Participants:
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000958
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01:01 Hello, friends and welcome to Thompsonville,
01:03 Illinois and also the 3ABN Worship Center 01:06 where the Lord has a meal prepared for you, 01:08 a spiritual meal and we like to welcome you. 01:11 As the Lord is going to give you a sharper vision 01:14 of what's happening in our world today, 01:16 not only in the United States, but movements 01:18 taking place around our world as it pertains to 01:21 Religious Liberty. Our guest speaker for today 01:24 is Lincoln Steed, one who has spend many, 01:26 many years not only in Washington, 01:28 in the house of congress understanding and the 01:30 movements, a politics and religion, 01:33 but one who knows the Lord and he is a 01:35 Christian and today God has given him 01:37 a message entitled Back to Egypt. 01:42 Religion Freedom, there's really nothing more 01:46 basic to a Christian. And in fact, 01:49 there's nothing more basic to anybody who has 01:51 a faith in Religious Freedom, but I was 01:55 disturbed only a few days ago to hear a 01:58 report from the Pew Forum for religion based 02:01 in Washington D.C. an internationally recognized 02:04 study organization. And the Pew Forum says 02:07 that 70% of the world's population live under 02:12 severe civil and religious restrictions. 02:16 So, Religious Freedom is not something as 02:19 Americans often tell themselves and others 02:21 and privileged maybe western countries that 02:24 you know we have it, one day we may lose it. 02:27 Many people in the world do not have it now. 02:32 It's my privilege to edit Liberty Magazine. 02:36 A magazine produced by the Seventh-day 02:38 Adventist Church, but distributed widely 02:41 starting from the President of United States, 02:43 the Prime Minister of Canada and in particular 02:46 these countries in North America are targeted, 02:48 politicians, lawyers, judges, mayors and so on 02:52 we want these thought leaders to read about 02:56 our principles of Religious Freedom. 02:58 And the reason that I'm on 3ABN right now 03:00 apart from our regular Liberty Insider programs. 03:04 I want to bring before not just my fellow 03:06 Seventh-day Adventist Church, but all people 03:08 around the world who would watch a program 03:10 like this, who value their Religious Freedom. 03:16 They may not be, you may not be religious, 03:18 but you have to know that when there's 03:20 restrictions on such a basic human activity, 03:24 no human activity is safe. And as a Christian 03:28 as the Seventh-day Adventist I know how 03:30 important it is to exercise our God given 03:33 Religious Freedom. I do want to encourage those 03:36 here in, in our audience and of course those 03:39 who are listening, and watching on television, 03:42 if you can support what we do with the Religious 03:44 Liberty, now is the time to do it. 03:48 There is no budget; there is no allocation that 03:51 we get that enables us to do what, what we do. 03:54 It's only as people are moved at this time of the 03:57 year to facilitate the distribution of daily two 04:00 hundred thousand copies of Liberty Magazine. 04:03 Every issue that this does indeed happen. 04:08 I've been traveling a lot the last few weeks 04:10 and my family is starting to wonder if I maybe 04:13 coming home. And in fact, I'll be flying home 04:16 late tonight and it'll be about the third day and 04:19 the third evening in the year that I'll be home. 04:21 I've been to Australia back where I came from; 04:24 I've been to Guatemala, where my wife's family 04:27 come from. And my wife grew up. 04:30 I've been all over the United States already, 04:32 backwards and forwards on the plane, 04:34 speaking about Religious Liberty and every time 04:38 I've spoken this year I've started off with an 04:42 example that has moved me as nothing has moved 04:44 me in the last few years because just as the 04:47 year ended, the closing days of 2009, 04:52 I remember sitting in a Church in the Washington 04:55 D.C. area, the Metropolitan Church and 04:58 with several hundred other people listening 05:02 to the life of a great Religious Liberty worker 05:05 portrayed in testimony and, and some of it was 05:08 by video, some of it was written. 05:10 And there in front of us in a, in a coffin, 05:14 an open coffin which doesn't suite my 05:16 Australian sensibilities, but it's very common in 05:18 the United States, I saw a, a great colleague of 05:21 mine Dr. Adrian Westney. A Religious Liberty 05:24 leader from the Columbia Union of the 05:28 Seventh-day Adventist on the East coast. 05:31 For ten years, since I've been editing Liberty 05:32 Magazine, I've been become used to appearing 05:35 with, with Adrian on his weekly Religious Liberty 05:39 television, Religious Liberty Radio Broadcast. 05:43 I become used to hearing his voice on the 05:45 phone saying, where can you go? 05:47 Are you, you free on such a day to talk about 05:49 Religious Liberty and other times he'd call up 05:51 and say, have you heard such and such, 05:54 either a law that might restrict Religious Liberty 05:57 in this country in the United States, 05:59 or something that was happening elsewhere. 06:02 He was a man that lived and breathed the 06:05 principles of Religious Liberty, he was also a 06:07 man that showed I believed in his life that 06:10 God honored such a commitment because 06:12 when I began editing Liberty Magazine just a 06:15 little over ten years ago, within a few weeks 06:19 we were startled to discover that Dr. Westney 06:22 had terminal cancer and was given just a few 06:24 weeks to live. And I remember we all prayed, 06:27 we all prayed that the Lord would spare him to 06:29 work more vigorously and, and for a little while 06:31 longer for Religious Liberty and God's prayers 06:34 were surely answered, because just toward 06:36 the end of last year I think it was late October 06:39 as he and I recorded some messages. 06:41 I remember asking him, how his health was? 06:44 And I said you know, God, God has spared you 06:47 for nearly ten years, it's a great miracle. 06:51 And we agreed on that. And then in the next 06:53 few weeks unknown to me he kept very quiet 06:55 about it, his health suddenly tumbled and there 06:59 about 4 or 5 days before Christmas we were 07:01 gathered to celebrate his life and to commit his, 07:05 his life record for the Lord's keeping. 