Book Review: The Miracle of Freedom

Individual freedom, democracy, and the rule of law are under wider assault in the West, including the USA, than at any time since at least World War II. In Europe, especially the United Kingdom (formerly known as "Great" Britain), an irresistible tide of political correctness has led to the suffocation of personal freedom under national and local laws "protecting" (read: promoting) favored interest groups such as homosexuals and atheists, as well as to a paralysis of police and the courts to deal effectively with mobs of "protesters" and a horde of immigrants demanding the adoption of "sharia law." In the United States, we have a federal administration bent on seizing and expending (directly and indirectly) unprecedented, ever-growing amounts of private wealth; requiring individual citizens to purchase products and services they do not want; extending government surveillance and control to every aspect of citizens' lives; declaring and implementing its own policies through executive order regardless of Congressional will; and going to war against the states to prevent them from dealing with critical problems of immigration, health care, environmental control, education, and threats to the family such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

These developments would be more actively resisted if citizens better appreciated how dearly bought, and how fragile and fleeting, freedom and democracy have been in history. Providing that awareness is the mission of authors Chris and Ted Stewart in their recent book The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points That Saved the World (available from publisher Deseret Books and from Amazon.com, among other outlets). Released in June, 20011, the book has been as high as to No. 2 on Amazon's best-selling list and reached No. 11 on the New York Times' Top 25 best-selling nonfiction and e-book lists.

According to the authors, less than 5 percent of all people who have ever lived on the earth (and most of those being persons who are still alive today) have lived under conditions that today could be considered “free.” The "miracle" is that there have even been that many, given the terrible weight of flawed human nature throughout history.

The authors define "freedom and democracy" according to the following five criteria: self-government; fundamental rights; equal dignity and opportunity of persons; commitment to justice; and commitment to the rule of law. The authors then discern from the human record a series of critical events or "forks in the road" that, had they happened differently or not at all, would or could have resulted in the extinction of any hope that the ideals of freedom and self-government might be realized.

• The defeat of the Assyrians in their quest to destroy the kingdom of Judah
• The victory of the Greeks over the Persians at Thermopylae and Salamis
• Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity
• The defeat of the armies of Islam at Poitiers
• The failure of the Mongols in their effort to conquer Europe
• The discovery of the New World
• The Battle of Britain in World War II

The book describes and analyzes these events, each chapter accompanied by a fictionalized but well-written and engaging "you are there" portrait of individuals at the time--most of them common people--who might have participated in or been immediately affected by these events. In addition to a concise narration of what transpired, each chapter explores what led up to and resulted from the event, and how the future of human liberty would have been changed--or snuffed out altogether--had the outcome been different. Some of these positive outcomes were fantastically improbable, such as the survival of Judah against the Assyrian onslaught, the Greeks' defeat of the Persian hosts at Thermopylae and Salamis, and even Britain's triumph against the mighty Luftwaffe in 1941-1942. As the authors observe, "Many of these critical forks in the road occurred thousands of years before the event would bear the fruit of freedom. Some have happened in modern day. All of them were necessary for the world to enjoy the sudden expansion of free governments that we see today."

Chris and Ted Stewart

The authors' selection of these historical "tipping points" seems driven by the correct premise that the concepts of freedom and democracy--as they came down to us over the generations and as we understand and enjoy them today--sprang from the marriage of Judaic theology and Greek philosophy. Thus, the extinction of those early civilizations or of their successors in Europe would have prevented the survival and realization of these ideals in modern times. Inevitably, minds clouded by conventional and politically-correct views will complain that historical Judaism and Christianity bred regimes that made endless war and often cruelly oppressed, rather than liberated, individuals (free-thinkers, women, and homosexuals, for example) and colonial peoples as well as their own. The authors of Miracle of Freedom do not dispute the guilt of those Western "leaders" who perverted Judeo-Christian principles to serve selfish ends, but stress that the fault lay not with the principles themselves, or with the cultures that spawned them, but with the inescapable flaws of human nature:

[T]hough they may seek to represent the ideal, no nation or institution is ever pefect. All cultures and religious institutions are occupied by mere mortals, making them subject to all the frailties of men. And the simple fact that they do seek the ideal, ironically, opens them up to charges of hypocrisy and scorn. Second, often these are not only multigenerational but multimillenial institutions. Their stories may stretch over thousands of years. During the passing of so many centuries, every nation or institution will have its ups and downs, experiencing high points of moral leadership, but low points of decadence as well.

