Freedom and Independence of the Family

Our life in the civilized world flowed quietly and peacefully. Our household was established, all the nearby stores were thoroughly studied, my work brought, though small, a stable income. Church service took place weekly in the usual order, and once a quarter, according to schedule, there was a "love feast."

We could predict everything that awaited us in the next day of our weekdays, if the world didn't give us any adventures, or if we didn't arrange some celebration for ourselves.

Such a way of life was so established and predictable that we began to fear that this could become a trap for us, in which we would sweetly fall asleep and oversleep something very important. We read that all the virgins from Matthew 25:5 fell asleep, and we understood that a similar fate awaited us. Our communication and growth in love for each other brought significant variety to our weekdays, and we constantly invented new topics for discussion and implementation.

Once I proposed for discussion the topic of our freedom and independence, to understand where we are, what we can change ourselves, and where we need wisdom from above.

Freedom is when you belong to yourself, and no one tells you how to live, and doesn't establish their rules and orders. Only God does this, with Whom you have friendly and trusting relationships.

Independence is when we can plan and arrange our life and household independently from the world, from external sources of financing, food, and energy supply, independently from others' opinions, while remaining dependent on God, His care and mercy. Since we consider our independence within the framework of our family, we understand that we are partially dependent on our care for each other, but this is a pleasant dependence in which we don't mind living and developing.

Being in the city, and even in someone else's house, we are dependent on many things and services that are provided to us and for which we need to pay and pay much and constantly. Water, heat, food, transportation, electricity, rent, garbage collection, and all kinds of insurance constantly pull money from us, and we cannot simply refuse this and become independent, but must constantly think about where to get the means to pay for all these services.

We decided to find out what we could do in our family to be as free as possible and less dependent on the world, understanding that we live in the last times and knowing that there is advice from the Spirit of Prophecy about how to accomplish this.

We established that living in our own house, having our own well and garden and alternative sources of energy and heat—this is the best thing we could have. Even the greatest money will not make you independent if you don't have your own agriculture and garden on which you could grow your products.

We also understood that acquiring modern freedom and independence in our days costs very dearly and requires large capital investments.

Also, as long as I work for someone, I will always be dependent on the employer and will have to do what he tells me, not setting my own working hours and not deciding many questions independently. Although there is my social security and some stability in this, I understand that at any moment a compromise with my conscience may arise if my boss decides to violate God's law and begins to incline me toward similar behavior.

Financially we are currently provided for and even have small savings in a tin can, understanding that only cash money makes us independent and free in how to store and spend it. But since there are constantly talks about canceling cash everywhere, we understand that we become vulnerable and at some point may be left with nothing. And the exchange rates in the external market can very quickly devalue all our savings. And how good it would be to arrange our household so as not to depend on money and not have constant expenses for paying various services.

We also noticed that air and sun remain free everywhere for us, but not everywhere can we use this fully, and city air can hardly be called perfectly clean. We don't know how clean and useful the water flowing from our tap is, but we understand that if it's turned off, we won't have it, and the nearest river is quite far away. Also in city conditions there is invisible electromagnetic radiation that can destroy our health with its rays, and we don't want to depend on pharmacies and doctors at all.

Researching this question, we understood how unfree and dependent we are, and how simple it would be to bring us into trouble by cutting off even one of the sources of our life support, and there are so many of them, and they are all not ours.

The only thing in which we were independent was in our love for each other, although even here we didn't belong to ourselves.

And what to do personally for us to get out of this vicious circle, we didn't understand, but we knew that we have the Lord, Who gives wisdom to everyone who asks of Him.

Understanding our dependence on the world became the first step in the path to our independence.

After conferring, we decided to do everything possible to gain complete freedom from the world and its services and, as much as possible, achieve this before our natural death from old age.

The desire to be independent gave us the realization of complete dependence on God. And to become absolutely free, we need to be God's slaves, trusting only in His complete provision.

Oh, if we had lots and lots of money, then we could easily move to any point in the world and arrange our household there. But alas, our reality is somewhat different, and we would so like it to be like in the movies, or for a kind rich uncle to appear who would leave us a large inheritance and a house with all conveniences. But we don't seek easy paths, but having made a decision, we begin to seek ways to accomplish it.

There was a thought about finding one of our sanatoriums and moving there to live, performing service and helping develop this sphere. But we didn't know how decent and believing the people who would accept us would turn out to be, and whether we would fall into a more deplorable state if after long years of service we were asked to leave this place and find something else.

First we decided to develop our independence, relying only on God, and in prayer gave Him all our worries and fears, believing that He would open to us the path that would be ours and help us acquire what we desired.

We also considered the question of whether I should study to become a pastor and become a minister. But in this there should be not only my desire, but also a calling, a gift from God, support from the church brotherhood, and understanding of all the responsibility. It's difficult for me to judge the freedom of such people, but I think that this ministry has a special status in Heaven's eyes and special blessing in this world, making pastors people dependent on God's complete provision.

And while we haven't grown to such consciousness, we had to make plans for the future ourselves and think up what path would be best for acquiring our freedom and independence. But this course was already chosen, and we didn't want to retreat.

1. Please read 2 Chronicles 20:20; John 8:32,36; Matthew 17:25-26; James 1:5-8; 1 Corinthians 7:20-23; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1; Proverbs 3:5; Revelation 3:18 in light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

4. What is freedom in your understanding?

5. How does freedom and independence from the world look in your life?

6. Does a person need wisdom from above to understand their true condition and find the best way out of difficulties?

7. Would you like to live independently from this world?

8. What prevents us from being independent from the benefits of civilization?

9. Is it bad to be free and decide for yourself how to live, what to eat, and how to manage your resources?

10. Do you think the world uses its power over those who depend on it?

11. Does the Lord give us any advice on how to gain freedom and be independent in the last times?

12. What should I do if I see that I cannot refuse the services of this world and don't imagine how one can live without them?

13. Is it easy to start building something new in life?

14. How much money do you need to have to be independent and free?

15. Did Jesus give us an example of true freedom?