07:08 As I looked there and saw him in that open 07:11 coffin and heard, heard all the testimonials, 07:14 I thought how different is it from some other 07:17 belief systems? You know, I had the thing as 07:19 the Seventh-day Adventist where we have 07:21 such remembrance and a proclamation of 07:25 Revelation chapter 14, I had to think there in 07:28 verse 13, close to the messages of those 07:31 Three Angels it says: Blessed are the dead 07:33 who die in the Lord from now on that they may 07:36 rest from their labors, and their works follow 07:40 them. You know I thought of older belief systems. 07:43 You know, what about Ancient Egypt that figures 07:45 so prominently in Old Testament history. 07:48 In Egypt, you would be taken to the after life 07:55 by a whole system of embalmment and of 07:57 worship and of, and of making little motifs 08:03 and boats and preparing for the voyage, 08:05 it was almost as if their entire life was to 08:08 prepare them for the projection into an after 08:11 life that they hoped for, but they knew nothing 08:13 about. And we're inclined as Christians and 08:18 people of faith and now we're to think that 08:20 Egypt was not a religious culture, 08:22 it was most religious, too religious. 08:27 They believed in as many as two hundred 08:29 deities, but they really didn't believe in the God 08:34 that created heaven and earth. 08:37 Sometime ago, when I was casting about in, 08:39 in my study of literature I came across a poem 08:42 by D.H. Lawrence and when I was growing up 08:44 in Australia I just remember D.H. Lawrence is 08:46 the author of a book called Lady Chatterley's 08:50 Lover that was banned there and I've never 08:51 read it. And I don't really care to read that sort 08:54 of thing, but when I came across a poem 08:56 written by D.H. Lawrence in his last year 08:59 of life as he was dying from cancer. 09:02 I read it with interest and I saw there that 09:04 this man like many people in the world around 09:07 us without a real comprehension of God was 09:10 reaching out to these, these false philosophies 09:13 that Egypt exemplified, and he spoke there 09:15 metaphorically about preparing the soul for it's 09:18 journey to another life and he, and he said with 09:22 some truth that the only thing that could be 09:24 taken on their journey to the great beyond 09:27 through this little bark that he likened to the 09:29 Egyptian boats was the character, 09:32 the character that had been prepared in his 09:34 life and, and as I read his poem, 09:36 I know that he had no comprehension of God 09:38 and even though he figured out the value of 09:40 character was really in absolute desperation 09:43 about this voyage to nothing this as he pointed 09:46 it out, pointed it out, but of course we're not 09:49 on a voyage to nothingness. And of 09:51 course he was right about character. 09:54 As the Bible says, their works follow them, 09:58 there's a reason that we're here. 09:59 And it's not for a, a dark voyage across that 10:02 that river and, and you know, in a dismal 10:05 progression through the cavalcade of the Gods. 10:08 No, we are prepared to proclaim in the light 10:12 that Jesus said, something important about 10:14 the freedom that He has given to us, 10:16 and to be witnessing in this life and preparing 10:19 for a, a great bright beautiful life to come. 10:25 I was watching television recently and not 10:29 3ABN which I often watch, but I was watching 10:31 television and there was a, a, a wonderful 10:34 sequence where a musical group played a 10:37 song and we had a fantastic song before I 10:40 got up to speak and I appreciated that, 10:42 but the song that I saw was a, a negro 10:44 spiritual that I've heard many times over the 10:46 years, but it was well presented by this group 10:49 and it's a song that resonates with me, 10:51 it says: Go down Moses, way down in Egypt 10:56 land Tell old Pharaoh, let My people go. 11:02 And you don't have to be very perceptive. 11:06 Amazingly the, the slave owners didn't seem to 11:07 be perceptive enough to grasp, but you don't 11:09 have to be so perceptive to realize that 11:11 there was a double meaning in the, but the 11:14 ultimate meaning in that hymn and that's negro 11:16 spiritual was that yes, we live in a land of 11:20 bondage and we need to tell Moses. 11:24 Or we need to be a Moses to go down to Egypt 11:27 and say, let my people go, we must have liberty, 11:31 we must have freedom. Even in Egypt, 11:34 even in a Religious Center. I shocked a 11:39 number of our Religious Liberty attendees 11:41 at a, at a regional conference in, in the 11:45 Dominican Republic, not too many months ago. 11:48 And the Dominica is right across the mountain 11:50 on the same island as, as Haiti where we, 11:52 we're transfixed to watch that incredible 11:54 tragedy unfold. But in the Dominican Republic 11:57 we spoke about Religious Liberty and I got up 11:59 and I said there is way too much religion in 12:02 this country, in this world, way too much 12:06 religion, but not enough spirituality. 12:10 And that's really the case with Religious Liberty. 12:13 Those who don't understand what religion 12:16 is about, but just think that it's a, an activity 12:18 of humanity and even those that are convinced 12:20 that it's a necessary activity of humanity, 12:23 or often those who are most incline to restrict 12:26 someone else's practice of that thing because 12:29 they become convinced that they know how 12:30 to do it better. But those who understand 12:34 that it's our spiritual obligation to God and that 12:38 God determines how we respond. 12:41 Not another fellow human being, 12:42 those people will defend it vigorously. 12:46 Our Bible reading as we began this, this 12:48 worship period today was from Exodus 12:52 chapter 3 and it's a story everybody knows well. 12:56 I grew up hearing that story, 12:57 I grew up reading about it in Uncle Arthur's 13:00 Bible stories, but it never ceases to impress 13:05 me as a model of how we should behave. 