Welcome back to
"The Liberty Insider."
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Before the break with Dr. Diop
we were talking about unity.
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Correct.
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And that whole discussion
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came from introducing
your responsibility as-- well,
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tell me the title with the
Christian World Communions.
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Yes, actually, literally
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it's the
conference of secretaries
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of the Christian
World Communions.
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And you're the
general secretary of that?
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The secretary, there's a
chair and I am the secretary,
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like we meet
once a year in a forum
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where each denomination
share what they're doing.
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So this way we can
better know each other
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and so that is very important.
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And we were saying earlier,
you see, I used to say that,
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the worst is always
the corruption of the best.
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That's true. And
the error is very--
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the most effective
error is so close to truth,
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it's hard to tell.
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But in this case
when we talk about unity,
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unity is a good word.
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Absolutely. God wants unity.
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Unity is something
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that should be
sought by every person.
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The reason actually,
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I would not even talk
about, you know, necessarily--
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Well, unity is
closely related to holiness
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and holiness is
unity with God and His--
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But even, you know,
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most of the problem
of the world can be,
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can be tied, connected
to the idea of division.
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Just think about
it, nations fight
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because of this idea that
we are not one human family,
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there is a refusal.
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And sometimes I
hear people, you know,
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like putting so
much differences in races
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for example, they will say,
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okay, we're the sons of
Noah, yeah but go back to Noah
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and then after that, you
know, and how about Adam.
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Do we really know
that they were siblings?
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There is one humanity,
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but for whatever
reason differentiation,
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discrimination, and
so far separates people.
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So God wants unity
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and He has never
succeeded even with Israel
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when we think about it.
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Twelve tribes then
divisions, ten and two,
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et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
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Divided by the mothers of the--
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Naturally, so now
we have a war of people
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who call themselves Christians.
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So meaning, they
find their common identity
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in Jesus Christ,
manifestation of God on earth.
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Pretty good starting
point for discussion.
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Yes. But then
the question becomes,
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okay, people go into minors--
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I'm not diminishing
the differences, no.
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But, what we're talking
about unity in God is vital,
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it is important.
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However, that
irreconcilable differences,
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some religion insists
some Christian tradition insist
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and some of the, some aspect
that not everybody can accept.
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There was a reason why
there was a reformation
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based on these five Solae.
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I was gonna mention that.
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But even with the,
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I was thinking
about this on Friday,
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a couple of days ago.
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I attended an all day
religious liberty seminar
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at Catholic University.
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Well, I'd look at--
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there was an
Archbishop of Baltimore there,
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very nice man.
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But I look at him
and he stands doctrinally
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for many things
that I can never accept.
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But here I also look at him
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and he's a person
that's professing Christ.
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I had certain
things in common with him
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and I have to respect
him and reach out to him.
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So this, you know, what
does it say in the Bible,
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"Love of Christ constrains us,"
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which we should have
much more of an affinity
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even with a
radically doctrinally
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different church
group than with the person
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that professes
in our faith in God.
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Yeah.
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But where it goes
is a little dangerous.
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Yeah.
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And, you know, you made
an elusion that reminded me.
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There is no
question that the reformation
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has been undone.
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I think in a very
negative way of recent years,
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the world Lutheran
federation sat down
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and decided that was
sort of all a mistake
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and they are moving
towards practical unity,
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organizational
unity of Church of England
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I think it's the
pretty much last step
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where they can even
hold ordinary positions
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with their
Roman Catholic Church.
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For someone with a
reformation viewpoint
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that has to be troubling.
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That's not good unity,
is it? How do we see that?
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Well, I really think
it's more complex than that
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but
fundamentally the foundations
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for the reformation and I think
and these are good foundations
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upon which the
Seventh-day Adventist church
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actually stands
also in a sense--
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Well, we see
ourselves as the inheritance
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of the reformation principle.
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No question, in a sense
that these five principles,
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one is Scripture
Alone, Sola scriptura,
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Grace alone, Faith
alone, Christ alone,
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and then Soli Deo
Gloria, to God be all the glory.
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If you take each one
of those five principles,
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these will protest actually
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because like from a
Protestant perspective
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and from an
Adventist perspective
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in particular, the reason why
we emphasize scripture alone,
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because this is a protest
we are saying scripture alone,
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not scripture with traditions,
tradition or traditions.
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Grace alone, not
grace with merit, all right.
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Faith alone,
not faith with work.
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That's a very
good way of expressing
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the reformation principle.
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Exactly, Christ alone,
not Christ with others,
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whether priest, not Christ
with other mediators, right.
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These principles
affirm Christ's sufficiency.
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And then, to God
be all the glory,
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this is like a total dedication.
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This is why
Adventists insist whether we eat
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or whether we
drink or whatever we do,
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we do all to God's glory.
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Now even Adventists, I
think this may be a challenge
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you know, to some but I think
it's important to rediscover
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and to live on the basis
of these five principles.
