“As [the Lord Jesus] died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” – Battle Hymn of the Republic

Happy Belated Independence Day! Cherish this sacred day. Honor it. Teach your children to honor the sweet principles of Liberty that make life worth living, and those who risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to hand down such blessings.

Independence Day is not just another holiday. It is special. It is sacred. It stands in a league alongside the other redemption-centered holidays Easter and Christmas.

I spent most of the day completing my final research paper for a Civil War seminar as part of my doctoral program in history at Liberty University. My topic was the secession of my current state of residency, Alabama, and the influence of neighboring states and the propaganda-pushing press on that fateful decision. As my mind wandered from my paper to Independence Day, and I reflected on what Independence and Freedom truly mean, the stark immorality of many of the Southern secessionists’ self-righteous claims about standing for God and upholding a higher law while simultaneously urging the dissolution of the Union and war, if necessary, to keep a race of people enslaved, struck me as especially abhorrent.

The right of secession cannot be doubted; it is the very right invoked by the Founding Fathers in their rebellion against their tyrannical government in 1776. It is the natural right of all peoples and groups who are oppressed or who choose to separate themselves from any society. Birth does not bind us inexorably to one piece or land or to one political allegiance, especially when that allegiance is antithetical to one’s God-given rights and responsibilities. Yet, the morality of splitting apart a God-joined Union to preserve the sovereignty of states that relied upon slavery for existence and for their political power can be doubted. In reality, the Civil War was a counterrevolution against the American Revolution, which in turn was a revolt against 6,000 years of human misery, deception, and thralldom.

The principles of 1776 were and remain revolutionary. They set at defiance six millennia of despotism and bad political theory. The Southern “revolution,” as many of the secessionists called it, was a reversal of the rising tide of Freedom initiated by the American Revolution. It was a repudiation of the Declaration of Independence, of Washington, of Jefferson, of the U.S. Constitution’s plain and noble intent. The sacred Constitution of the United States means nothing, and can scarcely be understood, without the Declaration of Independence. Understanding the foundational principles and ideals espoused in the Declaration is critical to every American who hopes to be a benefit rather than a hindrance to his country

The Declaration of Independence is the most revolutionary single statement ever produced by man outside of the holy scriptures. The second paragraph of that document is the most revolutionary part of a revolutionary document. It begins:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. . .”

In these immortal words is the core of Americanism. It is what our People chose as their common creed. Whatever diverges from this creed is political heresy and justly deserves to be shunned, opposed, and defeated. To be specific, the above words: 1) acknowledge God as the source of human rights; 2) assert the equality of rights of all people in all ages of time; 3) specify the rights of life, Liberty, and personal free will and stewardship as guaranteed and immutable; 4) proclaim that the purpose of government is to secure Liberty; 5) acknowledge that the source of political power is the People and that their explicit consent in the acts of their representative government is necessary; and 6) affirm the right of revolution and rebellion against corruption and tyranny.

 If one wishes to deny the reality of God and instead assert that rights are derived from nature and one’s humanity, then so be it; each person is entitled to make mistakes and believe falsehoods. I testify, however, that God our Father exists, that His Son Jesus Christ walked the dusty paths of ancient Israel and atoned for the sins of the world, and that America must repent or perish. We will either worship the God of this special land, who is Christ the Lord, or we will be chastised and scourged until we repent or perish. Regardless of one’s personal convictions about God, however, the other points in the American creed are undeniable and universal; they are political Gospel.

One of the genius aspects of the American Revolution is that its principles are eternal and apply to all groups at all times. This can never be overstated. Rights come from God. They do not come from governments, constitutions, majority opinion, consensus, science, studies, laws, charters, or any man-made invention. Each person is entitled to equal rights under the law, including the right to life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through stewardship. The purpose of government is to secure rights and leave the People unmolested to worship their God, work as they choose, and live life to the fullest. The People are the only source of political power and must give their consent to all laws made in their name and under their authority. And therefore the People may rightfully overthrow or alter their government when that government abuses its original intent and becomes an enemy to their rights.

For most of American history, our Republic has fulfilled its purpose admirably. Perfectly? No. But more nearly perfectly than any other system in any other nation and in any other period of time. Our People were once upright and just, learned and intelligent, moral and righteous. They took their responsibility for self-government seriously and were taught how to govern themselves. Our problems have come not because of flaws in our constitutional system but because we have lost our understanding of our core values, our national creed, and the principles of Liberty. We have decreased in our righteousness and fidelity to truth, goodness, hard work, and honor.

