FREEDOM OF SPEACH

Concerning of Freedom of Speech,
Often we are offended and disconnected when some one disagrees with us.  In fact a lot of folks will only make friends with those which they agree.  And if there is another way of looking at things, we often think the person is just stupid.   Sometimes we are offended even though the other person has done nothing.  Only they remind of someone who hurt us in the past. That is exactly why the Forefathers of our Constitutional Republic made it a law that people can not be silenced by fear into keeping quiet.  As sometimes those who are quiet really have the right answer but are not allowed the room to express it without condemnation. That is why that the Bible teaches that before honor is humility.  Humility is the ability to sincerely listen with respect in understanding a truth regardless of personal position.  Not much example of humility these days.  Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a great fall.  And we have sure seen that at work lately.

With true Christians following the teachings of Jesus different points of view are treated with love and faith that with a careful hearing of both sides of an issue, the Truth of God will come to the surface.  It is not an ego match to protect a personal pride position but a sincere effort in love to find God’s Truth that sets us free.  It is not a matter of winning but a matter of coming into unity in the very truth of God.  I grew up in a church pride position that kept me in a small box for years.  Through the kind and loving efforts of another Christian brother I was able to be freed from that little box into a totally different world in the Holy Spirit.  And in a short time found myself teaching the very doctrine that my old church was totally against.  The church preached salvation very well, in fact most of the time.  But as to the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit they knew very little except for the words.  And it is amazing how we can, over time, change words to mean what we want them to mean and totally miss what the Holy Spirit was trying to share at the time.

So when you come to Christian Doctrine that makes one church divided from another if you smell the air, you know that something is wrong.  If they both had God’s Truth, ACTUALLY, then there would be no division, they could even have the same bank account.  As the Moderator for the churches in Kona one year I was bringing up the fact of the lack of real unity.  And the other ministers were offended.  So I simply said, “When you all can have the same bank account I will believe you.”  No one had a word to say, they all just walked away.  And I am not saying that we as Christians should have the same bank account, that would be stupid.  In fact I feel that even shall house churches should establish their own stewardship of the stuff for the LORD.

The Unity Factor of John 17 and the details of Eph.4:11-16 and much of the New Testament make it our responsibility to come into the Unity of the Faith in the Bond of Peace.  In other words if you find any disunity. to in love, patiently work on the basis of the disunity in humility until Gods Truth prevails and HIS FREEDOM is experienced in His Truth.  This is the way of Unity and Unity is the way of experiencing God’s Power for healing and deliverance.  United we Stand, Divided we fall.  A divided house can not stand.   How can two walk together except they be agreed?   The concept to agree to disagree is purely demonic and totally contrary to Holy Scripture.  Humility listens, evaluates in context, seeks not its own, 1 Cor.13.   Pride on the other hand will shout loudly to Maintain a position even when untenable.   Atheism is loud but is totally illogical.  You must know all about everything to know that something does not exist.  The Greeks even figured that one out with all of the gods that they believed in they could have left one out so had a place to worship even the unknown god.   Apostle Paul used this to great advantage in preaching the Good News to those guys.   A rule for knowing the truth from the Word of God is that you can not “Proof Text.”  You can prove very little with only one scripture on a subject.  But if you take a concordance and go through the 66 books on the same subject as per Isaiah 28 and check line upon line and precept upon precept  to really understand a position of truth and doctrine.  there is no “Progressive” Gospel.  As our Creator God has absolute foreknowledge he never makes a mistake and never has to change HIS MIND.  In HIS image HE created us to be able to become like HIM including a free will.  So how are we doing in learning to use our free will effectively for walking in righteousness?  In Adam it did not work out so well.  The sales pitch of lucifer to Eve was a beaut.  All of the charm and half truths you could muster up on a short notice to make a sale.  Now our whole world if full of false advertising to get this or that to make us happy.  Does it work?  Out of 1 to 10 perhaps a 5 and then sliding eventually into some place in storage.  Our whole world is full of buying and listening to someone who has the inside tract on real life. So the best truth that I can share with you is that God and His Prophets never give us anything but TRUTH and that you can take to the Bank.   Don’t know your Bible? You will go down for the count and may totally miss out on God’s best for you.