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Hey everybody, happy Sunday. It is Independence Day weekend and it's my message to you about our birth certificate and how the Bible is in the Declaration of Independence. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com. Subscribe to our podcast and get involved with Turning Point USA at tpusa.com. That is tpusa.com. As always, you can become a member, members.charliekirk.com. That is members.charliekirk.com. Buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what are
you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here.
Thank you. Thank you. Please take a seat.
Lots to cover today. Thank you, Tommy. After a greeting like that, I'm good. I could just... By the way, how was that debate this last week? That was something. I thought Biden did great. All right, that's all I'm going to say about that. All the rest speaks for itself, as you would say, right? You're all smart people. You can see what I see. We need God.
Right. Oh my goodness. All right. So this is a big week. And I was texting with Pastor Luke a couple months ago. And I said, hey, I felt bad last year. I was supposed to actually give this speech last July 4th weekend, last Independence Day weekend. And I said, I want to kind of come back and if I can on Independence Day weekend. He said, absolutely. And this is a very profound time in our country's history. And
It makes sense for us to take a pause and get back to our roots and the foundational elements of who we are as a country. And what we are going to do today is we are going to read our country's birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence. We are going to read our birth certificate and then I'm going to show you
The scripture that our founders believed when they put it into our birth certificate. Then we're going to talk about some other parts of the word of God that speak to this. Now it's important to understand the context before we get into the Declaration of Independence and what led to this. That was really written on July 1st or July 2nd. It was finally published on July 4th. John Adams, who had a lot of sway...
They were in a big room. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Madison. They said, so who's going to write this complaint to King George? And John Adams said, that Thomas Jefferson guy, he's a good writer. Now he wrote a bunch of pamphlets and he wrote a bunch of booklets. He was a very gifted young man. He was in his late 20s when he wrote this. To give you some idea. In his late 20s when he wrote this. And understand the first and foremost audience. This was a letter written
To the king of England. King George. The most powerful man on the planet. The most powerful person that was able with a snap of a finger. Invade a country. They said the sun never sets on the British Empire. He is as powerful as it gets. The known world was controlled by this guy. And this was a telegram. A message if you will. That took months to get to him eventually. Because he had to cross the sea. And declaring independence from King George.
Now, in order to do this, you had to have a very, very good reason. So they appoint Thomas Jefferson. They say, hey, you know, cook up some ideas here. And our birth certificate, this letter to King George is one of the most beautiful documents written in human history.
If we look at history and we say important moments and important events, obviously Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1.26 and 1.27, and human beings are made in his image. The Exodus story, which we'll talk about today. Moses on Mount Sinai when he gets the Ten Commandments. The incarnation when Jesus Christ took flesh. The resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I believe that July 4th, 1776 was the most important moment in human history after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's how important July 4th, 1776 is. Now, why is that? It's because it took...
The truths of the scriptures. What it says about what a human being is. What freedom is. What liberty is. How government should operate it. It took all those truths and put them into practice. You see before July 4th 1776. There was not a single example of government. That made the arguments that was in this document. And so in the birth certificate. Thomas Jefferson writes. When in the course of human events. Let's stop right there.
That is an eternal message. That isn't just saying, hey, things aren't so great here. Thomas Jefferson and the founders are starting as broad as one can possibly start. Basically saying what we are about to write will be applicable in 1876, 1976, and 2024. That what we are about to write is always going to be true.
This is talking about a never-ending truth claim. And only the Bible speaks to such truths. One of the course of human events, it becomes necessary. That's so important. Not that it's a good idea. Not that maybe you should. But necessary. What Thomas Jefferson is saying is that you as a human being...
have a necessary need to live in freedom and not in slavery, to live in a state of self-government, not under a tyrant, a king, or a pharaoh, which we'll get to soon.
It becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them. Let me go back. Dissolve the political bands which connect them with another. Who wants to see some dissolving of political bands right now? I think that's a good idea. Just as true today as it was in 1776. But the laws of nature and nature's God.
He didn't say the laws of nature and nature science. He didn't say the laws of nature or reason. He didn't say the laws of nature and Anthony Fauci. You see, there are two things that every single founding father believed.
There is a God and we are not him. There is a God and we are not him. Now you might say, well, that's rather obvious. How many of our current elected leaders in Washington, D.C. believe that there is a God and we are not him? If you can pass those two tests, we have a lot more in common
than not in common. In fact, I believe the divide in America is between those of us that believe there is a God and we are not him and those who do not believe that there is a God and that they are him. In fact, if you believe that there is a God and you are not him,
You all of a sudden do not believe in the insanity that men can give birth. You don't try to turn human beings in this transhumanist project. You don't try to experiment on us. Instead, you have the humility that there is a God and Jesus is on his throne. You see, the laws of nature and nature's God, what Thomas Jefferson and the founders are saying is, hey, King George, you're actually not in charge.
