Wow! Pastor C.L. Bryant is calling Americans who are black to reconsider what he views as a commitment to a modern form of slavery known as government dependency.

Call it political. Call it courageous. Call it gripping.  It is all of that and more.  Above all, it’s truth.

While Pastor Bryant is speaking directly to blacks, he is doing a service to all Americans by shining light on the darkness of collectivism.

When a culture begins to depend on government …

… to care for the sick and elderly
… to provide for the poor
… to teach our children right and wrong
… to determine what beliefs are acceptable and which are not
… to manage the size of population
… to decide how much success is appropriate for each person
… to ensure equality of outcome

…well, when we allow the government to make these determinations, to take these actions and to control these decisions — we become worse people.  It discourages excellence and benevolence. It makes personal responsibility meaningless.  It deteriorates personal character.  Ultimately, it transitions the central unit of society from the family and to the state.

Why should I care for my neighbor? The government will do it for me.  Or at least, they’ll do it in a manner they see fit.

Why should I take risks and aspire to reach great heights? I will be rewarded in the same manner as anyone else.

Can I teach my children about my faith, my beliefs, my values…? As long as they don’t conflict with what the government tells me is ok.

In a government-led quest for fairness and social justice: our liberty is placed on the altar of sacrifice.  The size of government is nearly always at odds with the liberty of its citizens.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

The bigger the government, the smaller the freedom of thought.

The smaller the religion.

The smaller the family.

The smaller the innovation.

The smaller the civil rights.

The smaller the passion.

The smaller the arts… and it goes on and on.

When we yield our rights and responsibilities to the state, it is then that the cultural deterioration begins.

It is this unique focus on liberty that has given the United States a singular place in history.  It is a country founded in principles and values that provide hope and opportunity to people around the world.  It isn’t that there aren’t great places to live all over the world — and it certainly isn’t that America is in any way perfect — but it is the values that shaped American society that embody the hope and opportunity that people around the world yearn for.

If you look at the most prosperous, safe, tolerant, harmonious societies around the world you will see that they more closely embrace these same types of values. The further you get from a society focussed on liberty and move towards so-called equality … the more you find oppression, poverty, social-class resentment, multiculturalism, etc.

I’m not an idealist.  I don’t believe the United States Constitution, capitalism, democracy and the melting-pot society are flawless.  But liberty allows for these flaws to exist — and liberty allows a society to resolve these flaws how it sees fit.

The more we depend on government to be the answer, the more we embrace personal irresponsibility.  We turn over our responsibility to care for ourselves, our responsibility to care for our family, our responsibility to care for our neighbors.

It is these responsibilities that make us better people. And better people make better societies… and better governments.

More girls are killed every year in India and China than are born in the United States. This is an unbelievable genocide.

What can be done?  How do we protect these girls?  How do we prevent this from happening elsewhere?  These are all big questions that I don’t know how to solve.  However, these types of things happen when governments are allowed or force themselves on the lives of citizens.

As Dennis Prager says, “The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.”    Add to that, the bigger the government, the smaller the church.  The bigger the government, the smaller our liberty.  The bigger the government, the more likely a society is to create laws that abort baby girls.

Show me how I’m wrong about this.

One more rant about this video…

There’s a trend amongst the enlightened elite to speak self-confidently about how “Jesus wasn’t a Republican”. These people need to get over themselves. Jesus wasn’t a lot of things. 

There is no good reason to make such a statement other than an attempt to inject personal politics into a conversation it needn’t be. Jesus wasn’t a politician. He wasn’t a pastor. He didn’t write books.  And he certainly didn’t shoot videos for YouTube.

Jesus didn’t go to Bible church, wasn’t part of a ‘home team”, didn’t get married and didn’t have kids. He didn’t like hypocrites, didn’t like faith without obedience and spent his time with people from every walk of life .

Why does anyone feel compelled to pronounce that Jesus was not a Republican?  Outside the imaginations of those who fret over conservative politics, where exactly is this a widespread belief? Answer: “Jesus was a republican” is not a widespread belief. Time to move on to matters of actual significance.

Bottom line: the only reason to (ignorantly) pronounce Jesus’ political persuasions is to get a personal dig in on a group you don’t like.

Jesus was a carpenter. He is the savior of the world. If that’s the story you are telling, resist the impulse to show people your political enlightenment during story time.

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
- Ronald Reagan