MON HR 1 070323

The following program is sponsored by What's Right, What's Left Ministries, and is responsible for its content. I am Pastor Ernie Sanders, the voice of the Christian Resistance. Stay tuned. My radio broadcast, What's Right, What's Left, is coming up right now.

Coming to you live from Independence, Ohio. We change our life for the better in many different ways. Heard around the world every Monday through Friday. Pastor Sanders is always years ahead of the rest of the media telling you exactly what they're covering up.

This is What's Right, What's Left. I tune in every chance I get to hear exactly what's going on with the voice of the Christian Resistance. Unabassively cutting through the rhetoric by exposing the hard topics facing our society and world.

A lot of the other news medias don't pick up the news items like he does. And bringing to light the enemies of freedom throughout to steal your rights, your children, and enslaving you. You really get the truth out. I can tune into your show and hear the unvarnished truth.

Thank you. This is What's Right, What's Left with Pastor Ernie Sanders. Good evening and welcome to another edition of What's Right, What's Left on this third day of July, July 3rd, 2023. And tonight we have our highly professional producer and board op, another other than Kyle. Happy Independence Day, Pastor. Same to you, my friend, and way out there, way out there in Missouri, the man of legendary fame, what they call the back roads preacher. None other than the parson, Joe Larson. Exactly, the man with the face for radio.

I'm here and ready to go to work and celebrate this wonderful holiday. Yep, my special guest tonight is my brother that rode his motorcycle all the way from Oregon to here, and that was courageous. Maybe not real smart, but it was courageous. Dave Sanders.

Good to be with you, Ernie, and yeah, the jury is still out on whether that was courageous or smart, but we'll see. Good to meet you, Dave. I've heard a lot about you, and I'll tell you what he really said later. Yeah, yeah, and some of it might even be true. Who knows? He's the fellow that runs Fish and Mission. We've talked about Fish and Mission, and they raise money to support the orphans, and we just came from the film, what was that, Dave, that film, Freedom, and it talked all about human smuggling and child smuggling, and Dave knows all about that, where he's at down there with the orphan. And tonight, we're going to start in Proverbs 29, verses 1-4, and Dave, would you go ahead and read verses 1-4?

Sure. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, and shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, and when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Whoso keepeth wisdom rejoiceth his father, but he who keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

The king by judgment establishes the land, but he who receiveth his gifts overthrows it. Okay, now, you know, we always hear in the radio program, what makes our program a little unique from others, is we always show you how current events, how the Bible applies to current events, and if we start, go ahead, and Joe, read verse 1 again. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, sounds like Joe Biden. Well, do you remember that guy named Noah? Yeah. And Noah preached repentance for 120 years, right? Right, and nobody but his family listened. What they did is they hardened their neck, didn't they? Exactly. Then shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

In other words, without any hope of the outcome being different. We're seeing, we're seeing that today, we're seeing people hardening their necks, but you know what, I'm going to just stop right here before we go any further, because, you know, in the last four days since Friday, I've lost four dear friends since Friday, and so what I would like to do is give our most sincere, sincere condolences to the family and friends of these four individuals. We started with Evelyn Lewis, who was a member of Doers of the Word Baptist Church for many years, and her husband, Richard, was one of our, he was one of my associate pastors, and he, Evelyn, passed away on Friday. And then here, Saturday, we have Andre Magruder, who I've known since 1958. Andre had been in prison, he was in prison since 1985, and he was in the Franklin Medical Center when he died.

It was a long story with Andre, I think I told his story, how he was an elderly Christian man, and they put a young Satanist in the cell with him, and when Andre went to sleep, the Satanist attacked him and bashed him over the head, and almost, you know, did severe damage, which I think led to his death. And then here, we just had, yesterday, Barry Sheets, a long, long time friend, and he was Barry, and Jan Porter, myself, and others worked on the heartbeat pill. We gave everything we had into the heartbeat pill, and Barry was a long time lobbyist, and a member, a key member of the Center for Christian Virtue, and he went home to be with the Lord yesterday. And he had a real lengthy battle with cancer, and then today, a long, long time pastor, my associate pastor, Pastor Fred Haag, who had been with us for many, many years, he often was in the pulpit when I was away, and he was an excellent Bible teacher.

