Creekside Daily Devotional
July 4, 2001
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!
During the years before the American Revolution the colonists became increasingly angry about the abuses they suffered from Great Britain, and the excessive taxes they were forced to pay. It did not help the cause of the King that the Colonies were not allowed to rule themselves, and they had no official representation in the English Parliament Thus, the very popular revolutionary slogan “Taxation without representation!” was born.
When asked, “Have you no loyalty to the King?”, the answer was “We have no king except Christ!” While for many people this was a rallying call to ignore the economic demands of England, for the vast majority it was the rallying theology of the Revolution, and the underlying theme and spirit of the new nation. Where the spirit of the Lord flourished, the people gained freedom.
The United States had its foundations solidly under girded by the Judeo-Christian faith of its people. While the nation was not a Christian theocracy, it was a nation heavily populated by strongly committed Christian citizens of many faiths. Even our currency carried the proclamation, “In God we trust!” For almost 200 years it is fair to say that this motto was firmly held throughout the land. The motto was well earned, for often in our history, our only hope for survival rested in the workings of a gracious and generous God.
Although our history of providing freedom for all the people in our nation was painfully slow to emerge, and for many, it is yet to be fully realized, no other culture has ever survived while making such massive social changes in such a short period of time. We can be proud of our progress, but, at the same time, we are humbled by the challenges still ahead.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Conversely, history has clearly demonstrated that when the Spirit of the Lord is lost in society, either through military overthrow, political corruption or general moral decline, freedom is lost and quickly replaced by slavery.
Our greatest challenge, as citizens of our wonderful nation, is to make certain that our Judeo-Christian foundations are not destroyed, but are firmly re-established by each generation as the underlying moral and spiritual theology of our nation. Let “In God we trust” remain our rallying call for freedom. God bless our nation on this Independence Day, July 4, 2001.
George Bragg
San Juan Capistrano, California
George Bragg has graciously allowed us to post this excellent article on our site. You can visit his web site at: www.ccf-irvine.com I particularly recommend the the section about Discovering God, it is one of the best places I’ve found that explains the fallacies of evolution and how we can KNOW that God exists through what He has Created.