Participants: Lincoln Steed
Series Code: RLIB
Program Code: RLIB000003A
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00:16 Again, it's Liberty Sabbath.
00:19 Hard to believe that a year has gone 00:21 by since I preached a sermon that went out 00:25 on the 3ABN airwaves, but it's come. 00:30 January 2017, I never thought 00:35 that I would be even alive at this time. 00:37 I can remember when I was a young boy, 00:40 my father would sing a song, he says, "It's the year 2001." 00:44 And then he would go on about how everything's happened 00:47 where we're basically in, 00:49 you know, the twilight hour of mankind, but it is 2017. 00:54 I heard a song the other day 00:57 for the probably the several hundredth times, 01:01 but it was a song that I remember very well 01:02 from the 1990s 01:04 at a Christian Booksellers Association convention, 01:09 beautifully played, 01:11 the tune I won't attempt to recreate, 01:12 but the words went this way, it says, 01:14 "We are standing on holy ground, 01:18 and there are angels all around." 01:21 We don't often think that way, but indeed there are. 01:26 And as we come into the year 2017, 01:30 not just that this is a year 01:31 I never thought I would be alive, 01:33 I mean, that's my personal story, 01:35 but when we look at history, church history, 01:38 religious liberty history, 01:39 who could believe that it's actually 500 years 01:44 since the Reformation. 01:48 This year, we'll celebrate it, 01:50 the actual technical moment is around the end of the year, 01:55 but 500 years since the Reformation. 01:59 And when I think of Martin Luther, 02:00 John Wycliffe, and other heroes like that. 02:05 To me, they're almost the angels. 02:08 If you know Martin Luther, 02:09 he wasn't a perfect human being. 02:11 In fact, the other day, 02:13 I was reading some of his writings 02:15 on the Jews, and it's not worth repeating. 02:18 He was a flawed human being, 02:20 but he led the way in an incredible revival 02:24 of religious freedom because that's really 02:27 what it was in promoting the Reformation 02:31 that was religious freedom. 02:33 In Hebrews 12:1, 02:37 Paul says... 02:40 After having spoken about 02:41 some of the heroes of his people 02:44 of the Jewish nation, 02:45 back to the Old Testament times, 02:48 he says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded 02:51 by so great a cloud of witnesses." 02:56 Angles all around. 02:57 He says, "Let us lay aside every weight and sin 03:01 which cling so closely, 03:02 and let us run with perseverance the race 03:05 that is set before us." 03:06 We've got a challenge before us. 03:08 That's what I read in his words. 03:11 Huge challenge in Paul's day. 03:13 You know, he ended up in Rome in chains. 03:16 When I was in Rome not too long ago, 03:18 I saw the chains. 03:19 You never quite know if those are the real chains, 03:22 they say they are. 03:23 But he had a challenge before him, 03:25 but the challenge was answered powerfully, 03:28 and Christianity, 03:29 religious freedom went to the furthest reaches 03:32 of the then known world, the Roman Empire. 03:36 Freedom is important. 03:40 And going again to the Bible, again to Paul, 03:42 in Galatians 5:1, he said this, 03:46 most people don't really think of it this way 03:47 when they read these texts, but he said, 03:49 "For freedom, Christ has set us free." 03:54 In other words, we've been set free 03:56 for the whole end and purpose of being free. 03:59 It's an end in itself. 04:01 And in Galatians 5:13, he says, 04:04 "For you were called for freedom, brothers." 04:09 Almost sounds a little bit like, 04:11 you know, comrades. 04:14 We're in a great endeavor. 04:16 And then in John 8:36, Jesus said, 04:19 "For if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." 04:24 I'm sure, from this pulpit, and on this occasion, 04:27 another Liberty Sabbath, I've used Acts 4, 04:31 but it's such a powerful, central, 04:34 biblical setting for religious liberty 04:37 that I have to repeat it again, link it to these texts. 04:41 When Jesus began His ministry, 04:44 He got up there in the synagogue in Nazareth, 04:49 He was invited up by the rabbi, 04:51 which was not unusual but probably a little unusual 04:54 with a single man that was an itinerant preacher 04:58 with just a few followers would be asked to read. 05:01 And so He was brought forward, 05:02 He was given the Old Testament book of Isaiah 61. 05:08 Sorry, of Isaiah, He chose chapter 61. 05:12 And in the New Testament transliteration of it... 05:15 It's interesting, it's changed a little bit. 05:17 It says that, He said and read, 05:19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me 05:22 because He has anointed Me to preach good news 05:26 to the poor." 05:27 And the other day when I was going over this, 05:29 I reminded the audience, 05:30 so we always need to keep in mind 05:32 that this sequence here is really the same thing 05:36 expressed five times, what did He say, 05:40 "He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor." 05:45 Synonym, "He has sent Me to proclaim release 05:47 to the captives 05:50 and recovering of sight to the blind, 05:55 to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 06:00 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 06:02 They are all the same thing. 06:04 They're all to do with release, freedom, and liberty. 06:08 Religious liberty, as I've said, 06:11 so many times and it impresses upon me every time 06:13 I read these 06:14 and other similar statements from Christ, 06:17 religious liberty is the gospel. 06:21 And in this 500th anniversary of the Reformation, 06:25 surely we should be impelled to present to again 06:28 the gospel not in a namby-pamby sort of a generic way 06:34 but in the same way as Paul presented it, 06:36 the same way that Luther and his peers presented it, 06:39 as a revolutionary shift 06:41 against the thinking of the present age. 06:44 And how could it be any other than that? 06:48 I know that this broadcast is going out a little wider 06:50 than just the United States, 06:51 but right now the United States is in the aftermath 06:54 of an earthshaking presidential election 06:58 and many people are still in the aftershock, 07:00 not really sure how to relate to it. 07:03 What's ahead? 07:05 And in reality, what's happened political 07:08 as well as social is a stark reminder 07:11 that people have lost their moorings. 07:14 They don't know who they are 07:16 and where there are in society at large. 07:18 They don't know... 07:20 You know, they say glibly, "Christian nation." 07:22 But are they Christians? 07:23 Is the United States a Christian nation? 07:26 No, a name only. 07:28 And unfortunately, 07:30 you know, our mortal enemies at the moment, 07:31 the Jihadis, they are prone to say 07:34 that we're the great Satan. 