Angelic Conflict part 354: Freedom in Christ, an Independence Day Special part 3 – Gal 5:5-9; Rom 8:1-4; Col 3:9-11.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 354: Freedom in Christ, an Independence Day Special part 3 - GAL 5:5-9; ROM 8:1-4; COL 3:9-11.

 

 

 

Another key aspect to freedom is the preservation of the laws so that future generations continue to have the same laws that protect natural rights.

 

Those who see their desires being hindered by what has been written as natural law for all attempt to remove the law so that they can fulfill their own desire. Imagine if the laws protecting your property were all of a sudden gone and lost forever. Satan is the poster child for this. Our nation has preserved the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. God through thousands of copies has preserved His word.

 

If you can’t change the words themselves and you can’t stop people from reading them then you can only change the meaning of the words.

 

It would seem that no one could alter the meanings of the words life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but with enough convincing and enough ignorance and arrogance in the people and it becomes probable.

 

Second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—

 

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 

Since words could not be changed without either changing or removing the whole document Satan set out on a course to change the definition of words.

 

One might think that these words are so simple and clear that it would be impossible to change their meaning, words like men and equal and liberty and life, but anyone will believe anything if they have enough desire and arrogance.

 

2TI 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

So then the attacks on the word of God are that it is flawed, the books were written later than when they were, the miracles are myths, the translations lose the meaning of the original, etc. Literally criticism has convincingly debunked all of it, but the ignorant hear what they want to hear and conclude that the word is not from God.

 

Most of the theoretical works authored by Progressives begin with a critique of natural rights principles found in the Declaration of Independence.

 

Not many have had the gall that W. Wilson had in an address ostensibly honoring Thomas Jefferson:

 

"if you want to understand the real Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface." [W. Wilson]

 

 In other words, do not repeat that part of the Declaration that enshrines natural rights as the focal point of just government not only for the founding era, but for all time.

 

Equality is not protected by governments or a product of law, but a right of every human being from birth. In Christianity, EP/EO is determined by God alone.

 

In the same way, no person can determine equal privilege and opportunity for another person. God has given this equality at the second birth which every believer has the privilege and opportunity to enjoy from the moment they believe in Christ. If we did not have the preserved word of God and had only information from the bulk of Christianity we would never know this for certain.

 

Happiness is not guaranteed, but the freedom to pursue it is.

 

It does not guarantee happiness but it does guarantee the pursuit of it. And unlike governments, God's freedom to pursue happiness is eternal. It is provided for no matter what circumstances may be since it is a legacy of the new creature in the soul. If China or Russia were to conquer America militarily and subsequently to remove our rights and imprison us under socialism, there would be nothing we citizens could do about it. But in God’s plan our freedom is secure from all things and all creatures.

 

He [William Tyndale] perceived that it was not possible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scriptures were so plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue that they might see the meaning of the text; for else, whatsoever truth should be taught them, the enemies of the truth would quench it, either with reasons of sophistry, and traditions of their own making, founded without all ground of Scripture; or else juggling with the text, expounding it in such a sense as it were impossible to gather of the text, if the right meaning thereof were seen. He published a NT in English in 1525 [printing press invented in 1450]. He was executed by strangulation and then burning in 1536, at which he shouted, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Two years later Henry VIII authorized an English version called the Great Bible to be in the Church of England using most of Tyndale's Bible with the questionable parts revised. It was also called the Chained Bible since it was chained down so that it could not be removed from the churches, not exactly what Tyndale was hoping for, but as you can see, all the persecutions and the martyrdom of men and women of God have not been able to prevent the preservation of the word of God in all languages.  

 

Only we can determine if we will live the life given, invest in the liberty given, and pursue the happiness of God through His word and His Spirit.

 

No matter what happens, even if earthly freedoms are removed, even if in prison or captured or handicapped in some fashion, God provides the pursuit of freedom for all of His children.

 

ROM 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

ROM 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death [life and liberty].

 

Life does not guarantee the life beyond dreams.

Free does not guarantee that I have no limitations.

 

To say that it does is to change the correct meaning of these beautiful passages.

 

Freedom in America does not mean equal access to a certain wage, or healthcare, or a home, or a vacation, or leisure time, or education, or services. To say that it does is to change the meaning of the word “equal” in the Declaration of Independence.

 

Freedom in the Christian way of life does not mean equality of spiritual gifts, and if two believers share a common gift it will not minister the same in both. A new believer cannot demand that he have the same peace as a mature believer who has for years groped and striven in the plan of God so that he enjoys a transformed mind. The new believer has a long road ahead, but time flies when you’re having fun, especially when you have an eternal purpose in life and a motivation to realize its fulfillment in yourself.

 

A new believer who seeks happiness in the word of God will find it as long as he is not approaching the word of God with the wrong attitude.

 

ROM 8:3 For what the Law could not do [make men righteous], weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

 

ROM 8:4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit [pursuit of happiness].

 

Surely the law of anathema is here given as it was in Galatians.

 

[passage from Layman's Answer by E.M. Blaiklock]

Christ came over the Mount of Olives, and at the sight of Jerusalem, lying like a tilted shield before Him, wept. He chose an ass to ride upon, and amid the shouts of acclamation and the waving palm-fronds, entered the city. The sign was clear. He came with peace, no war-leader to rally the land against the Roman garrison. That wild folly was forty stressful years away. It was on His own terms that He offered Himself to men, and when the embittered multitude realized the fact, their “Hosanna” changed to “Crucify”. They, like others after them, in this un­changing world, were quite willing to accept Him on terms of their own making—but not on His [desire - map]. Human nature does not vary, and that is why history repeats itself. The same God encounters men, the self-same Christ. And men persist in accepting Him as they would have Him, as something less than what He claimed to be, perhaps the dead, defeated preacher of the lakeside towns, destroyed by Jews for its comfort, but not as Christ Victorious, Conqueror of Death in fact, not fantasy.