Frodo, Neo, and Freedom from Sinning (Part 2)

We've seen the salvation of Gollum, if you will, when he received Frodo as a new master, setting him free from the dark lord Sauron.  Think of Sauron as Satan, the ring as sinful desire, and Mordor as the Satan's evil kingdom or world system. 

Now we move from Mordor to the Matrix, and into the second analogy of being set free from sinning. 

Morpheus speaks to Neo about the Matrix, telling Neo what the Matrix is.  Neo, having been introduced to the truth, is now presented with a choice:  to reject falsehood and enter into truth, or to reject truth and remain in falsehood.  And what is this truth that Neo must accept?  That he's "been living in a dream world," that he is "a slave." 

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo:   What truth?

Morpheus:   That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

If Neo is to become "the one," he must first accept the reality of his slavery.  He cannot be truly free, or "unplugged" until he sees that he is not free.  Like Gollum, he must have a revelation of his true situation.  So it is with every man and woman.

We too, were born into slavery, a prison of self centered passion, under a slave master named Satan, with this present world as his plantation. 

Satan=Slave master
Selfish passions/sin=Overseer
This world/matrix=Plantation

As an African American I've thought of the concept of embracing slavery.  Not of being a "sell out" or an "Uncle Tom," meaning one who loves oppression and refuses resistance.  The issue with the evils of slavery in America is idolatry--false gods, false masters.  "The white man" did not rightly own my ancestors.  He did not rightly own them, define them, or determine their actions.  Some of my ancestors sold some of my ancestors.  Yet even this does not come to the point.

It is written,
"The earth is the LORD'S and everything in it, the world and all who live in it."
"You are worthy O LORD to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created."
"In Him we live and move and have our being."
"All things were created through Him and for Him, and in Him all things consist."
"You are not your own, you were bought with a price, therefore honor the Lord with your body, which is the Lord's"

In all of these scriptures, we see the true Owner, Definer, and Determiner, the true Master.  It is Him we embrace, and it is this slavery that we accept.

But our first father gave the earth to a rebel spirit.  Adam rejected God as his rightful Creator, Father, and Master, and accepted Satan as his new creator, father, and master.  And all of Adam's children belonged to Satan from that moment on--born into slavery, into a prison for their minds....