Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000380B
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00:05 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:06 Before the break with Christopher Steed 00:09 we were talking, starting with the reformation. 00:12 We were talking then about religion and spirituality. 00:15 And of course, that's very important. 00:17 There was a great awakening in America in the 1750's. 00:23 And one of the preacher's sermons was entitled this, 00:26 you think of it, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. 00:33 You're a guy that has a few new affections now and then. 00:37 Like all young man. 00:39 When you meet the latest girl, you don't hardly 00:45 remember the other girls, do you? 00:47 Well, I mean, you do remember them, but 00:49 you try to forget about them and create new memories. 00:53 Right, it fades away and you're into this one. 00:55 And that's what true religion is. 00:57 It should fill you like a romantic... 01:03 ~ Fever. - Yeah, fever. Good word. 01:06 A romantic fever. 01:07 And if religion is dynamized that way, 01:10 it's less likely to be in a persecuting direction. 01:17 Let's get back to the reformation. 01:19 The reformation was, give or take, because it started 01:22 a littler earlier than Martin Luther, like John Wycliffe 01:25 nearly 100 years earlier in England, 01:27 and it continued after Luther. 01:29 But let's think about the reformation. 01:32 They fought for personal expression. 01:36 Do you feel as a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, 01:40 that you are expected even to find your own way spiritually, 01:44 or do you think the pastor is the one that hands it down, 01:48 and as long as you do what the pastor says then you're fine? 01:51 In my opinion, I believe that you're supposed to find your 01:55 own way, yes, but you're suppose to reach out to people 01:58 and say, "Look, hey pastor, I was reading the other day. 02:01 I was reading through, let's say, Daniel. 02:04 I was reading through Daniel and I'm stuck on Daniel 4. 02:07 You know, I don't understand it. 02:08 You know, help me. Help me understand. 02:11 Give me your opinions." 02:12 And then after you've listened to him explain these to you, 02:15 and then give him your opinion... 02:16 Or even, like, me and you. 02:19 Or go to a Bible teacher or something. 02:21 Ask them their opinions, ask them what they feel, 02:24 and then you form your own opinion from that. 02:27 Well that's part of the Bible study, isn't it? 02:29 ~ Yeah. 02:31 Doing it, not in a closed room. 02:33 And this is... 02:34 There's a movement even within our church 02:38 that I think is a little bit troubling. 02:40 That people, basically without any reference to other people, 02:43 and sometimes without reference to the Bible, 02:45 think and pray and wait for sort of an illumination 02:50 that comes from, goodness knows where. 02:53 It's called, spiritual formation. 02:54 And if nothing else, it lays yourself, your mind, open 02:58 to delusions, and in the worst case perhaps 03:01 to the wrong spirit. 03:04 No, we're to test the Bible. 03:06 And part of testing that, ask your pastor a question. 03:09 You know, there's many Adventists who became 03:11 an Adventist, they asked priests or the pastor of their church, 03:16 say, about the Sabbath, and they got a reply 03:18 that raised more questions. 03:20 So they went to the Bible and checked it out for themselves. 03:22 That's part of the testing process of knowledge 03:26 that all of us should be part of. 03:27 You don't just take it... 03:29 As the president of the U.S. says, 03:30 there's fake news around. 03:32 Maybe not as much as he makes out. 03:34 But you know, different people for different reasons 03:37 will give you, quote, "facts." 03:39 Test them. 03:41 We're entering an age, I think, where there's so much knowledge. 03:45 Daniel said that knowledge shall be increased. 03:48 And what else did he say? 03:50 You remember the text? That men shall run to and fro. 03:53 And a lot of travel. 03:54 Even, like, going to work every day it's 70 miles each way. 03:57 I'm bouncing around. 04:00 A lot of knowledge, but also the Bible says, 04:03 ever learning and never arriving at the truth. 04:06 And you know in your studies in college, 04:09 sometimes you can go over, and over, and over the same thing, 04:11 but if you're not studying well, it's not sticking. 04:15 So you have to have the right technique, 04:17 the right state of mind. 04:19 But I think the reformation gave us a great model. 04:24 The Bible alone is the root of our faith, 04:28 deep Bible study, recognition that we are before God, 04:32 not church leaders that give us direction, 04:36 you know, give us the only direction, 04:38 but they're part of the structure, support structure. 04:42 Of course your pastor can give you advice. 04:44 He's someone that's studied more than most of us, perhaps. 04:48 You don't dismiss that out of hand, right? 04:51 Let's go to you again as an example. 04:53 A young man growing up in the Adventist church, 04:57 in, I hope, a good family. 05:00 What do you see as your goal in the future, 05:02 both to protect your own integrity 05:05 and to witness to other people? 05:06 Where are you going with this? 05:08 Well for me, I see my faith as the cornerstone 05:13 to everything else I do. 05:15 So most of every single decision I make is, I think... 05:22 There's a movie I remember watching, it's called, 05:23 the name of it is, What Would Jesus Do? 05:26 And for years I saw these kids with bracelets, 05:28 these bright orange bracelets on that said, 05:31 it said, "WWJD". 