A "thought-provoking, meticulously researched" testament to evangelical Christians' crucial contribution to American independence and a timely appeal for the same spiritual vitality today (Washington Times). At the dawn of the Revolutionary War, America was already a nation of diverse faiths-the First Great Awakening and Enlightenment concepts such as deism and atheism had endowed the colonists with varying and often opposed religious beliefs. Despite their differences, however, Americans found common ground against British tyranny and formed an alliance that would power the American Revolution. In God of Liberty, historian Thomas S. Kidd offers the first comprehensive account of religion's role during this transformative period and how it gave form to our nation and sustained it through its tumultuous birth -- and how it can be a force within our country during times of transition today.

“I no sooner perceived myself in the world,” wrote English philosopher John Locke, “than I found myself in a storm.” The storm of which Locke spoke was the maelstrom of religious fanaticism and intolerance that was tearing apart the social fabric of European society. His response was A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), arguably the most important defense of religious freedom in the Western tradition. In God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West, historian Joseph Loconte offers a groundbreaking study of Locke’s Letter, challenging the notion that decisive arguments for freedom of conscience appeared only after the onset of the secular Enlightenment. Loconte argues that Locke’s vision of a tolerant and pluralistic society was based on a radical reinterpretation of the life and teachings of Jesus. In this, Locke drew great strength from an earlier religious reform movement, namely, the Christian humanist tradition. Like no thinker before him, Locke forged an alliance between liberal political theory and a gospel of divine mercy. God, Locke, and Liberty suggests how a better understanding of Locke’s political theology could calm the storms of religious violence that once again threaten international peace and security. To read an interview with the author about the book on Patheos.com, see here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/01/10/under-locke-and-key/

The biggest question we face as a nation and even as a world is, Where our liberty comes from? Now governments throughout the world want us to believe it comes from them because then they can easily take it away from us. The Founders of America made numerous statements that America, its Constitution, and Bill of Rights originated through God's inspiration. One may ask why is this important. This question determines if we are all equal under divine rule or can be made less under man's rule, this book traces liberty back to before America was created back to the earliest days of the Bible. This book puts into perspective how everyone was born free, and with that knowledge, you can see how governments have manipulated us into accepting their rule. Although this book cannot show you everything about liberty's birth, it will give you a start and hopefully open your minds to further research yourself.

From one of the leading historians of Christianity comes this sweeping reassessment of religious freedom, from the church fathers to John Locke In the ancient world Christian apologists wrote in defense of their right to practice their faith in the cities of the Roman Empire. They argued that religious faith is an inward disposition of the mind and heart and cannot be coerced by external force, laying a foundation on which later generations would build. Chronicling the history of the struggle for religious freedom from the early Christian movement through the seventeenth century, Robert Louis Wilken shows that the origins of religious freedom and liberty of conscience are religious, not political, in origin. They took form before the Enlightenment through the labors of men and women of faith who believed there could be no justice in society without liberty in the things of God. This provocative book, drawing on writings from the early Church as well as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reminds us of how "the meditations of the past were fitted to affairs of a later day."

The Statue of Liberty holds a special place in the hearts of Americans, the people of France, and freedom lovers throughout the world. But up until now, the full story behind its origins has not been told. Author Richard N. Rhoades peels back the mystery surrounding the icon, explaining how French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi looked to a Roman goddess to serve as the model for the statue. On Oct. 28, 1886, at the unveiling ceremony, President Grover Cleveland praised Bartholdis goddess statue as greater than all that have been celebrated in ancient song. But Rhoades goes beyond the historical data and examines the statues pagan origins by analyzing Scripture. He establishes that the most revealing chroniclers of the Statue of Liberty were the Hebrew prophets who predicted the building and setting of an image of the Great Goddess of the ancient world on her own pedestal in a latter day country code-named the land of Shinar. Discover the real origins of the Statue of Liberty, its adoption by the American people as a national icon and its historical and biblical significance in Lady Liberty: The Ancient Goddess of America.

Until liberty is given, we shall be in a comatose or morbid condition and spiritually dead like Lazarus; it will take the authorization of the Lord to lose us from spiritually dead position and the three realms where we were in bondage and held captive, just like Lazarus was bound hand, feet and face. Jesus has declared freedom upon us. Our head and eyes which are liberated stand for godly reasoning and vision, hand that was loosed stands for freedom to work and be productive; making it in your chosen vocation and being prosperous physically and spiritually. Foot that was padlocked and free stands for being liberated from stagnation and empowered to progress. Bondages should not stay in the arena where one has been declared as a son of God because the power of sonship and the anointing destroys every negative power that use to harass and intimidate when one was in slavery and servitude