"Democracy, whiskey and sexy."

This will be a running commentary on how the Gospel is advancing in the world. I'm no prophet, but there are some interesting things happening in the world. The title of this commentary is explained here.


It comes from a quote by an Iraqi man responding when queried by a reporter about what he expected from a new, post-Sadaam Iraq. A somewhat silly response, to be sure. "Democracy. Whiskey. And Sexy!" But it does reflect a rather profound understanding of what happens when the American military enters a region, say Iraq or Afghanistan, and begins to set up nascent democracies. The locals get a lot of "bonuses" with their sparkling new free society. Namely: they also get some of the less glamorous aspects of Western society (porn, obscene materialism, organized crime, reality TV, etc.).

It could be argued that this is what the fundamentalist governments of the Middle East fear most about American involvement in their region. Totalitarians fear the people, the jihadists fear the West's culture.

In the end, they can't keep the West out, not forever. No one can, and with the West comes all the grotesqueries of our modern culture. But something else seaps in as well: the Gospel. The invincible Gospel. Yes, they'll get their democracy, whiskey and sexy, but they'll also get bibles in the language they think in, medical missionaries caring for their wounded and ill and exploding Christian churces on the corner. The postmillenialist in me rejoices in this truth, for the light of the Christ's Gospel will shine brighter than all else.

Think about that as you read the story below about the Chinese government trying to control the Internet. And this one: about Iran trying to control text messaging.