Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Andy Im
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000339B
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00:06 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:08 Before the break with Andy, 00:10 we were talking about the world and the need to protect it. 00:15 And the pope of Rome, the bishop of Rome's 00:19 encyclical on the environment Laudato si'. 00:25 Most of it very good, right? Mm-hmm. 00:27 But I think you and I agreed that 00:29 in putting this as the matter of human survival 00:33 and then injecting his theological twist 00:37 toward the papal Sunday 00:40 which has a long historical tradition, 00:43 but really no solid biblical basis... 00:45 Mm-hmm. 00:47 The biblical basis they acknowledge 00:49 in Dominus Dies another document 00:53 and indeed here is the seventh day 00:56 Saturday Sabbath. 00:57 But he then applies it figuratively to Sunday. 01:00 Well, that's fine to do but that's not a biblical mandate. 01:04 Mm-hmm. 01:05 But with that accomplished, there's so much at stake 01:08 because the likelihood is that 01:10 they will be some global initiative 01:12 to follow through on this 01:14 and require this global rest 01:17 as a matter of sort of a daylight 01:21 saving of energy and resources. 01:24 Mm-hmm. 01:26 And so religious liberty I think is relevant here 01:29 because you're looking at some compulsion 01:33 for people on a particular religious viewpoint. 01:36 Mm-hmm. 01:37 Yeah, and I think he's bringing together 01:41 many groups of people that perhaps 01:44 you wouldn't typically identify as being religious, 01:47 for example the environment, anti materialism, 01:52 capitalism what have you, those, 01:54 those sentiments are typically associated with the Left, 01:58 and so he really is bringing together ideologies 02:03 that are very broad in their scope and reach, 02:09 and bringing them together 02:10 and unifying them under a religious garb. 02:13 Yeah. 02:15 I don't even fully understand it but historically 02:18 there has been a connection 02:20 between Roman Catholicism and leftist tendencies... 02:25 Mm-hmm. 02:27 Even in Italy itself, 02:32 their constitutional government had a constant flirtation 02:35 with the left wing politics, 02:38 so it seems to me 02:40 and I don't even know quite why 02:41 the Catholic theology and structure, 02:43 and governance breeds leftism 02:47 and indeed even communism... 02:49 Mm-hmm. 02:51 If you look at the world map, 02:54 communism sprung up in a lot of, 02:57 not Russia, of course a big exception 02:59 but in a lot of the communist, the Catholic areas. 03:05 Even Vietnam, 03:06 that was a communist regime there 03:08 with the French Catholic influence. 03:11 That's right. 03:12 And Rome doesn't like it. 03:14 So I'm not... 03:17 inappropriately identifying it. 03:19 Rome has fought against it 03:21 but there seems to be yin and yang effect there, 03:26 but do Christians do 03:29 as world citizens need to be environmentally concerned. 03:33 Seems to me we should. Yes. 03:35 The Bible calls us toward it. 03:37 And I've always thought so but 03:40 many of our fellow Adventists 03:41 don't see keeping the Sabbath is more than 03:44 just a sort of religious observance. 03:46 But it was intended to be in the cycle of work, and rest, 03:53 and through the Jubilee principle to be part of this 04:00 natural fellow period that precedes 04:02 the continuing fertility. 04:05 Mm-hmm. 04:07 Yeah, I think, you know, 04:11 it's the environment so politically charged 04:14 simply because, you know, 04:16 you have a lot of interest that 04:18 want to run their businesses 04:21 even at the expense of the environment. 04:24 And I think it's very fascinating to me 04:27 because a lot of what 04:29 the pope is stating is not necessarily 04:36 in agreement with traditional American values. 04:41 And, you know, 04:42 and specifically some on the right. 04:46 For example, issues like pro-business, 04:50 pro-natural fuel corporations and so forth. 04:56 And so there is... 04:59 You have the pope speaking out 05:03 in the ways that are in some ways 05:06 antagonistic to some of the American ideals 05:09 and it's very interesting to see 05:11 what's going to transpire in the months ahead. 05:15 Well, there's a huge shift taking place 05:19 and goodness knows the west and America is the epitome 05:24 that the west is in need of spiritual rejuvenation. 05:27 Mm-hmm. 05:29 But structurally it troubles me 05:31 because I love history. 05:33 Mm-hmm. 05:34 And the commerce and the cap, 05:39 "capitalism" in its best sense 05:43 mercantile dynamic mercantile interest, 05:47 that all flourished, and expanded, 05:50 and blossomed in a way hitherto unimagined 05:53 under the Protestant Reformation. 05:56 It was a byproduct of it, right? 05:58 And Rome was opposed to it, 06:01 and the United States in its early days as it, 06:04 as it exemplified these Protestant 06:06 tendencies and tinges 06:09 but it was never a Protestant government. 06:14 It also had a deep seed of suspicion of popery 06:18 as they called it, papism. 06:21 And they saw and I think with some good cause, 06:26 the papal system was really the antithesis 06:29 of what they were developing here. 06:32 And during the civil war when America is, 06:38 modern America as we know was emerging 06:40 in the battle between north and south. 06:43 The pope of Rome took a very antagonistic 06:46 cause to the north. 