I imagine that most people who read this are living in a western and industrialized country. But, wherever you are, it is good to learn about news from other places in the world. We are living in times where everything around us is changing, and one of the biggest changes, recently, came from West Africa.

If you look at a map of Africa, you can probably find the country of Nigeria. Just north of Nigeria is Niger which is landlocked with no direct access to an ocean. South-west of Niger is another landlocked country Burkina Faso. In French colonial times, the old name for Burkina Faso was Upper Volta or Haute Volta in French. I personally like the name of the Capital city Ouagadougou. 

I have never been to that country or to Niger or Nigeria, but we should all appreciate that millions of people live in that region, and every one of them is just as important as me or you.

I am writing as a Christian and I believe that God cares about every one of those millions of people in Africa, as much as he cares about me and you. Also, as we move into the future, we should know that some places that don’t get much attention in world news, may become very important in the future.

Our world is changing, and one important change seems to be coming from Burkina Faso and Ouagadougou. The President of Burkina Faso just made an announcement that could affect the lives of people around the world, and that could include you and me.

The President announced that Islamic Sharia Law will not become the legal system of that country. Don’t yawn and think about something else; this decision could affect and change politics and religion in the whole world, including where you and I live.

If you want to know more, you can do an Internet search, with the key words, and I have one link here:

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One important question from this African political debate is: Do we believe or do we conform?

Did each of us, you or I, ever make a decision about what we believe and how we will live our lives? One alternative is to conform, just do what the neighbors do, and stay out of trouble. Did you know that politics and religion are closely tied together, and billions of people, in our modern world follow the rules, and conform-believe to the approved system?

For billions of people, making a personal decision about spiritual things, and the way they will live their lives is a very dangerous thing.

I think the Burkina Faso debate relates to simple arithmetic; 1 + 2 = 3. 1) How + 2) What = 3) The Result.

1) How you believe is important, and not just what you believe. In the Bible, a man asked two of Jesus followers “What must I do to be saved?” The answer was not ‘Just join our movement and conform to whatever the leaders say.’ You might know the answer that they gave him “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16: 31) 

For any religion or -ism that you belong to, ask yourself how you joined. Real success can only come from a strong personal conviction.

2) What you believe is important, but it’s only really important if you first go through step 1. Conforming socially, just swimming with the other fish, is shallow hypocrisy. As a Christian, I have met many shallow conformists, who follow an old family tradition. I had the same option, but one day I made a real and personal decision. I decided to follow Jesus, personally.

3) It all makes more sense now.

I believe that the Muslim President of Burkina Faso can see what I experienced, as a young man. Islamic scholars enforcing conformity to Sharia Law in his country, will not create strong personal convictions. They will make a shallow way for people to conform, without strong personal convictions.

I have no way to know if the President agrees with what I just said, but I know this is true for the followers of Jesus, like me. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” You might want to read more of this story, in the Bible book of Acts and chapter 16.

That approach to following Jesus created a social revolution two thousand years ago, and we are still living with that revolutionary movement today. According to statistics, the two countries where the followers are increasing in numbers the most are: Nepal, where most people were traditionally Buddhist and Hindu, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which I don’t have to explain.

Really.

And, I left out a third country, the Communist Peoples’ Republic of China.

Did you know this was happening, in our modern world?

So, what is happening in you?

This is one of the oldest lessons in the Bible:

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24: 15)