Celebrating Freedom

 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ~Galatians 5:1

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend out sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. ~Ronald Reagan

Happy Independence Day, America!  It's time for parades, picnics, patriotic music, pageantry, and masterful firework displays all over this great nation of ours.  As you plan your activities for this momentous holiday, I hope and pray that you will make special time to celebrate the fact that we were formed as one nation under God by visionary Founding Fathers immersed in the teachings of our deep and lasting Judeo-Christian values.

And unless we teach our children and grandchildren why our Constitution and Declaration of Independence formed a system of government unlike anything this tired, weary world had ever known, how will they be equipped and eager to preserve it for posterity?

I am so heartened by the stance recently taken by Oklahoma's state legislature.  It passed a law which requires all public schools to display the Ten Commandments, and to equip classrooms with copies of the Bible.  A curriculum is being developed for grades 5 - 12 to instruct them about how both have influenced the rule of law in our judicial system and in our country's exceptional precepts that declare our freedoms are given us by God alone.  I'm not so naive as to think there won't be push-back from entrenched secular forces in our government, and from those who despise Western civilization in general, but let us, as Christians, not allow those forces to poison the minds of our children with disingenuous lies.

I do believe, with all my heart, that our loving Father is giving us another chance as a country to surrender to His will and be renewed by His Holy Spirit; the same Spirit who, despite all unimaginable odds, inspired this fledgling nation to overthrow the burdensome yoke of the British Empire that we might live free.

As former President Reagan so succinctly expressed, "Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction."  May God grant us the grace and wisdom to understand and appreciate, to the very depths of our beings, how generously He has blessed us.

And with God's help, let us resolve to maintain His blessing for generation to come.

Amen!