Joke: Not a big Putin fan at all, but I do have to say I think the man deserves a Nobel Prize in Medicine for curing COVID. Amazing how quickly that disappeared from the headlines once the truth became obvious to too many people.
Today, I’ve been asked by the wonderful people who put this event together to discuss freedom and the Bible. In fact, I believe the two are inseparable. True liberty cannot exist without biblical truth and biblical morality. It never has, and it never will.
The reason America became the freest and most powerful nation in the world is simple: a fervent attachment to biblical religion and morality that reigned among virtually the entire population, for hundreds of years. America will never be great again without recognizing and restoring the foundation: God and His Truth.
In the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he made this clear. “Now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” That means more than political freedom and economic freedom, of course. It includes spiritual freedom, too. But all true freedoms are inextricably linked.
For instance, God clearly prescribes a free-market economy. “Thou shalt not steal” establishes private property, a God given right, just as surely as “thou shalt not murder” establishes a right to life. This is where our founders got their ideas about God-given rights, as we shall see in a moment.
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul also explains that whoever does not work should not eat. Obviously that does not include orphans, widows, and the sick. But able-bodied men, you know that being hungry is a pretty powerful motivator to work hard.
When nations follow these economic principles laid out in the Bible, they prosper. America is perhaps the foremost example, rapidly, in historical terms, becoming the most powerful and prosperous nation in human history. After WWII, 85% of global manufacturing was here, and more than half of global GDP, even though we only had 2 or 3% of the world population.
Today, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, America is in 25th place, behind the Scandinavian nations, Canada, the UK, and not much above Bulgaria.
Nations that reject these principles suffer. At the bottom of the list are Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and North Korea. These are nations where people still suffer from hunger and lack even the most basic necessities. AN ENEMY IS BEHIND THIS!
Ancient Chinese military strategist Sun-Tzu explained that win against the enemy, it is critical to know both yourself and your enemy. Unfortunately, thanks to generations of dumbing down and indoctrination, most of us know very little about our incredible history and heritage of Christian liberty.
I spend a lot of my time sounding the alarm about the enemy. Their commander in chief is Satan. But today I want to spend some time on who we are as a nation and as a people.
Our history as a nation begins with the Pilgrims. This was a body of religious Christians that wanted to worship God in freedom. Their unquenchable faith and their yearning to live it out literally led to the perilous voyage across the Atlantic.
Before getting off the ship, they combined themselves into a body politic. And they left documents proving their intent.
Now, when you read this in many government school history textbooks, it says “Having undertaken … a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia.”
In reality, this is what they said: “Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, …”
They didn’t come for slavery, or money, or anything.
William Bradford, a Pilgrim leader and the governor of the colony they founded, wrote of “a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of so great a work.”
This sentiment was nearly universal in the early colonies, many of which were literally based on the model of the old Hebrew Republics from the Old Testament.
In 1643, the colonies of New England entered into a confederation. This is what their document said: “We ALL came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace.”
Even before the Pilgrims set foot on American soil, another group of settlers landed at Cape Henry in 1607 with a charter from King James. The mission of this settlement was partly commercial, it is true, as the America haters claim. But in a “A True Declaration of the State of Virginia,” the first priority was outlined, as well.
“First, to preach and baptize into Christian religion and by the propagation of the Gospel, to recover out of the arms of the devil a number of poor and miserable souls wrapped up into death in almost invincible ignorance; to endeavor the fulfilling and accomplishments of the number of the elect which shall be gathered from out of all corners of the earth; and to add to our myte the treasury of heaven.”
In fact, one of their very first acts upon landing on American soil was to erect a large wooden cross as the sailors and settlers gave thanks to God for their safe landing and they dedicated the new continent to God in a service led by Rev. Robert Hunt. History records that the British pastor declared, quote: “…from these very shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only this New World but the entire world.”
He also said this: “We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled.”
Less than 100 years after the confederated colonies of New England declared that we all came here to “advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace,” the Great Awakening began in America.
God used preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield to set America on fire for Christ and the Bible. Many of America’s founding fathers would have been children during this time of religious revival.
Don’t believe the lies of the left. What happened in America was guided every step of the way by what the Bible teaches. In 1772, Sam Adams, often described as the “father of the American revolution,” established the “Committees of Correspondence.” The very first document to circulate, which was written by Adams, was called “On the Rights of the Colonists.”
It read: “The rights of the colonists as Christians may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”
These included, he said: “First, a right to life, Second, a right to liberty, Third, a right to property, together with the right to defend them.”
And every step of the way, it was the PASTORS of America leading the charge. Pastors like Rev. Peter Muhlenberg of Virginia, a Lutheran. In December of 1775, he got up and preached a sermon out of Ecclesiastes. “There is a time for all things. There is a time to fight. And that time has now come.”
Rev. Muhlenberg ripped off his priestly garb and was wearing the uniform of a Colonel in the Virginia militia. The drums began and almost every man of fighting age in the congregation followed their pastor into what eventually became the War for our Independence. Muhlenberg ended up becoming one of Gen. Washington’s top generals.
The sentiments of the public were eventually put down on paper and the colonies decided to secede. Long before any nation ever abolished slavery or recognized the equality of all men — a biblical concept — this is what they declared:
“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. — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, …”
Again, these ideas are biblical. Romans 13 is not, as is commonly preached today, a command to obey every decree coming from anybody calling himself “government.” In fact, it is a job description for government, telling us that rulers get their authority from God and must use it to punish evil and protect good.
