Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI200490B
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00:01 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:02 Before the break, 00:04 I was discussing with Pati 00:05 some very interesting elements of what she's doing 00:07 and particularly during the COVID era, 00:10 and we were continuing the discussion 00:14 during the break, 00:16 and I wish the camera had been running. 00:18 But we were talking really about the human trafficking, 00:24 I was nearly gonna say the white slave trade. 00:27 When I was growing up, that's what they call that. 00:29 It's an old term and misleading in some ways. 00:32 But slavery is not confined to a couple of 100 years ago. 00:36 No. 00:37 Other places where it does still exist. 00:41 And as far as US history, particularly from China, 00:44 there's been a continuing litany, 00:46 and the US didn't act well 00:48 toward Chinese immigration anyway. 00:50 But under the radar, 00:52 people were brought basically as pure slaves, 00:54 by those with money and cynicism 00:56 and take away their documents and mistreat them. 01:00 But now it's spread 01:01 to many aspects of our economy, hasn't it? 01:04 And you've had the inside... 01:06 Oh, yes, I'm... 01:07 Being at the table discussing with... 01:09 Exactly. 01:10 Well, we've had some of our events, 01:12 our film festivals, and other events. 01:14 We have survivors 01:15 that come and they tell their story, 01:17 labor trafficking stories, and they're afraid to speak up, 01:20 and they're afraid to just leave 01:22 without documentation. 01:23 They're told so many things, 01:24 when they come into the country 01:26 that they believe them at first, 01:27 then the mistreatment happens, it's too late. 01:30 But besides the labor trafficking 01:33 in the other area of sex trafficking, 01:36 here in America, yes, 01:38 people are brought from other countries. 01:40 But right here in America, 01:42 we have a problem because 01:43 there are many, many homes without strong father figures. 01:47 There may be a father figure in the home, 01:48 but they're not strong. 01:50 They're not a good influence to their daughter or son 01:54 or they're absent fathers. 01:56 And now this child is a girl, woman, girl grows up, 01:59 a teenager grows up 02:00 wanting that male kind of love and bonding, 02:04 and what we call... 02:05 And can be abused terribly and... 02:06 Yes. Lose their freedom. 02:08 And we call it the Romeo pimps because they Romeo the girls, 02:10 they come up to the girls, 02:12 they don't know who they are at first. 02:13 But they say, "You're beautiful, 02:14 you're worth so much to me." 02:17 They wine and dine them, buy them gifts. 02:20 These are teenagers, 15, 16 years old. 02:23 And they're often... 02:24 The sex slave and they're getting clothes, 02:26 and jewelry, and money, and fancy cars, 02:29 and they're being swept off their feet. 02:31 But we need strong fathers. 02:33 So you're discovering the public affairs 02:36 part of religious liberty 02:38 is leading you in many, many directions, 02:40 reformed directions. 02:42 Yeah. 02:43 You know, one of the big debates 02:44 that I even have with myself 02:47 is to what degree should we be involved in things 02:52 to change and improve society versus spreading the good news 02:56 about coming perfect kingdom. 02:59 And if you read Ellen White's comments 03:00 about social, 03:02 I don't know if she uses the term social justice. 03:06 It can be used in different directions, 03:08 but the overriding principles 03:10 she points out is 03:11 we need to maintain present truth, 03:14 present truth is speaking to the times 03:16 and warning people 03:17 and preparing them for God's kingdom. 03:19 But I know that that was never intended 03:23 and can't be used to totally short-circuit us away 03:26 from social responsibility. 03:31 But, you know, I think you're on the right track. 03:33 The same John MacArthur, 03:37 that's the pastor of that church 03:38 that I attended. 03:39 I saw online 03:41 where he came in and spoke to a group of seminary students 03:43 who are just freshmen, I guess they were. 03:46 And he said to them, he says, 03:47 "You think you've come here to change the world?" 03:50 He says, "That's not true, you're here to change people." 03:54 And your concern is going to the individual. 03:58 We are called to do that, 04:00 we're called to feed the homeless 04:01 and visit the sick, to change their lives, 04:04 but by no means are Christians in coalition or whatever 04:08 capable of turning this channel house of a world 04:12 we live in into heaven on earth, 04:13 it's not gonna happen. 04:15 We can't be indifferent to it. 04:17 We have to move into that like Jesus, 04:20 he met with the publicans and sinners 04:22 and the women of the world 04:23 who, you know, serial marriages and all of it. 04:26 I mean, we did bring relief to those people. 04:29 You know, some of these events we had, 04:32 I met an ex-trafficker himself. 