13:10 You know Moses, think about Moses, 13:12 like many of us. He had been exposed to the, 13:16 the greatest education, the greatest privileges 13:19 that the world of his day could give to him. 13:21 We haven't grown up in a palace, 13:23 but many of us compared to others in the 13:25 world literally have been spoiled and pampered 13:28 and, and given advantages that others 13:30 don't have. We think we know a lot about the 13:34 world, not just electronics and scientific 13:36 advances and so on, but we think we understand 13:39 the philosophy of what makes the world tick. 13:42 We've been educated. And yet in many different 13:47 ways God has to be bring us as He did with 13:50 Moses to an understanding of that our 13:53 way of looking at stuff is not usually right. 13:57 Moses knew as we do, as I remind myself all 14:00 the time that God had a purpose for his life. 14:04 We have to believe that or else life is, is just 14:06 nihilistic and aimless. Of course, God has a 14:09 purpose for our life, but you know, 14:13 as you look back through the history of 14:14 religious dealings in the Middle Ages, 14:16 for example you know, priests and Pilates and 14:20 fanatics of various types were convinced of 14:23 that and they persecuted, they harmed other 14:25 people, they restricted the knowledge of faith, 14:27 that's not enough to believe that God has a 14:30 purpose in your life, it's most important that 14:33 you meet God and understand viscerally what 14:36 He is and what He wants for you. 14:39 And when God didn't, when Moses didn't 14:41 understand that you know, He was self-centered 14:43 enough to even strike against those who were 14:46 harming God's people, he killed a man. 14:50 And I don't think the, the Bible record says 14:52 he did it selfishly, he didn't do it self 14:55 centeredly, he did it with an honest application 14:58 of religious fervor, but it was wrong, 15:02 as most religious persecution is. 15:05 And he fled for his life and spent almost an 15:08 equal amount in the desert as he would spend 15:11 in training in Egypt. And here at the end of 15:13 that long period of surging as the shepherd 15:16 in the desert you know, in the shadow of God's 15:19 Holy Mountain, if you like it, I'm not really sure 15:21 he knew much about that mountain till this 15:23 moment. He comes face-to-face with God, the 15:27 burning fire. It troubles me a little bit in 15:35 many Churches and sometimes even in my own 15:37 Adventist Churches to go there and hear 15:39 people express a relationship to God that's 15:43 overly familiar like he is a Hail-fellow-well-met. 15:47 God wants our good; God is our Father as 15:50 Jesus said, Abba. God is a benevolent Father 15:55 and a protector of all those that seek Him, 15:58 but He is not to be try for worth. 16:00 And Moses had to learn that lesson, 16:03 there as He saw that burning bush and He 16:05 drew close at a curiosity. I go again to those 16:11 verses, in verse 2 it says: And the Angel of 16:14 the Lord. And we know that's capitalized A, 16:18 that was God. We believe as Christian 16:22 Seventh-day Adventist that was Jesus appearing 16:25 there to Him: Appeared to him in a flame of 16:27 fire from the midst of a bush. He looked, 16:30 and behold, the bush would burning with fire, 16:32 but the bush was not consumed. 16:33 Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and 16:36 see this great sight, why the bush does not 16:39 burn? He still just wanted to figure out the 16:42 wise and way-fores of religion. 16:44 Basically a little experiment on the divine 16:48 of the supernatural and it says: When the 16:50 Lord saw that he turned aside to look, 16:53 God called to him from the midst of the bush 16:54 and said, "Moses, And he said, "Here I am." 16:59 And then God said: Counter intuitive, 17:02 do not draw near to this place. Take your 17:04 sandals off your feet, for the place where 17:07 you stand is holy ground. And that was 17:12 the beginning of Moses rehabilitation that was 17:14 the beginning of His empowerment to go back 17:18 to Egypt. The place that He had served God 17:21 to the, to the point of murder, to the place 17:24 where He realized that He had, He had a, 17:26 a destiny, but He never realized that it was 17:29 only fulfilled in God, through the place where 17:32 He was convicted that His people were in 17:34 slavery wrongly, but He didn't know how God 17:37 would release them. And it's amazing there to 17:40 hear the dialogue there in between Moses and 17:43 the angel of the Lord therein the desert, 17:46 this broken man, I believe he was about 17:49 80 years old and I don't know when they're 17:52 80 and I can feel my strength ebbing away, 17:54 what that this man you know, hobbling 17:57 behind the, the sheep. It does say, 18:00 later on when he died at a 120 that his eye 18:02 wasn't dim and you know his strength hadn't 18:04 abated, I'm not so sure that was true at this 18:06 point. Moses was basically a lost man. 18:13 And God said to him, I have surely heard the 18:17 cry of my people. In verse 7, I have surely 18:20 seen the oppression of my people who are in 18:22 Egypt and have heard their cry. 18:26 And when I deal with Religious Liberty issues 18:28 I pray that those that support Liberty 18:30 Magazine and those that haven't taken the 18:32 chance will remind themselves of that, 18:34 it's not just an abstraction when people 18:37 are denied their Religious Freedoms. 18:40 It is as real as those slaves who are 18:43 burdened day and night by the lash, by the, 18:48 you know the persecution, by the 18:50 you know the killing as we know when, when 18:52 Moses was born of their first born of their male 18:56 children. These are real things. 19:00 And God hears it, and if God hears it, 19:03 if it's something that moves God, 19:05 why shouldn't we be moved by it? 19:07 I know within the Seventh-day Adventist 19:09 Church we have lots of different departments 19:11 and it's easy for someone to think, 19:13 well today is the day that when our Religious 19:15 Liberty gets up. Tomorrow it's maybe 19:17 ministerial or something or you know, 19:19 the day after maybe it's ADRA. So you know, 19:23 they're all sort of just divisions of 19:25 functionality. I can't speak about the other 19:29 departments, but I know Religious Liberty 19:32 is not just something convenient that was 19:34 settled down, it's the very heart and soul 19:37 of what we are called to do in releasing the 19:39 captive and in Egypt is where the captives are. 19:43 And to take the figurative analogy it's 19:47 all the way, we are in Egypt. Whether it's in 19:52 the United States, which is you know, 19:54 constantly reminding itself it is, 19:57 as President Bush said, you know God's 19:58 favorite country. Well, we don't know if God 20:00 favors it, but it is nominally religious, 20:04 but other countries believe that God is looking 20:07 their way, but there is just too much religion 20:11 and not enough understanding of the God 20:13 of the universe. And God said to him, 20:18 I've heard the oppression, I've heard the 20:20 cries. And he said, I want you to go down 20:24 to Egypt. I want you to proclaim liberty, 20:28 I want you to make a difference there and 20:30 like most of us Moses said, I can't do it, 20:32 I can't talk, which is very interesting. 