Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Samuel Thomas
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000143
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00:23 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:25 We want you to come with us 00:26 on a, perhaps sometimes a fire ranging discussion 00:30 of religious liberty issues. 00:32 This is the program that brings you up to date 00:34 and inside reviews on religious liberty 00:37 in the United States and around the world. 00:39 My name is Lincoln Steed, Editor of Liberty Magazine 00:42 and my guest on the program is 00:44 Samuel Thomas, minister of religion, 00:47 and your particular job description 00:49 at the moment involves promotion and, 00:55 well it's promotion. 00:56 I like to use the term, advanced is what... 00:58 Well that's what I was fishing for, 00:59 promotion sounds a little commercial. Yes. 01:01 But advancement of Message Magazine, 01:03 which is a spiritual outreach magazine 01:06 largely targeted but not exclusively 01:08 for the Black community. Correct. 01:12 Since I began Liberty Magazine, 01:13 I pursued a lot of my preoccupations 01:16 for religious freedom and one of the things 01:19 that's concerned me from the beginning 01:21 is prisoner's rights. 01:23 Here and now they're very important 01:25 but as we move into tougher times when people, 01:29 perhaps who are in prison for their religious stands, 01:32 I think it's important to recognize that in jail 01:35 they might have even less rights than in the outside world 01:38 and that's more important. 01:41 Do you see any danger right now 01:43 for the sort of religious indoctrination 01:47 or pressures that might be brought to bear 01:48 against some prisoners in some prisons. 01:50 It's interesting that you asked that question, 01:52 because I've actually done ministry in different prisons, 01:56 different areas of the nation, 01:59 both men and women's correctional facilities. 02:03 One of the common threads that unites 02:05 all of them is the surge, especially those that have 02:10 high concentration of African-American population 02:13 with this surge of the Nation of Islam in the prisons. 02:18 Now people might wonder, 02:21 who are watching this program, 02:22 why the Islamic faith might show 02:26 some degree of attraction or, 02:27 it's the first question I'm gonna ask you, yeah. 02:29 You know, why is it something like a magnet 02:31 for African-American males. Several reasons, number one, 02:37 it promotes the idea of self advancement, 02:41 it takes away the emphasis of White Christianity. 02:46 Now the downside of White Christianity 02:49 and I'm using that in quotes, 02:51 is that there is always a face given to White Christianity. 02:54 Which means that however Christ, angels, prophets, 02:58 or biblical figures are portrayed 03:00 they are Caucasian, that's a problem in, 03:03 which is interesting because certainly 03:05 the biblical figures were Middle-Eastern, 03:08 correct, correct but. But we've westernized, 03:10 yeah, we've westernized you 03:12 because that's who the artists were, exactly. 03:14 The other pieces that it puts an emphasis on 03:18 the male having a stronger level of 03:23 self development and improvement. 03:26 Now, that's missing in the black community, 03:28 because you've the cycle of single parenting 03:32 and female presence as a result of that. 03:35 So these guys are looking for their own identity 03:38 and it's a religious order, 03:40 so they're able to now obtain discipline, 03:44 self control, a sense of purpose, 03:47 a sense of-- if you wanna use 03:49 the psychological term actualization, you know... 03:51 Now, a lot of what you're describing 03:53 from the Nation of Islam. 03:55 Well, it's Islamic it's fairly unique to the structure 04:01 of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, that's correct, 04:05 that's correct, constructive. 04:06 It's not really necessarily some you can say 04:08 generally, that's correct, that's correct, 04:10 most special subset. 04:12 You know, most people don't know 04:14 the history of the nation of Islam. 04:16 I had a interest when I was in my teenage years 04:18 in the nation of Islam which is, 04:20 you know, probably quite unique 04:21 because being a minister's son 04:23 you wouldn't see that naturally. 04:26 But I had this bond with this strong male image 04:32 that was portrayed by Elijah Muhammad. 04:34 And when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, 04:37 I would always go downtown and try to pickup 04:39 I think the name of the paper is Nation Speaks 04:41 or something like that. 04:42 But anyway I would pickup a copy of paper 04:44 and I would read while riding the bus or at work. 04:49 Then I picked up a copy of Alex Haley's book 04:53 on Malcolm X and he of course became famous for Roots. 04:56 That was written earlier. 