Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI210503A
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00:27 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:29 This is your program, 00:31 bringing you up-to-date news, views, analysis, 00:34 and general information on religious liberty 00:37 and conscience issues around the world, 00:40 and often in the United States. 00:42 My name is Lincoln Steed. 00:45 For 22 years, I was editor of Liberty Magazine, 00:48 and almost as long running this program, welcome. 00:51 And my guest on the program is a repeat guest, 00:56 my son Christopher Steed. 00:59 And I'm so happy that 01:01 you could be on this program, Christopher. 01:04 You've enjoyed it before, haven't you? 01:05 It's not so shocking, right? 01:08 Not really. 01:10 And I know it's gone well, 01:11 because the very first time you were on, 01:14 I don't think you were more than 01:16 about 8-10 years old. 01:19 And you had a cameo... I was 11. 01:20 Eleven. You had a cameo walk on. 01:23 And we exchanged a few words. 01:25 And for months after that I had very nice letters, 01:28 mostly from older women. 01:31 So you appealed to the women. 01:33 And one of them said, "Oh, that dear, dear boy." 01:36 And I said, "Yes, absolutely, my dear son." 01:39 But that was many years ago. 01:42 You're out and around and grown up now. 01:45 And I value your opinion. 01:47 So I want to talk with you about... 01:49 Twelve years ago? 01:50 Yeah, I want to... 01:52 I'm 23 now, yeah, 12 years ago. 01:53 You've been on the program more recently than that, 01:55 but I want to talk with you a bit about 01:58 what you're doing lately 01:59 and get your feedback on the issues of the moment 02:03 in some ways related to COVID. 02:06 Now, I titled this program Out and Around. 02:09 Yeah. 02:11 Most of us have not been out and around 02:13 for well over a year with COVID. 02:16 You know, in the US a little bit 02:18 but in other countries very much so people 02:21 were literally locked in their homes. 02:23 Yeah. 02:24 But what does your Bible say 02:26 about Christian's responsibility 02:28 even in the difficult time? 02:29 That we got to get out there. 02:31 And I actually did get out there for nine months. 02:35 I was in a program in Pennsylvania 02:38 in the Hamburg area called Core 02:40 where I was learning how to do Bible work. 02:43 So our first part of the semester, 02:47 we had "two semesters," 02:49 the first one was learning how to go door-to-door 02:51 so we would learn how to do colporteur ministry 02:54 through asking some donations. 02:56 It's an old way of book selling door-to-door 02:59 and witnessing door-to-door. 03:01 So we had our backpacks and everything. 03:03 And we would go door-to-door, 03:05 we had to wear masks and everything. 03:08 But we were still out and about, 03:10 I mean, we were started giving Bible studies 03:13 right after Christmas break, we got back, 03:16 started giving Bible studies. 03:19 We had a few, actually people get baptized 03:23 at one of the seminary series we had, 03:25 because of those Bible studies. 03:28 Felt pretty good. Felt really good. Yeah. 03:30 Now tell me, you know, in this environment, 03:35 it even came over me 03:36 you'd start to feel suspicious of everybody 03:39 in the store or wherever you were, 03:41 you think, is that person going to give me 03:42 what's going to kill me. 03:43 And so there's a social distancing 03:46 by mandate, 03:47 but also in our own minds, 03:48 we were learning to distrust other people. 03:50 How did you find it door-to-door? 03:52 Did people welcome you, 03:54 or did you have open discussion? 03:56 At first, when people saw us at the door, 03:58 they did the one eye peeking out, "Hello." 04:01 "Hi, my name is Chris. I'm a Bible worker." 04:04 "Oh, you're a Bible worker." 04:05 The doors just opened up. 04:07 That's interesting. 04:08 So that disarmed their inhibition 04:10 and their suspicion. 04:11 Well... Sometimes. 04:13 I'd say at least 75% of the time 04:15 we had a very welcoming experience. 04:17 Other people were still a little, 04:19 "Oh, do you guys sanitize? 04:21 You guys wear your mask properly." 04:23 But I'd say 75-85% of the people 04:27 open their doors lovingly and widely, prayed. 04:30 I prayed with quite a few people. 04:33 And I'm still in contact 04:34 with one of our Bible study contacts. 04:38 And we still talk to this day about stuff that's going on 04:42 and she actually said that, 04:43 you know that you guys actually did a lot of good 04:46 in the community. 04:47 Because while we were there we weren't only like just working 04:50 at the one place where we were, 04:52 we had our own church that we went to. 04:54 So we were holding church services like 04:56 I was up front doing special music, 04:58 scripture readings, children's stories. 05:02 We held a VBS, we helped there. 