Reformation
Sudan Votes for Freedom: Will There Be a Domino Effect?
I’m flying back from Washington, D.C. after a sobering few days in the nation’s capital. We are all still grieving the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona and those who died in the gruesome attack. In the capital city this past weekend, all flags were at half mask and there were hushed conversations everywhere.
This morning I was walking with two friends to a meeting near the US Capitol Building when police cars with glaring lights blocked all entrances to Capitol Hill. We were told that a suspicious package had been found and they were taking no chances. We bided some time at a nearby Starbucks packed with government workers who couldn’t get to their jobs. Sobriety and concern was in the air.
But then, out of this ominous backdrop, I heard the news: Sudan, the largest and one of the poorest nations in Africa, was voting for freedom—and it appeared that liberty might prevail.
Isn’t that just like God—when everything appears to be black–to pierce the darkness with his light?
And is some new found freedom in Sudan a sign of things to come in other nations as well?
You might want to Google a map of Sudan to get a good visual. As you can see, it’s situated in the Muslim band of nations that occupy much of the Saharan tip of Africa. Sudan is a large nation. It’s a dry nation. It’s an extremely impoverished nation.
But today, in all likelihood it voted for freedom. The votes aren’t fully counted, but the result does not appear in doubt. The suffering people of southern Sudan, many of them believers in Christ, are being given a chance to decide their future—and they are overwhelmingly voting for freedom.
This could be a new day for Africa, other nations, and even some territories and states. But before we look at the future implications, let’s think for a moment about this Sudanese miracle.
Do you remember the name Darfur? Yes, it’s a southern portion of Sudan where hundreds of thousands of primarily Christians have been mercilessly slaughtered for nothing else but their faith over the past ten years. The very name Darfur reeks of carnage, injustice, suffering, and genocide.
Darfur is a part of southern Sudan where nearly two million people have been killed in a gruesome civil war. Most have died since 2005, so this is recent stuff. Four million people have also been displaced and forced to live in primitive encampments.
Why? Because the southern portion of Sudan is that area of the African continent where Muslim control of nations and cultures ended—and Christianity has been exploding for the past three decades.
It is also the region where much of Sudan’s lucrative oil industry lies. For decades, the Muslim north has been raiding and pillaging the defenseless south—taking the oil revenues to Khartoum in the Muslim north and leaving the southern fourth of the country destitute and under-developed (there is less than thirty miles of paved road in southern Sudan).
They’ve also tried to force Muslim society and sharia law on some areas of the south, and when that failed and faith in Christ began to spread north, the militants decided to simply kill all the Christians. Two million died. Four million fled their homes.
That’s the meaning of Darfur and southern Sudan: Darkness, tyranny, violence, bloodshed. I think you know where those tactics originate—in the world of Satanic evil– and in this case, evil that is wrapped in the cloak of religion.
But through much prayer, international pressure, and some miraculous changes of heart, even Sudan’s Muslim leader, Omar Hassan al-Bashir was forced to change his mind and agree to allow the south to vote for independence.
Starting on January 10, an estimated seven million Sudanese began going to the polls. It is an election that will probably last a week. Polling places have limited hours because there is no electricity after dark. Since 85% of the southern Sudanese people are illiterate, ballots simply showed pictorial choices that stood for YES for independence (freedom) and NO for the status quo.
And the Sudanese are voting for freedom. It’s a God-given cry of the human heart. If they prevail, the southern quarter of Sudan will become a new and free nation with a new capital—Juba– where families and children can be safer, and a desperately poor and persecuted people can build a future filled with new-found dreams of hope.
Many thousands of displaced Sudanese who now live in other nations are voting as well and look forward to returning to their homeland. Lee Everisto, a 48-year from Juba who now lives in Cairo, Egypt, said over the sounds of drumming and singing: “It is a historic day, a day that is going to put an end to our tragedy. I’m ready to go back as soon as possible.”
Freedom is a precious thing.
It is the birth-right of all people—made in the image of God.
