Commemorating Independence Day 1776-2026

A nation and world altering event took place on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia when 56 representatives of 13 British colonies signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

The Declaration is America’s original founding document and is “the most consequential enumeration of the fundamental and unalienable Rights of Mankind as irrevocably endowed by our Creator.”

Today in a special Independence Day program, we’re going to commemorate this bold act that altered our nation from being yet another British colony under the King and Church of England. Instead, America became a Constitutional Republic that separates power from the dictates of one king into branches of government and elected representatives of the people. We will examine what led to the Declaration of Independence and the impact it made on America, even to this day.

The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33).

While this specifically refers to Israel, there is general blessing for any nation that reveres and obeys God. God has greatly blessed America. The question going forward as we increasingly rebel against Him is: Will America repent and honor God?

Transcript

Commemorating Independence Day

(rebroadcast of July 05, 2025)

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
Commemorating Independence Day. That is what we'll discuss today on The Christian Worldview Radio Program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Worldview is a non-profit listener supported radio ministry. Our website is TheChristianWorldview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout today's program. As always, thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer.

A nation and world-altering event took place on July 4th, 1776 in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The light that ignited in the 1500s and the early 1600s from the Protestant Reformation, which recovered the core biblical doctrine that God justifies sinners by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ's work on the cross alone rather than by man's faith and keeping the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church illumined other aspects of life in the civil sphere in Europe and in early America. Men yearn to be free from the authoritarianism of church and state. The freedom to worship not under compulsion of church and state led the pilgrims and the Puritans in the 16 hundreds to leave England and cross the ocean to the shores of America. And yet others came beholden to king and country for finance and trade, for adventure and exploration. By the 1700s, 13 British colonies had formed, no doubt creating an uneasy tension between those fleeing England and those still loyal to the crown.

As the decades passed, the king and British Parliament exerted even more control and taxation on the American colonies. The conflict escalated in 1770 when the British military occupied Boston and shot and killed five colonists and wounded eight in what is known as the Boston Massacre. In 1774, the British Parliament attempted to disarm Americans, which then led to battles at Lexington and Concord. By mid-1775, the American Continental Army was formed, led by George Washington. The War for Independence, or as it is commonly known, the Revolutionary War, had begun.

Yet it wasn't so clear for many colonists whose side to take, America or Britain. Many of the colonists were loyal to the king and Britain. Many ministers objected to taking up arms based on the biblical command to be in subjection to civil authorities. An internal debate raged in the colonies as to whether to stay with the British Crown or to separate. What the 56 representatives from the colonies did on July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia forever changed the course of our country and the world. They signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

Today in the program, we're going to commemorate this bold act that altered our nation and our lives even today from being yet another British colony under the king and church of England. Instead, America became a constitutional republic that separates power from the dictates of one sinful king into branches of government with elected representatives of the people. Aside from a God-fearing king in ancient Israel and the future reign of Christ, our system of government has so far lasted to protect the liberties of men. I used several online sources to compile the content for today's program, including Wikipedia. As always, we are more than willing to correct any inaccuracies.

This from Christian Broadcasting Network: "Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants." That was said by William Penn. Moved deeply by the desire to create a national hymn that would allow the American people to offer praise to God for our wonderful land, a 24-year-old theological student, Samuel Francis Smith, penned the lines of My Country, 'Tis of Thee on a scrap of paper in less than 30 minutes in 1832. Yet even today, many consider My Country, 'Tis of Thee their favorite patriotic hymn and called it our unofficial national anthem. The easily singable words of the song are matched with a popular international melody used by many nations including England where it accompanies God Save the King or Queen.

The emotionally powerful ideas that Smith expressed had an immediate response. The hymn soon became a national favorite. The stirring tributes to our fatherland in the first three stanzas lead to a worshipful climax of gratefulness to God and a prayer for His continued guidance. Following his graduation from Harvard in the Andover Theological Seminary, Samuel Smith became an outstanding minister in several Baptist churches in the east. He composed 150 hymns during his 87 years and helped compile the leading Baptist hymnal of the day. Samuel Smith was truly a distinctive representative of both his country and his God.

Here was what he wrote: "My Country, 'Tis of Thee, sweet land of liberty, of Thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside let freedom ring. My native country thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love. I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and temple hills. My heart with rapture fills like that above. Let music swell the breeze and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song. Let mortal tongues awake, let all that breathe partake, let rocks their silence break the sound prolong. Our father's God to thee, author of liberty to thee we sing long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light protect us by thy might great God, our king." Again, that was written in the year 1832, 56 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Reverence for God still burned bright in our nation.

