The news media keeps our attention on issues of varied importance, while chronically focussing less attention on mass killings and starvation fueled by US companies and allies that affect people considered of lesser value– such as Black (Sub-Saharan) Africans.

Currently a genocide is underway in Sudan that goes largely unreported by the mainstream media. An estimated one hundred and fifty thousand people have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. More than fourteen million have been displaced (see this).

The RSF rebel group responsible for the worst atrocities is covertly backed by UAE (United Arab Emirates), who claim they are only offering humanitarian aid. But reputable reports show that the UAE is working with the rebel group responsible for mass killings, who control gold mines that interest the rich and powerful (have you noticed what’s happening with the price of gold?!). See this article and this one.

US defense contractors have been largely supplying the UAE, especially since President Trump and his tech billionaire partners met with Arab leaders and agreed to sell the UAE $1.4 billion worth of military aircraft and equipment (read this).

Recent mainstream articles emphasize the UAE’s supplying the Sudan rebel group with Chinese drones (which is the case), obscuring the fact that US companies such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies Corp. Boeing and General Atomics have been enriching themselves. May we keep our eyes and ears open so we can pray and act intelligently for the preservation of life– exposing injustices and advocating for victims, as the Spirit guides.

Below is a appeal written by our dear friend Jennie Telfer, whose Sudanese husband Malik’s family is directly affected by the civil war. Please prayerfully consider Jennie’s appeal.

Dear Friends,

With the news coming out of Sudan, it’s been a long and emotional week. So, I’ll lament a bit below… if you’ll bear with me.

El Fasher is a city in Sudan which has been under siege by the Rapid Support Forces for over 500 days. The siege was so severe that people were starving to death. The US and many European nations decided to reduce their humanitarian aid and development funding this year (image with details attached) – while increasing their military budgets. Funds that were used to keep alive the malnourished – preventing the war-induced, man-made famine in Sudan from killing more people – all dried up earlier in the year.

El Fasher fell to the RSF last weekend – two days after the Sudanese Army retreated, abandoning the civilians to a genocidal militia. The RSF moved in and, as expected, have been killing civilians en masse – including over 400 people at a MATERNITY hospital. The blood and piles of bodies are visible in satellite images. Cell networks have all been shut down, but using starlink access, the RSF has been uploading terrible videos of their war crimes. Before the war broke in 2023, El Fasher was a city of over 1 million people. At the time it fell to the RSF, there were an estimated 220,000 people there. We have no idea how many souls were lost to the RSF slaughter.

This is personal ~ Malik’s family is living in locations under occupation or siege by the RSF… all suffering from the man-made famine of this war… three pregnant sisters… lots of young nephews and nieces whose growth is being stunted by malnutrition and whose lives are all still at risk by this genocidal militia.

The RSF’s violence is backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE- aka, Dubai, Abu Dhabi) – who has been providing weapons and trafficking foreign soldiers to fight for the RSF since the beginning of the war. The UAE is trying to exploit the natural resources of Sudan- stripping Sudan of its natural wealth at the cost of Sudanese lives. Despite US and UN intelligence verifying that the UAE is backing the RSF with weapons – and despite the US designating the RSF violence as genocide – the US and Canada continue to sell weapon systems to the UAE. US weapons and Canadian armored vehicles (produced by Streit Group) are being used in Sudan. I can’t adequately express the devastation in knowing my government and my tax dollars are contributing to the destruction of our family there.

To add insult to injury, the US and Canada are shut off to any Sudanese refugees. The Canadian government veils its racist refugee resettlement by imposing bureaucratic delays for Sudanese (I keep hearing of Sudanese people dying while waiting for the Canadian government to respond to their requests to take refugee with their own families in Canada); the US does not veil its racism at all – putting a blanket travel ban on any Sudanese visa applicants while reducing refugee numbers by 94% and prioritizing the 7,500 refugee spots now available for White South Africans. The racism and the complicity in Sudanese death is too much.

