(2006 Conference) 8. Young People Who Stand for God — Zac Poonen

God Bearing Witness to Young People

And there is a phrase occurring in my mind, and that is God bearing witness. Whatever you may think about yourself, if God does not bear witness to you, you have failed. For all of us, that is the thing.

I may think I'm doing a wonderful job, I may think I'm wholehearted, but ask yourself if God is bearing witness to your life and to your service. We must never devalue ourselves because we are young. Paul told Timothy, don't let anyone despise your youth.

In the Old Testament, when God called Jeremiah, it says in Jeremiah chapter 1, the word of the Lord, verse 4, came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you and appointed you a prophet to the nations.

And he said, Lord, I don't know how to speak because I am a youth. How old was he? Maybe 17, 18 years old. Does God speak to people who are 17, 18 years old and tell them, hey, I've got a ministry for you.

And I planned that ministry when you were in your mother's womb. Take your life seriously. It's quite likely that God is saying that to some of you sitting here. And then we can say, oh, Lord, I don't even know how to speak.

I'm a youth. That may be exactly how you feel. So I felt as a young man when I felt God was calling me, I said, Lord, I don't know how to speak. I've never in my life stood before the public, even in school.

I never took part in public speaking or any such thing. But it's got nothing to do with these such abilities. Those are all natural abilities that people have. God must bear witness to you. And I want to encourage all of you young people to be sensitive, to hear what God is saying to you, brothers and sisters.

Noah, Daniel, and Job as Examples of Righteousness

I want to turn to another example in Ezekiel and chapter 14. You know, these examples in scripture are people to whom God bore witness. In Ezekiel 14, the Lord says in verse 13, if a country sins against me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut it off from it, man and beast.

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were living there, they will be able to only save themselves. And they will not, verse 16, be able to deliver even their sons and daughters. Sometimes the blessing of God upon a man brings blessing to his sons and daughters too.

Like when God brought Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, he brought his son, his wife and daughters too. But sometimes God says, no, it's only that man that's going to be delivered. And I'm not going to do anything for his son or daughter, because they are not wholehearted like him.

And here it was in such a situation, it was so bad that the Lord said, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were there, they would deliver themselves by their own righteousness. Here was God bearing witness, saying these three people are righteous.

Now we know that God bore witness about Job even to the devil. He lived long, long ago, long before Ezekiel. Ezekiel lived around in the 570 BC or something like that. And Job lived probably more than 2000 BC.

Noah was another very righteous man to whom God bore witness. He also lived in 2000 BC. God pointed to Noah and Job and said, there are two righteous men who lived way, Ezekiel, 1 ,500 years before you.

I can think of two righteous men. And then this is the most amazing thing. But Ezekiel, in your lifetime, there is a 17-year-old young man in Babylon, right where you are, his name is Daniel. He's also a righteous man in the same category as those two people.

That's amazing. Didn't God fear that Daniel's head would be puffed up when he heard that prophecy? Oh, I'm also a righteous man like Noah and Daniel. What fantastic confidence God had in Daniel, young 17, 18-year-old man.

That even if Ezekiel the prophet gets up and puts him in the same category as Noah and Job, Daniel will remain the same humble young man he was. I hope God will have that confidence in you people. Can he?

Would you be able to bear that? Would you be able to bear a prophet getting up and putting you in the same category as two righteous men who lived 2 ,000 years ago? And say, God says you are in that same category.

And you fall on your face and you say, Lord, what am I? I don't have anything that I did not receive. We can't bear it. We get puffed up so easily, so quickly. I believe this is the biggest failure among young people.

And I want to say to you young people, be careful. Here is an exemplary man in the Old Testament. He was younger than Ezekiel. Ezekiel was about 30 years old when he started the ministry. Daniel was at least ten years younger to him.

Ezekiel is prophesying about a fellow ten years younger to him, who's hardly 20 years old, and says God considers him a righteous man. I wish we had young brothers and sisters like that in our midst. Whom Almighty God could see something in them that God could say, see with God there is no partiality.

He told, he picked up Jeremiah from that whole crowd of thousands of people in Israel, he picked up this young 17-year-old Jeremiah and said, you, I've chosen you. Why can't God do that today? He did that with Joseph way back, 17 years old, God gave him visions of the future, what's going to happen.

