Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Melissa Reid
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000189B
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00:05 Welcome back. Before the break
00:07 we were talking on "The Liberty Insider" 00:10 about Liberty Magazine, which is a very big part 00:13 of my mindset, as I host this program. 00:16 And we're at that time of the year where in a few months 00:19 when we're putting liberty in front of those people 00:22 who believe in religious liberty and willing 00:24 to put their money where their mouth is. Right, right. 00:27 So the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has 00:29 a particular offering schedule. 00:31 And we have been given-- Liberty Magazine has given 00:36 the fourth Sabbath in January as our official offering date. 00:40 So every year, we have the opportunity 00:41 in the local church and I mentioned the promotional 00:44 material packet that we put together. 00:46 We send that to every local church 00:49 in United States and Canada. Several thousand of them. 00:51 Several thousand-- 00:52 And I do need to interject that it's not just on that day, 00:56 that's the official day of it. Right. 00:58 It is a several months spread where we're encouraging people 01:01 to put in front of the membership and as I said 01:04 to our viewers, any of their churches or their organizations 01:08 could share this and be participants. 01:12 Absolutely. No, if you have a particular series 01:14 that's going on in January and your pastor says, 01:17 "Well, you know, we're not gonna be able to emphasize 01:19 religious freedom on that date." Well, then that doesn't mean 01:21 we're not emphasizing religious freedom this year. 01:23 It just means we're gonna be 01:25 doing it in February instead of January. 01:26 So absolutely it's no, you're not tied to 01:28 that particular date, it's just the official date. 01:31 Now you mentioned the video. Yes. 01:33 Tell us about the one this year. 01:34 Well, we're emphasizing a story. I had the opportunity to go 01:39 and meet this young this man. His name is Ben Ellis 01:41 and he is working his way through a school 01:45 as a literature evangelist, which means that he's going 01:47 door to door and selling Christian materials. 01:50 Yeah, selling. It's not always Bible material directly 01:54 but things of moral character might be bed time stories-- 01:58 Right, right. of moral nature. And so he--yeah, 02:01 so this is how he spends his summers. 02:03 He's studying to be a pastor, theology major and so he-- 02:09 I know my father is a pastor and worked his way. 02:11 He spent similar summers that way and it can be 02:15 thankless work I've heard. You know, 02:18 it can be discouraging but this young man 02:21 has--seems like he has such the passion that, 02:23 you know, the personality for it in that, first of all, 02:26 you can tell his love for Christ just in having 02:28 a conversation with him. But second of all, 02:30 he really is friendly and personable, you know, 02:33 and so I think it's been a good-- 02:35 But somebody wasn't too friendly to him. 02:36 Well, unfortunately, he was working 02:38 in the Southern United States in a small town there. 02:41 And I think as usually as the standard, 02:44 they had sent a note, the conference-- 02:46 the local conference had sent a note before him 02:48 to the local community government letting them know 02:53 that they were gonna be working in this area 02:55 in this particular time. Well, so Ben actually was 02:59 the leader, the sort of the student leader, 03:02 yes, for this group. 03:04 He was responsible for several other literature evangelists, 03:09 dropping them off and making sure and coordinating that. 03:13 So he had done that in the morning. 03:16 He shared with me that they always start the day 03:18 with prayer and Bible study and really, you know, 03:20 affirm each other. And then he dropped off 03:22 all his group and just as he'd dropped off the last person, 03:28 he sees behind him flashing lights. 03:31 And so, of course, he stops and waits, 03:34 and an officer comes up and wanted to know 03:37 what he was doing and, you know, 03:40 why he felt it was okay to be able to do this. 03:42 And, evidently, you know, they had heard about 03:46 this individuals being there in the community. 03:48 He wanted to say that when they first sent 03:53 the letter letting them know, letting the city know 03:54 that they would be there, they didn't receive 03:56 any sort of response at all. So I don't know if anyone 03:58 read the letter or not. It wasn't acknowledged. 04:01 But anyway, the next thing Ben knew 04:04 he was being handcuffed and put into jail. 04:07 So this wasn't Andy of Mayberry. 04:10 It wasn't. They were there. 04:11 They had a mission--you know, the police had a mission, 04:14 an objective that they were gonna do, 04:16 which was to arrest this young man 04:20 for sharing his witness. What was the charge? 