Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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Before the break with guest
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Wintley Phipps we
were listening to a song.
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Yes.
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Talking and it was a fantastic
rendition of my tribute.
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Thank you.
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And you said a
horrible president
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why you've
singing so wonderfully
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what would we do in other shows.
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Oh, yeah, well.
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We'll have to get you the saying
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a little bit of sorry.
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The word that comes to
mind but I just is horrible.
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Yeah, do I.
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But I know that
religious liberty is central to
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what you been
doing all your life.
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Even though you know
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was just for a limited period
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you were working
directly with it.
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Right.
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But you have a vision
of this and I appreciate
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talking to you about this I see.
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Yes.
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I see, you link
it to spirituality
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which is necessary.
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Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
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And as I was saying all my life
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oh, I say all my
life most of my life
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since I was 16 years old
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I have a felt a
calling on my life
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to speak truth to
people of influence and power.
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And I have been
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and I've had the opportunity
to minister to people
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the highest
echelons of government.
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And when I was asked to
takeover a little church
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in Washington D.C. in 1985
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I actually drove passed it
because it was just a house.
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Like me that
sounds pretty recently.
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Yeah. Three decades.
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Yeah, I know isn't that amazing
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and but when I got there
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I looked down the street
from where the church was
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and I could see the
capital of the United States.
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The building and I realized
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you know God is
fulfilling everything
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He told me as a little boy.
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As a young teenager
that He wanted me to prepare
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to articulate the
issues of religious freedom.
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So here we have an
Adventist church presence
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on Capitol Hill there's so
much we could do with that.
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And so it was not
unusual to on Sabbath morning
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for example
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to look and see
members of government
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cabinet people or secretary.
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You know lot of them
live in the apartments
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just around the church.
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Yeah and that happens too.
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One Sabbath morning we looked up
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and Justice Clarence Thomas
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was sitting on a
front row of the church
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with his wife you know,
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and so we have had
those kinds of opportunities
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and I think we need
to continue to do that
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because at the end
of the day these people
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who make those
decisions they're human beings.
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They're human beings with hearts
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with minds that can influenced
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we do know that the
enemy is right there
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whispering to them as well
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and is seeking to
influence their minds.
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And so we need to be much
more grateful than we are.
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If we could only
see behind the scenes
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of what God has
been doing to protect us
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and to give us the blessing
of freedom that we have enjoyed
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it would blow our minds
that God was so much involved.
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I like the way you describe
it because that's what I believe
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it's a biblical model
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and you know this Joseph
and Moses with that matter
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and different people
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and Daniel placed in
these highest places.
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Absolutely.
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Yes, you can they govern
and you can talk politics
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or at least talk
about political developments
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but I think the real value
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what you're
talking about is that
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you can relate to
them as another human being
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and communicate to them
what it is that makes you take
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and they can
understand what it is to be
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a Seventh-day
Adventist Christian.
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Right.
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And when in my situation
when you have the blessing
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to sing--
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Well, you got their attention.
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You got their
attention emotionally
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and you speak to them
on a very powerful level.
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You know someone once said
when you sing you pray twice.
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In other words,
you almost speaking
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on more than
just one wavelength.
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And so many of
these people are moved
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and so consequently they
listen to what you've said.
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One of my mentors
and I call him a mentor
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because I think
he is a dear friend
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is Brother
Clarence Hodges, and he--
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I worked with him
when I first started
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with Liberty Magazine.
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Yes, yes and Clarence
gave me as a young man
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a little piece of
advice that I carry with me
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and I will carry
with me as long as I live.
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He said you know
"it's hard to make friends
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when you need them."
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Yes, yeah.
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You think about that poem.
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It's hard to make
friends when you need them.
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You need to be
cultivating relationships
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long before you need them
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and that's what
ministry does for me.
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And--
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And I think the best parts
of what you're talking about
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still continues
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we do have
through other individuals
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we do have contacts and
I think they're successful
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as they keep it on that level.
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Yes.
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I'm uncomfortable with people
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who think that
we're useless lobbyist.
