seven years of hardship and disappointment, the resilient sailor finally won the support of Queen Isabella of Spain and her husband, King Ferdinand. Isabella commissioned Columbus: "It is hoped that by God's assistance some of the continents and islands in the ocean will be discovered . . . for the glory of God."

In 1492, Columbus began his world-changing voyage to the Americas. When he landed in the New World on October 12, he christened the first island he encountered "San Salvador," or Holy Savior. Columbus said that he came to this continent to carry the words of Jesus Christ around the globe. Later recalling his mission, he wrote: "It was the Lord who put into my mind the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures."

Like all of us, Columbus was an imperfect follower of Jesus. He admitted that he was a sinner. But his legacy remains. His journey to the New World marked the birth of a covenant between God and the American people which survives to this day. The history of America is the story of God's preparation of a people to touch the world with the love of Christ.

In 1607, the first settlers stepped ashore on pristine soil at Cape Henry, Virginia. They immediately planted a cross and claimed the land for Christ. That same day, Reverend Robert Hunt gathered the group for a prayer service. Hunt urged the men to pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ would go forth to all nations from these shores.

The Pilgrims followed a few years later. They, like the Virginians before them and the Puritans who followed, considered themselves missionaries. They believed they were part of God's plan to raise up a nation from which they and their descendants would not only enjoy the blessings of religious and political freedom, but also touch the world with the gospel.

By the time of the American Revolution, 99.8 percent of the colonists claimed to be believers in Christ. The majority of the colonists took their relationships with God seriously. The first 119 colleges and institutions of higher learning were established as Christian schools. The objective of Harvard, founded in 1636, was "to train a literate clergy" to preach and teach the gospel of Christ. Colonial governments were Christian. In all but one of the Colonies, the people were taxed to support the preaching of the gospel and for building churches. A Christian consensus dominated Colonial society with few dissenters.

During the early settlement, rebellion against the British Crown was unthinkable. As long as the Americans posed no threat to the authority of the Crown, the King encouraged their self-government. But as perceptions about the colonists began to change in England, some began proclaiming that "the Colonies had to be put in their place."

Soon England passed oppressive ordinances. The Declaratory Act, the Townshend Acts and other authoritarian measures contributed to the tension between the colonies and the mother country.

Christians considered tyranny a violation of God's law, and soon the colonists began to revolt. The first order of business was declaring independence. Historian Gary Amos explains that the Declaration of Independence was less a political document than a religious one. As the Declaration reached the hands of the English king, the Americans braced for war.

The Colonies had no human chance of winning a war with England. The British Empire possessed the most formidable fighting forces on the face of the earth. The ragtag assembly of volunteers, farmers and tradesmen who made up the ranks of the American military were outmanned, outgunned, outfinanced and outgeneraled.

During the battles, fighting was fierce, and many Americans died without seeing victory. George Washington believed that God was more likely to bless a nation of righteous men and women than the unrighteous. The famous portrait of Washington pausing in battle to pray for the safety of his men depicts an actual event witnessed by a British reporter, who later confessed that the sight of Washington on his knees convinced him that God must be on the side of the rebels.

After eight years, England finally gave up. After receiving Britain's documents of surrender, General Washington ordered his men to set up prayer tents to thank God for their victory, for protecting the army and preserving the Colonies.

With the war over, nation-building began in earnest. Congress immediately called for a day of thanksgiving to God. These men wanted God's guidance in the establishment of a righteous government.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, thank God for our country, and for our blessings and freedoms. Pray that we who call ourselves Christians will truly live out our faith, humbling ourselves in repentance through fasting and prayer, and seek God's face. If we do so, we are assured from Scripture that He will heal our land and bless us as He has done so often in the past.

Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ, did five years of graduate work at Princeton and Fuller theological seminaries. He has received six honorary degrees, including doctor of laws, doctor of divinity and doctor of letters; is a 1996 inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame; and has received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He has written more than 50 books and booklets, and hundreds of articles.