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"To proclaim liberty to the captives... to set at liberty those who are oppressed."
(Luke 4:18)
Jesus came to set captives free.
Throughout the Gospels, we read of how Christ set captive people free, both in the physical and spiritual realms. I love the story in Mark 2 where Christ told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, then He healed him. The greater bondage is always spiritual. There are many who are not captive physically, whether through sickness and disease or in prison, but their souls are in great captivity to Satan, and they are slaves to sin. On the other hand, there are many who are physically handicapped in some way or even incarcerated, yet they have met Christ and are free!
Colossians 1:13-14 state, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Darlene Seale was a young lady who was captive and very oppressed. She was not poor in spirit but just the opposite; she was very hostile toward God and those who believed in God. Her true story is quite remarkable. Her mom would drop her off at church but never attended; so, she figured church must not be that important. She did not have a good relationship with her mom but desperately sought her approval. In high school, she was rebellious and experimented with the occult, Extra Sensory Perception, and satanic worship. While in college, Darlene met a couple of Christian young ladies who invited her to church. She was not at all interested but appreciated the kindness of the two girls, June and Carrie. She ran for a student government office and won. One of her tasks was to select a speaker to address the student body. She invited an atheist who came and spoke and unleashed an attack on followers of Christ. She used vulgar language and challenged any Christian in the crowd to stand up to her. Carrie spoke up for her faith. Instead of delighting in the event, Darlene felt terrible. She got someone else to give the speaker a ride to the airport. She went immediately to the dorm room of June and Carrie. The two were praying. They told Darlene that everything was okay, and Darlene would later say that in all her study of the occult, she had never read anything about love. So, Darlene began to investigate the claims of Christianity, and she started reading the Bible. She said she was amazed that Jesus was not a myth but a real historical person who lived, died, and arose from the dead. After a few months of study, she believed in Jesus Christ and surrendered her life to Him. She shared her good news with June and Carrie who had been consistently witnessing to her. She invited them to join her, and they went to the back of one of the dormitories and had a bonfire where Darlene burned all her satanic books. Darlene loves the Lord, and last I read, she was involved in the music ministry in her local church. The title of the article where I got this story is an interesting one: "The Atheist Who Led Me to God". She saw such a disparity between the life of the atheist and the lives of June and Carrie that she investigated the claims of Christ and became a follower.
Jesus still sets captive people free; He liberates oppressed souls and grants them pardon, joy, and purpose! Jesus said in John 8:32, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
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