DeeGeesLifeBlog ~ Life as Art ~ Or is it Heart?

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 . . .

Most everyone in America likely celebrated Independence Day last Tuesday, but so many seek to banish God as the source of the most foundational of rights. The Declaration didn’t merely mention God, but identified Him repeatedly as the source and influence of all rights. As John Adams expressed it: “The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations”.

Outcomes are for God, while our job is to stand for our timeless principles, as in Micah 6:8: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” – Not binary idolatry.

Melania Trump at the Melbourne, Florida victory rally in February introducing the president with the Lord’s Prayer … When was the last time you saw that from a First Family? A family that prays together stays together.

241 years ago US citizens fought taxation without representation, and today we must fight social transformation without representation. As the other Adams, Samuel, said about Independence Day: “We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient”. Seems to me we’re at about the same stage to be effectively doing it again!

God as the Supreme is the only way of keeping self-governance alive. Almost getting on for 250 years later, the very essence of consent-based governance has almost been completely eradicated from the top to bottom structure of American politics.

July 4th is not for celebrating independence from Great Britain. It’s for something even greater. As Calvin Coolidge put it on the occasion of the 150th anniversary: “It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles”. America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. Independence forever!

James Madison in Federalist 51 famously expressed the assumptions lying behind a form of government designed for the “preservation of liberty”:

A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. ~ James Madison

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

Mmmmm … Reflect on that for a generation or two – “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

Given a fallen human nature, power must never be allowed to be concentrated into an elite of any sort, for neither birth, wealth, nor wisdom can guard against the destructive excesses of power. Defend the people’s ordered liberty, equality of opportunity, and equality under the law, and the freedom of all will be protected.

Talking about which, last Saturday July 1st., in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center, Senior Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas Church hosted the Celebrate Freedom Concert in honor of Veterans prior to the Independence Day celebrations. Listen in on these short clips from President Trump’s remarks…