Oh, and it gets even more provocative. You see, you understand prior to this, no one had ever challenged the King of England. Sure, us Scots are always, you know, rebelling against rebellious tyrants, but we weren't that eloquent. We had William Wallace screaming to the sky like, this was a thoughtful, deep, theological, and philosophical rebuke of monarchy.
You understand that before Thomas Jefferson and the founders wrote this, inspired by the scriptures, based on the scriptures, there was always one commonality of government. Every single government, one form or fashion, with the exception of maybe Athenian democracy for a short period of time, was that there were a bunch of subjects and one ruler. A bunch of subjects and one ruler. A bunch of subjects and one ruler. The founders said, what if we make...
A bunch of rulers and a couple people that are subservient to the rulers. What if the people are the rulers? Never happened before. You see, it continues. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.
Continues by saying we hold these truths. Let me stop right there. The founding fathers believed that there is the truth. Not as the college kids would say, well my truth or my truth is this. That there is one truth. That there is one way. And they believed that to be Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. You see...
There is a fair amount of revisionism where people say, oh, the founding fathers weren't even Christians. You know that 55 out of 56 of the founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence were Bible-believing, church-attending Christians. 55 out of 56.
They believe that Jesus was Lord and out of that belief, we got this form and structure of government. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Now let me stop there. That was a raging insult to King George. We hold these truths to be self-evident, but you don't get it? You see, we can use our reason to know in a self-evidentiary way that the moral right of government is not how we've been living. And then here comes the kicker.
The one, two, three, four, five, six words that changed humanity. And you cannot get these six words in a test tube. You cannot get these six words through a math equation. You cannot get these six words by using the scientific method.
Of the entire declaration, these six words are what separates America from the third world. What separates our promise of government from every other promise of government. That all men are created equal. Period. Now, where would one get an idea like that? Because we all have different talents and skills. We might look different. Some of us are tall. Some of us are short. Some of us are fit. Some of us are not so fit.
Some of us are good at sports. Some of us are not. Because they did not mean that we have equal blessings from the Lord. But they believe what Genesis 1.26 and 1.27 says clearly. And what it says later in the New Testament. Which is first, that we are all the same type of thing. That every human being has a soul.
The idea of human equality is that King George, you don't get to rule over us unless we give you permission because we're all equal. You're a human being the same way we are. How many of you grew up hearing from a parent, oh, they put on their pants one leg at a time just like you? That is, by the way, it's a beautiful thing to teach a kid because that's essentially saying the human equality truism in a different way.
You know, they have to go to sleep at night just like you do. They have to brush their teeth just like you do. They're the same type of thing. They're not an angel. They don't have supernatural powers. When they say that all men are created equal, as it says in the New Testament, by the way, neither slave nor Greek nor Jew, but we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are all one under the family of God.
That God does not look at us as our differences, but he looks at us in just one of two ways. Are you saved or are you unsaved? Those are the only distinctions that God cares about when we get into the afterlife. Are you saved or are you unsaved? All men are created equal. Now let's play this out. If all men are created equal, then all of a sudden the form of government that you then institute is a lot different if you believe that some people are better than others. If I were to now apply it to today...
Our current leadership class in Washington, D.C. does not believe that you are equal to them. They believe they are smarter than you. They believe they are wiser than you. They believe that they should remain more powerful than you. They believe they should get to pick who the president is. They believe that they should pick how you live your life. The founders disagree. All men are created equal. And then here is the kicker. That they are endowed by their capital C creator.
with certain unalienable rights. Let's talk about rights. You see, we talk a lot about the Bill of Rights, the right to free speech and religious assembly that we are able to have here, the Second Amendment, which I love the Second Amendment, by the way. I could do a whole sermon on the biblical basis of the Second Amendment. And by the way, there is no First Amendment without the Second Amendment, just so we are clear.
The third amendment, that you can't put soldiers and quarter them into your home without permission. The fourth amendment, the government can't spy on you without permission. They violate that a lot. The fifth amendment, that you have the right not to self-incriminate yourself in the trial. Sixth amendment and seventh amendment, eighth amendment, jury of your peers, jurisdiction of...
that is fair in choosing, a quick and speedy trial. The Ninth Amendment, that anything that is not outlined in the Constitution does not mean that necessarily those rights are not articulated within. And the Tenth Amendment, that all things that are not articulated are left to the states and the people. We're big on rights in this country. Everyone wants to talk about, well, I have a right to health care. I have a right to speak my mind. I have a right to an abortion. Now, everyone likes to talk about rights, but you cannot have rights without responsibility.