I have a few requests for you:
1 – Please keep your eyes on Sudan, bear witness to their suffering, and pray for them.
2 – Please ask your friends and faith communities to pray for peace in Sudan, too. Please do so openly and publicly.
3 – If you have any extra funds, please share with grassroots groups trying to pick up the pieces dropped when our governments stopped sharing with the world’s hungry. Here are a few groups needing emergency help: www.tinyurl.com/SudanFamine
4 – Take action to boycott the UAE, tell our governments to stop sending weapons to the UAE, encourage an arms embargo on Sudan, and protest racist refugee resettlement policies. Click here.

Sincerely grateful to any of you who don’t look away,

Jennie 김수정
Mobilizer & Conflict Transformation Trainer
Peace Catalyst International

Today our African teaching team of seven began a training for 180 pastors and church leaders in a remote region of Mozambique. The five-day course is taking place under the shade of a huge Mukina tree– with temperatures reaching 107 degrees F (42 C). 

 The photo above reminds us of The People’s Seminary’s origins in Honduras– where courses took place under huge mango trees. We even called it “Universidad Bajo Los Mangos” (photo below). 

Then and now we were impacted by Scriptures like Luke 4:42, telling how Jesus left towns and went into the wilderness, where the crowds searched for him. Jesus taught ordinary people outdoors, where they spent most of their time– on mountains, along the road, by the seashore. This inspires us.In Honduras we trained and sent out local people as trainers– something which we are now also doing in Africa.

Why Africa? We never imagined that we would leave Central America at the height of our work there. But the political climate in the 80s made it impossible for us to stay. Then there was a huge exodus of Hondurans in search of work in the US. At the same time the African harvest became plentiful, and the workers are…still few.

What a joy to hear reports of people who eagerly attend our five-day module 1 training: “Identity, Liberation, Healing, and Mission.”

Pastor Uritta, one of our teachers from Zimbabwe (pictured with a black purse) reports:

“We had a good number of audience who were so engaged in the teachings and were participating in the discussions contributing and asking questions. We desire to see leaders gain knowledge, being healed and being transformed so that they lead healthy churches.”Six of our teachers made their way to Malawi and now Mozambique from three countries. Boyd and Christopher took the two-day bus journey from Ndola, Zambia. Richard, Elizabeth and Uritta came by bus from Gueru, Zimbabwe. Colleen came the furthest by plane from Cape Town. There they joined our hosts Kelvin and team to offer the first week of training in Malawi.

Last week 200 pastors and church leaders met under tents in a rural village to receive the teaching over five days. Uritta, who taught on healing from father and mother wounds, ministry protocol, and praying for healing and deliverance writes:

“The seminar was impactful and inspiring. I was so overjoyed seeing people’s lives touched and impacted. The atmosphere was great and the team spirit was amazing.The team members were excellent in their presentations which l learned so much from and grew spiritually, deepening my faith as well.”

The People’s Seminary provided a 200-page manual translated from English into Chichewa for each participant (pictured with Kelvin below).We are shocked and saddened to hear that most of these pastors do not have a Bible in their language (or any language). In our last training in Malawi we were able to purchase and distribute 200 Bibles to the participants. We would like to be able to purchase 380 Chichewa language Bibles from the Malawi Bible Society at $10 each to distribute to these new course participants in Malawi and Mozambique. 

In the meantime we continue to teach with the manuals, using Bibliodramas– inviting response and praying for people during ministry times.

Elizabeth teaching with Mozambican translatorWe are now preparing to offer our Certificate in Holistic Liberation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, and to offer Module 2 in Lesotho, Benin, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique in 2026.

We welcome contributions towards Bibles or course expenses online here, or through sending a check to Tierra Nueva (Attn: The People’s Seminary), PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233, USA.

UK donations can be given through our account at Stewardship. Click here to set up your sign-in details.

Please hold our African trainers and the course participants in your prayers this week as they travel long distances daily and teach in sweltering heat. 

Consider signing up for a self-paced Certificate in Holistic Liberation, which involves watching weekly videos, following a manual and meeting online on the first Monday of each month (10:00-11:30am PST) with participants from around the world (scholarships available). Check it out and sign up here.

Check out my podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Apple or Spotify.

The prophetic witness of Christians before the State has too often been muted by a surface reading of the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 13:1-7, with its infamous “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rm13:1). And further on:

“But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Rm 13:4).

Added to this are Peter’s words: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (1 Pet 2:13-14).

