I was born into the world and I received the great gift of God. This gift was the name of God, that is, the name of Jesus. The meaning of the name of Jesus is ‘The One who will save His people from their sins’. I, who was entrapped in an eternal status of a slave, was now released from this status by the One who is King, and He has given me His mark. I have welcomed this mark into my heart, and I have eternally become His lowly donkey on which He rides upon. This mark refers to the truth and it refers to freedom. The Bible states, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Freedom refers to being set free from slavery.

I had been a slave to my conscience, and I had become a slave of the Law of Moses in the sight of God. I had forever become enslaved. I became overwhelmed under the steep authority of the message transferred through angels. But now I have known the name of Jesus, and I have believed in this name. I have welcomed this name in my heart. I am no longer a slave under the Law, but I have been set free.

I have been set free from sin. I have not received the spirit of slavery, the spirit which was given under the overwhelming authority of the message given through angels. But in receiving the Holy Spirit of God, I have received the Spirit that makes me a child of God. By this Spirit, I call God, “Abba, Father”. How could a person like me ever come to call God, ‘Father’? This is the grace of Jesus Christ, and by the merit that was attained by His work on the cross, I will eternally rely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Before I came to know Jesus, I was oppressed in my conscience as a sinner – so much so that I wanted to kill myself. But I was eventually led towards God. He showed me the state that I was in before I had seen God with my own eyes, that is, as a slave trapped under the Law of Moses. And once I had finally come to know the merit of Jesus Christ, that name – the name of Jesus – gave me freedom. That name has forever left a mark on my soul. Therefore, I courageously stepped forward to proclaim this good news to all creation. And this is what I had preached: “Believe in the name of Jesus! Believe in the name of Jesus! This name has freedom! This name will set you free! This name is the greatest gift to those who are enslaved!”

In the first few years that I had believed in Jesus, I had been told that I was a young man whom God had given much grace to. I was glad when people had said these things to me. But I did not understand this grace that was given me and I did not understand the kind of person I now was after having received that grace. I only served more and more diligently in the church and ended up becoming a zealous religious person. But after I had come to know the truth, that is, when I had come to know of the Picture of God’s Will, I had become truly free.

I am a man who has become truly free. Therefore, I am full of peace, I am full of the Holy Spirit, and I am full of the freedom that has been given me by the Lord. I preach this freedom every week. But there are still those do not even know what freedom is, thus, behaving like religious Christians. If one has not received freedom, then one is a living a religious life. A person leading a religious life is one who is still enslaved by the Law of Moses and enslaved by the condemnation of the moral conscience. He will have unending fear of God. I am free by the truth, and I can finally call God, ‘My Merciful Father’.

Semuon