It is a two-sided coin. If you are big into rights, then you must be challenged. Are you willing to now take responsibility? Responsibility? We are a rights-obsessed and a rights-preoccupied society with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I'm going to talk about liberty in just a second. But here's the kicker, that to secure these rights...
You see, then Thomas Jefferson continues, governments are instituted among men, deriving from their powers from what? The consent of the governed. Right here, without them even realizing it, they were telling you what the Constitution was going to look like. The Declaration and the Constitution are not at odds with one another. They are keys that fit perfectly, like hand and glove.
That the deriving from their powers, the consent of the governed, that the sovereign in this country is within the people, not within unelected leadership class. Let's go back to liberty. Now, liberty is thrown around a lot in this country. I have a right to this. I have a right to that. How did the founders understand liberty? You see, I visit college campuses, so you don't have to. And when I visit these college campuses, I get in a lot of fun debates, would you say? Yeah.
And by the way, one member of my team comes up to me. I can't stand that we're on TikTok, but I guess it works. And they say we have like 60 million views a week on TikTok. I said, wow, I don't even know what to think of that. So anyway, when I talk to some of these individuals on campuses and they have tons of confidence and no wisdom. And so they'll commonly ask, they will say, they'll say, I want liberty. And I say, define liberty. And they'll say, the ability to do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it.
Okay, well, in Galatians 5.13, for you were called to liberty, brothers, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but instead to love and serve one another. You see, there is a difference between liberty and license, liberty and indulgence. Liberty is the ability to pursue what one ought to do.
Liberty is not having drag queen story hour in front of eight-year-olds. Liberty is not marijuana clinics on every corner. Liberty is not prostitution made legal. That is license. You know what liberty is? The ability to homeschool your kid without the government getting in the way. Liberty is the ability to say the church will never be deemed not essential again if they try to lock us down.
Liberty is about the higher things in life, not the lower things in life. You see, liberty is what makes America different than any other country. Dennis Prager famously says that, of course, in Christianity, we have the Trinity, God the Father, Holy Spirit, and the Son. Do you know that America has a Trinity as well? It's on every single coin. It's in God we trust, e pluribus unum, and liberty. Let's go one at a time. In God we trust.
Are we still a nation that trusts God? If one of, this room is, but I don't know if the country is, if one of those components fail to exist, the Trinity will then fall apart. Liberty, we're talking about that. And then e pluribus unum, which is the Latin phrase out of many one.
E Pluribus Unum, by the way, is the same thing as saying that all men are created equal. Out of many, we are one person. It does not matter if you are black or Hispanic or white. We are one human species. America was founded on that ideal and they're doing their best to try to destroy it. You see, within this birth certificate, they were chartering our path forward.
Now the scriptures are very clear about what it takes to be free and what happens when people no longer want to live in a state of liberty. You cannot be free and you cannot continue to keep liberty going without a memory of the sacrifices of what came before you. I'm going to prove that in the Bible for just one second, but just so you understand, this birth certificate is
that we celebrate with hot dogs, fireworks, and some of you with other adult beverages. They thought they were signing their death certificate. They knew that when signing this document, as soon as it got publicized, the King of England, King George says, find them all, hunt them down, hang them publicly, and make a spectacle of them. This was one of the greatest risks in the history of self-government. This could have been a massacre.
But these men feared God more than King George. So they signed this thinking, and by the way, you know, almost every single one of these founding fathers lost their family farms burned to the ground. They had their treasures taken from them. Some of them had their kids kidnapped from them. I want you just to think about that. You get to now live in a beautiful country that's increasingly less beautiful and less free because of the sacrifices of generations prior.
And I just have to take a pause. I get some people that say, I'm too busy to go and vote. Get over yourself, honestly. I'm asking you to fill in a piece of paper, not sign your death certificate to the King of George. But as we forget that sacrifice, you cease to be free. Let's go to my favorite book of the Bible, Exodus. I didn't do this morning, Tommy. So this is a little bit of new stuff.
So for those of you that know the Genesis story, Genesis 50, one of the best parts, by the way, I love, for such a time as this, Genesis 50, 20 is a great, great verse, which is the story of Joseph and he's about to die. And
This is just so good for those of you that say they're throwing so much evil and so much nonsense at us. Genesis 50, 20. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done. I love that. The enemy meant it for evil. God will use it for good. So Joseph dies. What is the story of Joseph? He was thrown into a ditch, sold into slavery, went to Egypt. But more importantly, he was a vessel for God and he saved Egypt from famine.
