FOR FREEDOMHE SET US FREE

TAKE THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW TEST (Page 8)

Merriam-Webster s Dictionary describes Freedom as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. It is also liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.Webster s also says that Freedom is a state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous (freedom from care) . Since 1776, the words FREEDOM and American have been inseparable as it should be. Never in the course of human history, has there been a country like the United States. The closest mankind has come to the kind of freedom and prosperity has been the Land

of the Bible Israel BEFORE they abandoned God, took an earthly king and then went sideways, worshipping pagan gods. This kind of freedom, in the land of second chances America, where a person can be born with no means, yet grow up to be anything he or she desires through sheer determination and hard word, is an experiment which will never repeated anywhere else now or in the future! This is the land of giants of industry who failed, succeeded and failed some more (like Disney and Hershey). This is the land of a poor milk farmer who grew up to be the biggest preacher the world has seen since the Apostle Paul Billy Graham! This is the land of a dirt poor, self-educated rail-splitter from Illinois who became the greatest president ever Abraham Lincoln This is the land where a non-seminary trained young man was told he could not teach Sunday School, so he went out into the streets of mid-19th Century Chicago, rounded up all the stray, dirt-poor boys he could find, rented a hall and thus began the first Moody Bible Institute Class! Dwight Lyman Moody was that man! I could go on and on about how Moody started a chain which led to the Salvation of many, including Billy Graham. We can also fill volumes of examples of how the great land of America has changed the course of human history.

WHAT HAPPENED? Many now look at the U.S. in 2011 and wonder if we are in a parallel universe, when we reflect on both these historical past and current events. Such questions only arise, in the opinion of many, because most of the past two generations have no sense of history or concept of Absolute Truth. They have been fed lie after lie, rule on rule, a little here, a little there until an entire framework of Deception (called Evolution) was developed around them. It did not occur overnight and therefore, will take more time than we have, to turn this titanic around!

We can also debate forever; interpret Federalist papers and the U.S. Constitution all day long. But the fact of the matter is this- the United States WAS founded on Biblical Principles, even if several of the famed Founding Fathers did not have personal relationship with Jesus Christ! In fact, one of the greatest founders ever was Thomas Paine. The American Revolution s great pamphleteer was actually an Englishman who cut his teeth on the godless European Age of Reason . His brilliant mind and writings in Common Sense and The Crisis inspired our freedom loving colonists, from the tavern and marketplace to General Washington on the battlefield! Paine s best work is quoted here from The Crisis , when he wrote These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. (Thomas Paine. The American Crisis. Philadelphia, Styner and Cist, 1776-77). Yet, Paine was so anti-Christian, both he and his writing were unwelcome in the new freedom- and Jesus-loving country, the United States by 1793 (less than 20 years after our Independence)! However, if you read the above, it is a beautiful exhortation, which could easily have come from the Bible! Here are some gems from the atheist Paine: Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered (ask Jesus about it) The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly It is dearness only that gives everything its value ..Etc...

These attributes, which he left behind, inspired Washington and company as they built the best country the world has ever seen! It was not just Paine s writings but the many churches and bold preachers who laid it on the line, for decades before Paine even showed up on the scene! The fiery preaching of George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards kicked off the quest for Freedom in the minds of many Americans over thirty years before the official breakaway from England. These men launched The First Great Awakening which brought Christ to the masses and spread the Gospel like wildfire! Today, we are in need of such an Awakening again .or, a time when the hearts of men and women are turned to their children, in order to seek a more perfect union with the God of Heaven. We can talk about all this wonderful history and how it disintegrated over 200 years, but unless we view with through the Perfect Lens of The Bible, we will never grasp the Truth. As we continue to celebrate the grand experiment of America, we need to look more now to the Word of God the one true constant before we can even understand what Freedom really means!

TRUE FREEDOM It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery .Galatians 5:1 (NASB) When the Apostle Paul wrote this Truth to the Galatians, they were under assault by the religionists of the time. These Pharisee-like teachers were telling the new converts to Christianity that Jesus was not enough! They were called Judaizers and were adding on commands and statues to the Free Gift of Eternal Life, which Christ gave us all, when He died on the Cross.