04:34 He grew up almost homeless, very poor, 04:37 would go to school in the same dirty clothes every day. 04:41 Now as an adult, he said though, 04:42 as he was growing, not one teacher, not one adult, 04:45 whatever, went to him and said, 04:47 "Are you okay? Can I help you with something? 04:49 I noticed you don't have lunch, here, 04:50 I brought you something to eat." 04:52 He grew up feeling worthless, disempowered. 04:54 He didn't feel he had any value. 04:56 So as he grew a little older, 04:58 of course, in his neighborhood, 05:00 it was popular now, join a gang, sell drugs, 05:03 get involved with traffickers, which he did. 05:06 He did that for quite a while. 05:07 And he talks about the horrors of what he did. 05:10 And... 05:11 Well, there are neighborhoods 05:12 where if they don't join a gang, 05:14 both sides will pick on them. 05:15 So you have to decide between two gang friends, you know. 05:19 But now, 05:21 he is an amazing advocate for God first. 05:26 And he says he never married, he never had children, 05:28 but every child in the streets are his child, he says, 05:31 and he talks to them. 05:33 And first, again, Christ's method, 05:35 he meets them where they are. 05:36 If he has to dress like they do in the streets 05:39 to be welcomed by them, he will do it. 05:41 He doesn't dress like I saw him that day 05:43 he was speaking for us in a suit and tie. 05:45 No, he was dressed like street wear, 05:48 speaks with the kids. 05:50 But he always leaves them a message about God 05:52 and I tried to do the same when I talk with survivors, 05:55 with anyone, even the nonprofits, 05:57 the people who are head of the nonprofit, 05:59 and they may or may not be Christian. 06:01 But even in my conversations with them, 06:03 I'll say things like 06:04 when we're talking about 06:06 someone who's been human trafficked, 06:08 or someone on drugs, or an alcoholic, 06:10 or someone in the streets, 06:11 I will just trying to say, 06:13 "You know, God created us all to be so much more than that." 06:15 Even the person that's lying, 06:17 they're mentally ill, or on drugs, 06:19 we all have to look at them, like, 06:21 God created them to be so much more. 06:23 Then we start talking about God, we start... 06:26 Then start speaking my truth and... 06:28 We're taking advantage of every opportunity. 06:30 There's always way to bring God into it. 06:32 There's always a way. 06:33 I'm so glad you're sharing this 06:35 because it's true that 06:36 all good deeds are good deeds versus doing bad. 06:39 But just going through the motions, 06:40 handing out food to someone, that's only part of it. 06:43 As Jesus did, follow up on the leads 06:46 because I read a book years ago called Street Christianity 06:49 by Arthur Blessitt. 06:51 He's probably dead by now, I don't know. 06:52 This was many years ago, 06:54 but he carried a cross around the world witnessing. 06:57 But he would go into the nightclubs, 06:59 to the strip joints, witnessing 07:01 and every opportunity like one of his... 07:04 I remember one example, 07:05 he said he was walking past the tennis court 07:07 and he heard them call out 15-love. 07:11 And he says, "No, John 3:16." 07:13 Love John 3:16. 07:15 And the follow-up was this person 07:17 came home from playing tennis 07:19 and they said we were playing tennis 07:20 and this crazy guy yelled out love John 3:16. 07:23 What's it? What was that? 07:24 He became a Christian as a result. 07:26 And he went into a strip joint and wearing his rapture suit, 07:30 he called it, in other words a very crazy sort of an outfit. 07:33 And he asked the owner who met him, he says, 07:37 "You know, what are the girls like here?" 07:39 And the guy said writing in the books 07:41 as I delivered him to the lion's den, he says, 07:43 "Oh, you can go and talk to the girls backstage." 07:45 And after a while, no one's dancing. 07:47 He goes back and hear the girls weeping and crying, 07:49 and this guy's telling them how God loved them and all. 07:52 You know, not everyone can do that 07:53 in that aggressive way. 07:56 But we're all called to reach out 07:59 and touch people with something that we have 08:01 'cause in the book, he says 08:02 "I've got something I want to give them." 08:04 Like, he in the drug era, 08:05 he would sidle up to someone, he says, 08:07 "You want some reds?" 08:09 And he would give them little capsules 08:11 with a wound up Bible text. 08:13 But he's like... 08:15 He says, "I'm like a drug pusher for the Lord." 08:16 Yes. 08:18 No, but God opens those opportunities, 08:19 'cause I'm sometimes talking with people. 08:22 And they're speaking as raw as can be. 08:25 And I'm listening 08:26 and I'm trying to maybe share some experience. 08:28 "Oh, yeah, you know what I saw on the street the other day, " 08:31 or "You know what I saw at this homeless encampment." 08:33 But then there's always that way 08:35 when I don't know what I'm going to say 08:36 but God puts it, it just comes out. 08:39 And I'm witnessing. 