Fred taught the Bible there, Bible classes for years. He went home to be with the Lord today. So, I want to say for our severe, not severe, our condolences, sincere condolences, our sincere condolences to all of the family members out there. I don't know what's happening, but maybe the Lord is getting ready.

He's getting ready. He's taking the Saints home, getting them out of here before things get really bad. But I just want to again say our most sincere condolences to the families of Fred. It's our loss, and Heaven's gain.

Amen. Let's see, at a time like this, that is the blessing that those people all are going to be waking up and get to see Jesus, and get to see Heaven, and it's going to be the greatest thing that's ever happened to them in their lives, or ever will happen. And we just, although we sorrow, and we hurt, we have to rejoice for them, for they won the victory. Absolutely, they did. We often refer to it as they graduated, huh?

They graduated, yep. Well, they got home. They finally got home.

They made it home. Let's go ahead and read verse 2 there, Joe. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Well, we've had the wicked bearing rule in this country, and it's caused so many people to mourn. We've never seen a more divided country, have we?

No, we have never seen it, and each day the division gets really wider. The mushy middle gets smaller, and the division widens. Verse 3, go ahead. Whosoever loveth wisdom rejoices his father. But he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance. Yeah, there is never... Helpeth pick a hunter's life and spending his substance on harlots. Well, yeah, he's spending your substance on harlots. He's spending your tax dollars, too.

Yeah, all Chinese money. Here today we've got more different types of whores than ever before. We've got women whores, we've got trans whores, we've got sodomite whores, we've got lesbian whores, we've got corporate whores, we've got political whores, we've got medical whores, we've got religious whores, and we've caught media whores, big-time media whores. And so when you take a look at that, it's never been anything like that today. And you were talking about when the Wicked Rule, one of the articles we have is Obama's corrupt AG Eric Holder, do you remember him?

Yeah, I'm sure I do. To Joe Biden, no Trump pardon unless he shows remorse and turns his life. What about you, Eric Holder? You lied under oath. You lied to Congress under oath.

You broke out laws. Up until Merrick Garland, you were the most, you were the most corrupt Attorney General we've ever had, up until Merrick Garland. And look at this, just unbelievable what it's come to today. So, and then... And the worst is yet to come.

It's the things that they're doing now are going to cause a lot of severe pain in the next few months and in the next year. We haven't seen the real pain of it yet, but it's coming. Well, you know what, God has raised us up for such a time as this, right? And so we're not going to... His word says... Okay, so we're not going to whimper and complain. We're going to run to this battle.

We're going to run to it. Anyhow, here, read verse four. The king by judgment establishes the land, but he that receives his gifts overthrew it. Now, who do we know that receives gifts? That word there, gifts, means bribes. Right, the entire Biden family, Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, we could go on, but that's a good start. Well, let me ask you this, Joe. Nancy Pelosi and her husband, you know. Insider trading, yeah.

Yeah. Let me ask you this. Millions. Do you know anyone that actually believes, that actually believes that Biden gave the Taliban $85 billion worth of military equipment without getting a huge, huge kickback back to the Biden crime cartel?

And not just that, to all of those. Now, you ask yourself this question, we'll ask Dave to see if he has the answer. Hey Dave, why do you think Merrick Garland and Chris Wray would stick their necks out and risk going to jail to protect Joe Biden? Do you think they just liked Uncle Joe so much, or do you think maybe there was something in it for them? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's just like Uncle Joe. That's all it could ever be.

There just might be something in it for him, huh? Yeah, you just, you might think so. Alrighty, let's go to Romans chapter 13. Do you mean I could get out a jail free card, maybe?

Yeah. Like, take the money and I'll pardon you when the time comes, okay? If you get caught, don't worry, I'll pardon you. But let's go to Romans 13. Now, Romans 13, this is one of the most spun, misinterpreted, misrepresented passages in all of scripture.

Right here. And now here's the thing. It means exactly what it says. Romans 13 means exactly what it says. And this is why they've had to come out with all the New Age perversions, because the neo-evangelical prissy preachers don't like what it means, because it means that they might have to stand up and show some courage. And that's not where they're big in the area of courage, are they? No, but the funny thing is, Jesus was kind of like that.