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Now of course, you
will find churches who,
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you know, because of
how the world of pluralism
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tend to diminish
or that the importance
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of this or that aspect.
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But this is where I
think Adventists should keep
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our prophetic
voice in society to say,
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well, and I really
emphasize on this point,
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you see, and I'm going
to use an illustration.
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Some people may enjoy
in always accusing others,
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one thing, where they are wrong,
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what they do wrong.
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That is kind of productive
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and it is not in
harmony with God's spirit.
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It's true, we
should be Christ centered.
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Absolutely, the way Christ did.
Now this, let's think about it.
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Christ knew
everything, every wrong,
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of every person that He met.
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But He focused,
except, except, I know,
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you know, at the
end of the ministry
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but He focused
on preaching light
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and I think this is
where I think, share light
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and light will dispel darkness,
rather than I mean in a sense.
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You would not agree
with that or how would you--
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I've got to quibble on something
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and at the risk of,
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I'm not sure
Christ knew everything.
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Yeah. What I'm saying--
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But He, it is in
communion with His Father,
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things were revealed
in a continuous fashion.
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And you're supporting--
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I don't believe He's a
human, living in a human form
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at that moment when He
looked, He knew everything.
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That would be
another conversation
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but what I was referring to--
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But I understand the
principle you're saying.
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No, and I am just
quoting the Bible,
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I am quoting the
Bible when He said,
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He knew what was in man.
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So that was--
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Well, He knew, He
had a clear understanding
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with His closeness to the Father
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of the degradation
and the weakness of human.
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Correct, but my was
that He could spend time
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showing what's wrong with people
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and what's wrong with the world.
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Well, He did it as the moment
required with the Pharisees.
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He was quite direct.
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Yeah, but His life was spent
in expressing what He said,
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"I'm the light of the world."
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And He said to His Father was,
"You are the salt in light."
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The salt mingled.
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It's impossible to
isolate and we are living,
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yes, in a dangerous
world, in many areas,
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syncretistic alliances.
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I mean, compromising, apostasy,
all kinds of things but--
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I think the real
danger is forgetfulness.
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With Seventh-day Adventist
we were told by leading light
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of early Adventism,
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Ellen White that we
have nothing to fear
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except we forget the
way that Lord has lead us.
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And that was good advice
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and I think when we
talk about many of the,
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mostly Christian churches
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because that's say
I'm with the danger
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is in regard to ecumenism
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but the danger
generally as far as spirituality
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is they're
forgetting the principles
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they were founded on.
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These reformers
that I've noticed
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they've been re-appropriated
by the Roman Catholic Church
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which is very
charitable of them,
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but I think they
are trying to embrace
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what they cannot embrace
without changing to reflect
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the reformers' views.
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You know, those reformers
had very particular view points
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that when they lost it damages
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each body that exemplified them.
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And while we're
at the end of this,
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we need to have
another discussion.
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But back to the
Christian World Communion
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just if you can
give a little statement
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of what you think
where that's going
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and its importance
for our involvement.
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Again, the
importance first of all
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is for Christians
to talk to one another.
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Of course, Christians
should talk to everybody
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and I mentioned earlier here
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that there is solidarity
that among all human beings,
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we are the same human family.
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There's one human race
in spite of the theories
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that have been
created in the 19th century
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differentiating
different races et cetera.
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There's one human family
and so, and when Jesus came
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He emphasized
this particular point
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that to all who
believe in His name
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He gave them the
authority, the power,
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to become children of God.
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So Christians in addition
to sharing common humanity,
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common solidarity,
they also share this family
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because of
their worldview of God
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as the Creator, the
Father, the provider,
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the sustainer, the
Creator of everything,
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who brings them together.
00:11:19.64\00:11:21.18
So Christians ought
to talk to one another
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in order to work to make
this world a better place
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and to share
their vision of God.
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Many people want to
say the Lord's prayer
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at moments of high religiosity
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but far too many are
unfamiliar with the prayer
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that Jesus prayed
in John Chapter 17,
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it is a beautiful
outline of the principles
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of the kingdom of the dynamic,
of necessary dynamic of union
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with the Father as He the
Son had union with the Father,
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that we are called to
be one, a band of Brothers
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if you like, with
Brother, capital B from heaven.
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We need to be
working towards that end.
00:12:09.32\00:12:11.99
We need to say that we
are not isolated individuals
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reaching for a principle.
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We are part of this
great heavenly family,
00:12:17.67\00:12:22.34
a band of Brothers
working for a principle
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that will have its ultimatum aim
00:12:26.14\00:12:28.24
of oneness with God,
not as a secular construct,
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not as a constitutional norm,
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not even as a historical
moment of great memory
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like the Shakespearian
play where King Henry said
00:12:39.55\00:12:44.59
that we will be
a band of Brothers
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but we are indeed brothers
with the heavenly presence.
00:12:46.09\00:12:51.37
For Liberty Insider
this is Lincoln Steed.
00:12:51.40\00:12:54.87