Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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Before the break
with Christopher Steed
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we were talking,
starting with the reformation.
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We were talking then
about religion and spirituality.
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And of course,
that's very important.
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There was a great awakening
in America in the 1750's.
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And one of the preacher's
sermons was entitled this,
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you think of it, The Expulsive
Power of a New Affection.
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You're a guy that has a few
new affections now and then.
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Like all young man.
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When you meet the
latest girl, you don't hardly
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remember the
other girls, do you?
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Well, I mean, you
do remember them, but
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you try to forget about
them and create new memories.
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Right, it fades away
and you're into this one.
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And that's what
true religion is.
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It should fill
you like a romantic...
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~ Fever. - Yeah,
fever. Good word.
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A romantic fever.
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And if religion is
dynamized that way,
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it's less likely to be
in a persecuting direction.
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Let's get back
to the reformation.
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The reformation was, give
or take, because it started
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a littler earlier than Martin
Luther, like John Wycliffe
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nearly 100 years
earlier in England,
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and it continued after Luther.
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But let's think
about the reformation.
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They fought for
personal expression.
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Do you feel as a Christian, a
Seventh-day Adventist Christian,
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that you are expected even to
find your own way spiritually,
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or do you think the pastor
is the one that hands it down,
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and as long as you do what the
pastor says then you're fine?
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In my opinion, I believe that
you're supposed to find your
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own way, yes, but you're
suppose to reach out to people
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and say, "Look, hey pastor,
I was reading the other day.
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I was reading
through, let's say, Daniel.
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I was reading through Daniel
and I'm stuck on Daniel 4.
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You know, I don't understand it.
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You know, help me.
Help me understand.
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Give me your opinions."
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And then after you've listened
to him explain these to you,
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and then give
him your opinion...
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Or even, like, me and you.
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Or go to a Bible
teacher or something.
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Ask them their opinions,
ask them what they feel,
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and then you form
your own opinion from that.
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Well that's part of
the Bible study, isn't it?
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~ Yeah.
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Doing it, not in a closed room.
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And this is...
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There's a movement
even within our church
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that I think is a
little bit troubling.
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That people, basically without
any reference to other people,
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and sometimes without
reference to the Bible,
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think and pray and wait
for sort of an illumination
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that comes from,
goodness knows where.
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It's called,
spiritual formation.
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And if nothing else, it
lays yourself, your mind, open
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to delusions, and in
the worst case perhaps
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to the wrong spirit.
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No, we're to test the Bible.
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And part of testing that,
ask your pastor a question.
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You know, there's
many Adventists who became
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an Adventist, they asked priests
or the pastor of their church,
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say, about the
Sabbath, and they got a reply
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that raised more questions.
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So they went to the Bible and
checked it out for themselves.
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That's part of the
testing process of knowledge
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that all of us
should be part of.
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You don't just take it...
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As the president
of the U.S. says,
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there's fake news around.
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Maybe not as
much as he makes out.
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But you know, different
people for different reasons
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will give you, quote, "facts."
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Test them.
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We're entering an age, I think,
where there's so much knowledge.
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Daniel said that
knowledge shall be increased.
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And what else did he say?
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You remember the text?
That men shall run to and fro.
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And a lot of travel.
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Even, like, going to work every
day it's 70 miles each way.
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I'm bouncing around.
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A lot of knowledge,
but also the Bible says,
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ever learning and
never arriving at the truth.
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And you know in
your studies in college,
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sometimes you can go over, and
over, and over the same thing,
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but if you're not studying
well, it's not sticking.
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So you have to have
the right technique,
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the right state of mind.
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But I think the reformation
gave us a great model.
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The Bible alone is
the root of our faith,
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deep Bible study, recognition
that we are before God,
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not church leaders
that give us direction,
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you know, give us
the only direction,
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but they're part of the
structure, support structure.
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Of course your
pastor can give you advice.
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He's someone that's studied
more than most of us, perhaps.
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You don't dismiss
that out of hand, right?
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Let's go to you
again as an example.
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A young man growing up
in the Adventist church,
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in, I hope, a good family.
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What do you see as
your goal in the future,
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both to protect
your own integrity
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and to witness to other people?
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Where are you going with this?
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Well for me, I see my
faith as the cornerstone
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to everything else I do.
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So most of every single
decision I make is, I think...
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There's a movie I
remember watching, it's called,
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the name of it is,
What Would Jesus Do?
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And for years I saw
these kids with bracelets,
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these bright orange
bracelets on that said,
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it said, "WWJD".
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"What would Jesus do?"
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And I see that as one of
the main things in my life.