20:34 I'm sure he had the debating skills in Egypt, 20:37 but in the desert he probably heard the wind 20:39 whistling and heard his unconscious beating 20:42 on him day and night, that He was not good 20:44 enough and, and He become convinced after 20:46 these years in, in the desert that that 20:48 you know, He was hardly more than just a 20:51 sheep herder. And God said, 20:54 I can use you, I can use you. And He says, 20:57 you go down to Egypt and of course this is 20:59 where the hymn came from, or the Negro 21:03 spiritual, go down to Egypt and this is 21:04 verse 18 of chapter 3. Say to the King of 21:08 Egypt, the Lord God of the Hebrews has met 21:12 with us; and now please let us go three 21:16 days' journey into the wilderness, 21:18 that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 21:21 God's met with me. I think last time I spoke 21:26 on 3ABN and in this Church I was connecting 21:31 Religious Liberty to evangelism and I'm 21:33 more-and-more convinced that evangelism 21:36 is not complicated, it's exactly what God said 21:40 to Moses to say, tell this person, 21:45 tell the Pharaoh that I have met with God. 21:48 And if I had met with God I am changed, 21:50 you'll see that. And on no ones authority but 21:54 God, it doesn't matter what I say, 21:56 but I am now speaking for God. And I say, 21:59 let my people go. And God says, you'll, 22:03 you'll tell him this and He says, but I'm sure 22:05 He will not let you go. Very interesting 22:09 description from God, He says, I'm sure he 22:11 will not let you go. No, not even by a mighty 22:14 hand. Remember, later in the, in the 22:18 New Testament, in the Old Testament in 22:20 the Exodus. Moses had to hold his hand up, 22:24 but he needed other people to hold it firm, 22:26 he was not a mighty man in that sense. 22:28 No, Pharaoh will not let them go, not even 22:32 by a mighty hand, which you don't have, 22:34 but God says, so I will stretch out my hand. 22:39 Amen. My hand and strike Egypt with all my 22:44 wonders which I will do in its midst and after 22:46 that He will let you go. And there was another 22:49 thing that impressed me. You know, Paul 22:53 said that the Greeks are seeking signs I think 22:57 that's the sum of the text there, there's a 22:59 lot of people that were in, in Paul's age in 23:02 the New Testament and many more in our day 23:05 that want a sign, they want some sort of 23:09 miracle healing. They want some sort of burning 23:13 bush for them, they want some alternation of 23:18 wet and dry fleeces to prove to them that God 23:21 is in this thing. And they forget that when 23:24 there is a Thus saith the Lord in a God's, 23:27 in God's Holy word, that should be enough 23:28 for them. And God said to Moses, he says, 23:31 I'm with you, I'll do this, I will make you the 23:34 liberator, you can bring Religious Freedom 23:37 to the suppressed people and he says and 23:39 the proof of it is this. And it's found in verse 12 23:45 of chapter 3, it's interesting he says: 23:47 "I will certainly be with you, and this shall be 23:51 a sign to you that I've sent you: when you 23:54 have brought the people out of Egypt, 23:57 you shall serve God on this mountain. 24:00 That that's an interesting sign, because it's a 24:04 sign that's only valid after the fact. 24:08 And we have-to- have that faith as, 24:10 as Adrian Westney I know did in talking to 24:13 him, that this was not a futile endeavor, 24:16 that beating against the, the barricades of, 24:19 of, of, of those who would deny Religious 24:23 Freedom was not futile because God was 24:26 in this thing. And no matter how many millions 24:29 of magazines we might send out, no matter 24:32 how many times we meet with, with stony-faced 24:34 officials, which is not always the case I must 24:37 say, no matter how many times our message 24:39 of liberation seems to fall on deaf ears. 24:41 The message has been given and God's mighty 24:45 hand will substitute for what we think we can 24:48 or cannot do, can or cannot do. Amen. 24:51 And one day in God's Holy Mountain as that 24:54 chapter you know in, in Revelation I read to 24:56 about the deeds of the dead following them. 24:59 Well, they will be there raised again and in 25:01 God's side we will see the fruit of this labor, 25:04 we will see that a great multitude has come 25:08 out of Egypt, has seen a Religious Liberty issue, 25:10 has seen the fact that it's not just the right 25:13 to you know, to work or what not, 25:16 work on certain days of the week. 25:18 We've seen that is an obligation to honor God, 25:21 the God of the burning bush, the God of the 25:25 liberation from all that this world represents. 25:31 I've been told now and then that I should 25:33 be careful what I say about the United States 25:35 because I grew up in Australia, but it's 25:36 nothing against the United States, but I must 25:39 say it troubles me. Those that live in the 25:42 United States say always you know we, we 25:44 have freedom you know, like it's a given. 25:47 We've got to be careful that we're not proud 25:50 in our apparent freedom, there is only one 25:54 freedom and that is absolute with God is, 25:56 we understand Him and as we obey Him. 26:00 And I really believe that the ultimate test is 26:03 coming to many of us who live under what we 26:05 think are benign systems that in actuality 26:08 maybe the most pernicious deniers of faith 26:11 the world has seen. As I said Egypt, religious, 26:16 200 Gods, they had space for another God. 26:21 There's no real evidence that Pharaoh rejected 26:23 God out of hand he said, who is He that I need 26:26 to obey Him, but he wasn't at all condemnatory 26:30 of their recognizing their God, he says you can 26:34 worship Him. Where the conflict came and as you 26:38 study that that, that great battle there in, 26:41 in Exodus. The conflict came between the 26:44 array of Egyptians Gods and the one God. 26:47 And the plates were not by chance, 26:49 they were striking at every principle of 26:52 Egyptian belief. And in our world today in 26:57 Western democracies, but more particularly 27:00 Western capitalistic systems, the very system 27:03 of self is apposed to everything that God holds 27:06 high and holy. Amen. Where greed is sanctified, 27:11 where you know, your care for your fellowman 27:13 is swept away and it's made public policy. 