God Never Made a Sin

The tyrants are afraid.

They know that they have no right to the power they claim without consent of the governed. The tyrant knows that his loathsome actions are justly hated. He is afraid, even of mercy, because to beg for mercy will be to put himself in the power of those from whom he can demand nothing.

The tyrant then attempts to define his subjects by slanders, put downs, or by the sins that he attempts to provoke in them. Frederick Douglass noted that the slavers tempted the enslaved with alcohol and libertine actions. They wished the enslaved to associate “liberty” with “lawlessness.” The licentiousness would make the enslaved slaves to their own passions and unable to act as free people.

Desire is powerful, but a human has been given the power to say: “No.” God made us free, tyrants create slaves. The first tyranny comes when a man will not deny himself. When desires govern us, then we make ourselves slaves. If a man escapes the first tyranny, then another awaits from his fellow creatures. We are born in liberty, but tyrants wait with chains. They sin when they force service without consent and no “benefit” or “good outcomes” could justify this tyranny. This is true in the workplace, the non-profit, any human relationship, God have mercy.

God never made a sin, but tyrants rejoice in it. God came in the person of Jesus Christ to break the tyranny of sin. Tyrants fear this victory.

They make excuses why this person does not serve his or her divine birthright. In America this was often based on color, but humans are creative and can find many excuses to ignore inalienable rights given to us by the Creator. After all, Jefferson could wax eloquent about these truths, see them as self-evident, and keep scores of people in slavery. The truths were not harmed, the enslaved remained free in their souls and in eternity, but Jefferson’s wickedness reduced him. He was afraid.

God never made a sin, but Jefferson did. When a man like Theodore Doughy Miller gained liberty, he gained only his due. He knew first hand the tricks of the tyrant and the evils of bondage. He knew that where fear is, love cannot be. He knew God never made a sin and that slavery was sin.

God Never Made a Sin

By Theodore Doughty Miller

The Louisville Newspaper, February 10, 1849

Ah! dark skinned tribes, though black we be,

God, our creator, made us free;

To all He life and being gave,

But never, never made a slave.

His works, all wondrous to behold,

Proclaim to us a power untold;

He made the sea and formed the wave,

But never, never made a slave.

He made yon sun with a splendor bright,

The moon to brighten earth’s dark night;

He made in power this vast concave,

But never, never made a slave.

He made all colors and all climes,

Of living things made every kind;

For all he made the common grave,

But never, never made a slave.

Though Adam’s sin brought pain and death,

Yet life came with Christ’s dying breath;

From henceforth heaven and hell may rave,

His blood speaks freedom to the slave.

For all He sent His Son to be

The Great High Priest of Liberty;

From sin’s strong chains our souls to save,

And break the fetters of the slave.

All men are equal in His sight,

The bond, the free, the black, the white;

He made them all—all freedom gave—

God made the man, man made the slave.

But glorious tidings of great joy!

Yon kingdom beams without alloy;

And while we view that “crystal sea,”

We’ll shout, praise God, we’re free! we’re free!*

Are we proclaiming liberty? If we must govern, are we listening for consent from the governed before acting? Are we free from our own desires? Tyranny is death. Death to tyranny.

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*Voices Beyond Bondage . NewSouth Books. Kindle Edition.