Tag: missions

Demagogue Democracy

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Not too long ago I would teach English to a bunch of young Cambodians. These guys would ask me lots of questions about life in Canada. And through these questions I discovered that a lot of young Cambodians have no real idea what western democratic life is like at all. In fact, here’s what they thought democracy is: you only have to work three days a week, you will make anywhere between $100 000 to $1 000 000 per year (without paying taxes), and you get lots of free stuff from the government–woo hoo!

But then I would explain the reality of high taxes, and the requirement to get government permits to do stuff on your own land which you don’t really own, and how hard people really do work, and that many people are in serious debt, and that the government is in serious debt, and the lack of real freedom for most people.

Cambodia needs liberty and freedom, yes. But, democracy being introduced into this country by a guy who’s spent much of his life in France is not what this country needs. Just imagine the culture of corruption which already exists being combined with a European style democratic nanny state. And it’s laughable to think that democracy will eliminate corruption, it’ll just allow corruption to grow, especially when more foreign aid comes pouring in as a reward for the new democracy.

Cambodia needs a government that will back off, limit its own power, reject foreign aid, and let the people prosper on their own. Cambodia needs help with this, absolutely. Help will come through non-governmental organizations and, infinitely more important, help will come from the Christian church. Cambodia will find its true freedom through local Christians and foreign missionaries working together to spread the Good News.

The Gospel is pervasive, and it penetrates every crack, every dark place of a society. The Gospel brings true freedom as it brings people under the, very undemocratic, rule of Christ. This is a very realizable goal for Cambodia. Western style humanistic democracy will be one of its greatest obstacles, even more so, I’d say, than a brutal dictatorship would be.

My prayer for Cambodia will continue to be that Jesus takes this nation as His own, and that Cambodia will worship Him alone and not fall for any false gods introduced from the west disguising themselves as freedom, or equality, or prosperity, or whatever.

Know Thy System, Know Thy Self

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Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you in the way you should go.”
~Isaiah 48:17

I am a blessed man. Four short years ago I came out to Cambodia a pathetic bachelor. Now I have a great wife, two wonderful kids, a good home, and a successful Christian elementary school. I am well supported by my home church, as well as by some individual donors. The organization I work with supports the school faithfully. God teaches His own to profit and I am very thankful.

I remember hearing of one missionary who mentioned to his organization’s leader that he needed music equipment for his church. The leader offered to help with the cost. The missionary went ahead and bought all the equipment: sound system, drums, guitars, etc… Afterwards he presented the receipt to the leader. The leader refused to pay for any of it. People got offended and angry.

I knew a different missionary who organized an outreach event. Again, the leader offered to cover some of the costs. After the event, no money came in. This missionary got offended and angry.

So I went ahead and asked the leader of the organization, “Why do you say you’ll help, but then don’t?”

The response was, “If we say we will help, we will help. But when someone wants money, they first need to submit a budget, then we need to approve that budget, and then we will give money, not before. We can’t just hand out money blindly. There is a system which must be followed.”

Ah, a system.

I went back to the missionary and asked, “Did you know you had to submit a budget first?”

He rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, but I don’t have time for that!”

Don’t have time? You don’t have time to do the one thing required to get the money being offered to you? I guess it’s easier to sabotage your own chances and complain about it later.

It is like being very hungry, having a delicious plate of food in front of you, but not having the time to lift the spoon to your mouth. (Proverbs 19:24)

But I shouldn’t be too hard on him. No one had taught him the system.

When I started up the school, I knew I would need financial support. I knew there was a system to follow in order to get that support. The one problem was that I didn’t know the system. So what did I do? I got help from someone who did know the system, and she was able to guide me through the process. And it worked! I received the funding as promised. I learned the system, I respected the system, and I was able to profit from it.

The system will not be perfect, and where it needs change, we can work to change it. But to effectively change it, we must work within it. My prayer to God is that He will always be teaching me how to profit, how to work within the system, how to do what is required of me.

God willing, I will be an old experienced man one day, then it will be my job to teach the younger missionaries the system, and how to profit within it.