Post by Les Brewer on Jun 21, 2012 7:40:53 GMT
Kurt Hayman
Freedom, by Tim Archer
It was 1865. Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June
18, along with 1800 troops, and announced that the Civil War was over.
On June 19, Granger read a proclamation which stated, in part:
...
The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a
Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves
are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights
of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection
heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and
free laborer.
President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on
January 1, 1863. Yet two and a half years later, there were over a
quarter of a million slaves in Texas who were unaware of their new
freedom. Celebrations broke out throughout Galveston and across the
state as thousands of people discovered what had already been true for
some time: they were free.
We are surrounded by slaves today, even in the "land of the free." In
fact, many of the freedoms that are enjoyed in the United States have
only served to further enslave men. In his second letter, Peter writes
about false teachers, saying: "They promise them freedom, but they
themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person,
to that he is enslaved" (2 Peter 2:19).
We are surrounded by people who are slaves to sin, caught up in
patterns of behavior that control their lives: lust, ambition,
addictions, greed. They don't know that freedom is available for the
taking! They don't know that Christ offers freedom from sin. Many of
them don't even know that they are slaves. Yet Christ came and died to
offer them freedom.
Our task, therefore, is to embrace the freedom that Christ offers and
announce that freedom to others. We need to help people see that
slavery to our own desires is still slavery and that God offers a way
out of that bondage.
Be free. And tell others about the freedom you've found.
Freedom, by Tim Archer
It was 1865. Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June
18, along with 1800 troops, and announced that the Civil War was over.
On June 19, Granger read a proclamation which stated, in part:
...
The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a
Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves
are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights
of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection
heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and
free laborer.
President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on
January 1, 1863. Yet two and a half years later, there were over a
quarter of a million slaves in Texas who were unaware of their new
freedom. Celebrations broke out throughout Galveston and across the
state as thousands of people discovered what had already been true for
some time: they were free.
We are surrounded by slaves today, even in the "land of the free." In
fact, many of the freedoms that are enjoyed in the United States have
only served to further enslave men. In his second letter, Peter writes
about false teachers, saying: "They promise them freedom, but they
themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person,
to that he is enslaved" (2 Peter 2:19).
We are surrounded by people who are slaves to sin, caught up in
patterns of behavior that control their lives: lust, ambition,
addictions, greed. They don't know that freedom is available for the
taking! They don't know that Christ offers freedom from sin. Many of
them don't even know that they are slaves. Yet Christ came and died to
offer them freedom.
Our task, therefore, is to embrace the freedom that Christ offers and
announce that freedom to others. We need to help people see that
slavery to our own desires is still slavery and that God offers a way
out of that bondage.
Be free. And tell others about the freedom you've found.