04:58 Yeah, but he actually wrote that earlier. 04:59 And Malcolm X had actually had Seventh-day Adventist, 05:03 you know, background that comes out in that book. 05:07 But it didn't specifically say Seventh-day Adventist, 05:09 it talked about keeping the Sabbath 05:11 and so on and so forth. 05:12 Now when you put all of that together, 05:15 what do you see? 05:16 Well, you see these men who were clean cut, 05:18 if you ever see gentlemen 05:20 who are a part of the nation of Islam, 05:22 in the Black community, 05:24 their shirt and tie, well groomed, well articulate, 05:28 generally quite intelligent, well read, 05:30 and they have a sense of purpose in their lives. 05:34 Just like Hamas and Hezbollah in the Middle East. 05:36 They're very concern with social and family and, 05:40 community value. Correct, correct, correct. 05:42 So their wives are generally close behind. 05:45 There is not a lot of fraternizing 05:46 with the opposite sex and even in the older footage 05:52 that you can see some time, 05:53 the rallies that Elijah Muhammad 05:55 had and Malcolm X, you would see 05:58 the separation of the genders. 05:59 So all of this is attractive to people 06:03 who want to better themselves and achieve more. 06:06 However, the sidebar of the nation of Islam of course is, 06:12 it's salvation by works, 06:14 it's all the emphasis on the self. 06:16 So it's totally disconnected from Christianity 06:19 and what it values. 06:22 That just be your judgment of course 06:24 and my question too but do you think that there 06:29 is a subtext in this attraction to that it is a religion 06:34 as a radical alternative to the religion of America, 06:37 which has all sorts of historic baggage to it. 06:39 Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt. 06:41 There is a story that I will try tell cryptically, 06:44 but years ago at a camp meeting down south 06:49 I was a small bit speaker during the program 06:53 and I had to go up on the platform, 06:57 and that was a church and this was with a circular passage 07:01 all the way around even at the back of the platform. 07:03 So I went around the back and here was a group of 07:05 about 30 or more young Adventist pastors. 07:10 And they were in a very heated discussion 07:14 and the minute I appeared, they just clammed up, 07:16 everybody shut up. 07:17 And I said, what are you talking about, 07:19 didn't tell me at first and after a while someone, 07:20 Brother Ramsey says, why don't we ask him, 07:23 why don't we ask him. 07:24 And they said we were discussing 07:26 whether Christianity or Islam is more appropriate 07:29 for African-Americans 07:31 since Christianity was the religion of the oppressor. 07:34 Yeah, you see, that's a very interesting dynamic, 07:37 I can't say and I would hope it would never 07:39 mean that any of them would leave. 07:40 Right. But it was emotional enough 07:44 that there was a great division among them, 07:45 it wasn't just an academic argument. 07:47 Let me, let me insert this very quickly 07:49 and that is for our viewing audience, 07:51 they might wonder how is there even 07:53 this thought but you must, 07:55 you must incorporate in this dialog 07:58 the history of what Christianity looks like in America. 08:01 Christianity in America would jail 08:05 Martin Luther King and hence he writes this 08:08 letter from Birmingham jail where he is appealing 08:10 to the southern preacher to come out 08:13 and stand for the biblical principles. 08:15 I mean, we're all reading the same Bible, 08:17 what's the problem here. 08:18 So if you take it back several generations, 08:21 this is what the Black American knows. 08:24 African-American knows 08:25 Christianity only in this narrow view, 08:29 of course, we often hear the upside 08:32 of what the Christian church is done in the Black community 08:35 and how many great singers have come out of it 08:38 and so on and so forth, great preachers. 08:39 Well, I think Christianity on its own merits 08:42 clearly penetrated that community just, 08:46 certainly, as generally, certainly. 08:47 But as far as the historic and political message 08:50 that it was not always positive it was not positive. 08:54 So when you deal with a person who is more 08:57 free thinking and they're seeking to analyze and balance, 09:00 why would I want to connect with that religion. 09:03 And there are probably even some who are viewing 09:06 this program and say well we need to forget that. 09:09 Well, let me tell you it's not as easy to let go... 09:11 It's not as ancient as people imagine. 09:13 No, it's not as ancient because I was born in 1957 09:15 and we didn't have a voting rights bill passed until 64. 09:19 So all of this has been in my lifetime. 