U.S. Senate Chaplain: True Freedom Comes from God

Mon, Jul. 04 2011
 By Ariel R. Rey
Christian Post Contributor

Rear Admiral Barry C. Black, the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate, reflected on the true meaning of Independence Day and asked if Americans are “free indeed” during a Sunday sermon.

Black began his sermon by recalling that on July 4, 1776, America declared freedom from Great Britain and democracy was born. As a result, Americans had the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of petition.

Yet “in spite of the marvelous freedom we have in this great land, there is still slavery in America because people are enslaved by sin, and the word of God declares if you are addicted to sin you are a slave of sin,” said Black in an In Touch Ministries special Independence Day program.

By recognizing that sin still enslaves us and that although we may be socially free we are not spiritually free, Independence Day “is not just a declaration of something that just happened centuries ago, but something that has happened in the here and the now,” he said.
 the rest image by Marc Nozell

He concluded his sermon by summarizing, “Start your discipleship with belief in Jesus. Abide in his word. Don’t be ignorant of your bondage. Avoid false freedom. And come to know him … for if the son has set you free, every day is Independence Day for you, [and you] are free indeed.”