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Bishop Albert Chikuni
HAVE you ever wondered how a world filled with such evil and corruption could come from a God of love and goodness?
The Bible introduces us to the fall of mankind — Adam and Eve and generations after them, until the coming of Jesus Christ.
Adam and Eve lost their parental position (worldwide, most parents are failing to show an excellent way for their children). Secondly, Cain and Abel lost their positions as ideal children (worldwide, most children are disobedient to parental guidance.)
In short, God lost the blueprint for an ideal family and the desire for a perfect world was lost too.
The first evils happened in the supposed model family — jealousy, hate and murder. The elder brother killed the younger brother. Between the two, the younger brother was favoured by God. He represented good, whilst the elder brother represented evil which manifested in the elimination of his younger brother.
From this, we can deduce that Cain represents the evil systems of this world whilst Abel represents God’s ideal plan for goodness.
Looking almost anywhere in the fallen world, it is easy to notice struggles between good and evil, that are similar to the struggle between Cain and Abel; struggle in the same family; struggle in the same society; struggle in the same nation; struggle in the same institution; struggle in the same Church; struggle in the same political party.
All these struggles are Cain versus Abel situations and are aimed at elimination of the other.
These struggles start with the conflict between each individual’s mind and body. The struggle among individuals has expanded to the family, society, the nation and the world.
It’s clear that humankind at every level has always been divided into two opposing camps — one good and the other evil, locked in contradictions.
I was sharing my views with several religious leaders that we are dealing with a problem that pre-exists us, hence we need to embrace the Spirit that pre-exists us in order to conquer.
My main thrust was to advocate for a collective effort towards solving problems affecting us all. Human effort alone won’t solve anything without the involvement of the God factor. We are in a difficult situation where the Church/religion has been practicing a Cain and Abel conflict, resulting in numerous splits detrimental to national peace and development.
It is time for spiritual leaders who have knowledge to take cognisance of failure by churches in Zimbabwe to exemplify the practice of true love because for a long time, the church leaders have been engrossed in their own personal salvation and interest of their own religious faith, hence the failure to invest entirely in the salvation of the nation.
In matters of conflict, it has always been God’s intention that both sides be restored and reunited; not that one triumphs over and destroys the other.
Remember John 3:16 which states God’s position for all humanity: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
A house divided against itself cannot stand. A family divided against itself cannot stand. A country divided against itself cannot stand. It takes unity despite opposing views to run any institution. So, the foundational error of the first model family must be corrected in order to stop evils happening in the world.
When parents and children, husband and wife, brothers and sisters of a family all practice absolute love from their own positions, the unity of that family will be achieved. That family will be full of happiness and harmony, and above all, PEACE.
Accordingly, the society formed by such families of peace will be a society of peace. If the families within a society become harmonious and help each other, the society will no doubt be bright and peaceful, because order will be established and unity attained.
The nation formed by such societies of peace will also surely become a nation of peace.
Moreover, a nation is not merely an assembly of many societies but it is an organic organisation comprising of and based on individuals and families of love. Within it, perfect order and unity must be established, and then true peace of the nation can be realised.
A nation needs God’s love in order to realise and maintain peace. The government and the people of that nation should attain unity internally, and externally the nation should unify with other nations, thereby realising true peace.
I conclude by illustrating from the model of perfection (Jesus Christ) who is believed by the whole world as one who surely accomplished God’s standards.
It’s unfortunate that Christianity has failed to reach the expected standards that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ, that’s why our societies continue to fall out of greedy, enmity, hatred, jealousy etc.
True Christianity can be measured by the standards set by Jesus and those standards are ideal in healing a hurting world. Let’s all agree that the world needs healing as the human family is always hurting each other.
Let’s look at the standard of love established by God.
How much did God love his own enemy? God loves his enemy so much that he sacrificed his own Son in order to save his enemy. If you can pour out such unlimited, unconditional love for your enemy, then Satan will give up and say, “I could never do that. I could never be in the position to receive such love.”
At that point, he surrenders and retreats. If we do not love our enemy, there is no way we can achieve peace.
To achieve Peace, you love your enemies.
To achieve Peace, you forgive your enemies. To achieve Peace, you unite with your enemies.
One classic example that love wins over an enemy is that of Jacob and Esau in the Bible. The brother Esau purposed to kill Jacob the young brother just like Cain the elder brother killed the young brother Abel.
In the account of Jacob who ran away from his brother, he later decided to seek *PEACE* with his murderous brother. So, it’s possible to seek peace with your enemy. Jacob responded to his brother by loving him and Esau found it very difficult to harm his brother. Love wins, love brings peace. (Genesis 33)
It’s possible to achieve peace in this wicked world using god’s established universal principles.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Founder of Family Life Ministries International, Bishop Albert Chikuni is also an Ambassador for Peace; and the President of Interreligious Association for Peace and Development, Zimbabwe. He can be reached on: [email protected]
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