Some individuals with whom I do not usually agree–former president Jimmy Carter, Senator John Kerry, and actor George Clooney—were all in Sudan for the historic vote and hailed the process. I applaud their efforts and stand with them in this historic milestone.
Maybe there is hope for bipartisan ship when the choice is between liberty and tyranny.
As I was meditating on the expected results of the elections in Sudan—and probable creation of a new and independent nation—my thoughts went back to a “prophetic vision” that is told in the first chapter of my 1989 book Leadership for the 21st Century: Changing Nations Through the Power of Serving. In a futuristic passage covering 1986 to 2025, Lee Grady and I accurately predicted the fall of the Iron Curtain (three years before it happened), and some of the social developments of the 1990s.
We also made this prediction for the 21st century: “By 2015 there was no longer a Third World. The globe was only divided into two areas: The Free World and the Dark World. And freedom was growing in the nations of the earth.”
Lee gets most of the credit for that perspective. He’s was right. Free Nations and Dark Nations.
That is the meaning of today’s events in Sudan. There are really only two forms of government in the world. One form tends to tyranny, and this includes most of the Islamic nations on earth. The other form produces liberty based on the creation of man, human rights, and societies based on biblical principles.
One of these principles is de-centralization of many aspects of life including economics, technology, and civil government. Where the ways of the Living God are practiced, people tend to be freer to communicate, invent, build, create, grow wealth, and govern themselves. The Christian worldview diffuses tyranny and central control and multiplies freedom and autonomy.
Freedom includes the right to vote for your leaders.
Another metaphor is light and darkness. A light-filled society creates the freedom for self-determination and an explosion of blessing—like sunshine to a summer day. A controlled, tyrannical society brings a creeping darkness of domination, lack of democracy, and loss of fundamental human rights. This would be the ultimate result of a one world system.
Yet, God appears to be expanding the longing for liberty in the nations of the world. Communism is dark by nature. The Chinese, North Koreans, Cubans, and others are longing to be free. Socialism has many shades of gray. It is hurting nations in Europe and growing in influence in America. Muslim nations that enforce harsh forms of sharia law may be the darkest of all.
But darkness does not do well when the light is turned on.
It flees.
It ceases to exist.
I believe we stand at the beginning of a new day when many nations—even states in some nations of the world—will take votes for liberty and cast off their chains. I believe we will see a liberated and re-united Korean peninsula; I believe many African nations may rise to fight the fight for freedom in their societies. Freedom marches and votes will also take place in many parts of Asia.
In my U.S. state of Washington, I know some folk who would love to “vote for independence” from King County—the liberal bastion of the Northwest. If they want big government, high taxes, and decreased liberties, let them have it. The rest of Washington can become another state where the biblical principles of freedom are allowed to thrive. Many Californians feel the same way about the north and south of their fair state. And Texas hints that if the federal government forces Obamacare on them as a people, they just may vote for liberty and succeed from the Union.
These are radical steps to take—but we live in radical times. Peoples should not change their governing structures lightly or no compelling reason. However, “When in the course of human events…”
Ah yes. That is the heritage of the American Revolution.
I encourage you to pray for a great expansion of personal, social, and civil liberty in the nations of the world in the 21st century. If I am reading the heart of God right, we just might have a rendezvous with destiny that is drenched in the blood, sweat and tears of an explosion of freedom.
And when we are dead and gone, and the history of the 21st century is written, Remember Sudan in 2011. It may be pointing the way to a light-filled future through the power of prayer and the principles of liberty found in Jesus Christ.
The Worst Congress in History–Should We Look in the Mirror?
I think we just lived through the worst United States Congress in history. Since the American Republic has been around for 234 years now, that is saying something.
Of course, I wasn’t there to observe 177 of those years, but I’ve kept a pretty close view on the past thirty or forty–and nothing compares to the deception, ineptness, radical nature, and horrific policies of the 111th United States Congress.
