Division

Mt. 1:21 π Mt. 7:20; 2nd π Lk. 4:18 π Jn. 7:24 π Jn. 8:32-36 π Jn. 16:13 π Rom. 3:23 π Rom. 6:18 π Rom. 6:20 π Rom. 6:22-23 π Rom. 8:2 π Rom. 8:18-25 π 2 Cor. 3:17 π Gal. 5:1 π Gal. 5:13; 2nd π 2 Ths. 2:10-12 π Jas. 1:8 π Jas. 1:27 π 1 Pet. 2:16 π 2 Pet. 2:19 π Rev. 13:11; 2nd

Freedom – aphesis – [859] π 2nd; 3rd; Liberty – eleutheria – [1657] π 2nd; 3rd; 4th; 5th; 6th; 7th; 8th; Free – eleutheros – [1658] π 2nd; 3rd; 4th; 5th; Liberate – eleutheroo – [1659] π 2nd; 3rd; 4th; 5th; 6th; 7th; 8th;

Any study of America must quickly come face to face with the question of America’s duality. The discerning rather quickly also come to recognize that this duality is best described in the phrase, she looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. (see Rev. 13:11 ) This duality is more than mere appearance as this is her double-mindedness that make her unstable in all her ways. ( Jas. 1:8; top ) So, how is America both a lamb and a dragon? The answer is first found in her philosophical basis of individual liberty and personal responsibility.

The rhetorical question is asked, “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?” Yet, when we turn to the question of liberty in America, we can clearly and definitively answer the question of which came first – liberty or America? Clearly, liberty came first. We can trace the influences back through political philosophers like Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke and others. We can look back to Greek philosophers and find traces, especially in the examples of Greek democracy like Athens. But we find the bulk of influence stems from the writings we now call the New Testament. It is in this sense that the tiny countries of Greek and Israel have exerted the most influence upon the world.

Liberty is such a major theme of the New Testament (written almost 2,000 years ago in the first century a.d. that it is indisputable that America’s notions of liberty stem directly and largely from the nature of the God depicted in the Bible. That all of America’s founding fathers were readers of the Bible is beyond question even as the question of how closely each one followed the God or the teachings of the Bible is a question that cannot be answered.

When we turn to the New Testament, we find two Greek words used to cover the concept of liberty:

• first, eleuther- (separated into three entries in Strong’s Greek Dictionary. That is, we find
  

  • eleutheria [ 1657 ] liberty (11 times – 10 verses);
    
  • eleutheros [ 1658 ] free (23 times – 23 verses); and
    
  • eleutheroo [ 1659 ] liberate (7 times – 7 verses)) and

• second, aphesis ([ 859 ] freedom (17 times – 16 verses)).

To give perspective, these words (in their various forms) is used just over one half as often as the word ekklesia, which is almost always translated as “church,” is used. Further, when liberty is used, it is most often used in connection with the foundational elements of the gospel, the good news God is telling the human race. Liberty, by both usage and by context, is therefore a significant, even primary component of the New Testament’s teachings.

So let us examine some of these usages. And please bear with the length of this presentation. This is not meant to be a tedious process – nor is it an exhaustive study of all that the Bible says. (That study can be read here .) But this list is meant to show that one of the New Testament’s primary and foundational theme is liberty.

• Paul wrote, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [ 1657 ].” ( 2 Cor. 3:17; top ) Wherever the Lord is present and especially where He is recognized and obeyed as Lord (one of the implied meanings of this verse), there is liberty. That is foundational.
  
  
• At the beginning of His mission, Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance [ 859 ] to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty [ 859 ] those who are oppressed.” ( Lk. 4:18 ) This was Jesus’ “mission statement.” It should also be noticed that this liberty and deliverance is elsewhere described as the remission, forgiveness or release from sin that was the core mission of Christ. ( Mt. 1:21 , etc.; top) This is foundational. And we should note that He came specifically to liberate the captives and the oppressed.
  
