Hatching eggs of faith in the incubator of evil

“Hardly ever people have witnessed a more perfect and effective methodology for liberating man from all moral constraints, from his sense of responsibility, and turning him into a permanent incubator of evil.”

This is a quote from the Bulgarian Solzhenitsyn, the dissident novelist and playwright Georgi Markov. It’s taken from his “In Absentia Reports”, initially radio essays, broadcasted from West Germany by Free Europe Radio, and having opened a window to the truth for the people living under the lid of the totalitarian state. Because of this Markov was assassinated in central London in 1978 by the Bulgarian Secret Services with the help of the KGB-engineered “Umbrella Murder”. Long before the Russian Scripal there was Markov.

Georgi Markov is one of many Bulgarian heroes for liberty. He got murdered because he would not live in fear and lie. The same incubator of evil he wrote about took his life but couldn’t silence him. Today his books can be found at every bookstore in Bulgaria. This year, after a long struggle, finally In Absentia Reports was included in the literature course to be studied by Bulgarian children at school.

Today Bulgaria is no more a communist state. We live in a democracy. The freedom of conscience, the freedom of press, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech are all guaranteed by our Constitution. Yet, in spite of this, now and then Bulgarian politics remind us that the incubator of evil is not gone. We still live side by side with evil.

One of the ramifications of this incubation of evil was the fact that in the end of last year our parliament tried hard to violate at least some of these fundamental rights. Christians in Bulgaria had a sad reminder of a bygone communist past.

It all started with a Parliamentarian bill sponsored by three political parties passed on first reading in October. The bill supposedly aimed at preventing religious terrorism but actually violated the freedom of religion, especially of the smaller denominations.

The problematic articles included a number of disconcerting restrictions, including impeding clergy training; strict filtering of international donations to churches; limitations on sermon content; restraining liturgy to designated buildings; obstructing non-Bulgarians’ ministry; membership of 3,000 for legal registration; allowing special privileges to religious groups over one percent of the population.

This triggered much unrest and many protests throughout the country. At one of the protests in my city I spoke before the people and said: “1132 years ago, the disciples of Cyril and Methodius – Clement, Naum and Angelarius arrived as missionaries to Bulgaria and presented a new religion to our pagan nation, Christianity. If our king had as advisers the people who wrote the religions bill, their mission would have no chances to succeed!”

Thanks to the peaceful protests, hundreds of letters to the MPs, pressure from abroad and the prayers of the saints, most of these restrictive texts were dropped out on second reading. Yet a few of these clauses remained in the new law that was passed. How would this affect the churches?

For now it looks like the evangelical churches won a victory. The relative freedom we have enjoyed the last 30 years will more or less continue. Bulgarian evangelicals can take a breath of fresh air. Yet, the fact that we are taking the win does not mean that we are blind to the fact of the totalitarian tendencies of the government.

According to one of the amendments of the religions law, the Bulgarian Eastern-Orthodox Church and the Muslim religion will be eligible to receive annual state subsidy of almost 10 million US dollars. Moreover, with a later amendment the state tried, for now unsuccessfully, to cancel a debt of the Muslim religion of almost 5 billion US dollars. All these are steps to making the two main religions dependent on the secular government.

The question is, will the Eastern Orthodox denomination and the Muslim religion be able to shake off political influences? Will they be able to give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's? Will they have the courage to stand up for justice and speak up for the truth?

Other amendments are for the denominations to issue certificates to each of their ministers and to register them with the Committee of religions, which gets new and extended powers. Churches are to notify the Committee about every foreign guest speaker.

All this is happening against the backdrop of a new wave of persecution in the Middle East, India, Northern Africa and China, and resurgence of nationalism in Europe. Would we have freedom of religion in Bulgaria in the long run? Would new restrictive measures hinder the spread of the gospel? Is the communist incubator of evil really permanent, as Georgi Markov prophecied 40 years ago? Are we living again in Orwell’s “1984”?

The Bulgarian pastor dissident Haralan Popov remembers in his book “Tortured for his faith”:  “At 4 o’clock in the morning, the doorbell rang, then again and again. There were three strangers there – two were wearing suits and one a military uniform. “We have a search warrant”, said their leader, then he pushed me back and intruded into the sleeping house.

Within three hours they rummaged everything – books, beds, cabinets, drawers. When at about 7 the sunshine shone through the window, they ordered me to go with them for a ‘little inquiry’…”

Today, exactly 70 years after the verdicts were passed on 15 pastors (March, 1949), many evangelical leaders are skeptical about the goodwill of the authorities. As Vlady Raichinov, deputy chair of the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance says, “Once they were tapered by the clash with perpetuity and lawmaking arrogance, evangelical believers share a sense of anxiety and vague fears that the clouds are yet to thicken.”

