Blog Links
CHAPTER 3
ANTICIPATING THE FUTURE
Those who are able to change,
are those who are able to capture
opportunities that are offered by the future.
The winds of change always blow. For those who find it difficult to change, these
winds always seem to be chilly winds that bring discomfort. John the apostle used the
term “sea” in Revelation as a metaphor for the populations of the world. What better
metaphor could be used to illustrate the constant change that besets civilizations
throughout history? Nothing of this world ever stays the same. We are always held in
anticipation for the next chapter of human history.
Because Africa was first tribal, it fought social change for centuries. But most
Africans have relented, and thus are pushing forward to the next urban Africa culture,
since over half of Africa now lives in urban centers. As nations seek to become part of
the global community in order to have their piece of the economic pie, they must source
information. They must go online, download the latest work manuals, business information, stock prices, and thus learn to keep up with the latest leading economic cultures of
the world. This access to a wealth of information in order to generate wealth is the
engine that is moving Africa and the world into the future.
Since information is the force that changes culture, change is inevitable in those
nations that want to advance from Third to First World economics. Old ways will have
to give way to new adventures as governments seek to bring their nations out of the
doldrums of Third World despair. Development means change, and thus any country
that would develop must teach its population to transition with the information that is
necessary to build nations.
Sub-Saharan Africa illustrates the future of the struggling Third World that seeks to
participate in the 21st century global economic family. It has been a continent with a
cuffed hand that sought any means by which to pull itself out of centuries of underdevelopment
or exploitation. With the Western demand for democracy, African countries are
trying their best to emerge out of the “dark continent” syndrome in order to become a
part of this democracy that seems to encourage self-initiative to better one’s self in a
competitive world.
For many years, however, Africa will remain economically cursed as it limps
forward. The continent will remained cursed with regimes of government who are
composed of corrupt, self-seeking politicians who feign a concern for the people,
especially the poor, but inwardly are using their positions for possessions. On the bright
side, however, this is a passing generation of “politicians” who have at least ushered in
democracy in many African countries.
Before we become critical or cynical of African countries as they seek to bring
themselves into the global community, we must not become hypocritical in our judgments.
We must remember that America was only about one hundred years old when
she elapsed into civil war. Most African countries are less than fifty years old. They are
struggling democracies that are interpreting democracy according to African culture and
history. Therefore, we must save our judgments of these nations for another fifty years
if we would make any comparisons between them and the United States. I personally
think they are a long way ahead of the time frame for political and economic development
than America was at the same time in its historical development. I see great things
coming out of Africa in the future.
But African’s Achilles heel is the cuffed hand. She is a continent of nations that
seems to thrive on foreign aid and foreign investment. What made America a strong
economy that is based on a dynamic and very patriotic culture is that there were no
sources for foreign aid investment in her early years of development to become an
economic giant. Since it is a truism that economic development hinges on culture, then
it was culture that drove America to where she is today. And since the principles of
Christianity played the major role in determining the culture of early America, it is true
that Christian principles as a way of life set the norms for Western development. This is
opposed to those nations that succumbed to an Islamic world view in the 7th century.
Could this be why the Islamic world is so jealous of American financial strength?
Could this be the reason for the perpetual tension between the West and Middle East?
Jesus said that He came in order that we may have life, and subsequently have it
more abundantly (Jn 10:10). I am sure that more was included in this promise than the
mere fact that Jesus’ principles would make us more holy. His “abundant life” certainly
included enjoyment of this life in a way that would bring one out of the despair of a
satanic controlled world that keeps the masses in the grip of poverty.
This is not to say that Christianity is a means to wealth. It simply means that the
moral life Jesus brought into the world was the best there was and is. The respect of the
individual, the worth of life, the principles for good neighborhood, and the foundation
of love are the best principles upon which world views are developed.
Christianity offers principles by which freedom and human dignity can develop and
thrive. By living according to Bible principles the individual can develop for himself
the best possible life. There is great power in the principle, “Love you neighbor as
yourself.” To a great extent, the God-fearing culture of America did just this in developing
the humanitarian culture.