27:18 We need to recognize these things, 27:20 not to be apposed to this system as in Egypt 27:23 where they made those bricks till the last 27:25 minute, we are to do whatever necessary as 27:30 citizens of whatever land, but we should never 27:33 think that whether it's capitalist, communist 27:36 or whatever, that any of these are 27:38 inherently holy, there's no burning bush in, 27:41 in Washington, there's no burning bush in any 27:44 other place. Amen. The burning bush is in 27:47 your heart, as you answer to the great I Am 27:50 who says the proof of you following me is 27:52 that we will meet again on my Holy Mountain. 27:56 Amen. And we really need to recognize as 28:01 Moses was a little slow to come at that if 28:03 God is in this thing, nothing can stop it and 28:06 that while I think and I'm speaking as Moses, 28:09 I think that I've escape that pernicious system. 28:12 I must go back to it and proclaim liberty, 28:17 proclaim liberty. In Isaiah chapter 60 verse 28:23 2 it says: For behold, and I like this text 28:26 because when I reexamine my life and I 28:31 was gonna say late teens, but it might even 28:33 have been a bit later than that, 28:35 as I reexamine my life and, and was tilting 28:39 on the edge, tilting at the edge of whether 28:41 I should just leave religion alone or come 28:44 into it all the way. I listened to the Messiah, 28:47 handles Messiah which of course is good music, 28:50 if you like baroque music as, as I do. 28:53 The power of that that, that piece is in the, 28:56 the recitation of biblical text brought together 28:58 in a way to speak of the coming Messiah and 29:01 he quotes from Isaiah chapter 60 verse 2 29:05 that says: For, behold the darkness shall cover 29:07 the earth, and gross darkness the people, 29:12 but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his 29:14 glory shall be seen upon thee. Amen. 29:19 We've got to recognize that God's ready to 29:21 move powerfully and you know as, as we said 29:24 in the introduction, I can give you lots of 29:26 illustrations through the world of Religious 29:29 Liberty denied, it's gonna get worse, 29:33 but something you need to understand 29:36 about Religious Liberty it seldom as blatant 29:40 as I saw in Ambon, Indonesia. And by the way 29:44 in a, in a few weeks I'm planning a trip with 29:47 Dr. John Graphs for going down to East Timor 29:50 to see what's happening there, 29:52 there's direct religious conflict between 29:55 Christians and Moslems down in that place. 29:57 But as we went to Ambon that was incredible 30:00 to see the devastation not quite as bad as, 30:03 as the earthquake produced in Haiti, 30:05 but pretty close 25-30% of everything that 30:09 we ever came upon was burned and 30:11 abandoned in religious warfare between 30:14 Christians and Moslems. An amazing scene, 30:18 but violent as that was that's really not the 30:23 way Religious Liberty is mostly fought up and 30:27 it's negative. Religious Liberty is the far most 30:30 subtle thing where the social pressures mean 30:33 that you feel that you dare not dare move 30:36 out and take a spiritual stand. 30:38 Religious Liberty is restricted where there are 30:40 an array of little nit picky laws that may make 30:44 it impossible or hard for you to buy a Church 30:47 or to meet in a Church, may make it very 30:49 hard for you to organize, that's the most 30:54 efficient level that the Pharaohs of the world 30:57 have found to strike against another belief 31:00 system. Take away the, the straw. 31:06 And Religious Liberty is not always as clear 31:09 cut as people imagine, but it's importance is 31:13 always singular. It's subtle many times in 31:18 countries they'll say, oh! We have Religious 31:20 Freedom, but the majority of our people 31:22 are of such-and-such belief, so it's not 31:24 important. What that means is if you come into 31:27 that country or if you were someone that 31:29 moved to think differently, every 31:31 structure of society will be against you. 31:36 And we need to pray that God's mighty arm 31:39 can intervene there, because there is little 31:41 that we can do to stop that. We certainly 31:45 don't have the means and even if, if, if all of 31:48 our viewers send us all of their means, 31:50 we will hardly likely have enough to by force 31:54 of money turn back such a tide of, of 31:56 prejudice and, and tradition. But as we said 32:02 at the beginning of the printing revolution 32:04 you know the pen is mighty than the sword, 32:05 but we might be moving into the computer era 32:09 where it's bits and bites that we're dealing 32:13 with. The reality is that ideas are far more 32:17 powerful than ads or mechanical things that 32:21 we can do and ideas are what God deals with, 32:26 because who could have such an idea as God 32:29 to take a guy in the desert, to take someone 32:33 in the desert who to all intends and purposes 32:36 you know, well he may have appeared to, to his 32:39 wife as a pretty great leader when he, 32:42 when he first appeared, she wanted to marry him, 32:45 but you know after 40 years I know my wife 32:47 doesn't think as much as me, I'm, I'm a little bit 32:49 more decrepit and so. And he didn't have 32:51 great prospects, but it was only because God 32:55 was willing to work with him. There's an aspect 32:58 to the story that I really want to bring out and 33:02 it may not get strong support for Religious 33:04 Liberty, but if you understand it I'll be 33:07 satisfied. When I was a young person, 33:12 there was a great figure in the Seventh-day 33:14 Adventist Church H.M.S. Richards, Sr. and I 33:18 many times listened to his program and at the 33:20 end he always finished it by saying, 33:22 have faith in God dear friend, have faith in God. 33:26 And that's seen me through some, some bad 33:29 moments remembering not his idea, but his 33:32 words that were thoroughly biblical, 33:34 but he preached a sermon once that impressed 33:37 me and I've actually got a Book of Sermons 33:40 where it's printed and it was titled with a 33:42 curious title, The Man God Tried To Kill. 33:49 Who did God try to kill? That is found in the 33:53 same sequence in verse 19 of chapter 4. 