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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Rush Limbaugh & The Lord's Resistance Army


Rush Limbaugh has caused some controversy again. It touches a subject I care deeply about so I thought I'd jump in the mix and share a bit of what is going on for those who haven't already heard. Here's a transcript from his Friday show courtesy of littlegreenfootballs.com

Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians

[…]

So nothing to worry about here, folks, only gonna be for a few months. Now, up until today, most Americans have never heard of the combat Lord’s Resistance Army. And here we are at war with them. Have you ever heard of Lord’s Resistance Army, Dawn? How about you, Brian? Snerdley, have you? You never heard of Lord’s Resistance Army? Well, proves my contention, most Americans have never heard of it, and here we are at war with them. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. That’s what the lingo means, “to help regional forces remove from the battlefield,” meaning capture or kill.

So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and — (interruption) no, I’m not kidding. Jacob Tapper just reported it. Now, are we gonna help the Egyptians wipe out the Christians? Wouldn’t you say that we are? I mean the Coptic Christians are being wiped out, but it wasn’t just Obama that supported that. The conservative intelligentsia thought it was an outbreak of democracy. Now they’ve done a 180 on that, but they forgot that they supported it in the first place. Now they’re criticizing it.

Lord’s Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.” Now, again Lord’s Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord’s Resistance Army, what they’re trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology.” Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting, or who are being fought and we are joining in the effort to remove them from the battlefield.

[…]

RUSH: — no question. How do you feel about the news? I want to go back, your extensive military background, how do you react to the news that Obama has dispatched a hundred soldiers to fight radical Christians in Africa?

CALLER: That’s amazing. I can’t believe he’s doing that.

RUSH: You can’t?

[…]

RUSH: On sending the soldiers to fight the Christians in Africa, here is how Obama ends his letter to John Boehner justifying sending troops to Uganda: “I have directed this deployment, which is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct US foreign relations and as commander-in-chief and chief executive.” Would somebody explain to me what you think our “national security interests” are in Uganda. Now, keep in mind, folks, this is the same Barack Obama who said that we had no national security interests in attacking Iraq. After they were shooting at our planes and trying to kill our president and Allah knows what else, Obama said, “We got no national security interests in Iraq! They don’t threaten us! What are we doing?” We’ve got 500 to a thousand soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army and Uganda trying to wipe them out, and we’re sending a hundred soldiers to help them.

Vital national interests are at stake, according to Obama.

[…]

Is that right? The Lord’s Resistance Army is being accused of really bad stuff? Child kidnapping, torture, murder, that kind of stuff? Well, we just found out about this today. We’re gonna do, of course, our due diligence research on it. But nevertheless we got a hundred troops being sent over there to fight these guys — and they claim to be Christians.

If you're unaware of the truth of the LRA I suggest you google them or look up Invisible Children (www.invisibilecchildren.com) who have been spreading the word about the LRA for the last 8 (or more) years and fighting for justice in Uganda against The Lord's Resistance Army. The basics are this: It's a group which stands against several African governments and is led by a man named Joseph Kony who practices hyperspiritual religious activities. His army has been making war for decades, abducting children, making little girls sex slaves and little boys murderers and soldiers. They displace families, kill mothers and fathers, and destroy homes. Their activities go far beyond rebellious political involvement. These aren't the green or tea party. They aren't the church. This is terrorism in it's most clear form.

Here is a video about them

Rush Limbaugh doesn't see that though. He's too focused on making Obama the bad guy and making the issue about "Christians" being attacked that he seems to be ignoring reality. He is ignoring who the L.R.A. is, what Obama is trying to do, and what is important. If he wants to talk about Christian persecution across the globe there are opportunities (I've got a magazine subscription he can invest in) but this is not an issue about Christians being attacked. He's creating a deceitful framework for the issue and that's more than misguided, it's wicked. Now, I don't agree completely with how the U.S. is handling the issue, I have strategies in mind, but I'm glad we're finally helping in some fashion. I can appreciate that a great amount. Limbaugh makes it clear that he either doesn't understand who the LRA is, what Christians are, or both. I have mouthfulls worth of things to say about Rush Limbaugh and this issue but most of those words won't help. So instead I'll write this blog and pray that his eyes are opened, heart changed, and actions clean. I pray we see repentance and that people not be led into believing his views which distort reality and lead people away from embracing justice and truth.

May we Christians speak against the lies, share the truth, and do what we can to help. We want to see justice in this world and we want to see transformation. We don't just want Kony and his rebels stopped but we want them changed. We want blessings for all, even the enemies. If we want that to be a reality then we've got to do our part. For some it means going to Africa and trying to capture the man before someone kills him. For others this means creating awareness right where we are and for some it means giving money. Maybe for a few it means trying to get Rush Limbaugh to face reality. Whatever our part, may we have the strength and willingness to play it. May God help us and help our friends in Africa.

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