Happy 4th of July! I hope you are planning to enjoy this holiday. I've always loved Independence Day. Grilling hot dogs and burgers outside. Ice cold coke cans out of cooler. Watermelon sliced on the picnic table. Fireworks. And, an opportunity to think about freedom. In America, we really need to pause this year and think about this freedom we enjoy. How we received it. How we can keep it. Those who have suffered, bled, and died for this freedom.
I usually remain relatively silent in the public eye when it comes to my political views. However, most of you know that I am a die hard history buff, and an advocate of democracy. The only subject that interested me in high school was History. In recent weeks I , like many of you, have been cautiously watching strategic maneuvers from our government to advance a more progressive, socialist agenda. Supreme Court decisions to reverse Roe vs. Wade, and allowing teachers and coaches to pray, have brought out the worst in some people. America is not a united people as one nation under God. We want to believe that, but we are living in the past.
Reading is a hobby of mine. I read books, magazines and especially blogs. I have to tell you that many people are fearful that we are headed down a path towards a one world government. And, instead of vocalizing our fears, we have fewer voices of reason that I expected. In fact, I have heard preacher recently (even in South Alabama) that advocate for socialism from the pulpit! I read one article online that was advocating that socialism was instructed by Jesus to His disciples. This preacher basically says that socialism was advanced by the Christian church in the first century and it is paramount that in order to restore the New Testament church we must advocate for socialism. Let that sink in for a moment. Jesus, the socialist? Peter, James and John, the progressive liberals? Really?
It seems to me that some people will not stop pushing this agenda, and shockingly many of them are Christians. How can we teach political correctness and liberal ideology from the pulpit? If that is one's goal it would distort the true history of the Christian movement. Those statements about Jesus, His disciples and the church are false, but how should Christians respond to these blatant attacks? Liberals are declaring war upon God, the Bible, and Judeo-Christian values. We are in a culture war to save our country which unquestionably was founded on Christian principles.
From time to time we need to revisit our past. We need to consider the framework of our young nation and the legacy our forefathers intended to stamp upon us forever. We need to dig out our old textbooks (not the new ones that teach revisionist history) and demand answers. Did the Continental Congress of 1776 hope for socialism and communism to be a part of our future? No. Would they have embraced a one world government? I seriously doubt it. Read some of their own views about the 'tyrannical government" of King George III. They don't mince words.
Have you ever read "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine? Have you read the words of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams or Benjamin Franklin? It would serve you well to read their books and comments in various publications. And I'm serious about reading them because one day they may not be available for us to read. Why make that accusation? Because I never thought I would see the day when my children could have access to condoms and birth control in middle school, but could be expelled for carrying a Bible or praying before a test. I never thought I would see a day when free pornography was available in every library and cell phone with access to the internet. I never thought I would feel the weight of heavy taxes, high unemployment, food shortages, and unbelievably high gasoline in an effort to force me to buy the car, food, home and pursue the job of the government's own choosing.
Read as much as you can about the true history of the United States of America before revisionist history, propaganda, and the talking points of the liberal socialist agenda make their way into every classroom, every textbook, every pulpit and every home in America. Those days are upon us. It's not something to worry about in the future. It is something to take action about now, in the present, before our future is so dim and bleak that all hope would seem to be lost.
What has happened to make us think that socialism could be the right government for our people? For years America fought communism and socialism. We tore down walls and advocated for freedom for all! In a single generation we went from seeing communism as the greatest threat against our democracy to hailing it as a model for our very existence. Socialism is a complete contradiction to freedom the way of life in America. When did we decide to embrace a government ideology that embraces domination, decadence and destruction instead of personal liberty, freedom and capitalism? I thought there were obvious statements in our constitution that warned us of moving towards a government like socialism prescribes. Shouldn't we seek to preserve the rights for every man, who is created equal by their Creator, to pursue freedom and happiness, and live free from oppression. We were founded as one “republic” under God! And I fear we are becoming a divided house of Satan that will not stand. I hope we have time to change the crash course collision that is coming.
Does anyone remember that America led the fight during the Cold War? We opposed the remnants of communism and the arrogance of the USSR. Those opposing views were more than just about philosophical differences. The bedrock foundation of socialism reveals a fundamental difference on spiritual matters. We should be wise enough to know that battles are not going to just be fought in Congress, but in court rooms, school buildings, churches, and synagogues. Every business and home will be rocked by a socialist government. There will not be a single citizen in this country spared from the negative effects of socialism. By the time we realize what we have done it will be too late. It takes years to achieve real freedom and democracy, but only moments to tear it to the ground. One election or one vote can make all the difference in taking away our liberties.