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Yes, I
understand. To Washington.
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No, it can't be.
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That works to elaborate degrade
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or works to bid the
degrade for some of other groups
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that have huge lobbying staffs.
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All right.
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But we can't
afford to get into that
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and I think ultimately
God doesn't work through that
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particularly He works
with what you're talking about.
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One on one communicating
your faith as you live it.
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Yeah, and for example
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when I started the Dream Academy
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I realized I would need
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millions and millions of dollars
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to keep this all going.
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Right now we raised hundreds of
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we have to raise hundreds
of thousand dollars a month
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to keep this work going.
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And I remember
when I started out
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I was it was a daunting
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and I was knocking on
doors on some of these doors
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of some of these
political friends
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that I had to see
if I can get support.
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And I knocked on
this senator's door
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and I thought I get handshake
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and the picture
and the brush off,
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you know, they do
that so efficiently
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but he and I were
together for an hour and half
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and because he
turned out Lincoln,
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to be one of the
most prolific song writers
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in the United States of America.
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He's written for Gladys Knight,
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he's written for Brooks and Dunn
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his name is Senator Orrin Hatch.
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Oh, I was going to
guess someone else.
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Yeah, so Orrin Hatch
is an amazing song writer.
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And we hit it off with the music
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and I was there
with him an hour and half
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because he kept saying
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hey, you got time
for one more song.
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Yeah and he already was
he was pulling out songs
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I mean he has
written hundreds of hundreds
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and I have actually
recorded a whole album
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of Senator Hatch's songs.
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And then he said to me
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who is helping you with
your dream for the kids?
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I said well, I have a
few people here in there.
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He said no, I'm gonna help you.
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And he put it absolutely
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he put together
fundraising dinner
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and he said you know I want to
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I want this to
be very bipartisan.
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Who do you know on
the democratic side
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that will co-host
you a dinner with me?
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And I told him
about my relationship
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and my minister to the
Clintons and President Clinton.
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He said Mrs. Clinton
just became a senator.
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You better Ashcroft.
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Yeah, yeah. In excess with--
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Yes, I do. So
you had many options.
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Yeah, yeah but he said--
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but you said he
wanted be bipartisan
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Ashcroft is also a republican.
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Oh, really? Yes.
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Oh, of course,
sorry. Yeah, yeah right.
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So he's political
suitcase pretty thick sometimes.
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So when he said I want
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he said I'm
gonna get Mrs. Clinton
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to co-host your dinner with me.
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So she agreed
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and she went out and got
all the democratic senators
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to sign on to be a
member of my dinner committee.
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He went in and got all
the Republican senators
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to sign on to be a member
of my first dinner committee,
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my first dinner.
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So my first dinner committee
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read all 100
United States senators.
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Wow.
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So CNN came and did a report
on my Dream Academy saying
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what group is
this we have never seen
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100 United
States senators agree?
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I'm sure that's fairly unique.
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Yeah, and it is.
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And so that's again
that's the power of ministry.
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Here I
ministered to the Clinton's
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and ministered to Senator Hatch.
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And I will say this
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one day I had to sing at
this big function in Washington
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where President Clinton spoke.
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And that's same night
I had to rush across town
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and sing at this
big Republican function.
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And when I got there I announced
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that I had just
come from singing
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for the President
of the United States
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and there was
this boo and rumbling
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and went to the audience.
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As I said wait a wait a minute.
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I said I always go where
people really need the Lord.
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And there was
this polite applause
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and then I said and
that's why I'm here.
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So that's how I view it.
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It's all ministry for me.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, well, it's
incredible to listening to this
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and in some
ways I think you hold
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you have to hold back
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because you can't
tell the most personal--
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That's true.
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That's very true.
Conversations you've had.
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Yes.
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But in a way I think more than
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almost any of the Seventh-day
Adventist in my living memory
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you've been privileged
to have these contacts
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in a smaller way obviously
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some of the
people that I work with
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have these conversations.
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Yes.
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And I think we're
privileged under the Lord
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to those of us
live in Washington
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and have these jobs now
and then you can make a contact
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well, you see
God's leading in it.
