The World and Everything in It: June 28, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. I'm Bridgett. I'm Jack. I'm Seth. With our baby sister, Kirsten. We'd like to say hi to our dad who's serving in Germany. We love you, Dad. We hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Russia’s Wagner group of mercenaries marched on Moscow, then thought better of it. Why, and what does it mean for Russia and the war in Ukraine?

NICK EICHER, HOST: We have analysis ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, a few Supreme Court results we’ll tell you about. As well as news from around the world on WORLD Tour.

And: why the current backlash toward companies that promote the LGBT agenda is different from previous years:

ISBELL: Do I think that the Lord can work in this? Absolutely.

And WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney reflects on the life of Sojourner Truth.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, June 28th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kristen Flavin has today’s news

KRISTEN FLAVIN, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump audio » Former president Donald Trump responded on Tuesday to newly leaked audio from two years ago in which he can seemingly be heard showing classified documents to multiple people.

DONALD TRUMP: We did absolutely nothing wrong. This is just another hoax. It’s called, I would say election interference more than anything else. It’s a disgrace that they can do it.

In the recording Trump complains that Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley accused him of wanting to attack Iran. Trump then seemingly shows off a document related to plans for a military operation against Iran.

TRUMP: Isn’t it amazing. I have a big pile of papers. This thing just came up, look. This was him. This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is highly confidential, secret. This is secret information. Look at this, the attack.

And another portion of the recording could be particularly problematic for Trump’s legal case.

TRUMP: See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t. You now, but this is classified.

In an interview days earlier with Fox’s Brett Baier, Trump said he had no such classified document.

TRUMP: That was not a document. I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.

The recording was from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for people working on the memoir of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Trump / DeSantis » Meantime, on the campaign trail, Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis traded barbs this week. The two leading GOP White House candidates staged dueling events in New Hampshire.

Speaking to supporters in the rural town of Hollis, DeSantis said that as president, he would make the border crisis a top priority.

RON DESANTIS: Our own government acknowledges that you’ve had a significant number of people on its own terrorist watchlist that have come across the border.

And he jabbed at the former president, saying he will “actually” build the border wall.

Trump later campaigned in Lansing, Michigan telling a crowd that DeSantis opposed his tariffs against China.

TRUMP: Simply put, he sided with the communists in China while I fought for workers in America.

Another presidential contender, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, accused Trump on Tuesday of doing “too little” to address threats from China.

Philippines raid » Police in the Philippines say they rescued thousands of workers in a raid of cybercrime offices in Manila on Tuesday. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

LAURAN CANTERBERRY: The Philippine National Police and its anti-cybercrime group distributed footage of more than 2,700 workers sitting outside office buildings after the midnight raid.

Authorities say cybercrime syndicates are luring people to their offices with the promise of employment, then trapping them in virtual slavery participating in online scams.

The liberated workers came from 18 countries, including China and Vietnam.

Police raided another suspected cybercrime base outside Manila in May and rescued nearly 1,400 workers.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

Ukraine aid » The United States is sending up to $500 million in additional military aid to Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder:

PAT RYDER: It includes key key capabilities to support Ukraine’s air defense requirements, as well as additional armored vehicles, anti-armor systems, munitions, and other equipment.

The aid is aimed at bolstering Ukraine's counteroffensive, which has so far moved slowly.

The Pentagon says it has sent more than $15 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine report on detention abuse » Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians in Ukraine.

That’s according a new report from the United Nations human rights office detailing more than 900 cases of people being arbitrarily detained. U.N. Human Rights official Matilda Bogner:

MATILDA BOGNER: Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping Ukrainian armed forces, compel them cooperate them with the occupying authorities, or intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views.

Russian forces were behind most of those 900 incidents, but not all of them.

The report also documented 75 cases of arbitrary detention by Ukrainian security forces. And more than half of the people detained in those cases also reported being abused.

Pregnant workers » The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, or PWFA, took effect on Tuesday. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: The law requires businesses with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant and postpartum workers. The could include things like opportunities to sit down when needed, flexible hours, and closer parking spaces.

But employers do not have to implement the accommodations if they would cause undue hardship, meaning significant expense or difficulty.