04:24 Um, I think it was, I don't remember specifically 04:27 what it was, but I think it was not having 04:30 the appropriate licensing or permit 04:33 or something like that, which again 04:34 they hadn't been told that they needed to have. 04:37 That is an interesting commentary on law enforcement 04:39 that even if that were the case, 04:40 you don't typically get arrested and I don't know when I was-- 04:46 to paint a wood picture, you know, put over 04:48 the front of the car and spread eagle. 04:51 It seemed like a-- I mean, 04:52 that's a rather severe way to apprehend you 04:55 or to stop what you're doing. Yes, absolutely, 04:57 without any sort of prior warning, 05:00 with any explanation as to, you know, 05:02 you're not allowed to be able to do this in this community. 05:04 It does seem like a bit of an extreme reaction. 05:08 But Ben really took it, you know, he shared with me 05:12 that his primary concern was the individuals 05:15 that he'd dropped off. I think there was maybe 05:16 eight other young men that he'd dropped off in the community. 05:19 He wanted to make sure that they were okay 05:21 because he was responsible for them. 05:24 And then he talked about, you know, he reminded me 05:28 of Paul and Silas singing in the prisons. 05:32 And he said that he was just, you know, 05:35 today was gonna be about witnessing and whether it was 05:37 in the local community, going door-to-door or in prison 05:40 that was what he was gonna do. And so he just seems to 05:42 really have a remarkable attitude about it. 05:45 That said, it shouldn't-- it's something 05:49 that should not have taken place. 05:50 On the face of it, it seems bizarre and I'm sure there are 05:52 legal technicalities that'll be worked out. 05:54 But it resonated with me because we had an article 05:57 on Liberty, time gets by but I'd say at least 06:00 5 or 6 years ago, it was Jehovah's witnesses 06:03 I think who took the case to court but they were not 06:07 allowed to witness door-to-door in a number of towns. 06:11 So in this particular town, I think 06:12 there was an arrest there, too. 06:14 And it went all the way to the Supreme Court 06:15 and they upheld the right of anybody 06:19 to witness door-to-door. Right. 06:21 Yeah, no town can just put up as they were doing then, 06:23 you know, no door-to-door 06:25 solicitation or whatever. Right. 06:27 And you have a right. And they have a right 06:29 to close the door on you and say, 06:30 "We don't want to hear." But-- Absolutely. 06:32 But you can't be forbidden from the public there of. 06:34 And that's the situation. One other aspect of 06:36 the Religious Liberty Campaign that we haven't mentioned, 06:39 which is an important aspect is that the Seventh-day 06:42 Adventist Church has a legal department that works to defend 06:47 the religious freedoms of individuals. 06:49 And the Religious Liberty Campaign 06:52 helps in part to fund that. 06:54 Well, Ben received that type of help 06:58 from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 07:00 And I know that that was exactly 07:02 what you were referring to the Supreme Court case, 07:04 is that this local jurisdiction's ordinance was 07:10 unconstitutional because in fact the Supreme Court has said 07:12 that, you know, individuals do have the right to go 07:14 door to door. 07:16 So we would probably be upheld as it works through the system. 07:20 Yes. But, of course, people don't understand 07:22 that the law can be on your side but if you have law officials 07:26 that don't like what you're doing, 07:28 they can delay it, in some cases for years, 07:31 and effectively disrupt, in this case, 07:33 witnessing and Bible books selling-- 07:37 Right. And if you don't have, you know, the legal team 07:40 from the Seventh-day Adventist Church working with you 07:42 to explain to you that actually these are your rights 07:44 or this or that, you know, I mean, 07:46 Ben Ellis certainly couldn't have afforded to go 07:48 and get an attorney that, you know, 07:50 practiced constitutional law and, you know, 07:53 could've been able to-- and so again, 07:57 it's fortunate that, you know, he had the resources 08:01 that he had and again that's in part 08:03 because of the Religious Liberty Campaign and that funding-- 08:05 Absolutely. Yeah, we didn't make the connection. 08:07 There's the magazine. There is litigation in defense. 08:11 And there's also some monies that help put people in place 08:16 that can speak in local areas for religious liberty. 08:19 So it's more broad based than just a magazine. 08:21 Right. But I think 08:23 this is more than just a case for this one town 08:26 and this one group of young people. Yes. 08:28 Think about it. You know, I'm sure the viewers, 08:30 some of them must have made a connection, 08:31 you know, summer school, summer time. 08:33 What are the young people doing in the summer? 08:37 They could be offered a summer camp 08:38 and that could be good exercise or fellowship. 08:41 It could also be-- all sorts of strange 08:45 and wonderful things happen with young people. 