33:57 As after Moses had listen to God at the 33:59 burning bush and for the first time in 40 years 34:01 had his harps stirred that something might 34:04 happen through him that God was going to enable, 34:08 that he was indeed called to go back, 34:10 proclaim liberty, first call of Jesus remember 34:12 as He began His ministry, it's not a little 34:15 secondary part of what God's on about, 34:16 it's central. And Moses told his father-in-law 34:22 I must go back, I'm sure his father-in-law 34:24 thought he's crazy because he knew he 34:25 fled for his life. Even though the angel of the 34:29 Lord said, those who seek your death are dead, 34:31 but he had to go back to the center of you know, 34:36 the belly of the beast, no. But He did it, 34:40 he took his wife and his son and he headed off 34:43 and as it says in verse 19, I'm sorry verse 24 34:48 it says: And it came to pass on the way, 34:51 on the way back to Egypt, at the encampment, 34:55 that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 34:59 Very interesting, what did he do? 35:04 He immediately rose up and circumcised his 35:07 son, started a little bit of a family feud 35:10 you know, his wife Zipporah said, 35:13 you've become a man of blood to me. 35:16 And the Lord spared him and he continued 35:18 on his way. I'm not really sure that the 35:21 mechanics of that could be worked out or 35:23 should be worked out in our day, 35:24 but the principle is the same. 35:27 We are called to a high and holy business, 35:30 we are called to proclaim liberty and God 35:33 holds us the messengers of such a 35:36 message to a very high standard and God 35:41 sough to kill Moses not because he was 35:44 against Moses, but Moses Himself 35:46 understood it, he was out of harmony with God 35:51 because his first inclination was to bring 35:53 himself in line with God's requirement and 35:56 there's nothing magical about it as Paul 35:58 pointed out, but it was a sign that was 36:00 given there and he was not willing to mark 36:03 himself and his family with dedication to God, 36:06 not till that moment. And then he realized that 36:09 it was important to God had changed him and 36:11 there's a text very few people seem to have 36:14 noticed as Moses and Aaron then appeared 36:17 before Pharaoh and, and repeated the Lord's 36:20 word and they said, you know, let us go 36:21 into the wilderness, we want these, these, 36:24 little disingenuous I guess, but three days 36:27 journey, I've studied on that and three days 36:29 was as long as you could last in the desert. 36:32 And so, Pharaoh I think understood it from 36:34 the upset, they go three days they're 36:36 beyond recall. They're gone into the desolation, 36:42 but they said to Pharaoh we want to go. 36:46 This is in verse 3 of chapter 5 of Exodus, 36:49 Exodus chapter 5 verse 3 and they said to 36:52 Pharaoh. Well, of course after that Pharaoh said: 36:55 Who is the Lord that I should obey him. 36:57 And they said to Pharaoh: The God of the 36:59 Hebrews has met with us. This is what God 37:01 told him to say. And then they continue. 37:04 Please, let us go three days journey into the 37:07 desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, 37:10 lest He fall upon us with pestilence over the 37:14 sword. God is not to be trifled with, and 37:20 when God says I have heard their cry, 37:23 I have heard what the pew forum is saying 37:26 that 70% of the world is suffering under 37:29 the restriction of civil and religious liberties. 37:31 Something has to be done about it. 37:34 And it's time now to get your act together 37:37 to be serious about it, not just you know, 37:40 something that's listed on departments, 37:42 or publications, or good works that you do. 37:44 This is not you know, like how many items of 37:47 literature given out this week and so on, 37:49 that's not gonna cut it with God. 37:52 We have to show that we are serious that 37:55 our life is in accordance with this and that 37:58 we will go even to a Pharaoh, he says I 38:00 don't know your God. And say, we must go 38:04 because our own life is on the line and by 38:07 extension, if you deny God you're at risk. 38:10 That that's a message that is not told enough 38:13 today, it doesn't cast God as some vindictive 38:17 evil destructive being, not at all, 38:19 it shows God as we would expect him to be. 38:22 Someone intimately concerned with human 38:24 events, determined to make it happen, 38:27 determined to free the captives, 38:29 determined for us to proclaim Religious Liberty, 38:33 has to be, has to be serious business. 38:37 I don't know if I've shared it before on 3ABN, 38:40 but every time I, I see it and I read it again 38:42 last night, it impresses me that the Apostle 38:45 Paul who admittedly he was always a hard 38:48 case you know, he's a perfect persecutor 38:52 and then became a perfect promoter of the 38:56 truth. But there in his ministry as he was 38:59 traveling around the world attempting to 39:02 spread the wonderful news that God was not 39:06 just set to save the promised people, 39:09 but he would save anybody, the Gentiles 39:12 there he came to Caesarea and they met 39:15 in the home as it says of Philip the evangelist 39:18 and he had four daughters who prophesied, 39:23 which is interesting. You know, we should 39:24 expect more not so much prophesies, 39:27 but we should expect this we're dedicated 39:29 to God that God will communicate to us more 39:32 directly then we think he does. 39:35 And a prophet named Agabus came down 39:37 from Judah, he had been told something from 39:39 God, given a more than intimation and he 39:42 took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and 39:46 feet and he says: Thus says the Holy Spirit, 39:50 So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man 39:52 who owns this belt, and deliver him into the 39:55 hands of the Gentiles. What would you do? 40:00 I don't know what I would do I mean I know 40:02 what I, I should do and that's what I'm 40:03 preaching about, but that's the moment of 40:05 truth. You've dedicated your life, 40:08 you've decided that you will proclaim God, 40:12 you'll go out and say, you know, 40:13 God has freed us all, God has freed us from sin, 40:16 He had freed from the more abundant life. 40:20 That all sounds good, but when the crunch 40:22 comes and you know for sure in this case 40:25 God was prophesying that Paul, 40:27 if he went back to Jerusalem would be bound 40:29 and imprisoned? What do you do? 40:34 As Moses, determined to go back after he 40:38 had been impressed at the burning bush. 40:39 Paul said you know, they started to weep and 40:43 whale, but he says, what do you mean by 40:45 weeping and breaking my heart? 