The 80th Congress (1948) was called the “Do-Nothing Congress.” The 109th Congress (2006) has been labeled the “Vacation Congress” because they only met for 100 days. Various congresses in the 18th and 19th centuries were either extremely raucous or bitterly divided (such as over slavery).
But nothing trumps the just completed 111th Congress.
They should be named the “Destroy Everything” Congress.
I believe we need to open our eyes–and also look in the mirror.
We elected these people.
What does that say about us?
It wasn’t that long ago that you didn’t hear much about the US Senate and House of Representatives in the daily news. They weren’t much of a factor or presence. Yes, every twenty to thirty years they made a controversial decision or passed a bad bill. But that was the exception, not a daily occurrence.
Of course, 24/7 cable news and the Internet have greatly increased the spotlight on national governance. But technology does not determine the character of those who lead.
During my lifetime, most senators and congressmen were decent people regardless of party. I generally vote Republican because of the GOP’s general commitment to Judeo-Christian principles which bring liberty. But I’ve liked and supported many Democrats as well including Senators Scoop Jackson and Henry Magnuson, and President John F. Kennedy. Sam Rayburn was a heck of a House Speaker and Tip O’Neill was a decent guy who shared a congenial, after-hours relationship with President Reagan.
So the issue is not partisan. It relates to the people in office.
The elected representatives of the 111th Congress were the worst national legislators we’ve ever had. Don’t believe the spin of the past couple of week. It’s just a desperate attempt to resurrect the discredited progressive agenda. The majority of Americans aren’t buying it.
Take a look at the most recent Gallup Poll on the 111th Congress. The graph is quite enlightening:
“PRINCETON, NJ — Americans’ assessment of Congress has hit a new low, with 13% saying they approve of the way Congress is handling its job. The 83% disapproval rating is also the worst Gallup has measured in more than 30 years of tracking congressional job performance.”
“The prior low approval rating for Congress was 14% in July 2008 when the United States was dealing with record-high gas prices and the economy was in recession.”
“For the year, Congress averaged 19% approval among all Americans, tied with the averages for 1979 and 2008, and one percentage point above the 18% average for 1992. Those years were all marked by difficult economic times for the United States.”
Gallup asked another question in a July 22, 2010 poll. It had to do with which institutions give people the greatest confidence. The poll found Congress ranking dead last out of the 16 institutions rated this year. Eleven percent of Americans said they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress, down from 17% in 2009 and a percentage point lower than the previous low for Congress, recorded in 2008.
So according to Gallup, the 111th Congress approval rating is 13% and confidence rating is 11%.
That’s pretty bad.
Why?
Let’s first look at the people and then at the policies they’ve enacted.
THE PEOPLE OF THE 111TH CONGRESS (just to name a few)
Nancy Pelosi – She will probably go down in history as the worst Speaker of all-time. From ultra-liberal San Francisco, she ruled as if everybody in America wanted to move to her progressive haven. A blank slate on America’s heritage and principles, she drove her own Congress into the electoral ditch with the greatest turnover of seats in sixty years. Her most famous quote (among many) referring to Obamacare: “We need to pass the bill so that we can find out what is in it.”
Harry Reid – The Senate majority leader from Nevada. He strong-armed Obamacare through the Senate by altering the rules and making back-room deals against the express will of the American people (Louisianna Purchase, Cornhusker kick-back etc.). Reid’s Senate didn’t pass one budget item during the past year while giving full vent to vast liberal wish lists of spending. His most famous gaffe among many: “The War is lost!” (When our fighting men and women were in harm’s way and the surge in Iraq was working.)
Barney Frank – His lack of regulation over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (which continues to this day) was one of the major factors in the collapse of the real estate market and the financial difficulties we’ve experienced since 2008. Frank is a foul-mouthed, militant homosexual whose “partner” once ran a gay prostitution ring out of his D.C. apartment.
