We have been endowed by almighty God with the natural right of freedom. When we are free, we are allowed to make choices for ourselves, even wrong ones. While we are free to do what pleases us, we must also be willing to face the consequences that come with our choices. God has set the standards for making the right choices in our lives. Since we are all sinners, our wrong choices can bring trouble both to ourselves and others. God would have us to be free from the control of sin. When we are free from the power of sin, we are free indeed (John 8:36)
The U.S.A. has long been referred to as the “Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.” Freedom and courage go hand-in-hand; we are free because of the courage of men and women who have been willing to give their lives to sustain this right. We live in a time where the courage to take a stand against tyranny is diminishing rapidly, bringing with it an ever-increasing loss of freedom. There was a time when we had a much greater degree of freedom than we do today; I can testify to that fact over the many years of my life.
How free are we when we have multiple thousands of pages of federal regulations, supplemented by thousands of pages of state and local regulations? The trend continues as a handful of political elite have both the desire and the will to impose their choices on everyone else. Many of the politicians have not even read the laws they pass. The Bible tells us that oppression, the exercise of power or authority in a burdensome manner, destroys a wise man’s reasoning (Eccl. 7:7), is power in the hands of the oppressor (Eccl. 4:1), and is used by rulers who lack understanding (Prov. 28:16).