It is critical that we read these verses about submission and the sword in their larger contexts and in the light of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ missionary activity and teaching.

A uniquely Jesus-inspired form of submission and resistance is clarified when you include Scriptures about governing authorities, like Psalm 2, Revelation 13 and others in the discussion.

We need the full witness of Scripture to inform our thinking and actions in these challenging times. Looking closely at Jesus’ witness and teaching helps us discern and reject false ways of appropriating Romans 13, as in the following example.

On September 21 at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service the American political commentator and YouTuber Benny Johnson evoked Romans 13.

“In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul talks about a godly government instituted by our Lord and Savior. And what does he describe? The Apostle Paul describes how God establishes the rulers of the nations” he said.

Johnson than motioned over to his left, where Donald Trump and his cabinet were seated and continued.

“In the audience right now, there are rulers of our land. Represented right here is the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Justice, the Chief Executive. God has instituted them. God has given them power over our nation and our land. God saved our president, President Trump, from an assassin’s bullet, for this moment. And what does the Apostle Paul in Romans say about a godly leadership? He says that rulers wield the sword for the protection of good men and for the terror of evil men.”

Here Benny Johnson inserts “godly leadership,” which Romans does not state. He goes further still by calling people to pray that the Trump Administration would use violence to terrify (not love) enemies.

“May we pray that our rulers here, rightfully instituted and given power by our God, wield the sword for the terror of evil men in our nation in Charlie’s memory. I want to live in a country where the evil are terrified and where the good and the faithful and the moral people of our nation can live in peace, debate in peace, disagree in peace and start families in peace. And so we want to thank the administration for being here and carrying out that godly mission of wielding the sword against evil.”

Johnson and many other speakers after him, (including numerous cabinet members), equated the Trump administration with Jesus and the Kingdom of God in ways that Jesus himself, Paul and Peter would never have endorsed.

Rulers are also presented in Scripture as bearing the sword for evil—as when Herod Antipas, the Roman tetrarch had John the Baptist beheaded (Mt 14:10), or when King Herod Agrippa beheaded James the son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2). Old Testament prophets spoke out strongly against Israel’s kings, and often were persecuted, incarcerated and executed.

Jesus himself never sought political power. After Jesus multiplied loaves and fish and fed 5,000 people, they tried to take him by force to make him king. He withdrew to the mountain.

When Pilate asked Jesus if he were a king he replied: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm” (Jn 18:36).

Here Jesus states clearly that he and his servants would not be about self-defense, the right to bear arms, or about fighting for an earthly kingdom.

Right before turning him over to be crucified Pilate pressed Jesus further regarding his identity, asking him: “So You are a king?”

“Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18:37).

What is often missed is that Jesus, Paul and Peter called believers to submit to the pagan and brutal Roman Empire—and not to an idealized theocratic state. Submission included respecting the rule of law, so long as obedience to human authorities did not counter the higher allegiance to Christ.

For Peter, who addresses his epistle to “those who reside as aliens” (1 Pet 1:1) and “aliens and strangers” (1 Pet 2:11), this meant honoring 1) all people, 2) loving fellow believers, 3) fearing God, and 4) honoring the king, in that order (1 Pet 2:17).

Submission to authorities meant humbly accepting the consequences if disobedience were required. Jesus, Peter and Paul were all arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for their missional activities, and Paul wrote at least four of his Epistles from prison.

Yet Paul still viewed all categories of rulers and authorities governing the world as part of the originally good creation, made by Christ:

“For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16).

These non-human entities were viewed as subsequently fallen and rebellious, as the beast which Revelation 13 graphically portrays– but still in operation until the end.

So, Paul and Peter are calling for Christians to be in a particular kind of willing subjection to whatever government or political party is in power— whether that be a democracy, a caliphate, a fascist dictatorship, a monarchy or maybe even a mafia or gang network that rules a failed state.

Paul and Peter were recommending a course of action so that new believers who were often poor and vulnerable, and fragile new faith communities could survive and advance in hostile terrain, while simultaneously bearing witness to Jesus.

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people” (Rm 12:18).

Their counsel is in part like advice given to prisoners serving a prison sentence, or to people on probation or engaged in drug court who must obey the rules to avoid further trouble.

