An overly dramatic title maybe (or maybe not), but as we celebrate 246 years since the official signing of the Declaration of Independence this choice is laid before us today just as it was then.
Except it is not the British we face as a nation it is us.
Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus when he stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and he made this statement, “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
America is at a time of reckoning. We are in the midst of a biblical cycle known as the Shemitah which started in September of 2021 and ends this year on September 25.
At its founding, the United States was blessed with a Great Awakening to the grace and salvation of the Lord, this in turn led to the American Revolution and the liberty we once enjoyed that allowed us to be a great light to the nations of the world.
Today, we are of two minds. One that embraces sin with pride while claiming a form of righteousness that waters down the Gospel and destroys the very foundation of our nation.
The other is a clear understanding of what it means to serve the Living God through His grace and mercy with sound doctrine, but this remnant is smaller than we would like.
On this day that we celebrate liberty and freedom, I believe we need to understand where these come from, the Lord.
Jesus said, “whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.” And even the first commandment in Exodus 20 begins, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” In other words, it is the Lord who provides liberty.
June 2022 was an incredible month for us as a nation. During sin pride month we had many of our unalienable rights reaffirmed, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Abortion was not banned by the Supreme Court, but we were given the choice as individual states to affirm life or take it.
Freedom to assemble and pray was upheld. The right to keep and bear arms strengthened. The right to use our tax dollars to educate our children well, allowing the pursuit of happiness by training up our children.
At the very same time, we see tyrants rise up in our government created by the sin we fail to condemn. These tyrants are opposed to human flourishing and are at work preparing the way for the lawless one.
That can sound extreme to state, but I believe it to be true. We would like to believe those in government who pursue the agenda that they do are just useful idiots but there is something else at work we find detailed in Revelation and 2 Thessalonians 2.
As we observe the pieces falling into place, we should take note of that cycle I was referring to earlier. The first warning was sounded on 9/11/01, the second was the financial collapse that gave us Barrack Obama and Joe Biden on 9/29/08 when the stock market lost 777.68 points or a little under 7% of its value.
The cycle has continued, and warnings have abounded for America to repent. We were even given a small financial break in the storm under Donald Trump but that was the Lord using us to shore up Israel.
Many have put their hope in the coming “red wave” but that is not where our hope should lie. A political sea change will do nothing if there is no spiritual sea change first.
Patrick Henry’s short but powerful speech “Give me liberty or give me death” rings true today as it did in his time. Will we submit to the tyranny of Satan and those who serve his doctrine of demons?
Will we have the courage of the Apostles who stated, “We should obey God, rather than men.”?
The choice really is the liberty God provides through Jesus Christ or death. Not just the death of our nation, but the death of our God-given rights, and the second death suffered by those who love darkness more than light.
Independence Day is not about freedom from the Lord, but the freedom found in the Lord. Just as Moses stated long ago, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”
It was the same choice given to Israel through Elijah, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!”, yet the people were silent.
Today is the day for us to choose. Will it be liberty or death?
