so just a quick Fourth of July
Independence Day message here from Quick
show I wanted to cover the difference
between Liberty and Liberation or at
least the way Liberation is used today
this is something we want to
identify as you know a a different
meaning than perhaps what Liberation
used to mean in our culture and the the
mass change that is happening right now
in the United States and to some degree
in the west is actually the opposite of
Liberty Liberty is tied to Choice it is
the ability to make your own decision to
make your own way and this is a very
important part of the Gospel when you go
through the Book of Mormon you will see
that the doctrine of Christ is tied very
firmly to agency and the ability to
develop that agency the United States
the founding of America the US
Constitution this was inspired to allow
men and women to make their own
decisions to expand and to grow through
that agency Liberation fights against
that system it's like going back to the
war in heaven it is no mistake that on
one side we have the adversary Lucifer
who is fighting against our agency what
we don't think about usually is that on
the opposite side where Jehovah Jesus
Christ is advocating for the father's
Plan of Salvation that he is fighting
for agency we usually think of that plan
as being that of being the Redeemer and
he
volunteers but see he's fighting against
that adversary it is the opposite plan
he is fighting for Liberty he is
fighting for Choice he is fighting for
agency but what comes with that Liberty
is
discrepancy is an unequal outcome and
this I believe in the war in heaven is
exactly what Lucifer is fighting against
it's not just that he wants to
originally or his primary objective is
to remove agency it's that he wants to
remove an unequal outcome because for
him it is unfair it is wrong to allow
agency to create this disparity like we
have three different kingdoms of Glory
when you allow agency and may allow
people to make
choices they're going to make different
choices that will give you different
outcomes but that is the Plan of
Salvation that is the plan of Happiness
as Elder Kieran went over in general
conference this last April giving those
different names to the plan of God the
plan of the father one thing I think
could have have been added as a title
for the plan of God and there was a
couple others I think as well but one
that could have been added is the plan
of Liberty Jehovah is fighting for the
liberty of mankind and when you think
about it in those terms as he advocates
for the father's plan of Liberty he
knows there will be disparity he knows
there will be problems with this so he
himself as he advocates for this plan
that will create disparity volunteers
himself to be the sacrifice to pay for
sins to allow people to repent to choose
what is right and to become more like
God through the liberty of their agency
now another example of this if you look
back at Thomas Payne's Common Sense he
talks about royalty especially the king
of England but he talks about royalty
and the problems that you have there
with an elite class so he says that when
you actually pull back as he calls it
the dark cover of antiquity with all
that those ages of royalty he says
basically what you end up with is just a
thug he calls it the principal Ruffian
of some restless gang and that is what
they become that is what you become when
you have power and it's very difficult
to get around that you go through the
Old Testament look at all the kings
given the greatest instruction with the
prophets around them in the court there
of the Kings the wise men Etc and most
of the Kings just can't do it they can't
stick to being a servant they end up
becoming a tyrant he says of the common
men and women he says he who hunts the
woods for prey or the naked or the
untutored Indian is less Savage than the
king of Britain it's just that it's
glossed over right and so we have the
same thing today we have a an elite
class and that Elite Class naturally as
with any civilization is going to gain
more and more and more power we can see
this in the media with a narrative that
is provided you can see this with large
corporations you can see this with
career politicians as they distance
themselves more and more from the
everyday man and woman now you might say
to yourself well don't Greg don't we
want to liberate ourselves from that
from that system from them sure but
again the difference is the way
liberation is used today is to fight
against Freedom if you were actually
using the term Liberation to fight
against elitist control that was
actually anti- Liberty great but that is
not the way we get it from the elitists
one of those places of elitism is
Academia that's that's where they change
the words right we get philosophy we get
historians social scientists Etc
political scientists and that is what
they have done with with Liberation so
Liberation when you see it be very
careful that doesn't mean when you read
even in the scriptures and it says
liberation that that's what is meant
today it's that today they have taken
that word Liberation and corrupted it to
mean liberate me from the shackles of a
true order liberate me from
Christianity let's deconstruct the
religion liberate me from the doctrine
of Christ liberate me from the family
liberate me from an order of sexuality
and throw all of these shackles off of
me that's where Liberation is used
throughout the Book of Mormon as with
the war in heaven Liberty is tied
directly to the doctrine of Christ and
so when we celebrate the 4th of July
Independence Day we ought to think about
that ultimately that Liberty is rooted
in the doctrine of Christ it is not just
a national thing for us
and shouldn't be in many ways we can
look at that as celebrating Jesus Christ
as we celebrate Liberty and celebrating
our choice and do we always defend that
do we do we defend the
movements the systems the policies the
doctrines the laws that will allow us to
have Liberty and make our own choices I
wish you the very best Independence Day
in Fourth of July my family and I are
heading to a rodeo and seeing a big
fireworks show I hope you're going to
have a great time and I hope this
message means something to you thanks
for listening
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