Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI200471A
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00:29 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:31 This is your program designed to open your awareness 00:35 to religious liberty 00:37 as it's practiced 00:38 or even opposed all around the world today 00:41 and very often talking about how it relates to events 00:45 in the United States. 00:46 My name is Lincoln Steed, Editor of Liberty Magazine, 00:50 and my guest on the program is Pastor Alden Ho, 00:55 a man of the world, born in Singapore, 00:58 lived in Canada for years and almost in the US now, 01:01 based in Texas. 01:04 That's a joke for those living in other countries. 01:08 Atlanta Lone Star State, although once Mexico. 01:12 Yeah, exactly. 01:13 But we won't go too far back in history. 01:15 But you know, 01:16 this is an interesting world today, 01:18 we're recording 01:19 maybe best part of six foot apart 01:21 during a COVID sequence 01:24 that I think will last 01:26 at least another year worldwide. 01:29 And one thing I've picked up that while a lot, 01:32 most of us are all worried about not getting infected 01:35 and the government 01:37 in the United States and Australia 01:38 where I originally grew up and Singapore, 01:41 and places like that, 01:43 you know, they've got public health measures 01:45 that are more or less successful, 01:46 very similar, just differently applied. 01:51 That's fine, but there's plenty of evidence 01:53 that some countries that already had an agenda 01:57 against religious practice of one type or another 02:00 are using this as cover to further restrict religion. 02:05 Have you picked up on any of this? 02:06 What are your thoughts on this? 02:08 There's a lot of this that's going on. 02:10 It's... 02:11 They're using this as a platform 02:13 to now hone in on certain people 02:17 to figure out things, to invade your privacy. 02:21 And it's not just here, 02:22 it's happening globally everywhere. 02:23 Now, this was a bit before COVID, 02:25 where I remember Hillary Clinton, 02:27 when she was Secretary of State went to China, 02:31 one of her first adventures. 02:34 And it was reported officially, 02:37 that she told China 02:38 that we were not going to be as worried 02:39 about civil rights issues as before 02:43 that we were not linking that to trade. 02:46 So I saw 02:47 the first sign of trouble there. 02:50 Not too long 02:51 and it may well have been just before COVID hit, 02:57 but in the last few days, 02:58 it's been released in a infamous book by Bolton, 03:02 that the President told the President of China 03:07 that it was fine for them to detain the Uyghur Muslims, 03:12 that this was the right thing to do. 03:14 Interesting. 03:18 Whether or not the United States 03:20 has formal detention for religious dissidents, 03:26 not officially, 03:28 but we know that, that Guantanamo continues. 03:32 We know 03:33 that illegal aliens of one type or another are detained 03:36 and it's probably inevitable. 03:40 Perhaps even undercover of this 03:42 that the people with a different viewpoint/religion 03:47 are going to be shuttled off to a sort of a detention 03:51 and nothing much you and I 03:52 or most of our viewers can do about it, 03:54 but I think an awareness and a shared awareness 03:57 makes it less likely 03:58 or less likely to go unchallenged. 04:02 I was just reading last week that there is, 04:05 they're still detaining children, 04:07 illegal immigrants that come across from Mexico, 04:10 they're detaining them. 04:11 But this is, just like you said, 04:13 this is all just part of a preliminary check. 04:16 Let's see if we tell the world to jump. 04:20 How high are they willing to jump? 04:21 I think so. 04:23 And as we see who's on board, who's not on board, 04:26 then we'll put the screws 04:27 to those who are not really with the program 04:30 and those who are with the program, 04:32 kind of use them as the influential place 04:34 to be able to do things. 04:36 All this is happening as the plan biblically 04:41 to bring about the soon coming of Christ 04:43 but they don't know that. 04:45 They're being utilized by Satan right now. 04:46 And in talking 04:48 about what the Bible speaks about. 04:50 It talks about a time, 04:51 at the end of time when the natural relations 04:54 between the parent and the child are disrupted 04:58 and the detention practice 05:02 not just under this recent administration, 05:05 it predated of the few years, 05:07 but has come out more and more. 05:10 These illegal aliens, 05:12 many of whom present themselves legally at the border, 05:15 escapes most people. 05:16 There are many that that go through the process, 05:19 they come to the border, they asked for asylum. 05:22 And then they're taken into custody. 