Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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And before the break as
you remember with my son,
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Christopher, young man of
22, with the world ahead of him.
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We were talking about the world,
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and some of the
experiences that you've had,
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and some of them I've been
with you to see on religion
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and the implications
for the practice of religion
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and the sharing of religion
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and the history of
religion all around the world.
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And I was trying
to jog your memory
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about worshiping in Thailand.
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That's a, an
overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
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And Buddhism
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is as much a
philosophy as a religion.
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In fact, Buddha didn't
try to start a religion,
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but along the
way as Christianity
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in the Roman Catholic aspect,
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it picked up a
lot of superstition
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and Spiritism and so on,
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but at root it's
really philosophical,
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and it tends to make
the society quite passive.
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So there hasn't
been open persecution
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much in Buddhism,
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it's just community
resistance to Christianity,
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but do you remember
what your sister repeated
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the other day about
going to church there?
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She was one of her
teachers, we won't say
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where or which teacher
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because we don't want
to make them look bad,
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but they gave the idea
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that you couldn't
worship freely in Thailand.
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And she said, "Well,
I went to church there,
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no problem."
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And don't you
think there's a danger
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to sort of make difficulties
where there're none,
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to presume that
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they're against
you automatically.
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Absolutely, 100%.
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If you automatically
presume, but for example,
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when we went to Thailand,
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I had no preemptive
ideas that they were gonna be
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that we wouldn't
be going to church.
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You know, I was
thinking, you know,
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I thought that, you know,
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it's a majority
Buddhist country.
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I thought, you know,
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maybe they wouldn't have
a fully established church.
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I thought it
would be meeting in like
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someone's basement or
meeting in the front yard
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of someone's house.
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I didn't think they would have
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a full on
Adventist church there,
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but there was absolutely
no problem going to church.
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We found the church.
It was well advertised.
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I wouldn't say
advertise, it was well signed.
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Yeah, it wasn't hidden.
Yeah, no, absolutely not.
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The only thing was
it had a wall around it.
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Well, there's different security
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necessities in
different societies.
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Maybe we don't need
some more before we're done.
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Not everybody
has electronic alarm
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on the window
openings and so on,
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but what I see
in other countries
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doesn't necessarily
mean they have higher crime,
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but, you know,
the statement says
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good fences make good neighbors.
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You just stop the
problem before it begins.
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But yeah, I
remember myself on a visit.
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You weren't there.
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I was on Liberty
work, visiting Thailand
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and I had a wonderful discussion
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maybe for 20 minutes
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or more with the Buddhist priest
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at the Reclining Buddha
statue there in Thailand.
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And the best discussions in
my mind of freewheeling ones
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where they're sort of open,
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but that I find out
something maybe I partly knew,
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but I get confirmation.
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It wasn't that he told
me things I didn't know,
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but it was great to
hear from a Buddhist priest,
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what I just said that
it was largely philosophy
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at the beginning,
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but I asked him, you know,
given what the Buddha intended,
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and, you know,
Buddha's views per se by
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and large are not
incompatible with Christianity,
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but they more and
more headed that way
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as the religion
developed, but I said, you know,
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how come there's
the spirit worship
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and all the rest, and he said,
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this was just added,
these are superstitions
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for the common people,
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but we Buddhist
priests, by and large,
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know that it's
philosophical at base.
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Very interesting,
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which reminded me
of a conversations
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I've had with
some Catholic priests
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and theologians.
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I believe that
at a certain level
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even in Roman Catholicism,
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they know the biblical
basics of what they're about
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and they recognize
that paganism that tradition
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and some rather
abhorrent things have crept in.
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And, you know,
that's for the masses.
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I can't agree with that
as a Protestant Christian,
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but it's refreshing to
hear someone admit that.
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Where else in the world
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have you seen religious practice
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that have sort
of opened your eyes?
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Here in the US, in
some states here in the US.
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Driving around with
you or just driving around,
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I worked for a moving company.
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And one day, it was fall,
so it was kind of cold outside.
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So I was wearing
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one of my long
sleeve shirts that I had,
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and on the sleeve it had
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on the lower part
of the sleeve down here
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and had Philippians 4:13,
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just the Bible verse on it.
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And I'm unloading a
box going into the house
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and the lady
walking her dog goes past.
