Independence Day

Is it time for another Independence Day? My name is Rick Ludworth. This is the Common Sense Christian channel. And today is July the 5th. Yesterday was the 4th of July, obviously. Something that we in America call Independence Day. There's been a lot of talk recently about Independence Day. People have been talking about possible civil wars and possible need for revolution from from both sides. Hasn't been too long since an ex president and his wife helped produce a movie that was something along the lines of a modern day civil war theme. They said it didn't have anything to do with anything else. any predictions or anything like that. Just just a movie. And then on the other side, something called Project 2025, where they're calling for a revolution. And they say it'll be a bloodless revolution if the other side will let it be. Well, when I talk about independence, day. I'm not necessarily talking about something along those lines, but what I am talking about is not being so dependent upon man and especially not so dependent upon men who have lied to you. And so let me just give you an example from something that recently happened. If you've been paying attention to politics at all, you'll know that there was recently a presidential debate. And our current president was so lost and so confused at times, that a lot of people became very concerned that he may not be mentally competent. As a matter of fact, it got so bad that the Democratic Party is now calling for President Biden to step down from running for re election because they don't think he's competent. Even news people are saying that he's not competent enough to be running. Well, this is kind of interesting, isn't it? Because for the past four years, there has been a concerted cover up on the President's mental state. You have to go to odd channels on the internet, like Sky News from Australia, or, or a Russell Brand podcast, or, or just different ones to find videos of the president just being confused on a daily basis. For over four years now, I've been watching videos that show that the president clearly is having mental lapses. And it's caused me to wonder, ever since he's been president, Who really is in charge of our nation? He clearly does not have a mental acuity that would allow him to make some of the wild decisions that have been made. And while some of these wild decisions do appear to be crazy, indeed, they have certainly been made with a purpose in mind. And it should make us wonder who is in charge. And for those who have relied upon the media, everything from from, from the most liberal MSNBC to the most conservative Fox news, we have to ask ourselves, why have they not been making a bigger deal of this? Especially during the beginning of his presidency when he had the same types of mental lapses. Well, and while there's been a mention or two of some of it, usually it's just some type of a support for the president saying that he is, he's alright, that he's mentally sharp. But after the debate, People were just up in arms that a president who was clearly limited in his capacity has been hiding this from the rest of the world. And media people, people in the news are outraged that somehow this was hidden from them when in fact it couldn't have been hidden from anybody who was even looking on a very moderate scale. It's something that we see every day. It's something that's been reported by those who are interested in hearing the reports. And, and so the conclusion I believe that we have to make is that we've been lied to. We've been lied to not only by our own government, but we've been lied to by a media who supports this government. What's going on? And, and the question I want to ask today, is it time for an Independence Day? Again, not from a, not from a perspective of some kind of a revolution where we take up arms and fight against our government. I'm talking about, is it time to become independent from those who are trying to form your opinions? Who are trying to to, to form the things that you do and, and trying to assist you with your plans on different things. Is it time to become independent from those that so many depend upon? We have a welfare society today, don't we? And I'm not just talking about welfare from a from a money standpoint where people rely upon the government to get some kind of a check or another. Some of the welfare that we have is very good. It's, it's things that we support, but others have been just apparently thinly veiled bribes to try and get people to do things so that they can continue to keep power. We've had an open border for the last four years, and it's become so open that our own government has assisted illegals flying into airports all over America. We're not just talking about opening the border along Texas and California and Arizona and places like that, but we are talking about the government literally picking at people in other countries and flying them into airports at all different hours and just letting these people go. There was one such immigrant, an illegal, who came across, who was assisted by the U. S. government, given a flight from from somewhere. He originated from Haiti, so I don't know if the flight originated from there or not. Who was just involved in the news the other day. He had brutally attacked and raped a young lady, 15 years old. One who is mentally handicapped at that. Our, our government helped that. And, and so, what's going on? Who is in charge? Why would anybody make this decision? Doesn't it seem rational to you