He said exactly what he meant and meant exactly what he said, and that's why I think that's the most hated name in the world. Yep. Let's start here. Go ahead, Joe. Read verse 1. We're going to take a verse at a time.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that are ordained of God. Okay, so how did the NIV change that? How did the New Age versions?

There is no... They left out a couple of things, didn't they? Well, they changed the word power to government. Oh, that's kind of leaving out the meaning of the whole... Yep. So there is no government but of God.

Is that right? There are no... No government, but God grants them the authority to rule. Okay, well, who does he grant the authority to read? Is God's word big on legitimacy? Let's take a look at, you see, remember the four points or the five points of divine human government God gives us, and this applies here in this passage of scripture. Now, when we take a look at this here, he says the powers that be are ordained of God.

So what do you think that means, ordained of God? Chosen. Set aside, huh? They were set aside. Set aside is what the actual word, yeah, set aside.

Given, set aside. Okay, let me ask you this. Do you think Joe Biden is a legitimate president? No. No, because... But I think God allowed him to be in power because he was bringing judgment on this nation for its disobedience and sin. He allowed him, but he didn't raise him up to be in power, did he? Okay.

What happened, do you know who allowed him to be in there? The Republican Party. Party. And the voters, the apathy and ignorance, yeah. And fear. Absolutely.

Fear of not being brave enough to stand up for the truth. Absolutely. He says here now, so when he's talking about ordained, so he's talking about powers, he's talking about legitimate powers. Legitimate powers, you see. You see, you know what I could do? I could go and buy a policeman's uniform, put it on, and then give my brother here a ticket out there. But you see, I would have no legitimacy, would I?

No, I wouldn't. Okay. Now, these people that are in office, and as we go through here, if they corrupt their office, they've lost legitimacy, right?

Right. Especially if they rule not in accordance with God's law, then they are corrupt and no longer legitimate. All right, so whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God, now that word power actually means authority of God, and they shall resist, they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now, what is the significance of that term damnation over condemnation? And damnation means there's a special place in hell for those people. Well, condemnation means you've condemned, but you haven't been sentenced. Damnation here means you're sentenced. Sentence, that's what I mean. They're going.

There is no do not pass go, do not collect $200, you're gone. Now, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Right. They are there to protect the innocent and to keep the evil away. Good job. How do we define good? The Bible defines good as God's laws, God's statutes, God's ordinance, God's precepts, God's commands, God's covenant.

This is the 119th Psalm. The whole thing is the defining of what is good. Anything that blesses the Lord is good.

If it blesses Him and His word, it's good. Now, that means they're legitimate. Our government is not legitimate. We have no obligation. In fact, not only do we have no obligation at all to recognize or give any legitimacy to this government, but actually, as we go through here, we'll see it's a sin to do so.

Okay. So he says in verse 4, for he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Now, the New Age perversions changed that word minister to servant. They changed the word minister to servant. So now, what would be the significance of that? A big significance. A minister has some power and authority as servant, just as obedient. A minister has special duty.

He's held to a higher standard. Okay. So does God use things, even the weather, does God use things like even the animals and even demons as servants? Does God even use demons as servants? Yes.

Okay. He uses everything that he's created. He uses it for his purpose. But he doesn't use demons? He doesn't use jackasses like with Balaam? He doesn't use hornets like he sent after the keys? He doesn't use them as ministers, does he? No. So there's a significant difference.

He uses them for judgment, for punishment. Oh, there's a significant difference in that word then, isn't there? Big difference. Okay. Verse 5. Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Okay. So there, is he telling you that we do, we obey God, we obey God not just because we fear punishment, but we obey God because we love God? Right. And our conscience is twinged when we are not obedient. He's speaking to us through our conscience, turning us back to him. All right.

Now here you go to this next verse. Davy, you just jump in any time you want to comment. You guys are doing just fine there. All right. For this cause pay you tribute, for they are the ministers attending continuously upon this very thing. He's talking about legitimizing now.

Right. God's ministers. You lift up God. Well, here to the next verse explains what he's talking about. Render therefore to all their do's, tribute to whom tribute is due, to custom to whom custom is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due.

Oh, there's a big difference in those things. Custom to custom, yes, you call people certain names, act a certain way out of custom, but that's the big difference between honoring or giving tribute. What about to whom it's due?