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And she goes, "You're
a Christian, aren't you?"
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I said, "Yeah.
How could you tell?"
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Your shirt.
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I'm like, "Oh,
Philippians 4:13."
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She's like, "Do you know
what that Bible verse is?"
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I was like, "Absolutely.
It's my favorite Bible verse.
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It's for I can do all things
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through Christ
who strengthens me."
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And she's like, "Wow,
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I've never heard
that verse before.
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I was raised in
the Christian church,
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but I left due to
extenuating situation."
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And she's like, "You know,
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I always thought
the Christian people
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would be so
judgmental and put me down."
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She had a lot of
body modifications.
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We'll call them tattoos,
piercings, and, you know,
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she's had experiences
with Christian in the past
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where they looked at
her and judged her for that,
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but from reading the
Bible and studying it,
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Jesus says, "Come as you are."
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And if she comes to church,
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you know, she can be
wearing jeans and a T-shirt
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with all her
piercings and tattoos.
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We can't judge her
'cause that looks bad on us.
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But with Christ on her heart,
very likely she'll change.
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Absolutely. And
that happens a lot.
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Remember the
story of the demoniac?
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Once the devils were gone,
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he was clothed
and in his right mind
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and calm and
peaceful and respectable
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and so everything changed
because of the inner change.
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And sometimes we
get it little mixed up,
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don't we?
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Can I tell you?
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You're gonna
have to listen a bit.
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For the viewers, I
wanna tell a story.
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I don't think I've ever told,
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but when I was roughly your age,
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I went to Andrews University
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and I had a car, you
know, you've lost your car,
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that's another
story, but I had a car
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that was a little
car like the one you had,
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not too reliable.
00:07:08.46\00:07:10.03
And I headed off
after a massive snowstorm
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to drive from
Maryland to Andrews.
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And I didn't wanna pay the toll
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so I headed
straight cross-country
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through Indiana up
the underbelly of Indiana
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and I was gonna
cross the freeway there
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and go up to
Berrien Springs, Michigan.
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And as I headed
off, I had great troubles
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because my heater
wasn't working in the car,
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it was minus 10 degrees
and lot of snow everywhere
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and so I had a
blanket on my knees freezing,
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but my thermostat
in the car was broken
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and it was
overheating and I had to stop
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and put water in regularly
so I had a hot and cold crisis.
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And I remember and I
left very late in the day
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and it was a slow going.
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And like 2, 3
o'clock in the morning,
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I was near Goshen, Indiana.
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Remember, you know
what Goshen is in the Bible?
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That was the land
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that the children of Israel
lived in, in their slavery.
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That was actually good
land given to them initially
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by the pharaoh, but...
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Land of milk and honey.
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No, well in a way,
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but it wasn't the
promised land of milk and honey.
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And so in Goshen, Indiana
and in the middle of the night,
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no lights around
that I can see my,
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this is before
electronic ignition,
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my carburetor flew apart,
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it was a violent whirring
and sort of an explosion
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and it just shattered
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so I coast to a
stop and I look around,
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couldn't see any lights at first
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and I thought I'm gonna die here
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and finally I saw a light.
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I went over to the farm
house knock, knock, knock, knock
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finally a guy with
the nightcap come like
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literally winky comes
out, what do you want?
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And I said, "You know,
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I need help quickly and
I thought I'm gonna die."
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And finally he let me in.
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He says, "I'll help you,
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but you can't
stay here tonight."
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So he took me to a hotel.
00:09:04.01\00:09:05.34
In the morning, he picked me up.
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He was a conservative Christian,
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it was obvious.
00:09:10.31\00:09:11.65
And I said, "I
have it like at home,
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I have no money
and all the rest."
00:09:13.28\00:09:14.65
He says, "Are you a Christian?"
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I said,
"Absolutely. I'm a Christian."
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He says, "Don't
worry, you will get home."
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And he then gave me
a little book called
00:09:20.72\00:09:22.96
From Life to Life,
Toldhau is a young guy
00:09:22.99\00:09:26.53
in another state.
00:09:26.56\00:09:27.90
He wanted to be an
outlaw, rough, tough guy
00:09:27.93\00:09:29.93
and ended up over a family feud,
00:09:29.96\00:09:32.17
killing his wife
and his father-in-law.