This being the case, wouldn't it be unfair--and historically inaccurate--to judge a nation or institution on only one episode in its history or during one particular span of time?

In our story, we also have to recognize the difference between the leaders or members of the Christian faith and Christian doctrine. The shortcomings of one may not accurately reflect the value of the other. Indeed, history shows that there have been times when the teachings of Christianity remained an ally to the development of freedom even when the Christian church did not.

Reading The Miracle of Freedom, one is struck by how improbable was the birth, survival, and eventual flourishing of freedom and self-government; how long that process took; how much it owed to the heroism and self-sacrifice of a relative few individuals; and how fragile those ideals are in a world ever tending to corruption and madness. As Mssrs. Stewart point out:

[D]emocracy and freedom are very fleeting—they can be possessed and then lost. A nation might be democratic for a period of time and then, through spasms of internal strife or war, revert to despotism. Over the past 225 years this has been shown again and again to be true, the tides of democracy causing many nations to sample and then lose the great gifts of freedom and democracy. The experience of Germany prior to World War I, immediately thereafter, and then during the reign of Hitler is a graphic example of this truth.
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For those of us living in the United States, a nation that has experienced more than two hundred years of unparalleled liberty, it is easy to take for granted the extraordinary gifts we have been given. And for most of us, it is much easier to become lackadaisical about these gifts than it is for the inhabitants of other nations who are forced to struggle every day in their battle for liberty. In fact, unless we are serious students of world history, or have traveled extensively, we might not recognize how unique the blessings of liberty actually are.

We should all remember this lesson, in this time of grave peril to liberty here in the USA and around the world.

The Miracle of Freedom is written with the common person, not the professional historian, in mind (though it certainly can appeal to the latter). Most of it reads more like a historical novel than an analytical text. It is an absorbing and highly informative work, and would make an excellent Christmas or Hanukkah gift.

The Bread of Life

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. ~ Deuteronomy 8:3

We're in the middle of a week that is sacred to billions of people around the world: Holy Week for Christians, and Passover for Jews. Of course, these two events are closely intertwined. At Passover Jews commemorate their deliverance by God from slavery in Egypt. During Holy Week Christians celebrate the deliverance of all men from bondage to sin, through Christ's Passion, death, and resurrection--which occurred in Jerusalem, during Passover.

On this Holy Thursday, when Christians commemorate the Last Supper of Christ and his disciples, it struck me what a central role bread plays in the observance of both Passover and the Last Supper.

The main symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, or unleavened bread. The Torah contains a divine commandment to eat matzo on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread during the entire week of Passover. Jewish teaching is that this is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus, flat bread, or matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus. Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for the purpose of traveling because it preserved well and was light to carry (making it similar to hardtack), suggesting that matzo was baked intentionally for the long journey ahead.

The New Testament is rife with teaching that characterizes Jesus Christ as the "bread of life." The best example is the Gospel of John, Chapter 6. Here Christ himself declares:

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. ~ John 6:33

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ~ John 6:35

I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ~ John 6:48-51

Of course, the central moment of the Last Supper itself is Christ's breaking and offering of the bread:

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. ~ Luke 22:19 (see also Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; 1 Corinthians 11:24)

As we break bread together with our families this week, whether at Passover seder or Easter Sunday dinner, let us remember with reverence, gratitude, and joy how miraculously God sustains us!

As it turns out, what really got me thinking along these lines today wasn't Scripture or the holidays themselves, but--music! I was listening to radio over the Internet at work (through headphones, of course!), and heard what is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces ever composed: Panis Angelicus. The text forms part of the hymn Sacris Solemniis, written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. The music was composed in 1872 by César Franck. The text speaks simply and eloquently about the miracle of Christ as the Bread of Life offered us from Heaven, of which even the humblest may partake and be filled! Here is the Latin text, followed by two slightly different English translations (they tend to vary).

Panis Angelicus
Fit panis hominum.
Dat panis coelicus figuris terminum.
O res mirabilis,
Manducat Dominum.
Pauper, pauper, servus et humilis.

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O, gracious, heavenly bread
Whereby mankind is fed.
O, power of love divine, long promised by a sign.
O, deepest mystery,
One, with our Lord, to be.
Humble, lowly, to all men offered free.

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Thus Angels' Bread is made
the Bread of man today:
the Living Bread from heaven
with figures dost away:
O wondrous gift indeed! the poor and lowly may
upon their Lord and Master feed.