You're going to hear the entire Declaration of Independence read on today's program. It's only about 1,300 words. But before we listen to that, here is some more detailed context on what the Declaration is and what led to it. Again, from online sources, the Declaration of Independence is the original founding document of the United States of America. On July 4th, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the second Continental Congress who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial capital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These delegates became known as the nation's founding fathers. The Declaration explains why the 13 colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and it has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.

On June 11th, 1776, the second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman who were charged with authoring the Declaration. Adams, a leading proponent of Independence, persuaded this committee of five to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the second Continental Congress then edited. Thomas Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration of Independence in isolation between June 11th and June 28th, 1776 from the second floor of a three-story home he was renting at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia. Two days prior to the Declaration's adoption, the second Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which established the consensus of the Congress that the British had no governing authority over the 13 Colonies. That was on July 2nd, 1776.

The Declaration justified the independence of the colonies citing, and importantly here, 27 colonial grievances against King George III and asserting certain natural and legal rights including a right of revolution. In ratifying and signing it, the delegates knew they were committing an act of high treason against the British Crown, which was punishable by torture and death. The first public readings of the Declaration occurred simultaneously on July 8th, 1776 at noon at three previously designated locations, in Trenton, New Jersey, Easton, Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia.

Now, by the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July of 1776, the 13 Colonies in the Kingdom of Great Britain had been at war for over a year. Relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. In 1767, the British Parliament enacted a series of measures designed to increase revenue from the colonies, including the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts, which I believed were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their, quote, "fair share" of the cost of remaining a part of the British Empire.

In the 13 Colonies, however, perspectives varied on the British Empire. The colonies were not directly represented in Parliament and colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority over the colonies.

By 1774, just two years before the Declaration was signed, American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson argued that the British Parliament was the legislator of Great Britain only and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the Empire only through their allegiance to the Crown. Most colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after fighting began in the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, just a little more than a year before the signing of the Declaration. Many colonists believed that Parliament no longer had sovereignty over them, but they were still loyal to King George, thinking he would intercede on their behalf. They were disabused of that notion in late 1775 when the King rejected the colonists' second petition, issuing a proclamation of rebellion against them and announced before Parliament on October 26th that he was considering, quote, "friendly offers of foreign assistance" to suppress the rebellion.

In January 1776, Thomas Paine's pamphlet titled Common Sense, which described the uphill battle against the British for independence as a challenging but achievable and necessary objective, was published in Philadelphia. The pamphlet, Common Sense, made a persuasive, impassioned case for independence, which had not been given serious consideration in the colonies. Paine linked independence with Protestant beliefs, there is the influence of the reformation, as a means to present a distinctly American political identity. And he initiated open debate on a topic few had previously dared to discuss. As that pamphlet, Common Sense, was circulated throughout the 13 colonies, public support for independence from Great Britain steadily increased. After reading it, George Washington ordered that it be read by his Continental Army troops who were demoralized following recent military defeats. A week later, Washington led the crossing of the Delaware in one of the Revolutionary War's most complex and daring military campaigns, resulting in a much-needed military victory in the battle of Trenton against a Hessian military garrison.

Support for a Congressional Declaration of Independence was consolidated in the final weeks of June 1776. The Committee of Five presented their draft to the Congress on June 28th, 1776. The title of the document was A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled. Congress ordered that the draft lie on the table and then methodically edited Jefferson's primary document for the next two days, shortening it by 1/4th, removing unnecessary wording, and improving sentence structure. Congress tabled the draft of the Declaration on Monday, July 1st and resolved itself into a committee of the whole with Benjamin Harrison of Virginia presiding. And they resumed debate on Lee's Resolution of Independence. John Dickinson, one of the members, made one last effort to delay the decision, arguing that Congress should not declare independence without first securing a foreign alliance in finalizing the Articles of Confederation. John Adams gave a speech in reply to Dickinson, restating the case for an immediate Declaration.

On July 2nd, 1776, the resolution of independence was adopted with 12 affirmative votes in one abstention. That was by New York because they lacked permission to vote for independence at that particular time. And the colonies formally severed political ties with Great Britain. John Adams wrote to his wife on the following day and predicted that July 2nd would become a great American holiday. He thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated from July 2nd. He did not foresee that Americans would instead celebrate Independence Day on July 4th when the announcement of that act was finalized. Next, on this special Independence Day edition of The Christian Worldview, you will hear a reading of the Declaration of Independence, an event which changed the course of our nation and the world.