The socialist movement in America already flaunts relativism, gender confusion and political correctness. Many of us have watched in awe, while countless people are sucked into it unaware. The subtle changes we see did not happen overnight. And we cannot correct them in a day. Once socialism is the norm, an election will not change things. This is why time is of the essence. The time to act is now!
Who wants a governmental system that wastes billions of tax money from its citizens and then spends it without restraint or accountability? Would you prefer a country that elevates looters, rioters and activists to burn businesses and property in the name of justice? Who would vote for a country where there are not limits to taxing the hard-working Americans so that our politicians can live like celebrities? Who could ever accept a leader that thought citizens were to ignorant to run their own banks, businesses and homes? Would you support a politician that advocating for killing the opposition? Who would advocate that an effective way to move our country forward would be to establish long-term government programs that will restrict our Christian way of live, kill innocent children, and force people to give up their rights unless they are willing to suffer persecution? Where would we go if we wanted to find a better opportunity? Who would like a government that says Christianity is no longer our way of life? Pay attention... because this is exactly what America has right now!
Our nation needs a long, hard look in the mirror. Or better yet, we need to take a long hard look at our children and grandchildren. We voted for this. We have embraced it. We have remained silent in the face of this oppression. We served up a bitter cup of sorrow and we are forcing our children to drink it. C.S. Lewis once said, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” George Washington agreed when he said, “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
BUT WAIT! You may be thinking, "We are not a socialist government, yet!" You are right. Not yet. But we are dangerously close. And if I have anything to say about it, we will not cross that line in my lifetime. I am using my voice to remind people that America is a democratic nation. True, we are not the same nation that was founded on the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted to built upon the belief that we should never lose our voice,. In fact, that right is sustained by the blood of men and women that hoped we would never lose those freedoms. If you disagree with what is happening in America, why do you remain silent? Be heard.
The ideology of socialism may be thriving in America, but as long as there is a breath in me, I will stand for what I know is right! My rights are sacred to me. I will never allow a government to tell me what I have to believe. I refuse to allow my government to tell me that the history books need to be re-written. I cannot ignore politicians who embrace contradicting views of our American values, especially when their agenda is aligned with our enemies.
What happened to American patriots? Where are the “Patrick Henry” type leaders today that will shout: “give me liberty or give me death”? Have they all crawled into foxholes to wait out the battle? Have they grown to tired to speak up? How can we remain silent? Our government has been sustained by the involvement of every American and there right to exercise liberty. Horace Greeley once said, “It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.” When we stand for God and democracy, as our forefathers did, how can we go wrong? This nation has stood for nearly 250 years. Every American should do all that we can to make sure this nation will stand another 250 years.
To be even clearer, I fear that we may be in danger of imploding. John Adams warned us that “Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” I am not a pessimist. I believe there is still hope. I am advocating for this because I believe knowledge is power. Thomas Jefferson said, “I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education.” We need to educate each other on where we came from, where we are, and where we are headed.
Before I close, I want to draw your attention to the vision of George Washington for our great nation. His “prophetic” vision can be found in the Library of Congress. He describes three “perils” that America could face in her future. The first was the revolutionary war (already over, and we won). The second peril was the great Civil War (already over, and had devastating effects). The third and final vision warned, “Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his God, his land and the Union” or face the consequences. What does that mean? He believed that the threat would come from within, due to the ignorance and laziness of the citizens. He also believed that we would be invaded and fail to defend our nation.
George Washington was right. We will be destroyed from within. We have poorly informed citizens and weak leadership. Much needs to be done to ensure our democracy will stand for the next generation. Washington also said, “Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.” We must have God’s blessing if we are to survive and thrive. We must live for God and protect the freedoms of our nation. Let’s stand up while we still can. I'll take freedom over socialism. Every time.
May God bless American once again!
Dr. Ray Reynolds
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In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton North Carolina William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton Massachusetts John Hancock Maryland Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton Pennsylvania Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross Delaware Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean New York William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Massachusetts Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins William Ellery Connecticut Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire Matthew Thornton
** https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript