Where Does Freedom Come From?

THE REAL AMERICA MINUTE: Month One

Where Does Liberty Really Come From? By Rick Porterfield

Imagine you own a house that's stood for 250 years.

It's weathered hurricanes and floods. Economic crashes and wars. Crisis after crisis — and a whole lot of good times in between. And it's still standing. The foundation is rock-solid. The structure is sound. And it's the envy of people all over the world.

But lately, there are people running around outside saying: This house has a terrible foundation. It was built wrong. It's rotten to the core. You need to tear it all down and start over. And oh, by the way — we'll rebuild it for you. People like you did it wrong in the first place.

And you look around at this house you've lived in your whole life — still solid, still the best thing around — and the only real problem you can see... is the people doing the complaining.

That's the United States of America today.

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America isn't perfect. No nation is. We've made mistakes and had to correct course. But the foundation? It's unlike anything the world has ever seen. And the voices calling it flawed at its core are the ones who either don't know its history, never studied it, or want to replace it with something that will fail.

Here's what's really happening: there is a spirit of antichrist working to destroy this nation — not with bombs or armies, but with lies and deception. By rewriting history. By redefining truth.

But you don't defeat darkness by shouting at it. You defeat darkness by turning on the light.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." — 2 Corinthians 3:17

That's what The Real America Minute is about. Each month, we're going to take a few minutes to turn on the light — to shine truth on the lies, and to show you the actual foundation this nation was built on. Because people who know the truth cannot be duped, led astray, or bound by lies.

So let's start turning on the lights. And let's start at the very beginning.

Liberty Is Not America's Idea — It's God's

 

When you study history, you discover something interesting and maybe surprising: freedom is rare. Tyranny and oppression are the norm. For most of human history, for most people who ever lived, bondage was their reality. That's just how it was.

About sixty billion people have lived on this earth. Less than two percent of them ever experienced the kind of freedom Americans have known. For six thousand years, the majority of humanity lived under kings who controlled everything — land, labor, children, even worship. Today, only about twenty percent of the world lives in real freedom.

And then, on July 4, 1776, something happened that had never happened before in human history. A group of men put a single sentence on paper that changed everything.

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.

Read that again. Endowed by their Creator.

That phrase wasn't religious decoration to make the Declaration sound nice. It was the legal foundation of the entire document. It was the reason the whole thing worked.

Every other nation in 1776 said rights came from kings. If you lived in England, France, or Spain, your rights were whatever the king said they were. And what he gave, he could take away.

The fifty-six men who signed the Declaration said: No. Rights come from God. Not government.

And because they come from God, no king, no parliament, no president, and no congress can legitimately take them away.

"If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." — John 8:36

That's why Paul wrote what he wrote in Second Corinthians. Liberty doesn't begin in Washington. It doesn't begin with the Supreme Court. Liberty begins with the love of God.

The Founders Knew Exactly What They Were Doing

 

A lot of people today will tell you the Founders were not Christians. That they wanted to keep God out of government. That the whole thing was secular from the start.

Here's what John Adams — our second president — said:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Adams understood something critical: free government requires people who can govern themselves. Morally. Responsibly. A free people who lose that capacity will eventually be governed by force. Freedom and moral responsibility aren't opposites — they're partners.

And the historical record on the faith of the Founders isn't even close. At least ninety-three percent of the founding generation were actively affiliated with Christian denominations. Of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, fifty-two were practicing church members. Twenty-eight held church office. These weren't nominal Christians. They were active in church governance, Christian education, and applying Scripture to civil life.

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." — Joshua 24:15

No wonder the spirit of antichrist is working so hard to secularize our nation — to make us ignorant of the Word. Because freedom is God's design for humanity. America didn't invent liberty. America tried to protect it — by grounding it in the one source no human government could overrule: the Creator Himself.

They Paid for It with Everything They Had

 

Some people will tell you the Founders were just selfish, wealthy men grabbing power for themselves. Let me show you what that actually looked like.

Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two sons serving as officers in the Continental Army. Both were captured and imprisoned on the notorious HMS Jersey prison ship. One son was confined to a dungeon — and the only food given to him was pressed through the keyhole of his cell. The British offered to release Clark's sons if he would recant his signature on the Declaration of Independence. He refused.

Francis Lewis of New York watched his Long Island estate destroyed by the British. His wife Elizabeth was captured and imprisoned without adequate food, bedding, or clothing. She was eventually exchanged for British prisoners, but the hardships she endured ruined her health. Elizabeth Lewis died in 1779.

Richard Stockton of New Jersey was dragged from his bed, clapped in irons, and imprisoned at the brutal Provost Prison in New York. He was released on parole with his health destroyed. He came home to find his estate plundered and his livestock taken. He never recovered. He died impoverished in 1781.

Carter Braxton of Virginia was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. He gave everything — loaning enormous sums to support the revolution, sponsoring shipping and privateering. British forces destroyed his ships and ravaged his plantations. By 1786 he was forced to abandon his grand estate. He died still in debt.

These are documented historical facts. Selfish men don't do these things.

When they signed the Declaration, they meant every word of that final sentence:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

They meant it. Because they believed liberty was worth dying for — because it is a gift from God.

Why This Matters to the Church

 

Some Christians feel uncomfortable mixing faith and patriotism. They worry about idolatry — about worshipping the nation instead of God. That's a fair concern. But Scripture speaks directly to this:

"And seek the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of the city in which you live, you will have welfare." — Jeremiah 29:7

These were exiled Jews in a pagan land — told by God to pray for and work toward its prosperity. If God expected that from captives in an enemy nation, how much more should we steward and protect the nation He has blessed us with?

Patriotism isn't idolatry. It's stewardship of a divine gift.

And when people try to tear down this nation's foundation, while taking advantage of its benefits, they're not just attacking America. They're working contrary to Scripture.

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The One Thing to Remember

 

God created all people in His image — with inherent dignity and the freedom to make choices. Throughout Scripture, He treats people as free moral agents. He never forces. He never coerces. That is His design.

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." — Joshua 24:15

The Founders understood this biblical truth: God created all humans to be free moral agents, with rights that come simply from being human. No government can legitimately take them away. That's why the Declaration says we are endowed by our Creator — not by kings. Not by Congress.

The idea that rights come from God is unique in all of human history. The Founders understood it. They built a nation on it. And it is our job — every generation's job — to guard it.

Ronald Reagan said it plainly: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." We can't sit back and assume our liberty is secure in the hands of government. That is foolish at best. It must be actively guarded by each new generation to survive.

That's why I’m doing The Real America Minutes. Every month. Not to shout at the darkness — but to turn on the light.

— Pastor Rick

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The Real America Minute is presented the second Sunday of every month at Grace Life Fellowship.

© 2025 Rick Porterfield. All rights reserved.