Doing something out of fear. Okay. So if you give honor to people when honor is not due or custom to people who custom is not due or even tribute to people when it's not due, turn over to Proverbs 24.

24, yeah. Yeah, turn over to Proverbs 24 and we'll have Davey read because he wanted everybody out there to know he can read. Well, he wanted everybody to know that you're not just the smarter brother. I know.

We won't even get into that debate. Proverbs 24 what? Do you not know the pressure of being a hero to so many people for so long? Okay. Go 19 through 26. We have to work with him, Dave. You're just related. We have to work with him. I could tell you stories, but we won't go there right now. 19 through 26.

19 through 26. Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious of the wicked, for there shall be no reward to evil men. The candle of the wicked shall be put out. My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change, for their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? These things also being to the wise, it is not good to have respect to persons in judgment.

For he that saith to the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse. Okay. Your Bible here is a little bit worn on that page there. There we go. And you shouldn't put your notes over those words there.

Okay. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. Every man shall kiss the lips that gives the right answer. So he's making it very clear, fret not thyself because of wicked men. You know, it often seems like the wicked are prospering, and the wicked seems like they're prospering. And people say, why does God allow the wicked to prosper? Well, God says in his mercy, in his great mercy, he allows the wicked a little pleasure for a short season, because that's as good as it's going to get for them. When he says their candle goes out, he means there is not going to be any internal light for them in heaven, but they will be punished in hell.

Absolutely. And then he goes on to say, to verse 23, these things belong to the wise. He is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

In other words, you don't respect people that are not worthy of respect. He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse, and nations shall abhor him. In other words, what are the ways you say to the wicked that they're righteous is to vote for them, huh? If you vote that way. But to them that rebuke him, okay, to him that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

Let every man kiss the lips that giveth the right answer. So, he's telling you, let the people curse, he says here, he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse. That's not a good thing to have the people cursing you, right? We ought to be busy rebuking me, that's what we do, being watchmen on the wall. We are rebuking those wicked, evil leaders that lie, cheat, steal. But I want to back up on verse 21, meddle not with them that are given to change. It's the liberals, the communists, the socialists, whatever you want to call them, the Marxists, who always want to change. And we were a republic that was built on the rule of law, laws that do not change, which are God's laws, the Ten Commandments, the teaching, the New Testament. And what does the Antichrist side always want to do?

Change the law. They want to change everything. He started with marriage, the divine institution. The very first divine institution God gives us, they want to change it from what God gave us to something dirty. So, they don't have anything to do with these people that continually want to change, and that's what this nation has allowed, and that's what very few pastors, most of the pastors, are afraid to preach that. Yeah, there's been a real problem, a real dearth of courage in the pulpit, but anyhow, let's go to Proverbs 17, and Jim, or Dave, you read verse 15 in Proverbs 17. As I get over there, what I was thinking, isn't progressivism just by definition given to change? That's what it means to progress further and further from the foundation.

If you change, it never stops. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abominations to the Lord. All right, so here again, those that justify the wicked, I had, well, on more than one occasion, I've had people call in here, liberal apostate preachers, and one of them said, Pastor Sanders, now Brother Sanders, we know, and this is when Obama was in office, we know that you don't agree with Obama, but he's still your president, and you still have to show him respect. My answer was, first of all, no, he's not my president. I have much higher standards than that, okay, to have him as my president, and the Bible says it's a sin. It's a sin to give honor to a wicked man, so you need to rebuke them. We just read it, rebuke them. Right, so Joe, you read 23.

Okay, 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to perverse the ways of judgment. Now, who do you think, who does that, would that say? What wicked men do we know that are taking a lot of those gifts? Could it be Joe? That would be a start.

There's a whole long list. All right, well, let's go to Hunter. Read verse 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bear him. Do you think Hunter has been a real grief lately to his daddy?

Well, it depends on if daddy's staring at the money he made or at the potential problems to come. All you got to do is, all you have to do is listen to him when even the liberals are turning on him, even the fake news media now are going after him. Hang tight. We'll be back right after this. Last name whose broad stripes and bright stars through the. Oh, the ramparts we were so gallantly.

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave. Oh, the. No, I'll tell you what, do it right now.

