There is a well known saying that
“Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.” That cycle is
repeating before our very eyes.
The United States of America has
a history. People got on boats and crossed the Atlantic for a reason. There is
deep history behind the phrases “Land of the free and home of the brave” in the
national anthem and “liberty and justice for all” in the pledge of allegiance.
The Europe they fled from was anything but free. It was a land of liberty and
justice for some. If you fell outside the definition of what the
religiopolitical establishment deemed acceptable you were anything but free and
justice did not apply to you.
Our ancestors did not cross the
Atlantic looking for baseball and apple pie. They just wanted a place where
they could live by the dictates of their conscience without fear of reprimand
or worse. The most conservative estimates are that fifty million people were
killed by the church run governments of Europe. It was so bad that Pope John Paul 2
apologized for the atrocities of what we now call the Dark Ages. History has
shown over and over that when religion is in bed with government nothing good
follows.
I grew up immersed in the
Scriptures. I grew up with Bible prophecy being studied around me. What many don’t know,
even Christians who profess to believe the Bible is that the United States is
described in the prophetic book of Revelation. It is accurately depicted as a
lamb like power. It was founded on the principles lived and taught by Jesus,
most basic of which is “liberty and justice for all.” Jesus was a renegade. He
was what today we would call a champion of social justice. Raised in a culture
and religion steeped in prejudice and in cities surrounded by walls (sound
familiar) Jesus crossed every border, disregarded every wall, and treated every
person as equal regardless of gender, religion, or caste. He was the very
embodiment of “liberty and justice for all.”
For centuries now America has
stood out in the world as fundamentally different. Her very core was built
around the premise of freedom for everyone. The statue of Liberty stands in the
Atlantic waters facing the land of censure from which they fled. Inscribed on
her are these words:
“Not like the brazen giant of
Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride
from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset
gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch,
whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and
her name
Mother of Exiles. From her
beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her
mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin
cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your
storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your
tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden
door!”
Encapsulated in this poem by Emma
Lazarus is everything you need to know about where Americans came from and why
and what this “New Colossus” stands for. Or perhaps it would be more accurate
to say “stood for”.
The Bible says she started out
like Jesus. A place of refuge. A home where all men are created equal. Consider
these words from the pen of Thomas Jefferson which now are immortalized in the
Declaration of Independence:
“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.”
America began as a place of
refuge. A place of freedom. A place where all are welcome to start afresh free
from the tyranny of those who think it their right to dictate conscience and
abuse their powers of leadership. Emblazoned in the declaration of independence
is the right of the people to overthrow any government that loses sight of what
their role is.
Sadly the Bible commentary on
America doesn't end there at the lamb like description. Instead she changes. Laws
that once defended freedom are replaced with dragon like laws. The dragon is
unmistakable in Bible prophecy. It is satan himself. He is the one who
strategizes how to turn men against men and crush our dignity and our
freedoms. Simply put the Bible says America will become just like the corrupt
abusive powers from which she fled.
You may not understand the Bible.
You may not even be sure you believe the Bible. You may be certain at this
point in your life that you hate the Bible and religion. Regardless of your
personal beliefs (which I believe with every fiber of my being are yours to
hold), you do have eyes and ears. You can see what’s happening in America. You
can see that liberty and justice for all is quickly becoming liberty and justice
for some. You can see that the land which once opened her arms to “the homeless
and tempest tossed” now plans to build walls and write laws to keep the most
marginalized people in the world at bay. Sure there are reasons but are they
good ones? Where will this end? Who are liberty and justice for? You can't protect freedom with censure.
I have devoted my life to
studying the Bible, especially the Person of Jesus. Neither it nor He has been wrong yet and they are not wrong now. All that is left now is for the people to decide if they
stand with Thomas Jefferson and Emma Lazarus or if they want a new America that
would be both unrecognizable and reprehensible to them.
They can write all the laws they want
but they can never imprison our minds or bind our hearts. Let freedom reign!
