Bible talk and Fourth of July 250th anniversary!

Today Kid Freedom does a bible interview with grandma freedom, and talks about the very large celebration for 4th of July!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, I'm Kid Freedom. Kid for Freedom is a podcast for kids about what's happening in America now. I explain it in the right way for kids to understand. What's up? I'm Kid for Freedom, and today we have a special Bible interview and 4th of July talk. Sorry for the podcast not coming out the last two weeks. I was on vacation. Also, I couldn't have done it last night because the power was out. Okay, let's get into it. Please welcome to the podcast, Freedom Grandma. Hello, my darling kid Freedom. Uh, what's up? So I do have a few questions for you about the Bible. Actually, it's more like a lot. But uh, when did you first become a Christian?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

I've just always been a Christian. Uh it was never a uh decisive choice. My parents put me in the nursery as a baby at church, and I went to Sunday school and youth club and church camp and Wednesday night church dinners my whole life. Just the way I lived.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Awesome. All right, what led you to put your faith in Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Um, I I think all those things I mentioned, you know, prayer and feeling like he answered prayers and really and truly just a feet feeling that God is with me and taking care of me and holding me in his hands and loving me.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah. Uh was there a moment that changed your life spiritually?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Not a huge epiphany, but um when I was 12 years old, I went through what the Presbyterian Church calls confirmation. And it was months of Sunday afternoon studying with a church mentor, happened to be my daddy, and uh then at the end you decide to uh follow Jesus and you stand up in front of the church and they ask you questions that like you're supposed to have learned and studied, and that was just very meaningful to me. And in seventh-grade church camp, one evening around the campfire with the minister I grew up with that was awesome, I just felt the presence of the Lord. It was very, it was a very spiritual, meaningful time for me. I it was just a feeling, I can't explain it, but I I was aware of it and I remember it to this day at 72 years of age.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, that's awesome. Um, who has had the biggest influence on your faith?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Um well, I would say um Reverend David Birch, who died about a year ago at 96, and he was my minister from like when I was four years old, you know, to uh through seventh grade.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And what does being a Christian mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Um probably not saying it's easy, but probably uh there's a verse in Micah. It's I it's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, and it says to to do justice, to be kind, and walk humbly with the Lord. And that means trying always to put others before yourself and love everyone because I believe everyone is your sister and brother. God chose every soul that's on earth to come to earth. So we are to love everyone, even if we don't agree with them, even if we don't like what they do, even if we don't want to hang out with them, maybe be friends, we are to care about them.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yep. So uh now we're gonna move on to some Bible questions. Those were just regular questions, but these are actually about the Bible. So, which Bible story has impacted you the most?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Oh man, I don't know. I guess, I guess the Bible story of Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins. Yeah. And from that moment on, things have changed. As long as we love the Lord and believe in him, our sins are forgiven. Now, that doesn't mean you can act however you want and God's gonna forgive me. That means that is the greatest gift on the face of this earth, so that should make you want to, that should inspire you to show your gratitude by living the life God would want you to. To be the child of God that He wants you to be. We're always gonna fail, but we gotta keep trying. We're never gonna be perfect.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yep. And um how do you study the Bible?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Well, I I I should study it a whole lot better. I've I've been in a Bible study for 22 years, and the same Bible study, and before that, I was in a Bible study for gosh, I think about seven years in Dodge City through my church with other adult women, and this Bible study for 22 years. You know, we do uh there uh not too long ago we got done studying the book of Nehemiah. We studied it for about a year and a half, and then there's all kinds of Bible studies uh written by Bible scholars that could be about Jesus, could be about the Holy Spirit. They aren't necessarily about a specific book of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah. Yeah, that's a long time for being in a Bible study. I want to be in a Bible study someday too. What advice would you give to someone who is reading the Bible for the first time?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

I would say uh forget about the Old Testament. It's it's very complicated and confusing. Start reading the New Testament. Don't even worry about the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah. If you could meet one person from the Bible besides Jesus, who would it be? Probably Mary Magdalene. Mm-hmm. Is there anything else that you want to say?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Uh well, I you know she was a woman of ill repute. Do you know what that is?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

No.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

She was a prostitute. Do you know what that is?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Oh. Well, um, she was a big-time sinner. Let's put it like that. And uh she had no friends, nobody would come near her, everybody was mean to her, you know. They they probably, if they saw her walking down the street, they'd probably spit on her. And Jesus befriended her and loved her and said, Your sins are forgiven. And she followed him throughout his ministry. She is literally one of his disciples. She's in the Bible, she's she's the only female disciple.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah. It kind of reminds me of Barabbas, isn't that his name? The the guy who sinned a lot and Jesus forgave his sins too.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

You mean that was hanging on the cross with him?

