The Peace Child

Easter weekend. Which, to many, means colored plastic eggs filled with candy, hiding eggs around that children might find them (between the giggles of course!), chocolate bunnies and baskets filled with imitation grass. But what is real meaning behind this weekend?

It's not about a bunny after all...it's about the peace child.

Some time ago, two missionaries--Don Richardson and his wife--went to be missionaries to the Sawi people. The Sawi's were known as "cannibalistic head-hunters", yet the Richardson's wanted to reach them with the gospel of Jesus. So they related to them the story of Jesus. The Sawi's listened very intently until the point of the story where Judas betrays Jesus. The Unexpected then happened: the Sawi's roared with laughter, danced around and cheered Judas. The Richardson's didn't know what to make of that. Come to find out, treachery is highly prized among the Sawi's--it is something they intentionally try to hone and make as perfect as possible. To them, Judas was the hero and Jesus was the fool. The Richardson's were at a loss as to how to reach them.

Some time later, the Sawi's began having problems with another tribe and fighting broke out. The Richardson's told the Sawi's that they would have to leave if the violence didn't die down. With the Sawi's, it was a point of pride that they would have missionaries among them and the other tribes didn't, so the Sawi's agreed to bring a halt to the fighting. The solution was peace--and the terms were the peace child.

You see, the way to make peace with your enemy there is to give a newborn baby to the enemy and allow your enemy to raise him/her as he sees fit. It was a time of sadness and loss for the Sawi's...and the Richardson's finally found how they could witness to these people about what Jesus came and did and what He represents. Once they were able to understand that the newborn King of kings was given by the Father in heaven--and not only that--but died so that they could live, it finally clicked with the Sawi's. They understood that there was One who wasn't betrayed unknowingly, but gave Himself voluntarily. The Sawi's praised the Lord and wanted to know more. Today, over 70% of the Sawi's are Christian.

Easter is a time to remember that gifts of chocolate and candy cannot match the ultimate Gift given, and that stories about the Easter bunny and such cannot match the story of One who gave Himself that we might live.

2 Corinthians 5:21--God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

This weekend give the gift that keeps on giving...share Jesus.

Moveable Fixed Points

When all is equally agitated, nothing appears to be agitated, as in a ship. When all tend to debauchery, none appears to do so. He who stops draws attention to the excess of others, like a fixed point.—Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 382

Fading away. Moving away. That is what is happening to the behavior in the above quote. In an age of postmodernism (your truth is your truth; my truth is my truth) where absolute truth no longer reigns, in an age of "if it feels good, then do it" where anything goes, in an age of constantly changing ethics and morals where each becomes the arbiter of right and wrong...we have--for the most part--forgotten where we came from.

But this is what happens in a secular society. WE make laws to govern OURSELVES. That inherently means that at some point we decide what is right and wrong--for others and ourselves. Evolutionism coming on the scene has further blurred our objective reasoning of morality. If there is no God, then there really and honestly is NO SUCH THING AS MORALITY. That being said, we can then "remake" right and wrong into our perception. Which means ethical morality is left to a simple majority vote on the floors of Congress.

What is this all about? Gay marriage mostly. It's a hot topic and it really shouldn't be. Let me say at the outset that I'm for gay rights. For two reasons: 1) God has given us all free choice to live how we want (though that means consequences), and 2) the government shouldn't tell its citizens how to live their lives. That being said, I'm also for gay marriage. As long as it's not marriage.  And here is where this blog becomes maybe a little pointed.

A good friend of mine once told me that if we just gave civil unions the exact same rights that marriages have, this would be a non-issue. You see, marriage itself is a "religious" institution. Most homosexuals (and some heteros too) want the title of "marriage" but not the spiritual component of it. Marriage is ordained by God in the Bible, and in that image of marriage it is a man and woman. That's it. No wiggle room. However, we live in a secular society now, not a theocracy like the Old Testament. Therefore, why are so many people who want to have their own version of truth trying to attain the title of an institution created by  One who is called Truth? “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.--John 14:6.

We live in an age of moveable fixed points. What gives us the right to take what Someone else has created and initiated and conform it to what we want it to represent? In our haste to make gay rights and other ideas of central concern, maybe we should think of the rights of God. After all...equal rights. Right?

Conspiracy Futility

There is a new pope in town...or at least in Vatican City. His name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, but he has chosen the name Francis to be known by. Interestingly, he is the first pope to do several things:
1. He is the first pope from the Americas.
2. He is the first pope born from outside Europe since Gregory III.
3. He is the first Jesuit pope.

That last one is the one that has many people talking. Especially Adventists. The election of this pope has caused a firestorm of controversy in thinking that a Jesuit pope is going to be the one to bring the final events to a close. Thanks to folks like Walter Veith and others of his ilk, many have unwittingly become date setters. Just because a Jesuit pope has been elected is not a guarantee that THIS pope will be the one who causes the downfall of the world.

In fact, many people have even taken to an old prophecy of the seven popes to justify that it HAS to be Francis. For those who do know, Revelation 17 talks about 7 kings: 5 fallen, 1 is, and 1 is yet to come and when he comes he is only in power a short time. Now some Adventists have taken the idea that the healing of the wound of the beast was in 1929, so they then count 7 popes from that period. The seventh pope was Benedict who was in power for a "short" time. There are several problems with this:
1. Who determines what a "short" time is? What does that mean? I mean, Jesus Himself said He was coming quickly...is "short" shorter than "quickly"? The Bible doesn't clear this up.
2. There are two popes who came before Benedict (John XXIII and John Paul I) who both served shorter terms than Benedict. In fact, Benedict served longer than both of the aforementioned popes COMBINED.

Some will not care about this, but the unfortunate problem is that some will. Jesus is coming when He comes. We have to rely and live according to the timing of God not our own. Remember when the writer of Hebrews said:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.-Heb. 11:1

We are called to live by faith. That means we won't have all the answers now. It is safer to live by what God has revealed, than what we think. God knows the end from the beginning...we don't.

A Modern Parallel

The man who once called President George W. Bush "the devil" has passed. Hugo Chavez, who has meant many things to many people, is gone. The interesting thing about this is that the country which has for so long leaned in the direction of its leader, now seems to be reversing course. There is a call from its people to spend its wealth differently, to do more in the area of oil drilling, to even possibly realign themselves with other countries than the ones that have previously been embraced.

What does this have to do with anything? Simply this: the man hasn't been dead for even a week and already things are changing. Meaning? It's amazing just how fast things can change...even when years and years of tradition and experience would seem to hold things together.

It reminds me of a quote speaking of the end times: "We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude. The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones."--Testimonies to the Church Vol. 9, p. 11.

Things can change quickly. Christians should be aware of this more than perhaps any others. This is why Jesus calls us to be ready at His appearing, not getting ready.



Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Wise words indeed.