I have recently been contemplating the state of the Church (especially those churches which I have attended and had close experiences) and it has come to my attention that we as Christians are facing an attack on one of God’s greatest gifts: Freedom. This attack does not come from the world nor does it come from a group of false prophets but from those in our midst. They perform well, delivering a stunning exhibition of ‘holiness’ and yet they have nothing to back it up within. These people know the gospel and yet preach the law. They love to parrot lines of propaganda and yet miss and sometimes ignore the message of Grace found on every page of Scripture. Their children appear perfect and yet are deceitful to their parents of their true nature. When scandal comes to light (and it always does) it is brushed under the rug because of the image that must be so carefully maintained.
Forgive me for writing with such candor but the things that have led me to this point force me to take this style. I have read many a story of people, who have been hurt by this movement, these stories meant nothing to me on their own. I dismissed them as some stranger on the internet. And then these stories became real, people who kept them hidden deep down inside trusted me (perhaps too much) sharing their deepest feelings, and the feeling I heard the most was that of hurt. These were still not totally personal, someone once said that you will never understand someone’s troubles until you ‘walk a mile in their moccasins’ and they were right. Finally these feelings became real for me personally; the realizations of hurt still haunt me and probably will for a long time.
I write this because I feel, as I noted earlier, there is a war ongoing against that blessed cause of Freedom. I write because of the feelings of hurt I and others have experienced and because I truly wish all people can finally know true freedom and its source.
The Call of Freedom
Tyrants come in many forms. Most often we think of a tyrant as a King of Dictator, sometimes they even take the form of a Pastor or Family member. Every tyrant cites the same thing as justification for their policies: Authority. And every tyrant is right to a point. As Jesus stood before Pontius Pilot he affirmed that Pilot did indeed have authority granted to him by God almighty and yet Pilot was clearly wrong as he sentenced the perfect Lamb of God to death. Tyrants however have a problem: Freedom.
You see freedom is written on the hearts and minds of men and women from the moment of birth, etched with the finger of the Divine. Exodus chapter one tells us of the enslavement of the Children of Israel, it details for us how they were afflicted by their captors and yet we know for a fact they were not content with bonds and slavery, instead they felt the call of Freedom in their hearts. The Scriptures make this clear from two different points of view. First God told Moses that He had “heard their cry… for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). The second reason we know they were not content was the fear in their captors hearts, the Egyptians were so afraid that they ordered the killing of the Israelite children to prevent a potential uprising.
We see the blueprint of tyrants in this passage, they fear. A tyrant lives in constant fear and will do anything to relieve this fear and yet it never subsides, he will kill children and declare his authority on every corner and yet he finds himself fighting against God. Acts 4:26 describes the state of a tyrants war best “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ”
A theme in scripture is clear and that is that of the destruction of tyrants. We as a human race face a similar tyrant its name is sin. It ravages the hearts of man and holds us in chains of misery. Every human is engaged in a struggle against this bondage, they search for Freedom in drugs, promiscuity, and yes legalism and false images, and yet they only find more bondage. But this is the preparation of the human heart for the Gospel, we seek Freedom. It calls to us and as we look further we find that Freedom’s call is God’s call.
The Advent of Freedom
As men seek for Freedom they often push themselves further into bondage as I noted earlier. Drugs will cause addiction that you cannot break, promiscuity will bring only temporary pleasure, and legalism will cause more hurt in our futile efforts then it will progress. I cannot tell you how many people have been driven away from the Gospel message because it was presented to them by those who wished only to enslave them. As 2 Peter 2:19 says “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought to bondage.” The Lord has a stern warning for these tyrants who use scripture to market their abuse of power, it declares it “better for them not to have known the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:20b)
And yet many times these enslaved people find themselves looking for Freedom and Freedom finds them. Scripture tells us that when the fullness of time was come God took on human flesh and came down to this earth, as the person of Jesus Christ he offered Freedom to those who were enslaved. Jesus tells us that he came “to preach deliverance to the captives, and of recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18b)
The Achievement of Freedom
It is an age old saying that rings true today: ‘Freedom isn’t free’. Ronald Reagan described it as not running in our bloodstream. If we wish to achieve Freedom we must at times fight for it. A tyrant fears this, he fears the call of Freedom, he fears a Deliverers advent, but most of all he fears Freedoms achievement. A king who hates Freedom will almost certainly hate the Gospel and a Pastor or other spiritual leader who hates Freedom may use their own twisted ‘gospel’ to deceive and ensnare many. And yet they still fear. A scared tyrant is a dangerous force. He will lie, steal, and even kill to stay in power.