to be asking questions along the lines of what business does our government have in assisting illegals to come into this nation. Isn't that aiding and abetting a crime that we have on the books? I don't see any other way to look at it. What possible purpose could they have? And for those who have been getting mad at Joe Biden for doing these things, he clearly does not have the reasoning capacity. He may be able to sign bills and sign executive orders and things like that, but these are not coming from, from him. So who is in charge? And why has the media been covering up for a lot of the things that have happened? At the end of our last president's term, President Trump, we had a terrible disease that got into the world. And, and with that terrible disease came some pretty terrible decisions. Our government assured us that they didn't have anything to do with it, but that they were going to help us get past it. They developed a vaccine, they said, that everybody needed to take. And when it first came out, they gave these promises. Those who would take the vaccine could not get this disease. Those who did not take the vaccine would be responsible for spreading this disease. And then as it, as it turned out, as people began to get all the shots that they were supposed to get, it became very obvious that you could in fact get the disease again. And so they said, well, you might get this disease again, but it won't be nearly as bad as if you don't get the shots. And you can't pass it along to other people. And then they found out that these were lies as well. What's worse, they found out that our own government was involved with experimental viruses in China. And then when this got out into the world, through a leak. They said they had nothing to do with it. They engaged in a cover up, and the media engaged in a cover up with them. The FBI even got involved and made sure that anything that was posted on, on Facebook or, or any type of social media such as YouTube or, or any other platform was shut down if the government asked them to shut this down. Why? Has this been happening? Well, we may never know why. It's not our duty to ever judge somebody's heart, but I do believe it is the responsibility of each one of us to be in charge of our own lives and to not be so dependent upon others, and especially not to be dependent upon those who have lied to us in the past. It's coming to a head right now because we've had very visual and concrete evidence that the one who is supposed to be in charge of all these decisions and the one who is supposed to be behind making all these decisions clearly could not have been. It is time for an independence day, but when I talk about independence I don't mean again some type of a, of a bloody revolution. What I'm talking about is it's time to start asserting your own independence again for men and starting to place your reliance upon God, because here is a truth that we all have to come to grips with. If you want to be dependent upon somebody, it has to be God. You cannot get through this life without being dependent upon God. We need to rely upon Him. We need to rely upon the Word of God for our instruction. And anytime the Word of God conflicts with the Word or the laws of men, the Word of God has to be given to us. the precedence. We have to obey God rather than men whenever there is a clear opposition between the two. But now consider these verses. In Psalms chapter 60, in verse 11. It says, give us aid against the enemy for the help of man is worthless. In this same psalm, psalm 60, 11, 11 and verse 12 in the King James version, it says, vain is the help of man, but through God or with God, we will do valiantly. If we're going to do valiantly, when was the last time you did something valiant, by the way, we're going to have to become dependent. upon God and independent of wicked men. I'm not talking about becoming lawless. Make, make no mistake about that. But what I am saying is we are going to have to rely on God. And if God comes into conflict with what man is trying to get us to to do through their coercions or, or laws or whatever, well, we have to go with God, don't we? We need to be independent and we need an independence Day. In two Chronicles chapter 20 in verse four, we have a situation where Israel was being attacked. It says, the people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord. Indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Our God will you not judge them. For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. All the men of Judah were there with their wives and their children and little ones. And they stood there before the Lord. Well, this is impressive, isn't it? These were the Israelites that were part of the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom had already split off. But now the southern kingdom's being attacked. And they realized very clearly that they didn't have power to fight against the power of the men that were coming against them. They had to rely on God. But they did. They prayed to him. They, they appeared to him, not just the men and the women, but also the children and the babies. They came before God asking for his help. They were relying upon God. They were dependent upon God, but being independent of wicked men. We need to be thinking about things like that. We don't need to rely on ourself either. And when I say that, I don't mean that we don't need to make certain plans. I believe we do. I believe that we need to get healthy financially. I'm convinced that we need to stop