  
• During one of His confrontations with the Jews, Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free [ 1659 ].” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free [ 1658 ]’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free [ 1659 ], you shall be free [ 1658 ] indeed.” ( Jn. 8:32-36; top ) The Jews’ claim to have never been in bondage is rich in irony – Egypt, the Philistines, Babylon and Rome had each held Israel in subjection in their day. Jesus skips past all that and touches upon the deepest bondage of all – the bondage of every man to sin. Jesus came to set men free from sin. That is foundational.
  
  
• Paul wrote, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free [ 1659 ] from the law of sin and death.” ( Rom. 8:2 ) Paul is speaking here of a basic law applicable to human existence. “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” ( Rom. 3:23; top ) And Paul writes here that the authority given to all believers through the resurrected life of Christ makes us free or exempt from the law of sin and death. That is foundational and transcendent all at the same time!
  
  
• In light of this liberty in Christ, Paul explains our responsibility. We must note well that whether we are in Christ or not, we remain slaves. “And having been set free [ 1659 ] from sin, you became slaves of righteousness… For when you were slaves of sin, you were free [ 1658 ] in regard to righteousness… But now having been set free [ 1659 ] from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ( Rom. 6:18 , 20 , 22-23; top ) Paul puts the argument into human terms here because spiritual concepts are not easily grasped by carnal or soulish people. As a human being, we are born into slavery to sin and the flesh – and if we habitually give in to sin, we find ourselves progressively enslaved to the demonic as well. Slavery to the flesh and sin earns us death. When we are set free from sin, we can become “slaves” to righteousness and holiness as we enter into the gift of abundant and eternal life God has given us. Those who might object to the idea of being God’s bondslave as being fundamentally the same as being a slave to the flesh simply do not spiritually understand the concept. It is this individual liberty and personal responsibility to do good that is the foundation of America drawn from the pages of the New Testament.
  
  
• Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered [ 1659 ] from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty [ 1657 ] of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only they, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” ( Rom. 8:18-25; top ) Deliverance from the bondage of corruption (death, decay) into the glorious liberty of the children of God (the freedom and power to do good things and be good people). Through Christ, God offers us adoption, redemption and hope whereas the death that was incorporated into our existence as a human being keeps us chained to abandonment, forfeiture and hype. In America, pursuit of individual liberty, personal responsibility and moral excellence is what made America great. Where America has sinned or failed her mission is when men and women have, in one manner or another, used their liberty to abuse, control or rob others of their God-given inalienable rights.
  
  
• Paul wrote clearly of this: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty [ 1657 ] by which Christ has made us free [ 1659 ], and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage… For you, brethren, have been called to liberty [ 1657 ]; only do not use liberty [ 1657 ] as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” ( Gal. 5:1 , 13 ) Peter gave a similar warning, telling us to live “as free [ 1658 ], yet not using your liberty [ 1657 ] as a cloak for vice, but as servants of God.” ( 1 Pet. 2:16; top ) We are called to liberty and must take care that we are not entangled under a yoke of bondage by using our liberty as an excuse to indulge the lusts of our flesh (sinful nature). Rather, we must serve in love (do what is best for others). This is where America is failing. Our liberty is used as an excuse for carnal and sinful indulgence, far too often of the most depraved kind upon the most helpless of victims. America’s judgment is due and only genuine repentance, especially on the part of those who claim to belong to Him, will save her.
  
  
• Peter warned about false teachers in the last days (the days just before the return of Christ). He said of them, “While they promise them liberty [ 1657 ], they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” ( 2 Pet. 2:19; top ) While this has primary application to the people of Christ, it is also applicable to America. The leaders of America have historically promised that they were servants of liberty but they were in reality slaves of corruption who through deception brought the people of the U.S. into bondage. The original New Testament refers to all kinds of corruption, especially physical and eternal death and decay. In America, our political leaders who have declared their allegiance to political liberty have in reality too often only been slaves of moral corruption.