What did Jesus say in Mark 1:15 The time promised by God has come at last! He announced. The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News! Then once you believe the Good News, Paul Jesus Personal Ambassador to us Gentiles said in Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved . That s it! Not religion. Not foot washing. Not liturgy. Not good works . Not nothing! Again, here is Jesus Himself fulfilling His own prophesy from Isaiah 61:1-2 (NASB) and He said it in Luke 4:18 THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED . When the United States liberated western Europe during World War II, did our soldiers force the poor and oppressed, and those brutalized by the Nazis in concentration camps to sign oaths, perform rituals etc.? NO! We gave them chocolate bars, cigarettes and their Freedom. Therefore, let s now look to this seriatim so that we can help someone in their own prison of despair; find the true freedom we enjoy not just as Americans, but as sons and daughters of the Living God! We will briefly look at the Prophesy and the Promise!

THE PROPHESY:

THE COMMISSION: Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners.

So as not to write another bible commentary here, we will look at bullet points so it will stick: y The Spirit of the Lord .God the Father (Abba) sent His Spirit upon the Son (Jesus) and commissioned our Christ. y God did not have to, but wanted reconciliation with His Creation mankind. y The Christ (or anointed One, Messiah) came to bring the Good News (the Gospel) to creation mired in death, destruction and decay. y We were afflicted, diseased and destroying ourselves in demonic activity ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. y This Disobedience led to expulsion from Paradise. y The New Paradigm is that mankind can return to Paradise (see my full description of Paradise by clicking here); but he has to follow certain criteria. These will be laid out in the next section on the Promise. y Here is the Commission God the Father gave Jesus Adonai, the Ancient of Days: o Bring the Gospel (Good News). o Bind up or bandage permanently those of us in despair with broken hearts for whatever reasons. o Preach that Liberty or Release can be had to those of our fellow saints and citizens who are held captive by sin. This could be sin of any kind: from distrust to disgust; from adultery to pornography; from alcohol abuse to any addictions; from profanity to profligation and from idolatry to idiocy! o Free the Prisoners. Those who have died in their sins, without the forgiveness of God, from Adam to the end of time, will never be free. They will be held in the captivity of their own private hell in their meaningless lives on earth (even if they are materially successful and raised good families). After they die, they will populate a terribly unpleasant hell forever. But those who see the Peace of God in their souls, who search for a way out of their guilt and shame and the mental prison they find themselves in, NOW HAVE A WAY OUT!

This is the Prophesy which God gave the Prophet Isaiah sometime during the 700 s BC. Jesus first sermon in Capernaum began with Him reading this same passage from the Scroll (Luke 4:18). He was promptly removed from the synagogue by an unruly mob of religious fanatics, who then tried to throw Him off a cliff!

THE PROMISE:

BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW Many today, even from church family backgrounds that know better, are falling for Christian cultural lies which are putting them not only into biblical error, but bondage of their own making. The reason they are falling for misleading theology is the lack of Biblical discernment and knowledge. As we all know by now, latest survey by Barna Research found that not only did just 4% of all Americans have a biblical worldview, but of that, only 9% of born-again Christians have such a worldview! Even worse AND GET THIS ONLY 50% OF PREACHERS HAVE THE SAME! If the guy in the pulpit preaching doubts even ONE WORD of the Word of God, he has not business as a pastor and secondly, will be judge harshly for sowing doubt. What is a Biblical Worldview you ask and why should we have one? To answer the last question first: the Bible is the Word of God and tells the Story of the Great Creator of the Universe and His Divine Plan for Salvation and Heaven. Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1; 1 John 1 and Revelation 19:13). If we doubt one word in the Bible we doubt Jesus, call Him a liar and do not belong to Him, period. Therefore, to have a Biblical Worldview is to believe Jesus; Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum or to paraphrase signed, sealed and delivered proved!!!)

TAKE THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW TEST: Take the following test which BARNA RESEARCH gave in its survey to determine how come only 9% of American Christian Adults have a Biblical Worldview. If you answer YES to all these questions, you are part of the 9%!!
y y y y

y y y

Do absolute moral truths exist? Is absolute truth defined by the Bible? Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life? Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today? Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned? Is Satan real? Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people? Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?

