Man was created by God, and God made him free. He possessed self-control and authority over all his powers; God alone ruled over him, and he was a king in Eden.
But then came Satan, disguised as a snake. There it is—that word, "disguised." Satan disguised himself as someone familiar, as someone harmless, and he engaged in conversation with the woman, for Eve was free. I define freedom here as the ability to act according to one's own will rather than being coerced; it is the state of having no internal struggles to do what you know to be right. The woman was free, and doing good was her habit. But then came the enemy, disguised as a friend.
He asked her, "Did God really say you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?" The woman corrected him, saying, "Of every tree in the garden we can freely eat, except the tree in the midst of the garden." She essentially told him that they were at liberty to eat everything save for one prohibition. But the devil, still in the guise of a snake, told the woman that God’s prohibition was actually an act of oppression. He claimed that if she were to violate it, she would experience true freedom, for she would be as God, knowing good and evil.
The woman trusted the serpent. She believed he was a friend who had her best interests at heart, unaware that he was an enemy bent on her harm—bent on her subjugation.
For you see, the most efficient way for an evil being to entrap someone is through the promise of liberty, achieved by shifting that person's perspective. Someone who is in bondage but recognizes their master is evil is closer to freedom than the gullible person who believes they are "free" but does not recognize the snares laid for them.
Satan promotes "liberty," but his real goal is absolute servitude. The man and woman had self-possession prior to their encounter with Satan, but afterward, that self-possession began to slowly erode within the human race. Satan understood that to truly control a person, you must remove their self-possession. And how do you remove it? By making them focus on earthly things rather than heavenly ones. If freedom comes from God, then by removing a person's focus from Him, they will automatically use something or someone else as a shelter, and that thing—or person—will then be used to control them.
That is the key to spiritual thralldom: disconnect a person from God, then guide their attention elsewhere, and through control of that distraction, you gain control over them. Satan guided Eve’s attention to the wisdom she thought she could gain. As she grabbed the fruit, he grabbed hold of her; then, he used her to grab hold of Adam, and he held both in captivity.
Throughout the generations, Satan has continued to tempt the human race to search for meaning in people and things. As we search for meaning in objects that cannot satisfy, our degradation simply increases.
Satan might say to find "sexual freedom," encouraging you to sleep with whoever you want, but then you catch a disease or find yourself in drama and difficulties that rob you of your peace. Your promised freedom has become a galling yoke of bondage. If children are involved, child support follows; now the courts get involved, and you may lose many things, including your hard-earned wages.
Or you are promised "coolness" by smoking cigarettes. Over time, you find yourself unable to function without smoking, and you are shackled to the habit. You have lost your self-possession and are dependent on an external vice to get through life.
Satan's aim is subjugation, but he disguises it under the name of "freedom." It is as if he is packaging his cigarettes in a box labeled "freedom." The label says, "Find freedom from stress—smoke this," or "Find freedom—sleep with this person." But he hides the fact that the promised freedom will lead to captivity.
Tyrants use a similar process. They offer the people "freedom" while taking away their liberties. Pimps do the same: they offer gullible young women money or love, and then they ensnare them. This world is a vast plantation of servitude, and most of us are in chains to one thing or another. Some are dominated by a spouse, some by materialism, and some by false ideologies or religions. Bondage is widespread; again, it is anything that robs you of your self-possession and puts your joy and peace in the hands of someone or something else.
Satan promises a man he will be "great" if he pursues many women, but he soon leaves that man enslaved to their jealousy, conflict, and the overwhelming responsibility of providing for them. Most men in the Bible who had multiple wives had a host of problems to contend with. The promise of freedom became lifelong thralldom.
Governments use the same promise. They are always promising "more freedom" by removing our liberties; for them, the more control they have, the more they claim there is "freedom." No one would willingly give up their rights, but under the guise of freedom, many surrender them readily.
True freedom is self-possession: having nothing in your inner life that Satan can use to hold you captive. It means having no addiction or weakness that can be used by the enemy to violently pull you to do his will. For this is how temptation feels: a violent pull to do something you know is detrimental to your own well-being. You know that woman is no good, but she looks good, and you are pulled toward her violently despite your reservations. You know that man is no good, but the power of lust pulls you toward him. You have lost your self-possession.
The truth is, we all have weaknesses. So how do we remain free and avoid being pulled by Satan into cruel bondage? We remain free in only one way: by hiding our weaknesses in Christ. It is only as Christ begins to remove these chains that we will begin to realize how enslaved we have actually been.
Resist Satan's power, resist his lies, see his disguises, and hide yourself in Jesus; He will set you free indeed.
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