More On The Montana Freedom Rush: Will Liberty Continue To Have A Home In America?
Only the most willingly ignorant people (most of whom
are educated beyond their intelligence, as my dad used
to say) would argue with the fact that the generation
who founded this great country believed that God had
providentially established and protected what became
known as the United States of America. The public
sentiments in this regard are irrefutable.
In his
first inaugural address,
President George Washington said:
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the
Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more
than those of the United States."
In Washington`s
Thanksgiving Day Address
(1789), he said:
"That we then may all unite in rendering unto Him our
sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and
protection of the people of this country previous to
their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold
mercies and the favorable interpositions of His
providence in the course and conclusion of the late
war."
Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of
Independence and America`s 3rd President)
said,
"God who gave us
life gave us liberty," and
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the
minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift
of God? That they are not to be violated but with His
wrath?"
He also said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His
justice cannot sleep forever."
Virtually everyone at the time of America`s founding
attributed divine blessing and protection to the
establishment of these States United. That fact is
undeniable–at least by any honest and objective student
of history.
Indeed, Jefferson`s warning is as germane today (perhaps
even more so) as it was when he wrote it:
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the
minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift
of God? That they are not to be violated but with His
wrath?"
Meaning: The God who gave and protected our liberties is
the same God who can remove and overthrow them in His
wrath and judgment.
Some would even argue that this is what God is currently
doing: removing His hand of protection from America and
turning us over to divine judgment.
I must confess that I wonder about this in my own mind.
The signs that America is fast losing her freedoms and
is falling into the throes of socialism, agnosticism,
humanism–and maybe even fascism–are ubiquitous. It is to
the point that even the Constitution and Bill of Rights,
which were supposed to protect the rights and liberties
of the American people, have been so neglected or abused
by our civil magistrates in Washington, D.C., that those
foundational documents have, for all intents and
purposes, been relegated to museum-status.
Add to the abandonment of constitutional governance the
advent of European-style socialism in the US, the
collapse of Christian virtue and morality (even by
professing Christians), the repudiation of sound money
principles, and a preoccupation with globalism, and it
is easy to see the
handwriting on the wall
(to borrow from the
Old Testament Book of Daniel).
Nowhere is it written that a free republic is promised
perpetuity. In fact, if history is any teacher, it
indicates that the propensity of free nations is for
them to–after the brave and heroic efforts of their
founders–apathetically allow freedom`s gradual (or not
so gradual) decline.
And that is exactly what this generation, and every
generation since
"The Greatest Generation," has done and is doing.
That America seems destined for a fall (how far and how
fast is yet to be determined) appears inevitable.
Therefore, the real questions seem to me to be, Will
liberty continue to have a home in America? And, if so,
WHERE will liberty continue to have a home in America?
I think it is safe to say that many Americans today are
not only unwilling to fight for their own liberty (and I
am not talking about fighting unconstitutional,
unprovoked wars in the Middle East), they do not even
seem to be able to discern what true liberty is.
To many avant-garde Americans, freedom is whatever Uncle
Sam (or Big Brother, as he is better known today)
determines freedom to be. If one of the three branches
of the federal government (especially the Supreme Court)
determines that a God-given liberty is not a God-given
liberty after all, but only a temporary and transient
"privilege of the
state," many Americans seem to have no personal
knowledge, wisdom, discernment, or fortitude to even
remotely resist it.
The fact that their Creator, via Natural and Revealed
Law, endows them with certain
"unalienable" rights and liberties never seems to dawn on them. It`s
as if the only god they know is the god of government.
Even many pastors and Christians are carried away with
this fallacy.
If Daniel Webster was right (and he was) when he
said,
"God grants
liberty only to those who love it and are always ready
to guard and defend it," then liberty`s future is
suspect indeed. There is another principle, however,
that is equally true: there will always remain a remnant
of people who value freedom enough to never surrender
it.
During the past two years, I have traveled over 60,000
miles to virtually every crack and corner of this
country, and I can tell you without hesitation or
equivocation: not every place (or State) understands–or
is prepared to fight to defend–freedom. All men may be
created equal, but all men are not equally discerning or
determined. If I observed anything, I observed the great
disparity between people when it comes to their
willingness to draw a line in the sand for
liberty–especially when that line is being drawn against
their own federal government.
Oh, there may exist pockets of such people scattered
here and there in certain geographical regions, but I`m
talking about a concentration of determined citizenry
armed and alert to the usurpations of their liberties.
There are only a few places where I observed such a
spirit.
And if you have read my last three columns (here,
here,
here),
you know that I have been led to the studied conclusion
that the Mountain States region of America`s great
Northwest is certainly one of those places, if not the
most notable of those places.
Granted, there is a sizeable freedom spirit in many
local communities around the country. I have especially
found the freedom spirit scattered throughout
Texas,
Arizona, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vermont,
Kentucky, New Hampshire, and eastern Tennessee (and
several other places), but not in the concentrated
aggregation as in states such as Idaho, Montana,
Wyoming, Alaska, Utah, South Dakota (maybe even North
Dakota), and eastern Washington State.
Accordingly, I am absolutely convinced that God is
calling a determined remnant of freedom-lovers to the
Mountain States. And as most of my readers now know,
that is exactly where God has called us—my family and
me. (We are in the process of moving to the Flathead
Valley [Kalispell area] of Montana.)
I am personally convinced that this relocation of
patriots to the Mountain States is as inevitable and
divinely inspired as was the relocation of the Pilgrims
to colonial America.
Not all of America`s Pilgrims were Christians, of
course, but most were. And not all of these modern-day
Patriot-Pilgrims who answer the western call today will
be Christians (but probably most will be). And quite
frankly, I would much rather share a foxhole with a
patriot-unbeliever who acknowledges the Creator-God, and
who accepts the Natural Laws of his Creator, and who is
willing to fight and defend these freedom-principles
than with these brain-dead, Big-Government centralists
who call themselves
"Christians"
that we seem to be inundated with today.
Granted, not all of America`s patriots will be led to
relocate
to the Mountain States. And I would never try to presume
upon God`s will for another man! In reality, the Lord
may lead His freedom-loving children to a variety of
locations and to a variety of actions. Others will be
led to
"stay in Crete"
to be the "salt"
and "light"
where they are. After all, God is much too big to
confine to one place or idea.
However, it is abundantly clear to me that each of us
who call ourselves patriots (Christian or not) must
begin answering these questions for ourselves:
Will liberty
continue to have a home in America? And, if so,
Where will liberty
continue to have a home in America?
And I suppose the logical follow-up question is,
What should I do
about it?
My family and I have answered that question for
ourselves.
I therefore urge each reader to also answer that
question, because the fate of our posterity likely hangs
in the balance.
Dr. Chuck Baldwin is the
pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola,
Florida. He hosts a
weekly radio show. His
website is
here.