07:36 Well, you know, you can allow for hyperbole, 07:38 but there's a little truth in there 07:40 that we are Christians lapsed into forgetfulness, 07:45 and certainly we are Protestants. 07:47 You know, I could say generically United States 07:49 is made up of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, 07:52 and so on. 07:53 But as a society, 07:55 it's the inheritor of a Christian, 07:57 Protestant sensibility, but where is it? 08:03 Just before the election, 08:06 as soon to be as I recall this, 08:10 our soon to be president, and we wish him very well. 08:13 But he stood alongside a Catholic prelate 08:17 and then swore basically fealty to a Catholic identity. 08:21 Well, you know, more power to him, 08:23 he's the president of all people. 08:25 But the symbolism was troubling to me 08:29 as we celebrate the 500th anniversary, 08:32 Rome has every right to exist, 08:34 Roman Catholics have every right 08:36 to hold their views, 08:37 and Martin Luther had every right to separate. 08:40 But when he tried to, he was threatened with burning, 08:44 he was threatened with physical harm. 08:50 The Reformation proved something 08:53 that is being woven again around us 08:56 or proved against something 08:57 that is being woven against around us. 09:00 And I really believe 09:01 that we need to be on our guard. 09:04 This matter of freedom is central, 09:07 but how do you perceive freedom. 09:10 It's something I thought about a lot. 09:12 And I want to give an example from the Old Testament. 09:16 Again, picking up on this theme 09:17 of there are angels all around and holy ground. 09:22 Think about Moses. 09:24 You can go to Exodus 09:27 and pick up the story there in Exodus 3, 09:31 this part of the story of Moses in middle age. 09:35 And I wish all of us could have a long 09:38 and a stronger life as he did. 09:39 You know, when he died at 120. It says his eye was not dimmed. 09:43 Well, I'm forced to wear glasses. 09:46 But Moses, right till the time he died, 09:48 his vision was not dimmed, he was relatively strong. 09:51 But I want to pick out the story, 09:52 he was 80 years of age, 09:56 40 years ago, in his wild youth, 09:59 he had been a princeling in Egypt, 10:02 and that's quite a story. 10:03 If you don't know it, go to your Bible and read it. 10:06 It was a providential development 10:08 where this Hebrew slave boy, 10:11 destined to be killed by the Pharaoh soldiers 10:14 or drowned in the river was instead plucked up, 10:17 adopted by one of Pharaoh's daughters 10:19 and trained in the palace to be one of the ruling class. 10:23 And then when he discovered 10:25 who he was and presumed his destiny, 10:27 he took matters into his own hands 10:30 in a violent act 10:31 and was ejected from Egypt under pain of death, 10:34 never to return, he thought. 10:36 Went out into the desert, and, you know, I've seen 10:40 that desert down the Sinai, it's pretty much a desert. 10:45 I lived in Idaho for a while, 10:46 and that's a desert too in spots. 10:48 I wouldn't want to live in either one of those places, 10:50 but yet when Moses was, 10:53 people led out a pretty sure living, 10:55 he married the priest of Midian's daughter. 11:01 I'm trying to think of his wife, 11:02 but he married one of the daughters, 11:04 settled in there as, 11:06 I imagine, the favorite son of that family 11:09 probably to inherit the position of authority 11:12 in the nomadic people roundabout. 11:15 But he was happy enough for 40 years 11:17 to be wandering out in the desert 11:19 with his sheep thinking that he was free. 11:24 Nobody was bothering him there, he was free, 11:27 but he was in a desert. 11:29 And this is the parallel I want to bring today 11:32 that very few people would think of. 11:34 In the United States, in Australia, in England, 11:37 most Western countries 11:39 that have this Protestant tradition of freedom 11:42 that was hard won 11:45 and hard lived in its early days. 11:48 You know, the Puritans and other Protestants took 11:51 their religion seriously. 11:54 And we say glibly, "We are free." 11:57 But I believe figuratively 11:59 and perhaps even very literally, 12:00 we're in a desert, we think that we are free. 12:06 But freedom is often only in our mind 12:11 because if we acted differently, 12:13 we would be restricted. 12:15 And what Moses was able to do was to be satisfied 12:18 with a desert experience, he was satisfied to follow, 12:22 you know, the tinkling bell of a goat, 12:25 he was comfortable to forget, 12:27 on a distant shore, if you like, 12:29 there in Egypt where he once lived, 12:31 where his family still were, 12:33 he was comfortable to forget that 12:35 they were in literal slavery. 12:38 You know, in Liberty Magazine, in the last few years, 12:40 we've had cover story after cover story. 12:43 And I have one with me 12:45 that perhaps I could even put in front of the cameras, 12:47 the latest issue. 12:48 The Cries of The Persecuted. 12:51 I think that young woman's in Nigeria, Sudan, 12:55 and other places. 12:56 People are being killed for their religious identity. 12:59 People put their lives on the line for their faith. 13:03 And yet we are in our little desert 13:06 where the wind storms swirl warmly around us, 13:10 and we're not willing to recognize 13:13 what's happening there. 13:14 With Moses, it took a curious sight, 13:18 as the Bible says there in Exodus 3, it says, 13:21 "He was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, 13:24 the priest of Midian, 13:25 and he led his flock to the west side 13:27 of the wilderness." 13:28 It sounds easy, 13:30 but there was probably several days walking, 13:33 sort of picking his way from little watering hole 13:35 or a sheltered grotto under a few bushes. 13:38 There's not much water in that area, 13:40 not much to sustain you. 13:42 And it says, "He came to Horeb, the Mountain of God, 13:44 and the angel of the Lord appeared to him 13:47 in a flame of fire out of the midst of a Bush." 13:51 What would you do 13:53 if something like that happened? 13:55 If in some blinding moment of light, you were told, 13:59 religious liberty is more than just being comfortable 14:02 that you are not harassed or persecuted or imprisoned. 14:06 But it says of him, he thought I will go inside 14:08 and see this wonder, 14:10 he was not much stirred even at burning bush anymore 14:16 than in our Western comfort, we're not much stirred 14:21 about what's happening in Syria, for example. 14:24 A lot of talk in the media are about a refugee crisis 14:27 and people coming down into Europe 14:29 and destabilizing the population, 14:31 nobody asks the question 14:33 that I've read where are all the Christians. 14:37 There are 500,000 Christians in one refugee camp in Jordan, 14:42 but the Christians are not easily escaping. 14:46 This is a great and horrible persecution 14:50 in the Middle East 14:51 particularly where that's been equated 14:53 with the great persecution 14:54 in the times of the early Christian church 14:58 with the Roman emperors persecuting them. 15:00 It's just as great. 