05:27 Many of those, in fact in most cases, 05:30 they will separate the children from the parents 05:34 and thousands and thousands of them 05:36 are kept apart for months, a year or two, 05:40 and a huge percentage of them are then fostered out, 05:43 they never see their parents again. 05:47 And it's easy to see this as a bureaucratic breakdown, 05:52 but I don't think so. 05:54 I think there's more evidence 05:55 that this is part of a systemic plan 05:58 to break down the resolve, 06:01 and the family affinities of people. 06:03 And this is what Satan is also working at 06:05 to break down the family. 06:07 I was picking up on what you're saying. 06:08 Yeah. 06:09 And, you know, it's not to pick on the US. 06:12 These are human reactions in different stresses 06:16 and different regimes that have authority 06:18 tend to revert 06:19 to these sort of disruptive behaviors. 06:22 It's kind of like a pre-programming 06:24 that they're trying to do, pre-programming. 06:26 Yeah, humans know what makes human tick, 06:28 human, other humans tick, 06:30 and when they want to disempower them, 06:32 or discourage them, you break the family down, 06:35 you isolate them. 06:36 And this is why I'm so troubled about isolation during COVID. 06:40 I mean, it's just a tried and true way 06:43 to break the resolve 06:45 in the autonomy of an individual. 06:48 So we're in a very dangerous, dangerous time. 06:50 But again, back to the point I'm trying to make, 06:53 let's look at it globally, 06:55 is religious or I'll phrase it this way, 06:57 do you think religious liberty 07:00 and the COVID emergency are two discrete things, 07:03 or how are we already seeing 07:06 and how may have they sort of one effect the other? 07:10 I, for me, 07:11 I see this as the people in general 07:15 of different countries, 07:16 see it as two different issues. 07:18 But if you understand 07:19 what the Bible is talking about, 07:21 and if you understand that there is an enemy, 07:23 that Satan is doing everything that he can in the last days. 07:27 You will see that all of this 07:28 are all part of one big overlay of a merger, 07:31 just different overlays that are happening 07:33 but when they're laid down together, 07:36 they're all part of a bigger picture 07:38 that many people are not seeing. 07:41 So you have to look at it through the eyes 07:44 of what is Satan trying to do 07:46 to take God's people away from Him, 07:49 to distract them, to rewrite their mind, 07:53 their thinking, 07:54 and that's what God is trying to write it 07:57 in our hearts and in our minds, 07:59 and Satan is doing everything that he can 08:01 to stop that from going into our minds. 08:04 You're talking about isolation. 08:06 Absolutely. 08:07 People are going stir crazy as a result of that 08:09 and they come out just going crazy. 08:12 They want to do something. 08:13 When I was riding across the United States 08:16 on my bicycle. 08:18 At first I didn't see many people, 08:20 but after about three four weeks into it, 08:24 I started seeing on weekdays... 08:26 Repeat again because this is another program 08:27 and earlier when you mentioned but you just... 08:29 I did a bicycle ride from... 08:31 Done something quite unique, haven't you? 08:32 Oh, not unique, but special, very special. 08:34 On March 31, I began a... 08:37 I took a sabbatical from ministry 08:39 and I started to ride my recumbent bicycle 08:42 from San Diego, 08:44 across the United States to St. Augustine, Florida, 08:46 2500 miles in 45 days. 08:49 And when I reached somewhere around West Texas, 08:52 which was about two, three weeks into it, 08:54 this stir craziness of people stuck in their homes 08:58 because of the Coronavirus. 09:00 At first, these first couple weeks, 09:02 I didn't see very much traffic. 09:04 But as I started getting into it more, 09:07 you would usually see motorcycle groups 09:09 going out for a joy ride on the weekend. 09:12 But this is on a weekday that people were going out, 09:15 groups of these people, 09:17 and I'm wondering why are they doing this? 09:18 And I talked with them and they're saying, 09:20 "We're just going crazy sitting around at home, 09:23 we got to do something." 09:24 So and the best thing that people don't realize is 09:27 fresh air and sunshine. 09:29 While I was about to throw at you. 09:30 I throw two best things. 09:32 I had a doctor point out the obvious thing. 09:34 One of your defenses against infection of any type, 09:38 and including COVID is vitamin D, 09:41 which you get from sunlight, 09:43 and it boosts your immune system. 09:45 So the surest way 09:46 to knock the immune system for a population 09:49 is to keep them inside. 09:50 And I thought 09:51 what was very interesting is I had, 09:53 as I was journaling this on a website platform. 09:57 I had people commenting 09:58 and they were some of them were kind of sinister 10:00 and they were being not very nice to me saying, 10:03 you need to stay at home. 10:04 Health professionals are saying 10:06 that you need to stay at home shelter in place. 