July 20th, 2020

The Peace Child
 
    "In 1962, the Sawi people of New Guinea still lived in relative isolation.  They were head-hunting cannibals.  Missionaries Don and Carol Richardson, strove to become an incarnate presence among the Sawi.  In fact, three Sawi tribes, fascinated by the Richardsons, moved their villages right around their jungle home.  After a trying period of learning the language, Don Richardson finally climbed the ladder into the Sawi man-house. Surrounded by the skulls of the victims they had cannibalized, he began to share the gospel with them.  He began by telling them about the Jews, the promised Messiah, and the sacrificial Lamb of Judah. The Sawi were bored.
  
    "Don became frustrated by his inability to communicate and find a point of contact.  He was also discouraged by the 14 civil wars he had already counted right outside his front door now that the two rival Sawi tribes lived side by side.  Such fear and frustration finally led the Richardsons to plan to leave. However, the Sawi response surprised them:  'If you'll stay, we'll make peace in the morning.'
  
 "The next morning the Richardson's awoke to see the most amazing ritual, the most passionate ceremony they had ever witnessed.  The two tribes were lined up outside their house, on either side of the clearing.  An air of tension floated between the two tribes.  On the one side, people milled about waiting anxiously.  Finally, one man standing there dashed into his hut while his wife was looking away.  He grabbed his newborn baby, took the child in his arms, and ran across the meadow.  His expression betrayed absolute agony. His wife ran after him, screaming and begging him to give the baby back to her.  When she couldn't catch him, she fell to her knees in the mud, moaning for her baby.
 
    "Her husband ran over to the other tribe and presented the baby to them.  'Plead the peace child for me.  I give you my son, and I give you my name,' he said.  Shortly, someone from that tribe performed the same agonizing sacrifice with the same intensity and passion.  Richardson found out later that as long as those peace children remained alive, the two tribes were bound to each other.  They were bound not to war but to peace for the lifetimes of those children.  If the children died, then literally cival war would break loose.
 
    "While this amazing scene unfolded before him, Don suddenly realized that this was the point of contact, the redemptive analogy.  When he climbed the next time into the Sawi man-house, still surrounded by skulls, he told the elders of the perfect Peace Child, given by God to mankind. They sat riveted on his every word.  That very day some of the Sawi became Christians. This continued until one day, hundreds of Sawi from every tribe (tribes that had warred and cannibalized each other for many years) gathered together for a feast for the first time.
 
    "A Sawi preacher stood up and read in his own language what few people in the history of the world have ever understood so clearly:  'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace' (Isaiah 9:6). It was the best day the Sawi had ever known.
 
     A beautiful story that wonderfully illustrates Christ's redemption to you and I.. Jesus Christ was born as man to partake in our pain and suffering; He suffered and died to pay for our sins and He gloriously arose from the grave and is seated in the heavenlies, interceding for us and awaiting the time of our transformation and resurrection.
 
     Many things in this upside down world distracts us and tries to distance us from this life-changing message. The pandemic, rioting, political upheaval, world unrest, uncertainty, and fear, to name a few, have brought us to to the point we have forgotten we have already won the war.  Realizing that we are, now, more than overcomers, and been gloriously made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus leads us to refocus and relaunch our vision. We are commanded by our Lord and Savior to  "look to Him" and fight this good fight of faith.
 
Beloved, He is soon coming…let's continue to tell the truth of salvation by grace through faith and build the kingdom through His power, provision and promises.  One day we will hear Him say "Welcome Home!"
 
 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.     Revelation 12:11
 
Pastor Rudy