Faith vs. Unbelief…Liberty vs. Bondage

      General Michael Flynn recently had some informative commentary posted on https://www.westernjournal.com for March 8th of this year. General Flynn talked about truth and his comments were insightful.

      He said: “When fighting for truth, the most important place to start is to be well-grounded in the Truth itself. I am referring to Truth with a capital T, as in “I am the way, the truth, and the life’.” General Flynn knows where to go for truth and Who to go to, the One who is the foundation of all truth. (John 14:6).

      General Flynn then makes some sound observations. He states: “Faith in God is an essential part of the fight to restore American greatness. Our personal faith is inextricably linked to our personal liberties. Alexis de Tocqueville, the great French author of the groundbreaking work Democracy in America wrote ‘Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention…The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.’ De Tocqueville is exactly right. Prior to America’s founding no document in the world had directly linked the individual rights of citizens to their unique value and autonomy before an omnipotent Creator…Faith and freedom can never be separated from one another. If you wish to have boldness in the fight for America like our Founding Fathers did, have faith in Almighty God. Trust in His power as your sword and your shield…Make faith an essential part of your battle strategy today…”

      It would seem that General Flynn has made some salient points in how we need to fight to get our country back. Unfortunately, in our day, most Christians seem to have forgotten much of the wisdom he has imparted. Many of them have no interest as Christians in fighting to preserve those liberties we have that are God-given. Many Christians do not deem God-given liberty worth fighting for. It seems to me that if God gave it then it is worth fighting for, lest we end up spurning what the Lord was gracious enough to bestow upon us.

      But many of our brethren today seem to have had their faith neutralized to the point that all they want to do is wait for “the rapture” to take them out of this mess so they don’t have to be involved. Then there are those who say “Don’t sweat all this stuff. The Lord is in control.” If the Lord is in control that’s their rationale for not doing anything. The Lord will do it all and they can just come along for the spiritual joyride. I hate to burst your spiritual bubble, but it doesn’t quite work that way. Truly the Lord is in control. No sensible person would argue with that. But often the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, chooses to use His people to exercise some of that control. Unfortunately, in our day, many Christians ain’t having any of that. That’s not part of their game plan. Their agenda is to get themselves to Heaven–end of conversation!!!

      How about Moses, or Elijah, or even Jonah? God accomplished miracles through these men, and through Jesus’ apostles–but he used these people to do it. Faith in their Lord resulted in action from these men, not they’re just sitting around waiting for the Lord to do it all with no involvement on their part. That’s where we seem to be today. Many of our brethren seem possessed of “couch potato faith.” They will sit blithely on their couches, in front of the boob tube, watching CNN and then tell others not to worry because the Lord is in control and He won’t let anything happen to them or their country. True faith has been replaced by spiritual frivolity.

      Preserving your liberty requires, as General Flynn noted, a sound grounding in the Truth and the One is the giver of all truth. It then requires action, sweat, effort, and a reliance on the Lord to show you how to use the truth He gives you to preserve what He has given you. Just sitting around waiting for the Lord to do it all doesn’t cut the mustard. Ultimately the Lord does it all, but He is pleased to use us in that process–and that is something we need to begin to think about.

      Quit praying for a “rapture” and start asking the Lord to show you what He wants you to do to preserve the liberty He has given you. I realize lots of folks don’t want to hear this but the church as a whole needs to hear it and to rethink our exercises in spiritual lethargy. If we will not strive to preserve what the Lord has given use He will find others who will–and they will get the benefits and not us.