08:40 I was talking to a father 08:42 who came to one of our events with two children. 08:43 He was there all day with two, very, very... 08:47 He must've been a single father, 08:49 I don't know. 08:50 Very young children. 08:51 He doted on them, and took care of them, 08:53 and he would walk them and he gave them food. 08:55 And all day, I'm watching him. 08:57 And at the end of the day, we had raffle tickets. 09:01 And he didn't win any raffle tickets. 09:02 Well, I didn't have time 09:04 to put them all under the tables 09:05 like I was supposed to, so I'm thinking, 09:06 "Maybe that's the reason why God... 09:09 That maybe there's a reason why." 09:10 So I went up to him and I said, 09:12 "I have some raffle tickets for you and your two children." 09:14 And he's like, "Oh, thank you." 09:16 And they were very unkempt. 09:17 So I don't know if they came from a homeless shelter. 09:19 He was very unkempt, they weren't clean. 09:21 But I gave him the raffle tickets. 09:22 I said, "You know, I've been watching you all day. 09:24 You're such a good father. 09:25 Thank you. You're such a good father." 09:27 And then I just started saying, 09:28 "You know, about our Father in heaven." 09:30 And he's like, "Yeah, a little bit." 09:33 And I happen to have some tracks in my purse, 09:35 I always carry something. So I gave him some tracks. 09:37 And I said, where my church was, 09:39 "But just talk to God and He's always with you. 09:41 You know, He's with you and you're a good father." 09:43 I can't remember exactly everything I said. 09:45 But God, even in that moment, when I'm thinking, 09:47 let me just give him some raffles, 09:49 some restaurant tickets for him to take the kids, 09:52 I'm talking to him about he's a good father, 09:53 but we have an awesome Father. 09:56 It's interesting, 09:57 you know, you're reminding me of the discussion 09:59 that I have with my neighbor. 10:00 She asked me once, you know, "Is this one of the plagues?" 10:03 You heard me say that in the sermon. 10:06 I don't see that 10:07 it directly answers the description. 10:10 But in those final plagues, 10:11 it says that this came upon the world, 10:14 but people didn't repent, they went and turned to God. 10:17 So I'm hoping this is not. 10:18 And I'm still waiting for what should follow this, 10:21 and you're giving me a little example. 10:23 It'll be wonderful 10:24 if under this suffering that's caused an effect, 10:27 you know, we know at least where it came from, 10:29 and the type of thing that develops it. 10:31 But if it causes people to seek God, 10:34 it'll be a wonderful opportunity, 10:36 I think, for revival in many, many individual lives. 10:40 And, you know, you're really privileged 10:41 to have these conversations 10:43 to take advantage of those leads, aren't you? 10:46 Even in a time like this. 10:47 You know, I feel so humbled, though, when I'm doing this, 10:49 and I thank them. 10:50 And I told this father, I said, 10:52 "You're a good dad. 10:53 Continue to be a good dad, 10:55 and your Father is watching you. 10:56 And God knows and sees everything." 10:57 And I thanked him for being there. 10:59 I thanked him for being a good father. 11:01 So it's not about me and why I was there, 11:03 but it was because I know God wanted me to reach him 11:05 and speak to him. 11:07 And I feel humbled and I'm blessed. 11:13 I can remember as a young man 11:14 visiting the city of Rome for the first time, 11:17 of course, it was overwhelming. 11:19 The Eternal City, it's been called. 11:22 But I must admit the visit to St. Peter's 11:26 and seeing the then-Pope come out from a mass 11:31 with all of the... 11:33 and that was rather dispiriting to me as a Protestant. 11:36 But what really impressed me 11:38 was we were taken by an Adventist student guide 11:41 to the catacombs. 11:43 As I remember, 11:44 it was close to a busy city circle, 11:47 but then to go down into what were the terms, 11:50 the place of death, and despair 11:54 and a place that 11:56 the Romans who knew 11:57 of Christians meeting down there, 11:59 so this is seditious, dangerous, 12:02 and of course, just health wise, 12:04 it probably was. 12:05 To me that's not so dissimilar 12:08 from today in our COVID threat 12:10 where there's death and destruction on every hand, 12:12 hundreds of thousands in the US, 12:14 a million, at least globally. 12:16 In that time, 12:17 Christians, many of them have just gone home 12:20 and gone to sleep. 12:22 And those that do meet, 12:24 whether it's in public, in their church 12:26 or under an awning in the yard, 12:29 that is our modern equivalent 12:31 to Christians meeting in the catacombs 12:34 at a certain risk, 12:36 at a certain shamefulness in the public eye 12:39 but still obeying the Lord's command 12:42 to forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. 12:46 That's a charge 12:47 that we must honor in our own way 12:49 in these days. 12:51 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2021-02-05