Egypt was going to die. Egypt was going to suffer. Because of Joseph being an intermediary through his dreams of God's purpose, Egypt was not completely wiped out. So Egypt was only able to exist because of Joseph. So Exodus 1 rolls around. And this is exactly what we are living through today. Starts with the Israelites oppressed. Now Joseph and all of his brothers and that generation died. But the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful.
And they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers, and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. And this is one of the most important verses of the Old Testament. Exodus 1.8. And this will never be talked about. I might be the first person ever, Pastor Tommy, to say this as like a teaching sermon. Exodus 1.8. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Imagine and fill it today.
And then a new generation rose of America... Of whom Thomas Jefferson meant nothing over America. What happens after Exodus 1.8? As soon as Exodus 1.8 happens... The new Pharaoh and the new king of Egypt said... Kill all the Hebrews. Because he doesn't remember or know... Or have any connection... To how Joseph saved all of Egypt from extermination. We failed to know our birth certificate. We failed to know our foundational roots...
We have a new generation. And then rose a president of the United States who did not know George Washington. Well, he doesn't know his own name, so that's okay. But it's a separate issue. Without a memory of what came before, you cannot have liberty. The story of Exodus is very similar to what we are living through. Remember...
Pharaoh was one of the most brutal, evil, and nasty individuals in the entire scriptures. When you reread Exodus, I want you to replace Pharaoh with Hitler. And then all of a sudden it starts to make more sense. That's how evil this individual was. Throw the firstborn into the Nile. He would work the Hebrews into exhaustion, slavery. God then delivers all of these miracles and delivers his chosen people into the desert.
Where they're finally able to live in some form of self-government. Moses goes up on Sinai and gets the moral decalogue. And it starts with, I am the Lord your God who delivered you out of the house of bondage of Egypt. Why does it start like that? Before the Ten Commandments even begins, God is reminding his chosen people, Moses did not deliver you.
Aaron did not deliver you. I, the Lord your God, delivered you out of Egypt. I did. And this is so critically important because if we fail to recognize that it is God who delivers us, it is not the acts of man, then we're in a very troubling circumstance.
It continues later in the Old Testament to one of my favorite portions in the book of Numbers. Anyone else like the book of Numbers? A couple of hands go up. Now, I have a whole theory about this. The actual title of the book of Numbers is not the correct title. In Hebrew, it's actually called In the Wilderness. How much better would it be if it was In the Wilderness, right? Right?
Number sounds like I'm going to have to do geometry equations or something. By the way, if you haven't studied the book of Numbers, it has talking donkeys, giants, spies, stories of betrayal, and lots of complaining because it's in the Old Testament. By the way, if you want to know how I know this is the word of God...
The Hebrews are the most unimpressive group of people in the history of the written word. And God used them to become a great nation. That's how I know that this is real. All kidding aside, never has there been a historical text...
Where the protagonist or the main character speaks so negatively about themselves. In every other chapter, they're complaining, they're lying, they're stealing, they're cheating. Must be true. No one would talk about themselves unless it was true. This negatively. Continues to Numbers 14. Now mind you, they are now living in a state of liberty. Remember, liberty is no pharaoh, no king, no Hitler. And here is the fundamental question that we will spend our remainder of time asking.
Do human beings want to always be free? During the lockdowns, I learned the answer is absolutely not. We're far too many people. Unless liberty is a value that is taught. Unless liberty is a value that is cherished. Unless liberty is something that you seek because you are spiritually transformed.
You are not going to desire liberty. Instead, you will desire comfort, ease, and the flesh. So Numbers 14, God's chosen people. They've been delivered from Egypt. They're no longer living under Hitler. God blows quail off course and manna from heaven. And what do they do? They start complaining and they say, God, can you take us back to Egypt?
They want to go back to slavery, by the way. They want to go back to Hitler because, quote, the food was better. You don't believe me? Joe, get me an actual Bible because I think last time people said, come on, does it really say that? Numbers 14.
It literally says, take us back to Egypt where at least we had melons, leeks, cucumbers, and meat. Now that's a good trivia question for those of you. Ask your friend, where do cucumbers make an appearance in the Old Testament? There you go. And the grumbling and the voices, if only we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness, why does the Lord bring us to this land? Oh, let us fall by the sword. And it continues by, they complain for three chapters straight.
No, four. I'm sorry. They keep going. They wanted to go back and live under the worst person imaginable because living in the desert was not easy. What Thomas Jefferson started in motion with the founding fathers, what lived through, is we do not have an easy life when we live in liberty. Far too often we have people that say, I would rather have a simple and comforting life than one that is of adventure and depth.
