Welcome back .to
the Liberty Insider
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Before the break, I
was getting a bit nostalgic
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by sharing my last
editorial in Liberty magazine.
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I put myself up for
retirement a few months ago
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and they've since replaced me
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with a recent guest on
our program, Bettina Krause.
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But given that this is likely
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the last episode of
this long running series
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that I've been privileged
to be part of over 20 years.
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I haven't even
looked closely at it,
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but I know it's
over the 20 years.
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You know I thought
that was a good way
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to segue into summarizing
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and capstoning the contribution
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that I've been able to make
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and the communications
I've made on this program.
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I could jump in so
many different places.
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But when I look back on it,
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the world has
changed in massive ways,
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even in just a
couple of decades.
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When I began
editing the magazine,
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of course, there were issues.
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The main issue of the
time was with vouchers,
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a tricky way
people thought at the time
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to put
government money in the...
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against church,
schools to publicly fund
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religious activity.
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And some of our own people
were quite enthused by this
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because government money seemed
useful to do a good thing.
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But it was part of a blurring
of the line of distinction
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between church and state.
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But when I looked back on it,
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that was kid's play
that what we're in now,
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then 9/11 intervened,
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and we saw a whole
religious community
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is inherently dangerous
toward Western democracy.
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Whether that's true,
I think, probably not,
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but there was an
element of radicalism in Islam
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and always has been
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that's antithetical to
Western democratic ideals.
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And that I'm certain now
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there's not a misinterpretation
as one Islamic leader
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said in the meeting I was at.
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They said,
"There's no such thing
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as separation of
church and state in Islam.
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Very true but the United States
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depends upon
separation of church and state
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to give teeth to its
protection of religion
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by restraining the government
and the churches on both sides.
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The government given
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half a chance would control
and orchestrate those churches
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that had funds and churches,
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as we saw during the Middle Ages
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with the Roman Catholic Church
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would love to have a
chance to dictate to the state,
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how to uphold
its form of orthodoxy
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and to punish those
that finds heretical.
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So we've been
interesting places,
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but we've moved on.
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Within the space
of that 20 years,
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a developing skepticism
by the religious right
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to the separation
of church and state
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has turned into outright enmity,
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where they claim
boldly and un-factually that
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there's no such thing
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in the
Constitution, and no term.
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But as many
judges and public figures
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have admitted through the years
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and starting with
Jefferson himself,
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who had a lot to do
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with through his
Virginia statute,
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with the concept
of the separation
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of church and state.
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Many people have upheld, yes,
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there's a
separation of church and state.
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But it's hated now by, at least,
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a significant fraction
of the religious right.
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I'm making
discoveries all the time
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and I've long ago
read a book by Hal Lindsey,
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Late Great Planet
Earth, which had a lot to do
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with the rise of
dispensationalism,
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which is a curious,
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largely unbiblical
doctrine of God's people being
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plucked out of this earth
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before the real
trouble descends.
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It'd be nice but it's
not the promised thing.
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We're here to help finish it.
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But I read that book,
but only the other day
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that I
discovered another book that
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Hal Lindsey wrote,
Warning of Coming Genocide,
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by people that hold this
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extreme view of
the place of Israel
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in prophecy and a
theocratic aspiration
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in this country.
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People, in other words,
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that bought into his first book,
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and he pointed out
that, the same dynamic that
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led the Lutheran and then
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the Catholic
Churches in Germany,
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to turn on the Jews
in a genocidal move,
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he said could easily produce
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that same genocide in the US.
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And the way he outlined that
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it would not just be the
Jews, all that don't share
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their particular triumphalist
view of a promised nation
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and the theocratic
role of the United States.
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These are real
dangers. We've moved on to...
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On January 6,
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there were many things
going on but in my view,
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judging by the joyful prayer
made at the speaker's podium
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there by some of the invaders,
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where they thanked the
Lord for what they were doing.
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And there's a certain
Christian triumphalism at work
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that really it
sees no contradiction
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in beating down the walls
and beating people into line,
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to establish
God's Kingdom on earth.
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That is not God's
way and it is certainly
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not the way to
religious freedom.
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And as I've often
said in Liberty magazine,
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what we've seen lately
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under the guise
of religious liberty
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because it's...
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No one's against
religious liberty.
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I never met anyone opposed to it
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but everybody
defines it differently.
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And under the guise
of religious liberty,
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in the Christian West,
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and particularly
the United States,
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we're seeing
religious entitlement,
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special privilege for
a type of religionist,
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who has one hand
on the reins of power
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and the other ready to invoke
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that power to whip
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with those that
disagree with them.
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We're seeing that rather
than true religious liberty.
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We are not
heading into liberal times
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and none of us know
how long we will live.
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None of us know
how long that the earth
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will circle the sun.
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We don't know how
long God is allowed
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this whole order
that we live under.
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But it's obvious to me
that sooner rather than later,
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perhaps in our
lifetime, we're going to see
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the results of
a liberal attempts
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to subvert true
freedom into compulsion.
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I believe things
like property values,
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things like
respect for other people,
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things like monetary stability,
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they are all going out
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the window at
the speed of light.
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And it's very likely that
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we'll be into some of
the sort of dysfunction
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that the science fiction writers
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and the more fantastical movies,
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most recently the
purge are imagining.
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It's reached the point
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where the worst
imaginations of man's heart
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are really becoming realized
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because as the Bible says,
"Every imagination is evil."
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We're not living
in a godly generation.
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We're living in an evil time.
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Again, it's been
a great privilege
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to be associated
with this program.
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And I know 3ABN
has many programs
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and many ways of
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spreading the word for this day,
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and the
Seventh-day Adventist spreading
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the three angels' messages.
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The message doesn't
cease but this program will.
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And so I want to thank those
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that have watched regularly.
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It's been a great
journey, and stay faithful.
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Stay clear on
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what religious liberty truly is.
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Don't be one of
those that believe
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and practice a lie.
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Be one of those
that stand for the truth,
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stand for ultimate freedom,
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stand for the Lord Jesus Christ,
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because no matter
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what your theological view is,
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no matter what your
do good sensibilities,
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if you don't
represent Jesus accurately,
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He will likely
say, "I never knew you."
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We want the reverse.
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We want to hear Him say,
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"Well done, good
and faithful servant,
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enter thou into
the joy of the Lord."
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The ones famous author
Charles Dickens in writing
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one of his
semi-autobiographical stories
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began by saying,
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"Whether I am the
hero of my own life
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remains to be seen."
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For most of us, that's
really very much the story.
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We can't clearly judge on
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how successful we've been
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or what we're trying to do,
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or indeed how others see us.
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And when I think of
what I've been able to do
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with Liberty magazine
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and on this program,
it's harder to judge.
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All I know is that
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it's a great
privilege to pick up
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from what others have
done and carry forward
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a proclamation of
religious liberty,
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which I see is inseparable
from the Gospel Commission.
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Others will
follow it to be sure,
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but like those faithful
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mentioned in Hebrews Chapter 11,
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some of whom were cut into song,
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consumed by the flames,
all of them and hopefully,
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many of us, including
myself will hear one day,
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"Well done, good
and faithful servant."
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