40:48 For I'm ready not only to be bound, 40:51 but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of 40:54 the Lord Jesus. Amen. We often say in our 40:58 Religious Liberty work that we believe in 41:03 Religious Freedom and we will defend, 41:05 we'll defend to the death you're right to be 41:08 wrong. You're right to believe something that 41:11 I might find obnoxious and it's very hard for 41:15 people of faith to understand that, 41:17 it's extremely hard in the United States at 41:19 the moment and we just passed a period with 41:22 the religious right for want of a better term 41:24 have been empowered and you know, 41:27 they were on their way to structuring 41:29 United States as a happy haven for such a 41:31 belief system, that's not Religious Freedom 41:34 that's religious exclusivity. Amen. 41:38 We have-to-have the idea which God 41:40 exemplified from Eden and right up to that 41:43 moment where he says let him who is holy 41:45 be holy still and he who has not forever not. 41:50 We have to allow people, the writers as 41:53 sovereign beings created by God to choose Him 41:56 or reject Him, if they reject Him there are 41:59 very bad consequences, but they are not 42:02 consequences that we visit upon anybody, 42:05 not consequences that we visit. 42:08 I made a resolution shortly after 9/11 that 42:11 I would always share something from a 42:12 wonderful collection of quotes that the 42:15 Seventh-day Adventist Church prepared. 42:17 Last day events and on page 127 of this 42:24 collection and it was put together at the 42:25 time of the gulf, from first gulf war. 42:27 So I know that the custodians of the writings 42:30 of Ellen G. White who I believe was, was used 42:33 mightily of God. I know that those custodians 42:36 were impressed that we were in dangerous end 42:38 times. And writing in 1889, at a time when 42:44 the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the 42:45 liberty precursor, the sentinel were battling 42:49 against a National Sunday Law in the United 42:52 States. I don't know how many of you know 42:55 about what's predicted. Revelation 13 is 42:58 fairly specific about appall that is easily 43:01 identify where the United States is 43:02 compelling a certain religious observance. 43:05 And I don't know how many of you know 43:07 that in the 1880s there was a more than 43:10 passing push for a national Sunday Law, 43:13 not a Blue Law, but a law that mandated 43:16 worship on Sunday, a wrong day, 43:19 but even if it was the right day we would have 43:21 opposed it. You don't mandate by Civil Law 43:24 a day of worship. Amen. And Ellen White at 43:28 that time wrote this, she says: 43:30 We are not doing the will of God if we sit in 43:34 quietude, doing nothing to preserve liberty 43:37 of conscience. Fervent, effectual prayer 43:42 should be ascending to heaven that this 43:44 calamity may be deferred, until we can 43:47 accomplish the work which has so long 43:49 been neglected. Let there be most earnest 43:52 prayer and then let us work in harmony with 43:56 our prayers. Now, it's easy to pray I mean 43:59 that's hard to pray properly, but it's easy 44:01 to pray, but it's very hard to pray correctly 44:04 and then to act on our prayers. 44:06 Then, then one other quote in 1889 also was 44:09 printed in the Review & Herald Extra in 44:12 December 24 that year. And Ellen White said: 44:15 There are many who are at ease as it were, 44:18 who are as it were asleep. I mean I don't 44:21 really know how you could sleep in these days, 44:24 but you could be asleep to the truth, 44:27 these are shocking times, but many people are 44:30 oblivious to the real situation. As she says: 44:32 There are many who are at ease, 44:34 who are as it were asleep. They say prophecy 44:39 has foretold, if prophecy has foretold the 44:41 enforcement of Sunday observance the law 44:44 will surely be enacted, and having come to this 44:47 conclusion they sit down in a calm expectation 44:50 of the event, comforting themselves with the 44:54 thought that God will protect his people in 44:57 the day of trouble. But God will not save us if 45:02 we make no effort to do the work he has 45:05 committed to our church. That's really 45:07 serious business. She says as faithful watchmen 45:11 you should see the sword coming and give 45:13 the warning, that men and women may not 45:15 pursue a course through ignorance that they 45:18 would avoid if they knew the truth. 45:21 I didn't mean to connect to them, 45:22 but that just puts me to mind you know 45:23 the sword coming, right now you know, 45:28 in the United States as a nation you know, 45:30 we've projected the sword to other countries 45:33 and you can argue as people do whether that's 45:35 correct public policy or not, but the sword is 45:38 not to be trifled with and you know, 45:40 there is a curious symbol that's just 45:42 emerged in the last few days, did you know 45:44 of 300,000 gun sights that are sitting atop 45:47 the weapons of the soldiers in the United 45:50 States, 300,000 of them have Bible texts 45:53 printed into the metal. If that isn't the most 45:58 profane application of faith for our day, 46:01 I don't know what could qualify. 46:04 And guns with Bible texts on them pointed 46:07 against secular or other religious enemies of 46:11 the state can just as easily be turned against 46:14 those of us who have a different view of what 46:17 those texts say. Amen. Religious Freedom 46:22 needs to be proclaimed not as a, in a 46:25 political context, but to any political context. 46:28 Amen. Egypt will always be with us, 46:33 Egypt will always be polytheistic, 46:36 even if it calls itself Christian, 46:39 Moslem or whatever, because Egypt is the 46:42 potential on the willingness of man to just 46:45 basically reach out willy-nilly and embrace 46:48 all views of religion including self-worship. 