列夫·托尔斯泰将预言描述为“干柴中点燃的火花”。他说：“它会一直燃烧，直到木柴、干草和碎秸都烧尽。”他用历史上的奴隶制做例子。奴隶制几乎在地球上每个国家和部落中都存在，直到人类的语言清楚表明它是邪恶的。他说，小说《汤姆叔叔的小屋》点燃了火花，该书如此有力地描述了奴隶制的邪恶，以至于奴隶制在文明国家中变得无法忍受，直到通过一切手段，包括内战，将其清除。

美国最著名的开国元勋是乔治·华盛顿。他写到：“没有人比我更真诚地希望看到废除奴隶制的计划被通过。”那么我们可能会问，为什么他不提出这样的计划？为什么他没有充分利用自己的国家地位来铲除它？这是我们共和国缔造者们的谜团和耻辱之一。

当然，有些人确实提出了计划，有些人，例如约翰·亚当斯，为废除奴隶制而奋斗至死。他这样做的决心是如此之大，以至于它变成了一场不通过内战就无法扑灭的大火。最终，这是以国家付出最大代价实现的。近50万人死亡，无数人致残。

乔治·华盛顿、托马斯·杰斐逊和其他人在遗嘱中释放了自己的奴隶。这是当时唯一可做的方法，因为首先是英国政府，然后是州政府对释放奴隶的人处以罚款，这罚款数额如此之大，足以使他们破产。如果他们在死前释放了奴隶，那么被释放的奴隶就会被重新监禁以支付差额。

人们想知道，如此不公正的法律怎么会强加给两位如此伟大的国家领袖呢？难道他们不应该藉着违反这项最不公正的法律来释放他们的奴隶，以测试这一点吗？他们没有挑战它，所以这仍然是对他们以及国家声誉的最大损害。

通常会有理由不做正确的事，但最终犹豫和拖延几乎总会付出更大的代价。这确实让我们的国家付出了巨大的代价，而且在许多方面，我们仍在为这一可怕的拖延付出代价。这种邪恶也还没有被根除。人口贩卖现在是数十亿美元的生意，据估计，现在地球上的奴隶比历史上任何时候都更多。

我们该怎么办呢？

有一件事会产生最直接的影响，那就是要求我们的联邦政府对非法移民关闭边境。非法移民不仅让想要伤害美国人的恐怖分子得以进入整个国家，而且可能也是人口贩卖的最大福音。我们有这么多的国家领导人参与其中，允许这种邪恶继续下去，他们甚至比任何开国元勋都要为此负责。然而，我们是否也因允许这样的领导人继续任职而感到有罪呢？在共和国中，人民是最高统治者。政府为我们工作，而不是相反。

我们必须下定决心，在我们监督下的土地不允许有任何形式的奴隶制。我们绝不允许任何可能助长奴隶制这头邪恶猛兽的人口贩卖行为——尤其是所有罪恶中最令人憎恶的——儿童的性贩卖。那些这样做的人和那些允许这样做的人应该受到最严厉的惩罚。

我们还必须下定决心，作为主权者，不得存在基于种族、信仰或文化的歧视。我们必须尊重所有民族和文化，尊重和维护所有人的宗教自由，不容忍任何形式的对任何人的不公正行为。我们的上帝如此富有创造力，他使我们每个人都独一无二，甚至使每一片雪花和每棵树上的每一片叶子都独一无二。要像他一样，就要特别重视和欣赏他在我们差异中的创造力，而不是为它们而争斗。

Life in the New Testament 29–Rick Joyner’s Weekly world -July 23, 2024

Leo Tolstoy described prophecy as “a spark that is lit in a dry wood.”  He said, “It will burn and burn until the wood, hay, and stubble is consumed.”  He used slavery as an example of this in history.  Slavery was found in virtually every nation and tribe on earth until it was clearly articulated in human language that it was evil.  He said that spark was lit by the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which so powerfully described the evils of slavery that it became intolerable in civilized nations until it was eradicated by every available means, including civil war.

The most prominent of America’s Founding Fathers was George Washington.  He wrote, “There is not a man living that wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.”  We may ask, then, why he didn’t propose such a plan.  Why did he not use the full weight of his national stature to eradicate it?  That is one of the enigmas of and reproaches on the founders of our republic.

Of course, some did propose plans, and some, such as John Adams, labored until their death for the abolition of slavery.  His resolution to do this became so great that it became a fire that could not be put out without the Civil War.  Ultimately, this was accomplished at the greatest cost the nation would ever pay.  Nearly a half million people died, and countless others were maimed.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others freed their own slaves in their wills.  This was the only way this could be done at that time because of fines imposed on those who freed their slaves, first by the British and then the state governments.  These fines were so large they would have bankrupted their estates.  Had they freed the slaves before their deaths, and the freed slaves would have been reincarcerated to pay the difference.

One wonders how such an unjust law could have been imposed to two such great national leaders of their stature.  Shouldn’t they have tested this by freeing their slaves in violation of this most unjust law?  They did not challenge it, so this remains the biggest blight on their reputations, as well as the nation’s.

There will often be reasons not to do the right thing, but it will almost always ultimately be far costlier to hesitate and delay it.  It sure cost our country a lot, and in many ways, we’re still paying the price for this terrible delay.  This evil has also not been eradicated.  With the multibillion-dollar business that human trafficking now is, it is estimated there are now more slaves on the earth than at any previous time in history.

What are we going to do about this?

One thing that would have the most immediate impact would be to demand that our federal government close our borders to illegal immigration.  Not only does illegal immigration allow terrorists who want to do Americans harm to access the entire nation, but it is also perhaps the biggest boon to human trafficking.  With so many of our national leaders complicit in this by allowing such evil to continue, they are even more accountable for this than any of the Founding Fathers.  However, are we not also guilty for allowing such leaders to stay in office?  In a republic, the people are the sovereign rulers.  The government works for us, not the other way around.

We must resolve that we will not allow any form of slavery in our land on our watch.  We must not allow any human trafficking that could feed the evil beast of slavery—especially the most abominable of all evils, the sex trafficking of children.  Those who do this, and those who allow it, should receive the greatest punishments of all.

We must also resolve that as the sovereign, there will be no discrimination on the basis of race, faith, or culture.  We must esteem all peoples and cultures, respect and uphold the freedom of religion for all, and not tolerate injustice to anyone in any form.  Our God is so creative that He made each of us unique, and even made every snowflake and every leaf on every tree unique.  To be like Him is to especially value and appreciate His creativity in our differences, not fight over them.