“When in the Course of human events, it becomes
necessary to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
“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 them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness…The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid world…”
The writers of our Declaration of Independence went on
to list a great number of grievances against the king of Great Britain, who was
behaving like a malevolent dictator, sending troops against the colonists and
making their lives miserable with oppression.
To quote Dr. Ben Carson in his book, One
Nation, “If the British government’s thirst for the resources of the
colonialists had not grown so large, Americans might never have sought
independence…” As it was, hunger for
money and the growth of government led to high taxes and abuse of power by the
Crown.
Sadly, the same
is now true with an American bloated government. I hold in my hand a small 3 ½” x 6 ½” booklet
of forty-six pages, and am amazed to see that it holds our entire Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution
of the United States. Compare that to just
one government health care plan today that boasts an insane length of over two
thousand pages! As our government grows
larger, the rights and freedoms of the people decrease and oppression is
sharply felt.
Freedom is only defined correctly by the One who gave
freedom in the first place. Does freedom
mean I can just do anything I want to without regard for anyone else? Of course not. Let us consider that carefully. That is why we must honor and respect the Word
of God in society; His influence must not be lost!
There are those who argue that America was never a “Christian”
nation, that it was not founded upon Christian principles with an understanding
of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. However,
permit me to share just a few quotes from http://www.afn.org/~govern/Christian_Nation.html:
“Most of the fifty-five Founding Fathers who worked on
the Constitution were members of orthodox Christian churches and many were even
evangelical Christians. The first official act in the First Continental
Congress was to open in Christian prayer, which ended in these words: ‘...the
merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Savior. Amen’. Sounds Christian to me.
“Later, John Quincy Adams answered the question as to
why, next to Christmas, was the Fourth of July this most joyous and venerated
day in the United States. He answered: ‘Is it not that the Declaration
of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the
Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human
government upon the first precepts of Christianity?’ Sounds like the founding of a Christian
nation to me. John Quincy Adams went on to say that the biggest victory won in
the American Revolution was that Christian principles and civil government
would be tied together in what he called an ‘indissoluble’ bond. The
Founding Fathers understood that religion was inextricably part of our nation
and government. The practice of the Christian religion in our government was
not only welcomed but encouraged.”
The spiritual climate at this nation’s founding was one of reverence for
the law of God.
To be sure, our country's founding was not without sins of injustice and wrongdoing against it's own citizenry, particularly in the issue of slavery. Thank God, as people of courage spoke out against such injustice and oppression, the right prevailed to where laws were changed. And we today should do no less when oppression stares us in the face. I think of the power of the pen, as Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book I found fascinating and which ignited flames of justice within me as an eleven-year-old girl. I applaud the courage of those stood up for what was right in the sight of God!
We are a nation whose laws should reflect the equity
and justice of our Creator. However, freedom
is abused in our country today, where, for example, certain individuals, for the sake of advancing their ungodly political agenda, try to force proprietors out of business because they refuse to engage in practices against their conscience. That, my
friend, is known as bullying! Such “freedom” was never the intent of our
founding fathers. There are bullies of
all kinds: social bullies, media bullies, political bullies, bullies in
academia and business.
What did our founding fathers mean by freedom? Does it mean the approval to do anything we
want? Who has the right to define
freedom? I submit to you it’s the One
who is the Author of true freedom, the Author who gives all of us an innate desire
to be free from oppression. That is exactly the reason our Colonialists pushed
back against the mother country of Britain when the king behaved like a tyrant.
Recently, my husband and I took a trip to
Philadelphia, the birthplace of freedom for our nation. It was indeed an extraordinary experience to enter
Independence Hall (shown below) and stand in the very room where the Declaration of
Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated, drafted, and signed.
Above is the Assembly Room where our Founding Fathers met to debate the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
Above is the photo I took of Carpenter's Hall where the House of Representatives and the Senate first met together on September 5, 1774. Of significant note to me is that the
first official act in the First Continental Congress was to open in Christian
prayer, which ended in these words: "...the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Savior. Amen".
In the Supreme Court chamber of Independence Hall, our tour guide explained that the metal barred cage in which she stood was the place the accused stood when on trial. The accused was not allowed to sit down; hence the term, "Standing trial." The witness, who wasn't allowed to sit down either, took his/her place at the upper left location beside the judge's bench.
I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of history as I photographed the Liberty Bell. The 2,000 pound Bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack (today the Whitechapel Bell Foundry) in 1752, and was cast with this lettering from Leviticus 25:10: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." The Bell cracked, according to widespread story, as it was rung after the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. After it cracked, the sound was not the same.
In a way, the crack in the Liberty Bell symbolizes our
fractured country. Fractured because Believers in Jesus have too much preferred to relinquish the difficult and often distasteful
job of governing to unscrupulous fellows who have no respect for God and His
Word. Fractured because we have failed
to be salt and light. Fractured because
we have been silent or indifferent far too long.
Can freedom’s bell be repaired to ring with a clear sound today? I believe the answer is “Yes,” however
faintly it may have begun to sound. “Let
us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do
not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9, NKJV) Whether
through pen and paper, platforms of social media, public speaking,
conversations with family, church friends, neighbors, the influence of the
godly is being heard.
Even as Benjamin Franklin stood to his feet during an
impasse at the Constitutional Convention and advocated imploring the help of
Almighty God, let us now not neglect to mention the most powerful force of
change today: an appeal to Heaven! May God pour out His Spirit upon every
heart in our nation (especially upon the Church), and turn our country back to
Him once again! I pray that His name
will be unashamedly honored and spoken boldly in the public square. I think of John the Baptist in the Bible who told Herod he was living in sin by having his brother's wife. John was a faithful voice of righteousness, as have many others down through history. But if the salt loses its flavor, of what good is it? If our light is hidden, of what good is it? Let us be a bold voice for Truth,
even if done sitting quietly at someone’s kitchen table.
Let us remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you
want them to do to you. And let us
remember the Great Commission from Jesus, the Believer’s Commander in Chief: “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NKJV) After
all, God’s freedom begins within the heart of man—one person at a time.
God bless America, and make her great once more! Let Freedom ring!
Copyright
© Elaine Beachy 2015
