As we’ve been hearing for months now, today, this 4th of July, is not just another holiday. This year, it’s about more than unpacking the beach wear, donning our Americana garb, firing up the barbeque, displaying our flag, singing patriotic hymns, and watching another explosive exhibition of pyrotechnic creativity. But celebrating 250 years of the benefits of American freedom and opportunity should involve more than a few nostalgic reflections and expressions of patriotic allegiance. The wonderful benefits we enjoy were not bestowed on us by some earthly potentate, they were not enacted and dispensed by governmental bureaucrats, or handed out by a group of wealthy benefactors. The freedom to pursue the endless possibilities that lie before us were won by ordinary people with extraordinary courage who engaged in a life or death struggle against overwhelming odds. 

The Battle Goes On ~
But the war to gain our freedom didn’t end with the British surrender in Yorktown. The truth is that the real enemy of freedom and righteousness lives on. The true threat against liberty in 1776 didn’t originate in the British Empire. It comes from the one who invaded Eden and who works to apply the shackles of sin to every one of us in every generation. It comes from the one who dispenses the mind-blinding addictive drugs of greed, power, sex, and notoriety. That enemy has continued to haunt the path of our nation and our people continually. And now, as we embrace and celebrate 250 years of freedom, I fear that in my generation, we’ve languished in the liberties and benefits won back then and ignored the responsibilities that come with them. We’ve allowed policies and practices that are toxic to social stability, personal welfare, and to the principles those early patriots fought and died for.   

This 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth finds us embroiled in the most vehement, profane, degrading, and divisive political atmosphere any of us have ever seen in this country. Violence is rampant in our city streets, and evidence of deep-seated corruption at the highest levels of government is commonplace. Accusations of unethical, conspiratorial, and criminal activities by federal, state, and local officials are making the rounds on social media every day. Obvious lies by elected officials and so-called “news media” representatives have resulted in the trustworthiness of all these sources sinking to all-time lows. 

Time for Renewed Allegiance  ~
Meanwhile, racial bias, leftist ideology, and Marxist philosophies have infiltrated classroom curricula at every level and been woven into our music, movies, TV shows, and video games. “Manufactured outrage” based on things like antisemitism, racial prejudice, sexual practices, gender issues, political preferences, and religious affiliation are pouring out of the classrooms and into the streets of our cities in some form nearly every day. We recipients of America’s legacy of liberty have a responsibility this week to renew our allegiance to the preservation and defense of our nation’s foundational values and principles. In light of that, some reflections I shared a few years ago seem particularly relevant and worth a second look …

You Get Used to It ~
When I arrived in Central Asia on a mission with our church a few years ago, I was both fascinated and challenged by how totally different so many things were from what I was used to back home. I asked an American who had moved there how he managed to deal with the changes. “Oh,” he said, “You just get used to it.” It was a phrase I had heard before.

When Diane and I moved to Alaska years ago and faced climate changes more radical than anything we’d ever seen, I asked other geographical transplants how on earth they managed to deal with it. They said the same thing, “You just get used to it, and after a while, you don’t notice it.” And when my half-sister moved from eastern Pennsylvania to Arizona, I asked how she dealt with temperatures like 112 degrees. She said something like, “Well… it was pretty awful at first, but you make adjustments and try to ignore it.”

Adaptability Has a Dangerous Downside ~
We human beings have an astounding capacity to adapt to changing conditions. That quality enables us to survive, and we find it demonstrated all over this magnificent planet. People live in all kinds of environments, eat all kinds of things, overcome incredible logistical and environmental obstacles, and find ways to function in the harshest conditions. The genius of our Creator in that regard is incredible—but like so many of the good things God built into us, the enemy can use it against us. Our adaptive quality has a dangerous downside that I saw during that trip to Asia, and it had nothing to do with adjusting to the climate.

I discovered that there was a common custom practiced there that I found was both surprising and disturbing. The practice of bribery was widespread and commonplace on all kinds of levels. It had infiltrated virtually every level of bureaucratic authority, including school officials, traffic cops, building inspectors, and tax authorities. And one local resident’s story made it clear that the consequences of not paying the bribe could have extensive personal implications . . . 

After coming to life-changing faith in Jesus Christ, a young woman who lived there saw bribery as sinful and decided not to participate. At the time, she had been denied a driver’s license for three years even though she repeatedly achieved perfect scores on the tests. Because she refused to pay a bribe to the official involved, she was left with no license—and no recourse. When I questioned other locals how they dealt with such open corruption, I heard the same thing I had heard about the weather in Alaska and Arizona. “You just get used to it, and after a while, you don’t notice it anymore.”

Accepting Corruption Corrupts Freedom Itself ~
Like the bacteria that reduces things that were once vibrant and healthy to something foul-smelling and repulsive, moral corruption is a behavioral bacteria that is drawn to power and feeds on liberty. No level of authority is immune from its influence. No doubt the initial reaction to the bribery problem was to resist it, but at some point, the victims gave up and got used to it. Instead of interrupting their life to fight it in the early stages, they did just that … They simply gave up and got “used to it.” An adaptive response to things like the weather that we can’t change may be good, but to apply that capacity to spiritual and moral degradation is dangerous. Corruption is malignant and will never stop on its own. If not confronted and removed, it will always have a lethal impact on personal freedom.

Corruption’s Ultimate Target ~
Before corruption invaded politics, academia, and our judicial system, it invaded the one place where its antidote is stored. It invaded the Church. In light of the corruption confronting us today, consider these excerpts from Peter’s warning concerning corrupt leaders plaguing the early Church:

But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption… They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness… For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness… While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage (selected from 2 Peter 2:12-19 NKJV).

Lady Liberty has been infected — and adapting to the corruption is sure to make her prognosis terminal. May God help us not to “get used to it”!

  Celebrating Our 250th Independence Day …

1776 – 2026

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • We’ve languished in the liberties and benefits won back then and ignored responsibilities that come with them. We’ve allowed policies and practices toxic to social stability, personal welfare and the principles those early patriots fought and died for. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • Like the bacteria that reduces things that were once vibrant and healthy to something foul-smelling and repulsive, moral corruption is a behavioral bacteria drawn to power, feeding on liberty. No level of authority is immune from its influence. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • Applying adaptive responses to spiritual and moral degradation is dangerous. Corruption is malignant and will never stop on its own. If not confronted and removed, it will always have a lethal impact on personal freedom. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • Before corruption invaded politics, academia, and our judicial system, it invaded the one place where its antidote is stored. It invaded the Church. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

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