15:02 This is being characterized as the final expulsion 15:05 of the Christians from the Middle East. 15:09 And we don't hear, 15:11 and I hope though these angels all around 15:14 will at least cause us to think, 15:16 "Maybe we should step out of our comfort zone 15:18 and look at this interesting development." 15:22 It says, "The Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire. 15:25 And Moses said, 'I will turn aside 15:27 and see this sight why the bush is not burned.' 15:32 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, 15:35 God called out of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' 15:38 And he said, 'Here I am.'" 15:39 In other words, he just responded. 15:41 "Then he said, 'Don't come near, 15:44 put off your shoes from your feet for the place 15:46 on which you're standing is holy ground.'" 15:50 That song resonates with me again. 15:54 I don't think it was holy ground, 15:55 it was a desert, but it was holy 15:57 because he was in the presence of God, 16:00 he had to show respect, 16:01 he had note what was really happening. 16:04 God had grabbed his attention. 16:06 "And He said, 'I'm the God of your father, 16:09 the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 16:10 and the God of Jacob.' 16:11 And hid his face, 16:13 for he was afraid to look at God." 16:14 I don't know what Jethro's faith was, 16:17 I hardly think 16:18 he was the purest worshipper of Yahweh. 16:22 That was back with the descendants 16:24 of Joseph in Egypt. 16:27 I don't think Moses quite knew 16:30 who the God of his father was at that point. 16:32 He had lost his full sense of identity. 16:35 And if you read carefully, 16:36 and I remember a great sermon 16:38 in my youth written by H. M. S. Richards, 16:40 it was entitled The Man God Tried to Kill, 16:43 and God tried to kill Moses a little later says, 16:47 He met him on the way in the motel, 16:49 it almost says that in his lodgings 16:52 and attempted to kill him, 16:53 and he rose up and circumcised his son. 16:55 He didn't quite know what God wanted. 16:59 But God got his attention, 17:00 and this is what I want to share 17:02 as far as liberation and reformation 17:05 and a galvanizing response to the situation. 17:08 In verse 7, the Lord said, 17:11 "I have seen the affliction of my people." 17:13 I'll rephrase of it, 17:15 "I have seen the affliction of my people 17:17 who are in Egypt and have heard their cry 17:19 because of their taskmasters. 17:20 I know their suffering, 17:22 and I've come down to deliver them 17:24 out of the hand of the Egyptians 17:25 and to bring them up 17:27 out of that land to a good and broad land." 17:29 And He says, 17:30 "And now, behold the cry of the people of Israel 17:32 has come to Me, and I have seen the oppression 17:36 with which the Egyptians oppress them. 17:39 I will send you to Pharaoh." 17:42 That's the fulfillment of the holy ground, 17:45 the angels all around. 17:47 It's not just a nice song, that's a wonderful song, 17:50 I love that song, it gives me all warm fuzzies. 17:53 But, you know, when there's angels around, 17:55 as Paul said in Hebrews there, you know, "We're surrounded 18:00 by this great crowd of witnesses, 18:03 we are called upon to act in the situation. 18:06 We're called upon to put our religious liberty, 18:10 our freedom in Christ." 18:11 You know, I've set you free, for freedom I've set you free." 18:16 We're not to stay in the desert, 18:17 go back and do something for religious liberty. 18:22 You know, this is the burden 18:24 that I've had with Liberty Magazine 18:26 from the beginning. 18:27 A magazine not in its 500th year, 18:29 but it's the 111th year, and I wander through the lot. 18:34 And I know a lot of these conspiracists 18:36 who may partly be right note 18:38 that all sorts of strange goings on and deaths, 18:42 there's a 33 mixed in with it, 18:44 33 level masonry or illuminati or whatever. 18:48 Who knows? 18:50 But I think it's very significant 18:51 that Liberty Magazine is 111 years 18:54 that's 3, the trinity. 18:59 It's a very important year like 9/11 even, 1, 1, 1. 19:04 We've been around a 111 years, but we're back to one, 19:08 back to square one, we're ready to move now. 19:11 And from the beginning, 19:12 I've seen this as a magazine 19:14 that's an incredible trust given to all people 19:17 but through the Seventh-day Adventist church 19:19 because of its history, 19:20 its understanding of the liberating nature 19:22 of the times that we live in. 19:24 God has called us before the great 19:26 and final day of the Lord to do as Moses did, 19:30 "Go back into the city, go back among your peers. 19:36 Don't stay in the desert of silent, 19:39 incommunicado existence as you know 19:42 what becomes alternately a secretive cult, 19:44 you got to move out, make a difference, 19:46 proclaim liberty throughout the land." 19:49 And I've seen from the beginning 19:51 that Liberty Magazine while it's well respected way 19:54 predates anything I had to do with it, 19:56 and I hope it maintains its stance beyond, 19:58 but it makes no sense unless the magazine 20:03 is a catalyst for action. 20:06 If we're just sending comforting words, 20:09 not much good. 20:11 We do want to inform people, 20:13 we do want to motivate them though, 20:15 and we do want to activate people to action 20:18 to make a difference to prepare the way, 20:22 again, for the Lord 20:24 because the Lord's message is liberation, freedom. 20:30 There's another example of the angels all around 20:34 that I think is also relevant for us today. 20:37 And I discovered something 20:39 this one I read it again that I'd never noticed. 20:42 In 2 Kings 6, 20:48 there's a story tell that resonated with me 20:52 because I don't know about you or our viewers, 20:56 the media varies from country to country, 20:57 but I do think, in most countries, 21:00 news of the for want of a better word, 21:03 the civil war in Syria breaks through pretty regularly. 21:08 And here in 2 Kings 6, 21:10 it tells about a war with Syria. 21:14 Nothing new under the sun. 21:17 And after the great prophet Elijah 21:19 had been taken away to heaven, 21:21 his acolyte Elisha was doing just as great a deeds 21:25 and one of his deeds in the war with Syria, 21:28 he was using the Word of the Lord to his people 21:31 to explain the threat from Syria. 21:34 And, you know, I'm drawing the parallel, 21:36 but Syria was a stand in for the Godless people, 21:39 those that didn't respect the Lord 21:41 and were coming in to destroy them 21:44 and to break down their commitment to God. 21:47 And Elisha was able to tell them 21:49 what was to happen next, 21:51 that they were going to attack on this and that day, 21:55 they were going to go here, and they were avoiding it, 21:58 they were beating them. 22:00 And, you know, when I think about religious liberty, 22:03 I have a secret weapon on putting Liberty Magazine 22:05 together, I read Bible prophecy 22:08 and the writings of the early Adventist church, 22:10 and in particular, a visionary Ellen White 22:13 where she was really extrapolating Bible prophecies. 