Freedom
by bobsanders49
I after reading “Leader Shift” by Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille, feelings were stired I have not felt in several decades. I strongly recommend you get and read the book now, so you know what I am talking about.
Or at least, read some reviews!
Being 70 years old, I hope I have some perspective on the subject. Also, being a lover of history, I tend to list things chronologically, as in: “In the beginning”.
Freedom is a creation of a Supreme Being we call God. Think of it. HE has all power, yet demanded that we be given the power to choose. We have the power to choose to surrender our freedom. What a paradox! Why?
As I see it, Our Heavenly Father wants us to grow up and be like HIM. OK, great! Why not just hand me the power and save everybody a lot of trials and tribulation? That was the “Brainchild” of a fellow we call “The Devil”. I personally feel he knew that freedom is the only way to “sort” those who can handle power from those who can not. On days when I just can’t seem to make myself do what deserves to be done, I completely understand that mindset. After all, wouldn’t all power include the power to make myself do what I should be doing and make myself like it? Unfortunately not. The power to move matter and energy at will is one thing. Handling it for “good” purposes is quite another.
It is much like electricity. If it is not handled correctly, it can cause much damage and waste a tremendous amount of resources. Eventually the source of the power will be “cut” until it can be demonstrated that the “power” can be used in a responsible manner. If you don’t believe me, just ask any power company inspector what happens to people who do not properly contain their electrical hook-ups. If you think electricity is regulated, try Atomic Power! Should not the power to think matter and energy into galaxies be even more tightly regulated?
So, freedom is not freedom to misuse my freedom? Well… yes and no. The key component of freedom is training. The second is Love. Love keeps freedom available as long as there is a possibility of learning something. And even at that, learning just for learning sake is only intellectual. The key component of learning is the learning or better yet, the learned skill of self discipline. He who most tightly binds himself in restraints of self discipline is the most free. How can that be? It goes to trust. Can I be trusted with powers granted to say the Chief Operating Officer of a large Corporation? That also depends on my Leadership abilities.
Leadership has as one of it’s components, self discipline. If I know a dog will be obedient to my commands, I can let the dog “off the leash” and still have an enjoyable walk. Obedience leads to true freedom. “The more we obey revealed truth, the more we become liberated.” James E. Faust
(for the full text see: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/04/obedience-the-path-to-freedom?lang=eng )
So here we introduce another element into the formula for freedom: communion with the infinite. If I am not in touch with the “will of God”, how can I be obedient to it? If I am not obedient to it, God has a way of restricting and reducing the number of choices I get to make, until I learn the lesson and acquire the self discipline to apply the lesson. That is exactly why Agnostic and Atheistic societies have never nor can ever be free.
Freedom exists kinda like anti-matter. If it touches either left or right extreme of it’s container, it ceases to exist. On the far left is chaos. In chaos, there is no value of life. There are tons of things that can not be done in Somalia because of the chaos. The opposite extreme is Control, that is, control by a fallible human. God is in control but HIS control actually creates more freedom. So much about God is hard to understand!
So, Freedom is part understanding what direction from God actually is, part choice to voluntarily cooperate and part self control, enough to put the choice into action. Revelation+Understanding+Obedience.
So, why has so much human history been filled with slavery and oppression? First, there was a great apostasy from God’s Prophets.
Moses 5:3 “And Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying:Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish.”
What was the “it” Satan said not to believe? Back up to verses 9 and 10:
“And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.
And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.”
Looks like basic Christianity to me. Does that mean that only Christians can be free Politically? Well, I don’t think the Ancient Greeks or Romans were very Christian, but up until they became subject to an Emperor, they were free. Why? Because they had understanding and enough obedience to correct principles to make it work.
What went wrong? Let’s take a step or two back in time to the Israelite Republic. Let’s look at Exodus 18:25
“And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.”
