Restless and Vocal until The Motherland is Liberated

Someone has been praying, crying, longing and taking necessary steps for nearly 30 years for his motherland not only to receive the light of freedom, but also to shine. He would love to boast of his motherland one day honoring freedom of rights, speech and belief. He himself was terribly persecuted in his motherland and was very close to losing his life, but fortunately found a way to save his life and escape. 

While tears poured from his eyes, he said that he had seen many lands more beautiful than his motherland in many parts of the world, but had missed her because of his family, friends and some good memories. He longs for the walls of separation and hostilities to be brought down in his motherland. Then people will experience in a practical way how beautiful a country can be if there is freedom in every area.

It is amazing that he calls his county of birth “motherland”, his mother’s land, even though it is an Islamic country ruled under the Islamic law. This phrase does not match Islam which gives less right to mothers than fathers. The father is the second ruler after the government in order to make sure that everything in his household is in line with Islam. He is called the owner of his wives (Quran 53:2), hence the mother is called the property of her husband. He can go everywhere he likes, but she is asked to sit at home quietly and not to go out (Quran 33:33). She brings children into the world, but does not have any right over her children if she is divorced. After the divorce she also does not have any right to visit her children who grew in her heart; children belong to their father. As an inheritance mothers receive only one eighth of their husbands’ wealth, including lands, in Islam. In such a restricting, harsh and masculine culture, it is amazing that a country is called the “Motherland”. 

This word, like some other influential words, has been a powerful tool for many exiled Iranians, in particular Christians, to voice their longings to their fellow men and women. They have been writing poems and songs; reciting, singing and broadcasting them via every media channel they can in order to express their restlessness for their motherland. The mindset in Iran had never been Christianized under the rule of moderate kings as much as it is now under the rule of the tyrannical Islamic Republic of Iran. Just express your concern about your motherland in a poem and read it on a radio or TV program or put it on a website. It will shake many. 

The word “motherland” is from the pre-Islamic era and it has remained in usage until now in Islamic countries. The ancient culture attributed the honor of ownership of the country to the most compassionate one in the family, the mother. Only a compassionate heart is able to cultivate and look after the land well.

In some other nations, countries are also called “Fatherland” because of the patriotic nature of their cultures. It encapsulates the way people can love their birth places and want to protect them from enemies. No matter what a birth place is called, it is a wonderful testimony of God that is left among various people groups whereby they can relate their birth places to the hearts of their parents in a loving way and care for their well-being. This will help them not to forget it as they do not normally forget their mothers and fathers. 

Maybe the love for motherland or fatherland and a heartfelt devotion for its well-being are gifts from the Creator of the universe. Maybe He wanted to endow people with compassionate, earnest and tireless longing so that they could seek the best for their nations to the extent that their deliverance could also become the means of deliverance for others. As we say, “To be blessed is for blessing others.” 

It is no wonder that the prophet Isaiah cries restlessly not only for the salvation of Jerusalem but also for her righteousness and salvation to shine like a burning lamp among others:

For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out as brightness, and her salvation as a burning lamp. (Isa. 62:1, MKJV)

These words reveal the height of Isaiah’s longing, prayer and mission for his land and nation to revive and further become the salt (righteousness) and light (burning lamp) for others. Not only did he want his nation to be liberated in spirit, but also to become a light of liberation for others.

Why would a person have a big picture in mind and a heart for his/her country and nation to become a bridge of blessing to other nations? Isn’t it enough to see that your own family, community or country has achieved success and is doing well? Why worry about the wellbeing of other nations?

Longing for true freedom, or having it, includes others too. True freedom can neither be limited by an individual’s nor a family’s nor even a nation’s motives; if it is limited, then it is not true freedom. When a heart becomes free, it changes and then spreads its light as a shining lamp to its surroundings. In a similar way, a city with freedom shines to other cities or a country to other countries. One reason that many people from various nations have been moving or desiring to move to the West is because of freedom in the West. True freedom is extraordinarily good and influential. It creates compassion or care in you and thereby enables you to see the miseries of others and to take initiatives for their liberty with the uttermost of your efforts, no matter who those others may be, friends or foes. It shines and changes people from all walks of life and makes them blessings to others too. So, any person touched by this freedom should not rest or become silent if his/her nation and others are experiencing any kind of darkness or misery. Any person should not rest or become silent until the splendor of his/her salvation reaches near and far. 