Go ahead and do it right now. All righty. Yeah, what we had, we got a little bit of a mix up there. Joe, I know you wanted that for your favorite song to be played there by Pastor Majors. And that was the real story of the star spangled banner by Pastor Mike, my dear, dear friend, Pastor Doug Majors.

So Kyle is looking to put that up right now. And we're going to play that because it's got a good story in it. Then when we come back, we have a lot. If this doesn't bring tears to your eyes, you're not a patriot.

Yeah. And I want to say I am just thankful that we had that you. You were equal. I didn't expect you to be here with us tonight.

I didn't expect you to be. It looks like the Lord blessed you. And you had a very quick recoup there with your eyes, very quick. No problems.

Everything I healed much faster than everybody thought. Everything went just super well. Yeah. It was the story of the star spangled banner.

And Kyle there. So you could just look through there and see if we can find that one. Meanwhile, I'm going to, before we get to that, I'm going to read a little article here by this fellow. Do you remember a guy named Alexis de Tocqueville? He wrote this, Joe.

Well, here's what he wrote. Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they were, they reigned, they reigned in coming over the same country. De Tocqueville continued the American combined notions of Christianity and liberty so intensely in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other. They brought with them into the new world a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by style. It is a democratic and republican religion. In book two of the Democracy in America, de Tocqueville wrote, Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America.

In the United States, Christianity itself is a fact so irresistibly established that there is no one undertakes either attack or defendant. And now, here is the story of the Star Spangled Banner. Music There once was a lawyer whose name was Francis Scott Key.

He penned a song that I'm sure that we're all aware of. It's in our hymnals in most of our churches and we call it our national anthem. It is our song, but as Americans we go to the ball game and stand when we sing it. We stand in our church service and sing the words, but often they just float over our minds and out of our lips.

And we don't really realize the words that we're singing, mainly because most of us have memorized it as a child. But let me tell you the story. You see, Francis Scott Key was a lawyer in Baltimore, and the colonies were engaged in a vicious conflict with mother country Britain. Because of this conflict and the length of it, they had accumulated prisoners on both sides. Finally, the American government initiated a move. They went to the British and said, let us negotiate for the release of these prisoners.

The British were holding the American prisoners in boats about a thousand yards offshore. And the American said, we just want to send a man by the name of Francis Scott Key to come out and discuss and see if we can't make a mutual exchange. Well, on the appointed day, he got in a rowboat and went out to the boats. And sure enough, he negotiated with the British and they did indeed reach an agreement that each man could be exchanged one for one. Francis Scott Key was jubilant with the fact that he was successful and he went below and he found the entire whole of the boat full of healing prisoners. He said, men, I've got good news for you. Today you are free. Today I have negotiated successfully for your return to the colonies. You'll be taken out of this filth, out of this boat. You'll be taken out of your chains.

And then he went back up on deck to arrange for their passage back to the shore. And the admiral of the British Navy came over and said, Mr. Key, we have a slight problem. We, of course, will honor our commitment to release these men, but it will be merely academic.

You see, after tonight, it will not matter. Why, Francis Scott Key asked, the admiral said tonight, we have laid an ultimatum upon the colonies. Your people will either agree to lay down their collars of that flag. Or, you see that fort over there, Fort McHenry? He said, we are about to fire upon it until it is in total ruins. Francis Scott Key said, how are you going to do that? The admiral answered, just scan the horizon.

As Francis Scott Key looked around, he could see hundreds of little dots on the ocean. And the admiral said, that is the entire British war fleet. All the gun power and all the armament is being called in to demolish that fort.

It will be here in a couple of hours. The war is over and these men will be free anyhow. Key says, wait a minute, you can't shell that fort.

It's full of women and children. He said, it's predominantly not even a military fort. The admiral replied, well don't worry about it, we've left them a way of escape. You see that flag waving up on the rampart? We told them if they will lower that flag, the shelling will stop immediately.

Then we will know that they have surrendered and they will be under the British rule at that time. Well, Francis Scott Key went below and he told the men what was about to happen. They asked, well how many ships are there?

He said, hundreds. As he watched from the deck, he could see the ships getting closer. And he told the prisoners as he went back up on the deck of the ship, I'll continue to shout down and let you know what's happening.

Well, twilight began to fall and as haze began to fall over the ocean as it does at sunset, the British warships began to unleash their cannons. The sound was absolutely deafening. There were so many guns that there was absolutely no space of silence between the firing.

