Tag Archives: freedom

God Is the Giver of Every Blessing

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Since Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, chose the rulership of Satan in the Garden of Eden over that of God, their Creator, human beings have suffered many calamities and sorrows.

Yet, God has also greatly blessed humanity, as well, especially the descendants of Abraham in the latter days. The apostle James, a half-brother of Jesus Christ, wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

We may look around us and see all kinds of evils, and things to be concerned about, but we also need to be mindful of our blessings. And the Bible promises that in a future age, there are even greater blessings to come. In this article I want to explore the subject of God as the Giver of every blessing.

I’m going to show you from the Scriptures, that testify of God’s intervention in human affairs, how God is the source of specific blessings. Those discussed below are by no means an exhaustive list of God’s blessings, but they are fundamental to life and happiness, and too often we take them for granted.

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God is the Giver of Every Blessing

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Those who have understanding will acknowledge that the ultimate source of every blessing is God, the Giver, the Creator and Sustainer of life. From the Scriptures Rod Reynolds explores how all of our blessings: life, health, freedom and many others, are gifts of God

“God is the Giver of Every Blessing” COGMessenger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Proclaim Liberty

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“Proclaim liberty,” Scripture says (Leviticus 25:10; Isaiah 61:1). For the better part of human history, most of mankind has been in bondage. Indeed, in a sense the entire creation has been subject to bondage in certain respects (Romans 8:20-21).

Many are unaware that even now many millions are literally trapped in slavery, human bondage. The story of how men have enslaved one another, and subjected their own kind to bondage, denying them liberty, is surveyed in this sermon, by Rod Reynolds. The good news is, liberation is coming for all mankind, not only from physical slavery but from slavery to sin, as well, yet in circumstances many will not expect.

“Proclaim Liberty,” COGMessenger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mankind’s Last Best Hope

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In his “Second Annual Message” to Congress of December 1, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln proposed a plan for amendments to the Constitution to end slavery in the United States, with concessions he hoped would bring an end to the Civil War and reconcile the rebel states to the Union. In September of 1862 Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, as an executive order which changed the legal status of enslaved persons in states in rebellion against the United States as of January 1, 1863, giving any enslaved persons in those states the status of free men or women under United States law. The Emancipation Proclamation applied only to slaves living in the rebel states, or serving in any segment of the executive branch of the U.S. government. However, it encouraged or required six states to abolish slavery during the war, including three Confederate states which had largely come under control of the Union army, and three Union border states. It also freed slaves living in other rebel areas which had been occupied by the Union. The plan for the Constitutional amendments proposed in 1862 was never acted on.

The plan was different from the thirteenth Constitutional amendment Lincoln championed in 1864-65 to permanently and immediately end slavery in the United States. By late 1864 the defeat of the Confederacy by Union forces was eminent, negating any rationale for concessions in the ending of slavery for political reasons. The thirteenth amendment was passed by Congress in January 1865, about two and a half months before General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, which effectively ended the Civil War. The thirteenth amendment had been ratified by a sufficient number of states to become law by December 6, 1865.

In his “Second Annual Message,” early in the Civil War, when things weren’t going so well for the Union army (cf. Battle Cry of Freedom, James M. McPherson, pp. 560-561), Lincoln described the United States as “the last, best hope of earth.” William Lee Miller, a professor of ethics, who has taught at several universities, in his book “Lincoln’s Virtues,” states the following concerning the phrase “the last, best hope of earth”:

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Proclaim Liberty

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“Proclaim liberty,” Scripture says (Leviticus 25:10; Isaiah 61:1). For the better part of human history, most of mankind has been in bondage. Indeed, in a sense the entire creation has been subject to bondage in certain respects (Romans 8:20-21).

Many are unaware that even now many millions are literally trapped in slavery, human bondage. The story of how men have enslaved one another, and subjected their own kind to bondage, denying them liberty, is surveyed in this article. The good news is, liberation is coming for all mankind, not only from physical slavery but from slavery to sin, as well, yet in circumstances many will not expect.
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