FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS TYRANNY 1 OCT 2013

FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS TYRANNY: A Look at the verse that inspired Freedom of Religion (aka the 1st Amendment). One area of interest to me is how people break free of tyranny. The profound force of 1 PTR 2:9’s message has inspired people to fight for liberty in many places over the centuries.
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1 PTR 2:9 says, “You are…a royal priesthood…his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;…” Further at REV 5:9-10 we read, “They sang…For you were slain, And have redeemed us to God by your blood…And have made us kings and priests to our God;…”
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At first glance, one might ask, What’s the big deal? The big deal is that 1 PTR 2:9 (along with other verses) establishes the Priesthood of the Believer. It means every believer can have direct access to God without a religious hierarchy; we are free to serve God directly, & don’t have to serve a priest. It bestows on us believers a noble dignity & a responsibility…for now we have a priestly vocation. (“Walk worthy of the vocation where you were called. EPH 4:1) It means the govt. has nothing to offer our souls in their journey w/ our heavenly Father. It means religious freedom. When the Roman Catholic church est. religious tyranny over believers they had to subvert this verse. They would give lip service to it, but disregarded the meaning so that their hierarchy had control. Martin Luther re-discovered the Priesthood of the Believer & taught it to break believers free of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Puritans improved upon Luther’s understanding, & the Baptists improved upon their understanding. The ramifications/implications of the doctrine are vast. It was this verse that justified our founding fathers to write the first amendment to the Const. The founder of the Baptist Church in Holland, John Smyth, in 1609, wrote that “all are equal” based upon “the priesthood of every believer”.
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An overview. Originally YHWH wanted to est. Israel as a kingdom of priests (EX 19:5-6), but the proposal was a conditional “If…then”. Several verses tell us Israel didn’t do their side of the agreement. With the est. of the Temple & its Holy of Holies, a priest class given privileges & only the high priest could enter into the presence of YHWH. When Christ died, it was visibly shown that this arrangement ceased because the veil limiting access to the Holy of Holies was split apart top to bottom showing us that we all now can have access to God. HEB 4:16 says, “come boldly to the throne of grace…to help in time of need.” And “Let your requests be known to God.”PHIL 4:6 It means we can confess our sins directly to God, & we can receive His Spirit to guide & teach us directly. Also because we can directly listen to God, we should obey Him rather than the govt. ACTS 4:19-20. But it also means no one else can believe for you!
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To whoever much is given, much is required. LK 12:48. God has a total claim on our lives as priests, which began w/ baptism.(HEB 10:22) The priest handles sacred things & serves God. One of the things is to offer spiritual sacrifices, which incl. presenting one’s body to God as well as offering up “sacrifices” of prayers. Animal sacrifices were ended. But what is sacred? God’s creation which His love & energy sustain. For instance, “The firmament (sky) proclaims His handiwork.” As priests we treat w/ reverent care all of His sacred creation: hills, trees, water, pets, and so on—we are not exploiting creation or using schemes to selfishly acquire to misuse His sacred creation, but rather we take care of what He has placed in our care. To abuse His good creation is to profane it. We also stand before YHWH on behalf of others. We are our brother’s keeper. We care about our neighbor. Others will note about His priests, “I was in prison & you visited me.” Priests are also servants of other items of God, for instance: His Word, His Law & the Will of God.
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In South America, the various govt.s’ security forces have kidnapped, horribly tortured, & terrified their citizens for years. The various dictatorships even collaborate moving prisoners from one country to another. (The U.S. trained these native security forces in torture in Panama & the U.S. School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA.) The elite families of So. Amer. used the est. church (esp. the Catholic churches) as control mechanisms over the people. The teaching of the Priesthood of Believers has been helpful for believers to break free of the control that the elite were instituting thru the est. churches. For example Jerjes Ruiz, living under an atheist communist regime, wrote in c. 1986 a paper “The Priesthood of All Believers” where he gives a fresh description of its meaning. Rather than paraphrase & water it down, here’s some of it: “Today, Nicaraguan Baptists…as children of God…identify ourselves w/ the historic project of the liberation of our people. This option is an act of Christian priesthood & is also a profoundly human & patriotic act….Priesthood is essentially related to human salvation…our understanding of salvation today is holistic & radical. Salvation is the liberation of the oppressed in the concrete history of their times….the universal priesthood of believers should be expressed today as Christian solidarity.”
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This was a quick look at how Christ brought an atmosphere of religious freedom to believers by making everyone a priest with direct access to God Almighty. The Priesthood of Believers has inspired people throughout history to demand liberty. It also means that each believer has a contribution to make to the whole body of believers from what God has given to him or her