The Statue of Liberty, the Cross, and the Real Hope for the New Year!

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

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New Year’s Eve is a time when Americans gather to ceremonially put the past behind them and cast their hopes forward for a blessed New Year. As a country, the notion of liberty, life, and the virtuous pursuit of happiness always seems to compel us forward with bold resolutions, or at least bold assertions that the future, the years ahead, will surely be much better than the past.

But what happens to these “New Year’s hopes born of Freedom” when they are confronted by a growing barbarism or government abuse to the contrary? What happens when even the law-abiding, “good” citizens, striving to live virtuous lives, accountable to God and in service to neighbor, suddenly become lives threatened by the state? What then? This past year we have seen too much of this in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” For even in the land of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment we see:

· A family man, a kind man, a man who “stands for life and serves the most vulnerable among us,” targeted by the FBI with a pre-dawn raid with guns drawn and pointed at him and his family for justifiable reason whatsoever;

· A high school football coach fired merely for praying silently—in his head!—in a public place;

· Churches, in the crisis of Covid, demonized, fined, persecuted, even shut down, while liquor stores and casinos were deemed essential and free to do as they please, and violent protests occurred;

· A baker continuously “sued into oblivion,” now with his family targeted by lawsuits, merely for kindly refusing to make “special cakes” that violate his conscience . . . when there a plenty of bakeries that will do it with ease.

Even in western countries like Finland, which profess tolerance and protection for freedom, we have seen a pastor and a politician publicly, politically, harassed, arrested, tried, exonerated, tried again, and exonerated again. Why? For teaching that marriage is between and man and a woman, and the biblical view of sexuality is to be practiced within the marriage bond.

What’s going on? Well, this growing darkness is the extension and misuse of “hate speech” laws, using them to label, to silence moral, ethical, kind people. Why would officials do such a thing? Those who are perceived to be on the wrong side of the modern chaos of gender assertions, the “life” side of the abortion debate, or the “God side” of the “faith in God, or absolute faith/dependence in government” debate, they are a threat to the secular empire. And if so labeled . . . they must then be punished.

So, what about this “hope in the new year” then?

Well, first of all, we have First Amendment protections to prevent some of this nonsense from destroying our country. So, use those protections as long as you have those to use. Yes, celebrate the fact that these are indeed blessings from God, blessings that give us a bit of hope. Remember too that these blessings are purposeful in service to God’s people living boldly the life of faith that He has given us to life.

To that end, never forget the most important thing of all. God’s light of grace and mercy shines brightest amidst the darkness. And hope rooted in Jesus can never be extinguished. As believers in the “It-is-finished” Lord Jesus, we are called to be salt and light in this world, and to let His light shine for all to see. We have hope because of the civil, temporal liberties we have, no doubt. But we have an even more certain hope because of the person and work of Jesus on the cross for all. Being a people who know how to cherish both is the opportunity that we have in the world in which we live today.

I love the song written by Neil Enloe, called “Statue of Liberty.” He said that he was given the inspiration while performing with his group, “The Couriers,” for a large group of Christians on a ship out in the waters around New York City. Over 2,000 were on the ship, but only 400 could hear the concert at any given time. His group had to do six concerts that night as a result. Tired after the performance, cold, and gazing out from the ship’s deck into the darkness of the night, suddenly he was confronted by the Statue of Liberty directly in his gaze. It was brightly lit, shining boldly in the darkness. That confrontation caused him to cherish both the liberty he had as an American and the ultimate liberty that he had because of Jesus. He wrote these words, words we should all cherish anew in 2024:

In New York Harbor stands a lady, with a torch raised to the sky; And all who see her know she stands for Liberty for you and me.

Chorus: I’m so proud to be called an American, to be named with the brave and the free; I will honor our flag and our trust in God, and the Statue of Liberty.

On lonely Golgotha stood a cross, with my Lord raised to the sky; And all who kneel there live forever, as all the saved can testify.

Chorus: I’m so glad to be called a Christian, to be named with the ransomed and whole, As the statue liberate the citizen, So the cross liberates the soul.

On the cross is my statue of Liberty, it was there that my soul was set free, Unashamed I’ll proclaim that a rugged cross is my Statue of Liberty1

Defend, protect, and use the liberties that we have in this country, they provide a freedom unlike any other in the world. But defend so as to proclaim what you know to be true in Christ for you and for all. Do that . . . and there is real Hope for the New Year—2024.

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed

Order copies of “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Elementary Activity Booklet on the Beginning of Life” for the kiddos in your life who support life from conception to natural death!