Simply look at the corrupt, power-hungry, warmongering, bloody, vicious, wicked men we have selected to be our presidents through the years and you will see how far we have fallen from grace. Without knowing it, we uphold a secret band of robbers, liars, criminals, murderers, and pedophiles to represent us in government, in the courts, and in Congress. Even worse, we are blind to their existence closer to home – in our schools, on schoolboards, in our churches, in the HOA, and so forth. We have become a debauched and hedonistic People and have consequently lost the spirit of discernment and truth. We are completely guilty of the Lord’s rebuke to the Israelites in Isaiah chapter 1:

“I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. . . .

“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. . . .

“How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. . . .

“Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them” (Isaiah 1:2, 4, 21-23).

America is still the greatest nation on earth. I love America! I love our legacy and heritage of Freedom. I love the general goodness and willingness to help exemplified by most of our citizens. I love the opportunities, hobbled as they are by socialistic government regulations, that still abound. Yet, if we are honest, we know that we have fallen. We know that we are not as righteous, faithful, hardworking, dignified, or knowledgeable as we once were. Fortunately, the Lord’s merciful promise is available to our sinful and rebellious generation:

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

“If you be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

“But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:16-20).

Let us not rebel but repent! To repent simply means to change. It is to acknowledge the truth that we are imperfect and that we are often selfish and do things that we know are wrong. We may change. On a personal level, we can break any shackles of sin that we have placed on ourselves by crying out to the Lord, exercising faith in Him and His redeeming power, and changing our behavior to conform to His eternal laws and commands. We may prove our repentance by the way we treat others, by the way we honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, by the way we pay tithes and offerings to help the poor and to assist in God’s effort to expand His Kingdom, and by the way we diligently study what is right and good in all fields, including citizenship in the greatest nation on earth.

If we individually, and collectively repent, our nation will be restored to its former goodness and even surpass it. The Lord has promised:

“And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy sin.

“And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

“Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:25-27).

If we want good leaders, sound national policy, prosperity, and peace, our course is clear – we must repent and serve Jesus Christ. If we do not, and continue in our rebellion against His laws, our course is also clear – He will purge us. This will either lead to our humility and repentance or to our devastation by the sword, plagues, strife, famines, and all the horrors foretold by the Lord and His prophets.

I urge us to “live to make men free,” as the Battle Hymn of the Republic implores. This includes not only our Freedom from civil bondage and tyranny, but from sin and evil. Evil is entrenched around us. It is in our government, in Hollywood, in the controlled media, in Wall Street, in banking, in academic, in Congress, in the Supreme Court, in the intelligence community, in big business, in the medical industry, in professional sports, in churches, and in our own homes. If we want to be true Americans, we must cling to the creed of our fathers – the Declaration of Independence. We must also honor the God of our fathers, who is Christ the Lord. Only by doing this may we purge ourselves of sin and thereby purge our society of its ignorance, apathy, hedonism, pedophilia, drug abuse, murder, hate, unbelief, pride, and malignant criminality.

I close with a quote and my second of its sentiments. The statement was made by one Mr. Clark, one of the delegates chosen to attend the Montgomery Convention of January 1861 as Alabama debated whether or not to secede from the Union. Mr. Clark, a Unionist, gave an impassioned plea for reason, reminding his fellow delegates of the advantages of the Union:

“I have loved, honored and revered the Union of our fathers. I have cherished it for the good it has accomplished – the liberty it has secured, and the public and private prosperity it has dispensed. The treasure expended in its defence, the privations patriotically endured, and the many heroic lives voluntarily sacrificed to purchase the blessings it affords, I have never forgotten, and can never forget” (Mr. Clark, in William Russell Smith, The History and Debates of the Convention of the People of Alabama (Montgomery: White, Pfister & Co., 1861; reprint Legare Street Press, 2021), 103-104).

This Independence Day season, we should love, cherish, honor, and revere our Union and the Freedom for which it stands. We should remember the extraordinary sacrifices made to obtain and maintain our Liberty, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and prosperous society. Our society has fallen from its pedestal not because of adherence to the principles of our glorious Founding, but out of neglect and sometimes outright repudiation of them. We should therefore seek to rekindle the flame of faith in Christ, loyalty to the Constitution and Declaration, and fidelity to the principles of truth, justice, and personal righteousness.

May God grant us the faith and strength to repent and not perish. The Savior stands with outstretched arms ready to receive us, if we will.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” – Matthew 23:37

“[W]ill ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

“Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.” – 3 Nephi 9:13-14

“O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.” – 3 Nephi 10:6

Zack Strong,
July 8, 2025