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And looking forward in my life,
I see no matter what I'm doing,
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whether I'm a doctor, lawyer,
police officer, military,
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whatever God has planned
for me, I'm going to always be
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witnessing for Him.
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You know, pointing
people towards Him.
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They may not accept it, but
then again they might accept it.
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It's a personal decision
for them, but I've made my
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personal decision to be
always a witness for God.
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And I'm trying to think, was
it Daniel or Joseph that said,
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he purposed in his heart...
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- Daniel. - Yes.
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...to follow God.
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And that's
really what it's about.
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None of us know the
future, but we need to make that
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prior decision, "This is
going to be my state of mind."
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And that's a decision
very much in line, I think,
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with practicing
religious liberty.
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Don't wait until
the moment of test comes
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to think about what you'll
do in a moment of test, right?
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Determine ahead of time
that you're set for heaven,
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you're set for God,
you're set for witness.
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Do you remember
your grandfather?
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You remember him a little bit.
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I have very, very fond
memories of my grandfather
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coming in the
morning, "Wake up, wake up.
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It's bright and
early. Wake up, wake up."
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~ He was a very
optimistic person, wasn't he?
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Very, very bouncy.
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And I take some
encouragement from him.
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In any situation I saw
him, it didn't take him but a
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few seconds to share his
faith with whomever he met.
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It was just bubbling
there. He wanted to tell.
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So I know he never thought,
"I must witness to this person.
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I'll wait for the opportunity."
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He had something.
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I fact, I have a book
that dad use to remind me of.
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Arthur Blessitt,
street Christianity.
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And he says, "You've
got to think of yourself
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like a drug dealer."
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He says, "I want to
share this thing," you know.
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"I've got a
compulsion to share it."
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And Arthur Blessitt
actually at one stage back in
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the 60's or 70's, the drug era,
he said he use to have little
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pill cases made
with Bible text in it.
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And he would come up to
people on Hollywood Boulevard,
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"Hey, you want
some reds?" he'd say.
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And I don't think that's
really the star for everyone.
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But his view was that, here he's
got something that's just...
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His compulsion is to
give and they should want to
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have this precious
little thing; a faith thought.
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And you know, I think you and
I, and I saw it with my father,
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you know, we can use
our religious freedom
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in a really positive way,
can't we, in a powerful way.
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It will change lives.
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And as we do it,
it makes a difference.
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Again, a young man on
the brink of tomorrow.
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Religious liberty again, we've
been talking more specifically
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than we usually do
about religious liberty.
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Where do you think,
not just you and me,
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where do we go, but
where is this country going
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to protect religious liberty?
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Crazy times we live in.
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What can be done to
protect it for all people?
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Well, as long as
in this country...
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I see in the
future, I'm looking...
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This is just my prediction.
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I see it, I mean, with the pope
coming and speaking to Congress,
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the first pope ever to
speak to Congress and the House,
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I see it going
towards a Catholic country.
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- I mean... ~ Well
that's not good, is it?
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No, it's not good.
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We don't want it
to become a monolithic
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religio-political movement.
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I also see, I'm not saying
President Trump will do this,
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but a future president maybe,
making the separation between
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the church and the
state less of a separation
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and more of a
church and state bond.
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Well does it bother you?
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I don't know if you
read it, that the present
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Attorney General, Jeff Sessions,
at the time he was being
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confirmed, he said publicly
he didn't believe in the
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separation of church and state.
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You told me about that.
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And I heard it briefly, but
I didn't believe it because of
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all of the fake stuff.
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~ He said it in
some obscure statement.
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And now he says he believes
in religious liberty, but...
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So would you encourage
our present administration to
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really defend religious liberty,
not religious entitlement,
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but religious liberty?
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I believe that,
yes, I would encourage
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our current administration
to not only encourage
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the separation of
church and state, but encourage
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individuals to believe
what they want, how they want,
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when they want to worship,
however which way their heart
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believes that
they should worship.
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Watching the news you
might be inclined to think
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that we live in
a time of reform.
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There is a litany of public
officials and their heinous acts
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that are causing
resignations and moral meltdowns
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all around us, but I
don't think that qualifies
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as national reform or an
example of even personal reform.
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I look at the Bible, and there's
the example of King Josiah,
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a boy king, who came to power
at a time of great wickedness.
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There was a coup that
brought him to the front.
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He was backed by godly people.
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And he took matters into his
hand, guided by the Word of God,
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and a calling of the
people back to acknowledge God
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and to read His Word.
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Surely we need that today.
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The reformation was
characterized by this
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sort of a dynamic.
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That was 500 years ago.
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But why should something
so powerful 500 years ago
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be confined to the past?
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How about today?
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For Liberty Insider,
this is Lincoln Steed.
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