And those visions were fulfilled. These are examples, dear young people, of people whom God picked up. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely his.

Wholehearted Ambition and Joseph's Saving Ministry

That's what it says in 2 Chronicles 16 verse 9. You know, God is looking for those whose hearts are completely his, who have given up every other ambition. When we are young, we have ambitions, nothing wrong in that.

But when Christ lays a hold of our life, we must shift our ambitions to something that is more, got more eternal value. You have ambitions as a young man, that's right. Don't you young teenage girls and girls in your 20s have ambitions?

You have hopes of getting married to a good man, a wholehearted brother. You young men, you have hopes and ambitions in your life to get a good job, to set up a home, good. But I hope those ambitions will be directed towards the kingdom of God.

And say, Lord, whatever else I do or don't do, I want my life to count for you on earth like the lives of Joseph, Daniel, etc., counted. Do you know that all of Egypt, and not only Egypt, the whole known world in those days was saved by one young man, Joseph.

We don't know how many millions would have been destroyed by the famine in Egypt if it were not for the wisdom that God gave to one young man who said to Pharaoh, God has shown me that there are going to be seven years of plenty.

And then there will be seven years of famine. Pharaoh didn't know that. Pharaoh got a dream, but he didn't have a clue what the dream meant. Pharaoh was much older than Joseph. But Joseph explained that dream.

And he said, this plenty that you see now is not going to last forever. It's only for seven years. You see, most of us, when we get into a time of plenty, whether good salary or comfortable life, we think this will last forever now.

A man like Joseph knew it is not going to last forever. It's for a period. And during that period, he said, don't just spend everything. Store up, store up, store up. Eat a little that is necessary and store up for the future because a time of famine is coming.

Now, if Joseph were not there, those Egyptians would have just eaten and wasted their plenty, and the result would have been that when the famine came, there would have been nothing, and not only Egypt would have suffered.

All the nations around Egypt would have suffered too. But because there was one young man who was in touch with God, he saved Egypt and he saved the nations around Egypt. You must be a young man like that, a young woman like that, who can fulfill a purpose in your lifetime.

In sisters too, there was this young lady called Deborah who God laid hold off in the book of Judges because there was no other man he could find, trained her one day to be a judge in Israel. So God looks for such people.

Enoch's Walk and Testimony Before God

We read in the story of Daniel, how he was another young man that we read of here that God could bear witness to him, and what was the reason? You know, it says about Enoch in Hebrews 11. It's a beautiful phrase that God bore witness to him.

Hebrews 11 verse 5, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God took him up. But before he was taken up, he got a witness from God that his life was pleasing to God.

God watched Enoch's life for 300 years. I mean, those days people lived up to 360, I mean, Enoch lived up to 365. He started walking with God when he was about 60. So if you make that down to the proportion people live today, it's after one-sixth of his life was over, he started walking with God.

So if you're going to live to 100 years, that means you start walking with God when you're 16, something like that. I mean, if you want to translate Enoch's lifetime to our lifetime, we got to look at Enoch like a man who for 16 years just did whatever he liked.

And then one day he had an encounter with God as a young man. Those days, somebody who was 65 was a very young man, people lived up to 900. And here was this young man who played the fool for many years.

And then he had an encounter with God. And from that day consistently till the end of his life, he decided to walk with God. And he was the only man who walked with God. If you want to know, and he had a testimony that his life pleased God as a young man.

And if you want to know what type of world Enoch lived in, just turn to the book of Jude. And you see there that Enoch prophesied. He was a prophet in his generation. Verse 14, Enoch prophesied about the hypocrites in his time.

It is about these men that Enoch prophesied. Which men? These people who are, verse 12, hidden reefs, only care for themselves, clouds without water. Hypocrites, doubly dead, trees without fruit, wandering stars, etc.

And what did Enoch prophesy about such people living in his time? The Lord is coming. He spoke about the second coming of Christ before the first coming took place. And he said the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones.

And he's going to execute judgment on all you ungodly people for all the ungodly things you've done, for all the ungodly way in which you've lived. And for all the ungodly things you have spoken, for your words, your deeds.

God is going to judge you, all you grumblers and those who find fault who live after your lusts. That's the type of people Enoch lived around, just like today. And here was this young man, Enoch, who walked with God in his life.

