Tag: freedom

CONSTITUTION DAY: How the Bible and Faith of Our Founders Helped ‘Secure the Blessings of Liberty’

~ Randy Harris ~ Leave a comment

Paul Strand As a freelance reporter for CBN’s Jerusalem bureau and during 27 years as senior correspondent in CBN’s Washington bureau, Paul Strand has covered a variety of political and social issues, with an emphasis on defense, justice, government, and God’s providential involvement in our world. Strand began his tenure at CBN News in 1985 as an evening assignment editor in Washington, D.C. After a year, he worked with CBN Radio News for three years, returning to the television newsroom to accept a position as a senior editor in 1990. Strand moved back to the nation’s capital in 1995.

September 17th celebrates Constitution Day, marking that key American document’s ratification. Some question why it’s said America was founded as a Christian nation since there’s no mention of God in the Constitution. But leading Christian historian Peter Lillback explains while the Lord’s name may not appear, the Constitution is deeply rooted in God’s teachings, ways and words.

The Founding Fathers who wrote and signed the Constitution saw themselves as men of faith, and used what they learned from a lifetime of reading and studying God’s Word to help form the new nation’s law and government.

‘We Were Shaped by the Bible’

“I like to say that it’s not that we established a Christian country,” Lillback told CBN News. “But without Christian values, we would never have established THIS kind of country. We were shaped by the Bible.”

Outside the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia where the Preamble of the Constitution is displayed in huge letters on the outside of the building, Lillback showed phrase by phrase how the Preamble reflects biblical values the Founders knew well.

The Preamble begins like this: 

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

Lillback explained that their intention was clearly for a “more perfect Union”, not one that was already perfected. “It begins by saying ‘We the People of the United States’ come together to make a ‘more perfect union’,” this founder of the Providence Forum said. “They want to be one; they know they can’t be perfect. They want to be ‘more perfect’. That’s a biblical idea: ‘we’re trying to get better. We can progress.’”

As for that word “union,” Lillback asked, “Remember how the Bible says ‘how blessed it is when brothers dwell together in unity?’  That’s a biblical value.”

‘Do Justice, Love Mercy’

Then it says “…establish Justice…”   

Lillback quotes Micah 6:8: “‘The Lord has shown you what He requires of you, o man: that you would do justice, love mercy.’ Justice is a biblical concern. Some would say the Ten Commandments define justice.”

Next, it says “…insure domestic Tranquility…”

The Providence Forum founder commented, “That’s to make sure that we live together in peace with one another.  Paul will say in Romans chapter 12, ‘As much as lies within me, I will live at peace with all men.’ The idea of tranquility is a great biblical concern.”

Defense is a Biblical Concern

Next: “…provide for the common defense…”

“To make sure that the vulnerable are protected. We know that one of the great principles of God’s law is to defend the orphan and the widow, the stranger in the land,” Lillback pointed out “And to make sure that there’s not an unjust assault against the community by a foreign power. These are biblical concerns.”

Next: “…promote the general Welfare…”

“As much as lies within us, we should do good to all men, especially to those in the household of faith,” said Lillback who is also the president of Westminster Theological Seminary. “The idea of providing for the needy, that is a concern that’s reflected in biblical ethics.” 

‘Liberty is a Gift of God’

Next:  “…and secure the Blessings of Liberty…”

“I always like to say that the word ‘blessing’ is a word you don’t hear atheists using. The very nature of blessing is something that is being given to us from God,” Lillback explained. “And liberty is something that God has blessed us with.  In fact, we find it in the jubilee text of Leviticus 25 and verse 10 that’s on the Liberty Bell: ‘proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.’ Liberty is a gift of God.”

Finally: “…to ourselves and our posterity.”

“Our Founders remembered God’s covenantal vision that ‘I will be your God and the God of your children to a thousand generations after you.’ When you talk about to our posterity, that’s the ring of covenantal succession. That’s right out of the scriptures,” Lillback said. “It goes back to the Abrahamic covenant.”