Congress passed the law last year, a decade after it was initially proposed.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kristen Flavin. 

Straight ahead: New Supreme Court opinions and unpacking the march on Moscow in Washington Wednesday. Plus, why some shoppers are turning against companies pushing LGBT products.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST:  It’s Wednesday the 28th of June, 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Well, it was another false alarm day at the U.S. Supreme Court. So many of us here were looking for a couple of First Amendment and religious free-exercise cases. Of course, we’re curious, too, how the court will rule on affirmative action and student loans. But we’ll have to wait at least until tomorrow. Instead, the court gave us three others that we’ll tell you about in just a minute.

So before we get started on that today, I want to tell you we’re now into the last 72 hours of our June Giving Drive.

So many have given already. And if that describes you, I think you’ll enjoy hearing from WORLD’s Washington bureau headquarters which happens to be situated across the street from the U.S. Capitol, and our next-door neighbor is the U.S. Supreme Court where helping keep an eye on things is one of our Washington reporters, Carolina Lumetta.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: I’ll be here pretty much every morning this week, waiting for the justices to hand down the final, major decisions of the season. And it’s because of your support that I get to be right in the middle of the action. It’s a pretty busy time, but not too busy to say “thank you” for your support and thank you for all of the ways you help WORLD grow and expand Biblically objective journalism even here in the nation’s capital.

EICHER: So great that she’s there. We’re just sitting here, like everyone else, hitting refresh on the Supreme Court website. So, you do what you can and you rely on your colleagues!

But if you’ve not given to our June Giving Drive, I do hope you will. Just visit wng.org/donate.

Well, let’s jump into the details of the cases we have. As you say, Mary, not the ones we’re monitoring especially closely, but important nonetheless.

REICHARD: That’s right, because legal principles matter to all of us. So let’s do jump in.

In Counterman v Colorado, the court ruled 7-2 in favor of a convicted stalker. The question was what standard of proof is required to convict a stalker.

Billy Counterman sent a female singer thousands of unwanted messages she found threatening. He’s serving a four-year sentence for stalking.

EICHER: Counterman appealed that conviction. He argued Colorado ought to consider his subjective intent. He says he has a mental illness and never intended to harm anyone.

But Colorado law only considers what a reasonable person would believe about his unwanted comments. What the law calls the objective standard of analysis.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion. You can hear the eventual ruling in this comment she made during oral argument in April:

JUSTICE KAGAN: How could you not be able to prove this case with a recklessness standard?

REICHARD: And that’s the new rule. Counterman’s stalking conviction is overturned and he gets a new trial with this new standard. He could still be found guilty of stalking, though, under the new reckless standard. (And we can expect more disputes over what that means.)

The second opinion in Mallory v Norfolk Southern will force companies to litigate in state courts—even if the underlying injury isn’t connected to the state in which the suit is brought.

Norfolk Southern Railway is based in Virginia. A man who worked for the railway and lives in Virginia sued his former employer for negligence in Pennsylvania. The railway countered it never consented to be sued there. It only registered in Pennsylvania because state law required it.

Lower courts agreed with the railway and dismissed the suit. But the man appealed to the Supreme Court.

EICHER: By a vote that got reported as a 5-4 decision though in reality it’s more of a 4-1-4 decision, the lower court must look again at the employee’s lawsuit. Justice Alito is the “one,” and he created that majority five to vacate the lower court’s decision to dismiss. But this is key: Alito says the railway could still prevail on another theory. So we’ve not heard the last of this, either.

REICHARD: Final opinion today is in Moore v Harper, this one 6-3. It rejects broad power by state legislatures over federal election rules.

Republicans in control of the North Carolina State House drew what state courts called a gerrymandered congressional map.

The question is whether state legislatures have sole authority to regulate federal elections— without constraint by courts.

EICHER: Answer: No. The majority rejected the “independent state legislature” theory that gives state legislatures alone the power to govern federal elections. Federal courts have oversight power when district boundary disputes arise.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Alito dissented. They say the case should have been dismissed as moot because of later developments in the case.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, next up on Washington Wednesday: The coup that wasn’t.

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a mercenary force called the Wagner Group has been leading the charge including in the city of Bakhmut, where it says some 20,000 of its fighters were killed.