09:21 And I should tell those viewers 09:23 especially in the United States who may have forgotten 09:27 that history studies will never have taken them. 09:29 But I was a history major and while the civil war, 09:33 you know, it was just after the mid 1800s, 09:37 1860s that really didn't settle this issue, no. 09:41 In many legal ways, not just social ways, 09:45 the issue of the civil war in slow but continued 09:48 at least another generation, perhaps two. 09:49 Yeah, in fact it was actually modified 09:52 to the Jim Crow practices of the south, 09:54 which really became a law. 09:55 So it's not such an ancient history. 09:56 It's not. Certainly there's plenty of grandparents 09:59 that tell the stories of it. 10:01 Well to make it very real and very personal, 10:04 I'm old enough to remember where my dad in pastoring, 10:07 not pastoring but ministering throughout the south east. 10:10 Had to stay in specific people homes 10:13 as he would travel between North Carolina 10:15 and Florida in that conference, 10:16 South Atlantic was the territory. 10:19 Because we could not stay in hotels. 10:22 So I'm old enough to be, you know, 10:24 just old enough to remember that transition period. 10:27 But that is, that becomes 10:29 the catalyst for people saying, I need to take a different look. 10:34 And see here is another thing when you talk about 10:36 the Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 10:38 I've actually had to evaluate my own faith simply because 10:43 when you see a lot of the history of our faith, 10:49 it focuses more on those Caucasians. 10:51 Okay, not the Blacks or any other ethnic groups 10:55 that contributed. Well, I agree with you, 10:57 but sometimes we need to eject Ellen White, 10:59 I was gonna say the founding prophet, 11:02 but that might be overstating a role that, 11:04 right, a woman with a prophetic gift 11:06 that played a very central role 11:08 in the establishment of the Adventist church. 11:10 Sure, had a great burden for the work in the south, 11:13 right, among, well not just freed slaves but the whole, 11:17 sure, non White population. 11:19 And became very supportive of her son Edson White, 11:22 absolutely, with the morning scholar. 11:23 The Adventist church has had a good strain 11:25 from the very beginning, correct, 11:26 even though it fought against the impulse, 11:29 societal impulses that many 11:31 Adventist themselves as examples. 11:34 Correct, and I appreciate the way that you have, 11:35 you know, packaged that effectively. 11:37 But that was one of the things that I had to define, 11:41 I had to work through all of that. 11:42 Well, why do you work through it? 11:44 I'm sure that in other cultures 11:46 you don't have to work through those tensions. 11:48 Because the dynamic of the social fabric 11:50 doesn't exist in other nations 11:52 as it did here in America. 11:54 How does that fact of the nation of Islam 11:56 it becomes a very attractive alternative religion, 12:01 religious group for people who are looking for a way out 12:06 of and not desires of connecting to anything 12:09 that's a part of the oppressor. 12:11 So it's a continued, continuing appeal 12:13 and it's not a question of who to believe in lot of what 12:16 we hear and read from government authorities 12:19 as well as in the media. 12:20 But since 9/11 their recruiting in the prisons 12:23 has sort of picked up and perhaps even taken 12:26 on in some places of more radical tinge. 12:29 Great, but I don't think that 12:31 our viewing audience should ever think 12:32 the Nation of Islam is anyway connected 12:35 to Islamic fundamentalism. 12:36 No. Because... 12:38 I haven't seen any evidence what so ever that 12:40 we connected to groups like Al-Qaeda and Al Jazeera. 12:43 Correct. Yeah, they're worlds apart. 12:45 In fact, the Nation of Islam 12:48 is almost like a strain off 12:51 of Islamic faith in its true sense. 12:54 By the way, go back to that story that 12:55 I walked into the discussion, once they asked me, 13:00 I said well, I said, you got to remember that 13:03 the actual slogans themselves were Muslims, 13:06 Arabs, that's right, and someone said 13:09 that's what I was telling them, that's what. 13:11 So the very least that showed that in that 13:13 very back historical chapter both Christianity 13:16 and Islam were not much to defend in their position. 13:20 And it's only human beings that have that view. 13:25 We'll be back after the break to continue this discussion. 13:28 I think you'll find it's interesting, 13:30 very illuminating, so stay with us. 13:41 One-hundred years, a long time to do 13:44 anything much less publish a magazine, 13:47 but this year Liberty, the Seventh-day Adventist 13:50 voice of religious freedom, 13:52 celebrates one hundred years 13:54 of doing what it does best, collecting, analyzing, 13:57 and reporting the ebb and flow 13:59 of religious expression around the world. 14:02 Issue after issue, Liberty has taken on the 14:05 tough assignments, tracking down threats 14:07 to religious freedom and exposing 14:09 the work of the devil in every corner of the globe. 