The Battle for Freedom of Conscience

"Thomas Goold being presented by the Grand Jury held at Cambridge, April 7, 1657, for not bringing his child to the holy ordinance of baptism, the said Goold appearing in Court confessed his child to be unbaptized, the Court sollemly admonished him of his dangerous error." Middlesex Court Original Papers, Charlestown, Massachusetts p. 699.

"The Snake in the Grass or Satan Transform'd to an Angel of Light," title page by Richard Gaywood, paper, etching, 148 mm x 93 mm. At the sides are a Puritan and a Covenanter above an author writing.{{PD-1996}}

"But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." Mark 13:9

The colonists from the early 1600's through to the writing of the Constitution witnessed time and time again people willing to endure much persecution for their beliefs. Thus, many came to understand a person's conscience cannot be bent to the will of the government or other rulers. To change what a person believes at the core of their being requires an act of God, not of man. A battle for a person's freedom of conscience played a significant role in the war for human rights.

The anabaptist groups, like the Baptists and the Quakers, were demonized by the courts for not baptizing their infants. The Puritans, from which the Congregational Churches were formed, came out of the Church of England (many of the preachers having been trained by that church), held to the doctrine of infant baptism so strongly that they viewed anyone not baptizing their infant a messenger of Satan:

 "'Tis Satan's policy to plead for an indefinite and boundless toleration." Thomas Shepherd, "Election Sermon" (1672), p. 24

"The Lord keep us from being bewitched with the whore's cup, lest while we seem to detest and reject her with open face of profession, we do not bring her in by a back door of toleration." John Cotton, "Bloody Tenet Washed," p. 132, 192

"The Loud outcry of some is for liberty of conscience … I look upon an unbounded toleration as the first born of all abominations." Reverend Urian Oakes, president of Harvard in 1675. http://mises.org/daily/5966/The-Libertarian-Origins-of-Rhode-Island

 Reflecting upon this battle in Colonial times, I could not help but see the parallel in our own times. The cry of anger against evangelical, Bible-believing churches (indeed all who lay claim to the title: 'Christian') no longer comes from a state church but from secularists, atheists, and those in the government who have little regard for true freedom of conscience. They tote toleration while denying business owners liberty of conscience on how they run their business. There is little difference between the above quotes and the actions and words of those who wish to impose laws that are contrary to the conscience of the business owner or the individual.

The Anabaptist groups (like the Quakers and the Baptists and the Seekers) continued to stand for their beliefs, against all persecutions: from arrests, to whippings, to hangings. They did not waiver. Such conviction led others to embrace their freedoms and even their faith. People gave up their positions, their wealth, their homes in order to hold to their core beliefs. And by standing firm, drawing others to them, they eventually won for us religious freedom...which I fear we are losing, particularly if we (out of fear of losing our comforts and 'peace') refuse to stand firm on God's Word--on God's Truth, and not man's--no matter the cost.

The Bible does teach us to obey the laws of the land and live peaceably, but not to the extent of denying Christ or denying God's laws. God's laws must come first in our lives. God, our Creator, knows what is best for us. He gave us those laws, those instructions on how to live, because He knew that to work contrary to them would lead to destruction. He didn't want that for us. As an example to us, He gave Peter and the other apostles courage to say, "We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

When  you are facing opposition to what you claim is your faith, are you willing to say as the apostles did, "We ought to obey God rather than men"?

"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because thy are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil."

John 17:14-15

From Entrapment to Liberty

"There I stood upon a rock, and made my vows to God to forsake all sinful courses and seek the Lord, if he would direct me how." John Leland, The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland.

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;..." Isaiah 61:1

Many of our country's forefathers held John Leland in high esteem. Yet in his journal we discover he often felt unworthy to preach and perhaps ashamed of his past prior to being saved. In my opinion, this humbleness enabled him to be used of God.

I fear, like John Leland, that many people live in shame and never learn to accept God's forgiveness.