The greatest threat to tyranny that ever walked the earth was Jesus Christ; he came to free captives of sin and offers them eternal life. And true to its colors tyranny killed him, yet Christ overcame the grave and his death set the sinner free. Are you enslaved to sin? Have you found the freedom in Christ that he offers? If not I plead with you to accept his free gift and be saved. If you are saved and bought with Christ’s blood then I would encourage you to live out the Freedom he has given us. And for those who use Jesus’ sacrifice and Gospel message of Freedom to promote their perverted agenda of legalism and slavery: KNOCK IT OFF!
Forgive me for writing with such candor but the things that have led me to this point force me to take this style. I have read many a story of people, who have been hurt by this movement, these stories meant nothing to me on their own. I dismissed them as some stranger on the internet. And then these stories became real, people who kept them hidden deep down inside trusted me (perhaps too much) sharing their deepest feelings, and the feeling I heard the most was that of hurt. These were still not totally personal, someone once said that you will never understand someone’s troubles until you ‘walk a mile in their moccasins’ and they were right. Finally these feelings became real for me personally; the realizations of hurt still haunt me and probably will for a long time.
I write this because I feel, as I noted earlier, there is a war ongoing against that blessed cause of Freedom. I write because of the feelings of hurt I and others have experienced and because I truly wish all people can finally know true freedom and its source.
The Call of Freedom
Tyrants come in many forms. Most often we think of a tyrant as a King of Dictator, sometimes they even take the form of a Pastor or Family member. Every tyrant cites the same thing as justification for their policies: Authority. And every tyrant is right to a point. As Jesus stood before Pontius Pilot he affirmed that Pilot did indeed have authority granted to him by God almighty and yet Pilot was clearly wrong as he sentenced the perfect Lamb of God to death. Tyrants however have a problem: Freedom.
You see freedom is written on the hearts and minds of men and women from the moment of birth, etched with the finger of the Divine. Exodus chapter one tells us of the enslavement of the Children of Israel, it details for us how they were afflicted by their captors and yet we know for a fact they were not content with bonds and slavery, instead they felt the call of Freedom in their hearts. The Scriptures make this clear from two different points of view. First God told Moses that He had “heard their cry… for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). The second reason we know they were not content was the fear in their captors hearts, the Egyptians were so afraid that they ordered the killing of the Israelite children to prevent a potential uprising.
We see the blueprint of tyrants in this passage, they fear. A tyrant lives in constant fear and will do anything to relieve this fear and yet it never subsides, he will kill children and declare his authority on every corner and yet he finds himself fighting against God. Acts 4:26 describes the state of a tyrants war best “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ”
A theme in scripture is clear and that is that of the destruction of tyrants. We as a human race face a similar tyrant its name is sin. It ravages the hearts of man and holds us in chains of misery. Every human is engaged in a struggle against this bondage, they search for Freedom in drugs, promiscuity, and yes legalism and false images, and yet they only find more bondage. But this is the preparation of the human heart for the Gospel, we seek Freedom. It calls to us and as we look further we find that Freedom’s call is God’s call.
The Advent of Freedom
As men seek for Freedom they often push themselves further into bondage as I noted earlier. Drugs will cause addiction that you cannot break, promiscuity will bring only temporary pleasure, and legalism will cause more hurt in our futile efforts then it will progress. I cannot tell you how many people have been driven away from the Gospel message because it was presented to them by those who wished only to enslave them. As 2 Peter 2:19 says “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought to bondage.” The Lord has a stern warning for these tyrants who use scripture to market their abuse of power, it declares it “better for them not to have known the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:20b)
And yet many times these enslaved people find themselves looking for Freedom and Freedom finds them. Scripture tells us that when the fullness of time was come God took on human flesh and came down to this earth, as the person of Jesus Christ he offered Freedom to those who were enslaved. Jesus tells us that he came “to preach deliverance to the captives, and of recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18b)
The Achievement of Freedom
It is an age old saying that rings true today: ‘Freedom isn’t free’. Ronald Reagan described it as not running in our bloodstream. If we wish to achieve Freedom we must at times fight for it. A tyrant fears this, he fears the call of Freedom, he fears a Deliverers advent, but most of all he fears Freedoms achievement. A king who hates Freedom will almost certainly hate the Gospel and a Pastor or other spiritual leader who hates Freedom may use their own twisted ‘gospel’ to deceive and ensnare many. And yet they still fear. A scared tyrant is a dangerous force. He will lie, steal, and even kill to stay in power.
The greatest threat to tyranny that ever walked the earth was Jesus Christ; he came to free captives of sin and offers them eternal life. And true to its colors tyranny killed him, yet Christ overcame the grave and his death set the sinner free. Are you enslaved to sin? Have you found the freedom in Christ that he offers? If not I plead with you to accept his free gift and be saved. If you are saved and bought with Christ’s blood then I would encourage you to live out the Freedom he has given us. And for those who use Jesus’ sacrifice and Gospel message of Freedom to promote their perverted agenda of legalism and slavery: KNOCK IT OFF!