Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? - September 18: Law, Liberty, and Lessons in Leadership

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Did You Know? - September 18: Law, Liberty, and Lessons in Leadership · Voices Of Life

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  Welcome to the Did You Know series of the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. A place where faith speaks, where history
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  breathes, and where hope finds its voice again.
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  Each episode is crafted to inspire, to strengthen,
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  and to guide you on your walk with God. And now,
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  to lead us through today's journey, here is your
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  host. Pastor David. Welcome to the Voices of
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  Life. I'm Pastor David. Today, we turn the page
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  to September 18th, a date that reveals how America
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  wrestled with justice, truth, and trust in the
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  courtroom, in the newsroom, and on the battlefield,
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  and especially in the marketplace. Each event
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  reminds us that freedom is fragile. Faith must
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  guide our conscience as a nation. so we begin
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  with eighteen fifty and the fugitive slave act
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  congress passed the fugitive slave act as a part
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  of the compromise of eighteen fifty it required
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  that escaped enslaved people be returned to their
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  enslavers and it empowered federal marshals to
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  enforce that law even in free states this legislation
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  tore at moral fabric of the nation it forced
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  ordinary citizens to choose between obedience
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  to law and obedience to conscience our church
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  connection here is across america pulpits trembled
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  some pastors preached submission to civil authority
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  others declared that no law could compel a christian
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  to betray a brother or a sister made in god's
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  image the fugitive slave act became a test of
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  faith itself a question of whether righteousness
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  could coexist with injustice The United States
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  inherited slavery from the British. The British
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  is what brought it over in the colonies, and
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  it had been a long time standing. Now, the Brits
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  in the 1800s did away with slavery, where the
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  United States, being a very young country, didn't.
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  Remember, slaves were considered property. That's
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  how agriculture got done, a lot of different
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  things. But there was an exchange of things.
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  Now, while there were absolutely some probably
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  very cruel slave owners, there were some very
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  good ones too, that educated their slaves, wanted
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  them to get better themselves. And so you had
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  a mix of things. And so there was a lot of things
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  going on. And it pulled on both sides of people.
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  But eventually, slavery would have gone away.
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  However, the Civil War decided that for fact.
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  So moving on to 1851, the first issue of the
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  New York Daily Times. Just one year later, on
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  September 18, 1851, a newspaper hit the streets
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  of New York City, the New York Daily Times, which
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  would later become the New York Times. Its founders
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  envisioned a publication devoted to truth, clarity,
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  and civic responsibility. In an age of partisan
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  papers and rumors -filled broadsheets, the Times
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  sought to elevate journalism to a public trust.
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  And that was following... exactly the First Amendment
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  of the Constitution. Because that same spirit
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  of truth -telling remains vital today, especially
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  when faith and facts must walk hand in hand.
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  Problem is, and historically recent history will
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  tell us, that the New York Times has strayed
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  well far from the truth that its founders originally
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  wanted it to do. Sensationalism, fiction, today
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  has all become part of the New York Times. i'm
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  sure the founders of the original new york daily
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  times if they were around today probably would
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  be running the paper the way they wanted to to
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  begin with unfortunately as media and other organizations
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  grow so does corruption but you know at the end
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  of the day it is we the people that have to discern
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  what is right and what is wrong. We have to see
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  through all the fabrications and all the sensations
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  and say, okay, what is the real truth here? The
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  good thing is we have choices. We don't have
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  to look at just one newspaper today. We can look
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  at literally dozens, if not hundreds, of journalists,
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  podcast news journalists. There's just so many
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  choices today. and then we can decide for ourselves
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  what is real. Moving on to 1863. The Battle of
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  Chickamauga begins. It erupted in northern Georgia,
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  one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil
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  War. Over two days, more than 34 ,000 soldiers
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  were killed, wounded, or missing. Remember in
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  the last podcast, we talked about Antietam, and
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  it was, I think, 23 ,000 or 24 ,000 in one day.
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  soldiers that were killed, wounded, or missing.
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  This was over two days, and 34 ,000 soldiers
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  were killed, wounded, and missing. So I'd say
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  this is probably the second worst battle that
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  Americans had to deal with. It was a Confederate
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  victory, but a very costly one. The Dane Chickamauga
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  means river of death. For thousands of families,
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  it became just that. In our spiritual reflection
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  here, even in war, the question of conscience
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  remains, can a divided nation ever find peace
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  without repentance? The church's role was not
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  to choose sides, but to remind both sides that
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  every life bears the image of God. In our last
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  part, we move up to 1873, and the panic of 1873
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  begins. So on September 18, 1873, the banking
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  firm J. Cook & Company collapsed. triggering
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  a financial panic that rippled across the nation.
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  Railroads halted, factories closed, families
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  lost savings overnight. The panic of 1873 ushered
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  in a six -year depression, a time of unemployment,
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  hunger, and social unrest. Jay Cook and company
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  invested heavily into the railroads, and I think
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  it was the Northern Railroad particularly. Some
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  of their investments didn't do so well. And of
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  course, they're investing other people's monies.
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  There were no regulations per se like we have
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  today. But either way, whenever you go to the
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  stock market, it is a gamble. So unless you're
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  prepared to lose that money, never invest. That's
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  just hopefully good advice. But let's compare
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  this to what we call the crash of 1929 and the
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  Great Depression that followed. And of course,
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  it lasted long. a little longer than six years
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  but in many ways the panic of 1873 was a preview
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  of the crash of a of 1929 both began with over
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  speculation and fragile confidence both exposed
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  the danger of greed without guard rails and both
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  reminded america that prosperity without principle
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  is perilous yet in both eras faith communities
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  step forward feeding the hungry comforting the
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  jobless and reminding the nation that hope is
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  not measured in dollars, but in compassion. But
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  there is a definite parallel between 1873 and
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  1929. I think when I learned history in school,
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  we definitely talked about 1929 and the crash
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  of the stock market. But I don't seem to remember
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  them ever discussing 1873. would have been a
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  really good parallel to discuss when talking
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  about 1929 so um but here it is for you and here's
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  the history so that you could read up on it and
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  um or google it and figure out some of the parallels
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  there so september 18th tells a story of law
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  truth battle and economy but beneath them all
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  lies the same question how does a nation keep
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  its soul When laws oppress, when headlines distort,
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  when war divides, and when wealth deceives, faith
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  must speak. Because liberty without conscience
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  is just power without purpose. This has been
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  Voices of Life. I'm Pastor David, your host.
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  May we learn from history, live with conviction,
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  and always look at things with discernment so
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  that we make sure What we see is what we get.
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  Till next time. Thank you for joining us today
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  on the Voices of Life podcast, a ministry of
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  the Church for Life. As we close, may the stories
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  we share strengthen your faith, steady your heart,
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  and remind you that God is present in every chapter
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  of your journey. If this episode encouraged you,
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  share it with someone who needs hope. And until
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  we meet again, walk in truth, stand in courage,
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  and keep listening for the voice that leads you
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  forward. This has been Voices of Life. Peace
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  be with you.