God’s a Lawgiver, Judge & Ruler.  We have Lawgivers, Judges & a President

Then the Constitution lays out our legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. And all three reflect different aspects of God Himself, shown in the Bible.

“In Isaiah 33:22 where it talks about how our God is a God who is a LAWGIVER — who is in fact a JUDGE. He’s also a king or a RULER. Again, derivatives of God’s very Word, God’s very nature.”

And so the Founders who knew their Bible so well created a government that could imitate and reflect these aspects of God.

A Republic: Can We Keep It?

When a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government the Constitutional Convention has just come up with, he replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”

And how can we keep it?

Historian Lillback recalled, “Washington said ‘It is impossible for us to succeed unless we imitate the divine author of our blessed religion.’ Those are the words that he said to each of the governors as he was stepping down as a successful general. And in his farewell address as president: ‘Religion and morality are indispensable supports for our political prosperity’.”  

“Remember the logic: to have a republic, you need to have people who are moral because a republic is written on a piece of paper.  Are you going to do what it says?   You have to be committed to doing what is right,” Lillback explained.  “How do you get a moral people?  You need to have a religious people. ‘Religion and morality are indispensable for our political prosperity’.”

No Constitution has Lasted Longer

He summed up for CBN News what the Bible and religious faith did for America through our Founders.

He said, “By learning from His Word, we gain wisdom, and that wisdom creates the longest continuously used Constitution on the face of the earth.”

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore: The ‘DIGNITY’ Act is a surrender to mass amnesty

~ Randy Harris ~ Leave a comment

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore | 07.31.25

After spending the last two years on the House Judiciary Committee battling Biden’s border crisis, I cannot stay silent while members of Congress bring forward the so-called “DIGNITY Act.” Despite its catchy name, this bill is nothing more than amnesty dressed up in buzzwords — and it’s an affront to every American who believes in law and order.

The “DIGNITY Act,” above all, rewards illegal behavior. This legislation creates a convoluted “Dignity Program” that welcomes illegal immigrants to stay in this country for seven years and eventually apply for permanent residency, while millions of law-abiding immigrants wait in line, playing by the rules. It also prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement from enforcing many of the orders President Trump has given them.

That’s not dignity. That’s a betrayal of our immigration system and a direct incentive for more lawlessness at our Southern border.

Let’s keep America what our founders wanted. Immigration is a concept given to us by the elites who are sheltered by the conduct of those who come here for our benefits alone. Assimilation is mandatory! Learn the language, be proud of your new country, and you are more than welcome. The process of legal immigration must be adhered to. Let’s don’t let the elites and the one world government destroy our country Rh

The Founders Meant to Keep Government Out of the Church, Not God Out of the Government

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Paul Strand

This is a wonderful, factual article. The left has duped American to believe a lie. Our founders were terrified of a government run church. After seeing the overreach of government these last few years, their fear is well grounded. Enjoy the article. Rh

The 4th of July makes us think of our independence and freedoms. And legal battles in recent years over religious liberty in the U.S.A. raise serious questions about the freedom to worship in America. So when our Founders came up with the First Amendment, were they trying to keep the government free from religion, or religion free from government?  

These days, the phrase “wall of separation between church and state” has come to mean keeping God or His believers from having a big effect on government and public life. But that’s far, far from what the Founding Fathers were thinking of when they were separating church and state.

Fear of an All-Powerful State Church Wed to the Power of the Government

They were afraid of what so many of the Old World countries had: a religion established by the state as its one true religion, that would tyrannically rule over the faith and conscience of every citizen.

As the Providence Forum’s Peter Lillback put it, “They recognized having a monolithic church was a dangerous thing.”  That’s because it made the king not only their physical sovereign but also their all-powerful spiritual ruler.

Before the Pilgrims fled England, Wallbuilders’ David Barton recalled, “The Pilgrims’ pastor was executed because he made the statement that Jesus Christ is head of the church. And the monarch said, ‘Oh no, I’m the head of the church. You’re dead.’”

