Daily Encouragement: Day 257

From Handbook to Wisdom, Day 257

LIBERTY IS A GIFT OF GOD

The Lord has said, “If My people who are called by My name
will humble themselves and pray and seek My face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(2 Chronicles 7:14)

I will submit myself to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God,
and the authorities that exist have been
established by God.
Consequently, he who resists authority
has opposed the ordinance of God,
and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
(Romans 13:1–2)

As the following sample quotes make clear, contemporary political revisionism has distanced us from the vision of early American leaders:

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
—James Madison

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?”
—Thomas Jefferson

“If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
—Daniel Webster

“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
—Abraham Lincoln