What would it mean for us to work for spreading the Gospel in this situation?

Our New Life FWB Church was founded 6 years ago. Besides our Sunday services and Bible study group meetings, we have run more than 100 evangelistic events with  hundreds of non-Christians attending and hearing the Gospel for the first time. What about now? Will we still enjoy the freedom to do evangelism?

Will we be able to invite people and run evangelistic initiatives at our churches? Will we be able to invite non-Bulgarian guest speakers? To conduct Bible studies, English classes, Literature & History Club, movie nights, Bread Houses and cardio checkups for the elderly? Will we be allowed to invite kids to our summer camps and minister at the rehab center and the Macedonian Culture House?

Will it be possible to hatch eggs of faith in this incubator of evil?

Proverbs 4:16 For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.

A couple of years ago we were conducting our English Music and Sports Project for kids with the help of a CMP team. On the third day of the 7-day project I got a call from a representative of the Religious Affairs Committee at the city council who asked for a meeting with me. When I got there she told me that we can’t conduct our vocal lessons at the Youth Hall anymore although we had applied in advance and gotten permission to do so. So, we had to do all the classes at our two church rooms.

Another time, after I went to advertise a kids project to a group of teachers at a school, one of the teachers said, “We are Eastern Orthodox believers” and almost ruined the whole presentation. Later we were told that she sent a complaint to the Orthodox bishop of Varna and he wrote emails warning all schools not to allow this person (i.e., me), to do sectarian propaganda at their schools.

They really cannot rest until they do evil!

These cases of religious discrimination have been unlawful but in spite of this have been the norm. Now they are already given a legal sanction. Where will all this lead?

If the state continues to exert more control over the church in Bulgaria it is possible that Christians would continue to emigrate to places where they can have their unalienable rights granted.

At the same time, many churches would have to go underground. Orthodox propaganda might increase and state control might grow. Foreign aid might be banned. This might lead to a situation similar to what we had during communism. Another wave of persecution against Christians would not surprise the church in Bulgaria.

The most famous Bulgarian of all times, the leader of the national liberation movement Vassil Levski, said that one day “all people in Bulgaria will live under pure and holy laws as it is given by God for man to live... We want to be free indeed in our land…” Our political leaders hang Levski’s portrait on the wall of their offices but have forgotten his words. One hundred and fifty years later, it seems that Levski’s dream of a free Bulgaria where God’s justice reigns is still not realized.

Yet, if we believe that God is our King, no restrictions in secular laws and no persecution should be able to hinder the gospel. The question is, are we ready to pay the price?

As Christians we should treasure and defend our relative freedom of religion today because God created us with this “unalienable right”. Plato said, "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

Once we paid that penalty and we are still recovering from that evil. We may live now in the incubator of evil but this evil can still be curbed with the truth of the Gospel. So, may God give us wisdom and courage to defend our religious freedom and make sure all Bulgarian citizens have access to the gospel.

Because, restrictions on religious freedom hinder people from hearing the gospel and receiving the greatest gift imaginable, salvation and eternal life.

We run the Christmas Child Operation, an initiative of Samartan’s Purse. We would go to schools and institutions to give shoebox presents to kids and share the gospel with them. After one such event was over, a woman came to Vanya and told her how much she liked what Vanya said in her address to all children and their parents. They exchanged their telephone numbers and met a few days later again. Since then they got along and started meeting and became friends. Some months ago Vanya gave her a Bible and Polly said: “I’ve always wanted to have a Bible, thank you so much!” Vanya invited her to study the Bible together. Since then they have had many meetings. Polly is now a believer and member of New Life Church. Religious freedom is important because people’s eternal destiny depends on us being able to do evangelism!

If the Bulgarian authorities continue to hinder by legal means the witness of the church then I would consider it my duty from God to resist and disobey the restrictive laws. The church should continue to do her mission no matter what the incubator of evil tells her. We are in the world but not of the world.

Pastor Wang Yi, pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in China, who was arrested together with many believers from his church, says: “I believe the Bible requires me to, in a peaceful manner, in a gentle rebellion and positive patience, full of joy, resist all administrative and judicial measures that persecute the church and interfere with the Christian faith.”