14:12 Governmental interference, 14:13 personal attacks, corporate assaults, 14:16 even religious freedom issues sequestered 14:18 within the Church community itself 14:20 have been clearly and honestly exposed. 14:22 Liberty exists for one purpose 14:25 to help God's people maintain that 14:27 all important separation of Church and State, 14:30 while recognizing the dangers inherent in such a struggle. 14:34 During the past century, Liberty has experienced 14:36 challenges of its own, but it remains on the job. 14:40 Thanks to the inspired leadership 14:42 of a long line of dedicated Adventist Editors, 14:44 three of whom represent almost half of the 14:46 publications existence and the foresight 14:49 of a little woman from New England. 14:51 One hundred years of struggle, 14:53 one hundred years of victories, 14:55 religious freedom isn't just about 14:57 political machines and cultural prejudices. 15:00 It's about people fighting for the right to serve 15:04 the God they love as their hearts 15:06 and the Holy Spirit dictate. 15:08 Thanks to the prayers and generous support of 15:11 Seventh-day Adventists everywhere. 15:13 Liberty will continue to accomplish its work 15:15 of providing timely information, 15:17 spirit filled inspiration, 15:19 and heaven sent encouragement 15:20 to all who long to live and work 15:23 in a world bound together by the God 15:26 ordained bonds of religious freedom. 15:35 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider. 15:41 Before the break with guest Samuel Thomas 15:43 we were talking about some, probably things 15:47 that I think some of our viewers 15:48 haven't heard before about the Nation of Islam, 15:52 about the situation in the prisons 15:54 where they're often recruited. 15:56 And the mindset that's really is behind this 15:59 and why it might be so attractive 16:00 to young Black men particularly. 16:03 Let me also Lincoln add this point. 16:05 This is a reason why Message magazine has taken 16:07 such a strong interest in getting into the prisons. 16:10 In fact we actually solicited funds for people 16:12 to support message going behind bars 16:15 and to the families of those who are incarcerated. 16:19 We have to give an alternative view, 16:22 we must give them another view of God 16:25 and we must change, radically change 16:28 their self view knowing that they're created 16:32 in the image of God. 16:33 Now, that may be a stretch for some people to hear, 16:36 but we need to do it. But we have to do that. 16:38 You mentioned in the beginning of the program, 16:40 you been-- had to work in the prison for a while, 16:42 yes, yes, and I have gone into the prison 16:43 a few times too and one thing that really struck me, 16:46 even though many of the prisons 16:48 or at least parts of many of the prisons 16:50 are full of hardened criminals, very much, 16:51 those things that committed and there can bestial activity, 16:56 let's just leave it at that, in the prison. 16:58 Right. What impressed me 17:00 with most of the, all of the people that I met, 17:03 who are admittedly they were the ones that wanted 17:06 to come together in a religious complication. 17:07 But they were broken men. They are. 17:11 They really-- even though they may not have recognized 17:14 fully their crime but as human beings 17:17 they're just basically broken. 17:19 They've lost their spirit, they don't really have 17:23 a sense of identity of course, 17:24 which may be why they're often so 17:26 open to some of these efforts by, 17:30 say the Nation of Islam or gangs it's not just religion. 17:34 Or the area... Yeah, absolutely. 17:36 Yeah, yeah. We didn't mentioned 17:38 before the current leader of the Nation of Islam, 17:42 Louis Farrakhan, Louis Farrakhan. 17:44 A very charismatic and at least I find, 17:47 engaging figure, because he's clearly 17:49 a very intelligent person who can make some cutting 17:52 insight in the modern, political and social America. 17:55 But by the same token he does some 17:57 rather strange far out things like visiting Libya 18:01 when Gaddafi was at his most terroristic 18:05 and then speaking ill of America, 18:07 which, you know, there's plenty to criticize 18:09 in any country and, sure, 18:10 America but I don't think anyone should go 18:12 tortuously rubbish their own country, 18:15 that's not really a good thing. 18:16 You know, we're talking about 18:19 this sort of religious appeal in a prison. 18:23 But let's take it in another direction totally. 18:26 When we talk about religious freedom, 18:27 there is a mechanical aspect to it. 18:30 You know, there's laws that you can pass 18:32 to protect people doing and believing certain things 18:36 but I often say when I'm talking about, 18:39 the real issue when you're talking 18:41 about religious freedom or religion period 18:42 a spirituality because that spirituality religion 18:45 I believe is a pernicious force in society. 