S There's a lot of anxiety among many Christians today about the potential for a Biden/Harris administration and in particular what it will mean for social issues they care about like Abortion and the LGBT agenda, but also what it will mean for freedom of religion.   So let's talk about the issue of Freedom from a Christian perspective.  (First Light received 11/13)

Freedom and Responsibility 

"Unto whom much is given, much will be required." Luke 12:48  Perhaps one of the greatest levels of freedom enjoyed is when a sixteen-year-old is finally allowed to drive by themselves. If you throw your car keys to a new teen driver and tell them to have fun, they had better have the corresponding level of maturity and responsibility required to match the newfound freedom. If they do, you have blessed them greatly. If they don't, you have killed them. Freedom either blesses or destroys depending on the responsibility level of the person. That's why the Bible says that if you are given much, much is required of you. No nation has enjoyed the liberty and freedom that America has been blessed with. Countless millions would give everything to be able to live here and enjoy what we do. Our founders believed that God raised this nation up as an experiment in freedom with a government "by the people, for the people". Our founding documents allow for the greatest possible freedom a people can enjoy. However, along with that freedom comes a responsibility to be governed at heart level by the Creator that ultimately determines the fate of nations. William Penn stated that we will be "governed by God or governed by tyrants". True freedom only exists where men will allow God to rule in their lives. John Adams said, "this constitution is made only for a moral and Christian people, it is wholly unsuitable for any other". As we watch our freedoms slowly slip away in this land it is due to the truth that we have not lived responsibly enough to deserve to be blessed with great liberty. We have elevated selfish appetites above the Bible and now instead of being "free indeed" we find ourselves enslaved to those appetites and in bondage to our carnal nature. There is no greater misery than to be free on the outside and yet in bondage on the inside. Our refusal to live responsibly before the God of heaven is robbing us of the freedom, He blessed us with. Both on the inside and also as a nation as we find our God given freedoms being encroached by a government that is now hostile to the Creator Himself. Our heavenly Father is desirous that all men live free "with unalienable rights endowed by their Creator; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Do you cherish freedom? Do you align with Patrick Henry who said, "give me liberty or give me death"? As our statue reads "those longing to breathe free". Friend, the only path to true freedom inside and out is to bow your knee before the Lord Jesus and allow Him to be Lord of all. Only then will you find that "whom the Son sets free is free indeed".   I praise you that you are the God of freedom. Thank you that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty". Jesus, I choose ultimate freedom by making you the Lord of all in this life. Victor Frankl - Austrian Holocaust Survivor "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.   "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way "   " When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.   Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way " Gal 5:1 NIV "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." Are we really free here in the U.S.? Set aside the Bill of Rights, we are slaves to   pornagraphy and other sexual signs   busyness   alcohol (don't have to get drunk to be a slave to alcohol) and other drugs    Success   Self-reliance   fame   politics   freedom movie Braveheart -Braveheart is a 1995 American epic historical fiction war film directed and co-produced by Mel Gibson, who portrays William Wallace, a late-13th-century Scottish warrior. The film depicts the life of Wallace leading the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. - spoiler alert here for those of you haven't seen it, but in the final scene Wallace is gruesomely executed and as this is occurring he shouts loudly Freedom!  I don't know exactly where are in the end times timeline, I have opinions, but I won't go into that topic right now, but I believe it's clear that persecution in many forms is ahead for those of us who are Christians, who are followers of Jesus Christ.  As we prepare our hearts and minds for the uncertainties that lie ahead and as we resolve in ourselves we will stand firm for Christ, as a first step let us commit that whatever it takes we will cast away anything that is enslaving us and pursue Jesus Christ passionately.  Let us turn over everything to Him.  Yes, that includes our work and careers and every aspect of our work, and it includes our relationships and interests outside of work.  As Hebrews 12:1 KJV says "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us"   E COD - Dietrich Boenhoffer Ch 30, p 264 “Let the Christian remain in the world, not because of the good gifts of creation, not because of his responsibility for the course of the world, but for the sake of the Body of the incarnate Christ. Let him remain in the world to fully engage in frontal assault on it, and let him live the life of secular calling in order to show himself as a stranger in this world all the more “   L 1 Thess 5:11-14 NKJV "Therefore [b]comfort each other and [c]edify one another, just as you also are doing.

12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and [d]admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 Now we [e]exhort you, brethren, warn those who are [f]unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. "

A Censorship Interesting hypothesis by Youtuber Fisher Man of where we are in the end times calendar using the constelations as well as world events, Gen 1:14 " Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj1uhVEWz5o&t=551s   H Email-change the subject line if forwarding or replying and the main point of email has changed