Yours, Once Again
Just today, I saw a packet sent from our beloved friend, Pastor Jean in Rwanda. The packet contained many pictures of his children, that he so obviously loves...drawings that the children made for our children here, and postcards for each of us. As I was enjoying all these wonderful things, I saw the pictures on the front of the postcards, which were all of places in Rwanda. The pictures were beautiful, green mountains in the background, flowers and green and trees and flowing streams. I commented on the beauty of Rwanda and of the saying that God made Rwanda so beautiful that at night when His travels in the earth are done, He comes to sleep in Rwanda.
Just at that moment into my thoughts came another thought: What did this place look like in 1994 when the genocide in Rwanda happened? The thought just came crashing in, and I looked at the postcards again and I saw ghostly images of the dead all around the ground. I don't know if that happened in that particular place or not during that 100 days in April, but some of the one million murdered might have been there.
It was a shock to be looking at beauty one moment, and then see that beauty turn into a scene of horror. This is the work of the enemy. He is a destroyer of all things made and loved by the Creator, and he had his way in Rwanda for 100 days, and achieved utter violence and vast murder before the Father stopped him. And so I thought about the people there now, having survived that 100 days of Satan, and I knew that what I experienced being shocked while looking at the postcards, the people of Rwanda live with, every day.
They themselves have tried to move on, and build their lives again. They don't think about the genocide if they can avoid it, but evil leaves its mark and imprint. As they go from day to day, living and going to the market, here or there, they remember those dead murdered bodies. Was it there by that building at which you shop that you saw your mother's corpse? Your father's, your sister's, your baby's, your friends' and neighbors'? When they go by the beautiful rivers of Rwanda, do they see the dead floating by? YES. They do. It's not something they can stop from coming up in their minds. That is darkness.
The Father said: "As Rwanda goes, so goes the world."
You see, if the enemies of the Father had their way, they would murder all the world in the same way, because of their hatred of Him who loves us. And in only 100 days, so much devastation was achieved before the Father stopped it. And we see the enemy moving with power now, through the terror of this war on evil. But now has come the time, says the Father, to restore what the locusts have eaten.
What can penetrate into the darkness and bring real change? The Father can, and will, and is, not just in Rwanda, but in all the darkness in every place and in every heart. He has shown Himself with the murdered in Rwanda, all the million. And they look like Jesus looks in the end of the Passion film, untouched, unmarked, whole. They that suffered so much pain and fear by the stroke of the machetes, are now standing with the Father, risen, alive and whole. They look to their loved ones with smiles on their faces and with gladness wanting them to know the truth of the reality of Heaven and the reality of the love and sacrifice of Jesus. He was Himself more marred than any other by the violence of the enemy moving through fallen man.
He knows what they suffered and what is suffered now. He is risen and whole, to make the way for all to be healed and whole from the ravages of sin, evil, and violence. This is the way He is moving to turn the darkness in Rwanda to light, by showing the beloved people there today that the corpses they see as ghosts everywhere are no longer corpses, but alive and well, and free, looking at their loved ones still on earth, wanting them to know the truth about the genocide and the Father's beating heart for them, Jesus, their Hope and their Friend. This is the healing that is now moving through the avenues of Rwanda, and is moving in the avenues of our lives and our hearts in the earth, for all of us to be restored, redeemed and healed. The Father's power is unmatched, His victory, sure. And we who are the Church that is true and full of love for Jesus, must help the Father to bring this hope and healing to every one, as He leads.
Thank You, Father for helping the people of Rwanda and all the people of the world. May they all come to the well of freedom and hope made through a Cross, and drink deeply there and be Yours, once again.
Just at that moment into my thoughts came another thought: What did this place look like in 1994 when the genocide in Rwanda happened? The thought just came crashing in, and I looked at the postcards again and I saw ghostly images of the dead all around the ground. I don't know if that happened in that particular place or not during that 100 days in April, but some of the one million murdered might have been there.
It was a shock to be looking at beauty one moment, and then see that beauty turn into a scene of horror. This is the work of the enemy. He is a destroyer of all things made and loved by the Creator, and he had his way in Rwanda for 100 days, and achieved utter violence and vast murder before the Father stopped him. And so I thought about the people there now, having survived that 100 days of Satan, and I knew that what I experienced being shocked while looking at the postcards, the people of Rwanda live with, every day.
They themselves have tried to move on, and build their lives again. They don't think about the genocide if they can avoid it, but evil leaves its mark and imprint. As they go from day to day, living and going to the market, here or there, they remember those dead murdered bodies. Was it there by that building at which you shop that you saw your mother's corpse? Your father's, your sister's, your baby's, your friends' and neighbors'? When they go by the beautiful rivers of Rwanda, do they see the dead floating by? YES. They do. It's not something they can stop from coming up in their minds. That is darkness.
The Father said: "As Rwanda goes, so goes the world."
You see, if the enemies of the Father had their way, they would murder all the world in the same way, because of their hatred of Him who loves us. And in only 100 days, so much devastation was achieved before the Father stopped it. And we see the enemy moving with power now, through the terror of this war on evil. But now has come the time, says the Father, to restore what the locusts have eaten.
What can penetrate into the darkness and bring real change? The Father can, and will, and is, not just in Rwanda, but in all the darkness in every place and in every heart. He has shown Himself with the murdered in Rwanda, all the million. And they look like Jesus looks in the end of the Passion film, untouched, unmarked, whole. They that suffered so much pain and fear by the stroke of the machetes, are now standing with the Father, risen, alive and whole. They look to their loved ones with smiles on their faces and with gladness wanting them to know the truth of the reality of Heaven and the reality of the love and sacrifice of Jesus. He was Himself more marred than any other by the violence of the enemy moving through fallen man.
He knows what they suffered and what is suffered now. He is risen and whole, to make the way for all to be healed and whole from the ravages of sin, evil, and violence. This is the way He is moving to turn the darkness in Rwanda to light, by showing the beloved people there today that the corpses they see as ghosts everywhere are no longer corpses, but alive and well, and free, looking at their loved ones still on earth, wanting them to know the truth about the genocide and the Father's beating heart for them, Jesus, their Hope and their Friend. This is the healing that is now moving through the avenues of Rwanda, and is moving in the avenues of our lives and our hearts in the earth, for all of us to be restored, redeemed and healed. The Father's power is unmatched, His victory, sure. And we who are the Church that is true and full of love for Jesus, must help the Father to bring this hope and healing to every one, as He leads.
Thank You, Father for helping the people of Rwanda and all the people of the world. May they all come to the well of freedom and hope made through a Cross, and drink deeply there and be Yours, once again.
