Last Night, at Kingston’s weeknight Bible class, scheduled for 6 p.m. so we can reach home before possible curfews, we were engaged in a very lively discussion on the subject of demons when there was a sound somewhere outside. Instantly, eyes swivelled to the door, and there was an obvious apprehension on every face. Silence. What had happened was far away. A few minutes later, another sound much nearer, and there was the same reaction. Then the familiar figure of a brother appeared at the door, coming in straight from his work. The group visibly relaxed.
For months the police had a check point every Sunday morning just outside the hall — in fact one constable occasionally dropped in to listen to the service — until one day another police party arrived which overpowered and arrested the first one! The doors of our assembly hall are not locked during meetings, but John 20:19 (NIV) has often come to mind: “The disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews.” John must have well remembered that detail, for he had been right there and experienced that fear.
International terrorists
At the present time, international terrorists have taken over several major cities in the Caribbean, in particular Georgetown in Guyana, and Kingston and Spanish Town in Jamaica. Like Medellin and Cali in Colombia a decade earlier, they have been virtually lost to civilised rule. The terrorists, linked by sophisticated technology with Colombians, Irish, Muslimeen, the Mafia, and who knows who else, have fire power far outmatching any legitimate armed forces. Unlike the political warriors of twenty-five years ago, these terrorists have no ideology but power, and no motive but greed. In recent months their death-dealing violence has been totally indiscriminate, machine gunning shoppers in the busiest streets of Georgetown, and shooting up street vendors in downtown Kingston and the bus station in Spanish Town. They also deliberately target young women and babies everywhere they go. Since September 11, 2001, terrorists have killed as many innocent people on the city streets of Guyana and Jamaica as died in the twin towers.
Last night Jamaica’s Minister of National Security made a statement to the media. He promised to “take back our country from the terrorists, street by street, block by block, house by house, however long it takes.”
“Help the weak”
There are five ecclesias in these three Caribbean cities with more than one hundred brothers and sisters constantly threatened by violence, and with all aspects of ecclesial life affected in some way. I do not know how Georgetown is coping with this fearful situation, but I can tell you about Kingston. The assembly hall is deep in the city’s war zone. Conflict is endemic on all sides. Out of the 36 members of the ecclesia, most have overcome their fears and continue to worship in the assembly hall. Four are shut-ins, unable to attend. Some do not attend. Some of these have confessed to fear. One or two are actually in hiding.
Some of these have not shared the Lord’s Supper for many months. But we beseech the strong not to despise the weak. Statements bandied around like, “They have no interest in the truth,” are arrogant and unacceptable to the Good Shepherd. It would be wonderful if they could be encouraged and perhaps assisted to form a separate ecclesia where they could meet without fear. Let us all remember the apostolic injunctions: We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves (Rom. 15:1). Encourage the timid; help the weak; be patient with everyone (I Thess. 5:14). These are not options; they are commandments.
Remember, our fearful ones are in good company. Adam, Sarah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Nehemiah, Job, Elihu, Jeremiah, Daniel, the Twelve, and Paul: the Word records of them all that they were afraid, filled with fear, sore afraid, greatly afraid, or terrified! Moreover, these faithful ones were not ashamed to admit their fear, for in many cases they confessed it openly. As believers in the truth, we do not overcome fear with bravado, but with faith in the living God.
In the firing line
Of course, our Caribbean folk are not the only Christadelphians in the firing line nowadays. Solo, the city with most Christadelphians in Indonesia, is a hotbed of militant Islam, where the Bali bomb plot was planned. Terror is never far away from our brothers and sisters in Pakistan, Oman, Lebanon, Israel, Kenya, the Philippines — even New York. After the recent bombing in Mombasa, one international newspaper bore a huge front-page headline, FEAR GRIPS THE WORLD.
Jeremiah and Lamentations in the Old Testament and Hebrews in the New are oracles for us all in these days of the ‘war on terror’. The experiences of Jeremiah, Baruch, Ebed-melech the faithful African slave and those who suffered the horrors of AD 70 in Israel are recorded in Scripture to inspire us in such a time as this. I recommend the book Cornelia’s Story. As one of its editors, I was mightily uplifted.
“Apprehensive of what is coming”
Perhaps in our microscopic examination of latter-day prophecies, we overlooked to some extent the two most evident signs of them all: global violence and fear. But the Lord Jesus made one thing very clear about the times prior to his return in glory: On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world (Luke 21:25-26). One hundred and fifty three years ago, Bro. John Thomas wrote these words:
“This ‘time of trouble’ [Dan. 12:1-2] is contemporary with the resurrection…It is the epoch of Israel’s deliverance, both of the Ishmael [Arab] and Isaac [Jewish] seeds; and of the casting down of the thrones of the beast [Dan. 7:9]. The convulsion which affects their overthrow is described by the apostle as ‘a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great’. Ascertain the calamities of former ages, and however terrible they may appeal; this will exceed them all.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One