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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Conversations with Lincoln Steed

Originally from Australia, although he's been in the United States for many years, he has had a long and I would say illustrious career in ministry, especially in publishing.

He is the editor of a longstanding, of an historic magazine called Liberty.

I really appreciate you taking this time.

Let's start, not at the beginning, We'll start with what you're doing now.

We'll talk about you a little bit, what you've done, where you've been, what you're doing.

And then we want to talk about religious liberty.

Liberty Magazine, as you said, is a long-running magazine that was published under its present name in 1906 in the shadow of the Capitol.

And I was telling you beforehand, there's a park next to the Capitol now, but there was a row of buildings there in that park area, oh, just a few yards from the Capitol back in 1906 and in a property owned by George Washington's family.

Liberty magazine began its publishing work and of course it was a small beginning but today we print somewhere between a hundred and sixty-five and a hundred and eighty-five thousand every issue.

And it mostly goes to politicians, lawyers, judges, mayors, we say the thought leaders.

I'm troubled by that because in my view anyone that reads Liberty is a thought leader.

We were filming in it as a written television program in a courthouse at least in part and the judge said, hey you guys, you're those Liberty Magazine people.

You know, I know editor gets thousands and thousands of letters, but I can guarantee any issue, there will be somebody right back.

The other day there was a gentleman from Salt Lake said that he'd worked on the staff of a Utah senator.

He didn't name them, but I could guess who it was.

And he said, I read every issue religiously.

And he says, but your editorials, he says, they're hitting the spot.

He says, I find them, he said, more valuable than that of our prophet.

And I also told you that fairly recently after an editorial on the Kavanaugh confirmation, I got a letter from a couple of judges, But 1 of them from Philadelphia said that she hardly could deal with the horrors that she saw in the courtroom day in day out.

And then she says, and I picked up Liberty Magazine, I read your editorial, and she says it gives me hope.

And I, as you would expect, I'm a Seventh Heavenist.

That's the bottom line of why I'm doing it.

Religious liberty is something I fervently believe in.

And I put in there a view of revelation and fulfilled prophecy in the nearness of the Lord's coming.

Yeah, and that really spoke to her heart.

Well, we're gonna talk about religious liberty, where you see it being and where you see it going, but I do wanna talk a little more about liberty.

So for someone who's uninitiated, What does Liberty Magazine do?

You pick up an issue, what's it about and why?

Well, it's like all magazines, it's sort of a plate full of different offerings.

But the guiding principle has to be that we are defending religious liberty.

And in Liberty Magazine, we come at it from a historic, constitutional, philosophical, and at root, a very basic religious biblical basis.

So whose religious liberty are you defending?

Alright, so you're defending the religious liberty of Seventh-day Adventists.

So, whose religious liberty are you defending?

In fact, we are quite sure of the 180, 000 or so that we send out that only about 10, 000, 14 at the most, go directly to Seventh-day Adventists.

This is not for Adventists, but I wish all Adventists were reading it because it represents what they officially hold.

And we believe that religious liberty is the gift of God to all human beings.

Why should you care about the religious liberty of a Mormon because you're not 1, or of a Catholic because you're not 1?

Or Why should you care about the liberty of a Mormon because you're not 1, or of a Catholic because you're not 1?

Why should you care about the religious liberty of a Baptist?

First of all, if you only guard your own religious liberty, what about the other person?

And in their view, they think they're right, just as you think you're right.

And if someone else can be discriminated and restricted in their practice of religion, it might not be a long trip till yours is restricted.

So there's a little self-interest, but beyond that, it's the principle in Eden, where God created Adam and Eve and gave them the power of choice, and they happened to choose wrong at that point.

So we're free moral agents, and to deny that right in other people, to choose their destiny and to seek toward God where He may be found, And a seeker may not find him first time around, but if we make it free, free inquiry, they will come to him.

Are you concerned about the religious liberty of non-Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims?

And you were going to ask about where we are now.

I can tell you in a nutshell where we are now in the United States.

It's religious entitlement, which is a tunnel vision of religious liberty.

There is much talk about religious liberty at the moment, and it's good talk, but put into practice it's a special prerogative for a particular religious viewpoint.

Very little concern for those on the periphery.

So we've talked about liberty, started in 1906, existed in another form even going back further, 1880, thereabouts.

So that's a long standing- That's when Seventh-day Adventists, who already had a deep theological understanding of liberty and ultimately as Paul says, the gospel of liberty is the gospel.

And as Christ said, I set before you an open door that no man can shut.

Liberty Magazine can't get or keep your religious liberty.

You have it inherently, but we can make it more difficult or ease the difficulties by what we do or don't do, about spreading that story.

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Conversations with Lincoln Steed

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