Many people complain today that America is radically divided across several lines. Race, religion, gender, political affiliation are all said to be divisions among us – and indeed there are those people who choose to divide themselves based on these various camps. Let us examine these briefly and then look at how these are not the real divisions in America.

• Race: To even use this term is ignorance, whether intentional or not. There is only one race, the human race. Skin types, facial or body features, language, dress – these are all functions of one’s ancestry, one’s breed within the one race. Since a person has absolutely no influence on one’s ancestry, it is ignorance and arrogance of the highest order to understand one’s status in life on that basis. Sure, one should be proud of one’s ancestors to the extent they have done something worthy of respect. But to suppose oneself entitled to superior status on the color of one’s skin is as asinine as is supposing oneself entitled to superior status by virtue of what one’s ancestors suffered. The accusation of “racist” is now most often used as an agent of confusion or to simply mean “You’re not allowed to disagree with me because I’m superior to you.” Who is the racist and bigot here?
  
  
• Religion: America has never had any legal issue with differing religions until those religions crossed the line into criminal activity. The Mormons in the 1800s were not persecuted for being Mormons but for being polygamists and pedophiles. Jim Jones and David Koresh were not pursued because of their weird beliefs but because of their crimes of fraud, kidnaping and arming their followers to enforce their own standards contrary to American law and rule. America, even in its Declaration of Independence from England, called upon the Creator, nature’s God, the Supreme Judge of the world and Divine Providence, leaving it open to its citizens to further define God as their conscience dictated. Thus any religion that looks to nature’s God should have no difficulty blending in with the citizens of America. Thomas Jefferson said, “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the only legitimate object of good government.” (to Maryland Republicans, 1809) Any religion that is not good for the citizens has no rightful place in America.
  
  
• Gender: It is a basic understanding of Judaism and Christianity and science combined that there are only two genders: male and female. Those who have succumbed to the liberal confusion and deception being foisted upon America today will not accept this stunningly obvious fact of life and are attempting to make laws to force people to lie about this basic fact of nature. The blurring and changing of gender definitions is, in truth, an attack against nature’s God. This does not mean one cannot be confused and still be an American. But to demand that all citizens be forced to join in a tiny minority’s confusion and rejection of reality is ludicrous.
  
  
• Political Affiliation: Today there are many political parties and view points. So long as they do not conflict with the laws and well-being of American citizens, all are to be tolerated. The Republican and Democratic parties are the largest and therefore the most powerful. But, as we shall see, there is a hidden, often unrecognized division in America that is much more influential that has morphed both the Republican and Democratic parties into something they were never meant to be, a repository of power that no longer adheres to the American ideals of individual liberty and personal responsibility.

These are the major lines of division as presented to most Americans today, especially those who are taught by the leftist colleges and those who listen only to the programming of main stream media. But they are illusions. They are no real basis for division unless we allow them to be. They are the smoke screen behind which hides the real divisive monster of America.

“Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” (Winston Churchill, 1948 speech to the House of Commons)

This statement explains the strategy of the left – they (beginning with things like the Frankfurt school after World War II) have deceived and then used college professors to inculcate leftist doctrine and dogma into college students. This was so successful that by 1987, Allan Bloom, a well respected professor wrote his political lamentation, The Closing of the American Mind, that contains many lucid insights into the dumbing down of American students. Since that time, ignorance and blind leftist ideology has exploded and conservative speakers now have to fight and risk injury just to speak on college campuses today.

Let us look at one of the voices from the past. President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower said:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. (Farewell Address to the Nation, January 17, 1961)

What must not be overlooked is that World War II produced weapons of mass destruction such as had never been seen on the planet before. It became necessary to keep a standing well-prepared, well-armed military to keep petty tyrants from seizing world domination. This is the beginning of the U.S. military industrial complex. But just as a gun is only as safe as the person wielding it, so to the military industrial complex must remain in the hands of sane, competent, wise adults. Simultaneously, because the weapons were so dangerous, watch dog oversight of the military industrial complex will always need to be as equally pervasive. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. Because of the secretive nature of the military industrial complex, power-hungry, deception-wielding narcissistic individuals who are able to conceal their evil nature have crept in without being exposed, caught or apprehended.