46:53 And it takes a Moses, it takes a Paul, 46:57 and it takes you and I as we're committed 47:00 to God and emptied itself, it takes often a 47:03 vision metaphorical for most realistic and actual 47:08 for some of a burning bush. And to know that 47:11 a lot is at stake here, that we might be free 47:18 and that's a hard thing to do. You know, 47:20 back to that that, that image of the 47:24 D.H. Lawrence ship of death, and die the 47:26 death he says the Long and Painful Death 47:29 that was between old self and the new, 47:31 he got it right there. You know that battle 47:34 we have to win between the old self and 47:36 the new, but the new man as C.S. Lewis, 47:39 who was nearly always wrong, but had a 47:41 right in being Christianity. The new man 47:44 needs to get with the old God and proclaim 47:48 liberty, liberty for all. Amen. This is a 47:52 wonderful challenge I believe that we should 47:55 accept as thoroughly biblical, the analogy is 47:58 not just for a nice sermon illustration, 48:00 it's before us and you know I grew up hearing 48:04 and reading any numbers of sermons telling 48:06 it's not to go back to Egypt, you know not to 48:08 go back to Babylon. Well, on that level, no. 48:11 We're not to become Egypt, we're not to 48:13 become Babylon, but if we don't have a 48:15 burden to go back to Egypt, if we don't see 48:19 that in Egypt there is a principle and a 48:22 message of liberty to break proclaims, 48:25 then we are indeed someone who has never 48:27 left because you can take Egypt into the 48:31 deserts just as easily as you can, 48:33 you can tell it's greenery by the 48:35 waterside, there on the Nile. 48:37 Egypt is the state of mind, and we need to 48:41 have the state of mind of God to be proclaiming 48:44 liberty throughout the land. And obviously 48:48 I stand before you as someone who edits 48:50 Liberty Magazine, it's not the only way to 48:52 proclaim liberty, I'd be foolish to say that. 48:56 But we have been given many mechanisms 48:59 in the modern world that will facilitate the 49:01 proclamation. You know, it started with 49:03 someone with a capital L I guess, someone 49:08 standing on the Mount of Blessing, 49:10 I don't know how those thousands of people 49:12 heard Jesus voice. No more than I know 49:16 you know, that they heard Abraham Lincoln 49:17 at the Gettysburg address. People spoke 49:19 powerfully before PA, but then came the PA 49:22 and you could have a megaphone, 49:25 you can go to a, you know a game, 49:27 a football game now and then think we're 49:29 vibrates admittedly not very clearly, 49:31 but people can hear greatly. The Radio 49:34 Broadcasted across. I remember reading years 49:37 ago about a philosopher, the Pharaoh 49:43 wrote in his book Walden Pond against the 49:46 radio giving news of England, he says, 49:48 what is the great flapping ear of the United 49:50 States needs to hear what happens in Europe? 49:52 The reality is, communication is a gift 49:54 that God has given to our modern world and 49:58 we can broadcast on the radio, 50:00 we can broadcast through television and 50:02 simultaneously contact millions of people, 50:06 we're not just standing before Pharaoh and 50:09 his few minions and his magicians, 50:12 we're standing in some ways not figuratively, 50:15 but literally before the world and we can 50:18 proclaim liberty. The liberty that God would 50:22 have us proclaim. Let's bow our heads in 50:25 a word of prayer. Dear, Lord we thank you 50:27 that we're your agents to proclaim freedom, 50:30 we thank you that that while Egypt can be 50:33 pretty all pervasive and at delusional reality 50:38 that with your word and your instruction and 50:40 a vision of your holy burning fire that we can 50:43 be empowered to take on anything, 50:46 proclaim liberty because we have liberty. 50:49 Thank you for this privilege, for Jesus sake, 50:51 amen. Amen. In the few minutes that are left, 50:53 I just want to remind you that today is 50:56 Religious Liberty Sabbath, but by no means 50:59 is it a one short thing even within our 51:01 Seventh-day Adventist Church, a period of 51:03 time to promote liberty and, and to fund 51:06 what we're doing for another year goes 51:08 at least in the Churches till the end of April 51:11 and not every Church can do it on the one day, 51:15 but we hope that every Church does it beyond 51:18 the Seventh-day Adventist Church which is 51:19 an enabler of Liberty Magazine because 51:21 it's not just your magazine, only about 51:24 10 to 15,000 Seventh -day Adventist get 51:27 copies of liberty, but those that are watching 51:30 we hope that you are moved to send some 51:32 means to facilitate a cry of Religious 51:36 Freedom. Because it doesn't matter whether 51:38 you're a Seventh-day Adventist or a Roman 51:41 Catholic or a Buddhist or whatever, 51:43 I don't necessarily believe that all those 51:45 belief systems are correct, but I believe 51:47 that my God would have you seek him in however 51:52 means you want and if you are moved 51:54 toward God I believe you will respond. 51:57 But in the mean time you have-to-have 51:59 the ability and the freedom to seek God. 52:02 And I'm not gonna deny that and Liberty 52:04 Magazine is holding out a broad swath of 52:08 freedom for all who will answer. And please 52:10 give your means toward that. 52:12 Beyond that I'd be regress, if regressive 52:17 if I didn't remind those that watch this channel 52:21 regularly that we have the Liberty Insider 52:23 that appears on, on 3ABN regularly. 52:26 We will bring examples of restricted Religious 52:30 Liberty and of course good examples of freedom 52:32 allowed around the world, because liberty 52:35 is on the march. It's not just in around that 52:38 they march and demonstrate for a new 52:40 government. I believe there is a spiritual 52:42 steering in the world and that people are, 52:47 it says there is a God shaped void that 52:49 people are more-and -more recognizing and 52:51 as the stresses, politics of disasters and 52:57 whatever you name it, of the modern world 52:58 as they hinge upon people's very souls, 53:02 they recognize that they must have God. 53:06 And not just God, but they, they must 53:09 exercise that belief in God. And at Liberty 53:12 Magazine we call that Religious Liberty, 53:16 it's something vital, it's something eternal, 53:19 something God given and that is something 53:20 that we will fight and die for. |
Revised 2014-12-17