And it was impossible to talk or to hear all the while from below. The only thing that Francis Scott Key could hear was the prisoners saying, tell us where the flag is. What have they done with the flag? Is it still flying over the rampart?

One hour, two hours, three hours. And to the shelling, every time the bomb exploded close to the flag, Key could see the flag through the illuminated red glare of that bomb. And he would shout down to the men, the flag is still there, it's still standing tall. Then the admiral came by and said, your people are insane.

What's the matter with them? Don't they understand that this is an impossible situation for them? Key said as he remembered what George Washington had said, the thing that sets the American apart from other people in the world is that the American will die on his feet before he'll live on his knees. The admiral said, we have now instructed all ships to focus on that rampart and to take that flag down. He said, we don't understand something, though. Our reconnaissance tells us that that flag has been hit directly again and again and again, and yet it still stands.

We don't understand how. But he said, now we are going to bring every gun for the next three hours to bear on that point. And Key said the barrage was unmerciful and all he could hear was the men below praying, God, keep that flag flying where we last saw it. Well, sunrise came and there was a heaviness hanging over the land, but the rampart was strong and there stood the flag, completely stripped into shreds. The pole itself was in a crazy angle, but the flag was still at the top.

Francis Scott Key went ashore and immediately went to Fort McHenry to see what had happened. What he found was that the flag pole and the flag truly had suffered numerous direct hits. And when it had begun to fall, the men, the fathers, the brothers, the husbands, who knew what it meant for that flag to stand, and knowing all the time that the British guns were trained directly on it, would run over and humanly hold that flag pole up.

And when they died, their bodies were removed and the next wave of men would run in to take their place. Francis Scott Key said what held that flag pole in place at that unusual angle were the patriots' bodies. And then he sat down and he began to write the song, Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in the air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Over the land of the free and the home of the brave It is our prayer that God would bless richly each one of the veterans who has truly made this the land of the free and the home of the brave. On July 4, 1776, there was signed in the city of Philadelphia one of America's historic documents, the Declaration of Independence. It marked the birth of this nation, which under God was destined for world leadership. We often forget that in declaring independence from earthly power, our forefathers made forthright declaration of dependence upon Almighty God.

The closing words of this document solemnly declare, With a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortune, our sacred honor. The fifty-six courageous men who signed that document understood that this was not just high-sounding rhetoric. They knew that if they succeeded, the best they could expect would be years of hardship and a struggling new nation. If they lost, they would face the hangman's noose as traitors. Of the fifty-six, few were long to survive. Five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes from Rhode Island to Charleston sacked, looted, occupied by the enemy, or burned. Two lost their sons in the army. One had two sons captured.

Nine of the fifty-six died in the war from hardships or from its bullets. Whatever ideas you have of the men who met this hot summer in Philadelphia, it is important that we remember certain facts about the men who made this pledge. They were not poor men or wild-eyed pirates.

They were men of means, rich men, most of them who enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal lives, not hungry men, but prosperous men, wealthy landowners, substantially secure in their prosperity and respected in their communities. But they considered liberty much more important than the security they enjoyed, and they pledged their lives and their fortune in their sacred honor. They fulfilled that pledge. They paid the price, and freedom was won. Someone has said, to be born free is a privilege. To die free is an awesome responsibility. Yet freedom is never free.

It has always been purchased at great cost. Little did John Adams know how significant his words would be when he spoke to his wife Abigail on the passing of the Declaration of Independence and declared, I am well aware of the toil and the blood and the treasure that it will cost to maintain the Declaration and to support and defend these states. Yet through all of the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see the end is worth more than all the means. To those who sacrifice for our freedom, the end is worth the painful means. Where would we be, United States citizens, be today, had it not been for those who counted the cost of freedom and willingly paid for it? Where will we be tomorrow if men and women of integrity do not come forward today and pay the price to reclaim a dying America? Alex de Tocqueville predicted how Americans would lose their freedom.

He said, I had noted in my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to the American model could lay itself open to the establishment of a depathism and unusual ease. It would debase men without tormenting them. Men all alike and equal turn in upon themselves as a restless search for those petty, vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls.