In my years in the camping ministry, I listened to many stories from young women who had suffered at the hands of a man. Often such encounters would lead the girl into a life of entrapment. Feeling as though she were damaged goods, she'd allow herself to be in a position again to receive such abuse, perhaps even seeking it out thinking that was the only way to be 'loved.' Once a victim, she moves into engaging in sinful behavior and becomes trapped in a vicious circle, not able to discern between good love and brutal lust.


Elder Leland felt a great conviction against his former life. We don't know what that former life entailed, but we can see his great sorrow for it. We know that prior to God grasping his heart, he attended dances and other 'frivolities' and that he was ashamed of this. The above statement was a result of witnessing the baptism of a young lady he'd danced with. Her commitment to change and discovery of a new life obviously impacted him.

In Isaiah 61, we find hope for the victim of this vicious cycle of a sin committed against them thus leading them to engage in sin themselves.

The speaker in Isaiah 61 is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. After the Prophet Isaiah recorded what the Messiah would do with respect to Israel and the Gentiles, we see the Messiah focusing on the individual and on His plans for each person:

• "To preach good tidings unto the meek." Note, it is to the meek. The meek are those who are poor, humble, and afflicted. Those who are proud will not look to God for help. They look to themselves for inner strength and power, or to their knowledge of science and humanities, but they do not look to God.
• "He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." When a person experiences the consequences of sin, it is heart-wrenching. When a person feels crushing shame for a sin, conviction to change can rise from the dust. Jesus was sent to be a cast or a splint for the injured heart, thus providing a way for that conviction to bring change.  As such, Jesus makes a way for healing to happen and to prevent or protect from further injury, IF the person is willing to humble herself and let Him work in her life. But like a broken bone, healing may take time.
• "To proclaim liberty to the captives." Like the young ladies I mentioned above, many people are held captive by a sin they cannot gain victory over. But Christ was sent to proclaim liberty. Where does that liberty come from? When He was on earth, He met many people enslaved by sin, including the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). When she expressed some faith by calling Him Lord, He didn't condemn her but told her to "go, and sin no more." He proclaimed to her liberty. Then He gave Himself to be the final offering for sin. Upon Him our sins were placed so that we too can "go, and sin no more."
• "To proclaim...the opening of the prison to them that are bound." When sin shackles us to the walls of our wretched life, death holds the keys to our prison door. When Jesus died and was buried, He went into that prison and took those keys. And when He rose again, He conquered death and gave freedom to all who will believe, accept Him as their sin offering, and then follow Him out of that cell. For the young woman who abandoned her body and self-respect to the use of men or for the moment of ecstasy, He opened the prison. Will she trust Him and come out?
• "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God." When we give ourselves over to Him, accepting the liberty He offers and walking through that opened prison door, we can have hope that God will prevail against our enemies. They cannot touch our soul. They cannot take away our Heavenly Home and the freedom we have in our heart and will someday have in Heaven. That hope enables us to hold up our heads and walk a straight path. What can man do unto us? We are safe and secure under the wings of our Saviour for eternity.
• "To comfort all that mourn." Like John Leland, we at times look back and wish we'd not lived the life we did. We wish we'd made other choices or not allowed ourselves to be in a position of vulnerability or become a victim and slave to sin. But in Christ, we find comfort. We will not forever be under the dark cloud of the sins of our past. When we get to Heaven, we will remember them no more.
• "To give beauty for ashes." The world around us is burning away in the lust of its eyes and the lust of its flesh and in its pride of life. It affects us. We experience the consequences of man's sin even as all creation does. But in our hearts, we find beauty in Christ. We find beauty in the hope of eternal life He gives us. And one day, we will stand in Heaven and be awed by the beauty of His presence and the place He has prepared for us.
• "The oil of joy for mourning." Scarred, we mourn what might have been. Pain of sins deepen our sorrow, but when we look to Christ and what He has done for us, and what He has planned for us, we receive the healing balm of joy. How can you not have joy when you reflect on Him and the tremendous love He has for you?
• "The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." When we focus on the entrapment of sin in our lives, we are weighed down. But, when we focus on the freedom we experience in Christ, we can do nothing more than praise Him, and that praise rests upon our shoulders like a delicate chiffon scarf.
• "That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Did you notice? Trees of righteousness. You don't become that by staying in the captivity of sin. "Go, and sin no more." Victory over sin requires action on our part. We must leave the old life and plant ourselves in Christ and the life He wants us to live. Only when we live according to His ways will He be glorified. And honey, we are created for His glory.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." 

