The reality of freedom in the contemporary world is valued. It should be valued. Man was made in the image and likeness of God and therefore is freer than any other non-personal being. It is very easy to see the tragedy that comes when there is an attempt to infringe upon or deny a person’s freedom.…

Luther and Erasmus: The Controversy Concerning the Bondage of the Will Protestant Reformed Theological Journal ^ | April 1999 | Garrett J. Eriks Posted on Sunday, January 01, 2006 6:48:03 PM by HarleyD Introduction At the time of the Reformation, many hoped Martin Luther and Erasmus could unite against…

Frederick Douglass grew up as a slave in Maryland in the early nineteenth century. For Frederick, slavery was brutal. He was taken from his mother when he was only a baby. For years as a child, his owner would dump runny corn meal in something like a pig trough, then call all the slave children to come…

In an interview with Time Pastor Rick Warren was asked, “If you could get people to change one thing, what would it be?” Warren’s answer may be the quote of the year. “I’d get them to stop believing everything they think. We lie to ourselves more than anybody else. Jesus said the truth will set you free—but…

In “Approved Life,” Joshua Saefkow writes, “In the 1951 children's classic, Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks Cheshire cat for advice when she comes to an intersection on the road. She said, ‘Cheshire, can you please tell me, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want…

Scene Setup: Marty is a well-cared-for zebra at the New York City zoo. But in front of his treadmill is a mural that depicts a scene of the wild places he longs to go. Scene: Marty the zebra explains to some people that he is there 365 days a year and seems sad about it. Marty notices a disturbance in…

One of the great heroes in African-American history is a woman named Harriet Tubman, a slave in Maryland who escaped to Philadelphia over the famous “Underground Railroad” and then became one of its most successful conductors in the years leading up to the Civil War. Mrs. Tubman became known as “Moses”…

Watchmen on the Walls of Freedom "We in this country, in this generation, are by destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may…

GLORIFYING GOD In his book, "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper says one of the primary differences between humans and animals is that human beings are given the opportunity to make choices about their work based on motives that can either honor God or dishonor Him. Piper writes, "No beaver or bee or…

Prayer breaks down walls WW2; Hitler; Berlin Wall; Division; Protection; Prayer; Pray; Revival; Peace; Hate; Freedom; Free; After World War II, Berlin—the capital of Germany and headquarters of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich—was overseen by the four Allied nations that had united to defeat Hitler: America,…

It is so easy to become a victim of our circumstances, and develop a victim mentality. Forgotten promises, lies, and schemes do their best to convince us that life is not filled with happy endings. When he was young, Skeeter Bronson found that hard to accept. His father, who owned a Southern California…

An Englishman may happen to be in Spain—he wishes a thousand things were different from what they are, but he does not trouble himself much about them. He says, “If I were a Spaniard I would see what I could do to alter this government. But, being an Englishman, let the Spaniards see to their own matters.…

In the movie The Mission, Robert DeNiro's character, Mendoza, a kidnapper and slave trader of the indigenous people of South America, repents from his ways and turns to God. Mendoza repeatedly carries a load of armor tied to his body while climbing up a cliff as a form of penance for killing his brother…

The HuffingtonPost.com quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson on the uselessness of anger. “For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.” Of course that is only the beginning of what you lose when you hold on to your anger, but it is a good reminder. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell The Week,…

A fish only has freedom in his fish bowl. If he wants freedom to live on the carpet, he will die. God has design us.---- Source: Magazine Name, January 1, 2006

ETERNITY If there is anything that gets a couple thinking about religion, it is the thoughts of the children they are responsible for. That is true, even for the world’s richest couple. Melinda Gates is Catholic, goes to church, and wants to raise daughter Jennifer that way. "But she offered me a deal,"…

WISDOM From San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, past the sheer cliffs of Big Sur to the sun-drenched beaches of Southern California, the views along the 644 miles of Highway 1 are breathtaking. The views of the Pacific crashing against the shore compete with the rugged beauty of the mountains, forests…

Flannery O'Connor observed in a letter to a nonbelieving friend, dated December 9, 1958. "To have the Church be what you want it to be would require the continuous miraculous meddling of God in human affairs, whereas it is our dignity that we are allowed more or less to get on with those graces that…

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Source: Lewis Smedes

Live Free or Die For many years the license plates of New Hampshire bore the slogan, made famous by Revolutionary War general John Stark - "live free or die." The irony is that those great words were printed onto the license plates by inmates in the state prison. They could not leave their prison, but…

CHOSEN Paul Herold is trying his best not to be elected to the City Council of Blaine, Minnesota. He entered the primary several months ago, but then found a new job that will not leave him enough time to properly serve his constituents. He missed the deadline for removing his name from the ballot, so…

Felix Baumgartner will go down in history for many things, particularly for being the first man to break the sound barrier without vehicular power. That's right - Felix is a stuntman/risk taker to the extreme. His expertise? Skydiving. On October 14, 2012 Felix took a helium balloon up into the stratosphere…

An online survey of new parents has found that more than half say they regret the name the gave their child afterward. The survey found that from 1,000 respondents 54 percent said they wished they have given their child a different name. 26 percent of the parents said the name they selected had become…

Patriotism My mom made Susan a beautiful vest that displays several patriotic symbols. Susan asked me "do you think I can wear this anytime, or only in July." I told her she should be proud to display patriotic symbols anytime. She wore it this morning as she left for work. What if Patriotism were limited…

“Refugees from the Berlin wall, to Vietnamese and Cuban boat people, to the DMZ, the prisoners of communism run in only one direction: toward liberty and self-government.” A 24-year-old North Korean soldier joined the race to freedom. He commandeered a jeep in North Korea and sped toward the De-Militarized…