“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.” Ex. 19:4

 

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Gal. 5:1

 

 

“Flight” and “freedom” are two recurring parallel prophetic themes that are dear to us. The scriptures speak of how God wants to give us wings to “soar” into the heights of His glory and purposes, and to release us from bondage into greater liberty.

 

Within these themes however lies an unspoken principle usually overlooked. It’s one the Lord also wants to bring into new focus as He starts shaking all things toward full earthly manifestation of His kingdom. I’m speaking of the principle of responsibility.

 

Wherever there is a graduation from slavery to freedom, there is a corresponding graduation to new responsibility. Those who are freed also become responsible to take charge of life obligations which used to be taken care of for them by others.

 

We must get this. Freedom from government by others is not about release from all government, but about transfer of government under others to self-government under God. Now then, wherever there is government, there is responsibility. Therefore, release from government to self-government always involves a transfer of responsibility. Where government decreases, responsibility increases.

What’s this mean? Freedom not only gives us greater self-determination and authority for decisions. It also requires us to assume life responsibilities we didn’t used to have to shoulder.

 

From Child to Adult

The principle relating freedom to responsibility transfer is easy to demonstrate. A child is governed by his parents. His parents make all his decisions for him. But they also shoulder all the responsibility for his upbringing and well being. They pay all the costs associated with that upbringing. A child doesn’t have to worry about those things.

 

But when the child is grown and ready to “fly” on his own—when he “leaves the nest” to “soar” into his freedom—he also begins assuming responsibility for his own well being. He has to go to work. Furthermore, his parents no longer continue providing his security. To gain freedom,one must give up security provided by others. It’s part of the deal.

 

Similar life trade offs exist involving freedom, responsibility and security. For instance in work: it’s possible to work for others; or you can work for yourself. Working for others is an indenture akin to slavery where the employer makes all the key decisions for the employee, while also shouldering some of the employee’s life responsibilities (such as [in the U.S.] half of an employee’s social security tax and the providing of “benefits” that provide security—like health insurance.)

 

But if one wants to be free from such indenture to become an entrepreneur, he must now accept responsibilities that the company used to assume, and he must give up his benefits. In the long run, those who work for themselves have the potential to do much better for themselves than those who work for others. But there is a price to pay in assumed responsibility and risk. Again, freedom always involves increased responsibility and lost security (increased risk.)

 

Historical Examples of Freedom and Responsibility Transfer

 

         - The Exodus

 

God’s word about bearing Israel up on eagles’ wings was a reference to Israel ’s liberation from Egypt . This historical release from Egypt is something we repeatedly look to for inspiration, strength, and direction. But again, we almost universally perceive this release with no thought of the responsibility transfer and loss of security that accompanied it.

 

As bad as Israel’s bondage was in Egypt, they nevertheless had security there. They had a stable daily routine. They had dependable access to good food and water. There was never a question as to whether it would be there. Nor did they bear any of the responsibilities that come with maintaining a self-governing society. The Egyptians made all their key decisions for them. And though bullying, the Egyptians were also their national covering against any foreign invader. The Israelites did not have to field their own army or the expenses to maintain one.

 

But all that changed when Israel was released. Now, there was no more governmental, societal or economic covering. Israel had to face a wilderness with no certain food or water supplies. They had to front their own military against hostile peoples. They had to develop their own legal system. Of course the Lord gave the blue prints for all this through Moses. But don’t think its outworking was simple. It wasn’t. Israel had to trade an oppressive legal system for another that was self-governing. Responsibility was involved. In gaining freedom, they had to assume responsibility and sacrifice security.

 

When looking into the responsibility and security factor, we begin understanding why the people wanted to go back to Egypt . Though they moaned and groaned under their time there, when the costs of responsibility and insecurity accompanying Yahweh’s freedom appeared, most Hebrews neither wanted nor were prepared to accept them.