SPEAKER_00 8:09

No, no, no. I thought Barabbas was the guy that they said, should we crucify this murderer or should we crucify Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah. I I don't think we're saying the name exactly right, but I know exactly who you're talking about. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah. Okay. So daily life. How does your faith affect your everyday decisions?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Honestly. Done it today, I do it every day. I talk to God throughout the whole day. I I talk out loud even to God a lot. Uh uh, I live alone, so that's kind of easy to do. Um, but um I I just I just so well, the Holy Spirit is in us. So the Holy Spirit is with us every sec single second of our life, and the Holy Spirit is here to guide us. You need you need to tune in to it, and you tune into it to try to be aware and talk to God, aka the Holy Spirit is God, aka the Holy Spirit and God are Jesus, they're three in one, the Trinity. Yep, and I talk all day, and I just be having a grateful heart. I I bet you I don't know, six times today I've said thank you, Lord, about something. I found my phone. I did it. I mean, seriously, I do um because that keeps you tuned in. That keeps you tuned in to the Lord. And and then I do I I I there's days I miss, but not very many. I do my morning devotions and prayers, which I do a devotional book called Jesus Calling, and it brings me a whole lot of peace. It it it is enjoying the peace of his presence, and that um brings me peace when there's things that are irritating or problematic through the day. Yeah, it genuinely helps me.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

All right, well, um, how do you stay close to God during busy seasons?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Doing just what I just mentioned, talking to God, praying all the time about or and having a grateful heart. Thank hey, I go on. I I ride an e-bike. I'm on my e-bike thanking God the whole almost the whole time. Thank you for the color green. I've said I've said that many, many times. Thank you for the beautiful blue sky. Thank you that I'm able to ride the bike, my bike. Then I pray about this and that and that. But prayer, prayer, that's why, that's why there is prayer to thank the Lord and to stay in communication and have a relationship with the Lord. Yeah. Pray about all things. It says in the Bible, pray in many places in the Bible. It says, pray without ceasing.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah. And what so what do prayers mean to you? Like, how do you pray?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Kind of I you know, people make a big deal about prayer. Prayer to me is talking to the Lord. Just like I'm talking to you. It's absolutely now there's a uh sorry, I don't know what book in the Bible, but um Jesus' disciples ask him, How do you pray? And he tells them specifically uh format how to pray. And the first thing you're supposed to do when you pray is to thank the Lord. And so that's a very good thing to do. All day long is it necessary. I I just just talk to the Lord. That's all it is. He's your friend, he's a friend like no one you'll ever ever have. Your mother and daddy don't love you as much as the Lord loves you. Honestly.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah. I uh I haven't even read that verse yet, but I do start with saying thank yous. And I do talk to the Lord. Good for you. Have you ever had a prayer answered in a way that surprised you? Oh gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

I was thinking about something else. Um I I can tell you several things, and I won't go into all of them, but um I've had miracles happen. I believe miracles happen every day all over the world. Um but uh I had I was a divorced mom with poor, you know, finances were a problem, and I was moving into a rental place, and uh I needed $750 for the down payment, and that seven hundred and fifth appeared in my checking account. I'm telling you, it appeared in my checking account. That sounds unbelievable. I called my father, who he'd never done anything like this. I said, Daddy, did you put some no? He's never done anything like that. Okay, I I called my bank. I called to see who deposited. I I called my ex-husband to see if he'd done it. Now I I'm telling you, I did I I tried everything in the world trying to figure out how that 750, that's exactly what I needed for the deposit for me and my children to get into this rental. And it was there to this day, that was 41 years ago, I have no idea how it appeared. That's crazy. That's absolutely the Bible truth, and it's not an exaggeration.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

What is the hardest part about living as a Christian today?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

I I guess probably not letting worldly influences affect me.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Uh, you know, probably.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah. All right. So here's some tough questions. How do you deal with your doubts?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Well, I don't have a very good answer for this, but first of all, the reason I don't is because I don't have very many doubts. And I feel very blessed that I don't. Sometimes I think, oh, it's because I'm not very smart, and I I I don't I'm not good at thinking things through and figuring out complicated issues. But also, I've asked God, not that he's necessarily answered, you know, Lord, I don't understand that. There's things in the Old Testament. I don't understand it. I don't like it. Uh, you know, I say it to God, I say, I I don't like the gods you were in the Old Testament. I said, I mean, I don't like the things you did, Lord. And um I I I think through study, studying the Bible before I happily go to heaven, uh some of those questions slash doubts will be answered. And if they aren't, I just have to accept that on faith that in heaven all those questions and doubts will be answered.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah. Um, why do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Oh my gosh, there's absolute historic fact. Yep. I mean, absolutely it's it's it's I mean, proven that that G, you know, at one at two times in the Bible, over 5,000 living, breathing human beings saw him do miracles. Uh at other times, hundreds of people saw him he heal the blind. I mean, you know, thousands and thousands of people saw him perform miracles. Yeah. Um uh for he lived after he after he uh resurrected from the dead, hundreds of he lived, he was back on earth for 40 days. Hundreds and hundreds of people saw him all over. Yep. So I mean it's historical fact.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah. And how do you respond when people disagree with your beliefs?