10:09 And I'm wanting to say to them, that's very ironic 10:13 because riding on either side of me right now 10:16 are two ER doctors without their masks 10:19 and they've said themselves 10:21 the best thing is fresh air and sunshine for vitamin D. 10:25 And so even they, 10:27 the health professionals are out there riding with me 10:29 through all this. 10:31 And even though 10:32 you still need to keep a distance, 10:33 the wind is dynamic outside 10:36 so the chances of contagion are quite minimal outside. 10:41 And your face to face contact with people 10:44 as you're riding across. 10:45 I don't need to go to the gas station and fuel. 10:47 I have food with me. 10:49 I might see one person when I go to a campground 10:52 checking in with me 10:53 and then they're behind a plexiglass thing. 10:55 And then I'm in a tent by myself. 10:58 I'm trying to think there's a Bible text that says, 10:59 "They shall not faint nor grow weary." 11:01 But what about pedaling now, you must have... 11:04 Well, interestingly enough... 11:05 Yeah, have some muscle cramps here and there. 11:07 Twenty five hundred miles, I eat totally plant based. 11:10 And I never took one painkiller. 11:13 I didn't take any of that stuff, 11:15 didn't take turmeric, 11:16 didn't take any of that stuff, just rode. 11:20 Well, anyhow, good point. 11:21 But let me go international again. 11:26 A lot of countries in recent decades 11:28 and some that I've visited have clamped, 11:32 choosing to clamp down on religion 11:35 by clamping down on entry visas and so on for missionaries. 11:40 In fact, a lot of them don't want missionaries per Se. 11:43 It has to be locals running a mission 11:47 or a religious program. 11:49 This COVID, of course, is going to increase the excuse 11:53 that we don't want outsiders 11:54 like even Australia where I come from. 11:57 I just read this morning, now they're down to nearly, 12:02 it's a little bit over 99% I think foreigners kept out. 12:07 It's just a trickle of citizens coming in. 12:09 And if you go to Australia, 12:11 for 14 days you'll be in a hotel 12:13 under the quarantine that they want you. 12:15 Have to be an Australian, or family member, or friend, 12:19 or someone connected within Australia. 12:20 This is pretty much global though. 12:22 When you go to someplace there, 12:23 they're locking you down self quarantined. 12:25 Many countries, not every country. 12:26 Not everyone. But anyhow that's my point. 12:29 That's the extreme, 12:30 but it's going to mean that the foreigner, 12:32 the stranger or someone with an agenda 12:34 from another country, 12:35 why would you let them in and it will seem logical, 12:39 yes, we need to protect ourselves. 12:41 But it can be used two fold. 12:43 It will be a clear restriction of religious activity 12:49 and this is a process already began. 12:51 My point is, it began before the COVID, 12:53 but this will give strength to those countries 12:55 that don't want missionaries or other religious influence. 12:59 And, of course, you could turn it on its head. 13:01 The US doesn't want Muslim activists coming in 13:06 spreading Islam in this country. 13:08 We've locked them out. 13:09 It's interesting that you said 13:11 that this could go on for another year or so. 13:13 But I think that this in phases of it, 13:16 this is how it's going to be, this is the world today. 13:21 And this is going to be the world tomorrow, 13:23 and more things will continue to come in and be introduced 13:26 that will continue to restrict, 13:29 remove away our liberties, our freedoms, 13:32 all these things are going to happen. 13:33 It's possible. 13:34 And, you know, we hope not 13:36 but the economy is likely to crash. 13:40 I mean, we've shut the economy down, 13:42 but there's an economic effect of that. 13:44 And if we have tens, hundreds, perhaps even millions of people 13:49 below the subsistence level, 13:50 the government will do what it did 13:53 before World War II with the WPA program. 13:56 People were in basically in the US in labor camps 13:59 where they had to abide by tough rules 14:01 to get the government handout, build roads and so on. 14:04 But if you didn't work on Saturday, 14:06 Adventists were given even mock executions 14:10 and some of those things, people have forgotten this. 14:12 And yet, there's no evidence at that time 14:14 that the US had a brief against religion. 14:17 But once this model was in people with in this case, 14:21 a religious conviction of Sabbath worship, 14:24 didn't fit and quite persecuted. 14:26 It's coming back again. 14:27 So, yes, I think there's a chance 14:29 of quite dangerous shifts like that. 14:31 Stay with us. 14:32 We'll be back after a short break 14:34 to continue this global discussion. |
Revised 2020-07-30