Responding recently to President Jimmy Carter’s assertion that America is ready for a homosexual president, Franks bellowed: “It’s one thing to have a gay person in the abstract. It’s another to see that person as part of a living, breathing couple. How would a gay presidential candidate have a celebratory kiss with his partner after winning the New Hampshire primary? The sight of two women kissing has not been as distressful to people as the sight of two men kissing. And because of the Defense of Marriage Act, it’s not clear that a gay president could use federal funds to buy his husband dinner. Would his partner have to pay rent in the White House? There would be no Secret Service protection for the paramour.”
Yuck.
And this man was one of the powerful men in Washington, D.C. during the 111th Congress?
The list could go on and on–but I think you get the point.
POLICIES OF THE 111TH CONGRESS
First, they wastefully threw an 800 billion dollar stimulus program at the nation that did nothing to create jobs. The unemployment rate continued to climb because government spending does not stimulate capital creation and entrepreneurship. This was the biggest pork barrel bill in the history of the nation. Much of it went to prop up liberal causes, state governments, and unions. It was an utter waste of nearly one trillion dollars.
Then they spent an entire year going against the will of the American people and finally jamming through Obamacare last Christmas–the first step toward socialized medicine in the United States. This nearly three thousand page monstrosity is probably the worst single piece of legislation ever enacted on American soil. As a result, doctors are vowing to retire; Companies are raising rates; Over 250 groups have been exempted from the program because they’re favorites of the Administration; And this is a giant take-over of one-sixth of the American economy.
Because of the radicalness of this and other income re-distribution programs, the Tea Party Movement was born and swept many state houses, legislatures, and Congressional members out of DC in the November 2 elections.
After the election, the chastened 111th Congress should have humbly returned to their D.C. offices, voted to keep the tax rates in place, funded the government, and gone home. They had been soundly defeated and told they were taking the nation in a wrong direction.
But in a brazen, in-your-face manner, they did just the opposite. First they pushed to raise taxes on the wealth creators in America, lost, and finally capitulated. Then they pandered to their homosexual base and sent shock waves through the US armed forces by callously rescinding the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy–again against the wishes of the people and especially those on the front lines.
They also tried to slip in a controversial immigration bill, and pushed for a major nuclear arms treaty with Russia that is hurtful to the United States. They have no business even treading in these waters.
But this Congress doesn’t care. They have an agenda–and they stuck it to the American people.
Rush Limbaugh described the 111th Congress this way in his radio commentary on December 16, 2010:”The damage being done by this Congress is disastrous. They are hi-jacking our country right before our eyes. We are in the middle of being raped and they know it. We said “No” in November but they are still destroying and hijacking our country right in front of our eyes. They don’t care about the country.”
That’s why I call them the “Destroy Everything” Congress.
Fortunately, in a few days, they will be gone and the 112th will take their place.
But their destructive rampage should lead us to some necessary introspection.
Many of these people, including Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barney Frank were re-elected in 2010. They will be diminished, but are still in office.
What does that say about us–that we could elect people such as this to guide the affairs of our nation?
In olden times, God used prophets to explain to people why they were given good kings–when they followed God and lived right–and why they were sent bad kings as judgment for their sins.
We don’t have unelected kings in our day. We don’t need an explanation. We live in democratic times where our leaders are a reflection of us.
We the people–elected the 111th Congress. They were the worst in history.
But that consequently means that we, too, just might be the worst generation in American history who elected the worst leaders.
We need to change, live good lives, and elect good leaders.
Start with yourself. Look in the mirror.
Humble yourself. Ask God to forgive you, and live a changed life.
If enough Americans do it, we just might turn our worst time into one of our best .
“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will from heaven , forgive their sins and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
A Sad Day for Freedom From Sin
December 18, 2010 was a sad day for the cause of liberty. The United States Senate voted 65-31 to rescind the seventeen-year “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy in the American forces. On the heels of a 250-175 vote in the House of Representatives, largely along party lines, homosexuality is now “free” to openly flourish in the barracks or foxhole.
By this infamous vote, The United States government now openly condones and encourages homosexual behavior among our fighting men and women. The last bastion of discipline and moral order in the United States has been breached, not by an invading army, but by a destructive Lame Duck Congress.