22:16 And the outline is very plain. 22:19 And as things develop in our time, 22:20 you can look ahead, 22:22 and you'll say, "Well, this will happen, 22:23 I know that this will happen." 22:25 We know that at some time, 22:27 perhaps sooner rather than later, 22:29 even in the United States 22:30 where the great constitutional separation of church and state, 22:34 even here because largely a lack of faith 22:37 and a lack of knowledge of constitutional principles, 22:41 oppressive religious laws will come to pass. 22:47 We've been told ahead of time. 22:48 And surely, we should be acting, 22:50 we should be as privileged as the people of Israel 22:54 under the Prophet Elijah 22:55 were 'cause they had advance word. 22:58 And it finally got up 22:59 to the King Ben-hadad of the Syrians. 23:01 He said, "How come? 23:03 There must be a spy in my midst, 23:05 somebody spilling the beans." 23:07 And so he cast about looking for the whistleblower 23:11 or the WikiLeaks guy. 23:14 "Who is it?" 23:16 And finally, I think probably out of desperation 23:19 'cause I don't think at first they wanted to tell the king, 23:21 they said, "Well, there's a prophet there, 23:23 Elisha, you know, he knows 23:24 what happens in your bed chamber pretty much." 23:27 So the king determined to go after this prophet. 23:31 And that's where the story gets very interesting. 23:34 It says he sent quite an army that surrounded Elisha 23:37 and his servant and probably 23:39 a few other followers surrounded them 23:42 when they were staying at little town of Dothan. 23:46 And in the morning, when they woke up, 23:49 it says in verse 15, 23:51 "When the servant of the man of God 23:55 rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army 23:59 with horses and chariots all around about the city." 24:04 They were boxed. And he said, this is Elisha. 24:08 Sorry. 24:09 "And the servant said, 'Alas, my master! 24:11 What shall we do?' 24:12 And then Elisha said, 24:14 'Fear not, for those who are with us 24:16 are more than those who are with them.'" 24:19 What evidence did Elisha have for that? 24:22 No evidence that the servant could see. 24:24 No evidence. 24:25 It seemed like a hopeless situation. 24:27 You know, and today, 24:28 I've got to say as a bit of a passing joke. 24:31 You know the Democrats have lost an election, 24:33 they think that 24:34 they'll never come to power again. 24:36 But anyone that's more than 20, 30 years old knows 24:40 that there's a seesaw of the power. 24:44 You don't need to give up. 24:47 "But he says, 'what shall we do?' 24:49 But he said, 'Fear not, those who are with us 24:50 are more than those who are with them.'" 24:52 He saw the real dynamic. 24:55 "And then Elisha prayed." 24:57 And some of the these type of prayers 24:59 in the Bible are incredible 25:01 because they're prayers based on spiritual insight, 25:04 not on hopefulness that, 25:06 you know, "God, please, please do this 25:08 if it's Your will," or whatever. 25:10 Well, yes, you pray that way. 25:11 But the true prayer of faith assumes 25:15 God will honor His promises. 25:17 "And he says, 'O Lord, I pray thee, 25:19 open his eyes that he may see.' 25:23 And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, 25:26 and behold, the mountain was full of horses 25:29 and of chariots of fire round about Elisha." 25:35 Back to the Reformation. 25:37 If we would keep in mind what happened in the past, 25:41 if we would truly study the Reformation 25:43 and know its effect 25:45 not just on the body of believers 25:47 but its effect on the world at large, 25:50 we would know 25:51 that we're inheritors of a powerful dynamic 25:54 that God has shown His hand through it. 25:57 People seem to have forgotten 25:58 what it was like in Luther's day. 26:00 First of all, they've forgotten, 26:02 Roman Catholic churches remember 26:03 that it's their prerogatives 26:05 that he was a Roman Catholic priest. 26:07 There's really nothing wrong with the present phenomenon 26:10 that we're going to see 26:11 this year of Catholics themselves 26:14 celebrating the reformers. 26:17 You know, they would accept what they stood for. 26:20 But as a continuum, yes, Martin Luther 26:23 was a Roman Catholic priest much troubled in conscience, 26:26 and as events unfolded, 26:27 he saw more and more the error of the ways 26:30 that he was part of. 26:31 There's no question of that. 26:34 But when we look at what happened in that day, 26:37 Martin Luther in breaking free from Rome broke Germany free 26:41 from the Holy Roman Empire, and Germany breaking free, 26:45 England broke free, 26:47 most of the European countries broke free, 26:50 bad things followed short term. 26:52 There was a Thirty Years' War that most people have forgotten 26:56 followed very quickly... 26:59 Well, it follow quickly after Luther, 27:01 it followed quickly after the present dynamic 27:04 when Luther reacted to Rome 27:06 because when he understood clearly 27:10 that righteous by faith was the only way to go, 27:13 the Sola Scriptura, God's Word was a safer guide 27:17 than tradition or the momentary peak 27:20 or perversity of church leaders. 27:23 He was onto something. 27:24 And he sparked a revival and rebellion, 27:29 but it was damped down because of that time. 27:33 And when I get into this, I'm always reminded, 27:36 the history is rather circular. 27:38 At that time, Europe, the Holy Roman Empire 27:41 was under mortal threat 27:43 from Islamic attack for over 100 years. 27:48 The Ottoman Turks every few months 27:51 made large scale invasions into Europe, 27:53 they besieged Vienna earlier in the piece, 27:56 the Frankish Kingdom was defended 28:00 by Charles Martel... 28:02 Heavy fighting, 28:03 they fought them back from there. 28:05 Vienna was besieged as I said, Spain fell. 28:09 And I saw a program once that the diagram there, 28:12 it wasn't even like World Wars I and II 28:16 where there were battles every now and again, 28:18 but it was just come at you all the time. 28:20 You'd fight them back, 28:22 they'd regroup and they'd come again. 28:23 It was never sure that Europe would survive. 28:27 So while that dynamic was in place, 28:29 the religious Reformation percolated 28:32 and gathered strength, 28:33 but it couldn't be dealt with as violently 28:36 as it was once the Islamic threat was passed. 28:39 But once it was passed within only about 10 28:41 or so years after 28:43 the final defeat of the Islamic threat. 28:46 Then the Thirty Years' War began, 28:48 a war of religion between new Protestant countries 28:52 and old Catholic sovereignty, Roman Catholic sovereignty. 