Paul appears to have often considered governing authorities his enemies, writing strong words regarding enemy love right before Romans 13:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”

He ends Romans 12 with “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rm 12:14, 21).

So, Paul and Peter’s words must not be read as religious endorsements of State power in ways that promote a cozy alliance between religious and secular leaders—and certainly not as promoting a Christian government or agendas like “America (or any nation) First,” or “Make America Great Again.” Secular authorities, governments, and nation states have their specific role. But they are not equated with the Kingdom of God!

Jesus, Paul, and Peter called for allegiance to God as the highest power:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27).

Nor do these texts mean that Christians must obey laws that go against conscience, be silent about injustice or hold back from their highest callings as Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus resisted religious authorities when he healed on the Sabbath, cleansed the Temple, and strongly critiqued Jewish leaders. Peter and Paul disobeyed orders to not preach in the name of Jesus, and willingly suffered the consequences: imprisonment (Acts 4:1), beatings (2 Cor 11:23), and execution (Acts 7:58-60; 12:2). The first Christians refused military service and worship of Caesar as Lord and suffered torture, imprisonment, and execution.

Jesus’ revolutionary submission

Jesus models a quiet authority and confidence before the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate, after he informed him he had authority to release him or crucify him with: “You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above” (Jn 19:11)—ultimately from himself!

The Apostles saw Jesus’ subjecting himself in self-giving love on the cross as the deathblow to the ruler of this world– the beginning of the end of the reign of the rulers and authorities, which will be judged and finally destroyed (1 Cor 15:24-27).

Jesus warned his disciples then and now that his same fate can be expected at the hands of authorities.

“But beware of people, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (Mt 10:17-18).

In this time before the end of history Paul wrote: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).’

Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 must also be read in the light of Psalm 2, which begins by asking a question that Christians in America and in many other nations should be asking:

“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples imaging a vain thing?”

“Why do we as Christians get so caught up in endorsing political candidates and parties, mirroring the hate-filled political divisions around us?”

My sense is that many Christians are not adequately informed about the final destiny of the powers and our own unique prophetic vocation.

The Psalmist reminds us of the macro divine perspective: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed” (Ps 2:2).

Jesus experienced hostility from rulers and authorities, and prophesied his followers would experience the same (Mk. 13:9; Lk. 12:11)– which they did (Acts 4:5). Martyrdom was normative then and is on the rise now.

Christians are called to be subject to governing authorities not because they are good or represent God’s agenda. Our citizenship is in heaven. Peter urged believers to see themselves as “aliens and foreigners” right before his words about being subject to authorities, who he sought to evangelize:

“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:11-12).

Christian submission to rulers and authorities must be done from a perspective of open-eyed realism about both the rebellious, hostile orientation of the powers against the reign of God and Jesus’ greater sovereignty and victory.

“He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, “But as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion, my holy mountain” (Ps. 2:4-6).

Jesus is that King, the Son of the Father, come to open the way for us to receive our authority and receive our inheritance as daughters and sons.

“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you. ‘Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession” (Ps. 2:4-8).

Jesus was installed “King of the Jews” there on the cross. Jesus’ submission to rulers and authorities to the point of death on the cross was God’s secret weapon against Satan and the rebellious powers.

God “disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him [Jesus]” (Col 2:15).

Paul understood that the way of Jesus, the cross is how death was defeated– though the rulers who bore the sword were ignorant of what they were doing:

“For if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8).

The Psalmist’s prophetic warning is still in force, putting all Christian submission and resistance into the larger context of Christ’s victory and destruction of the non-human powers.

‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that he not become angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him!

Psalm 2 brings hope to Christians subjecting themselves to unjust rulers as we know Jesus’ submission wins as all authorities will themselves finally submit to Jesus Christ as King. May we learn from the suffering Christ to step into long suffering prophetic witness now.

Consider signing up for my course Jesus or Nationalism? here.

Consider signing up for a self-paced Certificate in Holistic Liberation, which involves watching weekly videos, following a manual and meeting online on the first Monday of each month (10:00-11:30am PST) with participants from around the world (scholarships available). Check it out and sign up here.

Check out my podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Apple or Spotify.

