Loss of Freedoms in America Today Reminds Rafael Cruz of Communist Cuba

Loss of Freedoms in America Today Reminds Rafael Cruz of Communist Cuba
BY JERRY NEWCOMBE , CP OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
April 16, 2016|9:43 am

Dr. Jerry Newcombe is a key archivist of the D. James Kennedy Legacy
Library, a spokesman and cohost of Kennedy Classics.
Nowhere is it written that America will always remain free. In fact,
Thomas Jefferson and other founders warned about threats to our freedom.
Jefferson noted that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Liberty does not exist in a vacuum. Signs of the erosion of freedom in
our time surround us:

1. Political correctness muzzles the free expression of ideas if they
contravene liberal orthodoxy.

2. God, the source of freedom, is not allowed in public schools and pity
the teacher who references Jesus, even as an historical figure. This is
brought home powerfully in the new movie, "God's Not Dead 2."

3. North Carolinians can't even pass a law saying that men can't go into
the ladies room without experiencing the full wrath of big business, a
consortium of rock stars, and the Hollywood left.

The reminder of the high price of freedom was brought home to me
dramatically the other day. In Marathon, Florida, I came across a
rickety, small home-made "boat" with a sign in front of it, stating: "In
April 2013 this homemade craft arrived from Cuba after 4 days at Sea
carrying 17 people including five children."

Marathon is 303 miles from Cuba. Imagine people so desperate they would
risk everything, including their children's lives, to breathe free — so
that maybe, just maybe, they could get to experience what we enjoy here
in America — for now.

Apparently, neither the plight of such people nor the plight of
dissidents in the "worker's paradise" came up in President Obama's
recent historic visit to Cuba.

This is not a column about our porous borders. This administration is
defying the laws on the books that would protect our national security.
The president promised to "fundamentally transform" our country, and
tragically, for virtually everyone, he is succeeding.

Nor is this a column to be construed as an endorsement for any
particular candidate, as in Ted Cruz. (Though by way of full disclosure,
he is my favorite.)

(Photo: WND Books)Pastor Rafael Cruz, author and father of US Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas.
Recently, I got to interview with Rafael Cruz, the father of Ted Cruz,
who has written a book, A Time for Action.

Raphael Cruz told my radio show how, initially, like so many other
Cubans, he had had high hopes for Fidel Castro and the revolution. They
were sorely disappointed.

Rafael Cruz knows firsthand what it is like to lose one's freedom. He
also knows the link between God and freedom, as well as the opposite —
remove God and you remove the source of freedom.

He said, "The whole concept of the attack on religion that we see in
America today is precisely with the same objective — to have people not
be dependent on God, not to rely on God, but to rely on almighty
government."

Rafael Cruz tells a story where the soldiers of Castro would teach the
children to not believe in God, but instead to believe in Fidel.

Soldiers would come into a kindergarten class and tell the children,
"Okay now, close your eyes and pray to God for some candy."

The children would comply, but there was no candy.

Then they would say, "Close your eyes and pray for candy to Fidel Castro."

The children would close their eyes and pray accordingly, as the
soldiers quietly placed candy on the desks. This was an exercise to show
the children they should trust in Fidel and the government and not in
the Lord.

Meanwhile, as freedom-loving Cubans resisted the forced implementation
of Communism on the island country, many people were lined up and shot
in firing squads. This included many Christians — so many of whom would
shout in Spanish "Long live Christ the King," that, after a while, they
would be gagged before shot.

To Rafael Cruz, modern America is in need of a great national
restoration: "We need to get back to the principles that made America
great …This is the only country that was founded on the Word of God ....
If you look at the Constitution and the Declaration — all those
fundamental principles involved in those documents are based on the word
of God. We need to get back to the Judeo-Christian principles that made
America free. We need to get back to limited government and the rule of
law."

What Judeo-Christian principles could be found in the Declaration or the
Constitution (which is predicated on the Constitution)? Simple: Our
rights come from God and no other source. In fact, government becomes
unlawful when it interferes with those God-given rights. That's the
essence of the American experiment.

This is an experiment in organized liberty — liberties we are beginning
to lose.

As Jefferson put it: "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we
have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"

Dr. Jerry Newcombe is a key archivist of the D. James Kennedy Legacy
Library and a Christian TV producer. He has also written or co-written
23 books, including The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed Our
Nation and (with D. James Kennedy), What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
His views are his own. www.jerrynewcombe.com

Source: Loss of Freedoms in America Today Reminds Rafael Cruz of
Communist Cuba -
http://www.christianpost.com/news/loss-of-freedoms-in-america-today-reminds-rafael-cruz-of-communist-cuba-opinion-161689/