28:55 But an easy way to see 28:56 it is the old monolithic church, 28:59 and the new vibrant Bible-based Christianity. 29:04 And 30 years of war decimated Europe 29:07 in a way that World Wars I and II didn't, 29:09 8 million people died in this religious war. 29:13 And they were nowhere near... 29:15 It was nowhere near the population in Europe 29:17 that there was in World Wars I and II. 29:19 It was so bad that the entire infrastructure 29:21 of Europe collapsed. 29:23 Famine was endemic throughout Europe. 29:27 And at the end of it all, 29:29 nations were so innovative 29:31 that they sat down and hundred 29:35 and some delegations were there... 29:37 Hundred and sixteen, I think. 29:39 But anyhow nearly 120 of the new political entities, 29:44 and they sat down 29:45 and at the Treaty of Westphalia, 29:47 they established the modern world order 29:49 that we live under now 29:51 because before that sovereign countries 29:53 were unknown in the classic sense. 29:58 It was unknown 29:59 that you would have self-determination. 30:01 It was unknown that you could be different 30:03 from the monolithic religious power 30:06 in a whole empire. 30:08 And Protestantism was politically established, 30:11 the modern world order was put in place. 30:15 And my point as we come to the 500th anniversary 30:18 of the Reformation, and the principle of freedom, 30:21 and release from the constraints 30:24 of religion and politics, 30:26 as we come to the 500th anniversary, 30:29 history is circling around again, 30:32 we're under attack from what amounts 30:34 to foreign religious forces. 30:38 We're politically innovated. 30:42 We're losing a sense of sovereignty 30:44 even as things as simple as drone attacks 30:47 and special forces in the night, 30:49 and all the rest, all of those things 30:50 as necessary as politicians may make them mean 30:53 that it's the end of the old order. 30:58 And we are facing, I believe, 31:00 a repeat of the necessity of looking to yourself 31:03 for your religious commitment 31:05 and standing on your principles. 31:08 You cannot accept any religious power that says, 31:12 "I own you," which is what is the case 31:14 in some of the Middle East countries, 31:16 for example, or even in some of the old world 31:20 religious entities 31:21 No, you stand as a sovereign entity 31:23 as the US Declaration of Independence said, 31:26 "You have unalienable rights 31:29 and obligations to honor your God." 31:34 And I hope and pray that as we sail 31:37 through this 500th anniversary, 31:39 as we sail through a new political order, 31:41 even in the United States, as we sail 31:44 through a growing ignorance of people 31:46 that might know how to circle the Internet 31:48 but don't understand the difference between truth 31:50 and error, between news and non-news, fake news, 31:53 and whatever as we arrived at a point 31:57 where people don't quite know whether, 32:00 you know, Moses was an Old 32:01 or New Testament figure, they don't know their Bible, 32:04 they don't know their theology, they, perhaps in the aggregate, 32:07 this wonderful exceptions, 32:09 don't know what it is to know God, 32:11 they don't have any sense like Moses had come 32:15 to before the bush 32:16 of the holiness of the situation 32:18 that God's principles are being worked out. 32:21 That I hope and pray that religious freedom 32:25 will have a new day and a second wind 32:29 and a refreshing in this era. 32:33 I've thought recently that, 32:35 with the election discussion going on, 32:37 there wasn't too much open talk of religious liberty, 32:42 but actually things, even in the United States, 32:44 they are moving. 32:46 Not too long before the election in Indiana, 32:50 there was a huge scandal as a piece of legislation 32:56 that even the Seventh-day Adventist Church 32:57 should be actively involved 32:58 with over the years called the Religious Freedom 33:01 Restoration Act and following an inability 33:05 to get a full federal law, 33:07 it only applied at the federal level 33:08 to federal employees. 33:10 So then in the years after the 1994, '96, 33:15 I forget the exact year, passage of the bill, 33:18 it had been decided 33:20 that we could get the same effect 33:21 by passing it state by state, 33:23 a way to show up the very rudimentary guarantee 33:28 in the constitution. 33:30 The principle was strong, but it wasn't specific enough, 33:34 20 states or actually 19 had signed up for it 33:38 until it came to Indiana in 2015. 33:44 And if you remember your news, it was a huge scandal. 33:49 The governor of that state then 33:51 who is now the vice president of the United States, 33:54 but the governor signed the bill into law, 33:57 and then all hell broke loose because it came out 34:01 that a certain faction of Christians 34:05 in the United States 34:06 or in Indiana were wanting to use that law 34:08 to empower them to be prejudicial 34:11 against some of the non-believing 34:13 or fellow citizens 34:16 who held a different moral viewpoint. 34:19 It also came out for those of us 34:21 that believe in true religious liberty 34:23 that this law was designed consciously 34:27 to be exclusive and narrow. 34:31 You know, the principle of religious liberty 34:33 that needs to be restated, it's an absolute right that you 34:36 and I need to fight for and die for if necessary. 34:40 For anybody to believe 34:42 or disbelieve anything they want, 34:44 to be absolutely unrestricted 34:46 in their practice of that faith, 34:48 no matter how puerile 34:50 and foolish I might think their faith is. 34:53 They doubtless think the same about mine. 34:55 You know, I have to be convinced, 34:57 as the Bible says. 34:58 I have to be convinced of my own mind 35:00 about God and His truth. 35:01 And, of course, in that state, I do believe I have the truth. 35:04 But when you're looking around at your fellows, 35:07 it's a dangerous assumption. 35:08 You lead directly 35:10 to the inquisition if you think, 35:11 "I have the truth, 35:13 you're an unbeliever, you're a reprobate, 35:15 you're a danger to the society, so we'll deal with you." 35:18 And the RFRA bill that came before the Indiana governor 35:25 was a step in the wrong direction. 35:27 In my view, 35:29 coming to the United States as I did 35:30 when I was 16 back in the civil rights era, 35:33 it was straight back to the era where you would see signs out 35:37 front of certain restaurants naming an ethnic group 35:43 and a religious group, "Not allowed here. 35:45 We do not serve you." 35:48 And I can remember that there were taxes given 35:50 to back up that view. 35:53 So we were rolling back now nearly two years ago 35:57 to that sort of dynamic 35:59 under the guise of religious liberty. 