Freedom Of Choice - Choosing Liberty Over Slavery

Freedom of choice is a gift given through sacrifice. Liberty can only be experienced by those that know where it comes from. When a nation, any nation turns its back on God freedom is painfully lost. Staying free requires resistance. You can choose to live free or choose to live in bonds.

Spiritual resistance belongs to the Spirit led Disciple of Christ that understands how to use the sword of the Spirit against the wiles of the enemy. Christ said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).

Liberty means freedom to choose. You can choose to live free or choose to live in bonds. Christ came to set captives free. Some believe Christ shed his blood on Calvary to free people from sin. I believe the same. However, the freedom that Christ brought was more than personal freedom from the wages of sin, it was complete freedom spirit, soul, and body. That includes freedom to live a life of liberty loosed from the tyranny of reprobate men.

Christians have not been called into slavery or serfdom. “Britannica Concise Encyclopedia” describes serfdom:

“In medieval Europe, [serfdom was the] condition of a tenant farmer who was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. Serfs differed from slaves in that slaves could be bought and sold without reference to land, whereas serfs changed lords only when the land they worked changed hands. From about the 2nd century AD, large privately owned estates in the Roman Empire that had been worked by slaves were broken up and given to peasant farmers. These farmers came to depend on larger landowners for protection in turbulent times, and swearing fealty (allegiance) to a proprietor became common practice. In 332 Constantine I, established serfdom legally by requiring tenant farmers to pay labor services (taxes) to their lords. As serfs, they could not marry, change occupations, or move without the permission of their lords, to whom they were required to give a major portion of their harvest. The development of centralized political power, the labor shortage caused by the Black Death, and endemic peasant uprisings in the 14th and 15th centuries led to the gradual emancipation of serfs in western Europe. In eastern Europe serfdom became more entrenched during that period; the peasants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were freed in the late 18th century, and Russia's serfs were freed in 1861.”

Notice serfs were forced to swear allegiance to their lords. In return, they were granted protection. This protection, however, was not without a price. Serfs were permitted to work the land on behalf of their lords and required to pay “labor services,” i.e., taxes. This so-called freedom to work the land came from their lords. In fact, they were not even allowed to flee the taxing jurisdictions of their birth, could not marry, and paid taxes on their harvest. This sounds similar to modern state governments around the world today. Modern serfs file for permits and pay real estate taxes to work and keep their so-called private property.

ALLEGIANCE TO CHRIST

As a Christian, you took an oath of allegiance when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. That oath of allegiance is known as the Sinner’s Prayer. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). That confession with your mouth was your unyielding dedication to the lordship of Christ and repentance of sin. This puts your first allegiance to the King of kings. First is everything above second. To give any caregiver or protector first place in your life is violating covenant with Jehovah. This is important to understand your God is a jealous God. He said, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me………. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:2-5).

When a nation, any nation turns its back on God freedom is painfully lost. This goes for the individual as well. Deuteronomy 28 lays out the blessings and curses that overtake the sons and daughters of God, blessings for keeping His Word and curses when breaking His Word. Christ taught His disciples to put the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Doing so would empower them to get wealth that would establish the covenant of God with man. Putting the Kingdom of God first means the first allegiance. To put other god’s first as protectors-providers (caregivers) releases a dumbing down of society and a loss of spiritual zeal for Christ. Notice today how many serve Christ when it’s convenient to do so or when they need something from him. For a Christian to stay free from serfdom, he or she must understand their source of liberty. Every perfect gift comes down from above including the spirit of liberty. Liberty is not free but possessed by those that desire freedom. It belongs to those that are strong in the Lord and the power of His might.

The sixteenth-century French political philosopher Etienne De La Boetie (1530-1563) speaking of liberty said those that do not understand liberty do not possess warlike courage, but their hearts are degraded, submissive and incapable of any great deed.

“A subject people shows neither gladness nor eagerness in combat: its men march sullenly to danger almost as if in bonds, and stultified (incompetent); they do not feel throbbing within them that eagerness for liberty which engenders scorn of peril and imparts readiness to acquire honor and glory by a brave death amidst one’s comrades.

Among free men there is competition as to who will do most, each for the common good, each by himself, all expecting to share in the misfortunes of defeat, or in the benefits of victory; but an enslaved people loses in addition to this warlike courage, all signs of enthusiasm, for their hearts are degraded, submissive, and incapable of any great deed. Tyrants are well aware of this, and, in order to degrade their subjects further, encourage them to assume this attitude and make it instinctive.”

Christ has not called you to bondage but liberty. Don’t let anyone bring you to the wooden stocks. To stay free requires resistance. Spiritual resistance belongs to the Spirit led son and daughter that understands how to use the sword of the Spirit against the wiles of the enemy.

Throughout the nation, one notices a lack of burning zeal within the body of Christ. Not with all of course for there is always a remnant. But it seems like apathy and lukewarmness have spread its net over those who are blinded by the snares of the trapper. Jeremiah must have felt the same oppression. Instead of submitting to its enslavement he boldly declared, “But Jehovah’s word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing (holding back), and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20:9).

Let us be like Jeremiah with a burning zeal to fight the devils that want to steal the liberty that Christ has brought. For the Kingdom of God is not coming it’s already here (Mark 1:15). Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. Our blessings don’t come from or belong to tyrants, despots or an oligarchy of central planners. Christ has blessed us, and His Word promises that we, not others, should enjoy the works of our hands.

• “And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety” (Leviticus 25:19).
• “And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee” (Deuteronomy 28:11).
• “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them” (Isaiah 65:21-23).

THE PRIVILEGE OF LIBERTY

Liberty can only be experienced by those that know where it comes from. Liberty is a privilege favored on the saints of the Most High. I am reminded of the story of the Spartans when resisting Xerxes, king of Persia. Da La Botie recounts the testimony of two great Spartan warriors talking to the ambassador of Persia about true liberty.

“In order to appease him they decided to send Xerxes two of their citizens in atonement for the cruel death inflicted upon the ambassadors of his father (Darius). Two Spartans, one named Sperte and the other Bulis, volunteered to offer themselves as a sacrifice. So they departed, and on the way they came to the palace of the Persian named Hydarnes, lieutenant of the king in all the Asiatic cities situated on the sea coasts. He received them with great honor, feasted them, and then, speaking of one thing and another, he asked them why they refused so obdurately his king’s friendship. ‘consider well, O Spartans,’ said he, ‘and realize by my example that the king knows how to honor those who are worthy, and believe that if you were his men he would do the same for you; if you belonged to him and he had known you, there is not one among you who might not be the lord of some Greek city.’”

‘By such words, Hydarnes, you give us no good counsel,’ replied the Lacedaemonians, ’because you have experienced merely the advantage of which you speak; you do not know the privilege we enjoy. You have the honor of the king’s favor; but you know nothing about liberty, what relish it has and how sweet it is. For if you had any knowledge of it, you yourself would advise us to defend it, not with lance and shield, but with our very teeth and nails.’”

Scripture confirms, “The Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Again, liberty is the freedom to choose. Choose therefore to live a life of faith. For this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith. Jesus said, "Have faith in God." Fight therefore in faith to maintain the liberty wherein Christ has set you free and be not entangled again by those that would steal, kill and destroy through man ruling over man political systems. Be like these two courageous Spartan warriors that were not afraid to tell the Persian' kerux that liberty came from no man or earthly king.

As the Apostle Peter said so well, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (people set at liberty); that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Your partner,

(c) Apostle Jonas Clark
www.jonasclark.com