Wouldn’t Allow a Church of America Like the Brits Had the Church of England

Knowing of such terror and tyranny, AmericanMinute.com historian William Federer explained how the Founders felt: “Their big fear was the federal government was going to follow the blueprint of every country in Europe and pick one national denomination.”

So what they meant by saying in the First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” was that the federal government was banned from creating – or “establishing” – a national religion with the national government wedded to it.

“They didn’t want to have a national, established Church of America like you have the Church of England, forcing people to believe something that they didn’t believe in,” said Jerry Newcombe, host of the radio program “Vocal Point”.

“What they said was, ‘We don’t want a state church here. Consciously, therefore, they were separating the church from government,” Lillback said.

But that was strictly to protect the churches and each believer’s faith and conscience from the government.

All About Protecting Each American’s Conscience and Freedom to Believe

Not only did the First Amendment say, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” but it also said, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

“What they wanted was the freedom that we have in the Bible: the rights of conscience,” Barton said. “And they didn’t want the state telling us how we could or couldn’t practice our faith.”

Lillback said the Founders keeping government control away from faith meant, “Each of us has a right to be who we are before God. It has been well said and it’s a classic statement of religious liberty that man is not free unless he is free on the inside.  We have to have the freedom to believe what we believe. That’s what the First Amendment protects.”

God: He’s on Both Sides of the Wall’

And that’s what Christian historian Eddie Hyatt explained Thomas Jefferson was talking about when he wrote the letter that first used the famous “wall of separation” phrase to a group of worried Baptists.

“He said that the First Amendment had erected a wall of separation that would protect them from any intrusion of the government,” Hyatt stated. “In Jefferson’s mind, the wall of separation was a uni-directional wall, put there to keep the government out of the church; not to keep the influence of the church out of the government.”

There was no antipathy towards the Lord in all of this, Lillback insisted, saying, “But the idea of God: He’s on both sides of the wall. And He’s welcome there. And He should be.”

The Government Is Reaching Over that Wall, Bossing Around People of Faith

But today, there’s been a complete flip.

Lillback said, “Those who once believed in this really high and impregnable wall of church and state, we now see the government reaching over that wall and saying, ‘but don’t preach that text of scripture.’”  

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Barton added, “All of a sudden the government’s regulating religious activities, which is what Jefferson said they would not do because of separation of church and state.”

Hyatt lamented, “The Founders would be so distressed to see how that statement has been turned on its head.”

As Newcombe explained, “They absolutely did not mean the separation of God and government, which is what’s often being practiced today.”

No One ‘Under Government,’ but Each One ‘Under God’

Lillback encourages Americans to remember what the nation’s Founders intended.

“This is a theistic government. So God was not separated from government,” he insisted. “So any interpretation of the First Amendment that takes God out of government is turning the whole story on its head. Rather it was taking a formal state church out of the equation, leaving it up to each individual. But all, as we still say, ‘under God.’ That was the view of our Founders.”

They believed a nation based on liberty could only stay free if its citizens were godly people. As Barton pointed out, believers in God have their eyes on eternity, and it makes them practice self-control.  

Knowing You’ll Answer to God Makes You Govern Yourself

“When you’re God-conscious, you realize, ‘ya know, I’m going to have to answer to Him for what I do,’ and it limits my bad behavior,” Barton stated.

Newcombe added, “That’s something the Founders believed very strongly: that we’re going to be accountable before God.”

Hyatt said of those Founders, “They knew that they were creating a nation for a free people, but also for a virtuous people who would govern themselves from within.”

You need very little police power if people, because of conscience, will police themselves.

Green Bean Control Laws?

“Self-control is what you need,” Barton explained. “We can pass all the control laws we want. But unless you control the heart, you’ll never control behavior. I mean, I can kill somebody with a can of green beans. What are we going to do?  Pass green bean control laws if somebody does that? No. It’s on the inside.”

And the Founders knew to keep America true and free, they also needed the perfect law of a loving, all-wise God.

