Despite America being currently shaken to its foundation, we are a blessed nation, with holidays such as Independence Day — commonly known as the Fourth of July — to reminisce on that fact. If more Americans understood that they are the true heirs and protectors of the birth of freedom in the world, July 4 celebrations might well take on a new dimension, potentially igniting Americans from all walks of life to sacrifice their time and resources and join the ranks of the growing patriot movement dedicated to saving America’s freedom at this critical time.
The fact is that every other nation before the United States came into being from an evolution of tribes or clans, royalty and blood lineage, inevitabilities of language, culture, tradition, and geography, or from the results of war where the victors carve up the vanquished. America is the only nation in human history that was completely born of noble and deeply spiritual principles: that all men are created equal, that they have been given by God certain rights that cannot be taken away by any man or earthly authority, and that those unalienable rights combine to create and protect a thing called freedom in life. As a result, Americans have always been free to pursue happiness, worship God, speak publicly about their views, and, of course, choose their leaders.
Consider this: The very freedoms and rights we have taken for granted for hundreds of years in the United States did not even exist in Asia — the most populated part of the world — before World War II. Asian states and societies were all autocratic with people at the top having all the power and privileges and the people at the bottom having neither rights nor much in the way of freedom. But after the victory of the Allied powers, democratic self-government was granted to India and Japan in 1947, spreading from there, however imperfectly.
No matter the odds against freedom today, we can take heart and resolve from our history. In the first few years of the War of Independence, George Washington’s undertrained, underequipped, and underfunded Continental Army was only half the size of the highly trained professional British army and their allied German Hessian mercenary troops. The naval mismatch was even greater. The Continental Navy had about 25 converted merchant ships while the British naval power was more than 10 times greater, with 270 dedicated warships concentrated around East Coast colonial ports. Things looked grim for the American cause.
However, the courage, determination, and godly faith of the founders made the difference. The last sentence of the Declaration of Independence before the space allotted for signatures reads, “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protections of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” (Read more from “July 4 Has Always Been About Resisting Tyranny, and This Year is No Exception” HERE)
Photo credit: Flickr
