Give Me Liberty
Give Me Liberty
By Dr. Mike Murphy
“The Constitution of the United States is indubitably Christian. Because the overwhelming majority of the creators of the Constitution were practicing Christians who derived their political philosophy from the Bible and other Christian sources, it should come as no surprise that they enshrined numerous Biblical principals in the Constitution.”
Who would you guess these words belong to? What pastor do you think spoke them? What famous Christian writer of history would you guess penned them? What if I told you these words were not that of a Christian, or even an American, would you believe me? Now what if I told you these words were those of a well-known socialist and atheist, how much would you doubt me? These words were actually written by a man who described himself as both an atheist and a socialist, a man who never called the United States his home. These were the words of H. G. Wells, words he wrote in his book Outlines Of History in 1920.
Go back one hundred years, and you will find that even the strongest of those that disagreed with Biblical principles, knew without a doubt, where the concepts and fundamentals of our country’s foundation began. They knew that the very structure and laws that made up our government could be found and supported within the pages of God’s Word. That the concepts on which we were created as a nation, were concepts that could only be given by God.
“Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same…body of principal men…exercised these three powers.” These words were written by a man few may know, they were given to us by Baron Charles Montesquieu in his publication of 1748, The Spirit Of The Laws. Although we may rarely speak these words today, our Founding Fathers knew these words well. They were among the most often quoted words at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It was these words that lead James Madison to read a Bible verse, a verse that is just as rarely quoted today as the words of Montesquieu. Isaiah 33:22, “For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our King. He will save us.” In this verse, Madison saw the perfect plan for government. A government with three equal branches. A government for the people, not a government to restrict the people. A government that could bring our nation’s vision of liberty to life.
So if our Founding Fathers fought so hard to bring us that liberty, then just what does this word “liberty” mean? Most today see liberty as the freedom to choose. They see liberty as the freedom to act a certain way, to look a certain way, and to think a certain way. Liberty, to most, is the freedom to act how they want, when they want.
But if our Founding Fathers discovered our liberty in the Word of God, then how does God describe liberty? If in liberty we find our freedom, then Christ tells us that in our freedom we find His Truth (John 8:32). Liberty can only come when we know the freedom that Christ offers us. The freedom to overcome a life that constricts us, and a Law that convicts us. Liberty that frees us from the guilt of sin (Romans 6:18). Liberty that frees us of the curse of moral law (Isaiah 53:12, Hebrews 1:3). Liberty that frees us from the horrors of Hell (Colossians 1:13). Liberty that frees us to stand in the presence of the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16). Liberty that frees us to serve Christ (Romans 7:4). The liberty that allows us to overcome death (1 Corinthians 15:51-57). And the liberty to free ourselves from the evil of this present world (Galatians 1:4-5).
In the truth that comes from liberty, we can not only know the laws of God, we have the desire to obey those laws. It is in that liberty that we comprehend those laws, and we understand what Christ told us of those laws. Christ told us that all the laws of God could be summed up in two simple sentences. Love the Lord with all our heart, our soul, and our mind. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). It is in these two statements that all the laws that govern this nation can be found. And it is from these two statements by Christ that the liberty of this nation is based.
In the truth of liberty, we find that the answers to our problems comes from God, not from government. Liberty shows us that in God’s proven principles we find solutions, not in man’s quick fixes. God’s liberty shows us that the only workable form of government is self-government. It is only when we are aware of the Lord standing over us in authority, that we will ever follow the rules and laws that govern us. When God’s Presences is observed, only then will we obey the law when no one is watching us. Liberty can only be found when we seek God as our judge, not our fellow man. When God’s internal punishment serves as a greater fear than man’s external punishment. Any nation without the truth of liberty, and its’ self governing principles, we look to the failure of civil government to keep the people orderly. It is from this truth that George Washington once said, “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible.” Washington, and almost all our Founding Fathers, knew in order for man to truly be free and liberty to be found, God must first be present.
God’s truth shows us that liberty begins with the family. Family provides us with the training grounds for self governing. The very truths and principles that liberty are grounded in, can be found present or absent in the children of every nation. A nation whose children are not raised in the truth of God’s Word, is a nation that will soon struggle. A nation that does not train and educate its’ children in the principles of the Holy Word, is a nation that will soon never experience liberty.
Liberty must also be found in the Church. The Church must stand as a protector of liberty, a keeper and reminder to the nation of God’s Word. Christ said, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19). The Church is called to rise up against the evil that would destroy our liberty. It was by no mistake, that the principles and teachings that brought us liberty was started in the pulpits and pews of this nation. And it will also be by no mistake, if the liberty of this nation is lost because those same churches no longer stand and teach those principles today.
Liberty. A word that often stirs us, but a word that is so often taken for granted. The question becomes, will the word “liberty” continue to define us? Will God’s liberty again be the rallying call that drives us to victory? Or will man’s false definition of liberty become the war cry that leads us to our destruction and defeat? This nation must once again look at the word liberty, and once again listen to how the Lord defines the word. God makes it clear that true liberty can only be found in His Truth. He also tells us that sin leads to the horrors of death. With both of these truths in mind, the words of another Founding Father again comes to the forefront. In Patrick Henry’s famous statement we find the words that will again define the future of this nation. “Give me liberty, or give me death”.
Praying this nation will again choose God’s liberty.