God bore witness to him, just like God bore witness to Daniel. There is a righteous man. And if you look at Daniel chapter one, book of Daniel chapter one, you see one of the reasons why God bore witness to him.

Daniel's Refusal to Be Defiled

And that is something that all of you can take heed to. In the world in which we live, there's a great need for people like Daniel. It says here, Daniel was one of the fine young people selected with many other intelligent, smart young people.

God can choose anybody. He can choose someone who's dumb. He can choose someone who's smart. We shouldn't think that God only chooses those who are weak and dumb and poor. He chooses certain rich people like Abraham and Job.

And he chooses some exceptionally clever people like Paul and Daniel. I mean, with God, these things don't make a difference. You can be, it's a heart that matters, not, so don't think that, well, God doesn't choose all these clever, intelligent people.

He chooses only simple people. No, Daniel was an extremely clever, intelligent man. He could pass all the tests there, and he came first in the class. God chooses such people too. And it says here, but the thing, the reason why God chose Daniel was not because he came first in his class.

No. He chose him because he made up his mind, verse 8, that he would not defile himself. The important thing is not how capable we are in the things of the world, but whether we can keep our heart from being defiled.

The great temptation, when you have tremendous capabilities in the world, some of you are very smart and capable in earthly things. You're very capable in your job. You're able to do certain wonderful things, and you get good jobs and good salaries.

Can you put God first there in your job and say, like Daniel, I'm sorry, I will not do these things which are wrong. It's a great temptation, because you can lose the opportunity for promotion. Now, if you're just working as a sweeper or something, that's easy, because you don't look much for promotion.

But I'm talking about people who have got tremendous abilities. And you have scope to advance. And you know that if you stand up for what is true, the authorities won't like it so much. That's what Daniel faced.

The king had said, this is the food you must eat. But Daniel made up his mind that he will not defile himself, even if the king sent food and said, you got to eat this. And in those days, it was not just a question of being sacked from your job.

It was a question of losing your head, if you dared to defy the king. I mean, I'm amazed at Christians who will compromise just to get a promotion. Or who compromise just to get a little increment. Or compromise just to keep their job.

Here was a man who would not compromise even to keep his head, leave alone his job. No wonder God bore witness to Daniel and said, he's in the same category as Noah and Job. God has got no respect of persons.

I believe that in our generation, God can point to you and say that you're like that. If he sees, when he tests you, that you will not compromise, you got to stand true to God in this day of compromise.

That is the greatest need for young people. See, God cannot use a man before he tests him. God tested Jeremiah through many, many, many situations. To see whether he would compromise. He was a prophet and God tested him to see whether he would preach the whole truth or whether he would seek to please people.

And I'm sure millions of prophets through the years have lost God's approval, because somewhere along the line they tried to please man. But there were a few like Jeremiah who stood true and Daniel. And you could find yourself in situations.

Obeying Small Commands Without Judging Others

Daniel found himself in situation in his work spot, where he was tempted to compromise, to do something wrong. And you young people can find yourself in situations in your work spot, where everybody, all the other Jews of Daniel's friends were doing the wrong thing.

It was a very small issue. You know, nowadays, many people say, oh, that's a small thing. Whenever I hear that word from somebody, I know he's a compromiser. Oh, that's a small matter, brother. That's not a big issue.

Uh-huh. Such a person will never in his lifetime be in the category of Daniel or Joseph. What was this small thing? Eat a little pork, drink a little wine. Yeah, I know there are some dietary laws God has given in the book of Leviticus, but it's a small thing.

It's not a sin. You're not harming anybody. You're not hurting anyone. It's a small thing. And perhaps those laws were because they were in the wilderness. Now we are in Babylon, and things have improved.

We got to adjust to our society. That's what people say. You know, in Daniel's time, the other Jews could have said what a lot of Christians say today. That was for that time. I mean, Moses was speaking in Leviticus for that culture.

Hey, that was 1 ,000 years ago, Daniel. That's what people say today. Those things that Paul wrote, that is for that culture 2 ,000 years ago. We're living now. We can't be particular about these small, small commandments.

It's written only one verse, half a verse. You know that the thing forbidding eating pork was half a verse? Half a verse. There's only one verse in Proverbs which says, don't look upon the wine when it stirs itself and is red and stirs itself in the cup.

