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    It Was for Freedom: Our God-Given Liberty
    It Was for Freedom: Our God-Given Liberty
    It Was for Freedom: Our God-Given Liberty
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    It Was for Freedom: Our God-Given Liberty

    By A LeRoy

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    About this ebook

    Sin is Unattainable!


    What if it were impossible to sin? What if all notion of "good" and "evil" were banished from our choices? What if the will of God were so embedded into our spiritual DNA that his point of view has become our point of view, his will our will?


    Then what freedoms would ensue!


    Well, all of this is true! In this groundbreaking work of rigorous, Bible-centered analysis, the author spells out the full extent of Christ's liberation in our lives, from how we think, feel, and act, to what we do with our bodies and with whom! Fear, worry, and condemnation are driven out, and in their place reign love and grace, "the unmerited favor of God".


    Meanwhile, this book draws on great thinkers and writers of the ages to share their insights: the poets ranging from Shakespeare to T.S. Eliot; the Christian storytellers from John Bunyan to C.S. Lewis; and the mystics from St. John of the Cross to Oswald Chambers.


    The result is a beautifully crafted and deeply researched work of literature and liberation, a blueprint for transformation, a love letter in the service of peace and joy.


    Now it awaits to set you free!


    "A majestic flow of words."
    Amy's Bookshelf Reviews


    "Abdiel LeRoy shares that bliss of freedom of conscience in everything we do. He is one of our treasured spiritual guides—a man who cares deeply about setting us free from the unnecessary restrictions imposed on us, as well as those that are self-imposed! Read this book and breathe freedom. Highly Recommended."
    Grady Harp, San Francisco Review of Books

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUnparagoned
    Release dateMay 28, 2020
    It Was for Freedom: Our God-Given Liberty

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      Book preview

      It Was for Freedom - A LeRoy

      It Was For Freedom

      It Was For Freedom

      Our God-Given Liberty in Thought, Action, Feeling, Unforgiveness, Sex, Idleness, Art, and Eating (Book 2 in The Gourmet Gospel Series)

      A. Le Roy

      Unparagoned

      Copyright 2018  A. LeRoy

      License Notes

      This book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, resold, licensed, or publicly performed except as permitted in writing by the author. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text is an infringement of the author's rights. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

      Unto

      In dedication to Christ Jesus

      You wrote no words except those traced in sand,

      Though four loyal scribes have set your speeches down,

      Nor did you need to, being the Word made flesh,

      Incarnate role, wearing thy unseen crown.

      That Word, as seed, sown in a faithful heart,

      May grow to yield the harvest you would reap,

      Receiving sunlight, rain, thy love unearned,

      'Til touching Heaven were an easy leap.

      Enthroned there, you saw Satan fall like lightning;

      The angels, saints, and elders bow to thee.

      That you would call me brother, friend, and ally,

      And more, that you would intercede for me,

      Is wonder that surpasseth understanding;

      Nothing demanded, I only believe,

      Wherein you hold my empty-handed hand;

      My only gift to thee is to receive!

      May 2020

      Contents

      Books in The Gourmet Gospel Series

      Preface

      It Was for Freedom

      Introduction

      I—An Otherworldly Freedom

      Imagination and Intuition

      Freedom in Thought

      Freedom in Action

      Freedom in Feeling

      Freedom in Balance

      II—The Fruits of Freedom

      Freedom in UN-Forgiveness!

      Freedom in Sex

      Freedom in Idleness

      Freedom in Art

      III—The Gourmet Gospel

      Down With Diets!

      Food, Glorious Food!

      Conclusion

      Foes to Grace (Sample)

      Introduction

      I—Satan in the Court of Heaven

      Counsel for the Defense

      From the Author

      Books by A. LeRoy

      Epic Poems

      Fiction

      Poetry Collections

      Non-Fiction

      Bibliography

      Notes

      Books in The Gourmet Gospel Series

      1

      A BETTER EDEN

      Where Sin Is Neither Possible nor Perceived

      2

      IT WAS FOR FREEDOM

      Our God-Given Liberty

      3

      FOES TO GRACE

      Satan in the Court of Heaven,

      His Servants in the Corridors of Earth

      THE GOURMET GOSPEL COLLECTION:

      A Better Eden, It Was for Freedom, Foes to Grace

      Preface

      The Oxford English Dictionary defines Grace as the free and unmerited favour of God. The implications of this simple phrase are unfathomably wonderful and illuminating, with the power to transform lives and even all of humanity. Yet the human race has barely begun to grasp its import, and our churches certainly haven't helped!