36:01 And as I've watched it since, not much discussion, 36:05 but in reality, the logic of religious liberty 36:09 in the US and in the West generally is shifting 36:12 from a general religious liberty, 36:15 the Protestant viewpoint 36:16 that inadvertently Martin Luther 36:19 and others broke their own rule on occasions, 36:21 but the Protestant viewpoint that we're all sovereign beings 36:23 and can believe whatever we move 36:26 to by the Spirit of God. 36:28 We're moving away from that to a narrow entitlement, 36:35 which comes easy to a nation under threat, 36:38 to a society that fears another religious group, 36:42 it came easy in Luther's time. 36:46 The Council of Trent 36:49 still is binding 36:54 to the Roman Catholic community. 36:58 And the Council of Trent, if you go back and read, 37:00 it was a council that made determinations 37:03 based on the sense of imminent threat, 37:07 it was feeling weak, so it lashed out. 37:10 And I believe the great danger is that our weakened spiritual 37:14 state in the West, our forgetful state 37:18 where we don't remember the Reformation very well 37:21 and yet our true dangerous situation 37:24 from threats within and without will lead us 37:27 to more and more of this narrow, 37:30 narrow religious entitlement, which is not religious liberty 37:34 and has no holy presence surrounding it. 37:39 It's a desert experience. 37:41 It will not lead to the flourishing of religion 37:45 as the Reformation certainly did. 37:53 Thinking again of songs, years ago, 37:59 when I lived in Idaho, 38:01 I was flying back to Salt Lake City once. 38:05 I won't tell the whole story because I think I shared it 38:06 in another sermon once, 38:08 but I had a very powerful experience 38:10 coming down to that city in the sunlight 38:12 and a whole bunch of young people 38:14 that were excited to see their spiritual city, 38:18 they got so excited, they started singing, 38:21 they were a choir, and they sang, 38:22 and the stewardesses and all of us on the plane 38:27 were just quivering with excitement 38:29 to see the enthusiasm of young people. 38:32 And I went later to try to find that song on the Internet, 38:35 instead I found another song 38:37 that I think applies to all of us, 38:39 and as a Seventh-day Adventist, I find it resonates 38:42 because Seventh-day Adventism 38:44 was founded on many of the principles 38:47 of the Reformation, 38:48 not least of which was a sense of the imminence 38:51 or the return of Jesus Christ. 38:53 There was an apocalyptic element 38:56 to the Reformation. 38:57 And this song, put it this way, 39:00 it says, "When you see the storm is coming, 39:05 and the storm is coming." 39:07 I probably spend way too much time on the Internet 39:09 for my own good, 39:14 but yesterday, as I was driving, 39:17 now that I think of it, on my trip, I went scanning, 39:20 and I saw the planet Nibiru was coming close 39:23 and the poles are going to realign, 39:26 whether it's true or not, who knows. 39:28 Tens of thousands of people, you know, drink this stuff up, 39:31 the Antarctic is splitting in two, 39:35 the world is in a phase of global warming. 39:38 Some people think it's not true, 39:41 that could eventually fulfill what the Bible says, 39:45 "The Sun will get seven times hotter." 39:47 The economy is collapsing. 39:52 Efforts are underway to replace 39:53 the dollar with another currency. 39:55 You know, all of these things 39:57 that are the signs of the storm, 40:01 and the Bible says, 40:02 Men's hearts failing them for fear, 40:04 for what is coming on the earth." 40:08 But the song said, 40:10 "When you see the storm is coming, 40:11 see the lightning path, the stars, 40:15 what you do then is remember. 40:18 Hold on, child. 40:20 Hold on to what you know is true. 40:23 Hold on till you get through. Hold on. Hold on. 40:27 The night will soon be past, it will soon be by. 40:31 Child, hold on, there's angels on the way." 40:37 We have to have that element. 40:39 You know, in arguing for religious liberty, 40:41 it's bigger than Holy Writ. 40:44 I mean, it derives from Holy Writ, 40:45 it derives from a holy person, He's Jesus in Nazareth. 40:48 But the principle exists on its own 40:51 in a secular environment, 40:52 it's logical as human beings that have self-respect 40:57 that have a history of breaking free 40:59 of all sorts of darkness of the Dark Ages, and of the... 41:05 You know, in a period where serfs 41:07 and others had no rights. 41:09 Any human being would aspire 41:12 to what religious liberty grants you. 41:14 The right to think and act as your conscience dictates. 41:18 But as we come into this era, 41:20 I think those that have a religious sensibility, 41:23 those that base it, 41:24 as the reformers did, on the Bible, 41:27 we need to stir ourselves, not just remember history. 41:32 That's a pretty good reminder, 41:33 but remember the dynamic of history, 41:36 remember what impels history forward, 41:38 it's God, it's the angels, it's the holy presence. 41:43 Without that, we're just people going through the motions. 41:47 I remember reading in C.S. Lewis once, 41:50 and I don't appreciate everything he wrote, 41:52 but he was one of the great thinkers of Christianity 41:56 over 100 years or so ago. 41:59 And C.S. Lewis said that... 42:02 "Imagine the disappointment," he said, 42:03 "of a revolutionary who moved heaven and earth 42:06 and killed people and disrupted a country 42:08 because of his goal 42:09 to establish communism or some-ism, 42:13 and yet then when the Lord comes, 42:15 He discovers that it was all for nothing." 42:19 You know, that's got to be very off putting for people 42:22 like Fidel Castro who died recently. 42:27 It was obvious that in his old age 42:29 where he brought the pope in and others 42:31 and was toying with religion 42:33 that he was having second thoughts 42:35 about his secular revolutionary endeavor. 42:39 And many people, you know, without God, 42:42 they have principles of a sort, they have goals of a sort, 42:45 but they don't usually stand the test of time. 42:50 But when we look back on the Reformation 42:52 and this powerful call for freedom 42:55 that shook the world, 42:57 reshaped the world and still lingers with us 42:59 in the history and in the principles, 43:02 even some of them have found their way 43:04 into the principles of governance 43:06 even of the Western world. 43:08 They can't be shucked aside because God is there 43:12 and the holy angels are gathered about, 43:15 the heroes of past ages surround us. 43:18 How could we neglect this? 43:21 It's like Joseph when he went to Egypt, he says, 43:25 "You know, how can I do this great sin 43:28 against God to deny religious liberty 43:32 to allow our fellows to..." 43:36 We're in Iraq recently and probably some still, 43:38 "to be crucified, to be beheaded, 43:42 and not be greatly stirred?" 43:48 You know, at one level, we can't do a lot, 43:50 but we can do something. 43:52 You know, I'd miss the chance if I didn't say, 43:55 you can send Liberty Magazine... 43:57 That's the smaller start. 