08:47 They turn to beach, spring break and so on. 08:50 You know, this has got to be very good 08:52 for upstanding young people who want to develop 08:55 a sense of comradery of course. 08:57 They want to witness for their faith. 08:59 They want to share it and make a little bit of money 09:01 for their school. Yes. 09:03 As you said at the outset, nobody is getting 09:05 rich of this hardly. Yes. 09:07 But it does usually provide an adequate scholarship to help 09:12 with their school studies. Right. 09:14 So I think on every level, this is good for the society. 09:16 It's good for these individuals. Right. 09:18 And if they're promoting something that anybody 09:21 doesn't like, they say, "No, thank you." 09:23 And they go away. Absolutely. 09:24 So to have the power of law and the heavy arm of the law. 09:29 You know the police, by and large, 09:31 I think are good spirited public servants. 09:33 But we all know the cases in little town, 09:36 they can sometimes push the limits a bit, 09:38 and be a little heavy handed. 09:42 And I think that's what happened here. 09:43 I think that's exactly the case. 09:45 And, I mean, this is the individual story 09:47 that we're highlighting. But I do know 09:50 that there have been other situations recently, 09:53 particularly, in the Southern United States 09:54 that this has happened. That there are these local ordinances 09:58 that are contradictory to actually 09:59 sort of the national standard of law. 10:01 And so, you know, this is not just a unique situation. 10:06 So this is a very good video 10:07 to include with our campaign to remind people 10:09 it's not theoretical-- Yes. 10:11 things are happening constantly that should catch our attention 10:15 and we should defend these people to enable religious 10:18 freedom for all of us. Absolutely. 10:20 I was just gonna say, if for some reason 10:25 or if you would like to have a copy of this video, 10:28 if you would like to promote religious freedom 10:30 there in your community. And again the sermon 10:33 that I mentioned earlier is also available on the same DVD. 10:36 We're very happy to send you a copy of that. 10:38 Again, I mentioned the website earlier 10:40 but I'll do it again now. And it has our address on it, 10:43 doesn't it? Yes. 10:44 So it's www.libertymagazine.org. You can just send us 10:48 a request through that way and we'd be very happy 10:51 to send you a copy of this DVD for free. 10:54 Now something that I need to tell people. 10:56 I always do this. Apart from some basic office expenses, 11:02 the promotion we're talking about, and the monies 11:04 that come in, that's it to enable what we do. 11:07 It's the printing, the development, 11:09 the distribution, even the promotion 11:10 for the campaign-- Right. 11:12 all of that comes out of that basket. 11:13 And, you know, I'm able to put 11:17 food on my family as President Bush said, no, but, 11:21 you know, we paid enough to live 11:22 but nobody is getting rich of this 11:24 and the distribution of Liberty Magazine 11:27 is only to the degree that this offering enables it. 11:30 Right. Now you're absolutely right 11:31 and that's why I really do appeal to our viewers 11:35 to help us continue this ministry that's been 11:38 so vital to the Seventh-day Adventist Church 11:41 but also has been vital to our own individual 11:43 religious freedoms. We need to make sure 11:46 that less and less situations happen 11:47 where individual's rights are violated. 11:50 Their religious freedoms are violated. 11:52 And by putting Liberty Magazine in the hands 11:55 of those local thought leaders, this is a way 11:58 that we can really prevent these situations 12:01 from occurring in the future. 12:05 One of the more enjoyable aspects of being Liberty editor 12:09 is reading the letters that come in regularly, 12:12 positive and negative. Some of the negative ones 12:16 are actually the most positive. It's very nice 12:19 for people to write in as they did with the last editorial, 12:21 and say, "It's great." And someone said, 12:23 "It should be reprinted and sent out broadly." 12:26 Well, Liberty is a broad distribution. 12:29 But the negative ones, I find, are the most invigorating, 12:33 because to--as I often do read a letter 12:36 where someone says, "I get Liberty all the time, 12:39 I read it from cover to cover. I don't quite agree with all 12:42 that you people are saying. I differ with this article. 12:45 I differ with that. But I still 12:46 read Liberty Magazine." That tells me 12:49 that we are engaging the people 12:53 that might have different views in a positive way 12:55 that may one day persuade them much better 12:59 than sending something to someone 13:01 who already thinks as you do. During our Liberty Campaign, 13:04 which comes once a year, we have an incredible opportunity 13:08 to again empower those people who are hovering 13:14 as it were between a pro and a con opinion. 13:16 We want them to be persuaded. 13:20 For "Liberty Insider," this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17