Tag liberty

Shall Not Be Infringed: How Control Destroys the Spirit of Freedom

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The Foundation of Freedom

“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” — Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” — (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Freedom is not a human invention but a divine imprint. The framers understood that rights do not originate in government but in God, which is why the Constitution does not grant the right to bear arms but acknowledges it. Scripture does the same with spiritual liberty. It does not suggest freedom; it declares it as the natural atmosphere of the Spirit of God. Whenever man attempts to regulate what God has given, he crosses a line. Government infringes liberty when it restricts what God intended to be free, and the church does the same when it restricts the movement of the Spirit in the life of the believer.

The Subtle Redefinition of Words

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” — (Isaiah 5:20)

The erosion of liberty rarely begins with force; it begins with language. “Well regulated” once meant well‑trained and functioning properly, but over time it has been reinterpreted to mean government‑controlled. The meaning was not lost accidentally; it was reshaped intentionally. The same quiet shift happens in the church when biblical words are redefined to fit human systems. Holiness becomes a dress code. Unity becomes conformity. Submission becomes silence. “Decency and order” becomes a justification for control. Worship becomes a program rather than a posture. The serpent’s first strategy in Eden was not violence but vocabulary: “Hath God said?” Redefinition remains the oldest and most effective form of spiritual warfare.

The Spirit of Regulation

“Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” — (Galatians 5:7) “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” — (Galatians 5:1)

The same spirit that regulates civil rights also regulates spiritual revelation. It fears freedom because freedom cannot be controlled, and it fears the Spirit because the Spirit cannot be predicted. It fears the believer who hears God because such a believer cannot be managed. This is precisely why the Pharisees feared Jesus. Their fear was not rooted in disagreement but in the fact that He walked in a freedom they could not contain. He lived in unbroken fellowship with His Father, spoke what He heard from heaven, healed without seeking permission, taught without submitting to their hierarchy, and forgave without their authorization. He operated under an unseen authority greater than theirs, and they recognized that authority even as they rejected it. They could not regulate Him, license Him, silence Him, or control Him. He embodied a kind of liberty that exposed the emptiness of their system.

That same fear still drives many churches to quench the Spirit while claiming to honor Him. “Decency and order” becomes a polite way of saying that only one man may speak, pray, teach, or read Scripture while everyone else sits silently as spectators. This is not the body of Christ functioning as a living organism but an audience observing a program. It is not fellowship with the Spirit but fellowship with a schedule. It is not order but suffocation. Paul’s warning — “Quench not the Spirit” — is ignored weekly, not through rebellion but through routine.

The Gifts Were Given to Build, Not to Be Buried

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” — (1 Corinthians 12:7) “Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.” — (1 Corinthians 14:12)

The gifts of the Spirit were never intended to be rare, mysterious, or controversial. They were given to strengthen the church, encourage the believer, and empower the body to function as Christ designed. Prophecy brings encouragement. Tongues edify. Interpretation brings clarity. Healing restores. Miracles awaken faith. Wisdom guides. Knowledge reveals. Discernment protects. These gifts are not spiritual accessories; they are the essential tools God provided so the church could operate as a living body rather than a silent audience.

When churches declare that the gifts have ceased, or that they faded away, or that they were only for the apostles, or that the Bible has replaced the Spirit, they commit the same error governments commit when they regulate rights. They take something God gave freely and turn it into something man controls. They replace the living voice of the Spirit with the printed words of a leather‑bound book interpreted by men who claim the right to speak for God while denying the Spirit who actually does.

The Bible is perfect, but the Bible is not the Shepherd. Jesus is the Shepherd, and the Spirit is the One who leads the sheep. When the Spirit is replaced with systems, and the Shepherd is replaced with denominations, and the gifts are replaced with programs, the church becomes a dead place rather than a living one. “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” — (2 Corinthians 3:6). A church full of Bibles but empty of the Spirit becomes a graveyard with Scripture verses carved on the tombstones.

The Church and the Constitution

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” — (Matthew 22:21)

The Constitution protects civil liberty, and the Gospel protects spiritual liberty, but both are vulnerable to the same enemy: the spirit of control. Government claims it is not infringing rights but regulating them. Churches claim they are not quenching the Spirit but maintaining order. Yet true order flows from the Spirit, not from schedules. True authority flows from Christ, not from committees. True unity flows from love, not from uniformity. When the church replaces the Holy Spirit with human systems, it commits the same violation the state commits when it replaces liberty with regulation. It infringes what God intended to be free.