43:59 And this is why, 44:01 you know, this sermon is right now. 44:03 We have an emphasis, get started, 44:05 do a little thing first but do something. 44:10 If you do nothing, 44:12 the principle applies to many things, 44:14 but on this, with the vengeance, 44:16 you do nothing, your heart has hardened, 44:20 and you will, after a while, not see as Moses did, 44:23 you won't see or figuratively hear 44:28 the cries that are coming from Egypt. 44:33 I said I learned something 44:35 when I was reading there in 2 Kings. 44:39 After the servant saw the chariots in the hills... 44:45 I'm sure they were the same chariots 44:46 that took Elijah to heaven, 44:47 and who knows, perhaps Elijah was there 44:50 with them to witness a powerful moment. 44:54 "But the Syrians," it says, "came down against him, 44:58 and Elisha prayed to the Lord and he said, 44:59 'Strike this people, I pray, Thee, with blindness.'" 45:05 He didn't think of the alternates, 45:07 he had prayed first that his servant 45:09 would be given spiritual sight, but now he prays 45:14 that the avenging wicked army will be struck with blindness, 45:17 which they were and stumbled into the city. 45:20 And the servant wasn't quite converted, 45:23 and he says, "Kill them." 45:24 And Elisha spared them all and sent them back 45:26 with the word to their king that they'd been spared. 45:31 Figuratively, 45:32 as well as literally, it is true. 45:34 If we focus on the real principle 45:37 of religious liberty, 45:38 if we focus on the real power of God, 45:40 we will have a blinding vision of clarity 45:44 that will empower us to do something. 45:46 But if we deny it, if we think there's no problem 45:51 and spiritually shut our eyes, I believe, 45:54 we'll literally be shut off 45:56 from an awareness of what's really happening. 45:59 What does the Bible say at the very end of times? 46:02 Jesus said, like the days of Noah, 46:05 people marrying and giving in marriage right up 46:07 till the moment the flood came. 46:08 And people will say all things continue 46:13 as they have from the beginning. 46:15 How could you do that? 46:17 It's obvious, from Revelation in particular, 46:21 that every power, political powers 46:24 and economic powers 46:26 and the powers of nature, they're to be shaken, 46:28 everything is in a tumult, 46:30 but some people still will think 46:33 it's just business as usual. 46:35 And I don't know if it's the best illustration 46:38 but, you know, at least in our day, 46:40 no global warming, you know, it's just... 46:42 It's drier than it's been before, 46:44 it's hotter than it's ever been before, 46:45 but it's coincidence. 46:48 No, we need to see what's happening. 46:51 And if we're in tune with God's principles, 46:54 if we remember how God worked through that cloud of witnesses 46:57 in the past, 46:59 we will see the challenge that's before us is imminent, 47:02 it demands our attention. 47:05 And yes, we live in the United States, 47:08 in particular, and where I came from in Australia 47:11 and some other countries, 47:12 we live in privileged situations, 47:15 we can't dismiss it totally, but in some ways, 47:18 that's the more dangerous position 47:21 because your attention 47:23 is not galvanized to this eternal principle. 47:26 And I've said something 47:27 before even in Seventh-day Adventist churches, 47:30 but I'd say at any church because Jesus said this. 47:34 If even in a free country like the United States, 47:37 even in a nominally enlightened 47:43 Protestant church, 47:45 if you live a truly godly life, 47:48 if you live before God 47:50 as though everything is about to be held to account, 47:52 if you are so committed that things of the Lord 47:54 are more important, then... 47:57 As Jesus said, 47:58 "If you love father, mother, son, or daughter 48:00 more than Me, you're not worthy of Me." 48:02 Doesn't mean you love them less, 48:04 but you love the Lord more. 48:05 I believe, even in those situations, 48:09 even in good countries, even in good churches, 48:11 you will be harassed and ostracized. 48:15 Religious liberty is not just something for, 48:19 you know, the savages over there 48:22 where it's so patently absurd to try to act different. 48:27 There's a statistic 48:28 that I know I've mentioned before, 48:30 but it needs to be repeated that 70% to 73% 48:34 of the world's population live 48:36 under a severe restriction of religious liberty. 48:40 Hard to believe. 48:41 But I'm quite certain, 48:43 if you go to many of those countries 48:44 that are under the 70%, 73% and you tell them, 48:48 they would be quite shocked to know 48:50 that they're restricted 48:52 because it's never crossed their mind to question 48:55 the status quo. 48:58 I know I gave this example before, 48:59 but it's so powerful, it just resonates with me. 49:02 I was listening to BBC once, and they were interviewing 49:06 the foreign minister from the Maldives, 49:08 a little country that we should pray for 49:10 because they're about to be washed away 49:12 with rising ocean. 49:13 There are only low-lying islands 49:15 that have already pretty much got Dutch-type barriers to keep 49:18 the water out of the streets. 49:20 And the foreign minister, as he was paid to do, 49:23 was painting a very good picture of the country 49:25 and said they had religious freedom. 49:28 A 100% Muslim country, and the interviewer said, 49:33 "But I'm a Christian, if I went to your country, 49:36 would I be allowed to practice my faith?" 49:38 And the foreign minister was quite insulted, 49:41 he says, "Certainly not." 49:43 He says, "We might as well invite Al-Qaeda 49:46 into our country as to allow that." 49:49 Not religious liberty there, but he said they have it, 49:52 and I'm sure if you were in that country, 49:53 they'd probably celebrate it. 49:55 And I've thought this many, many times, 49:58 the echo chamber is not a good way 50:02 to know truth 50:03 or certainly a poor way to know the will of God. 50:07 You know, we can be in a country 50:08 that is always announcing itself 50:11 as a Christian nation 50:13 while our history would lead you 50:14 to think that way, 50:16 but it never was structurally a Christian nation, 50:18 and belatedly or unhappily, 50:20 it's not a Christian society in the aggregate anymore. 50:25 But you can easily be in assemblies 50:29 where everyone will say, "We are Christians, 50:32 you know, this is a Christian nation, 50:33 or we are the free." 50:35 Just because others 50:37 yell it around you doesn't make it so. 50:42 We have to look at God's leading. 50:45 We have to critically look at even human history 50:49 in the light of these presences that are around us. 50:52 And to know that we're in the presence 50:54 of a Holy God 50:55 who has dealt with this in the past, 50:57 who has given principles of freedom that transcend 51:00 the present tumults and scandals. 