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Our 250th 4th of July Celebration

by Doug Laird 
06/30/26
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Our 250th Fourth of July Celebration

Our founding fathers desired to establish a new country with a form of government (democracy) in which the rule of thumb would be that the majority would rule.

However, to prevent a reoccurrence and or continuation of the religious discrimination and persecution that many of the immigrants had experienced before leaving Europe, and in the English colonies, some of the founding fathers also had the spiritual discernment to perceive the need to establish the freedom FROM, as well as the freedom OF, religion.

They acknowledged the Matt. 7: 13, 14 principle that when it comes to spiritual matters, the MAJORITY usually gets it WRONG!

Therefore, religion was to be a matter of individual choice, without governmental pressure or interference.

The freedom to embrace or NOT to embrace ANY given religion or religious practice is a God-given right (and accountability) that God has given to each individual soul. As a result, each individual soul inevitably reaps either the blessings or the consequences of the binding decision that he or she makes.

In a theocracy, the laws of a nation’s God or god(s) (Psalms 96: 5) and the laws of the nation are one in the same, usually calling for severe consequences being imposed on all infidels and violators.

In a democracy, the law(s) of the land, at least in theory, reflect the will of the majority of the people. Technically, the USA does not have a democracy. It has a democratic republic that elects its leaders, who in turn, at least in theory, pass and enforce laws and policies that are in the best interest of the nation, and in keeping within the parameters of the US Constitution.

As in the case of all “rights” granted under the amended US Constitution, the one and only way to preserve one’s own freedom FROM and well as freedom OF religion in a DIVERSE religious society, is to afford the same right, opportunity, and freedom one has, to everyone else.

According to Biblical prophecy, there is a coming time when the entire world will be under a theocracy, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel, under the sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ for 1,000 years, following the Second Advent.

In the meantime, nations will rise and fall, under the timing and control of God (Acts 17: 26), knowingly or unwittingly carrying out the plan that God has established in His Divine Decree, manifested by all that God directs or allows to take place.

As Jesus pointed out to Pontius Pilate, “You (the governments) would have no authority over Me (or anyone else), if it were not given to you from above (John19: 11 NASB2020 parentheses mine).”

“…For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God (Rom. 13:1 NASB2020).”

In the ancient world, God made use of both godly and pagan nations and empires to ultimately fulfil His plan for the human race.

In more modern times, God has made use of many Christians in many different nations to participate in the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 19, 20). The Church that God designed knows no national, political, racial, or social boundaries.

However, the involvement and negative influence of many different cultures has had its problems, as the Church that God established has struggled to maintain the purity of the unadulterated Gospel Message and accurate Bible Doctrine. Leadership within the Christian Community, in collaboration with some of the secular establishments of the world, have mutually tried to use the influence, power, and control of each other to advance their own independent agendas.

Knowing of his ultimate destiny (Rev. 20: 10) awaiting him at the end of world history (as we know it to be), Satan has used nations that he has deceived to oppose and to impede the Great Commission and the plan that God has in mind for the human race.

The nation of Israel was, is, and will be a central part in the plan of God. It was through the Jews that the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ came into being. It will be in Jerusalem that the 1,000-year kingdom of God will be established after the Second Advent (return of Christ) takes place, but not before the rise and fall of the Antichrist.

In keeping with End Time prophecy, the reestablishment of Israel as an independent nation in the late 1940’s, the USA has been its strongest ally, and seen as Israel’s defender against her long-stablished enemies in the nations surrounding her.

What part, if any , that the USA will or will not be involved in the horrific End Time events that will take place in the region, is a matter of different opinions and interpretations of End Time prophesies. Note however, that what we do know, is that all of the Church Age believers in political office, serving in the military, and living in the USA ,will have been raptured away before the Battle of Armageddon takes place.

In the midst of the post-Rapture chaos, and the absence of Christian presence and influence, will the long-standing alliance between Israel and the USA still be in place? Will the USA even have the capability or interest in involving itself in the Battle of Armageddon? You tell me.

In any event, the nation of Israel will not be victorious at the Battle of Armageddon by its own military, or by the military of any of its allies (if there are any). The nation of Israel will be rescued by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Advent.

In the meantime, rather or not the United States of America will continue to be a nation that the God of the Bible can and will bless, or continue to be the recipient of escalating levels of divine national discipline (Lev. 26: 14-46), will be the result of choices, that we, and our elected and appointed leaders, make.

The fall (or diminished influence that any nation or empire has on the international community of nations, is always preceded by its own domestic moral decline.

The maximum level of the five levels of divine discipline, outlined in Lev.26: 14-46, results in the removal of a nation from its position of being an independent and sovereign nation among the community of international countries.

The United States of America, as a nation, has been in moral decline for decades, gradually disregarding the God of the Bible and removing the things of the God of the Bible, from its national, public, and private lives. The ever-increasing levels of divine national discipline are evident in the “news” headlines every day, as this nation and the world around us is spinning out of control, setting our domestic stage for more discipline, and making way for the rise of the Antichrist and the horrific (Matt. 24: 22) End Time prophecies to be fulfilled on the global stage.

Sad to say, but some would go as far as to say that the official name of the USA could now be changed to the United States of Gomorrah!

But the USA is not without hope.

Genesis 18: 32 tells us that if just 10 righteous individuals had been found in the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the maximum level of divine discipline that they received could have been avoided!

Evil prospers when good people leave evil unopposed!

Scripture (Matt. 24: 37-39) says that in the End Times, the general world environment would be likened to the days of Noah. On the one hand, it had become an extremely violent and an ungodly world, but on the other hand, it was business and daily lives as usual, right up to the minute when God closed the door of the Ark, and it started to rain.

This is not to rain on the celebrations and parades, as we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday. We, as a nation, have much to be thankful for, and to celebrate. But there is an urgent need for the USA to get back on track, if it desires to continue be a nation that God will bless.

It irritates me to hear the politicians concluding their speeches saying, “ God Bless America,” when it is they who are leading the USA down the road of destruction, not having a clue as to what actually had made America great in the first place, and what opens and closes the door to divine national discipline.