This should be a peaceful, non-violent resistance. We will need God’s wisdom and creativity. We must “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” And we will have to adopt new methods of doing ministry and evangelism. As a last resort, we should go underground and meet at homes. Above all, we should clothe our lives and ministry in Christ’s love and be willing to give our lives for our Lord and Savior. But we should never desert our calling to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Psalms 37:9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like him, we shall speak the truth and will defend our freedom in Him.

And like the Bulgarian hero Georgi Markov, we cannot live in fear and lie. To him belong the words, “Happiness is in freedom. The freedom to be a person who is equal to all men, the freedom to have the right to your own voice, your own face, your own life.”

And our voice should be of the One in whom we have believed in.

John 8:31,32 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Yes, God can set us free even while living in the incubator of evil. Free to hatch eggs of faith.

Let me finish by quoting C.S. Lewis who also has something to say on the topic of hatching eggs: “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

May the Lord help us to hatch spiritual eggs no matter how pervert and cunning the powers of evil are against us.

Trif Trifonov

_________________

Seminar given at the National Convention of the FWB Churches in Cincinnati, USA on July 24, 2019. 

Freedom of religion and the spread of the gospel

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

“At 4 o’clock in the morning, the doorbell rang, then again and again. There were three strangers there – two were wearing suits and one a military uniform. “We have a search warrant”, said their leader, then he pushed me back and intruded into the sleeping house.

Within three hours they rummaged everything – books, beds, cabinets, drawers. When at about 7 the sunshine shone through the window, they ordered me to go with them for a ‘little inquiry’…”

Thank God, this is not a story of the present. But it is not fiction either. It’s a real story. This took place in the life of a Bulgarian pastor, Haralan Popov, in the first years of the communist regime.

But now the situation is very different, someone would say. Now we live in a democracy, none of these things happen. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by our Constitution: “All citizens shall be equal before the law. There shall be no privileges or restriction of rights on the grounds of race, national or social origin, ethnic self-identity, sex, religion…” (Article 6); “The practicing of any religion shall be unrestricted. (2) Religious institutions shall be separate from the State.” (Article 13)

Yet, in the last three months our parliament tried hard to violate these fundamental rights. Christians in Bulgaria had a sad reminder of a bygone communist past.

It all started with a parliamentarian bill sponsored by three political parties passed on first reading in October. The bill supposedly aimed at preventing religious terrorism but actually violated the freedom of religion, especially of the smaller denominations.

When I am writing this the bill has already been passed on second reading. Thanks to the peaceful protests, hundreds of letters to the MPs, pressure from abroad and the prayers of the saints, most of these restrictive texts were dropped out. Yet a few of these clauses remained in the new law. How would this affect the churches?

For now it looks like the evangelical churches won a victory. The relative freedom we have enjoyed will more or less continue. Bulgarian evangelicals can take a breath of fresh air. Yet, the fact that we are taking the win does not mean that we are blind to the fact of the totalitarian tendencies of the government.

All this is happening against the backdrop of a new wave of persecution in the Middle East, India, Northern Africa and China, and resurgence of nationalism in Europe. Would we have freedom of religion in Bulgaria in the long run? Would new restrictive measures hinder the spread of the gospel?

Opinions are split. Many fear that the Church won’t be able to do the Great Commission. Our wings will be cut off and we won’t be able to fly to the unreached; our legs will be amputated to go to the needy, our hands will be broken to reach the hungry.

Indeed, we have seen this in our history. During communism the Church survived but didn’t thrive. She was deprived of its best leaders, had no access to the public arena, and evangelism was a risky business. I myself learned about the existence of the evangelical churches only after the fall of communism.

On the other hand, there are other voices saying that the Church needs to be shaken up and sifted, so that the chaff is separated from the wheat (Matthew 3:12). The proponents of this view point to communist China where in the last 30 years Christianity has grown to more than 100 million adherents.

Though persecuted, the early church, also grew rapidly in number. Persecution caused many to flee and take the gospel to the ends of the Roman world.

If we believe that God is our King, no restrictions in secular laws should be able to hinder the gospel. Yet, are we ready to pay the price?

Personally, I think that as Christians we should treasure and defend our freedom of religion because God created us with this “unalienable right”. Religious freedom is rooted in the Scriptures and is at the heart of the gospel.

This is seen in the fact that God doesn’t coerce but invites his followers in a relationship with him. God is love, and love presupposes freedom. Christian commitment to religious freedom reflects our beliefs about the character of the Creator.

Secondly, the struggle for religious freedom is part and parcel of the second great commandment to love our neighbor (Matt. 22:38). God has given each human being dignity. When the basic human right of religious freedom is not granted, human dignity is damaged. 

