Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Orlan Johnson
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000262B
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00:06 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:09 Before the break with guest Orlan Johnson 00:12 I was almost set box 00:14 talking about possible scenario among many 00:18 but just one that I was sort of extrapolating on security 00:21 where it's not really stretched in fact, in some ways 00:24 we saw to live through it after 9/11. 00:27 In very, don't you think-- 00:28 Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. 00:29 You put succession at least president's 00:31 on basic rules and freedom's, 00:33 were set that most troubling 00:36 and we so held easy that the-- 00:38 Absolutely we ended up creating new agencies, 00:42 homeland security that started grabbing all the organization 00:46 and placing them underneath themselves 00:48 and still to this day at airports 00:50 there's almost though you're living 00:52 in a different country completely 00:54 because of that regulations that are there as well. 00:57 And even as you say homeland security 00:59 I mean, the concept is great. 01:01 But the language, I mean that sounds 01:03 very so wired to hear to me 01:05 I mean just it's ominous it seems to me. 01:10 I have told on this program 01:11 but this is a good context to repeat it 01:13 then I don't think that I have told you 01:14 but blew me away. 01:15 Years ago I saw Jerry Falwell 01:22 well I was trying to think of second name 01:23 and the reverend Sharpton on TV 01:26 talking about abortion I think it was. 01:30 And it was fine they were both on the same wavelength 01:32 but then Sharpton started to get on to 01:37 the financial plot of the inner city and so on-- 01:40 just about the Sharpton-- 01:41 about the late Jerry Falwell because this was off message. 01:45 And he got offended and he turned to him I-- 01:48 this is exactly what I saw 01:50 there was no-- I'm not extracting. 01:52 This is the dialogue he turned to him and he said 01:54 if you believe that he says you are not Christian, 01:59 you are not an American, 02:01 you are a terrorist sympathizer. 02:03 Wow, wow. 02:05 And it's a shame that we seem to find ourselves 02:08 sometimes taken things through the extreme and, 02:11 and well, we have to be concerned with is that 02:13 it will be the view point as Christian 02:15 that you are not in this particular box 02:18 then not only you on another box 02:20 but you are in the absolutely worst box 02:22 that any of us could ever imagine. 02:24 Well, you know, during the French revolution 02:27 that's the sort of thing will get you to the 02:28 you think quick just to be denounced by some one. 02:31 Right now, I think most people would say this is you know, 02:34 a rather vitriolic angry statement by regard 02:39 they wouldn't act on it. 02:40 Although I did work on constructional during college 02:43 and there are people 02:44 in that environment would do it. 02:46 They will get in they pick up with the flag in person 02:49 and act on it. 02:50 Well, I mean we're seeing every day I mean, 02:52 it's not a day that you pick up newspaper 02:54 or read something where you see people get up and do 02:57 some of the craziest things whether it's 02:59 you know, the silent come in and shoot up in the school 03:02 or going to some place else where innocent people 03:05 are taking lives and then there come back 03:07 that there is some "valid reason" 03:10 for their activities. 03:11 I mean, we have to just be cautious and be critical 03:14 that all the time and understanding that 03:16 the persecutions and the trials that will come our way 03:19 they are not gonna be deemed to be you know, 03:22 reasonable or why would anybody come to those conclusions. 03:25 Why would reasonable people-- I believe that really 03:29 it's gonna create some type of 03:30 almost like a chemical imbalance in the minds of those 03:33 who decide that you either with us or you're against us. 03:36 And we thought in large part they were at something 03:39 that really can't happen, especially 03:41 in the country like America. 03:42 But I think that's gonna be the shocking result 03:44 when we see that that's exactly was gonna be the outcome. 03:46 Well, the reason that can happen in America 03:48 as human beings are human beings. 03:49 Absolutely. 03:50 And the pattern of history is very plain 03:52 that times of stress 03:54 people they don't so much active rationally but 03:56 well, who was it, Abraham Lincoln 03:58 they turned to not to better angels 04:01 or evil angels that related to. 04:03 We're capable of wonderful things 04:06 and very evil things. 04:07 And crowd mentality reinforces one or the other. 04:11 Well, I think-- 04:12 It's very obviously the people do things in a crowd 04:14 that they wouldn't do individual. 04:15 Absolutely. 04:16 And I was reading something not to long ago 04:18 on the Howard Business review 04:20 where was talking about, why do people do what they do 04:22 or why do leaders act the way they act and, 04:25 and they torment their action logic you know 04:27 and its this action logic you engage in, 04:30 when you believe that your safety 04:32 or your powers is in jeopardy. 04:34 And when those two things happen 04:36 there was a certain innate action logic that kicks in 04:39 has nothing to do with personality, 04:41 has nothing to do management style 04:43 it really has more to do with what your core is 04:47 and when your safety is feeling like its imperiled 04:49 or when you believe you're get ready 04:51 to loose your power that kicks in. 04:54 And I think that's where we will probably see 04:56 more and near the time when it gets to really move forward, 04:59 it's the action logic within individuals 05:02 they're gonna cause and do something different. 