Above these men stands an immense and protective power. It refers to its citizens to enjoy themselves, provided that they have only enjoyment in mind. It restricts the activity of free will within a narrow range and gradually removes autonomy itself from each citizen. Thus, the ruling power, having taken each citizen one by one into its powerful grasp, spreads its arms over the whole of society, covering the surface of a social life with a network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules.

It does not break men's wills, but it does often soften and control them. It constantly opposes what actions they perform. It inhabits, it represses, it drains, it snuffs out, it dulls so much effort that finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a flock of timid and hardworking animals with a government as its shepherd, a single protective and all-powerful government, yes.

Individual intervention is suppressed. It is the details that we run the risk of enslaving men. And, Joe, you had an article. I've got several things. Is there time to explain what happened to some of the founders during the war?

You've got five minutes, yeah, before break. Francis Lewis, New York, saw his home plundered, his estates, Harlem, destroyed. Mrs. Lewis captured, treated with great brutality so bad that she died from her abuse. William Floyd, New York, escaped with wife and children where they lived as refugees without income for seven years.

When they came home, everything was ruined. Philip Livingston, great holdings, his family driven out. He died poor working for the cause.

Lewis Morse, same thing, saw his timber crops taken. He was barred from his home and family seven years. John Trenton came home and his wife was on her deathbed. He was being chased all over the country by soldiers.

He was 65 years old, slip in caves, hunted across the countryside. When at last he was able to sneak home, he found his wife buried, 13 children taken away. Never saw them again, no one ever knew what happened to the children.

Judge Richard Stockton, he was a New Jersey signer. He came to try to evacuate wife and children. His family found refuge, but they came and found him, pulled him from bed. He was beaten badly, thrown into jail, starved. He was beaten so badly that he was finally released as a mumbling idiot, invalid. When he was set free, his estate was looted, family lived off charity. Robert Morris was the merchant prince. He's the one who made and raised the arms and provisions for Washington across the Delaware.

He lost 150 ships, bled his fortune and credit totally dry, on and on and on. And finally, Thomas Nelson, signer, was at the front command of the Virginia military forces. They captured his two sons.

Well, no, that's the other guy, this guy they found. He came and they were fighting, and the military was not firing on his palatial home. And he turned and raged to the American gunners. Why are you sparing my home?

Well, he said, sir, out of respect. And Nelson cried, give me the cannon, fired the cannon himself on his magnificent home, destroying it. He had raised $2 million for the revolution by pledging his own estate, which he destroyed, his main one. When the loan came due, a peacetime Congress didn't honor the loan. His property was all forfeited. He was never reimbursed.

At first, he died impoverished at the age of 50. And finally, Abraham Clark gave two sons to the officer corps in the Army. They were captured, sent to the infamous British Hulk prison ship called the Hell Ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives died.

More died than that ship in combat, almost twice as many. The youngsters were treated with great brutality because of their father, put in solitary, starved. At the end of the war, no one could have blamed him when the British offered to let his son live if he would recant and come out for king in Parliament. The despair when he answered, no. And, of course, you know what happened to the two sons when he said no. This was the cost.

I missed a few. George Clymer, Benjamin Rush, some others, George Walton, many others. But those were some of the most severe. That, folks, was the cost of freedom. We have people today who won't even stand up and speak, won't even reprove or rebuke the evil they see, let alone when it says we pledge our sacred honor, everything that they pledged. They backed it up with their lives, their blood and their fortunes. We can't even speak today, hardly. What a pity, huh? All too often we look at that marvelous document and we look at all those names signed under there and we think little about it. But each and every one of those men knew very well that should their noble cause fail, they were indeed signing their own death certificates. Well, we leave.

This is a day right now. God has raised us up. The very fact that we're here alive today means God has raised us for this time to take America back for God, the way He gave it to us.

One nation under God. We'll be right back after this. Don't go away. Thank you for listening to What's Right, What's Left, the voice of the Christian resistance. To support this ministry, head to WRWL.org. That's WRWL.org. Mail your donations to What's Right, What's Left Ministries, 14781 Speary Road, Newberry, Ohio, 44065. If you missed part of tonight's program, you can check out the podcast at thewordcleveland.com. Once again, thank you for listening and supporting What's Right, What's Left Ministries, the voice of the Christian resistance. Stay tuned. The second hour is coming up next.