18:48 And that's almost heretical. 18:49 But religion without spirituality is 18:52 responsible for a lot of bad things. 18:54 Because it actually empowers 18:55 the worst tenancies in human beings. 18:58 But spirituality, at least people do apply. 19:01 So accepting that we need spirituality and religion, 19:06 and that it will smooth over a lot of the conflicts 19:11 between religions that under cuts religious freedom. 19:14 How do we get to revival, how do we review 19:17 a spiritual sense in America? 19:19 Let me take a personal matter, may I get it personal? 19:22 Yeah, but before you get to that, 19:24 I just preface that very often when I met 19:27 with Protestant American leaders 19:30 in a previous job actually. 19:33 They would pray before the meetings 19:35 and it was usually about education, 19:36 drug education, things like that. 19:37 They would always pray that the Lord 19:40 would heal our nation. I love that prayer. 19:42 Lord heal our nation. Well, that's a faulty premise. 19:47 I hate to just go there. 19:48 Well it's a faulty premise if they think that 19:49 it operates at the governmental level, certainly. 19:53 But if, you know, what is that song it says 19:57 "Let It Begin With Me" and.. 19:59 Right it's individualistic. 20:00 Yes, if we can think that our nation would be healed, 20:04 could be healed and it could be done 20:06 by many individuals seeking God, right, right, 20:08 I think that's the genuine. Wrong tense of the word, 20:10 it's not individualistic, it's individual. 20:12 But I have to what as Samuel Thomas 20:17 to have a relationship with Christ 20:20 Where I am Christ like. 20:23 And to take that attitude means 20:25 that I've to shed my desire for power, 20:28 my quest for authority, the desire for national good. 20:33 Because Christ wanted national good even in Israel. 20:37 You know, he was rejected 20:39 because he could not bring them to an understanding 20:43 of his purpose. 20:44 It was not the advancement of national good 20:47 or nationhood, but it was the advancement 20:50 of spiritual values. 20:51 And so everything he talked about, 20:54 Christ built it on the premise of acknowledging 20:59 God first and minimizing self. 21:02 Everything we've talked about when it pertains 21:07 to religious liberty concerns is generally the advancement 21:11 of self even if it's in the context of the logic group. 21:14 So its many selves coming together wanting to advance 21:18 a particular philosophy of theology. 21:20 Christ allowed himself to get marginalized, 21:27 He was treated in such a way that 21:30 at the end of the day they crucified Him, 21:32 because He would not, He would not comply 21:36 with status quo, He would not march 21:38 with the movement toward national significance. 21:42 I mean, it's-- and that ought to, 21:45 you know, Lincoln, 21:46 that ought to rattle evangelicals. 21:48 He could not, but maybe He could not because-- 21:52 I quoted in another program, 21:53 the statement of Jesus that all that live 21:55 a Godly life will suffer prosecution, right. 21:57 And I think anybody that identifies themselves 21:59 with the-- we're talking Christianity there, 22:02 which is a subset of the larger 22:04 philosophy religious liberty. 22:06 But Christianity which I believe is valid, 22:08 right, it's not just a belief but not many. 22:11 But if you buy into that absolutely, 22:14 the kingdom of God there is an immediate conflict 22:17 with the world around you. Immediately. 22:19 You don't have to chose not to corporate 22:21 with it or to challenge it. You're out of sync, 22:24 you're on a different wavelength. 22:25 Immediately. 22:26 So that's what was going on with Christ 22:28 and any true follower of Christ that they might be 22:32 in conflict in the antagonistic sense. 22:34 But they will out of sync with the world. 22:35 They're different, Jesus says, 22:37 my kingdom is not of this world. 22:39 Yes. And so we need to recognize 22:41 that so religious freedom in the sense 22:43 of seeking laws that accommodate 22:45 our beliefs can only go so far. 22:46 They can smooth out the intended obstructions, 22:51 so you practicing your faith, 22:52 but they can never take away 22:54 this dissonance between a life of the spirit 22:56 and a carnal earthly life with its goals and ambitions, 23:00 and so on that are here and now. 23:02 But someone with faith is looking beyond 23:05 to the transcendent. 23:06 But people today in faith are so--of Christian faith, 23:10 they're so confused because there are so many voices. 23:13 There are those who preach affluence, 23:15 those who speak about national greatness, 23:20 those who are-- you know, these, these different-- 23:23 We should take a cue from it. 23:24 You know, there was a certain 23:25 glass sided cathedral that was 23:27 part of what you spoke about. 