Refugees From the World of Unreality
What Price Freedom For Us?
Uranda January 28, 1951
I have been thinking this morning about some of the things we have to be thankful for, and one of these blessings is shelter from the cold. I know what it is to be cold, and to have no place to go for shelter and warmth. Recently the blessings of protection from the cold have been emphasized in Korea where those refugees with their babies have been out on the road, ill-clad in weather worse than we had this morning, children freezing to death, and adults, too. Such are the conditions produced by man's inhumanity to man—war. Those refugees were fleeing from their homes, leaving behind whatever they had that was precious to them, fleeing in subzero weather, rather than come under Communist domination. The misery of such a condition can hardly be portrayed in words, and I doubt if even imagination can give an adequate picture. Some of us have been at times a little cold. I have spent more than one night when I had to keep moving all night long to keep from freezing to death. But that under those conditions!—and they were fleeing from domination by Communists, and that Communistic regime which was at work came really from Red Russia. It may have been in the form of North Koreans or in the form of the Chinese, but it was Moscow back of it. The aggressive, heartless policies of the Moscow regime have been emphasized in many, many ways, but when we have weather like this and think of those refugees, to say nothing of our own boys fighting there in those frozen conditions, living in fox-holes where they dare not have even a little fire to keep them warm lest they pay for that manifestation of fire with their lives, we can appreciate the extent to which human beings will go in this world, under world conditions, to maintain freedom—freedom as men and women, freedom to worship God, freedom to live, freedom from that terrible tyranny that is characteristic of Soviet Russia.
I was thinking of that in relationship to ourselves. Human beings will go to such extremes, live under such conditions to maintain what they call freedom in this world—and I thank God there are those who stand up for freedom—but what of ourselves, and what of this adversary that, in the over-all picture of the whole world, has instituted and maintains the conditions of unreality that make war possible? Freedom, the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God, or that which the Master spoke of when He said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”—that freedom is a greater freedom than anything the world knows. It is more priceless, more valuable, more wonderful, than this freedom for which human beings are even now fighting and dying. It is more precious than that freedom which was jeopardized in the case of those refugees who were going from their homes down frozen roads where they saw their little ones freezing to death, and mothers having to leave babies along the wayside. That was the price they were willing to pay for their freedom, freedom such as the world knows—and yet we have a vision of a greater freedom, a freedom in which we can let the things of God find manifestation on earth, a freedom in which we can allow the Spirit of God to have meaning on earth in the elimination of those conditions which bring such horror and tragedy, such suffering and sorrow, a freedom that gives promise for any man or woman anywhere who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. Regardless of race or color, regardless of what flag from the standpoint of the nations of the world, there is that Kingdom that is open to all—the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace.
We have been moving along the Road. In one sense we might be called refugees from the world of unreality, moving along the Road toward the Promised Land, the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. We have set forth, leaving behind the things of the outer world that we once knew, the things that could presumably have offered some degree of comfort or station in the world, because we loved freedom, that greater freedom, more than we loved the things that we would leave behind if we sacrificed that freedom and accepted the slavery imposed by the world of unreality. We have come this way not for ourselves alone. That would be small reward. We have come this way to prove that there is an Open Way. We have come this way so that we could arrive, prove that the pathway is there and that it is open and passable—and then to go back, not as we once were, but as individuals who know the Way, the Truth and the Life of the Kingdom, to have a part in making it possible for others to find that Path.
Recently there has been a very definite upsurge in the number of those who are responding to our Ministry; evidences of the effectiveness of this pioneering are increasing day by day, and we thank God—but I sometimes wonder if, under the necessities that confront us as we move along this Path and go through those things necessary to leaving the old world behind and entering into the Kingdom, the vision does not perhaps grow a little bit dim, or if for a little time there is not perhaps a lapse of memory. This freedom toward which we are moving, with respect to which we wish to inspire others, must be something that burns in our souls, our hearts and lives so constantly that we never forget it, that we never lose sight of it for a moment, and that all we think and say and do may be dedicated to the fulfilment envisioned as we think of the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God.