You know, I ask sometimes these college kids, I say, would you like to have a life where three meals are provided a day? You get free wifi, you get free room and board, and you don't have to work. Say, of course I say you should go to a federal prison because that's what you get every single day, but you don't have Liberty, but you get three meals a day at a federal prison. You get wifi, you get Netflix, you get Hulu. You don't have to pay anything, but you're not free.
Freedom is God's plan for his people. It's why he delivered them out of Egypt. It's why he sent his son, Jesus Christ, and those of us that give our life to Christ. We are free and free indeed. John 8, 8, 36. If the son therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed. Psalm 119, 45. I will walk in liberty for I've sought your precepts. God's heart for you and for us is not to live in
in the comfort and the ease of totalitarianism. This is the question that is currently in front of us. And let us go back to our roots.
Our founder said that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely to the effect and safety of happiness.
You see, the choice in front of us is are we going to continue on the narrow path? Do you know the majority of countries around the world do not value liberty or freedom as a core value? Their population says, just take care of us. In France, their core values are fraternity. Literally, it says fraternity,
The nice life and the government takes care of them. Higher taxes, more social benefits, less individual initiative and freedom. Almost every other country around the world is around what form of government? Lots of subjects, one ruler or two rulers or three rulers. The founding fathers inverted it. Where because they said that all men are created equal, it is the rulers are us and that we get to decide who's actually in charge.
And we are in a fragile balance right now. A very, very fragile balance. In this birth certificate, it took a price. You cannot have the Statue of Liberty, which we all say we enjoy, without also the Statue of Responsibility. Both are necessary for us to be able to have a free and a virtuous and a deep life. July 4th, 1776. Remember the context. They didn't have to sign this.
You know, they could have made peace with the King of George. They could have wrote, you're in charge. We are not. Give us free stuff. We'll go back to our farms. This made every single one of them poorer. This made some of them, they died a very bloody death. The window of liberty is closing on America. It is. And it's closing for many reasons. We think that a big sacrifice is showing up and just filling in a ballot and voting. We think like that's a big sacrifice of our time.
We think that anything might alter our ease or our comfort. And look at the memory that we must never forget. The boys who stormed Normandy Beach 80 years ago this last month. And we have one day to celebrate that and yet a whole month to celebrate pride. Think about that. One day to remember the sacrifice of the boys in Normandy and a whole month for people's own quote-unquote self-identity.
There's only one thing that makes us free and free indeed, and that is Christ Jesus. On this 4th of July, this Independence Day, I'm not asking you to storm a beach or to sign a death certificate, which ended up being our birth certificate, but I am asking you,
As it says in Leviticus 25, which is on the Liberty Bell, by the way, proclaim liberty throughout the land of which you are in. And when people in your life say, I want to be free, say, do you really? Because being free also means you must be responsible. And you cannot have both. You cannot have it either way. I'm going to read the end of the Declaration of Independence, which, by the way, how many people know that Jesus Christ makes an appearance in the Declaration of Independence? At the end of the Declaration, it reads like a prayer.
We're supposed to believe these founding fathers, a bunch of deists and not Christians. No, no, no. We therefore, this is in the we form. All of them were saying this together. In the book of Revelation, by the way, it says that Jesus Christ sits on the throne as the supreme judge of the world. We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world.
For the rectitude of our intentions, do in the name authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly and publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. That they are absolved completely from all allegiance to the British crown. And that all political connection between them and the great state of Britain is and ought to be totally and completely dissolved.
And that as free and independent states, that we have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliance, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may have right to do. And for support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Let me say that last again. How many of you would be okay losing all the money in your bank account and your home for your country?
How many of you would be okay dying for your country? Some of you almost did. Thank you for serving our country and our sacred honor. They were pledging to each other everything. They were all in, all in. Take my home, take my boat, take my car, take my kids. Liberty is worth it. Those are special people. This country, we know where it's headed. We feel it, we see it, we sense it, we taste it. Maybe in order to know the path forward, we must look at those who came before us. And those 56 signers of that declaration,
They couldn't have imagined 244 years, 200 whatever years since that we'd be able to celebrate the way we are. But also if they were alive today, they'd say, you guys realize that that window is closing. You cannot be free if you are not courageous. You cannot have liberty if you do not act boldly. The Declaration of Independence is a foundational belief that liberty is not man's idea. It is God's idea.
It is an open question of whether or not we get to continue to live free. It's up to us. God bless. Thanks, guys. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.