But for centuries Africa kept itself out of the current of human development by its
beliefs in spooks and spirits. If any individual of the tribe economically excelled above
the whole, he was conveniently cursed by the witch doctor, and subsequently brought
into economic conformity with the rest of the tribe. It was the same hideous world mess
that was produced by atheistic communism. The communist used a gun to maintain
commonality. The African used fear of spooks and spirits. The result was the same.
The masses were kept in abject poverty for the benefit of the privileged few. Until
Africa frees herself from such superstitions, she will not emerge. But there is hope.
The information highway is bringing to the continent a way out of ignorance. Biblical
principles have been proclaimed on the continent for over two centuries. There is
indeed a renaissance happening. No longer is a great part of the continent under the
control of the witch doctor and ignorance that is fed by superstition. No longer is
communism a major threat. There are grounds for great hope.
The United Bible Societies of Africa have played a major role in bringing African
out of superstitious darkness. Bible printing by the Bible Society in Cape Town produces
over one million Bibles annually. The Gideons produce hundreds of thousands
every year. This tremendous amount of Bibles goes into the continent of Africa every
year to bring the light of truth to a people who are seeking God. Through the distribution
of the Study New Testament of the church, with the enclosed “teacher” of the
Encyclopedic Study Guide, this “little missionary” is being sent to nations throughout
the continent. These are efforts to bring light to a dark continent. I would say, therefore,
that the single most important source of information that is bringing Africa into
development is Bible information. The Bible has changed sub-Saharan African culture.
It will continue to change the culture of Africa in the years to come if we continue to put
the Bible into the hands of a people who are hungering and thirsting after the word of
God.
We are now in an era of world history wherein it seems that those who have the
greatest ability to change will be those who will economically develop the most. Accepting
new ideas and strategies in a changing world gives one the edge over those who
are steeped in unproductive systems that have locked them into the past, if not doomed
them to underdevelopment and poverty. As the new economic world eclipses those
economies and cultures that refuse to accept new means and measures for development,
a tension will continue to develop between the haves and have nots. And herein is the
curse of the Islamist who cannot modernize with the new world order.
If the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan twenty years ago proves anything, it proves
that an archaic world view can cripple an entire nation. It can take a nation backward a
century and hold it in the grips of poverty and backwardness. The inability of fundamental
Islam to cope with the developing world will for many years to come generate
tension between the haves and the have nots. And since the Christian world view allows
the liberated to develop economically, the Islamist will always view Christianity as the
religion of the infidel. We can almost with certainty say that there will never be any
armistice between fundamental Islam and Christianity since the fundamentalist of Islam
would stymie economic development for the sake of a religious communism that makes
all citizens poor and backward under the control of dictatorial clerics.
I would add another dimension to this sociological equation. Most people in
America do not understand the widening rift that is developing between the United
States and Europe. The American is certainly perceptive that there is a rift, especially
since the events of the Iraq war. But I am wondering if the typical American understands
the reason for this.
The European was a colonial. However, the American never formerly engaged in
such with Middle Eastern countries and Africa. But it seems that the colonial past of
European countries may now come back to haunt them. When the colonial countries
were eventually given their independence from the mother countries of Europe, dual
passports, and sometimes citizenship, were established between the colonized country
and the European mother country. In the decades since independence of the now free
colonized countries, a constant flow of immigrants have come out of the old colonial
possessions. This human flow of population has poured into Europe. And you guessed
it. The colonialized countries of Europe were countries in North Africa, India, and the
Middle East, countries that were to a great extent Islamic. And now, there is a vast
voting population of Muslims in Europe who will determine the future of Europe.
There is some irony in this. The colonials will eventually be overcome by those they
colonized. Freedom in a democratic society will allow this to happen.
The West must keep in mind that fundamental Islam is not as Buddhism and Hinduism.
There is a theology of tolerance and liberty in Buddhism and Hinduism that allows
religion and economy to exist. The adherents to both can coexist with the Christian
without either seeking to blow up the Christian. However, the Islamist maintains a
different view. Since Christianity is the religion of the infidel, he thus concludes that
Christianity is a false religion that has launched centuries of attack against Islam and
Islamic countries.
