Submitted by Leroy Earl Vandegrift
I’ve been pondering my wonderful family, friends, associates, and even those who do not know me how you might be considering the news of the day. The world is aflame in almost every nation, with their governments and educational systems striving to remove freedoms from the citizens and take control of people, property, and production. In light of our celebration of Independence Day this week, it is timely for us to consider two types of freedom: one is secular, and one is eternal (Biblical); both are precious gifts from God.
I appreciate and cherish each of you (even if you disagree with me) and trust that whatever is going on in your life, you’ll take time to read this blog and the recommended articles I linked. Share the information with your family, friends, and associates.
Unless this nation turns back to law and order and restores freedom to its citizenry within a very short period of years, we will no longer be a truly free people!
We will examine freedom first with a secular view and finish with freedom based on a Biblical view. This is foundational for providing wisdom and insight into freedom philosophy. The goal is to provide some thought-provoking content from various authors to spur us on toward studying true freedom in this life and the life to come!
These two viewpoints have been written to provide some resources for understanding why the United States of America became, in an unbelievably short time, the strongest, wealthiest, most free, most generous nation in the history of the world. God blessed (my belief) this nation in part to provide the resources to help reestablish Israel as a nation, spread the Christian faith, and provide freedom for all who come to our shores. But just as Israel abandoned God’s way of living in the prophet Amos’ day, 793-740 BC, our nation is following suit today; the effect can only reflect Israel’s destruction in 722 BC and the later capture of Judah in 587 BC.
Freedom – Secular View
Historically, people who have freedom with responsibility and live under the God-given rights of “individuality, liberty, and property” have a high standard of living. The seven books shared in this blog are in part about freedom. The books are available online for purchase or are free at the website given for each book.
For the past several decades, this nation’s educational systems have failed to teach students about the fruitful effects of being free of overzealous governmental bureaucracy and high taxes on citizens in a republic. For well over a hundred years, the self-evident truths of God-given rights spoken of in our constitution have been increasingly ignored and actively trampled on in the classrooms, in the boardrooms and in government bodies throughout this nation. The world’s citizenry has been slowly giving up their freedoms for a false security promised by a political class bent on controlling people, property, and production.
Nations today have their citizenry under the yoke of “legalized plunder,” spoken of by Fredrick Bastiat over 170 years ago. Many nations today are poor because the people are not free, as dictators with their large bureaucracies, high taxes, and friends outside government are controlling people, property, and production.
The United States of America was established as a republic (not a democracy) with a constitution that allowed freedom and responsibility to maintain a land of free people. The Founding Fathers understood the absolute power of the freedom philosophy to allow wealth to spread throughout the nation. They understood the tyranny of the oppressive world governments of their day, whose policies concentrated power and wealth in the hands of the few. Under oppressive governments, as ours is becoming today, wealth is being concentrated in the hands of some select few (i.e. politicians) and their friends. The poor remain poor, and the middle class slowly diminishes along with their God-given freedoms. We must restore freedoms and less government bureaucracy – a lesson from history.
The first four books listed below are primers for understanding the freedom philosophy inherent in governments and economies under a constitutional republic form of government. No nation like the United States of America in the history of the world has been as generous (not just with money but also with its people) in helping other nations in times of war and disasters and maintaining freedom in other nations. The USA even helped to rebuild its WWI and WWII enemy nations.
THE LAW – Frederick Bastiat 1801-1850
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/44800/pg44800.txt)
(https://www.fee.org/ebooks/the-law/)
From the books forward written in 2007: Anyone building a personal library of liberty must include a copy of Frédéric Bastiat’s classic essay, “The Law.” First published in 1850 by the great French economist and journalist, it is as clear a statement as has ever been made of the original American ideal of government, as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, that the main purpose of any government is the protection of the lives, liberties, and property of its citizens.
Bastiat believed all human beings possessed the God-given, natural rights of “individuality, liberty, property.” “This is man,” he wrote. These “three gifts from God precede all human legislation.” But even in his time—writing in the late 1840s—Bastiat was alarmed over how the law had been “perverted” into an instrument of what he called “legal plunder.”
THE MAINSPRING OF HUMAN PROGRESS – Henry Grady Weaver 1889-1949
(https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Mainspring%20of%20Human%20Progress_2.pdf)
(https://www.fee.org/ebooks/the-law/)
Weaver was Director of Customer Research Staff for General Motors Corp.; cover of Nov. 14, 1938 Time Magazine. He was a graduate of Georgia Tech. Weaver wrote Mainspring in 1947.
“Mr. Weaver … convinced that human liberty is the mainspring of progress and that government tends always to tyranny – he decided to popularize these themes for the American people. His first major effort was this book, “The Mainspring of Human Progress.”
ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON – Henry Hazlitt
https://www.fee.org/ebooks/economics-in-one-lesson/
Hazlitt, 1894-1993, was an American economist, philosopher, and journalist for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times.
From Economics in One Lesson, 1946, Preface:
“…its (Economics) effort is to show that many of the ideas which now pass for brilliant innovation and advances are in fact mere revivals of ancient errors, and a further proof of the dictum that those who are ignorant of the past are condemned to repeat it… I have tried to write this book as simply and with as much freedom from technicalities as is consistent with reasonable accuracy, so that it can be fully understood by a reader with no previous acquaintance with economics.”