23:28 I think it's up for sale at the moment. 23:30 So these appeals come and go. 23:31 Yeah, actually bankruptcy has been filed 23:34 by some of the creditors. But what does that tell us? 23:37 It tells us that the solid integrity of God's word 23:42 when taken in it's entirety for what it is, 23:45 is life changing if we let it change us. 23:49 Yeah. So liberty actually becomes an individual position. 23:53 If we are willing to embrace it individually 23:57 before we try to encourage it corporately. 24:01 You will have the natural outcome. 24:03 Now, you know, I must say something good 24:04 about how the United States at least looks 24:06 at the rights of free exercise of religion. 24:08 I think it is the correct dynamic 24:12 and very people seem to, few people understand it. 24:14 In the work place if you have a religious conflict 24:19 it's not necessary to say that your church believes 24:22 this or that, or that your priest 24:24 or your pastor requires you to do something. 24:26 It was handed down instruction or rabbi even, 24:28 yeah, yes, thank you. 24:30 You know, we can broaden it up 24:32 to any belief system or-- 24:34 what it is are you under conscious conviction. 24:37 It's a personal matter, 24:38 it could be that it is out of sync 24:40 with whatever church you belong to, 24:41 but if you're under conviction. 24:43 And at the end of the day I believe that's 24:45 what it-- it all comes down to. 24:47 What Shakespeare said, you must be true to-- 24:50 "to thine own self be true." 24:51 Yes. And that's what God expects of us. 24:54 I mean, he wants obedience 24:56 but we can only obedient when we're honest 24:59 in our mind and our inclinations toward God 25:02 and He will guard that, not everybody see's 25:04 everything the same way at any given instance. 25:06 Right, but the obligation 25:08 is upon us to act honestly from an internal motivation. 25:12 Not because someone else, some other church, 25:15 some state, entity or whatever tells us. 25:16 And that's in the best sense goes back 25:20 to the reformation, 25:21 the dynamic of the reformation. 25:23 Got to be convicted in your own mind 25:25 that this is what God and morality requires of me. 25:30 And it doesn't come by political persuasion, 25:32 because it was a surge of new interest in 25:35 a particular segment of a major political party, 25:37 as we have here in the United States. 25:39 It has to come from a conscious effort 25:42 of pursuing truth and doing the will of God. 25:45 It's not gonna come because of a whimsical feeling 25:48 and even to the point that people are energized 25:52 by a particular party or set of energetic thoughts, 25:57 they're really only motivated 25:59 for now and then something else comes 26:01 along and move them. Absolutely. 26:02 And you're right, as a last warning 26:05 I guess in the United States for coming up 26:08 to the silly season of politics. 26:09 And we can expect religion to be mixed in with it 26:12 and we should be aware of that. 26:13 Political religion is never a solution. 26:15 Well the reason it's never a solution is 26:17 because it doesn't solve the problem ultimately. 26:20 And what God gives us in His word 26:22 is something very clear. 26:24 Jesus summarized it in two basic principles, 26:28 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 26:30 and thy neighbor as thyself." 26:32 Well if we love God purposefully lovingly 26:34 as He loves us then we'll have a very 26:36 different attitude about other people. 26:38 And if we love our neighbors as ourselves 26:41 we'll seek to do them justice and goodness and not harm. 26:47 A prison situation is clearly fought 26:50 with a lot of emotion, a lot is at stake. 26:52 Liberty is being lost, but personality 26:56 and individuality is still at play. 26:58 It is very interesting to read in the Book of Acts 27:00 the experience of Paul and Silas there in prison 27:04 for their faith and then a great earthquake stirred 27:08 everything up, freed most of the prisoners. 27:10 The prison keeper, the guard was ready to kill 27:14 himself out of desperation that the prisoners that escaped. 27:18 Then Paul answered him, reassuringly that 27:21 because of their faith and their integrity 27:23 they were still there, he should not kill himself. 27:26 A great revival ensured. 27:28 The jailor was converted and his whole family. 27:33 I think we can draw a little parallel to that, 27:36 and today's experience of prison. 27:38 Many of these men are in there 27:41 with self inflecting wounds with no question. 27:45 But in prison, they are receptive 27:47 to somebody bringing them the good news. 27:50 They need to have the religious freedom 27:52 in opposing the ability to choose the best, 27:56 to seek God and to find redemption even in the most 28:01 irredeemable replacement. 28:05 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17