Darrow Miller and Friends

Freedom: God’s Gift, Man’s Longing

People and nations in north Africa and the Middle East roil under Islamic oppression. What drives this unrest if not the longing for freedom with which the Creator has hard-wired the creatures?

As former U.S. president, George Bush, pointed out, to be human is to seek to be free, and not every political system delivers equal results in this essential dimension of life.

The long-term solution is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom.  “[The longing for] freedom is universal,” Bush said. “People who do not look like us want freedom just as much. The relatives of [former Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice over 100 years ago wanted freedom. It is only when you do not have hope in a society that you join a suicide bomber team.”

Of course more than the passive influence of hopelessness is at work in Islamic suicide killings. Religious convictions contribute much more directly to the terrorism of suicide bombers. Western sensibilities need to come to terms with this reality.

Only the One who said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” will deliver absolute freedom. As His followers, we are to inaugurate that freedom wherever we can.

Thus was America founded; thus may new freedoms in the Arab world emerge as well.

– Gary Brumbelow

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Gary is the Disciple Nations Alliance editorial manager. He manages Darrow Miller and Friends and serves as editor and co-writer on various book projects. For eight years Gary served as a cross-cultural church planting missionary among First Nations people of Canada. His career also includes 14 years as executive director of InterAct Ministries, an Oregon-based church-planting organization in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. Gary is a graduate of Grace University, earned an MA from Wheaton College and a Graduate Studies Diploma from Western Seminary. He lives near Portland, Oregon with his wife, Valerie. They have two married sons and twelve grandchildren. In addition to his work with the DNA, Gary serves as the pastor of Troutdale Community Church.

1 Comment

  1. Alice Brewster

    August 22, 2011 - 6:34 pm

    Is what we are seeing in the Middle East freedom or is it passing the oppression from one group to the next? As pointed out, it’s the Son who sets you free.

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