The ultimate experience of Panis Angelicus is through Cesar Frank's music. Here is one of the most moving (if not the most polished) renditions I've ever seen and heard, by Charlotte Church while she was yet in the innocent time of her life:



Additional marvelous performances have been rendered by tenor Andrea Bocelli and Chloe Agnew of the group Celtic Woman. For a full choir version, enjoy this one by the Ambrosian Singers.

God bless everyone this wonderful Passover and Holy Week!

We Will Have a King Over Us!

I did something last weekend that I haven't done in almost 40 years: buy a Bible. For many years I relied on the big, hardbound Scofield Reference Bible that I bought in high school, until (and beyond) the point that it was literally falling apart. During most of those years I wasn't much of a Scripture reader; I had my favorite passages, but for the most part used the Bible like people use dictionaries. Some time during the 1990s my wife Melany gave me her softcover Bible, which was a perfect size and weight for carrying about, albeit the print was rather small. I started really reading the Scriptures again, and had this volume all marked up with the passages that most impressed me--until I carelessly left it in a rental car when we went out to Idaho in 2003 for my daughter's wedding. My elder son Robert then gave me a Bible he no longer used. I started over and had that one nicely marked up, and still have it, thank goodness. It has larger print, but is kind of chunky and heavy, and in the last couple of years I fell out of the habit of carrying it with me to work. So, I recently decided to find a Bible for my birthday (55 this week) that has easily readable print and is a good size and weight for carrying. Melany and I dropped into a Christian bookstore last Friday, and I found one! I felt like a kid who's just been given the key to a candy store! Only this is REAL food, for the soul--and infinitely more satisfying than anything one could put in his mouth. There is more wisdom in this book than a human being could digest in a hundred lifetimes--and especially in the King James Version (in my humble opinion), the most beautiful poetry and most moving prose ever written. No wonder it's the foundation of all English literature!

So you're wondering what all this has to do with the title of this post. Well, the first opportunity I had to spend some real time with my new "toy," and not sure exactly where to start reading, I randomly stuck my finger into the pages and just commenced. Where I happened to wade in was 1 Samuel, ch. 8. What a sobering place to begin! I'll set out the chapter in full below--with the most telling portion in bold--as the Word itself is far more effective than any summary I could give:

[1] And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
[2] Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.
[3] And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
[4] Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
[5] And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
[6] But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.
[7] And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
[8] According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
[9] Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
[10] And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
[11] And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
[12] And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
[13] And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
[14] And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
[15] And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
[16] And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
[17] He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
[18] And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
[19] Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
[20] That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

The people of Israel were discouraged with the corruption into which their Judges--men theretofore distinguished by their godliness and wisdom--had lately fallen. They imagined that having a hereditary kingship like other countries would bring them greater happiness and glory. So, they appealed to the last Judge, the prophet Samuel, to name a King to rule them. Samuel knew that this would displease God and eventually lead to much misery for the people, and asked God what he should do. God confirmed that the Israelites were rejecting His leadership in favor of an earthly monarchy, but told Samuel to give them what they wished for anyway, after making clear to them the kind of government they could expect from a king.

Might God and Samuel have a message here for our time, too? What happened in the months leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, and what have we seen since? Didn't millions of Americans tire of the Republican establishment's bankrupt (and largely corrupt) leadership, and find themselves captivated by the charismatic young man with the regal voice, hosts of acolytes, and aura of destiny? Weren't they yearning for the maximum government of a "king" (like they have in Europe, Venezuela, China, and elsewhere) who would "fight their battles" and fix all their problems for them? And in the little more than a year since his coronation, hasn't King Barack I done what a few sage observers warned he would do--take far more than a tenth of our wealth, given it to legions of government workers and his political followers, and done everything he could think of to make us all his servants? (he's certainly put enough "asses" to his work in Washington!)

As the old saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for--you just might get it." Now that we've gotten it, will God turn a deaf ear, as Samuel warned, to our cries for deliverance from the oppression we've brought upon ourselves? Stay tuned . . .

Children, Music, Love: Gangsters Can't Abide Them

Last week, a group of teenage Palestinian musicians from the Jenin refugee camp (on the West Bank of the Jordan River) performed for a group of elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors in the Israeil town of Holon. The performance, by the 13-member "Strings of Freedom" orchestra, was organized by conductor Wafa Younis, a woman from the Arab village of Ara in Israel.