Gracie and I just returned from a month outside of the United States. In many ways it was refreshing to get out of our normal routines. While we followed the news back home fairly closely, our attention was more focussed on the people attending the spiritual retreat where we were speaking in France and the Certificate in Holistic Liberation we taught in Benin, West Africa. We also enjoyed some needed vacation. 

Since our re-entry into the United States twelve days ago we’ve found it hard to not be overwhelmed by despair as it seems like during the month we were away division, hatred and apparent “success” of the dominant powers in our country have increased dramatically and seem unstoppable.

Last night I felt a call to not let the apparent successes of the current Administration take up my attention, usurping the place of God. I awoke and came upon Psalm 123, which inspires me to not be overcome by political leaders, parties and the billionaires who run the world. Rather the Psalmist inspires me to focus my attention on the Creator of the universe, the highest being who is the God of grace, and his son Jesus, the Savior of the world.

“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!” I affirm with the Psalmist. 

Lifting up our eyes to God involves deliberately shifting our focus from looking down or around at personal, social and global problems or political figures that inspire outrage, anger, fear or despair. 

Lifting up our eyes to the One enthroned in the heavens contrasts with looking to the president, congress, the rich and powerful, or any human being or institution. This requires not letting our media sources, (however reliable and varied) become our primary informers.

Jesus states clearly of himself that “the one who comes from above is above all.” In contrast, “the one who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth” (Jn. 3:31). 

Being informed from above can only happen as we deliberately “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” And “set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:1-2).

The Psalmist here invites us to identify with (and learn from) humble, even powerless people– servants. 

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he is gracious to us” (vs. 2).

Imagining myself as a servant looking to the hand of a master requires an effort, since servants would have no one else to look to. I must choose to see myself as completely dependent on God and choose to put all my trust and hope on God being gracious to me and to those for whom I intercede. The Psalmist invites me to look to God with my physical (and spiritual) eyes as the One in the highest place, who I can be in relationship with, and from whom I must wait “until he is gracious” to me.

I hear the Psalmist inviting us to follow in a complete re-orientation of our attention as the only way out of the despair or our current situation.

“Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us, for we are greatly filled with contempt. Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.”

Since returning home I can say I have personally experienced being “greatly filled with contempt,” and “filled with scoffing” in ways that are directly related to the “contempt of the proud,” which I tune into in some way nearly every day.

Here are a few examples that have especially affected me, and they directly harm people we know and love. 

The current US President has used politically-charged executive orders and policies to cancel vulnerable people’s Temporary Protective Status, deport individuals to prison colonies in third countries (El Salvador, S. Sudan) to Guantanamo Bay, and more recently to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest brown-skinned people who fit a certain profile of an undocumented immigrant. 

After the lower courts declared these orders and policies illegal, the Administration appealed to the Supreme Court (made up of a majority of Trump appointees), who then allowed Trump’s executive orders to remain in effect until there’s a hearing at a later date. Now ICE agents are stopping, arresting and interrogating and deporting people based on their racial/ethnic profile, an allowance that increases fear and insecurity among the farmworkers and other immigrants in our area and throughout the country– and despair amongst their advocates.

These cold power moves, supported by the highest courts, can make advocates who have fought hard to see laws implemented that protect society’s most vulnerable conclude that their (our) efforts are in vain, and that the rich and powerful can get away with whatever they want. This is in fact a widespread feeling linked to numerous other policy decisions that reward the rich and harm the poor, that go largely unchallenged by elected officials.

The Psalmist’s remedy for despair is to invite us to direct our gaze to the highest authority, before whom we intercede– putting our total hope in the One who hears the cries of the oppressed, the groans of prisoners, and intervenes to bring liberation. 

Psalm 34 powerfully invites a similar re-orientation of our attention.  Check out the first eight verses.

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the person who takes refuge in him!”

We recently experienced times of strengthening while offering our Certificate to 70 church leaders in Benin. In a setting marked by poverty and very minimal hope for political solutions, we were deeply impacted by the heartfelt worship and contagious joy amongst the people.

As you deliberately look to the One enthroned in the heavens, putting our trust in his grace and love, may you be strengthened and re-oriented to resist afresh– informed and empowered from above for the struggle here below.