Today is a special Independence Day edition of The Christian Worldview where we are commemorating the bold, momentous decision of our early American founders to declare independence from Great Britain. The Declaration is called the most consequential enumeration of the fundamental and unalienable rights of mankind as irrevocably endowed by our Creator.

The enduring promise of our Declaration is found in its preamble where it says, "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."
Our founders concluded their affirmation of the Declaration by attaching their signatures under the following words. "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." In signing the Declaration, many of the 56 signers who were representatives from the 13 colonies suffered great consequence. Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. 12 had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

The Declaration of Independence was and remains the most significant and consequential affirmation of freedom in the history of the world; the cornerstone of our republic. Here is a reading of the Declaration of Independence by American Village on their YouTube page. It's about 10 minutes in length. And I'll introduce each section of the Declaration. The introduction asserts as a matter of natural law, or God's law, the ability of a people to assume political independence, acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable and therefore explicable and ought to be explained.

Youtube Video: American Village
In Congress, July 4th, 1776, the unanimous Declaration of the 13 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 entitled them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
Next comes what's known as the preamble which outlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights. In other words, rights given by God.

Youtube Video: American Village
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 shown 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.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
Next comes the indictment, a bill of grievances documenting the King's repeated injuries and usurpations of the American rights and liberties. There are 27 of them. This is the longest part of the Declaration.

Youtube Video: American Village
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter the former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having indirect 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 attained. And then 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, proposing 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 meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states, for that purpose obstructing the laws of 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 harass 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 offenses. For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 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, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens, taking 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 endeavored 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 acts which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
Strong language. Those are the indictments against the king. Next come failed warnings which describes the colonists' attempts to inform and warn the British people of the king's injustice and the British people's failure to act. Even so, it affirms the colonists' ties to the British as, quote, "brethren."

Youtube Video: American Village
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 immigration 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.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
Next to the denunciation. This section essentially finishes the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown.

Youtube Video: American Village
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.



HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
And finally, the conclusion of the Declaration where the signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions and, by necessity, the colonies must throw off political ties with the British crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains at its core the Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2nd in advance of the signing of the Declaration.

Youtube Video: American Village
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 the 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 has 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.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
As I read earlier, the Declaration of Independence is called the most consequential enumeration of the fundamental and unalienable rights of mankind as irrevocably endowed by our Creator. When was the last time you read the Declaration or heard it read in its entirety? We need to remember and hold fast the wise words of our founders. Again, the section descriptions I read were from Wikipedia.

Today is a special program commemorating Independence Day in the United States in the signing of our original founding document, the Declaration of Independence back on July 4th, 1776. As you heard the Declaration read in the last segment, did you notice some of the carefully chosen words such as, "We hold these truths to be self-evident"? What truths are self-evident that don't need to be explained or are obvious in other words? Well, number one, that all men are created equal. Each person is not a cosmic accident, but rather a unique creation by God of equal value. The founders knew from history that when man ignores or suppresses the existence and authority of the benevolent God, all manner of evil and chaos ensues. This line that all men are created equal would be the ideological basis on which America's sin of slavery would be overcome some 80 years later after the Declaration.

And the second self-evident truth is that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life liberty in the pursuit of happiness. The Creator, the high and holy authority above and beyond us, is the Giver and standard of what makes us flourish. And these are certain unalienable or eternal individual liberties. The founders recognize these rights to be the bulwark against governments and tyrants who for all of human history capriciously take life, restrict individual liberties, and dictate your happiness.
13 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1789, the US Constitution, which is the supreme law of our country, would enshrine these God-given liberties such as the freedom of religion, speech, press, to peaceably assemble, to petition the government and the right of the people to keep and bear arms. We and generations of Americans have been the beneficiaries of these liberties. Millions of Americans have given their lives to retain these liberties, and our duty is to be ever vigilant. To retain them.

From Christian Broadcasting Network: to have implicit trust in God's faithful care and protection is never easy in times of danger or strife. Yet even in the midst of the terrible civil war between the northern and southern states nearly 100 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, a remarkable woman named Julia Ward Howe proclaimed her confidence in God's triumphant power in the inspiring text of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Mrs. Howe's hymn has been acclaimed through the years as one of our finest patriotic songs. At one time, it was sung as a solo at a large rally attended by President Abraham Lincoln. After the audience had responded with loud applause, the president, with tears in his eyes, cried out, "Sing it again." It was sung again. After more than 100 years, Americans still join often in proclaiming, "Glory, hallelujah, His truth," God's truth, "is marching on. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of this terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. I have seen him in the watch fires of 100 circling camps. They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps.