Ephesians 2:8-9

John Adams, The Danger to Our Liberties

We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.

 John Adams, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797

"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

When training a horse in a round pen, my initial goal is for the horse to, by its own freewill, follow me. The horse's flight instinct sends it around the pen, looking for a way out. I stand in the middle, with whip in hand, quietly waiting for the horse to stop running and turn to look at me. If it stops running but turns its hindquarters to me, it feels the bite of the whip, which sends it around the pen again.

Once the horse stops and looks at me, I will not move. I will talk softly to it, and as soon as its attention is off me, I send it around the pen again. After several rounds, the horse learns that the most comfortable place is to stand looking at me.

Then I begin my approach. If the horse bolts, it feels the kiss of the whip until it stops and looks at me. Eventually the horse learns that the safest place is next to me. Yes, it has the freedom to run away. There are no ropes about its neck forcing him to do my bidding. But by its own freewill it follows me like a dog and soon allows me to touch it everywhere.

I learned this training technique when I was fourteen. My little mare, Ginger, and I became such fast friends that I would dance with her in a ten acre pasture, her attention fully on me while I ran this way and that. She'd follow my every move. Through my teen years she was my closest and dearest friend, and we'd play for hours in the field.

My sister had a mare, Smokey, who never learned to stay close. At the first chance, she'd take flight. As a result, her freedom was limited. She'd be driven into the smallest pen and held there until we were finished with her. She had a wrong perception of freedom.

We humans can be very much like Smokey. We race around the pen either trying to avoid God or thinking that an escape from the whip of the slave master (sin) would be to work harder at finding that hole in the fences of ritual or human traditions that would bring us peace. But God stands in the center, calling for our attention, waiting for us to come to Him by our own freewill.

Our works cannot save us from the whip of sin nor can they manipulate God into doing our bidding. God stands in the middle of our pen desiring to extend to us His abundant grace, to give us the joy of being His friend and faithful follower.

John Adams spoke of our freedoms as citizens of America, but spiritually the freedom from sin Christ gave us is in danger when we lose sight of why we follow certain traditions or why we make certain applications of our faith. Not that we would lose our salvation, but that we would lose the fellowship we could have with God if we relied on our works to earn the blessings of God. By faith in God's grace we receive salvation, and by faith in His grace we live in His good pleasure to perform what works please Him.

Smokey was a rather contrary horse. Even the other horses didn't like her. She received fewer favors from us because of her nature. Yes, she'd follow rituals at feed time, when moved from pasture to pasture, and in her general care, but almost every aspect of working with her was more difficult than with Ginger, even though the two mares received the same training.

When I look at my own life, I can see times when I've gone through the motion of serving the Lord, but in truth I was serving myself. I'd look for those escape routes to do as I pleased (under the guise of serving God, of course) and would feel the sting of the whip. I'd run about looking as though I was working for the Lord, expending great energies for God, thinking that these efforts would bend God's will to my favor. Yet, all along God stood in the center waiting for me to come, lower my head, and allow Him to pour upon me His abundant grace and the joy of following His plan, not my own.

I have learned that the place of greatest freedom, of perfect peace, of tremendous joy, is when I willingly follow God's leading, dancing with Him in the pastures of life even as Ginger would with me.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

I John 1:7