How Are We Doing With Liberty?

Yesterday, April 19th, was the 247th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began our War of Independence. The leader at Lexington was Rev. Jonas Clark. Pastor Clark had given shelter to Sam Adams and John Hancock when they fled the British in Boston. Adams and Hancock wanted to know if the local militia would stand against the British regulars. Pastor Clark assured them they would because he had trained them in “the scriptural principles of liberty.”

As I read that I wondered–how many pastors in our day have been trained in the “scriptural principles of liberty…” I am afraid there haven’t been many. Many pastors today seem to major at staying out of the way–and out of the fray–so they don’t offend anyone or rock the boat in any way.

They seem to forget that the Lord Jesus not only procured our freedom on the cross, but He also offended the religious establishment in Israel. The gospel He preached was “Jesus is Lord” over all. That was the last thing they wanted to hear because it lessened their influence–and whatever did that had to be dealt with. So, they tried to silence Him. They thought the cross would do it. It didn’t work out for them. The first Easter morning proved that. Their descendants are still trying today, and it isn’t working any better for them.

Over the years I have been privileged to know some pastors who gave people critical truth in several areas–the truth about communism and its evil designs; the truth about the trash that was in their kids’ public-school textbooks; the truth about the crying need for real Christian education and several other important areas.

We fight today in a different way than Pastor Clark and his militia did. However, the battle is still the same–good vs. evil and light against darkness. We need to know enough truth in critical areas to fight this battle and that means doing the homework to find out. Even then, many people will not believe what we tell them–including some pastors who would rather not know because knowing obligates them to do something and they’d rather not.

Some of us have fought this battle for many years. Often, we wish there were more of us to fight, and we often wonder if we are making any progress. But we do it anyway because, ultimately, the Lord is in control and those efforts to promote His truth will not fail. As for those who refuse to contend for the faith in many areas, what will the Lord say to them at the final judgment? In that day the price of apathy will come due, and will they be prepared to pay it?