05:06 Vacation Bible School for those... 05:08 Yeah, for its... 05:09 I know the acronym. 05:11 Camp meeting for little kids, pretty much. 05:14 And then we helped set up the camp meeting right before 05:18 the camp meeting started. 05:21 And then I went up to Pennsylvania 05:24 again for a summer camp... 05:25 Very good. For fun. 05:27 So, you know, the message I get out of this is at a time 05:30 of social separation and restriction, 05:34 you were part of an experience 05:36 where you saw firsthand 05:37 the people still not everybody, 05:39 but people still have spiritual needs 05:41 and were still responding. 05:45 And you alluded to the Bible text, 05:48 but as I remember the text, I don't know references, 05:50 always bad on references. 05:52 But Paul says, 05:53 "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." 05:58 Many people since COVID, I've spoken to, 06:00 they seem to remember that, 06:02 but they forget what comes next. 06:03 And he says next, 06:04 and the more so as you see the day approaching. 06:07 So it seems to me 06:10 the need to communicate and to meet 06:12 but not just in church, 06:14 to reach out and to talk about spiritual things 06:17 with people is more important, 06:21 as things get more dangerous. 06:23 And that's the great irony. 06:24 I mean, doesn't, isn't one of the signs from Ellen White, 06:27 where the devil will cast a great cloud 06:30 over the earth or great mist... 06:31 Of course, a deception, deception. 06:33 And that's, you're talking about Ellen White, 06:36 who was an early spiritual guide 06:38 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 06:39 And we believe that she was under some inspiration 06:42 when she shared things, 06:43 but actually, that's from the Bible. 06:45 It says the days are coming where there'll be a famine 06:48 of the Word of God. 06:50 And it says, a great blindness will come upon people, 06:53 a spiritual blindness. 06:55 I mean, that's pretty much exactly what's happening now. 06:58 'Cause I mean, a lot of the people I talked to, 07:01 there was a few Catholics I talked to, 07:03 there was even a... 07:07 I can't remember anything I think it's Jesuit. 07:10 It's Roman Catholic. 07:11 Roman Catholic, 07:12 but they were part of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. 07:14 And they said, their churches are closed, 07:16 their cathedrals are closed, like they won't meet. 07:19 Yeah. 07:20 Well, you know, I have strong opinions. 07:23 And I've got to be careful. 07:24 This is not a policy critique moment. 07:27 Yeah. 07:28 But I do think, for many churches, 07:31 and even our own Seventh-day Adventist Church, 07:34 in administrative sense, 07:35 and many of the actual churches, 07:36 I think it was a great mistake, 07:40 and a lost opportunity to sort of go back 07:43 into our kennels on command. 07:45 Like turtles. 07:46 Yes. Yeah, I like that. 07:48 I know why you're saying that. 07:49 As we were driving here yesterday 07:51 in a fantastic rainstorm. 07:53 You were driving, you suddenly put your brake on, 07:56 and leapt out of the car. 07:57 And I thought, what's he seen? 07:58 It's been an accident or something. 08:00 And here was this snapping turtle about 18 inches long, 08:04 making its way. 08:05 Feisty little firecracker. Yes. 08:07 And when we stopped, 08:08 he turned around and came at us. 08:09 I was trying to pick him up. 08:11 So I put my hand on top of the shell reached 08:13 around and picked him up. 08:14 And he was trying to bite my hand. 08:16 Yeah. 08:17 But more than that, when you're letting go, 08:18 he would turn around and come at you. 08:21 But, yes, I mean, I'm glad you see that. 08:23 And I would hope most people that have a, 08:26 an urgency to share something exciting spiritual, 08:29 spiritually would, 08:31 would be a little troubled how quickly 08:33 we sort of went to sleep. 08:34 You could say, pulled into our shell, 08:36 shut the doors. 08:38 And I have many differences as a Protestant 08:41 from the Roman Catholic Church. 08:42 But one thing I've admired about its policy, 08:45 I don't think always during COVID. 08:47 But through the ages, and in many countries, 08:49 the doors of the church were always literally open. 08:52 Yeah. 08:53 Usually empty. 08:55 Yeah. And that's another point. 08:57 But I think spiritual needs actually increased during 09:02 a time of stress, don't they? 09:04 Oh, I agree. So this was... 09:05 I mean, I saw it firsthand. 09:07 I mean the need that people express. 09:10 I had one lady, I could tell that she'd been crying. 09:13 So I asked her, you know, 09:15 right before I left, I was like, 09:16 "Hey, is there anything you need prayer for?" 09:18 And she said, "Yeah, 09:20 I just lost a family member due to COVID." 