A Tale of Two Revolutions

by Dr. D. James Kennedy Vol. VIII, No. 9, October 1995

"Now the Lord is that Spirit. and where the Spirit of the Lord, is, there is liberty.' -2 Corinthians 3:17

The Good News of Jesus Christ sets men and nations free. Wherever men have embraced the pure Gospel, freedom has followed. The sharply contrasting American and French Revolutions offer sobering testimony to this fact of history.

While a burst of freedom and prosperity followed the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution led to the Reign of Terror presided over by Robespierre and the guillotine. Some 20,000 heads rolled in the streets of Paris, where blood flowed like water. It was a time of terror and tyranny - anarchy that led to despotism and Napoleon.

Why? Alexis de Tocqueville said the essential difference was this: the American Revolution was religious; the French Revolution was anti-religious. The American Revolution was built upon God, His Word, and Christ. "There is no country in the world," wrote de Tocqueville, "where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America."

But for the French, religion was the enemy of freedom. A naked woman - the sign of reason - was set upon the Notre Dame church altar. Anno Domini --the year of the Lord - was discarded and 1792 became year one of the Republic, which quickly thereafter collapsed into chaos, anarchy, and tyranny.

Today, as our nation slips ever further from its religious moorings, many have adopted the hostility toward religion which prevailed in France 200 years ago. They do not know that John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." That James Madison said "Religion [is] the basis and Foundation of Government." That George Washington called religion and morality the "twin pillars upon which government rests:"

So, we have done away with God, prayer, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments in our schools. And we wonder why our country is increasingly ungovernable. William Penn put simply what the French Revolution demonstrated and what America may yet discover: "Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."

Without the liberating power of Jesus Christ, we are all in the bondage of sin and find ourselves shackled with every form of immorality, unrighteousness, and ungodliness. Without the government of Christ within, an increasingly powerful external government is needed to keep people from tearing society apart. We will either have self government under God, or we will have tyranny.

If you have been freed by Christ, my friend, I urge you to become a faithful witness for Jesus Christ. Pray, witness, and work that Americans and America will rediscover the source of true liberty: Jesus Christ.