Two hundred and fifty years ago, our founders and framers formally told the oppressive King George to go pound sand. Yep, on July 4th, 1776, the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence. This historic document announced that the thirteen American colonies were separating from Great Britain to become a new, independent nation. I don't know if you know this, but our forebears’ revolutionary spirit was the inspiration for the 1984 smash hit song by Twisted Sister, titled “We’re Not Going to Take It”, which was off their platinum album, Stay Hungry. It’s true. It’s science. Anyway …

The document drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson, known as the Declaration of Independence, outlined the colonies' right to self-governance and asserted that all people have inherent rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That sounds nice and all, doesn’t it? What’s lost on most of us is that they had to fight for that right. They bled and died for liberty. They suffered greatly for freedom. They fought an extended eight-plus-year war because they were sick of being enslaved by some snaggled-toothed punk king across the pond.

That war commenced in earnest on April 19th, 1775, when the Brits had the balls to tell the patriots to give them their guns. Our founders were like, “Well, that ain’t gonna happen”, but they did share many of their bullets with them—like in their faces and in their chests. Can you say, boom … splat … pow?!? Indeed, when Lexington and Concord went down, our revolt against the Brits was officially on like Donkey Kong, and it was formalized in a dang near, inspired by God document, the Declaration of Independence, a little over a year later, and that, my friends, was two hundred and fifty years ago today,

So what’s my point with this post?

Well, Dinky, the thing that I’m gobsmacked by is the level of badassery our Founders and Framers sported. These powder-wig and knicker-wearing peeps were rebels with a cause. They perfected the middle finger to oppressive leaders who wished to make their lives a living hell of slavish servitude to their daft degrees.

“Whenceforth, cometh this rebel spirit?” you ask. Well, this defiant attitude to demon-owned and operated politicians came from this currently unread book called the Bible. Yep, nearly all of these 1776 contrarians were Christian to the core. Those who weren’t Christian, like Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison, were definitely more beholden to the Book, from a liberty standpoint, than nearly all of evangelicalism is today.

When one thinks of a Christian nowadays, we think of some lame guy who’s nicer than the real Jesus and who wears skinny jeans, takes selfies, and drinks iced lattes from a gay, long, green straw and spits out more aphorisms than an overmedicated Taylor Swift. We sure as heck don’t think a person who is deeply rebellious to bad ideas and the people who peddle them.

Our current crap brand of Christianity/Christians would have never rebelled against King George and would’ve allowed him to dictate our lives and tax us out the wazoo because we’ve been discipled to be nice, not free. The Church teaches us to be little slaves to bad ideas. If you don’t believe me, think back to a few years ago when pastors obeyed orders to shut down their churches during COVID. That was bullshit. Those pastors who did that should be fired or ignored forever for their cowardice in obeying Mayor McCheese’s unbiblical edicts. But I digress …

This is interesting. Once our original framers got this incredible country up and officially cranking, they began to cobble together a seal, a picture, a motto, and an emblem, which would encapsulate what they had concocted on fresh American soil.

Benjamin Franklin, being the rebel he was, wanted it to be a picture of Moses confronting Mamdami … I mean, Pharaoh, when Moses demanded Pharaoh cease his enslavement of Israel and let God’s people go. This image was to be encircled with the phrase “Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God.” Thomas Jefferson liked the motto "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" so much that he used it on his personal seal.

That phrase, Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God, is quite biblical. The gist of it is found throughout the Old and the New Testaments. But most modern-day Christians wouldn’t know that because they don’t read Verbum Dei any longer—they just feed off of biblical snippets and memes via Instagram.

One of the most beautiful epic rebellious acts is found in the Book of Acts. Check it out…

Uh … did you hear what Peter told the oppressive and pusillanimous Pharisees who were telling Peter and the gang to zip it and stop preaching? He told them, “We must obey God rather than men.” That’s rebellion, folks. Christian rebellion to evil leaders, and it was that biblical spirit … that defiant funk … which fueled the formation of this two hundred and fifty year old glorious experiment in self-governance also known as The United States of America. As we celebrate our nation’s independence, ask yourself, are you a biblical rebel with a cause, or are you an easy breezy summer squeezy Christian?

Clash Ministries is here to do two things, namely, put brains and cojones on Christians. Yep, our holy job is renewing minds (Rom.12:1-2) and emboldening hearts (Prov.28:1). Your generosity helps us throttle the enemy by equipping God's people to live bold, wild and free in Him. You are a vital part of this ministry and we could not do this without you. Thank you for your faithful gifts and partnership and remember to always ... stay rowdy!

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Doug Giles is Pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Wimberley, TX, and is the founder of ClashDaily.com​

Follow Doug on Instagram and Twitter @TheArtOfDoug.

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