From an evangelical point of view, the Islamist is right. Christians have sought to
vigorously convert the Muslim. Unfortunately, during the era of the Crusades, a counterfeit
Christianity – churchianism – sought to use government military power to accomplish
the goal of eradicating Islamic control of the Bible lands. In order to counter this
threat, Islamists now seek to capture governments in order to make their stand against
any invading “crusaders.” To the fundamental Islamist, therefore, the Western invasion
of Afghanistan and Iraq were crusades. Though the objective of the West was to free a
people instead of some supposed holy shrines and holy city, the Islamist believed that
the era of the Crusades was resurrected. His cry for jihad, therefore, is a cry to stop
foreign influence in his holy lands. As long as the infidel occupies his “Quran lands,”
the Islamist will always feel that the “Christian” West is an occupying force that must be
eradicated from his holy lands.
What extremists as Bin Laden have done is ignite the tension between the Christian
and Islamic world views. The irrational terrorist has forced the hand of the West to
avenge 9/11 with a holy war of justice called “war on terrorism.” The Isalmists, however,
have certainly revealed their contradictions by accusing the West with invasion
into their own lands when they rejoiced over an invasion into the land of the infidel with
jets flying into skyscrapers. The Islamists want the infidel out of holy lands such as
Saudi Arabia, and now Iraq. But they have enraged the infidel by attacking his “holy
land.” In doing so, a tit-for-tat retaliation exists to snuff out those states who might be
responsible for terrorist activity or harboring terrorists within their borders. The Islamic
terrorist has never considered the fact that if he would have stayed out of America,
America would have stayed out of the Middle East. But again, a terrorist is never a
rational thinker. He or she is simply driven by obsessions and delusions of a religion
that accommodates passions against the West.
In these winds of global change, the Christian is both hindered and helped. He is
hindered in the fact that conflict between world governments and religions do not make
it easy to move among the nations. Paul asked Timothy that prayers be made for kings
in order that we live a quiet and peaceful life. It is in peaceful environments that
evanelism is easier and the church grows. On the other hand, in times of conflict it is
difficult for Christians to go into all nations, especially when nations shut their doors to
the missionary.
Global conflict has helped the Christian cause in the sense that Christians have had
to rethink their faith. They have been driven to recognize the differences between
Christianity and religious faiths that are founded more on obsession than fact. If the rise
of the war on terrorism has accomplished anything, it has awakened a Christian faith
that was at a critical point of becoming stagnant and dead. Conflict has awakened the
Christian to the fact that if his faith subsides, there is another faith that will gladly take
over his land.
From the mid 1960s to the turn of the last century, Islam grew in America from an
unknown religion to over six million. How could this have happened in a supposedly
“Christian” nation? Did the Christian become so introverted that he lost sight of his
mission?
I believe one of the primary causes for this growth of Islam in America was that the
American became so enthralled in economic development and secular living that he
forgot his faith. Those who were left behind in the development of America remained
poor. A spiritual vacuum was formed among the poor in America. And this poor person
was usually African-American. When Cassius Clay became Mohammed Ali, something
changed. A new threat entered America with a new faith.
Has the war on terrorism stopped the conversion of America to Islam? We will not
know for another decade or so. However, its growth from obscurity to six million
should alert the West that pure secularism in a materialistic society does not work. We
are religious creatures. If society seeks to suppress religion with things, fun and games,
we will pay the price.
I believe the global conflict between the world views of Islam and Christianity have
awakened the fundamentals in both faiths. Where we go from here will be determined
by the dedication of both the Christian and the Muslim. Since the dedicated Christian is
driven to be more evangelistic with his faith, the dedicated Muslim will always be
threatened with Christian zeal. The Islamist will continue to be defensive. And in being
defensive, he will seek measures, any measures, by which to stem the evangelistic tide
of the Christian. And since fundamental Islam is a theocratic system, the fundamental
Islamist will always view Western governments as the vehicle that seeks to spread
Christianity into all the world. It is for this reason that the war on terrorism will never
have an end. There will never be an armistice signed by an Islamic terrorist who
believes that his faith is under attack by a Western government.
We must keep in mind, therefore, that Christianity and true Islam can never have
peaceful coexistence. The world views of each are inherently opposed to one another.
When the Muslim is in the minority in a democratic government, things are relatively
under control. However, when he becomes the major voting citizen, things change.
Europe and America will never again have the relationship they had in the past. World
War II brought the American and European together, but it will be the power of the
Muslim vote in Europe that will move them apart.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.