We don’t get to define evil and good, God already did that. Murder and theft are evil, which is why government must punish those crimes. Marriage and liberty are good, which is why government must protect those things.
Today, as you all know, the government does the opposite: it protects evil, even taking our money and giving it to butchers of babies, while destroying and persecuting good, even mocking God by pretending to redefine marriage, life, family, and so much more.
The idea of resisting tyranny was deeply ingrained in the minds of our forefathers. The Bible is filled with examples of God’s people standing up to tyranny and evil government. In the book of Exodus, we read about the Hebrew midwives defying Pharoh and refusing to kill the baby boys. The Bible says God “dealt well with them” because they feared God more than the King.
We also have Daniel, who refused to stop praying to God instead of the King, even though that meant going to the lion’s den. Again God protected him and shut the mouths of the lions.
And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Hebrew boys in Babylonian captivity. They refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. This is what they said to him:
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
In Acts 5, Peter and the Apostles are ordered by the authorities to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. They refused. And in verse 29, they explain why: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
This is also in the history of Christian civilization. During the English Civil War on the 1640s, Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell led Parliamentary forces to war against the tyrant King Charles, because he thought he was the law and was not obeying God’s law. Eventually that culminated with Charles being put on trial for treason and then being beheaded. Cromwell’s statue still stands outside of the British Parliament today, with a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other.
Our founders outlined how they appealed to every human institution for their cause: Parliament, the King, the King’s governors, and so on. None would listen. And so, finally, they made their Appeal to Heaven and asked God for justice—and God delivered the victory for them. We don’t have time today to discuss all the miracles that took place in the war, but earlier generations of Americans were quite familiar with them.
Christianity reigned supreme in America after that, too. President Andrew Jackson famously referred to the Bible as “the rock on which our Republic rests.”
Even foreigners noticed. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French statesman and historian, came to America in the 1830s to try to understand what made America so different and so great. His conclusions were simple:
“Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things.
In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.
Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.
I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion — for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.
In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious…there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.
I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her schools and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.
America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts — the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.
This passion for Christianity and the Bible continued to be the driving force in our nation for centuries.
In 1856, the U.S. House of Representatives, which represents the people more directly than any other federal body, put it this way after a major study of the issue:
“The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Numerous similar declarations came from Congress before and after that.
In 1892, meanwhile, even the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Holy Trinity Church v. the United States that America “is a Christian nation.”
At the request of the U.S. Congress, President Ronald Reagan declared the year 1983 to be the year of the Bible. You should read the whole thing. The very first words in the proclamation are: “Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, when asked what happened in the Soviet Union, quoted his grandfather and said “We forgot about God.” That is what allowed one of the greatest tragedies of human history… tens of millions of dead. Savagery never before seen.
Ladies and gentlemen, our nation is rapidly heading for the cliff, and the current leadership in Washington D.C. has the pedal to the metal. Surging inflation, food shortages, looming world war, cyber attacks, biowarfare, the indoctrination of our children in government schools. Recent polls shows barely a majority of Americans today would stay and fight if America was invaded.
But I have good news. God does not need a majority to fix problems. In fact, God rarely relies on a majority. Instead, he uses individuals like YOU to accomplish His purposes.
Now, I don’t know whether God will give America another chance, whether we will even have a country in a few years. That is all in God’s purview. And frankly, after murdering 60 million babies and waging war against His Truth, nobody can argue that America does not deserve judgment, and is experiencing it now.
But I do know that God has given us clear instructions. God needs to be the Lord not just of our Sunday mornings, but of every area of our life: our business, our family, our job, our politics, our education, our entertainment, our marriages, our local governments, our state governments, and everything else.
We live in an era where it is time to say NO, we will NOT bow down to your idols, we will NOT cooperate with your evil decrees, and we will obey God rather than men. We will be like Elijah, who confronted Ahab and his evil ways and publicly rebuked him.
As our Founders said in signing the Declaration of Independence, “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” We must rely on divine providence”.
As Ephesians chapter 6 tells us, we are in a spiritual battle against “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” So this is not just a political battle, but a spiritual one.
And God tells us how to deal with this just a few verses later. Use the shield of faith to guard against the fiery darts of the wicked. Go on offense with the Sword of the Spirit, which the Paul tells us in Ephesians is the Word of God—the very same Bible that our forefathers relied upon to create and build our free nation.
2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that “and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” If people are not saying mean things about you, something is wrong. And it may get worse.
I know it looks grim right now. The enemies of our God and our country seem to have all the media, the money, the Congress, the bureaucracies, the Big Corporations, and on and on. But guess what, we have something FAR more powerful, we have Truth, and we are with the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.
Remember Judges 7, where God chooses Gideon and whittles his army down to just 300 men to smash the massive Midianite army. Remember 2 Kings 19, where God dispatched ONE angel to slaughter 185,000 enemy soldiers amassed against God’s people. And remember David and Goliath, where God used a shepherd boy to bring down Goliath and the Philistine Army.
We serve the same God that Gideon and David served. And God will be victorious once again.
May God bless you and keep you as we fight for Him, for our country, for our families, and for our freedom.