And we must recognize that it is good and evil that is the real division in America. It is the picture of the lamb and the dragon. ( Rev. 13:11; top ) Those who serve the Lamb, however imperfectly (especially those who seek truth and goodness but reject man-made religion and in so doing pursue the deeper elements of God), operate in goodness. Too often these operate in the blind presumption that everyone else in the world is just like them. It is a red pill of no small proportions to discover that not everyone else is motivated by good intentions.

Those who follow the dragon (however overtly or covertly) most often pursue selfish interests and use deception to advance their own causes. These, with their concealed evil intentions and especially those with narcissistic or demonic enhancements, often have the ability to portray themselves as good people with good intentions and have the ability to convince those who have only superficial or sporadic interaction with them that this is what they are really like.

It is in this light that we can recognize the fundamental difference between people. There are basically two kinds of politicians – the kind that want to serve the people and do what is best for them and the kind that want to wield power over their subjects. When we contemplate this difference, we can begin to see the nature of the spiritual war that we are all involved with.

It is not to be supposed that every person involved in the military industrial complex is a corrupt and evil person any more than it should be supposed that every American is a corrupt and evil person. This is what makes cleaning out the corruption so difficult – good guys do not wear white hats or special uniforms. No, everyone wears the same uniform, salutes the same flag, says the same words. But one side does so in honesty while the other in dishonesty.

Consider another voice from the past. President John F. Kennedy said:

I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future – for reducing this threat or living with it – there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security – a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.

This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President – two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.

The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment…

It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions – by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence – on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a wartime discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.

Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security – and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion. (Address Before The American Newspaper Publishers Association, April 27, 1961)

The present media wars against the current president as no other previous president has experienced. The ideology of the left is threatened to its core by the mere existence of someone like President Donald Trump and therefore no action, moral or immoral, legal or illegal, is forbidden in their desperation to remove him from office and power. That their ideological framework is so fragile should tell everyone that it cannot sustain life in the hostile environment of today’s world but the left is blind in its quest for power and change. These evil people believe they will be the best dictators this world has ever seen and do not know that because they have drunk deeply of evil they will be used to be the worst despots this world has ever seen.

Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know them.” ( Mt. 7:20; top ) The 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon led to the establishment, under President George W. “Dub” Bush, of the Department of Homeland Security (a huge bureaucratic organization devoted to surveillance of all domestic “threats”) and to the war on Iraq (purportedly to keep Saddam Hussein from using weapons of mass-destruction that were later proven to be non-existent.) President Barack Hussein Obama developed a secret program called “Hammer” by which a massive database was constructed that enabled him to spy on everyone and he used whatever information he wanted to keep corrupt politicians in check. When Donald Trump unexpectedly won the 2016 election, massive deceptive actions (such as the Mueller investigation) were invoked to keep the public from learning of the extensive secret spying done under programs like Hammer.

We must recognize that such programs (Hammer, etc.) and actions (Mueller, etc.) cannot be done without the prior emplacement of people predisposed to evil action. There have always been “bad apples” in our government, especially in the covert intelligence sectors but these always consisted of a small percentage, even as low as 1 to 2%. When our government was small, a few thousand or even a few hundred thousand people employed, this percentage represents only dozens or hundreds of people. But now that our government (federal, state and local) employs around 22 million people, 1 to 2% represents one half to one million bad apples! Is it any wonder that the current conspiracy to keep Trump from being the President involves so many people. When one recognizes that nearly half of the people are brainwashed by the media to believe that Trump is the evil one, this situation is frightening to those who do not see the overarching hand of God directing events according to His purposes.