"I can read the righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps, His day," God's day, "is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of all before His judgment seat. O be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet, our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me. As He died to make us holy, let us die to make men free while God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on." The substitutionary atonement of Christ is often emphasized, how He died for our sins, but the imputation of His righteousness that He died to make us holy is often left out. The Battle Hymn of the Republic inspires us to give our lives for other's freedom as Christ gave His life for our spiritual freedom.

On this special Independence Day program, we are remembering the founding of our nation on July 4th, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed with the founders in the 13 colonies risking everything to separate from Britain. John Adams, one of those founders, wrote to his wife Abigail of the necessity of observing Independence Day. Quote, "It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not," unquote.
Another Adams, Samuel Adams wrote of those who would not rise to defend these rights. Quote, "If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen," unquote.

For us today, we are the ideological descendants of those who once pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Just as our forebears were, we must be willing to support and defend liberty at all costs. We should not assume that God will bless America but should be exhorting ourselves and others for America to bless God and to worship Him.

The website, Old Time Music, says, "God Bless America stands tall as a beloved anthem, marking its place in American music history." Crafted by Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant, the song is a heartfelt nod to national pride and appreciation for the United States. Each line is a wish for national unity in divine protection. Irving Berlin's lyrics ask for God's guidance while celebrating America's beauty from its mountains to its oceans.

"God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above. From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home. While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above. From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home."

The Apostle Paul wrote to believers in Galatians chapter five, "For you we're called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Paul is saying that when one is born again, the believer is free from the bondage to sin and can choose righteousness. But we need to be careful to not use our Christian freedom, spiritual freedom to go back into sin.

Predictably, like all civilizations before us, our prosperity and power and liberties, which are blessings from God, have led to apathy and rejection of God. America is not God's chosen people, but we have been exceedingly blessed as the Israelites were. As God saved the Jews from slavery in Egypt, so too God ordained that America would be saved from bondage to the king in Britain. As God cared for Israel on their journey to the promised land out of Egypt, so he has cared for this nation in our growth and prosperity and security. As those who blessed the seed of Abraham have been blessed, countless have been blessed by this great nation. Our religious freedom has inspired many to take the gospel around the world. Our military has literally saved the world from tyranny, whether in World War II with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and even nations today like communist China.

America is the only nation that is holding back the world's rush into humanistic globalism. Very few of us have experienced real authoritarianism and have difficulty appreciating just how much our individual liberties granted by God and enumerated in the Declaration of Independence in the US Constitution have paved the way for relative peace in our nation and the world. But just like many in Egypt rebelled against God as He saved them from slavery, many in our nation reject God and His ways at every turn. Our nation has declined in reverence and obedience to God as more and more of our citizens live according to what is right in their own eyes and then vote for those who share in their rebellion.

As Christians in America, we must live holy lives. We must live as aliens of America, working as God's ambassadors because we are actually citizens of heaven. Our pastors and churches must be bold and strong. We must fight the good fight, knowing that the country may be lost, but the outcome is not up to us, it's up to God. America, although not mentioned in scripture, may be the mystery Babylon of Revelation that the nations mourn over when God judges her. How sad and tragic that would be.

Isaiah 40 says, "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, He, God, lifts up the islands like fine dust. All the nations are as nothing before Him. They're regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless."

As great as America is, we too are like a drop from a bucket, regarded as a speck of dust on God's scales. The only way to save America is for many lives to be transformed through God's gospel and His truth. Pray for our nation and leaders for repentance and reverence to God. Pray for revival in our churches. Pray for and take opportunities to proclaim the gospel, to disciple others, to help the needy in the name of Jesus. And lead your family in worship and obedience to God.

Thank you to our great God for bringing the pilgrims and Puritans to this land, for leading our founders to form a nation broadly based on the truths of God's word, and for sustaining our nation all these years. May you be grateful to God this Independence Day weekend as you celebrate the blessings God has given to all of us in the land of the free, in the home of the brave. Thank you for joining us today on The Christian Worldview and for your support of this non-profit radio ministry. To close, here's America's national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner sung by Whitney Houston, a God-gifted voice if there ever was one, at the Super Bowl in 1991.

MUSIC:
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light.
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight.
Over the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air.
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave.
Over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

HOST: DAVID WHEATON:
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