      Setting itself up in opposition to Grace, is Law, for which I will use a capital L (except in quotes). I do not mean man-made acts of legislation, though these can be vicious enough, but a general polarization of life into ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

      In conceiving this series as a champion of Grace and a dispeller of Law, I embrace the wondrous tautology coined by the apostle Paul that It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. ¹

      Though my thesis is largely derived from the Bible, you don't have to consider yourself a Christian to benefit. In any case, my conclusions are often at odds with most preaching you'll hear in churches.

      Broadly speaking, the first book in this series, A Better Eden, sets a foundation of understanding on which the second book, It Was for Freedom, builds. The final volume, Foes to Grace, examines how the various advocates of Law attempt to undermine this God-given freedom.

      Before I proceed, a note about my use of the pronoun he throughout to describe a generalized third person, implying of course that it stands for he or she. I do so for economy of language and assure the reader the male pronoun is used to describe the villains of this piece just as much as the heroes!

      Abdiel LeRoy

      It Was for Freedom

      Our God-Given Liberty in Thought, Action, Feeling, Unforgiveness, Sex, Idleness, Art, and Eating (Book 2 in The Gourmet Gospel Series)

      Introduction

      I have known what it is to live under Law's tyranny, to be a sponge for every facile commandment. There were the ‘spiritual’ ones: thou shalt dedicate each day to God; thou shalt pray at the same time each day for the same duration, and thou shalt do so before breakfast; thou shalt read thy Bible every day; thou shalt intercede for thy parents every day, and for anyone else whose problems thou learnest of.

      Then there were the sacrificial commandments: thou must give away every possession; thou must give up thy seat on the train to others; thou must never refuse anyone anything (except sex, of course); thou must not take pride in any achievement.

      But decrees about eating were the most condemning of all: thou shalt ask for the Lord's blessing on every morsel of food thou tastest, but thou shalt not eat or drink during prayer; thou shalt consume no more than one chocolate bar per day; thou shalt fast regularly and take no honey during said fasts.

      And then the Law would seize on scriptures that would intensify the burden: I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say. ¹

      In this most legalistic phase of my life, I would busily look for ways to prove to myself and others that I was a loving person by carrying out ‘good deeds’. Meanwhile, I continually denied myself things I wanted and, worse, starved myself and engaged in other outrages of self injury. But my sacrifices had no power to perfect, and led only to feelings of bondage and despair.

      I was in such fear at the time that I couldn't even take up my Bible in peace, for fear of reading a passage that condemned me or told me to do something I was not doing. My eyes darted across the page trying not to hover near such traps. I wrote at the time:

      I have put aside the porn mags, the alcohol, the masturbation, the New-Age literature, the harsh words and gossip, the dirty jokes, screened out bad television and movies from my life. And still the call comes through: Be holy!

      So I set disciplines and rules to waste less time, read more, meditate more, pray more, intercede more, eat the right food, deny myself things I enjoy, give away more of my possessions. I effectively said, O Lord, give me some rules to follow that I may be holier. And I merely sank further into misery and despondency. And I am heartily sick of it.

      I came to realize that my suicidal sacrifices were thwarting the Spirit's fruit of peace and joy in my life, and replacing them with slavery; that no self-injurious gesture could improve me; that I was, am, and ever will be in Christ with nothing to prove; that his love flows through my veins as sap through a vine; that the fruit of the Spirit is my natural output; that I am, at my core, a being of love.

      I could now see how Law had usurped the natural guidance of my own heart and replaced it with a regime of rules, timing devices, and calorie counters, putting me at war with myself! And I came to understand how Law had inflicted devastating condemnation not just on me, but on humanity in general and church communities in particular.

      Ever heard of the Gordian Knot? It was a knot of such unfathomable complexity that no-one, however wise or learnèd, however dexterous, had been able to untie it. According to legend, it was the conqueror Alexander who put the

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