The Danger of Managed Freedom

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” — (2 Timothy 3:5) “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” — (John 8:36)

Managed freedom is not freedom at all. Supervised liberty is not liberty. A right that requires permission is no longer a right, and a faith that requires approval is no longer faith. When the church manages the Spirit, it loses the Spirit. When it regulates worship, it loses wonder. When it restricts participation, it loses power. When it replaces revelation with ritual, it loses relationship. The early church was alive because every believer participated; modern churches are dying because only one man does. The Spirit is not a segment of the service or a guest to be acknowledged and then ignored. He is the atmosphere of the Kingdom, and where He is Lord, liberty is natural. Where He is regulated, liberty dies.

The Call to Stand Free

“For ye have been called unto liberty… by love serve one another.” — (Galatians 5:13) “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” — (Romans 12:2)

Freedom is not rebellion but restoration. It is the return to the atmosphere of the Spirit, where obedience flows from love rather than fear. The believer who walks in the Spirit is the freest person in the room because he answers to God alone. The same God who gave men the right to stand free before earthly powers gave believers the right to stand free before religious ones. The Spirit does not need permission to move, the believer does not need permission to speak, and the body does not need permission to function.

The Final Word

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” — (2 Corinthians 3:17) “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” — (John 8:32)

Freedom is not a doctrine or a privilege but the natural atmosphere of the Spirit of God. When that Spirit is quenched, regulated, or replaced with human authority, the infringement is far greater than anything a government could ever do, because it does not merely restrict a right; it restricts a relationship. This is the battle of our age: not left versus right, not church versus culture, but freedom versus the spirit of regulation, liberty versus the machinery of control, and the living voice of God versus the systems that fear it. The believer who walks in the Spirit will always be the freest person in the room.

Promoting the General Welfare

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Philippians 2:4 (HCSB)
4 Everyone should look out not ⌊only⌋ for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

The Preamble to our Constitution reads: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The Constitution therefore was established with an express purpose of securing justice, domestic tranquility, defense, promote the well-being of its citizenry, and secure liberty now and into the future. How are we doing?

“Tocqueville began with a shocker: That the first political institution of American democracy is religion. His thesis went something like this: The premises of secular materialism do not sustain democracy, but undermine it, while the premises of Judaism and Christianity include and by inductive experience lead to democracy, uplift it, carry it over its inherent weaknesses, and sustain it.

[Because of its] own inherent tendencies, democracy tends to lower tastes and passions, to devolve into materialistic preoccupations, and to undercut its own principles by a morally indifferent relativism. Further, democracy left to itself tends to surrender liberty to the passion for security and equality, and thus to end in a new soft despotism, tied down with a thousand silken threads by a benign authority.”

Happy Veteran’s Day

Allen Frederick 1 Comment
Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cem...
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Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, when on 11 November 1921, the remains of an unknown World War I American soldier were buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in recognition of WWI veterans and the official cessation of WWI hostilities “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918. President Warren Harding requested that “All … citizens … indulge in a period of silent thanks to God for these … valorous lives, and of supplication for His Divine mercy … on our beloved country.” Inscribed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are the words, “Here lies in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”

In 1954, Congress was determined to additionally recognize the sacrifice of veterans before and since WWI, and those of future generations, and thereby proposed to recognize 11 November as Veterans Day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in WWII, signed legislation establishing Veterans Day.

Insight into the sacrifice of our veterans and their families can be gained by noting that, since the American Revolution, tens of millions of Americans have served our nation with honor, and almost 1.2 million have died in defense of it. Another 1.4 million have been wounded, many gravely. The numbers, of course, offer no reckoning of the inestimable value of these Patriots’ lives or the anguish borne by their families, but we do know that their sacrifices defended a most precious gift — the gift of Liberty that we cherish to this day.

America stands proud and free because our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen have stood bravely in harm’s way — now and for generations. For their steadfast devotion to duty, honor and country, we, the American People, offer our humble gratitude and heartfelt thanks.