As Lillback put it, “There was a clear understanding that the government needed to have an ultimate check and balance, even beyond the people that ran it and their elections. And that is the transcendent law of God.  And so that is why when we look at our Declaration of Independence, there are four references to Deity.”

Going through the Declaration, Lillback laid them out: “‘We’re endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.’ The laws of God and nature. And it tells us there’s an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world. And, finally, a dependence on the Providence of God. Four references to Deity.”

Not Godless at All

But then came the US Constitution, which some say is a godless document because God isn’t mentioned in it. As soon as they were done with it, though, the Founders called for a day of Thanksgiving to God.

“They were not thinking ‘let’s get rid of God,'” Lillback stated. “They said, ‘We have been given now a new Constitution, and now amendments that give us our freedoms. And where do we turn? We turn to heaven and thank God for this.'”

“Now, if their intent was to get rid of God from government, boy did they miss their point,” Lillback said.  “Because they turned around and thanked Him for everything that they had. It shows the utter historical absurdity of ‘the godless Constitution’.”

Constitution’s Last Words Reference Christ

And God isn’t really absent from the Constitution or its authors’ lives.

“They are not godless,” Lillback insisted. “They are people who, at the very end of their work, said, ‘In the year of our Lord, 1787.’  The very last words in the Constitution are a reference to Jesus Christ.”

He concluded, “It’s no surprise then that the ultimate motto is We are One Nation Under God.”

It’s Treason

~ Randy Harris ~ Leave a comment

Any Congressman that votes for illegal aliens to receive one red cent of benefits, should be removed from office and tried for treason.  That is my money that I have paid into for decades.  They are not deserving of anything but a quick trip back to their homeland.

Being raised on a farm, I learned the value of hard work.  I learned how to drive a tractor at a very early age, probably around 10 or 12 years of age.  At fourteen I was hired out to a family member to work every day including Saturday from 7:00 AM till 7:30 PM.  I earned $10 a day.  Hard work and self reliance was instilled at an early age and has continued throughout my life.  I worked for almost 60 years, and so did my wife.

I know some will cry crocodile tears over this essay, but I said what I said.  Why are we as a people electing representatives who allow our country to be changed from what it was, to what it will become by illegals who care nothing about our way of life?  Look at the protests, they hate our government, unless they are receiving our money.  It is a fundamental changing of the values of America.  It is time to stop the insanity.  

Let me repeat, any Congressman who votes to approve any budget that gives our money away in benefits to illegals needs to be tried for treason.  They are contributing to the decline and fall of America.

God have mercy on us and save us from the stupidity and the purposeful destruction of this land that is a God ordained Republic. Rh

Pentecost: One Of The Most Incredible Examples Of God’s Prophetic Foreshadowing

~ Randy Harris ~ 1 Comment

Amir Tsarfati is a fmr Deputy Governor of Jericho, an Israeli tour guide, author, the Founder and President of Behold Israel, and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.

Below is an article written by Amir Tsarfati, a Messianic Jew, a born against spirit filled Christian. Please take note of this article as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Rh

God planted a 2,000-year-old prophecy about the church in the most unlikely place: A bread recipe.

Many people look at the biblical feasts and presume these are simply Jewish traditions. However, these aren’t just random celebrations; they are divine prophecies planted throughout history. Pentecost is one of the most incredible examples of God’s perfect planning, also known as Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks.

Let’s start with what Pentecost actually is. In Leviticus 23:15-16, God instructed Israel, “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.”

This feast celebrates two things for the Jewish people: the wheat harvest and the giving of the law—the Torah—at Mount Sinai.

On this day nearly 2,000 years ago, Acts 2:1-4 tells us, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Do you see the incredible connection? On the very same day that Israel celebrated receiving the law written on tablets of stone, God sent His Spirit to write His law on human hearts. This wasn’t a coincidence but a divine appointment set thousands of years in advance.