As it was in Isaiah’s time, faith in the true God is misunderstood by many. The values of Christ are unknown or misunderstood and thereby are not given a chance to shine in many places. Ignorance and misunderstanding will not go away unless the values of Christ are made clear to the extent that they become lights for people at home and abroad. This will not happen unless the followers of Christ become compassionate towards those who are drowning in ignorance and confusion and help them to see and receive the light. One great hindrance to the Gospel is that we, as the followers of Christ, have retreated and do not feel restless for the darkness around us. The darkness will be removed if it becomes the subject of our continual prayers and efforts. 

We are the vehicle of Jesus Christ’s sincere concern for our nation and others. He has called us to promote our position in Him and spread His light through our unceasing prayers, through our own individual mission and through encouraging others to take the light to coming generations until many take refuge in Him.

The Values of Christ Have Proven Excellent, Why Then Multiculturalism

It is amazing that the values of all other beliefs and religions have proven to be a failure in the last decades at the crossroads of pluralism. Many of our politicians are still unsure if they should give up multiculturalism and side with Christian values that have demonstrated top quality in every aspect of life, especially in the economy. One example of the values of Christ is His leadership style.  This is motivated by freedom of choice, individual autonomy and shared values where everybody has access to any information that advances creativity, productivity and life-style. Anytime in history when western country leaders ignored the values of Christ, they became a burden both to their own nations and others. This is also one of those times when the majority of the western leaders are turning their backs on Christian values and exposing their countries to the values that have proven to be a failure.

It is amazing that both aggressive and passive people are given more rights in the western societies than those people who respect the freedom of choice, want to stand on their own feet, be productive and contribute to the well-being of their families and societies. Dictatorship which is the Islamic and socialist leadership style and aloofness which is the eastern religions’ value are both rejected under the leadership of Christ but given more space in the West now.

All countries that have made economic success have been, more or less, following Christian leadership values as part of their organizational cultures. China saw that socialism would not make it any better than North Korea or Cuba, thereby started implementing Christian economic values and boomed economically as a result. Neither Japan followed Shintoism nor India Hinduism nor Turkey, Malaysia and the Emirates Islamism in the pursuit of their economic activities. They are all openly or secretly following the work ethics of Christianity in their work-places though flavored with their native cultures. There is no definition for work in their beliefs in order to have a work ethic. It has proven that the more they open themselves to Christian values the more they become successful. Businesses in these countries have learned from Christianity that if they allow a static pluralism to dominate their workplaces it will create a wall between their workers and reduce productivity. They instead open the door to a dynamic diversity where beliefs, ideas and opinions can cross each in bench-marking so that the best of all values pump up in order to be used for restoring the organizational culture. This dynamic is from Christianity and it is this dynamism that manifested Christian values as exclusively excellent.

Why do many of our politicians not want to pay attention to the greatness of Christian values but still hide themselves in the backyard of multiculturalism? Why do they feel reticent in speaking about the key factors behind the successes in western countries, but instead become vocal about pluralism that has created ethnic ghettos and given their nations nothing but economic downturn and socio-political insecurity?

There are many reasons but the most obvious one is the lack of knowledge. This lack of knowledge has disabled our politicians to objectively examine their environment and stand for the truth. It has stripped them of any courage for the truth and enslaved them to various kinds of negative attitudes, i.e. political correctness, which have blocked their ears from listening to the voices of their consciences.

Lack of knowledge is not only a stumbling block to individual or social improvement but also an enemy that degrades personal characters. It does not allow people to recognize evil, name it publicly and fight with it openly. It rather pushes people to align themselves with the evil ones and paves the way for the success of evil. That’s why many politicians tolerate extremist Muslims for the sake of their votes and even reward them in various ways in order to receive their support. One reason that they call Islam a religion of peace is because there are millions of votes held among Muslims for anyone who loves his/her job more than his/her country and is ready to be a channel for the spread of Islamic tyrannical culture at the cost of all others. Islamists chant the killing verses of the Quran and kill non-Muslims according to the Quran but our politicians continually say that their slaughters have nothing to do with Islam, trying not to offend their extremist Muslim supporters.