Now you see why what you believe is CRUCIAL to what you take from the Promises of the Bible. Any preacher can post a nice flowery sermon on YouTube or here on Scribd, on a blog, website or preach it from a pulpit. If that message does not have the dunamis or the Power of the Word behind it, it is just a bunch of nice sounding words. So when Jesus, Paul and the Word lays out in PLAIN ENGLISH, the simple process of Reconciliation with God, and the other 91% with no biblical worldview starts telling us we are wrong, we must stand alone and aloof from it all! This is not pride; this is separation from the World! This is the beginning of Holiness, without which no one can see God!

FOR FREEDOM HE SET US FREE: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery .Galatians 5:1 Now this may sound redundant; i.e. Freedom .set us free .

However, it is both a warning and an encouragement. The Warning comes when we, who have been freed from sin, any kind of addiction or issue, by Christ, and then buy that lie which says go ahead and do it .and ask forgiveness then we have spat on our Forgiveness in the first place. We have abused our freedom to the point of licentiousness, which King Solomon was pretty good at. In other words, our freeing as former captives cannot be used as a license to eat, drink, be merry and sleep around. The Encouragement is WE REALLY ARE FREE!!! I know from personal experience that if you are truly repentant; can acknowledge weaknesses and tendencies and then seek the Lord s Hand in all of it, HE DOES TAKE THEM AWAY!!! YES HE DOES!!!! Pardon all the exclamation points, but I know this to be absolutely true in my personal walk with the Lord Jesus! It IS a constant daily battle with your thoughts, temptations and things in general. But with the knowledge that Christ has freed you from the bondage of your iniquity inside your consciousness, the devil cannot get through when he tries to throw garbage back up in your face. He will if you allow it though! This is the other thing Paul warns about in do not let yourselves be burdened by the yoke of slavery . If that movie, beer, affair, book, philosophy or anything you should not be doing will put you back in slavery to sin, Satan and the flesh, why would you want to go there? Why?! Galatians 5:13, further down this chapter reveals For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love .

We all have to guard against this, my friends. We have to think in the eternals, no matter how easy it is to just give in to the natural and think in the flesh. It is possible to walk in the world and not smell like it filthy! Paul tells us how all through most of the New Testament, apart from the Gospels. But to stick with our theme of Freedom today, simply follow this statute to use your freedom to serve one another in love . And you know what that does? It fulfills one of the two greatest commandments! Here is the Lord Jesus again in Matthew 22: 37-40 (NLT) Jesus replied, You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. That s it love your neighbor as yourself . Having a solid Biblical worldview and understanding how Christ has truly and permanently liberated you from evil and the ways of the World has freed us to love the world and do good works in His Name! If we serve and love one another, with the freedom Christ has given us, we can win many over to Him. Because the dying world out there does not know it s dying eternally, and do not care! It will not care about our great God and His Word, until they know how much WE care! HE, WHOM THE SON SETS FREE, IS FREE INDEED! (Jesus, Matthew 22:36)

IN CONCLUSION In a sense, this is what the American Experiment has been all about. The United States is the most generous country in the world, because we were built on the Foundations of Scripture from Plymouth Rock to Jamestown. It was the Pilgrims seeking religious Freedom.

It was Roger Williams and Obadiah Holmes seeking biblical truth and freedom from the Puritans/Pilgrims (which led to the founding of the Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island). It was George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preaching fire and brimstone and freedom through the Gospel, which led to the First Great Awakening of the first part of the 1700 s It was the First Great Awakening which planted true Biblical Freedom in the hearts of the Colonists It was atheist Tom Paine, sounding like a preacher, who fired up Washington s troops (re: these are the times that try men s souls). It was Patrick Henry and the other founders, whom God used, even though they were not followers of Christ (Franklin, Jefferson and the other deists). It was the Spirit of 76 which has been showing the world for over 230 years now, how to be free. However it was and REMAINS the Spirit of the Living God, circa 30AD, Who gave us the only True Freedom, which will carry us into an Eternal Heaven with God!!! THIS IS THE ONLY REAL FREEDOM THE KIND WHICH NO MAN, ARMY, GOVERNMENT OR TYRANT CAN TAKE FROM YOU!

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968Copyright 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Images by Google