06:50 Did you notice if you've studied this speech, 06:52 he gives a three way sign to... 07:01 And in reality 07:06 it seems that Rome has noticed 07:09 that the Protestant nature now of America's disappeared 07:12 as Senator Santorum said recently, 07:16 Protestantism is absent in America. 07:18 Catholicism has the right to exist, 07:21 you and I know that, 07:22 but historically anti-Catholicism 07:26 would have free reign in America 07:28 which correctly at the time so it is the antithesis 07:32 of this new social and economical, 07:35 political experiment. 07:36 Mm-hmm. 07:37 So and lot is at play 07:41 when the present pope of Rome sort of comes 07:45 and criticizes America and so on. 07:48 It's his right to criticize 07:49 but there's a huge historical shift in America, 07:53 Protestant America should be on its guard, 07:56 not to restrict the pope 07:57 but to restrict its own responses 08:00 and attitudes in certain areas, 08:02 because we're vulnerable to many things 08:05 including the poison pill that Rome long ago embraced 08:09 that it's okay to force religious activity. 08:13 Mm-hmm. 08:15 That's what I think it play 08:17 in this whole discussion of the environment. 08:19 We should be environmentalist, 08:21 I think the Three Angles' Messages is that 08:23 Seventh-day Adventist, 08:25 you and I speak about and exemplify 08:27 and proclaim all the time. 08:30 That's a wonderful message of soon coming Christ 08:32 but it's a call to one of the creative god 08:35 implicit in that should be a concern for the environment. 08:38 That's right. That's right. 08:40 But it should be on those terms 08:42 not on a gender to control and to bring us 08:48 a conformity to another religious viewpoint. 08:50 Mm-hmm. 08:52 Well, and what's also interesting is 08:55 how this conformity, the incentive, 08:59 I might touch upon this earlier is financial. 09:03 And when we look at Revelation Chapter 13, 09:07 the issue of worship revolves around buying or selling. 09:12 And so you're seeing, you know, 09:17 movements taking place today 09:20 where if the government doesn't like what you're doing, 09:24 they'll use economic sanctions on other countries 09:28 as well as upon our own American institutions. 09:31 Well, he just said, he held up the coin, 09:33 his face is on this... 09:34 That's right. 09:35 This is a Rome's currency and this is not Rome 09:39 but in the United States the money is only money 09:41 because the government says it. 09:42 You're playing 09:44 in the government's neighborhood. 09:46 There is no value in that money. 09:47 It's only money because the government 09:49 authorizes that you use on interchange 09:52 and if the government withholds that authorization, 09:55 you can't buy or sell. 09:56 That's right. 09:57 It's very plain and apart from prophecy 10:01 we're clearly coming to a dynamic. 10:03 And it's well known 10:05 by many magazines, and articles, 10:06 and commentators have looked at it. 10:08 We're coming to a cashless society 10:10 sooner or rather than later, 10:12 we're coming to embedded chips 10:15 where you don't even have a credit card, 10:17 you just scan... 10:19 And if your DNA is de-authorized, 10:25 you don't get that grain of rice 10:29 either embedded or to eat. 10:31 That's right. That's right. 10:34 Interesting times that we're living in 10:36 but the environment is very important. 10:39 God created it. 10:41 We are to be custodians I'm thinking. 10:44 And true, good religious practice 10:46 on old true faith not, 10:48 you know, you and I can see 10:50 the Bible as the locus of truth 10:55 and focus for Jesus Christ. 10:58 But I think whether it's Buddhism, 11:00 Hinduism or even Islam in its most benign form 11:05 a true religion, it should respect his fellows 11:09 and protect the common environment that we live in. 11:13 That should be inherent in good religion 11:16 and without interference from other religions 11:19 or from faith leaders that compel us. 11:22 That's right. 11:24 You know, Matthew Chapter 24 speaks that 11:27 or it states that even the very elect 11:31 there's the potential for deception. 11:33 And even though 11:35 the pope and church leaders are endorsing 11:38 things that we as Christians agreed on like the environment, 11:42 anti-materialistic values, 11:44 we need to remember 11:45 that deception is very real 11:48 and we need to stand on the word of God. 11:51 There was an old spiritual 11:52 that used to go something like this, 11:54 there's a man going around taking names. 11:58 Now you might think in our current context 12:01 that someone for registration 12:03 but I think the old song was talking about 12:06 something more like Revelation where it says, 12:09 "The books in heaven were opened 12:11 and people's lives were examined." 12:14 Of course in the great scheme of things 12:17 what we do and every action 12:19 and every development of human history is registered 12:23 and is knowable. 12:25 Unfortunately for us with the computer era 12:29 and explosion of "knowledge" 12:32 but in reality just an explosion of information 12:35 slash disinformation is becoming harder and harder 12:39 for any one to really arrive at truth. 12:42 But it is imperative 12:45 that each of us in seeking truth 12:48 and from a religious liberty perspective 12:50 knowing what is true religious liberty, 12:53 what is a challenge to it 12:55 and how we maintain our religious liberty. 12:58 We need to adhere to the facts, 13:00 seek out the facts, 13:02 look for knowledge, true knowledge, 13:05 and apply it in a way that will guarantee our freedom 13:09 and the freedom of those around us. |
Revised 2016-11-07