05:33 "What would Jesus do?" 05:35 And I see that as one of the main things in my life. 05:39 And looking forward in my life, I see no matter what I'm doing, 05:43 whether I'm a doctor, lawyer, police officer, military, 05:48 whatever God has planned for me, I'm going to always be 05:51 witnessing for Him. 05:53 You know, pointing people towards Him. 05:55 They may not accept it, but then again they might accept it. 05:59 It's a personal decision for them, but I've made my 06:02 personal decision to be always a witness for God. 06:06 And I'm trying to think, was it Daniel or Joseph that said, 06:08 he purposed in his heart... 06:10 - Daniel. - Yes. 06:11 ...to follow God. 06:12 And that's really what it's about. 06:14 None of us know the future, but we need to make that 06:16 prior decision, "This is going to be my state of mind." 06:20 And that's a decision very much in line, I think, 06:22 with practicing religious liberty. 06:25 Don't wait until the moment of test comes 06:29 to think about what you'll do in a moment of test, right? 06:32 Determine ahead of time that you're set for heaven, 06:36 you're set for God, you're set for witness. 06:40 Do you remember your grandfather? 06:44 You remember him a little bit. 06:45 I have very, very fond memories of my grandfather 06:47 coming in the morning, "Wake up, wake up. 06:49 It's bright and early. Wake up, wake up." 06:51 ~ He was a very optimistic person, wasn't he? 06:53 Very, very bouncy. 06:54 And I take some encouragement from him. 06:59 In any situation I saw him, it didn't take him but a 07:02 few seconds to share his faith with whomever he met. 07:09 It was just bubbling there. He wanted to tell. 07:12 So I know he never thought, "I must witness to this person. 07:14 I'll wait for the opportunity." 07:16 He had something. 07:17 I fact, I have a book that dad use to remind me of. 07:21 Arthur Blessitt, street Christianity. 07:24 And he says, "You've got to think of yourself 07:25 like a drug dealer." 07:27 He says, "I want to share this thing," you know. 07:31 "I've got a compulsion to share it." 07:33 And Arthur Blessitt actually at one stage back in 07:36 the 60's or 70's, the drug era, he said he use to have little 07:41 pill cases made with Bible text in it. 07:44 And he would come up to people on Hollywood Boulevard, 07:46 "Hey, you want some reds?" he'd say. 07:50 And I don't think that's really the star for everyone. 07:52 But his view was that, here he's got something that's just... 07:56 His compulsion is to give and they should want to 08:00 have this precious little thing; a faith thought. 08:05 And you know, I think you and I, and I saw it with my father, 08:10 you know, we can use our religious freedom 08:13 in a really positive way, can't we, in a powerful way. 08:16 It will change lives. 08:18 And as we do it, it makes a difference. 08:21 Again, a young man on the brink of tomorrow. 08:26 Religious liberty again, we've been talking more specifically 08:30 than we usually do about religious liberty. 08:33 Where do you think, not just you and me, 08:35 where do we go, but where is this country going 08:37 to protect religious liberty? 08:39 Crazy times we live in. 08:40 What can be done to protect it for all people? 08:44 Well, as long as in this country... 08:47 I see in the future, I'm looking... 08:50 This is just my prediction. 08:52 I see it, I mean, with the pope coming and speaking to Congress, 08:56 the first pope ever to speak to Congress and the House, 09:00 I see it going towards a Catholic country. 09:04 - I mean... ~ Well that's not good, is it? 09:06 No, it's not good. 09:08 We don't want it to become a monolithic 09:09 religio-political movement. 09:12 I also see, I'm not saying President Trump will do this, 09:16 but a future president maybe, making the separation between 09:20 the church and the state less of a separation 09:23 and more of a church and state bond. 09:25 Well does it bother you? 09:27 I don't know if you read it, that the present 09:28 Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, at the time he was being 09:32 confirmed, he said publicly he didn't believe in the 09:34 separation of church and state. 09:35 You told me about that. 09:37 And I heard it briefly, but I didn't believe it because of 09:40 all of the fake stuff. 09:41 ~ He said it in some obscure statement. 09:43 And now he says he believes in religious liberty, but... 09:45 So would you encourage our present administration to 09:48 really defend religious liberty, not religious entitlement, 09:52 but religious liberty? 09:53 I believe that, yes, I would encourage 09:56 our current administration to not only encourage 09:59 the separation of church and state, but encourage 10:01 individuals to believe what they want, how they want, 10:04 when they want to worship, however which way their heart 10:07 believes that they should worship. 10:14 Watching the news you might be inclined to think 10:16 that we live in a time of reform. 10:18 There is a litany of public officials and their heinous acts 10:23 that are causing resignations and moral meltdowns 10:26 all around us, but I don't think that qualifies 10:30 as national reform or an example of even personal reform. 10:34 I look at the Bible, and there's the example of King Josiah, 10:38 a boy king, who came to power at a time of great wickedness. 10:41 There was a coup that brought him to the front. 10:44 He was backed by godly people. 10:47 And he took matters into his hand, guided by the Word of God, 10:51 and a calling of the people back to acknowledge God 10:54 and to read His Word. 10:56 Surely we need that today. 10:58 The reformation was characterized by this 11:01 sort of a dynamic. 11:03 That was 500 years ago. 11:05 But why should something so powerful 500 years ago 11:10 be confined to the past? 11:12 How about today? 11:14 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2018-03-07