It is amazing that hundreds of politicians from various parts of the world gathered with millions in Paris a couple of weeks ago in order to show solidarity with freedom of speech against terrorists, but none condemned Islam that is behind all Islamic terrorism. Even Saudi Arabia took part in this street protest as a gesture of solidarity with freedom of speech, but at home sentenced one of its own citizens, Mr. Raif Badawi, in the same week for 10 years imprisonment with 1000 lashes, 50 lashes per week. This was because Mr. Badawi had expressed his negative views about Islam on his website.

Years ago, people attributed these kinds of attitudes to mafia. Mafias killed people on one hand but joined their funerals and cried with their families and friends on the other hand. This is what now our politicians are allowing the tyrannical Islamic leaders to do in the West. Muslim leaders walk hand-in-hand with our politicians in defense of freedom but on the other hand support terrorists and oppress freedom-lovers openly. Saudi Arabia which is the largest supplier of money to extremist Muslims in the world is welcomed by the western politicians to pour tears over the deaths of those who were slaughtered by the Saudi money.  These open insincerity of our politicians to their nations lead one to wonder how far they aim to go with Islamists and satisfy their evil desires under the banner of multiculturalism.

There is a fact in Islamic political philosophy that all those Iranians, Iraqis, Egyptians, Turks or others who have a bit of knowledge about Islamic history on how their countries were dominated by extremist Muslims, know that, soon or later, a day will come when Islamists will say to their non-Muslim loyal politicians and friends, “it is enough; there is no need for your appeasement anymore since we are in power. Now, it is the time for you to follow Islam or die.” This is what we learned from Islam and tried to live it under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini for the spread of Islam.

It is impossible for Islamists to be friends with non-Muslims, especially with Jews and Christians. The Quran instructs them around a dozen times to not become friends with non-Muslims unless it is insincere and for the spread of Islamic values. That’s why the Islamists are using the multiculturalism of the West to embody the instructions of the Quran. They are the enemies of Christian values because these values uncover every inch of their evil schemes. They know that the strength of Christianity equates the death of Islam. For this reason, they love to pacify our fellow citizens and politicians towards Christian values. They need passive and ignorant people in order to express their artificial solidarity through them.

Recently, Muslims students were given permission in Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States to call for prayer “Adhan” in the chapel of the university. Everybody in Islamic countries knows that moderate Muslims never show interest in calling for prayer. These Muslims in Duke University are extremists and have been able to cover themselves under the umbrella of multiculturalism in order to pave the way for a big reward. Christian students are extraordinarily limited to practice their beliefs in this university which was established by Methodist and Quaker Christians, but extremist Muslims are given abundant freedom to even impose themselves on others by a loud speaker. Multiculturalism should supposedly allow a place for the expression of each culture, but in reality it favors extremist Islamic culture above others. While Islam has failed in every corner of life in the Middle East, our academic campuses are acting as channels of advancement for this religion of failure. While many young Muslims in Islamic countries are trying to find a way to stay away from the catastrophe of extremist Muslims, our universities are backing extremism. This is what the spirit of multiculturalism does. It starts insincerely introducing everything as inherently good at the beginning so that people do not need to search for the best since everything is good. Then when ignorance dominates and people become indifferent, it paves the way for the most controlling ones to reach power and destroy others.

You see how multiculturalism leads a tolerant society to a place where aggressive people receive veneration and power to stab tolerance from behind?

Isn't it amazing that the western countries have been the most tolerant places in the world because of Christian values, but now most of their leaders and academicians are rejecting the tolerance of Christianity and opening the space wide for tyrannies to crush Christianity under the umbrella of multiculturalism?

The West will not wake up unless Christians reveal the values of Christ for every aspect of life in order to challenge and amaze our politicians and fellow citizens. Christ does not lie when He says that His followers are the salt and light of the world - salt and light for every aspect of life.

Let us, as the followers of Christ, claim the Spirit of Christ on and in us and make 2015 the voice of Christ to the ears of our politicians, universities, people and the world. Let us prove that multiculturalism without the values of Christ leads to segregation and tyranny.