{"id":4665,"date":"2017-07-19T22:47:07","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T22:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/?p=4665"},"modified":"2026-01-29T22:49:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:49:37","slug":"freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/2017\/07\/19\/freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freedom<\/u><\/h3>\n

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Recently I was reminded of the struggles of people during the Soviet Union.\u00a0 The oppression of those who wished to actually serve God according to the Holy Scriptures and preach what the Holy Spirit had led them to preach was quite staggering.\u00a0 In the Soviet Union each sermon had to be approved by the state, any swaying from that could lead to immediate trouble.<\/h3>\n

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The Soviet Union was not alone in this regard, even with the fall of the Soviet Union, now Putin has reinstated laws that require a Christian to be licensed in order to hand out religious literature or witness to another person.\u00a0 Everything must be within the organized religions setup within Russia.\u00a0 However, China is much more repressive than Russia is, with a strong underground Church movement.<\/h3>\n

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“We ought to obey God rather than men.”\u00a0 Acts 5:29b<\/em><\/h3>\n

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In any country were there is oppression against Believers, understand that many people are carted off to prisons, camps or put into mental institutions, some will die, others will be maimed or permanently damaged.\u00a0 Those who are arrested for such offenses know that it is worthy to be in trouble for the cause of following the Lord.\u00a0 They realize that suffering persecution is part of being a Believer.<\/h3>\n

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“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before you.\u00a0 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.\u00a0 Remember the Word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My Word, they will keep yours also.”\u00a0 John 15:18-20<\/em><\/h3>\n

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“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers on account of My name.”\u00a0 Luke 21:12<\/em><\/h3>\n

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“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in battle, turned to flight the armies of foreigners.\u00a0 Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.\u00a0 Still others had trial of mockings and floggings, yes, and of bonds and imprisonment.\u00a0 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tried, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, oppressed; of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.\u00a0 And all these, having borne witness through faith, did not obtain the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made complete apart from us.”\u00a0 Hebrews 11:32-40<\/em><\/h3>\n

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These things are nothing new.\u00a0 Men and women who look toward their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, witnessing to others, telling others about Jesus.\u00a0 Pastors who hold underground Churches so they can freely speak that which they have been led to preach.\u00a0 Those who smuggle Bibles and tracts, trying to get the Gospel to the lost, so they too might be Saved.\u00a0 Believers who put their life on the line to serve Him who Saved them.<\/h3>\n

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“For he who has died has been justified from sin.\u00a0 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.\u00a0 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives unto God.\u00a0 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”\u00a0 Romans 6:7-11<\/em><\/h3>\n

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”\u00a0 2nd Corinthians 5:17<\/em><\/h3>\n

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Around the country many churches would become stirred up emotionally watching a movie, hearing from a missionary or a history lesson from a traveling evangelist regarding those who have been or are a martyr for the sake of the Gospel.\u00a0 For most though these stories are something that others do, while they will agree that they are noteworthy, there is no necessity seen in the United States.<\/h3>\n

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Here in the land of the free and home of the brave, each Christian has the opportunity to freely speak about the Gospel with very little threat of oppression or persecution, aside from the name calling.\u00a0 Imagine those who are suffering in a Chinese prison for the Gospel, if they realized that Americans could go door to door or freely talk to their neighbor about Jesus, but they won’t.\u00a0 In America we have the freedom to spread the Gospel or simply to just be a witness through our conversation, unfortunately this rarely happens.<\/h3>\n

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How long before our window of opportunity is closed in this country too?\u00a0 Do you not think that would ever happen?\u00a0 Well the days are coming and perhaps those of us who are actually Believers will be taken Home prior, but you can see the writing on the wall, eventually it will not be safe to preach the Gospel in America either.\u00a0 When that time comes perhaps instead of sorrow there will actually be rejoicing.<\/h3>\n

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How you say?\u00a0 Looking at the history of those who have suffered for the sake of the Gospel, generally freedom and prosperity equates to what you see in our society and oppression and persecution yields the fruits of the Believers in a country where there is an iron grid against such things.\u00a0 In persecuted countries sinners get Saved, in free countries often times the focus is on the world.<\/h3>\n

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“Set your mind on things above, not on <\/em>the<\/em> things of the earth; for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”\u00a0 Colossians 3:2-3<\/em><\/h3>\n

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For those of you who are Believers, are you doing as the Lord leads?\u00a0 Are you living a life that is a testimony to those who are lost and on their way to Hell?\u00a0 Do your neighbors know you are a Christian, how about your coworkers or even your family?\u00a0 Have you ever shared the Gospel with anyone?\u00a0 If you are ashamed to tell others about your Salvation, imagine those who do it under the threat of being secretly whisked away in the middle of the night.\u00a0 For you, someone might say something mean or they might not like you, for others it might be their life.<\/h3>\n

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“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.\u00a0 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a grain measure, but on a lampstand, and it shines for all who are in the house.\u00a0 Let your light so shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”\u00a0 Matthew 5:14-16<\/em><\/h3>\n

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“Therefore whoever shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in Heaven.\u00a0 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in Heaven.\u00a0 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.\u00a0 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.\u00a0 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.\u00a0 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.\u00a0 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life on account of Me will find it.\u00a0 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”\u00a0 Matthew 10:32-40<\/em><\/h3>\n

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Amen!<\/h3>\n

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Freedom   Recently I was reminded of the struggles of people during the Soviet Union.\u00a0 The oppression of those who wished to actually serve God according to the Holy Scriptures and preach what the Holy Spirit had led them to preach was quite staggering.\u00a0 In the Soviet Union each sermon had to be approved by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1338,1362],"tags":[175,488,340,8,1345,446],"class_list":["post-4665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-politics","tag-all-will-stand","tag-allwillstand-org","tag-articles","tag-christian","tag-living","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4667,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions\/4667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}