Consider signing up for a self-paced Certificate in Holistic Liberation, which involves watching weekly videos, following a manual and meeting online on the first Monday of each month (10:00-11:30am PST) with participants from around the world (scholarships available). Check it out and sign up here.

Psalm 52 is highly relevant in these troubling times as we hear daily how power-hungry leaders deny truth, tell outright lies, brag about things they claim to have accomplished, and make false accusations against their opponents.

The Psalm is a prophetic critique of deceptive speech aimed at gaining political power. It is rooted in the story of Doeg the Edomite, who witnessed David’s humble request for help from Ahimelech. This priest from Nob, who offered David and his hungry men consecrated bread, and gave him Goliath’s sword—with no awareness that he was fleeing from king Saul, who was out to kill him (1 Sm 21). 

Later Doeg, trying to please Saul, falsely accused Ahimelech and David of conspiring against him. Saul then summoned Ahimelech, commanding Doeg to execute him and all 85 of God’s priests. “And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword” (2 Sm 22:19). 

Jesus associates himself and his disciples directly with David and his men in this story as he’s accused by the Pharisees (Mk 3:23-28), who then conspire to kill him. The Psalm continues to speak truth today.

“Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?” asks the Psalmist—and no answer is given. We know that such boasting intimidates, threatens, humiliates and subjugates—giving the impression that the speaker is successful, in control, dominant, and even all-powerful.

In contrast the Psalmist presents only “the lovingkindness of God” as permanent (“enduring all day long”).

The Psalmist speaks with prophetic directness to powerful people who boast:  “Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right” (vs. 2-3).  

Next the Psalmist highlights the powerful person’s tongue—signifying his/her communication system. This exposes and denounces that the mighty person designs sharp, effective messages to deceive or threaten hearers, intimidating and silencing opponents, while flattering allies with false praise.

We see this happening now in the USA through Truth Social, the White House press secretary, X, Fox News and myriads of other mediums that manipulate public opinion—distracting, deflecting, bluffing, humiliating. Negligence and gullibility make too many people easy prey.

The Psalmist then speaks directly to the tongue (media), exposing it as a deceitful, consuming power: “O deceitful tongue, you love all words that devour” (v. 4).

Later in the New Testament, James talks about the tongue this way, comparing it to a consuming fire.  

“And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence—and is set on fire by hell” (Jas 3:6).

Suddenly, the Psalmist turns the tables, announcing that this tongue and all channels of deception will be destroyed and eternally doomed by God:
    
“But God will break you down forever; he will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah” (v. 5).

Here God distinguishes the tongue, that is the means of communication, from the powerful person who is speaking or in any way communicating. God will snatch and tear out the tongue from its tent—a metaphor for the mouth (all messaging, tweets, posts, adds…) of the powerful person. The non-human systems with which we struggle which deceive and take over (consume) will be destroyed.

Truth-starved onlookers despondent before what seems like an unstoppable force of lies and destruction are told they will be vindicated.

“The righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at” the powerful whose communications have been sabotaged by God. The word “fear” here could be translated “be amazed”—which makes sense, especially now, when evildoers seem to be getting away with whatever they want to say or do.  What the righteous say offers a crystal-clear critique of the underlying issues:

“Behold, the [fate of the] person who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.”

Now more than ever in the USA and around the world the rich and powerful appear to be getting everything they want at the expense of everyone else. This “success” makes them trust even more in their money and communications systems. 

But the Psalmist states with prophetic clarity that when people trust in money, in that idol Jesus named “Mammon,” and go after evil desires rather than making God their refuge they will go down in the end. The tongues that express all the pompous boasting, threats and lies will finally be torn from the mouths of the powerful by God himself, rendering them mute and impotent.

Mary the mother of Jesus declared the future as if were a present reality: “God has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts and brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who are humble” (Lk 1:51-52).

The Psalmist’s confidence in the victory of God’s lovingkindness, truth and justice is so attractive that I’m choosing to lean in and say yes to it now. Instead of succumbing to rage, despair, or indifference the Psalmist takes a humble stand that we too can take.

“But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it, and I will wait on your name, for it is good, in the presence of your godly ones” (vs. 8-9).

