Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness 175

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" —Declaration of Independence

Episode Highlights

• Adjusting: The barometer of faith
• Freedom: an assignment from the Lord
• Mystical Encounter: listener inspiration
• Wise words: 4 parallels of content in story form
• Inheritance: A world where every soul has the freedom to be, to do, and to thrive
• The visionaries who dared to dream of a land where liberty and justice were more than just words.​

When I first started my own entrepreneurial journey, I felt like a lone sailor navigating uncharted waters. There were moments of doubt, but the compass guiding me was the belief in something greater than myself—a conviction that my efforts, no matter how small, were part of a larger, divine plan.
In the quiet moments, ask yourself:How can I serve?
How can I contribute to the greater good while fulfilling my own dreams?

• And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."  —John F. Kennedy

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National Archives Museum in Washington D.C.

The original Declaration of Independence is located in the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom:
The Declaration of Independence is on display with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which are also known as the "Charters of Freedom". The Declaration of Independence was unveiled in 1952 by President Harry S. Truman. 

Credit: babylontours.com

Imagine, if you will, a world where every soul has the freedom to be, to do, and to thrive.
Picture a tapestry woven with threads of love, justice, and equality.
This is not just an abstract ideal; it is a calling for each one of us to rise and weave our threads into the grand design of life.
Welcome to today's episode, an exploration and an interview with Jesus, of what it means to live with purpose and passion in a world that desperately needs both. Today, we embark on a journey that melds the timeless wisdom of spiritual principles with the dynamic drive of entrepreneurial spirit.
As we stand in the Company of hearts that have burned before us,
Think of the founding fathers of any nation, the visionaries who dared to dream of a land where liberty and justice were more than just words. They were the entrepreneurs of their era, crafting a new reality from the raw material of hope and determination. The same spirit that fueled their dreams can fuel yours.
When I first started my own entrepreneurial journey, I felt like a lone sailor navigating uncharted waters. There were moments of doubt, but the compass guiding me was the belief in something greater than myself—a conviction that my efforts, no matter how small, were part of a larger, divine plan.
In the quiet moments, ask yourself: How can I serve? How can I contribute to the greater good while fulfilling my own dreams? As you ponder these questions, remember that you are not alone. We are all interconnected, bound by the same threads of love and purpose.
So, let's dive deep into this episode, exploring words and realms hidden right beneath our noses,
I have a task for you, to listen
and to hear once again...they are ringing in the halls of our remembrance.
Are you ready to embark on this transformative journey? Let's get started.

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• America – it is a fabulous country, the only fabulous country; it is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time." —Thomas Wolfe

John Locke (1632-1704) was a major English philosopher, whose political writings in particular helped pave the way for the French and American revolutions. He coined the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness,’ in his book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and thus this website is deeply indebted to him. Thomas Jefferson took the phrase “pursuit of happiness” from Locke and incorporated it into his famous statement of a peoples’ inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence.
What most people don’t know, however, is that Locke’s concept of happiness was majorly influenced by the Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Epicurus in particular.  Far from simply equating “happiness” with “pleasure,” “property,” or the satisfaction of desire, Locke distinguishes between “imaginary” happiness and “true happiness.”  Thus, in the passage where he coins the phrase “pursuit of happiness,” Locke writes:
“The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty.  As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action…” (1894, p. 348) Credit the Pursuit of Happiness.org Read the entire Article

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Your redeemed identity defines your freedom, my friends. But freedom does not mean that you are now free to again employ the law. On the contrary, your freedom finds its most complete expression in a love that serves one another. As free as you are to the law, so enslaved you are now to love. (You are at last free to live the life of your original design.)
 —Galatians 5:13 Mirror Study Bible 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Credit NPR

I have a dream, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Credit: NPR. Read the entire article and speech