PRIGOZHIN: [Speaking Russian] No more useless death.

But in recent months, the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been criticizing Russia’s military leadership for mishandling the war on the ground.

REICHARD: He says without ammunition, his men will suffer useless and unjustified losses. But then over the weekend, Prigozhin shifted from talk to action.

AUDIO: An unprecedented armed rebellion…

AUDIO: The leader of the Russian Wagner group calling for an armed mutiny…

AUDIO: His forces have left Ukraine and are headed into Russia.

EICHER: After occupying a military outpost in south-east Russia, the Wagner Group got on the highway headed to Moscow. Prigozhin said it wasn’t a coup but, in his words, “an act of justice.”

But then about 125 miles from Russia’s capital, Prigozhin called off the march and turned his convoy around in the face of Russian defenses, saying he didn’t want to shed Russian blood.

It soon came out that the president of nearby Belarus brokered a ceasefire between Prigozhin and the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin. As part of the deal, the Wagner Group leader will relocate to Belarus.

REICHARD: Whatever Prigozhin’s intent in ordering the march on Moscow, the result now is that Russia’s military has apparently lost one of its key leaders at a critical juncture.

What does this mean for Putin and the future of the conflict in Ukraine?

EICHER: Here now to help explain what is and is NOT going on in Russia is Will Inboden. He’s a former member of the National Security Council under the George W. Bush administration, and is now executive director and chair of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s also a contributor to World Opinions.

REICHARD: Good morning, Will.

INBODEN: Good morning, Mary great to be with you.

REICHARD: Will, I’ve heard a variety of terms used to describe what happened. Insurrection, revolt, rebellion. Will, what’s the best way to describe this?

INBODEN: Yeah, to that we could add mutiny, putsch, but it, you know, no one quite knows. This was neither fish nor fowl in some ways. It had the initial appearances of a potential coup or coup attempt of a, you know, formal change of government. But then, of course, Prigozhin backed off, Lukashenko in Belarus cut the deal. And Putin announced, you know that he is still in charge. So it was a very strange episode, and we're still trying to understand all the ramifications.

REICHARD: Has Putin ever seen this kind of challenge to his authority?

INBODEN: Not this particular kind. You know, he's been, you know, the President / dictator of Russia for some 23 years now, back in I want to say 2011, there were some pretty widespread peaceful protests by citizens against Putin's rule in his stealing of an election. But never this particular sort where a private militia mercenary group, that had been funded by the Kremlin, somehow then turns against him and poses armed armed resistance. That is very unusual, certainly something that Putin had never seen before.

REICHARD: And what’s at stake for Prigozhin?

INBODEN: So, well, quite a bit. Well, we'll start with his very life is probably at stake. You know, certainly visible active opponents of Putin rarely, rarely survived. They don't have a very good track record of that we can look at, you know, Putin ordering the poisoning of the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London back in 2006, or later, the attempted poisoning of another defector Sergei Skripal as well. So Prigozhin you know, we certainly should not count on his personal safety, even if we see that he's just arrived there in Belarus, of course, a close ally and partner of Russia. So his personal safety is at stake. If he does survive, if Putin doesn't try to engineer some sort of assassination or execution of him, Prigozhin's influence is probably much diminished. It's not clear how much more control he will have over the Wagner Group, where their loyalties will lie, or what his future will be. However, I should also say we don't want to count Prigozhin out either. He does seem to have, you know, some amount of popular support among the Russian people and certainly some segments of the Wagner militias. And so he is, you know, one could also envision a possible scenario in which Prigozhin emerges. As Putin's most forceful critic and opponent and potential rival for the throne.

REICHARD: I think it was Mark Twain who’s credited with saying. “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Based on your reading of Russian history, any events of this past weekend rhyme with anything in Russia’s past that could clue us in on what might happen next?