going into so much reckless debt. There's some type of debt you just don't have any choice on, do you? There's certain medical things that you have to have done to you in order to live, or in order for your children to live. You have to live somewhere, don't you? In some sort of a house. I'm not talking about not taking on any debt, but But reckless debt, buying a brand new car, buying a boat, buying something that you can't afford on credit, it's time to start getting your fiscal house in order. Maybe putting away a little bit of money on top of that for a rainy day, because quite frankly it's raining right now in America, isn't it? building some kind of a pantry where you've got a little bit of food on hand for a few weeks or a few months is not a bad idea. So when I, when I talk about don't rely upon yourself for specifically in this passage we're going to look at, we're talking about relying upon yourself as if God is not even in the picture, but God is. And here's what it says, 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 1, verse 8. And Paul is talking about some difficulties they've been having. We don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves. This happens so that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God. When we talk about being prudent, that is a Christian virtue. You do need to be prudent, and part of that prudence is being prudent with your physical wealth. But you're not relying on that physical wealth. You're still relying on God. And if you don't, there will come a time where you're taught the lesson that you can't rely on yourself. You have to rely on God. And so when we talk about an independence day, we're not talking about you becoming your own sovereign, your own Lord. We're talking about becoming independent from the influence of wicked men. And we're talking about relying upon God. Another thing we can't be relying on is empty arguments. In Isaiah chapter 59, it says this, Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, but your sins have separated you from your God so that he will not hear. Your hands are stained with blood. They'd been murdering their own children, sacrificing them to idols. Your hands are stained with blood. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice. No one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and they speak lies. When we talk about independence, we have got to stop relying upon lies and empty arguments. Even if it's from somebody who might be providing us with something, we still cannot be relying upon them when they've been proven liars. One of the things that is so concerning to me right now is how many people rely upon the media for their information. When the, when the media said, you got to get this shot or you'll get, you'll get really sick. Many, many millions of people went out and got that shot. There were others who thought, I don't know, it hadn't been tested yet. Hadn't been vetted yet. There's never been a vaccine like this before. Maybe we better wait and see what's going to happen. And they were ridiculed. And they were lied to, being assured that nothing bad could ever happen if they would just get this shot. They relied on empty arguments and upon lies. And Isaiah 59, it warns us against doing such a thing. And we also don't need to be relying on our own might and our own power. There are so many people who are just convinced that if they can just get enough ammunition together and enough things to protect themselves, everything will be alright. And there's nothing wrong with protecting yourself and your family. I'm not talking about this. But once you go beyond prudent means of doing so and you start relying on your own power, Better think again. In Isaiah 31 it said, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses. The horses were the tanks of, of the time, weren't they? The chariots were the ones that made them mighty in battle. And he's, God is telling through Isaiah, woe to those When we talk about independence, we're talking about becoming independent from the idea that somehow we're going to save ourselves with mighty men or that some benevolent dictatorship is going to come to our rescue. That's just not going to happen. We need to rely upon God. And we have to be very careful as far as not relying upon our wealth. In Luke chapter 12, we have the parable of the rich man who, who got things so in line, everything was just perfect, that he decided he would tear down his old barns, build newer barns, so that he could store more, so he could have plenty of good things laid up for many years. He went beyond prudent preparations. And he just wanted to take life easy and eat, drink, and be merry. In other words, he wanted to rely on the things he had gotten for himself, and he had wanted to cease any type of a service towards God. He was just going to take life easy. If you get to that point, your preparations are so extensive, your wealth seems to be so much enough that you start trusting in yourself. You better watch out. That's what Jesus said in this parable. that God warned him, you fool, this night your very life will be taken. Then who will get all the things you have stored up for yourselves? And one other thing we need to be very careful on and that's relying on those who make oppressive laws. It seems like in our nation, we always are saying things like there ought to be a law against this and there ought to be a law against that. And when the laws are passed, they usually end up being very oppressive to the very ones that wanted