March 2022

LIBERTY: THE VERY ESSENCE OF FAITH

“What are your thoughts on this?” A friend exposed his concern.

My eyes examined the sentence in question: “Liberty is the very essence of faith” (The Great Controversy, pg. 189).

A story wandered into my awareness as I weighed those words.

“This quote by Luther brings to mind a certain lady who was constantly telling her husband what to do,” I began my narrative. “Not surprisingly, their marriage suffered, so they called their pastor, who enquired: ‘Is it true that you constantly tell your husband what to do?’

“’Yes, Pastor, it is,’ she admitted. ‘I’m so afraid he will make the wrong decision.’

”‘Since he’s not a child, shouldn’t your husband be given the freedom to make a wrong decision?’

“She furrowed her brow. ‘If he made a wrong decision, he would be sinning, and if he sinned, he would be lost.’

“‘As terrible as that would be, doesn’t God give your husband the freedom to sin?’

“’No! No, Pastor! God doesn’t want my husband to be lost!’

“’You’re right, God wants your husband saved.’ Their pastor clarified: ‘I asked whether God gives your husband the freedom to choose to be lost?’

“’Maybe God gives him the freedom to choose, but I want to make sure he’s saved!’

“The pastor looked at her seriously. ‘If you make all the choices for your husband, will he truly be saved?’

“Silence settled in as the lights came on and tears filled her eyes; she had been coercing her husband’s conscience. Immediately, she turned to her husband, pleaded for pardon, and he freely forgave her.”

When Luther wrote, “Liberty is the very essence of faith,” he put his finger on the pulse of Christianity. “’By the word,’ said he, ‘must we overthrow and destroy what has been set up by violence. I will not make use of force…. Liberty is the very essence of faith’” (The Great Controversy, pg. 189). As much as Luther opposed false practices, he equally combatted the use of coercion to make people “do the right thing.” The pen of inspiration warns: “…the conscience should not be compelled even for the observance of the genuine Sabbath, for God will accept only willing service” (RH April 15, 1890).

The great reformer concluded: “’We must leave the matter in God’s hands. His word must act, and not we…. Let us preach; the rest belongs unto God.” Luther understood how force would produce a mindless multitude who hollowly comply with mandatory rituals, no different to the work of the apostate institution he battled. “But there would be no sincerity of heart, nor faith, nor charity. Where these three are wanting, all is wanting…. God does more by His word alone than you and I and all the world by our united strength. God lays hold upon the heart; and when the heart is taken, all is won’” (Ibid. pp. 189-190).

This phenomenal book my friend quoted from, The Great Controversy, traces the lives of real people and their fight for freedom—men and women, boys and girls who faced trying times where they chose to look up and look within, humbly doing deep introspective, soul-searching work, enabling them to courageously stand for truth while the agencies of evil raged against them.

At It Is Written Canada, we have printed 50,000 copies of a new Canadian edition of The Great Controversy, and if you wish to order your own books to share with friends, neighbours, or family members, please, call It Is Written Canada at: (905) 404-6510, or email: information@iiw.ca, or write to: It Is Written Canada, Box 2010, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7V4, CANADA.

Especially at this time, these stories of faith will speak to people personally and help them find the same peace and eternal solutions to their own perplexing problems. In its pages, they will trace the history of the great controversy between good and evil in ages past and see the light history sheds on the fast-approaching final warning and divine deliverance of God’s children.

~ Mike Lemon