As we celebrate our 250th birthday anniversary of the United States of America, we truly have much to be thankful for as still “One nation under God.” The label from the national anthem of us as The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is acknowledged world-wide. This is why millions want to illegally come live here. This is what those of us who are native-born relate to our status. This is also something that can be deceiving about as we automatically think that just because we are Americans, we are free.
I often observe the difference in receipt of the gospel between the USA and other countries that have reputations of “un-free” or maybe a democracy, but not known to be a nation under God. The Religious Landscape Study conducted by the Pew Research Center indicated that by the end of 2024, a decline in U.S. adult identification as Christian had steadily gone down from 78 percent in 2007 to leveling off at 60 percent in 2024. At the same time, we see church participation stay very limited since Covid, and a Cancel-Culture and outright Christian -bashing in a recent presidential regime.
The growth of the gospel in other countries shows growth to 2 million in Iran, a status of one of the fastest expanding religious movements in China, and an accelerated pace of growth in Africa. Thewitness.org describes the growth in Africa as representative of why the difference in the embracing of the Gospel in these freedom-challenged countries compared to the attitude of Americans to take freedom for granted. This site notes the realization that the gospel offers hope and meaning in life where there has been none. It also serves the whole person such as with social services – versus relegating that to big brother government as in the U.S.
How does the impact of the gospel relate to the celebration of freedom? Embracing the heart of the gospel gives real and true freedom to an individual through the person of Jesus Christ – a freedom that is eternal and complete. Putting one’s sense of life freedom in the egg basket of a country is a set up for that freedom being broken or lost.
I pray that on July 4, 2026, each of us rejoices in God’s blessing of living in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and do all we can to keep that. I pray even more that we trust our real life freedom to the true source of that in Jesus who said in John 10:10 that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