What a gracious LORD and KING we have that He should make it possible for us in this day and age to move under conditions of relative peace without very much interference, more or less as we ourselves may choose, toward this Land of the Living and the Free. We recognize that there have been, back along through the centuries, individuals who have started along that Path, and sought to move in that direction, and they left signposts. There have been those who moved part way and failed, but they left a record, they left indications as to what to do and what not to do. They were refugees too. There have been many of them. But in these nineteen centuries since our Master came and proved that the Way is open all the way through, humanity has failed to take advantage of the opportunity to pass from the slavery of the unreal world into the Liberty of the Christ Kingdom here on earth. We have undertaken to go that last little way. The pathway up to a certain point was fairly well known, and quite a number had gotten so far, but they did not get clear through. In the generations that have passed there were those whose lives revealed that that freedom, that Liberty, was more valuable to them than life itself. Sometimes their sufferings may have been to some degree unnecessary, and yet we cannot but admire that steadfastness of purpose that was made manifest.
Now our LORD and KING has given us the task of completing the journey, moving from that which is more or less well known in the world, that last little way to actual entrance into the Kingdom on earth. So many millions have wished for it and longed for it, but they did not believe it possible that they could experience it.
What price freedom for us? When we think of the price that is being paid for the world’s kind of freedom in Korea by our fighting men, by the refugees, and when we think of all that has gone before us, I wonder—can we feel too proud of our own record as refugees or pioneers, whatever term we wish to use? Have there been those times when, for some petty, selfish, self-centered thing, we betrayed the cause of freedom? Have there been those times when, because of some reactionary attitude, we have held back and prevented forward movement toward the Goal? Have there been those times when we have forgotten our Purpose here, when we have failed to remember the conditions which must be met by those who would pass from the world of slavery to the world of freedom to enjoy the Liberty of the Children of God? When we pause to consider it, these petty human things that we have defended so vigorously at times, the so-called right or privilege of reactionary attitude, of contrary function, of petty whim and fancy — how do they weigh up in the balance?
What price freedom? God has been so good to us here in Eden Valley. We may have had some privations, but in actual suffering, severe suffering from the cold and hunger, we have had very little of that. There has been one way or another, shelter and warmth. Perhaps a little discomfort, yes, at times, but real suffering? No. Our function here has not required any real suffering of any one of you. We have been privileged to move along that Path that leads to the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace with a freedom and an opportunity and a provision that has been unknown in the world back through the centuries. Think of the price that was paid by those who started pioneering along that Path! Very often their lives were forfeited. Sufferings and privations such as we have never been called upon to face, they passed, and they made possible the opportunities which we have enjoyed. If those back through the various generations had not done what they did, and had not held the price of freedom cheap, no matter what the cost, we would not have had this opportunity. We could not have been living here, under these remarkably fine conditions in comparison with the pattern of the refugees and the pioneers, except for what they did. The human mind has sometimes been inclined to compare our conditions here with those favored ones in the world who in this time and age have supposedly all the comforts and all the conveniences, etc. That is not the comparison—such foolishness.
What price freedom? Refugees from the world of the unreal, from the slavery of the old world. The only comparison we can possibly make is that between our situation and the situation that has confronted refugees and pioneers in time past, those who pioneered from the time of the Master’s Ministry down through to this day, those who stood for freedom down through the centuries no matter what the cost. Comparing our situation with theirs, how much better it is. How many back along the line have had the privilege of gathering in peace on a Sunday morning such as this, in warmth and comfort, with no hunger present in the physical sense, having eaten good food, no necessity of posting a sentry to watch, no risk of prison or death if caught having our service? So, with thanksgiving to God for protection from the cold, for shelter and warmth, with thanksgiving to God for the excellence of good food—for hunger and cold combined bring a misery that cannot be described—we have not only that food necessary to the sustenance of physical life; we have that food of a Spiritual nature, the feast which our Lord has provided for us, the opportunity to drink of the Living Water, the opportunity to enjoy the warmth of His Love, the protection of His Power, all of those things which are beyond compare. We have these privileges, these provisions made available to us at the cost of untold human suffering in days gone by, and untold numbers of human lives sacrificed, so that we could have this opportunity in this day and time.