00:09:32.20\00:09:35.64
And he was sent to
prison, death penalty at first,
00:09:35.67\00:09:38.67
but it was commuted to life.
00:09:38.71\00:09:40.61
And in prison,
he discovered God.
00:09:40.64\00:09:44.38
And so he kept
telling me, he says,
00:09:44.41\00:09:46.92
"You can turn your life around.
00:09:46.95\00:09:48.52
If you believe in
God, you will be safe."
00:09:48.55\00:09:51.59
And amazingly after it
all and cutting it short
00:09:51.62\00:09:54.92
with very little time,
it was exactly the money
00:09:54.96\00:09:57.69
I had in my pocket to fix my car
00:09:57.73\00:09:59.39
after half a day
in the repair place,
00:09:59.43\00:10:01.16
and I went on my way,
encouraged by this guy saying,
00:10:01.20\00:10:04.47
"Why are you
worried you're a Christian?"
00:10:04.50\00:10:07.37
And that's the
message all around the world
00:10:07.40\00:10:09.34
with persecution, difficulties.
00:10:09.37\00:10:12.27
God's with us, isn't He?
00:10:12.31\00:10:13.71
And is it impressed you
that wherever we go in the world
00:10:13.74\00:10:17.15
you can find fellow
Christians, fellow travelers
00:10:17.18\00:10:20.12
and that you can relate to them.
00:10:20.15\00:10:21.48
They're sort of like
friends, aren't they?
00:10:21.52\00:10:22.88
Absolutely.
00:10:22.92\00:10:24.25
So, you know,
just give a little cap
00:10:24.29\00:10:27.22
on how that's affected you?
00:10:27.26\00:10:29.69
For me, being a young
guy and loving to travel,
00:10:29.72\00:10:33.63
going to different
places around the world
00:10:33.66\00:10:35.83
and meeting fellow Christians,
00:10:35.86\00:10:37.50
especially
fellow Christians youth.
00:10:37.53\00:10:39.77
It's impressed on me
that no matter where you go,
00:10:39.80\00:10:41.87
no matter who you're with,
00:10:41.90\00:10:44.31
no matter what
situation we're in,
00:10:44.34\00:10:46.31
no matter how rich, how poor,
00:10:46.34\00:10:49.04
that the
political system you're in,
00:10:49.08\00:10:51.85
there always is a light
and that light is Jesus.
00:10:51.88\00:10:56.92
The world does indeed turn
at about 1,000 miles an hour,
00:10:56.95\00:11:01.02
not to mention the
million miles a day
00:11:01.06\00:11:03.26
or so through
space, but it's spinning.
00:11:03.29\00:11:06.26
And I think in spite of the spin
00:11:06.29\00:11:08.10
and that speed and distance
that separates countries.
00:11:08.13\00:11:12.30
With the COVID emergency,
00:11:12.33\00:11:13.67
we realize that we
are one, one people
00:11:13.70\00:11:16.60
because we're sharing the
one malaise at the moment.
00:11:16.64\00:11:20.44
Religious Liberty also
is that singular concern
00:11:20.48\00:11:24.18
because there's
one God, one Creator,
00:11:24.21\00:11:26.82
as Thomas Jefferson
00:11:26.85\00:11:28.18
acknowledged in the
Declaration of Independence.
00:11:28.22\00:11:30.99
You know, nature and
nature's God created us
00:11:31.02\00:11:33.82
with these inalienable rights.
00:11:33.86\00:11:35.82
Well, he didn't quite
identify God correctly,
00:11:35.86\00:11:39.03
but as the discussion
with my son pointed out,
00:11:39.06\00:11:42.03
you can go from
country to country,
00:11:42.06\00:11:43.60
see varying challenges.
00:11:43.63\00:11:45.87
And we need to recognize that
through all these challenges,
00:11:45.90\00:11:49.54
God can work
powerfully to project truth,
00:11:49.57\00:11:52.61
to give a response to
the answering questions
00:11:52.64\00:11:55.78
of spiritually minded
people all around the world
00:11:55.81\00:11:58.75
to find that one true God,
00:11:58.78\00:12:00.75
even in the time
of COVID distress,
00:12:00.78\00:12:03.25
it says, "Seek ye the
Lord and He may be found."
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For Liberty Insider,
this is Lincoln Steed.
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