 

Be Equipped

Dr. Peter Scaer explains the truly Satanic nature of abortion.

 

Be Encouraged

“Teach your children to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and their neighbors as themselves. Teach them the Bible that shows them their living God. Teach them the catechism that shows them how His truth fits together.” – Rev. Dr. Adam Koontz


[1] https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2020/12/24/the-power-of-christmas-n2582043

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‍ ‍

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys recently filed a lawsuit  “on behalf of two Michigan pro-life organizations that are challenging a state law that forces them to recruit and hire individuals who oppose their fundamental beliefs and mission.” Learn more about the case and why it matters here.

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Paivi is indeed a cheerful warrior. She has kept a smile on her face, even as she has run through the gauntlet. But think of it. She has spent twenty years being dragged in by the police, being forced to sit accused in a courtroom. I think more locally, to faithful Barronelle Stutzman the flower designer, to Jack Phillips the cake decorator, or Indiana's John Kluge. They had precious few friends along the way and a lot more people who would say, "Prayers ascend," or opine on Christian suffering. But suffering is always ok if it is someone else who is facing trouble for a belief that we should be speaking and living out in our own lives.

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By the time a society realizes it has created what I like to call “secular blasphemy laws,” it is usually too late to admit that’s what they are.

They won’t be identified that way, of course. They will arrive dressed in the language of “dignity,” “inclusion,” and “harm prevention.” They will be framed as modest legal guardrails against “dangerous speech.” But functionally, they will do what blasphemy laws have always done: punish issues of conscience, punish people for expressing beliefs that contradict the reigning moral orthodoxy of the ruling elite.

And that statement is not hypothetical. There is already a test case that is happening right now in a modern, democratic, European nation.

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‍Forty-seven people were executed in 2025, the highest number of executions in the United States since 2009. Four have been executed in 2026 as of March 1, and 18 more are scheduled for this year.
The death penalty is a deeply controversial issue. A 2024 poll by Gallup reported that 53% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty. 43% opposed it, and the remaining 4% had no opinion. These numbers have fluctuated significantly over the past 50 years.
As a 20-year-old student at a public university, I had never given capital punishment much thought until my school’s newspaper published an article about the high number of executions last year. I realized I didn’t know exactly where I stood on the death penalty. So, as a lifelong Lutheran, I naturally turned to the LCMS’ frequently asked questions webpagefor an answer.
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‍ ‍In Romans 13, the apostle Paul stated that every person is subject to the governing authorities because all authority is given by God.

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Faith in Politics

I post a lot on Christianity, a lot on Lutheranism, but also politics, and what it means to us as Christians. But when it comes to liberal and conservative, these are not two sides to one coin. It cannot be dismissed as CNN vs. Fox. I love God first and recognize that the family matters. Politics matter because our neighbor matters and because we care about the things needful, including the sanctity of life and the free exercise of religion.

 

But on the other side, it's different. I have a lot of liberal friends who post about liberal issues all the time, much of it to do with what they perceive as justice. But Christ hardly comes into view. In some ways, there was a lot more talk about Christ loving the immigrant or the homeless person, and that was used as an argument for bigger government. But among younger people, Christ hardly comes into view. Liberal Christianity was a kind of step on the way, but hardly holds the minds or inspires the hearts. And so it goes that a liberal Christian often finds her enemy is the conservative Christian, the one who cares about the Virgin Birth and Christ as the one redeemer, the only begotten Son of God.

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“The LGBTQ community." What other sin is talked this way? Is there a murdering community? A gossiping community? Since when does an alliance in sin spoken of in such positive terms? But this community is one that speaks lies that lead to the destruction of the family and to loneliness and isolation.

 

Typically, when attempting to cloud the issue, we are told that questions concerning sex and gender are "complicated." Really, it isn't. God created us male and female. The confusion arises from the deceptive ideology that pushes it. We are told that detransitioners are extremely rare. Have they not met and talked with those in the growing detransition community? We have members who have been lied to and have escaped the clutches of the deceivers, though they are not unscathed medically or emotionally. We are told that trans people do not simply decide to be trans. But they mention nothing of the work of Abigail Shrier and many others who have clearly demonstrated that the transgender phenomenon is a social contagion, especially now among women, an ideology that is spread by the secular left and through destructive influencers on social media.

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Marriage: Conforming Couples to Christ’s Image
Marriage: Conforming Couples to Christ’s Image

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Dr. Gregory Seltz
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