05:04 And we can't change human nature 05:06 and that dynamically would probably work. 05:08 But I think the more inculcated to society is 05:13 with the principles of religious liberty. 05:15 The more aware it is of certain group of 05:18 what they believe, that will counter act to some degree 05:21 at least clarify 05:23 just like with the prosecution of the Jewish 05:26 in Europe under Hitler. 05:28 They were people to defend them but that shelter them 05:33 and they could have been more I think 05:34 if there be more positive information 05:37 before Hitler's counter information. 05:39 Yeah. Am I right? 05:40 No. Yeah, I think that is the case-- 05:42 We can't stop it. No. 05:44 But we should never, you know, he would make the statement. 05:46 We should never be reconciled that the life dying out. 05:49 Absolutely. 05:50 And that's what the gospel message is about. 05:52 We know that, that before it gets great, 05:54 it's gonna get very bad, Satan is gonna relieve himself. 05:57 But our job is to fight for good and right 05:59 and openness and freedom 06:01 and even if we know that the hard time 06:04 is coming more reason to up the game-- 06:07 Right. 06:08 Well, I think you have to be willing to do, 06:10 what right in the name and what wrong at all times 06:12 and that's what God is called us to do. 06:14 He hasn't called us to "get along" 06:16 or whatever the circumstance in front of us are gonna be. 06:20 And the idea is this place is not our home. 06:23 Well, this is not what we are striving to be 06:25 we've to figure out how to live here peacefully. 06:27 Well, it's to be able to one day live peacefully, 06:29 for the rest our lives in Jesus. 06:30 You didn't realize but you've told about 06:31 homeland security that this place that I have-- 06:33 Absolutely. 06:34 Homeland security is eternal security. 06:36 Absolutely. 06:37 I mean we're not-- nobody would want to be 06:39 against homeland security, what the government is doing. 06:42 We want a safe society obviously. 06:44 But in the absolute sense, 06:46 the security is with God, isn't it? 06:47 Absolutely. 06:48 And we need to keep true principles. 06:51 And I do believe that at times of stress 06:53 country start to act the little irrationally. 06:56 And clearly the US acted 06:57 some what irrationally after 9/11. 07:01 I've even got up and said, 07:02 I don't know if you will agree with me 07:04 that I love history and in lunch time 07:07 you and I were talking about World War II. 07:09 Think about German Air Force came night after night. 07:11 Everything they had dropped on London. 07:13 I see no evidence and everything I read 07:16 any thing I read that London or England 07:18 was at any danger of collapsing at that point. 07:21 9/11 was not a mortal threat 07:24 to the United Sates in the slightest. 07:27 We could probably have absorbed one of those a month forever 07:30 but it was existential threat to people's peace of mind. 07:35 Right, right. 07:36 I mean, there was a need to keep a clear mind, 07:39 put it into perspective, obviously not brush it off, 07:41 thousands of people dying is a horrific thing. 07:43 Right. 07:44 More people die of traffic accidents 07:47 and lung cancer arrest 07:48 and most people are not moved by that. 07:50 But this was in front of us. 07:51 Well, I think that from our stand point and even the-- 07:55 an American action logic per say 07:58 our reaction to when we think our safety 08:00 is on the verge of being taken away 08:02 causes you too really-- I think go beyond, 08:05 maybe what you would normally do. 08:06 And I think that's probably what we saw lot of after 9/11 08:09 and I think also the fear of wondering, 08:12 what's gonna happen next. 08:14 And I think in my mind a lot of the things we do, 08:17 a lot of the actions that we engage in 08:19 is one we don't believe that 08:20 the Lord is really able to protect us 08:22 and two you have to be in a position to understand 08:25 that our security will never be in anything 08:27 that you and I will be able to do. 08:29 That was the great Adventist 08:31 radio announcer H. M. S. Richards, 08:33 he would always used to finish his program 08:35 with this warm deep voice saying, 08:37 have faith in God dear friend, have faith. 08:40 Well, I think at the end of the day 08:41 when you think about really what goes on 08:43 in the final analysis there is nothing that any of us can do 08:48 to stop politicians from being who they want to be, 08:51 or we can do to remind them they were already free in Jesus 08:53 because he who the sunsets free, is free indeed. 08:58 Homeland security is not really just a term 09:03 that we have learned since 9/11. 09:06 Put from the point of religious liberty 09:08 and from the point of Christian commitment 09:11 homeland security should be all about 09:14 preparing for our final home land. 09:16 The Christians hope is the land of eternal bliss 09:20 in heaven and with our Lord. 09:23 But with such a mindset we live here 09:26 and we to prepare our world for that coming world. 09:31 And homeland security should mean 09:34 working for love and fellowship 09:37 with our fellow society and our fellow citizens. 09:41 Homeland security should mean witnessing for the Lord 09:45 and master that we serve. 09:47 Homeland security should mean preparing our characters 09:51 and our lives both to be fit citizens here 09:55 and fit citizens for eternity. 09:57 Homeland security is not insecurity 10:01 and fear of what's coming on the world. 10:04 Homeland security is the joy of knowing God 10:09 and knowing that in our lives we are living up to His ideals 10:13 and witnessing to Him before the world. 10:18 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17