51:06 I try to be consistent, and I love Spurgeon, 51:10 the best Baptist preacher of a century ago. 51:15 He had powerful sermons, and I'm risking. 51:18 In fact, I'm not risking, 51:20 I'm doing what all preachers do, 51:21 mix my metaphors. 51:23 But I want to read a couple of sentences 51:25 that he wrote about stand fast, but he uses a sailing imagery, 51:30 I've used a desert imagery 51:31 before and holy ground, and so on. 51:33 But here, exhorting God's people 51:36 or anybody that wants to be true to conscience 51:39 and stay the course uses this imagery. 51:42 And this is what he says, 51:43 "I will put the exhortation thus 51:45 'Stand fast doctrinally.' 51:49 In this age all the ships in the waters 51:51 are pulling up their anchors, 51:53 they are drifting with the tide, 51:54 they are driven about with every wind." 51:58 He couldn't have thought so when he said that, 51:59 but I think of all the ideologies are changing, 52:02 communism is either or gone or in a perverse caricature 52:07 of what it used to be 52:09 when you look at China and other places. 52:12 Democracy is not what people think it is. 52:16 Even during the election, people say, 52:17 "How come someone won with not a majority?" 52:20 This is not a democratic country. 52:22 It's a representative government. 52:24 But people are drifting away from all sorts of anchors 52:29 or sureties that they had, 52:30 not least of which religious faith 52:32 and religious identity. 52:35 And he says, "It is your wisdom to put down more anchors." 52:40 And he says, "I will not budge an inch 52:41 from the old doctrine for any man. 52:44 Now that the cyclone is triumphant 52:46 over many a bowing wall and tottering fence, 52:51 those who are built 52:52 upon the one foundation must prove 52:54 its value by standing fast. 52:56 We will hearken to no teaching but that of the Lord Jesus." 52:59 Sounds like Martin Luther, 53:01 and I will read his summation there in a moment. 53:04 He says, "If you see a truth to be in God's Word, 53:07 grasp it by your faith, and if it be unpopular, 53:12 grapple it to you as with hooks of steel. 53:16 If you are despised as a fool for holding it, 53:19 hold to it the more. 53:20 Like an oak, take deeper root, 53:22 because the winds would tear you 53:23 from your place. 53:24 Defy reproach and ridicule, 53:26 and if you have already vanquished it. 53:29 It stand fast, like the British squares 53:33 in the olden times." 53:34 I noticed the other day that our new President Trump 53:37 talking about his mother, 53:39 he said she just loved the Queen 53:41 and all the British royalty, 53:42 she was enamored of all of that. 53:45 Lot of the older generation were that way, 53:46 here the British squares 53:49 predated the American imperial adventures, 53:55 but the British squares just like the Roman Legions, 53:58 were pretty well led and stood. 54:01 He said, "Stand fast like the British squares 54:02 in the olden times. 54:04 When fierce assaults were made 54:05 upon them every man seemed transformed to rock. 54:08 We might have wandered from the ranks 54:10 a little in more peaceful times 54:12 to look after the fascinating flowers 54:14 which grow on every side of our march, 54:16 but now we know that the enemy surrounds us, 54:19 we keep strictly on the line of march 54:21 and tolerate no roaming. 54:23 The watchword of the host of God 54:25 just now is 'Stand fast!' 54:28 Hold you to the faith once delivered to the saints. 54:31 Hold fast the form of sound words, 54:34 and deviate not one jot or tittle there from." 54:39 Don't hear that sort of stuff anymore. 54:41 Instead you hear so-called representatives 54:44 of Protestant factions getting together 54:47 and deciding their political course, 54:49 deciding how they can all sort of squash down 54:53 their differences 54:54 and pass themselves off as one single entity. 54:58 I had a discussion with the... 55:02 I'm trying to think what his title was, 55:04 but he was the second in command 55:07 of a large faction of the Episcopal church, 55:11 and he repeated some words 55:13 that have been said publicly from Rome 55:15 before that doctrine's not important. 55:18 And he said, "We need to unite on doctrine, 55:20 we're not saved on doctrine." 55:24 And I said, "It's true." 55:26 But I said, "Doctrine is sort of the skeleton of your faith." 55:29 "No, it doesn't matter?" 55:32 And so I said, "Well, maybe 55:33 we should do away with the doctrine 55:35 of transubstantiation." 55:37 And he got quite excited that, he says, 55:39 "Oh, no, they've done a DNA test 55:41 of the wafer elevated, 55:43 and it tested positive for the DNA 55:45 of a 30-year-old Middle Eastern man." 55:48 You know, you believe that you'll drink Kool-Aid. 55:52 But we do need to stand for something. 55:56 Religious progress is not made by syncretism, 56:00 never has been and never will be. 56:03 Martin Luther, as I said before, 56:07 put himself on the line, and because of that, 56:11 I could forgive him a lot of bias 56:13 on how he related to the peasants 56:15 and even the Jews that brought before the Emperor, 56:19 the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 56:22 and all the representatives of Rome come there 56:24 to send him to the stake. 56:27 He concluded by saying, "Since your serene majesty 56:30 and your lordships seek a simple answer, 56:33 I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. 56:37 Unless I am convinced 56:39 by the testimony of the Scriptures 56:41 or by clear reason for I do not trust either in the pope 56:45 or in councils alone, 56:47 since it is well known that they have often erred 56:48 and contradicted themselves, I am bound by the Scriptures. 56:53 I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. 56:57 I cannot 56:58 and I will not retract anything, 57:00 since it is neither safe nor right to go 57:03 against conscience. 57:04 May God help me." 57:06 And that's about as good a summation 57:08 as you can get for religious liberty 57:09 and how we should stand true 57:11 to conscience, true to the Lord. 57:14 We're standing on holy ground. 57:17 This is a holy day as people think within my church, 57:22 the Seventh-day Adventist church 57:24 particularly about religious liberty, 57:26 this is the moment... 57:27 I think it was Joshua who said, "Choose you this day." 57:30 Are you going to support the Lord? 57:31 Are you going to support religious liberty? 57:33 If not, maybe it never comes again, 57:36 maybe the question is never given to you again. 57:38 This is the moment. 57:40 And if the things that are happening 57:42 in the world don't stir you now. 57:44 Maybe they never will. 57:49 Isn't that pretty much what Martin Luther... 57:51 He says, "Here I stand, so help me God." 57:54 God will help us. 57:55 God will speak from the burning bush 57:58 or the quiet moment, God will speak 58:00 because religious liberty is vital. |
Revised 2018-11-19