INBODEN: Yeah, there's two momentous episodes of the Russian past that I think bear mentioning. And the key connection here is, when Russia finds itself in an unpopular losing foreign war, sometimes that leads to regime change in the Kremlin. The first example, of course, would be 1917, when under Tsar Nicholas II, Russia was losing badly in World War One, you know, their forces being defeated by the Germans on the Eastern Front. And that led very directly to the Bolshevik Revolution, the toppling of the Tsar and the creation of the Soviet Union. Then, you know, fast forward several decades, Russia invades Afghanistan in 1979, ends up being a very bloody losing 10 year occupation, and they withdraw in defeat and disgrace in 1989. And that also led very directly to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and of Soviet communism. And so, Putin is very mindful of that history. I think that's one reason why he was very panicked by this uprising, you know, mutiny, coup, whatever, we decide to call it by Prigozhin and the Wagner Group because it's tied very directly to their disaffection for Russia's thus far very costly losing effort in Ukraine.

REICHARD: The Russia story actually overshadowed two other big foreign policy stories last week. First, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China to try to restore Washington D.C.’s relationship with Beijing…but failed to get some key things done. In particular, Blinken was unable to establish a direct channel between the U.S. and Chinese militaries. Will, why is that significant?

INBODEN: Yeah, this was this was notable that the the Biden administration has been trying for months to reopen dialogue diplomacy with the Chinese Communist Party leadership, and Beijing had thus far been giving the Biden administration the cold shoulder. I had had some concerns, of course, and wrote about this, that the Biden administration was perhaps appearing a little too desperate to Beijing for this diplomacy, almost in a posture more of a supplicant than than a superpower. And, of course, one of the asks that the Biden administration had of of the CCP was to open direct dialogue between the American military and the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, that that would be a good step. I think just because as you know, our Navy and their Navy are having some close encounters in the western Pacific, you want to have some of those channels to deconflict or at least deescalate a potential crisis. So the fact that Xi Jingping would not even agree to that was was was notable, I think a real disappointment for Secretary breakups trip.

REICHARD: Well then stateside, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited President Biden at the White House, and Biden reported that their talks were productive…especially looking at countering Chinese influence in the region. Why hasn’t India been a closer ally in the past, and what potential might there be in the future if India comes into the sphere of allies that nations like Japan and Australia are part of?

INBODEN: Yeah, and I will say I'm certainly very bullish and supportive of the United States building closer ties with with India, right. We are the world's oldest democracy; India is the world's largest democracy, population-wise. We have shared interest in countering the rise of a belligerent China. The reason why it hasn't happened sooner is India ever since their independence has a long tradition of what is called being not aligned, that they would not want to formulate ally with any other country that they very much wanted to preserve their independence and freedom of action. And that may have made some sense for them during the Cold War. But they're now realizing that as we're in this new cold war with China, and China, of course, being a historic rival and threat for India, that India would benefit from closer friendships with countries like Japan or the United States. But again, those old habits die hard and so that's been one of the things slowing India from making a deeper partnership with with the United States.

REICHARD: Will Inboden is the executive director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin.

You can read his WORLD Opinions article online at wng.org/opinions. Thanks for joining us today, Will.

INBODEN: Thank you very much, Mary.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Next up on The World and Everything in It, World Tour. Here’s Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Sudan truce — We start today in Sudan.

AUDIO: [Displaced Sudanese]

Sound here of Sudanese refugees. They still face uncertainty even amid another truce. The Rapid Support Forces rebel group declared the unilateral ceasefire for an Islamic holiday today.

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary force, said he hopes the religious holiday will create room for reconciliation. Many Muslims around the world are making a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this week to celebrate the holiday.

The Sudanese army has not commented on the ceasefire.

More than 800 people have died since fighting between the paramilitary and military forces began in April. Previous ceasefires have failed to bring about a lasting truce.

RESIDENT: [Speaking Arabic]

This Khartoum resident says he hopes the war will stop and that the fighting has already injured many people and forced others to flee.

AUDIO: [Displaced Sudanese]

The conflict has displaced nearly 2 million people within the country. Nearly 600,000 others have crossed into neighboring countries.

Greece election outcome - Now we head over to Greece.

AUDIO: [Oath of Office]

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has started his second term after taking the oath of office on Monday.

AUDIO: [Street celebrations]

Jubilant supporters honked and waved flags a day earlier after Mitsotakis and his conservative New Democracy party won with a majority more than 20 percentage points ahead of the rival left-wing party.

Mitsotakis won an earlier election in May, but chose a second vote in hopes that voters would elect more members of his party.

KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS: [Speaking Greek]

Mitsotakis saying the second victory shows voters are giving his party the mandate to make changes.

The prime minister vowed to speed up reforms after campaigning on a platform of economic growth and political stability.

Honduras security measures — Next, to Honduras, where officials are responding to a recent wave of drug-related killings.

AUDIO: [Prison crackdown]

The military conducted prison sweeps on Monday and found ammunition, grenades, and guns.

Authorities approved checkpoints, raids, and curfews in the cities of Choloma and San Pedro Sula a day earlier.

Late on Saturday, at least 11 people died in a pool hall shooting in Choloma. Two days earlier, gunmen killed three people in a bakery in San Pedro Sula. And gang members killed 46 female inmates at a prison in central Honduras last week.

SANCHEZ: [Speaking Spanish]

Honduran Security Minister Gustavo Sánchez says the government sent a proposal to Congress to classify the gangs as terrorist organizations. Honduran President Xiomara Castro appointed Sanchez last week after dismissing his predecessor over the prison deaths.

Singapore Esports — We close today in Singapore where the first-ever Olympic Esports Series wrapped up on Sunday.

AUDIO: [Commentators]

More than 130 players from more than 60 countries battled it out in 10 virtual games. They include archery, cycling, chess, and dance.

ANNOUNCER: And the winner is…

French national Amandine Morisset won the Just Dance title.

AMANDINE MORISSET: This is for all the women that play video games, that play Just Dance: you are capable!

Unlike the regular Olympics, winners received trophies, not medals.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, June 28th. You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re glad you’ve joined us today.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: corporate pressure and the Christian response.

In June, it’s hard to get away from LGBT pride displays. Companies everywhere are promoting the agenda through marketing and merchandise, and recently they’ve moved beyond just putting rainbows in their logos. WORLD Associate Correspondent Zoe Miller asks the question, how should Christian consumers navigate the aisles in light of promotions like this one from Northface:

NORTH FACE COMMERCIAL: Theydies and gentlethems, you are cordially invited to the summer of Pride with my friends at the North Face.

ZOE MILLER, REPORTER: More and more major retailers are jumping on the Pride bandwagon. It’s not just Target and Disney. It’s Walmart, Adidas, Converse, Ford, Major League Baseball, Oreo, Skittles.

NORTH FACE COMMERCIAL: Put on your boots  and come out...side with us!

But sometimes, the strategy backfires. Just scroll through the comments on that North Face ad: “As a longtime hiker, camper, and alpine mountaineer, I am happy to announce I'll be looking elsewhere for my future gear.”

Bud Light is still hurting after a transgender influencer posted on social media with a sponsored Bud Light product.

FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Bud Light sales are slumping more than 24% for the most recent week, Anheuser's competitors all seeing a boost here.

Christians have debated shopping at Amazon and Starbucks for years. But as Pride continues to pick up followers, it’s getting to be a more pressing issue for more people generally, not just believers.

And not everyone agrees on the best way to respond.

Some say business and ideology shouldn’t go together at all.

John Aguirre is a marketing coordinator for a local brewery. He says that Bud Light’s first mistake was bringing politics into the mix.

JOHN AGUIRRE: Politics is something we don't want to get involved in. It's a double-edged sword. You don't want to compromise or put yourself in a state where people got an opinion about your brewery because that could affect yourselves in the future.

John wants people to come to his business because they like the product.

AGUIRRE: Not because we have an opinion about some political thing.

But it’s getting harder to keep business and ideology separate—especially when things like transgender products are designed for children.

HALEY ISBELL: I have stopped shopping at Target, even though it's right across the street from my house.

Haley Isbell is a recent college graduate, and a newly independent consumer. She’s noticed the recent trends in major retailers.

ISBELL: I don't think that the church can stay out of political things completelyPeople are also involved into the world and that's where we're called to be, is to go out into the world and make disciples. And so where does that line end or begin? I don't know. But I don't think that the church can fully remove itself from politics because this is the world that we live in now.

Some think the backlash against companies like Bud Light is a good sign, signaling positive developments in the culture.

Many conservatives encourage boycotts of businesses that support LGBT causes.