09:22 And I said, "Well, let me pray for you." 09:24 And I prayed for her. 09:26 And when I said amen, she had a smile on her face. 09:29 And she looks at me and says, 09:31 "Thank you. I really needed that." 09:33 And it was just the most genuine smile 09:38 I'd seen that takes. 09:39 I've seen people that come at you, Hi, how are you? 09:42 You know that they have to smile. 09:44 Social smile. Yeah, social smiles. 09:45 Yeah. 09:47 Well think about what some of our neighbors 09:50 and obviously a few Christians 09:53 directly and even Adventists have gone through. 09:56 Family members died, member died 09:58 and during COVID, they were hospitalized, 10:00 you weren't allowed to go visit them. 10:02 I know. 10:03 When they died, you weren't allowed to... 10:05 See them. Often go to a funeral. 10:06 They would just go on. Yeah. 10:08 So there was a need for spiritual comfort 10:10 and some reassurance of this, 10:15 of the, not of the salvation, you can't assure them, 10:16 that person's gonna be in heaven. 10:18 That's foolish. 10:20 But you can certainly give spiritual comfort 10:22 that it's in the hands of God. 10:23 And that, even though 10:25 they might not have said goodbye, 10:26 that, you know, they rest easy in the arms of Providence. 10:31 But I have been troubled by the way 10:33 that we shut up so easily. 10:35 And if nothing else, 10:36 it may not be a purely legal question 10:38 or of religious liberty in the classical sense, 10:42 but it's clearly a lost opportunity. 10:46 And I've always wondered as the Seventh-day Adventist 10:49 and the Bible believing Christian 10:50 and more importantly a Revelation reading. 10:54 You've read Revelation... 10:55 Yeah. Yes, I have. 10:58 The good parts. Variety. 11:01 But you can't help reading Revelation, you know, 11:03 that difficult times are predicted 11:05 for a world in decline. 11:07 Yeah. 11:09 And even if you're not a Christian, 11:10 or a Bible reader, 11:12 you know that the world is sort of spiraling, 11:15 somewhat out of control. 11:16 You know, many secularists think that beyond this, 11:18 it'll organize and they might be 11:20 a secular paradise, but they don't, 11:21 none of them say it's there now. 11:23 Yeah. 11:24 And, you know, I went to communist countries, 11:28 I'm trying to think, yeah, by the time you were born, 11:32 the Soviet Union already collapsed. 11:34 But at its peak, you know, 11:35 the idea was that socialism in the communist sense, 11:39 this Communist Revolution was going to engulf the world 11:42 and it would bring in a secular paradise. 11:44 Never happened. Never. 11:46 The theory was not always totally wrong, 11:49 but the practice was impossible, 11:51 because it was dealing with, 11:53 you know, the aspirations of human beings 11:55 that's full of jealousy and violence 11:57 and greed and so on and couldn't work. 12:01 So not communists anymore, not necessarily, 12:05 or even capitalists see, you know, a great, 12:08 wonderful horizon. 12:10 Right now the world is sort of in a, in a... 12:12 You're a good swimmer. 12:14 That's that summer school, 12:17 you were a lifeguard and swim instructor. 12:21 So you know that, 12:22 don't you agree the world right now 12:23 is sort of treading water. 12:25 It's not going strongly anywhere, but it's... 12:28 Dog paddling. 12:29 Yes, dog paddling. 12:31 And, you know, 12:33 part of the dog paddling 12:34 is get as many injections and people as you can, 12:38 and many weren't, 12:39 they're sort of like the ones that's dog paddling 12:41 with the missing foot. 12:43 Harder to stay afloat, isn't it? 12:45 So we need spiritual hope. 12:47 And what's your take away after going those 12:52 door-to-door contacts, 12:54 did that make you feel good? 12:57 I mean, as a person, 12:58 I'm going to do a quick plug for Core real quick because 13:01 it was a great experience shot at to Dee Casper. 13:04 He was one of the organizers. 13:06 He was the organizer. 13:07 He was the director. It was a... 13:09 It was an amazing program. 13:11 Not only where you learn a skill that you can use, 13:16 but as well as you learn how to love Jesus 13:21 on your own personal ways. 13:23 You learn how to accept that He is a friend. 13:28 It's life changing. 13:30 I mean, I went, you know, 13:33 not thinking that I was going to learn much of anything. 13:35 Come back knowing that now 13:38 I can go door-to-door selling whatever I need to sell, 13:44 books, hope and hope as well. 13:46 No, but hope. That's the point. 13:47 Yeah, yeah. 13:49 You're not just selling books or lessons or anything. 13:51 You're giving people hope, uplift. 13:53 And the smiles I saw on kids' 13:55 faces whenever I gave books 13:58 or on adults' faces was just amazing. 14:00 Wonderful. 14:01 We'll take a break. 14:03 But stay with us. 14:04 We'll be back shortly to continue this discussion 14:06 with my guest Christopher Steed. 14:08 Great last name by the way. |
Revised 2021-09-28