Only one verse. It's half a verse. And people could have come to Daniel and said, why are you bothered about half a verse, man? Do you know the number of Christians today who despise half a verse in the Bible?

They will never in 1 ,000 years find the witness of God. No wonder India lacks prophets. No wonder India lacks wholehearted men and women. Do you know that God will not test you in the big things? He didn't test Daniel to see whether he murdered somebody or committed adultery.

No, it was a small little thing. There was a little pork on the table. There was a little wine. And all the Jews said, come on, let's eat it. And somebody says, hey, it says in Leviticus chapter 11, there's certain things we can't eat.

It says in Proverbs, we can't look at this wine when it's stirring itself. Then came these arguments. That was for that culture, that's only half a verse. And come on, we got to take the broader view and all these things that we hear today among Christians.

But in the midst of it, there was one man, only one man, 17, 18 years old, who said, brothers, I don't judge you. But my conscience does not permit me to do this. I'm not here. You may call me a legalist.

You can call me whatever you like. But I fear God. And even if it's one-tenth of a verse, if God has said it, I'll do it. Can you imagine the delight it brought to the heart of God? Not because Daniel didn't eat pork.

That's not the point. The pork was only a test. Not because Daniel didn't drink wine. The wine was only a test. Today we can eat pork and drink a little wine. There's no sin in that. I mean, if it was a sin then, it must be a sin now too.

It is not. It was kept there as a little test. And I found in the New Testament too, there are these little one-tenth of a verse somewhere. It's not important, but it's a test to see whether you obey it or not.

To see whether you come in the same category as Daniel. And to see whether you become proud and judge other people who don't obey that verse. That's the other way you can spoil yourself. You can obey a verse and then destroy all the effect of that verse by being proud.

Like you heard me say, you make this wonderful chicken curry and then you put one dead lizard inside. The dead lizard is your pride that, aha, I'm obeying this verse and those other fellows are not. Please, when you make the chicken curry, please don't put a dead lizard inside.

Spoils the whole thing. Leave others alone. That's another thing I found. So many fine young people, they cannot leave other people alone. They are busybodies in everybody's affairs. Why don't you do it like me?

Why should they do it like you? There are elder brothers like that. They want everybody to do it like them. Who said they should do it like you? Leave them alone. If they want to go to hell, let them go to hell.

If they want to disobey God, let them disobey God. You preach the word and then leave it to them whether they want to obey God or not. But you don't compromise. That's the position Daniel took. He didn't go around judging all those other fellows.

Be a young person like that, wholehearted, radical, obeying every little thing in God's word, but not judging anybody else. It's that second part that is very difficult for many young people, and even older people.

That proves that they are not wholehearted. That proves they are not living before God's face. They are obeying something in order to show others, see, see me, that's the dead lizard. It's about 25 dead lizards when it's like that.

God says, I don't want that curry. Many young people are spoiling all their radical, wholehearted thing by compromising and judging others and becoming proud of what they've done. But Daniel wasn't like that.

Radical Obedience and Spiritual Backbone

He took a stand. He didn't want anybody else to join him. He said, that's fine. You fellows can do what you like, but this is the way I want to go. Think if God can find young people like that here. You young men, in your place of work, or you stand up and say, I will not compromise, whatever I may do.

When I was a young man, I had a great ambition to go right up to the top of the Navy, and then Jesus came into my heart and gripped my life. And I discovered one thing. I have to give up my earthly ambition if I want to please the Lord.

It was impossible to have two ambitions, because I found myself in so many situations where I would either have to please my superior officer or do what God says. There are numerous times in my life as a young man, 21, 22 years old, where I had to stand before my senior commanding officer and say, I'm sorry, sir.

I can't do that, I'm a Christian. And you know, those are the days when as a young 22, 23 year old, I got a spiritual backbone. God is trying to build a spiritual backbone in you, in these different situations where you stand alone.

I was alone. Most of the ships I worked in, I was the only Christian standing up for Christ. I thank God for those experiences. There was not a single believer around. Most times, many weeks, I never met a believer for weeks on end.

It was just me and Jesus, that's all. And if you find yourself in situations like that, young people, remember that is the time when God is testing you, to see whether you will stand and obey those little commands.

The New Testament is full of people who missed something by disobeying little commands. I told you yesterday how Saul lost the kingdom just because he didn't kill the good sheep. What a little thing that is.