Scripture Treasure

GALATIANS Chapter 4
​4:1 Infant heirs have no more say than a slave, even though they own everything. (The best deal the law could possibly broker confirmed mankind’s slavery to sin.)
4:2 He would remain under domestic supervision and house rules until the date fixed by his father for his official graduation to the status of sonship.
4:3 This is exactly how it was with us; we were kidnapped as if in infancy and confined to that state through the law. (An inferior mindset as a result of Adam’s fall.)
4:4 But then the day dawned; the most complete culmination of time. (Everything predicted was concluded in Christ.) The Son arrived, commissioned by the Father; his legal passport to the planet was his mother’s womb. In a human body exactly like ours he lived his life subject to the same scrutiny of the law.
4:5 His mandate was to rescue the human race from the regime of the law of performance and announce the revelation of their true sonship in God. (Now our true state of sonship is again realized. [Jn 1:12; see Jn 1:11-14] “It was not as though he arrived on a foreign planet, he came to his own, yet his own did not recognize him. [Ps 24:1] But to everyone who realizes their association in him, convinced that he is their original life, in them he confirms that we are his offspring. These are they who discover their genesis in God beyond their natural conception. Man began in God. We are not the invention of our parents. Suddenly the invisible eternal Word takes on visible form. The Incarnation. In him, in us. The most accurate tangible display of God’s eternal thought finds expression in human life. The Word became a human being; we are his address; he resides in us. He captivates our gaze. The glory we see there is not a religious replica; he is the authentic monogenes begotten only of God. In him we recognize our true beginning. The Glory that Adam lost, returns. In fullness. Only Grace can communicate truth in such complete context.)
4:6 To seal our sonship God has commissioned the Spirit of sonship to resonate the Abba echo in our hearts; and now, in our innermost being we recognize him as our true and very dear Father. (The original life of the Father revealed in his Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us. [Rom 8:14] Slavery is such a poor substitute for sonship. They are opposites; the one leads forcefully through fear; sonship responds fondly to Abba Father. [Rom 8:15] His Spirit resonates within our spirit to confirm the fact that we originate in God. [Rom 8:16] Because we are his offspring, we qualify to be his heirs, God himself is our portion, we co-inherit with Christ. Rom 8:17.)
4:7 Can you see how foolish it would be for a son to continue to live his life with a slave mentality? Your sonship qualifies you to immediately participate in all the wealth of God’s inheritance which is yours because of Christ. (Legalism in its every disguise contradicts sonship. Sonship is not for sale.)
4:8 What really amazes me is how gullible you Gentile believers are to get yourselves all tangled up again in oppressive Jewish rites. I mean you know all about your BC days of slavery to imaginary gods under your pagan beliefs.
4:9 In the meantime, you have come to know the real God; [quite unlike the god of your imagination] what is most significant however, is to discover that he knew you all along. After all, how could you possibly feel attracted again to the pathetic principles of religious deception? It does not matter in what disguise legalism comes, whether pagan or Jewish, it brings the same bondage.
4:10 All of a sudden there are special days, months, seasonal, and annual festivities that are scrupulously celebrated; this is nothing more than superstitious religious sentiment.
4:11 I am alarmed that all my passion seems wasted on you.
4:12 I urge you to imitate me [in my conviction about the fact that Jewish customs and their shadow-sentiments are out-dated.]. We are exactly in the same boat, it is really not about me; it is about you. (Our Jewish or Gentile background makes absolutely no difference. I’m not into winning or losing votes for my ministry or me. It’s this Gospel that is my concern and urgency.)
4:13 I have never compromised the Gospel, from the first day I met you, even though I was physically challenged at the time it did not distract from the message.
4:14 Remember how hospitable and sensitive you were towards me in spite of my frail condition. Instead of feeling embarrassed or repelled you treated me like a celestial messenger with the same courtesy you would have shown Christ Jesus.
4:15 At that time you were so overwhelmed with gratitude towards me that you would have gladly given me what is most precious to you, even your own eyes, to give me relief for my discomfort. What tenderness of affection you showed.
4:16 Alas. How is it possible that the same truth that then bonded you to me now turns me into your enemy?