The Hebrew word translated “green” here, raanan, also means “fresh, flourishing, luxuriant.” Becoming a “green olive tree” happens as we meditate on the Word of God “day and night.” This deliberate contemplative and prayerful reading of Scripture sends invisible, spiritual roots deep into the streams of living water of God’s life-giving presence, refreshing and empowering (see Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:8). Olive trees produce the oil that keeps the lamps lit continually, bringing light (Ex 27:20; Lv 24:2).

Instead of despairing, may your soul and spirt flourish like a green olive tree in your body, which is the house of God—the temple of the Holy Spirit. May the light of God’s truth illuminate you, giving you clearer and clearer discernment between truth and falsehood as you look out on the world and read the news. May you step into an active posture of thankfulness and radical trust as you anticipate in communion with the saints the final fulfillment of Jesus’ victory. 

Check out my recent podcast on Psalm 49 on “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Apple or Spotify.

Psalm 94 is an example of a kind of prophetic intercessory prayer that is highly relevant to our current context in the USA (and elsewhere around the world), where certain rich and powerful people and institutions appear unstoppable. The Psalmist directly addresses the Lord (YHWH) as “God of vengeance,” with the imperative: “Shine forth!”

Throughout my life I’ve sought to disassociate vengeance from God and resisted my own desires for vengeance. However, if God’s vengeance involves stopping forces of impunity (defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action”) and destruction that seem all-powerful, or letting natural consequences of evil overwhelm and halt perpetrators (which it does), then we should join with the Psalmist’s cry!

Whoever is praying in this Psalm is feeling the urgency for God to expose lies and crimes, bringing injustices into the light. The desperate call, “rise up, O judge of the earth!” shows the Psalmist’s sense that God’s judgment is urgently need to right wrongs. The Psalmist asks God act to specifically “render recompense to the proud (94:2).

“How long Oh Lord? How long will the wicked exult?” (“be allowed to gloat” NLT), cries the Psalmist, echoing Habakkuk 1:2. Note that “the wicked” (rasha in Hebrew) is a synonym for the rich and powerful oppressors (Is 5:23; 58:6; Jer 12:1), unjust rulers (Is 11:4; 14:5; 26:10; Hos 10:13) and arrogant (Is 13:11).

How long Oh Lord will the US President elevate himself, and arrogantly berate anyone who resists him? How long will elected lawmakers vote into law policies that reward the rich and punish the poor? How long will billionaire tech and other business leaders shamelessly buy influence and curry favor through overt demonstrations of loyalty or silence? How long will the current American administration scapegoat the most vulnerable and their advocates here and abroad? How long, Oh Lord will White evangelicals (and others) support the current Administration, endorsing nationalism, discrimination, violence and oppression here, in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and beyond?

These past few days Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are making arrests in Los Angeles, here in our own community, and across the USA– deporting hard-working people, separating them from their children, spouses and communities– increasingly with no due process.

Protesters are being arrested, intimidated by threats and tactics like deploying tear gas, less-lethal ammunition like rubber bullets and pepper balls, and flashbang grenades. Displays of brute force are underway through the deploying of National Guard troops and US Marines.

The most powerful leaders are inciting violence through incendiary rhetoric full of lies.

“They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the resident foreigner, and they murder the fatherless.” (94:4-6).

The Psalmist presents the powerful as seeing themselves above God.  

“The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

With prophetic honesty the Psalmist holds the common citizen accountable to themselves look and care (and not God).

A call to pay attention and be open to correction

“Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones? (Ps 94:8).

Paying attention requires actively opening our eyes and ears—keeping ourselves informed, and not by partisan sources loyal to the rich and powerful. The Psalmist gives no excuse for ignorance, placing blame squarely on those going along with the status quo (and not on God).

   Today is Ascension Day, the day we remember when Jesus ascended to heaven following his death and resurrection. It’s a good occasion to receive afresh our baptismal identity “in Christ” as children of God. Baptismal death and being “born from above” position us for God to “make us alive” and to “raise us up and seat us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:5-6). From this vantage point we are invited to see and act in alignment with Jesus and the Kingdom of God. 

These truths became visible in Lesotho, Africa back in March as Gracie and I taught on identity and authority during our Certificate in Holistic Liberation.  