When asked about his desire for war with Iran, President Donald Trump said:

Well, I’m the one that talks about these wars that are 19 years and people are just there. And don’t kid yourself. You do have a military industrial complex. They do like war. You know, in Syria, with the Caliphate, so I wipe out 100% of the Caliphate – that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna have these crazy people going around, blowing up stores and blowing up things. These are seriously ill people. I don’t want to say, oh, they’re wiped out, Isis, but I wiped out 100% of the Caliphate. I say, I want to bring our troops back home. The place went crazy. They want to keep – you have people here, in Washington, they never want to leave. I say, you know what I’ll do, I’ll leave a couple hundred soldiers behind. But if it was up to them, they’d bring thousands of soldiers in. Someday, people will explain it. But you do have, and they call it, the military industrial complex. They never want to leave. They always want to fight. No. I don’t want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran, you can’t let them have nuclear weapons. You just can’t let that happen.

I gave the generals, I said, go ahead, you’ve got one year. See what you can do in Afghanistan. So they fight and fight and fight. But you know, we’ve taken it way down in Afghanistan. I don’t know if you’ve seen that, Steve, we’ve taken it way down. Now, it’s a rough place, it’s a bad place. A lot of bad things happening. The World Trade Center bombers were trained, it’s like the Harvard University of terrorism. Okay? If you want to be a terrorist, you go over there, okay? But no, we, I have not changed. (Interview with Steve Hilton, Fox News, May 19, 2019)

The conflict now will determine whether the lamb or the dragon gains control of the military industrial complex. The so-called Deep State (not necessarily entirely accurate but a good euphemism for the covert evil aspirants to power apart from the historical American precepts) wants war, occupation, slavery. Trump wants liberty, mutual respect between sovereign nations.

By their fruits you will know them. ( Mt. 7:20 ) Continue to make a righteous discernment and resist the urge to jump to conclusions based on mere appearances. ( Jn. 7:24 ) Seek the Spirit of truth whose aim and desire is to lead you into all truth. ( Jn. 16:13 ) If you will not take whatever red pill God places before you (if you will not love the truth however much it might cost or hurt), then know that the blue pill may deliver you into blissful ignorance now but it will be disastrous for you in eternity. God has promised to deliver all who do not love the truth (the red pill) but instead prefer unrighteousness will be given over to strong delusion (the blue pill) so that they may take their rightful place with those who are eternally condemned. ( 2 Ths. 2:10-12; top )

Make no mistake. The eternal gospel of Christ Jesus is being worked out in America precisely because it was built on the precepts of the New Testament. We are called to liberty but we must not use our liberty to indulge our selfish, evil impulses – instead, we must love and serve one another. ( Gal. 5:13 ) This is the way to be a part of the lamb side of America. If we continue to be evil – and pursuing one’s own “church” ideology at the expense of neighbors, orphans, widows and poor people is perhaps the worst kind of false religiosity ( Jas. 1:27 , etc.; top) – then know that we will be judged, condemned and destroyed with the dragon at the appropriate time. Choose this day whom you will serve and what kind of person you will be – there may not be many more opportunities left available to make this choice.

Let he who has ears hear.

• The Purpose of America - Neil Girrard Who said America can’t be found in the end-times prophecies? And who said God invented democracy?
  
  
• Control - Neil Girrard John Taylor Gatto describes the educational system as “deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens – all in order to render the populace ‘manageable.’” What does this mean for the follower in Christ?
  
  
• Whose Slave Are You? - Neil Girrard - ( in Adobe/pdf format ) It is an inescapable fact that we are the slave of whomever we choose to obey – and our only two choices are sin or God.
  
  
• Following the Lamb - Neil Girrard - ( in Adobe/pdf format ) Following Christ is more than just obeying the commands of Christ.
  
  
• The Great Treasure - Neil Girrard - ( in Adobe/pdf format ) With great treasure comes great responsibility.

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