According to the Associated Press, most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from Jenin, one of the more militant anti-Israeli strongholds in the West Bank, and the youths did not know that they were performing for people who endured Nazi genocide, or even what the Holocaust was.

Reportedly, as a host announced in Hebrew that the young people were from the Jenin camp, there were gasps and muttering from the crowd. Conductor Younis then explained in fluent Hebrew that the youths would sing for peace, prompting the audience to burst into applause. “Inshallah,” said one woman, using the Arabic term for “God willing.” The performance began with an Arabic song, "We sing for peace," and was followed by two musical pieces with violins and Arabic drums, as well as an impromptu song in Hebrew by two in the audience.

Younis said the main mission of the orchestra, formed seven years ago to help Palestinian children overcome the trauma of war, was to bring people together. “I’m here to raise spirits,” she said. “These are poor, old people.” An 18-year-old keyboard player named Ali Zeid reportedly said he was shocked by what he learned about the Holocaust. "I feel sympathy for them . . . Only people who have been through suffering understand each other." Zeid said his grandparents were Palestinian refugees forced to flee the northern city of Haifa during the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948.

A happy, hopeful story of reconciliation in the conflict-torn Holy Land? Well, maybe it was for the children and the old people, for a couple of precious hours. The AP now reports that Palestinian "authorities" in the West Bank have disbanded the orchestra and boarded up conductor Younis' studio there, on the ground that the Holocaust is a "political issue" and that she therefore "exploited the children" for political purposes. One local official said that participation of the children in the concert was a "dangerous matter" because it was directed against the cultural and national identity of the Palestinians. He accused "suspicious elements" of being behind the Holon event, saying that they sought to "impact the national culture of the young generation and cast doubt about the heroism and resistance of the residents of the camp during the Israeli invasion in April 2002." Reportedly, leaflets distributed in the Jenin area have also accused the concert organizers of exploiting the children, and warned Palestinians against participating in such events in the future.

For her part, conductor Younis denied that the issue was political, saying Jenin officials wanted to take over the orchestra to get its funding. "They want to destroy this group. It's a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?" she said.

Indeed. In the eyes of the Palestinian "leaders," those poor, elderly people did wrong just by being Jews. The children and Ms. Younis did wrong by showing them compassion, and by raising a hope, however, remote, that their people and the Jews might be able to live together in peace and humanity. This is dangerous, subversive, and depraved heresy to the gangsters who rule the West Bank and Gaza (Fatah or Hamas, respectively; they're both the same). For them, there is only one allowable destiny for a young Palestinian: to be raised into a hate-filled robot, incapable of feelings or thoughts of their own, and good only for martyrdom to the cause of religious/ethnic murder. Ignorance, fear, and hate are the tools they've used for decades to keep their people subservient and in line. Allowing any other way would expose their own moral bankruptcy, undermine their authority, and lead to their ultimate irrelevancy. This is the way it always is with gangsters, wherever they hold sway.

There should be an a worldwide outcry in favor of this brave teacher and her students, and against the cynical, thuggish action that has been taken against them. The media should keep the bright light of public attention trained on this matter, if for no other reason than to make sure that Ms. Younis and the children are not subjected to reprisals or other harm. They should be in the prayers of Christians, Jews, and compassionate Muslims everywhere. Sadly, I fear the outside world may never hear of them again.

A Jewish Perspective on Thanksgiving

While researching my earlier Thanksgiving post, I came across a wonderful article that discusses Thanksgiving in light of the Jewish commandment of bikurim: "During the Temple Era, every farmer was commanded to bring to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem the first fruits which ripened in his orchard. There he would recite a passage thanking G-d for the Land and its bountiful harvest, and the fruit were given to the Kohanim (priests)." The writer makes this observation about the difference between bikurim and all the other ways to thank God: "[B]ikurim involves more than just words -- it requires a commitment; the gratitude must express itself in deeds. Bikurim implies that our thankfulness to G-d cannot remain in the realm of emotions, thoughts, or even speech, but must also move us to action." This is a marvelous lesson for one of any faith! One other statement in this article hit home to me very powerfully:

There is no doubt that this great country's historically unprecedented success and prosperity is due to the fact that its Founding Fathers recognized that there is a Supreme Being who provides and cares for every creature. They understood that since God sustains and gives life to every being, it follows that every being has certain "unalienable rights" upon which no government can impinge.

If only our political "leaders" today understood this principle!