Just because he went and offered a sacrifice when he shouldn't have done it. King Uzziah lost the kingdom, became a leper because he went and offered a sacrifice. He shouldn't have done it, that was not his ministry.

I've seen people lose the anointing of God because they go into a ministry God has never called them to. They go and poke their nose into affairs which don't concern them. Instead of God expanding their borders, they expand their borders themselves and God brings confusion into their work and into their life.

So there are many, many examples like this throughout scripture. Of people who did not commit very serious sins, and the same way there are these examples of people like Daniel who obeyed God in minute little things.

Can you take a stand for God in your office and say, I'm sorry, I'm a Christian, I can't do that. You may lose your job, that's fine. I almost got court-martialed. Court-martialed means I could be locked up in jail.

I said, that's fine. But I'm not going to go against my conscience. I tell you, God will test you. But if you pass the test, boy, you know what a ministry God will give you? All the honors you get in the world will be nothing compared to that ministry God will give you after he's tested you.

And he won't test you just once. He'll test you one after the other after the other. And in the midst of it all, because you're a young man, he will also test you to see whether you submit to your elders who are carnal, okay?

Submitting to Imperfect Elders and Family

Elders who are not as wholehearted as you. That's how Jesus was tested. I know Mary was a wonderful girl, but she was not as wholehearted as Jesus. No, no comparison. Joseph was not as wholehearted as Jesus.

And I can imagine that Jesus saw Joseph and Mary fighting with each other. Do you believe that Joseph and Mary fought with each other? Or are you a Roman Catholic? Have you seen, okay, let me ask you an easier question.

Have you seen new covenant husband and wife fighting with each other? What about old covenant husband and wife? You know, there are many Protestants who believe Roman Catholic teaching. The immaculate Mary and the immaculate Joseph who never fought with each other.

And Jesus lived in this holy home. I'm sorry, I don't believe that. They were old covenant people. I have seen new covenant people how they fight. And I multiply that by about ten and I say that is how old covenant people must have fought.

And Jesus lived in that home and saw this and he never judged them. He was wholehearted and he submitted to them. They were carnal. Nobody could be spiritual till the day of Pentecost, but Jesus submitted to them.

Can you submit to an elder brother who's not as spiritual as you are? Without judging him, say God has kept me here, I have to submit. I tell you, I've been through that for years in my 20s and those are the years God broke me.

My elder brothers were not spiritual in all the churches I lived in those years. I did not judge them. I went about my business and in church matters, I did what they told me to do. I minded my own business.

Many of you, I believe some of you who are older in your 30s, 40s, just think you could have had a much, much wider ministry if you had allowed God in your younger days to break you a little bit. Don't be satisfied with what you have.

There could have been more. You must have a desire to get God's best. God can break you through a difficult wife. He broke Job through a difficult wife. He broke John Wesley through a difficult wife. He can break you through a difficult husband.

God has his own ways. In Daniel's case, he was broken through the circumstances. You know, jealous. Other people in the office who were jealous of him and who accused him to the boss, got him thrown in the lion's den.

A Blameless Witness in the Workplace

What all he faced in his life? Jealousy because he was so upright. They examined every area of his work, it says in Daniel 6, and they could not find a single thing wrong with him. What a testimony! When I was young and I was working in the Navy, this was my desire.

Lord, whatever people may say, accuse me, laugh at me about my faith, they must never be able to find one thing wrong with the work I do. You must have that desire in your work, in your office. I remember commanding officers who used to call me for my annual report and say, I don't find anything wrong with your work, but you're a very unsociable person.

You don't drink and play cards and things like that with the other people. Okay. What he thought was bad, what I thought was good. So I knew I could never go to the top, but they could not complain about my work.

My work was perfect. Because I took pains to do it. And you must take pains in your office. I used to tell them, sir, I'm not doing my work to get your annual report. I'm doing it because I fear God. I remember some of those commanding officers on their deathbed.

They remembered what I told them. I tell you, you young people must be such outstanding witnesses for Christ in your office, that till the dying day your boss will remember you. They'll remember there was one man I knew in my office.

He was so different. He never cared for promotion, but he did his job so perfectly. I could trust him that he would not speak about me behind my back. He was a God-fearing man. Do your bosses, will they remember you on their deathbed that there was one Christian I came across?

