In the movie Braveheart as William Wallace lay on the rack the last thing he cried before he died was the word “Freedom!” Wallace had fought to make Scotland free from English domination, only to be betrayed by some of the Scottish nobles who should have known better but didn’t seem to.

Wallace’s cry for freedom went unanswered until the Battle of Bannockburn several years later.

Just of late I have been reading a book by Janice Hold Giles called Run Me A River. It takes place in Kentucky at the start of the War of Northern Aggression and is a work of historical fiction, a genre Ms. Giles is really good it. She has done several works of historical fiction, from the days of the American War for Independence until the days of stagecoaching in the Old West, many of them about two or three families she has followed through their generations. I have read and re-read most of them because she wrote about places I had been and enjoyed having been there.

But in this one I am reading now one of her characters made an incisive comment I guess I had missed before, because it jumped off the page as I read it, page 204, and I went back and underlined it for future reference.

The character, an old Kentucky judge in a small town, made the statement: “But freedom’s a hard-bought thing and it don’t stay bought. You’ve got to keep buying it over and over again. And sometimes you get killed buying it…”

The simple truth of that statement is penetrating even in our day. Freedom is never “free” it comes with a price–and the reason we have so little of it today is that most folks are just not willing to pay that price. It’s easier for them to take the so-called “security” of government, which really isn’t all that secure, than to be willing to stand up for the God-given freedom we have had bequeathed to us by the Sovereign God of Scripture. We might have to sweat a little, get our hands dirty, and even sacrifice something to hand onto our freedom–and most folks just can’t be bothered anymore. Most of our educational systems have taught them it’s really better to follow the Chinese Communist plan for “freedom” and so, having been thus taught, they look no further.

Their children and grandchildren will be the losers for this, but they have not thought far enough ahead to figure that out yet, and quite possibly they never will. And, sad to say, there are many Christians that fit into the mold. The odd theologies many of them have been taught in the last 150 years have left them ill-equipped to deal with the world as it really is. They have been taught to live only to escape this world and its responsibilities and I don’t believe the Lord is going to let them do that.

God-given freedom in Christ is the ultimate freedom, but it usually comes with responsibilities, and too many Christians in our day ain’t having any of that.

Most of us don’t appreciate the God-given freedoms that have been passed on to us, spiritual freedom, economic and political freedom, and others as well, and so we are not willing to fight or contend for them. More’s the pity. As I said earlier, our descendants will be the losers for our laziness.

Far too many fight one battle, figure they have done their bit, and go home. They never grasp the salient fact that freedom has to be won and bought over and over and if you are not willing to do that you will lose it.

I don’t expect a lot of readership for this article – not a popular topic – but it was something I had to say. I pray the Lord will reach those He wants to with it.

June 5, 2020

~ The Author ~
Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of “The Copperhead Chronicle“, a quarterly newsletter that presents history from a pro-Southern and Christian perspective. He has written for several publications over the years. His articles have appeared in “The National Educator,” “The Free Magnolia,” and the “Southern Patriot.” I addition he was the editor of, and wrote for, “The Christian Educator” for several years. In addition to The Copperhead Chronicles, Al also maintains Revised History.

He is currently a member of the Confederate Society of America and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has, in the past, been a member of the John Birch Society. He is the co-author, along with Walter D. Kennedy, of the book “Lincoln’s Marxists” and he has written for several Internet sites as well as authoring a series of booklets, with tests, dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, for home school students.

Mr. Benson is a highly respected scholar and writer and has graciously allowed the family of Kettle Moraine Publications to publish his works. We are proud to have his involvement with this project.

He and his wife now live in northern Louisiana.