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Because obviously your career
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puts you now in front
of the more than usual.
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Yeah.
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But I do believe those
moments are not just social
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its God's spirit.
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Absolutely.
00:10:06.07\00:10:07.11
And creating an opportunity.
00:10:07.14\00:10:08.73
No doubt about it.
00:10:08.76\00:10:09.79
And it's always about the few
00:10:09.82\00:10:11.02
that I have had
its all inspiring.
00:10:11.05\00:10:12.49
Yes, yes.
00:10:12.52\00:10:13.75
And it is for
His will and purpose.
00:10:13.78\00:10:17.15
It's not for your
glory its for His glory
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and as long you
keep that in mind
00:10:20.59\00:10:21.69
you'll be able to get.
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I really think God
has used you greatly
00:10:22.78\00:10:24.47
and the Dream Academy,
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I think the
epitomizes it's a dream.
00:10:26.03\00:10:27.84
Yes, yes.
00:10:27.87\00:10:29.10
And why not share the dream.
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Yes absolutely.
00:10:30.96\00:10:32.08
It's not a private dream
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it's caused a
dream for all of us.
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Absolutely.
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And in this country it's
doing a great social good
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as well as fulfilling
our religious compulsion
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if you like.
00:10:42.65\00:10:43.68
I'd say well, I will tell you
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what I will tell
people all the time.
00:10:45.18\00:10:46.77
In 22 seconds.
Absolutely, yeah absolutely.
00:10:46.80\00:10:50.17
God is the ultimate dreamer
00:10:50.20\00:10:51.82
and when He
dreams planets are born.
00:10:51.85\00:10:54.37
When He dreams flowers
come up out of the ground
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and blush with Technicolor
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and when He dreams
He'll also dreams about you.
00:10:58.62\00:11:02.18
The most amazing thing
that can happen in your life
00:11:02.21\00:11:04.51
is to ask God to
show you the dream
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He's been dreaming for you.
00:11:06.79\00:11:11.43
Nicodemus was a member
of the Jewish Sanhedrin.
00:11:11.46\00:11:14.20
He was one of the
rulers of that nation
00:11:14.23\00:11:17.54
the nation of Israel
00:11:17.57\00:11:18.97
even though they
were under Roman rule.
00:11:19.00\00:11:21.32
He'd heard about Jesus,
00:11:21.35\00:11:22.94
he'd heard
somewhat about His teachings
00:11:22.97\00:11:25.17
and it came to him
and He said teacher
00:11:25.20\00:11:27.80
we know you're from God.
00:11:27.83\00:11:29.54
And then Jesus said
you know are you're a ruler
00:11:29.57\00:11:32.72
are you someone that
doesn't know these things?
00:11:32.75\00:11:35.63
And then He
proceeded to communicate
00:11:35.66\00:11:39.15
the fact that the spirit
moves and changes peoples minds.
00:11:39.18\00:11:43.43
That it's a spiritual
reality and understanding
00:11:43.46\00:11:46.43
not just a head knowledge.
00:11:46.46\00:11:49.18
`In reaching out to
some of these rulers today
00:11:49.21\00:11:52.08
we need to
understand the same thing
00:11:52.11\00:11:53.89
that it's the personal meeting.
00:11:53.92\00:11:55.73
Even the meeting at
night that personal contact
00:11:55.76\00:11:58.68
that communication of
the power of the spirit
00:11:58.71\00:12:01.84
that will make
it change in lives
00:12:01.87\00:12:04.30
that will as the wind
itself moves and changes
00:12:04.33\00:12:07.38
it will directly change
00:12:07.41\00:12:09.12
the thinking of
those individuals
00:12:09.15\00:12:11.30
and on occasion reveal to us
00:12:11.33\00:12:13.31
that God's Spirit is
even affected the events
00:12:13.34\00:12:16.76
and the
determination of nations.
00:12:16.79\00:12:20.43
For Liberty Insider
this is Lincoln Steed.
00:12:20.46\00:12:23.88