They had the Ten Commandments which basically said you can do anything you feel like doing except these 10 things. They had the judges of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands to prevent chaos. All they needed was the self discipline to keep it going. But what happened?
Look at 1 Samuel 8:
“19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”
That ended Israelite Freedom.
Now, back to Rome.
Basically, The Republic created such a magnificent army that it tempted a general by the name of Julius Caesar to use it against the Republic! Had the forces of the Republic been victorious, another general, sooner or later, would have succeeded. So, why did the Republic maintain such a strong standing army? Because they got “booty” from the conquered territories. Greed! The Senators were acting like administrators of an Empire, so it was just a matter of time before an Emperor took control.
Again I refer you to Orren & Oliver’s new book: “Leader Shift”. They explain it much better than I can.
Are you beginning to get as uneasy about the American Empire as I am? Are we not acting like an Empire, going all over the world acting like a policeman? How committed are the American people to the principles of Freedom? Do they really consider themselves to be subject to any Supreme Being? To talk about American as self disciplined is almost laughable. Actually it is really sad. Pathetic. So what’s keeping us from becoming an Empire with an Emperor? NOT MUCH!
Let’s say, some day in the future, some President decides to “take over”. What must be done first?
- Most of the firearms should be registered or be in an identifiable area. This will be difficult because resourceful people can “print” key gun parts and manufacture weapons outside the legal system. They don’t all need to be confiscated, just enough.
- Political dissension must be regulated. This can be done by making opposition TV or Internet sites harder or impossible to maintain. Perhaps an incident like the Boston Marathon Bombing could trigger a “crack down” on domestic terrorists. This could be done by a “black ops” “false flag” operation where the media reports that “right wing extremists” are to blame. Given the anomalies in the reporting of the Sandy Hook School shootings and the Boston Marathon bombings, this is not as far fetched as some may think. The evidence is raising more questions than answers.
- With guns and gripers gone, the nation would look very much like Hitler’s Germany in 1933. Who would say “no, that’s unconstitutional!”?
How close are we to getting rid of guns and gripers? The question revolves around this: Who would “raise a fuss” if it actually happened? How many people would it take before the “majority” decided something was wrong? With the ability to “shut down” specific websites and TV new outlets not in keeping with “political correctness”, the number required grows geometrically. Communication is the key. When we loose freedom of speech, we loose it all. What if we don’t totally loose freedom of speech?
To the degree the majority do not believe truth when they hear it, to the degree the majority will not act on the truths they are given, to that degree, we are already enslaved. Economic freedom will be the last to go because the “Emperors and Dictators” know that business is the goose that lays the golden eggs. Why did China and Russia give up Communism? Because it creates poverty! Poverty is not fun! Dictators love their fun. Just ask Kim Jong Il. Oh, that’s right, you can’t. He’s dead. Mostly from living a lavish lifestyle and dissipation! But there aren’t many businesses producing abundance in North Korea. Right! but there are in China, and China continually subsidizes North Korea! Cut off the subsidy and see how fast North Korea loosens up it’s restrictions on business!
Some will say; as long as I have my lifestyle, who cares what the Government is? EXACTLY! That kind of moral bankruptcy is the FIRST sign a nation is about to loose it’s freedom! Has America lost it’s moral fiber? Tell me that and I will tell you how close we are to loosing freedom.
Remember the “black ops” scenario I sketched above? All it would take is a bunch of people more committed to “following orders” than to freedom and constitutional principles and it could be staged. Where are we in that process now? I for one am very nervous about it. I simply do not trust the various “bureaus” to support, protect and defend the Constitution! Rumors about military officers with the rank of Major and above being asked that very question, (“would you shoot American citizens if so ordered?”), do not put me at ease!
Where does that leave me? With a powerful reason to create a business that creates lots of wealth, quickly! Which takes me right back to previous blogs. I actually had one person tell me they were an interesting read! But, start with “Leader Shift”!
Enjoy!
-Bob
bobsanders49 