                                     

So then, yes, Israel flew like an eagle all right. They ascended on eagles’ wings as Isaiah says and as we all love to tell the story. But when the Lord called “His son” Israel out of Egypt , it was to a new responsibility and a new risk of living by the liberty of faith.

 

- The American Pilgrim Experiment

 

Here is another celebrated story of freedom by a pioneering people. Those of us who sit in the modern American comfort of winterized homes and quick access to the world’s best food chain and construction materials system read the Pilgrim story to our kids at Thanksgiving. And based on this and other stories like it, it has become a universally spoken shibboleth here to say that America is a “free” country.

 

But the freedom the Pilgrims and many others sought in North America did not come without transference of responsibility and the sacrifice of “social security.” To be free from the oppressive Anglican government/church beast system, the Pilgrims had to give up whatever welfare benefits they had as English citizens. They had to form their own government, build their own houses out of next to nothing (regardless whether they had any experience in these crafts), and had to develop their own wilderness food supply while trusting God for the increase. (Interestingly, their wilderness experiment was so similar to Israel’s that the Pilgrims came to see themselves as the “New Israel.”)

 

The Western Slavery Mindset

 

But that was then, and this is now. Despite all the talk of “freedom” in America today based in the actions of generations past, Americans, Canadians and the rest of the industrialized world by and large now have a slave mindset and live as indentured servants on well kept, prosperous “plantations” owned by banking and legal consortiums exercised through government. The word “freedom” has been stripped of all relationship to the responsibility and risk inherent in self-government. In fact, it has been cleverly re-crafted to become a synonym for security in a vacuum of personal responsibility.

 

People are thus deceived into believing they are “free” when they are really nothing more than well-off slaves. And they are induced to increase their “freedom” by increasing their reliance on “benefits” as offered by the banking-legal-government consortium. Consequently, the driving concern in all political campaigns is “Which candidate is best suited in government to take care of me? ” and “ Who should get the blame for not taking care of me? ”

 

This false “freedom” mentality is seen at all levels of Western society. It’s seen where children believe they are entitled to live on their own while expecting parents to still pay their bills and cover for their errors in judgment. It’s seen in the massive cry-baby attitude the unionized workforce industries have toward “big business” and government for axing their jobs and benefits instead of staking out entrepreneurial endeavors and creating their own businesses. It’s seen in the massive ethnic minority mentalities that demand “rights” while expecting unbridled access to welfare programs. It’s seen in disaster recovery situations where victims bemoan government “failure” to save them instead of pioneering to rebuild their own cities. And of course the great economic “bailouts” are all more of the same. Some “free” country.

 

The Prophetic Call to Kingdom Responsibility     

 

The Western slave mentality disguised as freedom is what leads to and ultimately characterizes the final global beast system—a system we have been specifically commanded not to serve. “Promising them liberty, they are themselves become slaves of corruption…when they say peace and security, then sudden destruction comes upon them.”

 

In contrast to this “Egyptian” beast system is the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is about liberty, as Gal. 5:1 teaches us. “It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Be no more entangled in the yoke of slavery.” Now all of us with a prophetic end time mindset yearn for and expect the nearing manifestation of this kingdom and the freedom it will at last bring.  But in this are massive implications.

 

Given that we are expecting the final uncontested manifestation of God’s kingdom to appear, the implications are these: 1) We are on the verge of an exodus from the world system that far exceeds anything seen in the Old Testament or American history, and 2) as the candidates for that exodus, we will be thrust upon with equally unparalleled responsibilities and risks to enter this kingdom of pure freedom.

 

Why are these implications so great? It’s because like Israel of old, most of us are not equal to what we are hoping for. Most of us “kingdom” people have not reckoned with the costs of responsibility and security transfer that must accompany our coming Kingdom. As most of Western society is composed of slave-minded government-dependent whiners, so are most of us “Spirit-filled” and even “prophetic” believers.

 

[ Part II ]

Chris Anderson
New Meadow Neck, Rhode Island

First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org

1/09

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