the laws to be made in the first place. In Isaiah chapter 10, it said, what are those who make unjust laws? And to those who issue oppressive decrees to deprive the poor of their rights. See, this is what so many of the modern day laws are. It's to deprive the poor. You think about things like real estate taxes and other taxes that continually place an unnecessary burden upon those who are struggling to get by. I'm not talking about paying our fair share. I'm talking about paying incredible percentages of what we have coming in. The laws become oppressive. The decrees become oppressive. They may be for good things, schools and, and, and welfare programs that we like and things like that. But if it ends up harming more people than it ends up helping, we need to understand that these things can become oppressive. And then he says this in verse three, What will you do on the day of reckoning? Well, the bill for a lot of our profligate spending is coming due, isn't it? And as always, it's those who are poor who are expected to shoulder the greatest burden of this bill. It may be that those who are very wealthy are paying more in dollar amounts, but as far as the percentage, as far as the extra of what they have to live on, it never is very fair, is it? And there are things that become oppressive. And so for those who say there ought to be a law that, that the, that somebody ought to be able to come in and redistribute wealth in any way they want to understand, this always ends up punishing those. for whom it was supposed to help. So who do we rely on? If we, if we're going to proclaim independence from relying upon men, ourselves, our government, whoever it is, then who do we rely on? And the obvious answer is God. Psalm 73, those who are, verse 27, those who are far from you, the psalmist is talking to God, those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge. Remember, if you're going to become independent from wicked men, that's a good thing. If you're going to become less reliant on your own power, that's not a bad thing either. We have to recognize where our blessings come from. It's good to be near God. And we need to make God our refuge. I'm not talking about living an irresponsible life where we just expect him to take care of everything for us. But what I am saying is that we rely upon God. We turn to him and his word for our instruction as to how to live. And then we live to the best of our ability in that way. In Proverbs chapter three and verse five, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. These are confusing times, aren't they? We talked about the fact that so many people that we trust have been lying to us repeatedly, and now they've been caught in those lies. And a lot of people are just confused. What do I do? Which direction do I go? Well, this says to trust in God and He will make your path straight. If you're going to become independent from wicked men, and if you're going to become less reliant on the power of your own right hand, you're going to have to become dependent upon God. And again, not a presumptuous dependence that, that insists that he provides you with some sort of a welfare, but with a trust that makes you realize that if you'll just do his thing, things in his way that he'll take care of you. And then 2nd Chronicles 16 in verse 9, prophet comes to a king who's been relying on the might of his own army. And the prophet has a message from God letting him know that he's made a mistake. And then he says this, for the eyes of the Lord, this is 2nd Chronicles 16 9, for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are filled. fully committed to Him. If you have a heart that is right with God, if you have a heart that is fully committed to Him, if you are in fact dependent upon your God, if you rely upon His strength, His wisdom, His guidance, you're going to do fairly well. So what we need to do is have an Independence Day, a day that declares our dependence from things that have not been right to be depending upon. but one that also allows us to place our trust to where it's always belonged in the first place in God. One of the things that I'm absolutely convinced of is that we're at a tipping point in history. There's a lot of things that are coming together. Maybe wrong on that, but I know I'm not wrong on this advice. If you will and I will trust in God, if we'll seek his wisdom, and if we'll try and serve him in his way, we're going to do pretty well. Amen. But if we become dependent upon wicked men who lie to us, but then who assure us they'll never lie again, well, we're just setting ourselves up for a fall. And we're also going to end up dooming our children to a type of slavery that is unimaginable. We do need an Independence Day. We need to have a freedom from a practice of following and serving wicked men. And then we need to have a Dependence Day. where we become dependent upon God once again, and we put our trust in the one who will rightfully use that trust. God. Something to think about, isn't it? That's it for today. I appreciate your tuning in. I'm sorry. I haven't had any videos lately. I'll try and get a little bit more consistent on that and try and have at least four out a week. They'll be on different topics as usual. But for today, Is it time for an Independence Day? The answer is you bet, but then make sure you put your dependence upon God. Thanks for listening today. I appreciate your tuning in. I pray that God will richly bless you as you seek to serve Him to the very best of your ability. God bless you.