The Fourth of July is many things to many people.
For some, it arouses the memory of grilled hamburgers, American flags, and the delightful odor of flash powder mingled with calcium chloride, saltpeter and sodium nitrate (fireworks for non-pyro-enthusiasts). But for most of us, it reminds us of the founding of a new country where the human impulses of freedom and religious liberty gathered together. And they stayed together for a couple centuries.
The era that went from British world dominance to American world dominance was very much a peaceful handover, probably the most peaceful one in history.
American Innovation
For almost 6000 years, when people wanted to travel, they rode a horse or took a boat. When America came into existence—along with the concept of being rewarded for your own innovation—inventions began popping up everywhere. The McCormick reaper, the automobile, the typewriter, the personal computer, and the airplane all solved certain problems for humanity. In America, there was no robber Baron or King to take from you the benefits of your invention. Thus it was here that innovation flourished.
American Religious Freedom
America was unique, also providing shelter for the persecuted woman of Revelation 12. It was from America that the missionary enterprises of the 19th century went forth. America was incredibly generous, the first to step in when other nations experienced hardship. Our military might could have easily led us to conquer and occupy most the world, but the values we were formed with prevented us from doing so.
America Attacked From Within
I don’t like to be alarmist, but we now have a significant portion of Americans who do not believe in the founding ideals of the country. For decades, America’s children have been—like sponges—soaking up critical theory, cultural Marxism and worldly values through books, entertainment and college. What has happened in America for two generations now is that people have been taught that their country is uniquely bad—it is irredeemable. This kind of revisionism is also coming into the Seventh-day Adventist church, in certain circles.
When this country, who leads the world in terms of abolishing slavery, began to be interpreted only in the terms of slavery, this was a tremendous historical disservice and abdication of fairness and reality.
If anyone says that the history of America is only slavery and racism, they do not wish America well. They should not be listened to. They should be pushed back against. If they say there are elements in our past that should be acknowledged and addressed then I say “Absolutely.” If they say “America is one of the most tolerant cultures in the world, but there are a few things that should be addressed” then I say “Absolutely.” I am ready to listen.
Ironically, most of these SJW loathers of America are headed for a moral dilemma of their own creation, as an SJW believes that government is mostly good; how will SDA SJW’s respond when the Sunday Law is enforced?
Holiday Replacement Theology
The conquest of America is almost complete. How did it happen? The takeover has been gradual but inexorable, and progressing across many fronts for some time. One front, not the most important, but one that affects everybody, so it’s effectiveness is guaranteed, is the replacement of our traditional holidays.
The pattern should be clear enough by now. Juneteenth is just the latest example. For the cancellation to be effective requires two things: 1) a substitute celebration that philosophically undermines the traditional American celebration. 2) this new celebration must happen earlier to give time to reeducate people, especially young people, about the substitute, ideally a few days to a few weeks before the traditional holiday.
Juneteenth fits these criteria perfectly. 1) It reeducates people to celebrate the real end of slavery—not the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 or the Emancipation Proclamation. 2) Now we celebrate a few days earlier, on June 19, how slavery persisted for nearly 100 years and how American history is really characterized not by freedom but by slavery, 1619 when slavery was introduced being the date that best symbolizes the foundation on which America was built.
“It is worth knowing about the French revolution. Why? Because that revolution began with pulling down statues and then moved on to pulling down people. And if you tell someone you’re against pulling down statues they say “So you’re in favor of slavery?” That is unbelievably ignorant of history..”
Perhaps the earliest effort at holiday replacement and pre-celebration was the decision by Congress to move some holidays to Monday, notably eliminating Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays and replacing them with the plain vanilla sounding President’s Day. But that wasn’t enough. A pre-celebration was needed so MLK day was added.
Similarly, women’s celebration month has canceled Mother’s Day and pride month has canceled Father’s Day. Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas has been replaced by Happy Holidays which glides easily over the traditional religious holidays to celebrate New Year’s Day, not unlike how the Soviet Union canceled Christmas a century ago, replacing the Christmas tree with a New Year’s tree.
Through all these pre-celebrations the philosophical foundations of American history and our ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are progressively being erased, defaced, and destroyed and being replaced by new foundations that subtly revise our history, radicalize our heritage, and tyrannize dissent.
What can be done to prevent further erosion of our heritage? We begin by recognizing what has been happening and resisting any further steps to replace and re-celebrate our holidays. Also we must not be afraid to openly celebrate our traditional holidays and loudly proclaim their deep and profound meaning for us as Americans.
Walk with the King, and be a blessing!