Author, speaker and conservative radio host Eric Metaxas says if they don’t want to lose the religious freedom they have had in America since its founding, believers, now more than ever, most speak boldly for the truth of Jesus Christ.
Speaking recently at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church in California, Metaxas told Pastor Jack Hibbs’ congregation that we must protect this precious freedom in a culture that proudly celebrates wickedness and could slowly—and subtly—be moving in a direction where religious liberty could disappear.
“There are reasons why people are fighting to come here because our culture, right now, is very abnormal,” Metaxas says. “How bad can socialism be? It can be very bad. We need to speak up very loudly and courageously against this. My parents taught me about this because they actually lived it.
“If you are from one of those places, you don’t need a tutorial on the evils of communism or socialism or government control,” he says. “You know that it is the enemy of freedom and it will crush you. It has no respect for you as a human being. Communism also, by definition, is atheism.
“I’m not trying to put down atheists, because this is a free country,” Metaxas says. “You don’t have to believe in God to live here, but the atheist mentality says there is no God. The state has the power, and you have no rights. Where do you get your rights from? From God, right? We need to understand that.
“For the first time, we are facing this possibility,” Metaxas says. “If we don’t act or speak now, we will drift toward that. Sinful humanity drifts toward that type of thing. It is evil, and it is the antithesis of the blessing of freedom. Freedom is a gift from God. He wants us to be free, so we can serve him and preach the gospel. He wants us to be free to make a lot of money, so we can give it to the people who are struggling and suffering. God wants to use us so that we can be a blessing to other people. … The ideas that we have been bequeathed by God through our founders have enabled us to send the gospel throughout the world. Jesus asked us to be a shining city on a hill. As the church, we are supposed to exist for others.”
For more of Metaxas’ thoughts on American freedoms, watch this video, beginning at the 19:00 mark. {eoa}
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