Maybe the pen is mightier than the sword.
With the stroke of President Obama signing this grievous bill, the military, as we have known it for two hundred and thirty-four years, will be crippled.
This is a sad day for real liberty–which is freedom from sin.
We’ll get to the true definition of freedom in a moment, but first the disturbing facts about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) rescission.
Liberal Democrats, many of whom lost in the Nov 2 election, were the greatest culprits in this homosexualization of the armed forces. Both of my Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, voted for the repeal. But eight Republicans also joined them in the tragic vote: Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, George Voinovich of Ohio, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, John Ensign of Nevada, and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine.
As Family Research Research Council points out, our fighters were treated like pawns by those meant to support and defend them. (Read their excellent article here.) Here’s how Gary Randall of the Faith & Freedom Network described the tragedy:
“Congress has said ‘yes’ to open homosexuality in the military. Over the loud and passionate pleas from Senator John McCain, and concerns expressed by military leaders who serve in combat, the Senate caved to homosexual activists, joined President Obama in his attempt to appease the activists and retain their vote, and said yes to a social experiment that will have both ‘intended’ and ‘unintended’ consequences.”
“The homosexual victory was aided by a number of Republicans. McCain was not one of them. He said of our fighting men and women, ‘They will do what is ask of them, but don’t think there won’t be consequences.'”
“You have witnessed another step down a slippery moral decline. And there will be consequences.
The Alliance Defense Fund issued a statement following the vote saying, ‘The Senate’s cave-in to pressure from activists to impose homosexual behavior on our military will place troops’ religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy.’ They say the first casualty will likely be the religious freedom of chaplains.”
This is the “great freedom” that Congress gave us on December 18.
Incredible.
Abraham Lincoln, a founder and champion of the modern-day Republican Party, would also be appalled. One of his most famous quotes, which has been a clarion principle of our Christian-based republic for the past 150 years is this:
“No man has a right to do wrong.”
Let that truth sink into you deeply. It will change your view of how to define “civil” rights.
Of course, the liberal media doesn’t share Lincoln’s view. Led by secular cheerleaders such as the New York Times and the Associated Press, numerous papers, blogs, and e-letters hailed the the news of the defeat of DADT as a great triumph for civil rights. Quoting Senator Joe Liebermann, a staunch supporter of doing away with the ban on homosexual behavior,” the gleeful networks proclaimed:
“We righted a wrong. Today we’ve done justice.”
The New York Times openly stated their end-game purpose, that “integrating openly gay troops within the military will lead to greater acceptance in the civilian world.”
The progressives want a secular, not a godly America.
Barack Obama went even further when he said, “It’s time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.”
Sounds good–but it’s nonsense. You don’t choose race or gender, and religion and creeds should be protected areas of conscience.
Not homosexuality. For all of history, and in all religions, homosexual behavior has been viewed as a perversion of the normal sexual relationship with graphic and destructive consequences. It’s just as hurtful as incest, fornication, adultery, pedophilia, and bestiality.
All of these sexual perversions distort God’s moral standards and hurt human beings. They should be discouraged by any just and compassionate society that really cares for its people
And no sexual deviancy should be tolerated when you’re fighting for your country.
We’ve got it backwards–and Congress just forced it on the military.
Isaiah is considered Israel’s greatest prophet, and his book is the second longest in the Bible next to the Psalms. In chapter five, Isaiah goes to great lengths to discuss how God blessed and planted the ancient Hebrew nation in good moral and spiritual soil. But over time, they rejected his laws and principles. “What more could I have done?” agonizes the heart of God over a nation that turned away from his standards of right and wrong (Isaiah 5:4).
Nothing, really.
They just didn’t listen.
Here is the end result that Isaiah describes for those who pervert God’s justice: “Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark…Destruction is certain for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever…Their roots will rot and their flowers wither, for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 5:20-24).
Israel was severely judged when it turned God’s standards of right and wrong or its head. Do you think it will be any different for us?