4:17 The people who make me out to be your enemy do that to your disadvantage: they are very eager to isolate you from me, so that your zeal for their Jewish sentiments will boost their religious ego. (Can you not see it; the Law and its followers do not like you for you; their only desire is for themselves.)
4:18 If you want to be zealous for the best possible cause, be zealous for grace. You are fooling yourselves to be nice to me when I’m with you but zealous for them behind my back. It is not about me, I am jealous for you. It is the message that matters most, not someone’s private agenda.
4:19 My darling little children, my jealousy for you compares to a mother over her newly born. I gave birth to you once through my gospel; now I feel those same labor pains all over again. I travail for the full realization of Christ to be 1formed within in you. (The word, 1morpho, means to mold, from meros, form or portion; note the word translated, sin, hameros, to be without form or without your allotted portion; metamorpho, together with form.) 4:20 I long to be with you right now; I want you to hear the urgency in my voice. I wish I could convince you that the law is a cul-de-sac. (Any effort of your own to add to what God has already perfected in you in Christ is a waste of time. It is like trying to re-invent the wheel.)
4:21 Since you are so intrigued by the law, would you please, also understand its prophetic message:
4:22 The law records the fact that Abraham had two sons: one by a slave girl, the other by a free woman.
4:23 The one is produced by the flesh [the Do It Yourself-tree], the other by faith [the promise].
4:24 There is a parallel meaning in the story of the two sons: they represent two systems, works and grace.
4:25 Sinai is an Arabian rocky mountain named after Hagar, [outside the land of promise]. Its association with the law of Moses mirrors Jerusalem as the capital of Jewish legalism. Hagar is the mother of the law of works. [DIY-religion] (See Gal 3:7 The conclusion is clear; faith and not flesh relates us to Abraham. [Grace rather than law is our true lineage. Ishmael represents so much more than the Muslim religion. Ishmael represents the clumsy effort of the flesh to compete with faith; the preaching of a mixed message of law and grace.])
4:26 But the mother from above, the true mother of mankind is grace, the free Jerusalem; she is the mother of the promise.
4:27 For it is written, “Rejoice, Oh childless one. Erupt in jubilee. For though you have never known travail before, your children will greatly outnumber her who was married." (Married to the law; Isaiah 54:1; see also Rom 7:1-6.) 4:28 We resemble Isaac: we are begotten of faith; the promise is our parent.
4:29 Just as when the flesh child persecuted the faith child, so now these Jerusalem Jews in their Christian disguise seek to harass you;
4:30 however, Scripture is clear: “Expel the slave mother and her son; the slave son cannot inherit with the free son.” (In exactly the same way, rid your minds radically from the slave mother and child mentality. Light dispels darkness effortlessly.)
​4:31 Realize whose children we are my Brothers and Sisters: we are not children of the slave-mother, the law, but children of the free mother; we are begotten of grace.  Mirror Study Bible 

• I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."  
  
• —Bob Dylan

BINGE LISTEN

INTERVIEWING JESUS

How VAST are the sum of Your Thoughts 

INTERVIEWING JESUS

I asked for Joy

INTERVIEWING JESUS

BREAKING NEWS why is this important? 

“I would rather spend one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.” – JRR Tolkien

MEET THE BLOGGER >>>

“The way to be patriotic in America is not only to love America, but to love the duty that lies nearest to our hand, and to know that in performing it we are serving our country.” — Woodrow Wilson

What began in the quiet place of my Corvallis home, in a season of political unrest: is now touching a nation, One listen, One read, One individual who stands alongside of me; to honor our differences and celebrate our determination. Integrity is a choice of the heart. Bravery is the determination to show by example, that Life and integrity is vital. Leadership is polluted when we cease to respect the boundaries of divine guidance, civil rights and an honest vote. Light dispels darkness effortlessly, stand in the light, Share, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Amen.
This weeks question, how will your voice of patriotism fuel the flame of your candle?  How bright does it shine?
Last weeks question.

No leader, however strong, can succeed at anything of national importance or significance unless he has the support and cooperation of the people he is tasked to lead and sworn to serve.—Rodrigo Duterte

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