Boy, he was genuine. That man didn't go after money. I remember I met an admiral here the other day, a colleague of mine in the Navy. He was senior to me. We met at the naval officer's function here once.

He said, Zach, I can never forget. I left the Navy forty years ago. He said, I can never forget how with all the prospects ahead of you, you chucked everything and went out. He was surprised to see me still alive and happy.

I met another senior officer at that function who was the one who troubled me a lot because I was a Christian. He was the one who almost court-martialed me. I saw him there and he was so embarrassed to meet me.

I had nothing against him. I was so happy to meet him. They never forget you. That's what I discovered. You stand for Christ, forty years later, they will remember that you were a Christian who stood there.

You must be like that, you young people in your office. Not only you'll get a backbone, but you'll be a witness. I didn't go around distributing tracts to these people. When an opportunity came, I would say, I'm sorry, sir, I'm a Christian.

I can't do that. They would ask me to write false statements. I'd say, I'm sorry, sir, I'm a Christian. I can't do that. Once I got a transfer in half an hour for not doing what the commanding officer wanted me to do.

That's fine. You must have some experiences like that in your younger days. Where you lost a job because you stood for the Lord. Where you didn't get a promotion, somebody else got promoted. Somebody, you got pushed down and something else happened because you stood for the Lord.

These are the things that will make you the type of Christian you should be. That's how Daniel was. So, when Daniel took that stand for the Lord, then there were two or three people sitting around the table whom we now know as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Their earlier names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Those were their original names. We don't know those names so well. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were sitting there and they said, we always felt like this.

You know that this pork and this wine we shouldn't touch but we saw all these compromising young people and decided to be like them but now, we're going to follow Daniel. You know what a difference it makes?

One Person Standing Can Influence a Nation

Your sisters, when you see all the other sisters following the fashions of the world and you as one sister decide you're not going to go that way, you'll be like a Daniel. And then there will be some other young sisters, they say, hey, there's one sister who's bold, who's not going to follow the fashions of the world and who's not going to dress like the film stars and the models and you'll get a little company, you'll get a little fellowship.

That's how the real church is built. In the midst of compromise, somebody is willing to be different and is not going to follow the way everybody else is going. The vast majority among the Jews were compromisers, the vast majority in every church are compromisers, even among young people.

But in the midst of them, God is looking for one who will say, well, small command or one-tenth of a verse or half a verse, I'm going to obey God. And such a person, God will bear witness to him. Do you know that God could influence the whole nation of Babylon through one man, Daniel?

Not by the multitude of compromisers. God could influence the next kingdom, Medo-Persia. Darius was the king of Medo-Persia. Usually, you know what happens in parliament, when the Congress is in power, they put certain people in as secretaries and police directors, but when the new government comes, BJP comes, they sack all those people and put some other people there.

That's what happened in Medo-Persia. Babylon got defeated, Medo-Persia took over the empire and they sacked everybody, but Daniel, they didn't sack. It's amazing. They kept him. He said, you continue to be the prime minister.

What a man! Because they discovered, I think, by searching the records, this fellow wasn't serving Babylon. He was a godly man and I think Medo-Persia will benefit by having this chap on our side. He's not in politics and taking this side or that side.

The whole government changed and they retained this man as prime minister. Great testimony. One man and he began to influence Medo-Persia. And do you know that he was the man who influenced Medo-Persia to send the Jews back to build the temple in Jerusalem.

God's work is mostly done by one person. And you can be that one person. One wholehearted, radical, uncompromising person who will stand for God no matter what, how many people around him compromise, who will obey the whole counsel of God, who will not reject something and say, oh, that's a small thing, that's not very important, those are not the major things in scripture.

Beware, my brothers and sisters of those who say, oh, let's follow the major things, let's not worry about these little things. That's exactly what all those compromising Jews sitting around the table said.

Daniel, the main thing are the Ten Commandments, man. Don't worship idols, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't bear false witness, etc., etc. There are not this pork and wine, where is that in the Ten Commandments?

Daniel would have said, you fellows can say what you like, I'm not going to judge you, but I see it in scripture. Where do you find young people like this who will dare to be different? Where will you find parents like this who will train their young people to be willing to be different from the multitude and the crowd?