How much do we appreciate it? What is our attitude with respect to it? How deep is our thanksgiving, and how easily can our spirit of thanksgiving be turned to a spirit of complaining? How often has some form of self-pity entered in? How often has some form of selfishness controlled, defying the outworking of God’s Will, and making a mockery of all that has gone before to make this possible? Let us not forget to give thanks to God for the multitude of His Blessings, for the provision of shelter and warmth, not just from the physical cold but from the cold of the old world—for we have tasted of that Glorious Liberty of the Children of God. We have received many blessings that come straight from the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. For ourselves? Oh, no. No. For those who are waiting out in the world, waiting for the word that the Way is clear, waiting for proof that they can get through, waiting for leadership and inspiration to set forth as refugees from the miseries and slaveries of the unreal world, to move along that Path no matter what the cost, until they too shall come to stand before the Gate and enter in as Citizens of a New World. If we let any human, petty thing interfere in any degree with that fulfilment, what a mockery it is, what a shame to us, and what blasphemy to our God!
We are here. Thank God for that. I thank God for each and everyone of you and for all who are working with us wherever they are, but this in which we are engaged is not something that is merely a game, merely something that we can work with if we feel like it, or say, “Well, I do not feel like it today; I do not feel like being true to God; I feel like being irritable; I feel like being contemptible and ornery and contrary; and so I am just going to be what I feel like.” No, no. If such feelings creep in we know what to do with them. We can hand them over to be burned in the Fire, so that they shall be no more. No one needs to be subject to them, and if an individual is subject to them it is because he chooses to be, in defiance of God’s Will and without regard to God’s provision whereby we can be free and share in the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God.
Until we do our part in proving in this world that our hope is not in vain, until we carry all the way through, until our function is from the standpoint of that freedom, we have not completed the initial phase of our task. Proof? We have moved forward, we have accomplished much, and I thank God—but proof? We still have much to do in providing that proof, in proving that the Freedom of the Christ Kingdom on earth is worth more to us than anything else. It is worth more than any petty human whim or fancy. It is worth more than any personal desire. It is worth more than any contrary spirit or attitude. It is worth more than anything that can be gained by contemptible selfishness in any form. Such things have only gained misery and produced the conditions of slavery in the world. We do not need to increase the misery in the world—there is enough of it. We need to so function that the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God may be a reality, and through us the Healing Balm may reach forth to heal that misery, and through us the Sword of Truth may work to cut the bonds asunder, so that those who were once slaves may arise and stand as Men and Women in Christ. It is not for us to look down upon those who are slaves. Who among us can say, “I was never a slave in that world out there?” No, let no self pride enter in. But for the Grace of God you would be there and someone else would be here. Let your function be as you would want someone else’s function to be if the situation were reversed, if you were waiting out there and that someone else were here. I see no cause, no reason by which any of us could take any human pride in our achievement thus far. I thank God for what has been done, but too often in little things along the Way the price of freedom has seemed too high, and clinging to some petty nothingness, the cause of freedom has been allowed to languish. Let it not be so ever again.
Freedom—we have an opportunity, bought at the price of unnumbered lives and blood and tears, to say nothing of what our Master came and did. Let us use this opportunity, bought at such a price, in a realization, not only of our privilege, but of our responsibility, that we may move forward steadfastly, letting the Christ Spirit have true meaning in our lives here and now, so that we no longer extend weak and futile excuses to our KING for these needless failures, but rather that, as Men and Women in Christ, we remember His Word and follow Him, that as we let the Father do the works and bring forth fruit our LORD may be glorified and His Kingdom revealed as a reality on earth. So, Blessed Ones, these are my meditations this morning, the things I share with you, that we may never forget the reason why we are here and that we may never waver from true allegiance to our KING. Peace be unto you, and through you to all who will receive peace in the Name of the Prince of Peace. O Father, I thank Thee for all who turn to Thee and for all who are willing to pay the price of freedom, that the Truth, Thy Eternal Truth, may make us truly free in Thy Name. Aum-en
© emissaries of divine light