On this Veterans Day, and every day of the year, may God bless our men and women in uniform, those who have served before them, and their families. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-14)

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These are the times that try men’s souls

Allen Frederick 4 Comments

"These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." –Thomas Paine

There used to be a time in America where we actually stood for something bigger and greater than ourselves. I am fearful perhaps we have lost that national fervor for the greater good. For too long government has made dependents of far too many of our citizens and the only fight worth fighting is fighting for one’s rights or entitlements. This is a national stain on this great nation. What made America "exceptional" was the idea that every man. woman, child, individual was created by God and endued with certain inalienable rights. Each individual was respected as made in the image of God and thusly should be protected from the ravishing of tyrannical government. The colonists stood together in the 17th and 18th centuries to fend off the tyrannical talons of England and were willing to die for something greater than themselves – liberty and justice for all. Neighbor stood with neighbor to beat back the enemies of freedom.
This love of freedom drove men and women to fight and die in foreign lands because they believed FREEDOM was something worth fighting for and wanted to see others set free from despotism and wicked tyrants. America was once seen as the ONLY HOPE or like Ronald Reagan put it "a shining city on a hill".

I am afraid the shimmer has gone out of our once great nation. The populace has learned how to vote themselves special favors and monies from the federal coffers. They have learned how to steal from their neighbors and no longer stand together as one nation under God. We have been divided by politicians who play class warfare and pit one group against another in order to gain political advantage.

It is time for true patriots to once again rise to the occasion. We need true patriots to challenge the soft tyranny running unchecked throughout our society.

I take great hope in the rise of the Tea Party movement because I see in them the nature of true patriotism. It is not about them but for the country. They are the ones who have for years, worked hard, obeyed the law, looked after their families, pray to God, worship in faith communities, and basically lead quite, peaceful lives. However; the see the handwriting on the wall and have been stirred to take action. They are willing to make the sacrifices needed to right the wrongs of the ship of state so that their progeny will be able to enjoy the fruits of liberty left to them by their forefathers.

Will you be among the noble who cry GIVE ME LIBERTY or GIVE ME DEATH or is your battle cry simply GIVE ME?

The TEA Party has made an impact in the culture wars. Love them or hate them, but in the end you will learn to respect them because they are not driven by personal gain but by a cause greater than themselves. It is for their children and their children’s children that they stand and fight. This is a cause worth dying for.

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The Truth of Sharia Law Exposed

Allen Frederick 3 Comments
Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock
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Truth be told, Islam is only a religion of Peace when all other belief systems have been annihilated. The very tenets of Islam dictate everything about a person’s life. It is a religion of totalitarianism, were forced adherence trumps freedom of religion. The only religion you are free to practice under Sharia law is Islam. All other belief systems are considered apostate and must be eradicated from the planet.

There is no such thing as religious tolerance under Sharia law, because the only religion that Sharia law tolerates is Islam. This story exposes us to three real life examples of people who chose a different path besides Islam who were met not with tolerance but intolerance and death threats.

As Christians we need to understand that not all religions are created equal, in fact there is only one way to find peace and harmony in the world and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus himself.

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AUSTRALIA
 (ANS) — In 1980, Egypt amended its constitution to elevate Sharia (Islamic law) as “the principal source of legislation”. This provision — which is now common in Muslim constitutions, including the new constitutions of Afghanistan and Iraq — renders constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equality before the law illusory. For Sharia’s principal aim concerning religious liberty, is to eradicate apostasy (rejection of Islam) through the elimination of fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to reject Islam) and the establishment of dhimmitude (the humiliation and subjugation of Jews and Christians as second class citizens; crippling systematic discrimination; violent religious apartheid). There is no religious liberty in Islam, for Islam survives as religious totalitarianism that refuses rejection.

In Egypt, as in virtually all Muslim states, a person’s official religion is displayed on their identity card. According to Sharia, every child born to a Muslim father is deemed Muslim from birth. According to Sharia, a Muslim woman is only permitted to marry a Muslim man. (NOTE: This is the main reason why Christian men convert to Islam, and why female converts to Christianity will risk life and liberty to secure a falsified/illegal ID, for without a Christian ID they cannot marry a Christian.)

If a Christian father converts to Islam (as some do for any number of pragmatic reasons, such as a desire for a Muslim wife or a better job), his Christian children are automatically deemed Muslim. They have no say in this and may not apostasise: i.e. return to Christianity. If a Muslim parent converts to Christianity they automatically lose custody of their children.

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