I don’t think so.
Wrong was made right through Saturday’s vote. Vast injustice was perpetrated on the US military–even against the wishes of those who fight in close quarters on the front lines (58% of Marines are strongly opposed to changing the policy.)
But the politicians don’t care for them or this country. They are committed to the secularization of America via social experimentation i.e. trashing all aspects of Judeo-Christian standards.
One of the things we learn from this vote and the cultural battle in which we are engaged is that there are two different visions of “freedom” that are being fought for in America today. These two contrasting philosophies go back to the two beings behind them–God on the side of righteousness, and Satan on the side of darkness.
Satan’s concept of liberty is pretty simple. He wants people to be “free from God and his standards.” Satan Himself rebelled against God’s created order and has been encouraging other moral beings to reject God’s ways ever since. Through the worldview of secularism, here’s how Satan markets his deceptive brand of “freedom:”
- Begin by questioning the rightness or wrongness of sexual choices. Make it a matter of “personal preferences” or “lifestyle choices.” All sin begins when we follow Satan’s lead in setting ourselves up as “God” in our moral choices.
- Draw people into immorality in all its forms. Start with the warm-ups of pornography and mental fantasy, then encourage them to “experiment” for themselves with sex outside of marriage and in whatever form or with whatever partners “they” desire.
- Convince them through darkening their minds that none of these actions are immoral. They’re just choices that all human beings are allowed to make.
- Once trapped in immorality, the heart of the Satanic strategy manifests itself. Jesus said that Satan’s clear purpose is “to kill and destroy” (John 10:10). All forms of immorality, especially the unnaturalness of homosexuality, destroys human dignity, proper relationships, family, health, relationship with God, and ultimately leads to eternal destruction.
- But that’s not all. Satan’s next step is to ridicule those who are moral and adhering to God’s standards. Make them look like the prudes and the bigots.
- Finally, the goal is to persecute the godly, beginning with “hate speech” and even imprisonment.
Notice Gary Randall’s warning of the consequences of repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in the US military: “The first casualty will likely be the religious freedom of chaplains.”
Silence Christian chaplains. Then Christians in general. Or even imprison them for speaking out against homosexuality.
Satan’s “freedom from God” destroys those who do it and those who resist it.
Doesn’t sound like liberty to me.
It’s not.
Real freedom, the one that America was founded on, was not freedom from God and his wise standards for living. It’s freedom to live for God.
Freedom is not doing what you want; It’s having the wisdom and power to do what you ought.
In the realm of sexuality it’s being smart and humble enough to do things the way God designed them, for our good, others’ good, and for his honor and glory. It means:
- Staying away from pornography which corrupts the mind.
- Not sleeping with your boy friend, girlfriend or fiance before marrying them.
- Not having sex with a close relative.
- Not having same gender sex with anyone.
- Marrying God’s choice from the opposite sex–a conjugal joining in relationship which is both natural, beautiful, and produces children (to read a great new paper on marriage published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, click here.)
- Being faithful to the one you marry for a lifetime.
- Having children in God’s way and time and raising them in the fear and love of God.
This is true sexual freedom because it is freedom from destructive self autonomy and sin.
Jesus said truly that “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is a part of the family forever. So is the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).
True freedom is freedom from sin, not from God.
By rescinding the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, our Congressional leaders are doing nothing less than encouraging homosexuals to stay in their sin, bringing tension and sexual lust into the intimate quarters of our fighting forces, and promoting the armed forces social destruction.
On December 18 we lost an important battle. But we must continue to fight because we love God and we love people. Let’s pray that this action will be overturned in the 112th Congress because it breaks the bond of trust that must exist between the military and those who oversee the armed forces in the Pentagon and Congress.
Let’s ask the new House in January to defund the repeal of DADT. Then we will work to get fresh voices in the Senate and move to reinstate the law.
A pillar of America’s exceptional past is freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray during this Christmas season that God’s Son will lead us back to true liberty.