And, last, restrictions on religious freedom hinder people from hearing the gospel and receiving the greatest gift imaginable, salvation and eternal life.

It is true that Christianity in China is growing rapidly in spite of restrictions and pressure from the state. Yet, how can we be sure that it will not grow even faster provided there is freedom of religion in the vast country. The rapid evangelization of South Korea is a case in point.

Back to our situation,ws should be  where it said that  and Chinar places in the world is to е църквата при Себе Си. Гото if the state continues to exert more control over the church in Bulgaria it is possible that some Christians would emigrate to places where they can have their unalienable rights granted. This would bless their receiving countries but will render Bulgarian society rather saltless.

At the same time, many churches would have to go underground. Other churchgoers would just be happy with state interference in church life. Orthodox propaganda would increase and state control would also grow. This might lead to a situation similar to what we had during communism.

Plato said, "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Once we paid that penalty and we are still recovering from that evil. May God give us wisdom and courage to defend our religious freedom and make sure all Bulgarian citizens have access to the gospel.

I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington

Today is 28 August. On this day in 1963 Martin Luther King pronounced his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I looked for а Bulgarian translation of it on internet but didn't find any. So I translated its second part. Here it is. The full speech in English comes right after the Bulgarian text.

„Имам мечта”

Мартин Лутер Кинг

28 август 1963 г., Вашингтон

(втора част)

…

Имам мечта – че един ден тази нация ще се издигне и ще претвори в дело истинското значение на кредото: „Ние считаме тези истини за очевидни – че всички хора са създадени равни.”

Имам мечта, че един ден по червените хълмове на Джорджия синовете на предишните роби и синовете на предишните робовладелци ще могат да седнат заедно на масата на братството.

Имам мечта, че един ден дори щата Мисури – пустинен щат, който се поти под изгаряща несправедливост и потисничество ще бъде преобразен в оазис на свободата и справедливостта.

Имам мечта, че четирите ми деца един ден ще живеят в нация, където за тях ще съдят не по цвета на кожата им, а по съдържанието на техния характер.

Имам мечта днес.

Имам мечта, че един ден щата Алабама, чийто губернатор понастоящем бълва думи на вмешателство и унищожение, ще бъде преобразен в място, където малки черни момчета и черни момичета ще могат да хванат за ръце малки бели момчета и бели момичета и ще вървят заедно като сестри и братя.

Имам мечта днес.

Имам мечта, че всяка долина ще се издигне и всяка планина и хълм ще се сниши; кривите места ще станат прави и неравните места – поле; и славата Господня ще се яви и всички твари заедно ще я видят (Исая 40:4,5).

Това е нашата надежда. Това е вярата, с която се връщам към Юга. С тази вяра ще можем да отсечем от планината на отчаянието камък на надеждата. С тази вяра ще можем да преобразим разнобойните акорди на нацията ни в прекрасна симфония на братството. С тази вяра ще можем да работим заедно, да се молим заедно, да се борим заедно, да отиваме в затвора заедно, да се застъпваме за свободата заедно, знаейки, че един ден ще бъдем свободни.

Това ще е денят, когато всички Божии деца ще могат да пеят с ново значение рефрена: „Моя страна, за теб, сладка земя на свободата, за теб пея аз. Земя, където моите бащи са умирали, земя на гордостта на поклонници, нека свободата отеква от всеки планински хребет”.

И ако Америка иска да бъде велика нация, това трябва да стане реалност. Затова, нека свободата отеква от блудните склонове на Ню Хемпшър. Нека свободата отеква от величествените планини на Ню Йорк. Нека свободата отеква от снажните Алегени на Пенсилвания!

Нека свободата отеква от заснежените върхове на Роки маунтийн в Колорада!

Нека свободата отеква от извиващите се склонове на Калифорния!

Но не само това; нека свободата отеква от Стоун маунтийн на Джорджия!

Нека свободата отеква от планините на Тенеси!

Нека свободата отеква от всеки хълм и всяка къртичина на Мисисипи. Нека свободата отеква от всяка планина.

Когато оставим свободата да отеква, когато я оставим да отеква от всяко село и паланка, от всеки щат и всеки град, ние ще ускорим настъпването на онзи ден, когато всички Божии деца - черни мъже и бели мъже, евреи и езичници, протестанти и католици, ще могат да се хванат за ръце и да пеят с думите на стария негърски спиричуъл: „Свободни най-накрая! Благодарим ти, Боже всемогъщи, най-накрая ние сме свободни!”

Original English text:

I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington

August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"