Let Freedom Ring

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

~2 Corinthians 3:17

As most of us know, the United States of America was originally founded by a group called Pilgrims who had sailed from England to escape threats of death for separating from the Church of England. When the “Separatists” left England, they originally sailed to Holland and lived there for some time. However, life was difficult for the immigrants, work was scarce and poorly paid. They struggled with poverty, and they feared for their children, who were assimilating into Dutch culture and abandoning their Christian beliefs, so, for the sake of their children and the Gospel, the Separatists left Holland and sailed to America. Life was very difficult in the new country and more than half of those who arrived on the Mayflower would not survive the first winter, but those remaining persevered, and God blessed their decision to remain faithful to His Word.

“They cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.” (William Bradford, Separatist & Governor of the Plymouth Plantation from 1621-1657)

Basing life upon the foundations of the Bible, the Pilgrims worked to make a life of freedom in Christ for everyone who followed. They did, in fact, become stepping stones toward a new country. The fight was not easy, and England did not go quietly. This country was founded upon the belief that freedom was worth fighting for and the blood of patriots seeps deeply into the ground. It eventually led to that momentous occasion known as the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which, in fact, was based on the dictatorship and censorship of the King of England.

“IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people 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 of 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 these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 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.”

It goes on in great length and detail listing the facts against the king and concludes by severing all ties to England and pledging allegiance to God and country. These people were terrorists in the eyes of the Crown, and radicals according to the Church of England. The pilgrims went against everything they had been taught to stand up for what they believed to be right in the eyes of God. Those who followed laid down their lives for those same beliefs and founded this country on the belief that what was true and right and godly for one group of people was true and right and godly for all people. It is something still worth fighting for, even though now our fight is on our knees.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:2)”.

Read Psalm 21-25

© 2018 Marie McGaha Happy 4th of July!