SPEAKER_01 17:01

I uh I I don't know. I I respond in kind. Every everybody uh I respect everybody's beliefs, you know. Now I will say in in my prayers, there's about six atheists uh that I pray for all the time that that they open their hearts and minds and find the Lord and become believers. So uh that's what I do with people that I personally know and love.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah. What would you say to someone who isn't sure if God is real?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Wow, man, that's hard. I guess I would um ask them why they think that. And oftentimes I've heard this in my 72 years. Well, if God's real, why are there tsunamis? Why do people die of cancer? Why, and and I would I mean I would I would be very kind and loving because I I I'm not um I I'm not I'm not saying I'm right and they're wrong. I'm not being um what's the term? It's a simple word. Dang it. I'm not I'm not trying to be in their face. I I don't want conflict. Uh but I'm saying, you know, when people say that, why are there all the bad things on earth? It's because we live in a fallen world. Satan is of this world. We we are we we are of sin. Trying to not sin, trying to be the children of God that he wants us to be. God has stayed out of this. We are free agents. He, you know, and those bad things happen. In fact, I will say there is warfare going on in the heavens between God's angels and Satan's angels. Yeah. And they're fighting for us. But um, Satan is of this world, and and bad things happen, and God lets it be, he stays out of it.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Anyway, it's not a very good answer. Is are Satan's angels just demons? Yeah, you could yeah, I would call them that, uh-huh. Um, so uh before I've had people ask me, because I'm a Christian and my friends that aren't really Christians, they asked they asked me like, why doesn't God just make you a Christian? Like, why doesn't he just make you believe in him?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And because he wants us to have to choose to free will and choose him. It's like, okay, I'm gonna hold a gun to your head and make you my friend and make you tell me, you know, who would you want that? No. God wants us out of love and gratitude to choose him.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Mm-hmm. Okay, so here are some fun questions. What's your favorite book of the Bible? Oh gosh, I d I I don't have one. Sorry, I don't. Aren't there like 72 different books? Is it 72?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Do you know? I don't know. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

It's like 70 or 72, I'm pretty sure. If you could witness one Bible event, which one would it be?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Jesus' resurrection.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Me too. And see, you know, seeing him. Yeah. See, you know, all that. Okay. What which Bible character do you relate to the most?

SPEAKER_01 21:08

I don't know. I don't know. Uh I I and this is I've never even thought about this, so this is just out of left field. I I I'm gonna say Jesus' mother Mary, only because I'm a mother, so I can relate to how much she loved Jesus because I relate it to how much you love your children more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah. Okay. Um, last question. What's your favorite worship song?

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Oh gosh, I don't know. Uh uh so, so, so many. Um, I'm gonna try to think of this one contemporary uh song. You know the song that goes uh when I see would I fall down on my knees, would I Dang it. I don't know. Oh, it's you would love this song. I'm gonna I'm gonna figure it out while I'm here and play it on my phone for you. Um I'm sorry about that. It's fine. Um because there's so I got I just so many.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

So many. Yeah. My favorite, I don't really know if it's a worship song, but Dusty Bibles is a pretty good song. Is that a worship song? I don't know. I don't know that song.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

It's you know there's a million worship songs.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Josiah.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Oh yeah. But I I honey, I just I don't I there are so many worship songs that I love and I don't even know their name. I don't even know who sings them. But I will tell you, my son many times has made fun of me because when I'm singing a hymn in church, they touch me so much I start crying. I start crying and he makes fun of me.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Oh no, mom's gonna oh she's gonna start crying. I didn't know that. That's true. Okay, okay. Well, thanks for being on the podcast, Grandma Freedom.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Can I say one more thing?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Just remember because we were talking about the fallen world, and this the world is of Satan. Yep, that's very important. Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God, they win. Good wins. Yep. Okay. Well, thanks for being on the podcast. You are welcome, Kid Freedom.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

My pleasure. This week, America celebrated an incredible milestone. Our nation's 250th anniversary. That's 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On July 4th, 1776. For two and a half centuries, our country has experienced triumphs, challenges, innovation, and change while continuing to strive towards the ideals of liberty and self-government. One of the biggest celebrations took place in Washington, DC, where thousands of families gathered on the National Mall to celebrate Independence Day. As the sun set behind the monuments, one of the largest fireworks shows in the country lit up the night sky. Bright reds, whites, and blues exploded over landmarks like Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, creating an unforgettable display that honored America's birthday. The celebration also included patriotic music, military bands, and families from all over the country coming together to celebrate what it means to be an American. It was a reminder that despite our differences, Independence Day is a time to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy and the sacrifices made by the generations before us. Whether you watch the fireworks in person, on television, or online, this year's celebration was a special one because the 250th anniversary only comes around once in a lifetime. As we celebrate our country's history, it is also a good time to remember the freedom. That freedom comes with responsibility. Our founding fathers believed that good character and strong communities were essential to keeping America free. As kids and families, we can honor the legacy by showing kindness, serving others, and being grateful for blessings we have. And no matter where you live, we hope you had a safe and happy Fourth of July. Remember, you are you. Your parents, teachers, friends, or government can't tell you what to believe in. Be brave and stand for freedom. New podcasts come out every Sunday. I'm Kid Freedom, signing off.