TIM POOL: And yes, sales of Bud Light continue to drop. We won. That's it. I, I'm like, we won. Congratulations everybody. 

Tim Pool is an independent commentator. He’s kept an eye on Bud Light over the past few months, and posted his thoughts on his news site, Timcast.

POOL: It has been over a month, and this boycott is not backing down. This is how you win a culture war.

It’s the first time we’ve seen major backlash on a corporation for participating in Pride.

But not everyone is convinced that boycotts are a workable solution. Haley Isbell says that it’s hard to really discern what a corporation is doing with the money we give them.

ISBELL: I think it's a tough mentality to have, of boycotting anything that supports anything that maybe contradicts the Bible just because, I mean, in today's world, every place probably has things that go against the Bible.

But she does draw a line.

ISBELL: Now when it comes to things like what Target did, that's where I take a step back and go, “Okay, if they're this outward with it, I don't think I should spend my money there.”

For Isbell, boycotting is less about successfully defeating a company, and more about taking a public stance on what is right.

ISBELL: I also think that it's important that we do, when we say that this isn't right. And maybe that impacts one person to go and look up scripture that we try to combat things with. Do I think that we are able to make a global impact with boycotting places like Target? No. But do I think that the Lord can work in this? Absolutely.

She doesn’t think there’s a blanket approach for everyone.

ISBELL: I think that for the consumer, again, just seeking the Lord and what he would guide you to do and what convictions you have.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Zoe Miller in McKinney, Texas.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday June 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next: reflections on the Christian abolitionist, Sojourner Truth.

A biography titled We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth by Nancy Koester was published earlier this year. WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney now shares a few highlights of the book as she reflects on the woman’s “life and faith.”

JANIE CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: She was an impressive figure, tall and plainly dressed, striding to the speaker’s platform. “I have a voice like a trumpet,” she said. 

At birth she was named Isabella, the property of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh in upstate New York. Her mother had seen several children sold away, and throughout her early life Isabella herself suffered a series of owners, some less harsh than others. But none had any regard for her feelings or her family, and her back bore the scars of severe beatings.

Emancipation came to New York in 1827, but Isabella’s last owner broke his promise to free her a year early. Taking matters into her own hands, she walked away (reasoning it would be a sin to run away) and took refuge with a devout Christian couple.

Isabella knew there was a God in heaven who heard her prayers, yet she became discontented and restless and even considered returning to slavery--until a shattering experience transformed her. In her Narrative, published in 1850, she recalled a vision of an overwhelming Presence who searched out her sins and weaknesses. When she could no longer bear the intense scrutiny, a “friend” appeared, stepping between her and judgment. To her repeated cries of “Who are you?” the answer finally came: “It is Jesus.”

The revelation led to a calling, realized on Pentecost Sunday, June 1843. “The Spirit calls me and I must go,” she told her employer. She would no longer be Isabella, but Sojourner—"because,” she said, “I was to travel up and down the land, showing the people their sins and being a sign unto them.” 

Sojourner Truth never learned to read, so her Bible knowledge developed slowly and she never wholly outgrew certain perfectionist tendencies. Still, her testimony was heartfelt and profound. So was the impact of her powerful voice, natural wit, and imposing physical presence.

As her fame grew, she took up other causes, particularly women’s rights. But whatever the cause, Sojourner’s faith was her driving force and inspiration. “Christ Jesus lighted up my mind, and my soul filled with love,” she said--allowing her to forgive even those who beat her and sold away her children. After freedom finally came for her people, she turned to exhorting them to take responsibility for their lives: “You have freedom; you must now have regulation, or you are undone.”

Sojourner would probably be disappointed at the state of race relations today, but not in despair. Her faith would still look to the one who lighted up her mind and changed her heart. In one of her last messages, she said, “We are all the children of one Father, and He is God, and Jesus will be One among us. God is no respecter of persons, and we will all be as one.” That divine end may be a long time coming, but it is certain.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: More division in churches over abortion, but of a different sort. We’ll hear about a group of abortion abolitionists, and why they’re frustrated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

And, veterans with PTSD are finding healing. We’ll tell you about that and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist writes: [The Lord] gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalm 147, verses 9 through 11.

Go now in grace and peace.

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