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FREEPRESS
IN
THE BIBLE?
Was
It
Prophesied?
T
H E MOST
important
work in the world
cannot be done with–
out freedom of the press!
What is that
work?
lt is the work of announcing
that God will restore His Govern–
mcnt to the whole earth! But
bcfore the Government of God is
restorcd, it must fir st b e
announced! The good news of
that announcement- the Cospel
of the Kingdom of God- must be
preached (Matthew 24:14) to all
nations (Matthew 28: 19). And
the nations must c hoose whether
thcy wil l want it or resist it.
In this day, God has made the
MASS media available to accom–
plish His work. But reaching a
mass a udience with the good
ncws of God's soon-coming Gov–
crnment requires thc freedom to
PUBUSH. Notice Ma rk 13:10:
"And the gospel must first be
published among all nations."
Fu rther, God lays a
special
dury
on his messenger and
Chu rch to publicly disseminate
cc rta in warnings to certain
nations. Ezekiel 33: 1-7 describes
God' s charge upon the watchman.
When the watchman sees "the
sword" come upon the land-a
prophetic symbol of military
devastation- he must " blów the
trumpet" or God will hold him
pcrsonally responsible.
Th is duty requires that a mes–
sage warning about sorne very
unpleasant events be published as
far and as wide as possible to the
May 1981
by
Jeft Calkins
latter-day descendants of ancient
nations.
Similarly, when God charged
the prophet J eremiah with a mes–
sage, he also had an affirmative
duty
from God to spread it to as
wide a n audience as possible.
J eremiah was given a message so
important he could hardly contain
himself: " But his [God's] word
was in mine heart as a burning
tire shut up in my bones ... "
(J eremiah 20:9).
So God 's servants really have
no choice
as to exercising the
r ight to publish their message
freely. Their message is not for
their personal benefit- but to the
whole world!
Gove rnmental Reac tion
And yet while the Bible placcs a
duty on God's servants, it also
warns that this world-even now
an d in the futur e- will no t
always aiJow the freedom to pub–
lish.
1n the pasta government 's excuse
for persecution was that God's mes–
sage is TOO DISTURBING to be
allowed to circulate freely.
In the Old Testament, Elijah,
for example, was hauled beforc
King Ahab for the ancient equiv–
alent of the crime of disturbing
the peace: "Ahab said un to him
[Eiijah], Art thou he that troub–
leth Israel?" ( 1 Kings 18:17).
Elijah 's defense was that he
wasn't t rou bl ing Is rael , on ly
bringing sorne very dist ressing
news from God to Ahab's govern–
ment (verse 18).
Likewise, thc re ligious a nd
political authorities of Amos' day
tried to subject him to "prior
restraint"- from speaking his
message at all- because the mes–
sage he brought from God was
tOO CONTROVERSIAL! "Amaziah
the priest of Beth -cl sent to J ero–
boam king of Israel, saying, Amos
hath conspired against thee in the
midst of the house of Israel: the
land is not able to bear all his
words.... Also Amaziah said
unto Amos ... prophesy not
aga in a ny more at Beth-e l"
(Amos 7:10, 12- 13). Amaz iah
tried to deny Amos a forum for
God's message in ancient Is rael.
Amos' message was too upsetting
to the political a nd religious
cstabl ishments!
The prophet J eremiah was even
subjected to an ancient form of
book burning. God commanded
J eremiah to write down "all the
words that 1 [God ] have spoken
unto thee against Is rael, and
against Judah, and agains t all the
nations ... "(J eremiah 36:2).
J eremiah put the words on a
roll. Eventually, however, posses–
sion of the roll carne to one of the
king's top aides, who read it to
the king (verse 21 ). After reading
"three o r four leaves" of the
scroll, the aide, ever eager to
please a now distraught king,
threw the roll into the fireplace
(verse 23). Afterwards, the king
attempted , unsuccessfully, to
seize J eremiah for putting God's
word to writi ng.
Earlier, J eremiah had already
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