Waning Religious Freedom

 

Palestine in the first century was less prosperous than some other regions, but the historian writer Josephus tries to present the country as quite prosperous. He accurately depicts the Jewish population there as primarily engaged in agriculture: “Ours is not a maritime country, neither commerce nor intercourse with the outside world has any attraction for us. Our cities are built inland, remote from the sea, and we devote ourselves to cultivation of the productive country with which we are blessed” (Against Apion 1.60). The chief products of Palestine were the staples of olives, wine, and cereals. The Jordan Valley was known for its groves of date palms and balsam trees. Sheep and goats were raised, and fishing was common. This was the land where Jesus grew up and lived in.

[Jeremiah 2:31-35] “O generation, see the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to (these United States), Or a land of darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are lords; We will come no more to You?’…” Speaking to the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin spoke these words: “I have lived, sir, a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it possible that an entire empire can raise without His aid?” We live in an age when more and more voices are being heard on every side in an effort to silence God – to quiet Him and make Him irrelevant to America’s public life. Far from following the advice of today’s civil libertarians, our founding fathers on many occasions publicly called upon their nation to fall down on bended knees and give thanks to Almighty God. In America we have been the undeserving recipients of God’s most bountiful land. Let us not become guilty of a most grievous sin – the sin of ingratitude. In God’s Word, it is recorded that James wrote: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Every generation is obligated to learn from the past mistakes of others. In a real sense, the former generations will weigh in on the outcome of their successors. Jesus said, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you” (Luke 10:13-14). Religious freedom, while we still have it, is a privilege that so many people have not yet really learned to appreciate. For the person who is not a Christian, it is a squandered blessing. Some wrongly conclude that religious freedom is the freedom to not become a slave to Christianity. Technically, that’s true. But the fact is, the principle of religious freedom is unnecessary if you do not want to become a Christian. You can be a slave and not become a Christian. “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption…” (2 Peter 2:18-22). Religious freedom really shines, however, when such freedom allows one to become a Christian and to become free of the bondage of sin and death (Romans 8:1-11). That is the true spirit of religious freedom. Constitutionally, religious freedom is the right to worship free of the dictatorial subject of government. The government cannot set up a state supervised church as the only means of worship. A One World Order will do exactly that. Your freedoms are waning quickly!

“Whatever makes men good Christians; makes them good citizens.” – Daniel Webster