July 3, 2008 8:01 AM

The Declaration of Independence

 

Tomorrow--July 4th--we will be reading the Declaration of Independence in the Hawk's Head Public House, at noon. You can order a fine meal--and listen to one of history's great accomplishments at the same time.

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A few years ago, a tediously infantile movie came out called "Independence Day." The producers seemed to think it would have some poetic ring if the exiled president of the United States called for an "Interdependence Day," admonishing all the countries of the world to fight against an invading army of UFOs.

Okay, okay. It's science fiction, and the special effects were fun, and Will Smith is always entertaining, but the whole global, "world citizen" thing is not only nauseating, it's downright dangerous. The sort of mind who takes comfort in locking arms with all of the world's people--no matter how brutal their inclinations--is the sort of mind better suited for making Coca-Cola commercials, if Coca Cola commercials could be produced by drooling half-wits.

Tomorrow, we celebrate Independence--not Interdependence. We celebrate the beneficial disconnectedness of life. We celebrate breaking attachments with tyrants and placemen and ministerial sycophants. We celebrate limited, fair government, over leviathan, capricious tyranny. We celebrate laws over men. We celebrate the true Judeo-Christian tradition, as opposed to those who put "my king" ahead of "my God."

Tomorrow, we celebrate the true, but un-preached meaning of Romans 13. Anyone who pretends to be a ruler, but who is a terror to those who do good, is NOT one of God's rulers, but an imposter, a pretender, and subject to the righteous will of God's saints. Ask Charles I about that--or George III or Sadaam Hussein.

On the 4th of July, we don't celebrate that monument to mediocrity and cruelty--the United Nations. We don't celebrate globalist winking at the brutality of the Saudis, or the Chinese Communists, or even the ridiculous notion that all traditions, all governments, are "value-free." In declaring Independence, we are really celebrating the notion that there is ONE TRUTH, not many, that rights are guaranteed to us by our Creator and not any faith in the kindness of committees or the virtue of the collective. The 4th of July is not about assuming good intentions; it is about assuming the evil inclinations of man--and the institutional checks and balances that can mitigate those evils.

The 4th of July is really about saying there is a better way. The 4th of July is about righteous rebuke thrown down defiantly by brothers-in-arms, when that better way is abused, when the covenant is broken.

We can all enjoy the celebration, the fireworks, the watermelon, and the burgers, because somewhere in time, someone was grown up enough to say, to tyrants, "we don't want to celebrate with you anymore."

That doesn't make for a very good Coke commercial. It won't win any global understanding awards. It won't open up new markets in the slave-holding third world. It won't find its way into any John MacArthur sermon.

But there will always be evil in the world, and ignorance, and the 4th of July is about celebrating a tremendous victory over both.

More of the Farm Journal -- July 2, 2008