I, PENCIL – Leonard Read 1898-1983
(https://archive.org/details/i-pencil/page/n1/mode/2up)
(https://www.fee.org/ebooks/i-pencil/)
Leonard Read founded the Foundation of Economic Freedom, popularly known as FEE. Read wrote “I, Pencil” in 1958. From a forward by Hillsdale College magazine, Imprimis: “It is an essay that invites wonder. Wonder at the countless bits of human knowledge and raw materials spontaneously organized by our global market economy in the making of an ordinary wooden pencil. Wonder at what one individual can achieve for millions of his fellow men through a lifetime of dedication to principle. And wonder, most of all, at the everyday miracles made possible by a political and economic system that dares to have faith in free men.”
People who read these books, available on the internet, will start or continue learning about the freedom philosophy while learning the truth of the results of a free people in this republic called the USA. In this republic, established by the Founding Fathers, the minority has the same rights as the majority. By definition, a republic is “a representative form of government that is ruled according to a charter or constitution”, and a democracy is “a government that is ruled according to the will of the majority.” Our Founding Fathers knew democracy was not a good form of government because the majority controlled it, and there were no rights for the minority. It is not a mistake that those in this nation who want to control people, property, and production have replaced “republic” with the word “democracy.”
Freedom – Biblical view
People today still ask, “What is truth?” We can know truth through the Creator of the universe, Jesus. Jesus, in His high priestly prayer to his Father in heaven, prays as recorded in John 17:17, “Sanctify them (disciples) by the truth; your word is truth.”… “My prayer is not for them (Jesus’ disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…”
The next two books below introduce the reader to Jesus Christ and his WORD. Truth and freedom are spoken of often in the last book noted, the Bible, God’s WORD.
God’s WORD was written by authors with the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit to create, in part, our instruction book for living, biblical history, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Before Jesus went into heaven, Jesus told the apostles, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes (Pentecost), He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
1 Peter 2:11-17, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…For it is God’s will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
In God’s WORD, one will find the source and truth of freedom through Jesus Christ.
MERE CHRISTIANITY – C.S. Lewis 1898 -1963
(https://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Mere%20Christianity%20-%20Lewis.pdf)
Born in Ireland in 1898, C. S. Lewis was educated at Malvern College for a year and then privately. He was a Fellow and Tutor at Magdalen College 1925-54. In 1954, he became Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. He was an outstanding and popular lecturer and had a lasting influence on his pupils. From the book’s preface: “The reader should be warned that I offer no help to anyone who is hesitating between two Christian ‘denominations.’…This omission is intentional…. Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbors was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times…”
MORE THAN A CARPENTER – Josh & Sean McDowell – Josh bn. 1937; Sean bn. 1968
(https://www.files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-4143-2627-6.pdf)
From the book’s preface written in 2009:
“…while today’s generation faces a whole host of new issues and choices, they also continue to confront the age-old questions: Who is Jesus? What proof is there that he was the son of God? And even if it were true, what difference would it make to my life? Based on all this, I decided it was time to give More Than a Carpenter (1976) a makeover for the twenty-first century. So I invited my son, Sean, a well-known speaker, teacher, and writer on apologetics and the Bible, to update the book with me… It is my profound desire and Sean’s that this book will have a transformational impact on a new generation of people on a quest for spiritual clarity…”
GOD’S WORD – THE BIBLE – GOD (free apps – “The Blue Letter Bible” and “E-Sword”)
God’s WORD, the Bible, was written by over 40 Holy Spirit-filled authors over a period of 1500+/- years. The Bible speaks about eternal life, truth, freedom, and being free. Isaiah and Amos prophesied the destruction of the Jewish ten northern tribes known as Israel if they did not turn to follow God and away from their evil ways. After King Solomon died, the nation turned away from following God for about 250 years. The moral fabric of Israel decayed into evil so bad they were even sacrificing babies on the white hot arms of their heated false god statues. Our degradation into evil practices mimics Israel’s sin when Assyria destroyed the ten tribes of Israel in 722 BC. Amos’ and Isaiah’s words ring out across the centuries, accusing us also of our “wrongdoings”. The moral fabric of our nation is being torn asunder. Indeed, the innocent are being found guilty, and the guilty are being set free.
Below are some scriptures that speak to freedom both spiritually and physically:
Isaiah 5:20-23 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the (spiritual) prisoners,…”
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Luke 2:10-11 “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Romans 6:22-23 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:9-13 “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Galatians 5:1,16, 19-26 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”…”But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”…”Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:13-16 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”
Closing Thoughts
Today, we citizens are allowing the politicians to set ourselves against one another where we “…bite and devour one another…”. Whatever happened to having discussions (even heated) about differences of opinions and beliefs and then having a friendly coffee together?
Today we need more fun films like “Singin’ in the Rain” rather than today’s films of sexual depravity, wars, death, destruction, and mayhem, which add to people’s anxieties.
In summary, I desire these two viewpoints to plant and/or water seeds of FREEDOM in your life. It is past time for us to respect one another, resulting, in part, to allow for differences of opinions! Use the seven books shared above as an initial or continuing path to understanding the importance of having freedom with responsibility in life secularly and Biblically.
Remember who our real enemies are – “…the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”