NO MAN LEFT BEHIND

            I believe the Navy Seals started it, but by now every branch of the US military service declares and reflects the spirit of the slogan, “No man left behind;” it reflects the spirit of the services themselves.  Unfortunately, the government under whom they serve does not reflect this spirit. 

            United States Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi has been a captive of the Mexican Government.  His crime?  The Afghanistan war vet went to San Diego seeking treatment for his battlefield related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He had three guns in his truck – legal in the States but not permitted in Mexico.  He made a wrong turn and ended up in a border crossing lane with no U turns.  The law abiding Marine found himself unintentionally in Mexico and went to a parked police vehicle.  He asked help re-crossing the border and volunteered that he had guns in the vehicle and no intention of violating Mexican law – or even being in Mexico.  He was promptly arrested, thrown in prison, and has spent the last few months in solitary confinement.  He has had access to Mexican attorneys but the administration of Barack Obama has been deafeningly silent.  There has been no trial, but two judicial hearings have resulted in his being sent back to solitary, a punishment reserved in all nations for particularly troublesome prisoners.  The kind who turn themselves in while asking for help, apparently.

            While the sergeant is abandoned by his national government the governor of California flies to Mexico City to negotiate trade agreements for California with Mexico’s President Nieto.  Governor Brown utters not a word on behalf of the war hero held in solitary, but he does a victory dance over the success of his trade missions.  He is negotiating with the nation that floods our land with illegal drugs and the illegal people whose passage and survival here it facilitates.  Mexico is known for her harsh treatment of illegals within her own borders, but gives safe passage to the Central Americans now crossing Mexico on their way here.  Many of these illegals are children and families, but many are notorious gangsters; still others are members of Mexico’s own drug cartels.  Should not Governor Brown say, “President Nieto, I will trust you enough to treat with you when you return the American citizen you hold without trial?”  Instead he invites Nieto to Sacramento for a grand celebration planned for August 26.

            Assembly Member Tim Donnelly plans a demonstration in front of the governor’s mansion at 11:15 AM, Tuesday, August 26. The mansion is located at 800 N Street in Sacramento.  Donnelly – readers will remember – ran a wildly successful primary campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination; he led all the polls until carpetbagger Neil Kashkari ingratiated himself with Republican money men and came in second in the primary solely through funding.  Donnelly plans to make a public demand for the release of Sergeant Tahmooressi.  My prayer is that thousands of Californians will join him in front of the mansion; I most certainly will be there with him.

            Tahmooressi is not the only Marine left behind in Mexico.  Corporal Armando Torres was kidnapped at gunpoint – with his father and uncle in May 2013 – by cartel members while visiting his father’s ranch near Ciudad Juarez.  Our government has been just as silent in his case.

            We sent in the SEALs to take Bin Laden without a care for another nation’s sovereignty – as we should – when that nation is harboring the murderer of three thousand Americans.  But why do we not send in the SEALs when captive Americans are alive and expecting their government to do its primary job of bringing them home from captivity?  If Mexico wants our respect, let her do the right thing; if not, let there be an international incident.  It would certainly clear the air.

              The Word of God says Jesus Christ came to set the captives free; it is a recurrent New Testament theme.  But, we say, that refers to spiritual freedom.  Reality is freedom is freedom, or it is not; it cannot be boxed or compartmentalized.  The Great Commission calls us to be ambassadors of this God of freedom, whether releasing others in Him from the bondage of sin, the bondage of an oppressive government, a rigged electoral or economic system, or a culture of self-indulgence.  It requires one thing from us and that is to choose to repent – re-focus and re-submit our lives to Him – so we can receive His earthquake life and live from now on not just for His goals but in His methods.  Only then will no man ever again be left behind.