Without Faith, Freedom Fails

This week we celebrate all that we love about America. There are parades, fireworks, speeches, and family BBQ’s. Contestants squared up in the annual Hot Dog Eating contest, and veterans marched down Main Street reminding us of the cost of America’s Liberty.

Our national celebration should cause Christians to reflect on the source of our freedom, and the support that is necessary to uphold it. The theme of this sermon is that Faith is the only Foundation that can support Freedom. Without Faith, Freedom fails.

John Adams, our nation’s second president is quoted as saying, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

It can hardly be disputed that faith has been diminishing in our nation since the early 1960's. A national defiance against God has put a symbolic banner over our nation that says “God Not Welcome.”

PRAYER was Banned in our public schools in the 1962, Supreme Court - Engle vs. Vitale decision. A constant battle is fought over the removal of religious symbols from public property. The FDR Memorial, the WW2 Memorial, and the Capitol Hill Visitors Center - all recent construction memorials in our nation’s capitol are intentionally devoid of Christian reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXbWyrN6BdU&eurl=http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/

“Hate Crimes” legislation seems to be written to include Christian speech against moral ills as crimes against society.

A recent study sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security includes language that could easily be used to label Christians and all freedom loving Americans as potential terrorists. The study was intended to help identify potential sources of terrorism in the US. Notice the language that identifies freedom loving people and those concerned over the direction or our country as potential terrorists:

“Extreme Right-Wing terror Groups groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent ...and believe in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism. .....suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty... Religious: groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers, impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists), forcibly insert religion into the political sphere ....... (apocalyptic millenarian cults;

http://start.umd.edu/start/publications/research_briefs/LaFree_Bersani_HotSpotsOfUSTerrorism.pdf

Homosexuality pushed through the COURTS.

Same Sex marriage is permitted in several States.

NJ now allows Civil Unions. October 25, 2006 NJ Supreme Court. Lewis v. Harris that the "unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our State Constitution.” Essentially, the Court ORDERED the Legislature to write a law to provide legal status for same sex couples.

On December 14, 2006, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill providing for civil unions which was signed into law by the Governor Jon Corzine on December 21, 2006. The Civil Union Act came into effect on February 19, 2007. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_New_Jersey)

ABORTION continues to blight our nation with over 50 million killed since Roe v Wade.

The list of moral outrages goes on and on. As a nation, we are turning our backs against God. We are losing faith.

This loss of faith has devastating consequences for freedom, for faith is the only foundation that can uphold freedom. Without faith, our freedoms are misused as opportunities to take advantage of the weak, or to steal from our neighbors.

The Loss of FREEDOM can already be seen.

We have lost ECONOMIC FREEDOM.

The Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That puts Americans roughly on par with where they were in 1992. (Ylan Q Mui, Washington Post, June 11, 2012)

NOW, the highest number ever are on on foodstamps. 1 in 7 Americans on food stamps, called SNAP “Supplemental, Nutrition Assistance Program.” Did you know that the government spends millions of dollars advertising this program to encourage more people to receive their benefits? Rather than helping people get off of government support, our government seems content to find more people to receive government help. We have become a welfare state.

50% receive some form of government assistance

The most recent jobs report found only 80,000 new jobs. But consider the economic impact that in the same month when 80,000 jobs were added, 85,000 added to SSDI! At this rate, we will be bankrupt in a very short time.

Our NATIONAL DEBT continues to balloon out of control, jeopardizing future generations of Americans.

In October, 2008 our national debt was $9.7 trillion, about $31,700 per person

TODAY it is 15.8 TRILLION ($50,549 per person)

In 3.5 years, your government has added 18,849 of debt for every man, woman and child in America!

We are also losing PERSONAL FREEDOM