If God were a filmmaker, He would win every award for foreshadowing. The shadow appears in the Old Testament, but the substance, the reality, is found in Christ. As Paul writes in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

There is another powerful aspect of Pentecost. At Mount Sinai, on the day that the law was given, Exodus 32:28 tells us that approximately 3,000 people died because of sin. Fast forward to the day of Pentecost: “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). The exact same number! Where the law brought death, the Spirit brought life. That’s not a coincidence. That’s God showing His amazing plan.

Let’s dig even deeper. In Leviticus 23:17, God gave specific instructions for Pentecost that seemed strange at first glance: “You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord” (emphasis added).

These loaves contain leaven. That’s extraordinary because, throughout Scripture, leaven typically symbolizes sin. During Passover, all leaven had to be removed from homes. Other grain offerings in Leviticus also had to be made without leaven. Here, God specifically commands leaven to be included. Why would God want an offering with leaven? These two loaves perfectly picture the body of Christ. One loaf representing the Jews, one representing the Gentiles, both containing leaven. We all have sin in our lives, yet despite our imperfections, God accepts us as His.

Also, notice that there are two loaves. This isn’t random. This is a picture of Jews and Gentiles being brought together as one in the Messiah, yet maintaining their distinct identities. God wasn’t surprised when Gentiles came to faith because He planned it from the very beginning. When did the Holy Spirit create this united body of Jews and Gentile believers? On Pentecost, the very day these two leaven loaves were to be presented.

The miracle of Shavuot isn’t just a historical event; it is a living reality for us today. Just as God took two separate loaves with leaven and presented them together before Him, He is doing the same with us. Jews and Gentiles are both imperfect, yet both are accepted in His sight through the Messiah.

Pentecost shows us something profound about God’s heart. He doesn’t demand perfection before accepting us. He takes us with our leaven and our imperfections and transforms us by His Spirit. The same Spirit that came down with power on that Shavuot morning nearly 2,000 years ago lives in you and me.

At Mount Sinai, the people said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). They failed because they tried in their own strengths. What they couldn’t do under the law, God does through His Spirit. This is why Shavuot matters so much. It’s the day when God’s presence moved from dwelling in a temple made with hands to dwelling in human hearts. It’s the day when the harvest of souls began, a harvest that continues to this very moment as more people come to faith in Yeshua, our Messiah.

When we understand Shavuot, we understand God’s perfect timing, His perfect plan, and His incredible love for both Jew and Gentile. As we celebrate this feast, let us remember: we are those two loaves presented together before the Lord, united by His Spirit into one body while maintaining our unique identities.

What an incredible picture of God’s wisdom and love.

Memorial Day Weekend

~ Randy Harris ~ Leave a comment

Sitting here on a peaceful Saturday morning thinking of the upcoming weekend.  Let us not forget those who sacrificed all they had to serve our country.  Not only those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but also those who because of injury are still suffering through a living hell.  My great appreciation for those who have a special dedication and calling to defend and protect the United States of America.  They deserve our highest honor and respect.  Praying for the family members who lost loved ones.  How difficult that must be.

As a young boy getting out of high school I was torn about the military.  The VietNam war was not only winding down, but a peace deal was in place.  Having heard the horrors of that undeclared war and the suffering it caused probably shaped me more than I knew at the time. My best friend and I almost joined the Air Force.  We definitely thought long and hard about it.  In the long run we decided it was not our life choice.  Looking back I wonder how different I would have been if that decision had been made to sign up.  We just never know….

The old adage is correct that they are only two people who would die for others, Jesus Christ and the American soldier.  The Bible says “that scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die.”  Jesus did that for us, He died even for those who hated Him and despised Him. One brought us everlasting life and the other paid a price they did not owe.  Thank you!  We are safer today and have a country that even with it’s problems is still the greatest country in the world. Our freedoms and liberties are safe guarded by those who today serve and defend those who really don’t deserve such dedication. 

For all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, we salute you and honor your memory.  May the Lord bring comfort and peace to all families who lost a loved one.  Your sacrifice is not forgotten.  Rh