Forty pastors and ministry workers met in a cinder block, tin-roofed church on the edge of a road. After some lively a cappella singing, we settled in, with a volunteer reading John 1:1-5 and 9-13 in the native language Sotho.

Together we looked at how John introduces the Word as existing with God in the beginning, and being God– through whom all things were created—without even mentioning Jesus by name. Such a humble introduction, which presents the Word as giving life!

“Do any of you feel you need to hear from God? Do you need wisdom for a difficult decision, direction for your life, or revelation regarding a pressing question?” I asked.  

People were nodding and some were saying “Amen.” We stopped and prayed, asking for these things.

We read together John’s powerful words: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men and women. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn 1:4-5).

We notice together that when this true light comes into the world to enlighten every person, the world doesn’t recognize him and his own [people] don’t receive him” (Jn 1:9) (back then and still now). 

What humility! This God does not impose, but comes under the radar— incognito, a hidden light, and completely rejectable. 

What an indictment on humanity. That we can be so blind and ignorant, and reject God’s saving, enlightening Word– Jesus, who is life and light! Yet John writes on, inviting us to resist the status quo of blindness, ignorance and rejection. An alternative response is possible that leads to receiving our truest identity:

“But as many as receive him, who believe in his name, to them he gave the right [literally “the authority (exousia in Greek)] to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).

Receiving this humble Word, Jesus, brings us into a new identity, when we are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of people, but of God” (Jn 1:13).

As we were reading and discussing these verses we noticed a growing desire to know and more deeply receive this humble God. Then we transitioned into the next and final part of our teaching on identity and authority.In nearly every one of our teaching session we use Bibliodramas to illustrate and experience the teachings. After reading Ephesians 2:5-6 I invited a volunteer to play God, and a pastor stepped forward to take on the role. I placed a plastic chair on the raised stage and invited him to take a seat.

“Imagine this being God, seated in the heavenly realm,” I said.

Then I invited someone to play Jesus. Surprisingly, a woman pastor stepped forward (pictured below with Gracie). Gracie and I wondered whether anyone in this group would have trouble with this, but they didn’t seem to. I placed a second plastic chair next to ‘God the Father’, and motioned for ‘Jesus’ to take a seat beside him.

I then asked for a volunteer to play a disciple. The soft-spoken older pastor of that church stood up and came forward. I placed a third chair beside ‘Jesus,’ and then summarized the new-birth baptismal identity of a disciple. I asked the pastor if I could pretend to baptize him and he agreed. I put my right arm around his back and pretended to dunk him, speaking out “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I then explained that in baptism we symbolically die and are raised to new life. Also because of Jesus’ ascension, we are raised and seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ, (summarizing Ephesians 2:5-6).

Next I invited the pastor to take a seat beside ‘Jesus’, explaining that this is our spiritual position which Jesus brings us into as sons and daughters of the Father– since Jesus has ascended and is seated in the heavenly realm. I emphasize that we simultaneously remain alive and active here on earth amidst our families, communities and nations.

“We are connected to Jesus and the Father,” seated in Christ at the right hand of God,” I said, “though nobody can physically see this spiritual dimension. I gently placed the right hand of the man playing God on the shoulder of the woman playing Jesus; and the woman’s hand on the shoulder of the pastor playing a disciple.

I asked Gracie to loan me her scarf, which I placed over the heads of the man and woman playing the Father and Jesus. Only the pastor playing the disciple was now visible.

“Here we are now in our new, spiritual identity as children of God,” I stated, pointing to the pastor seated before us.

I then asked if anyone was suffering from back pain. Five or so people raised their hands. I invited the first woman who raised her hand to come forward, and held the hand of the pastor playing the disciple, asking him to pray for the woman, empowered by his attachment to Jesus and the Father.

The pastor tentatively extended his hand towards the woman’s back and looked at me nervously, not sure what to do next. He needed a little coaching, so I suggested he trying speaking out a simple phrase:

“Be healed from your back pain in Jesus name!” I said to him, and the translator repeated my words to him in Sotho– which he repeated in a soft voice that only the woman and I could hear.

Immediately a look of shock came over the woman’s face. She exclaimed before the group that the pain was gone now! A second woman approached the pastor with excitement, and he spoke as softly and tentatively for her as well. She too said that the pain had completely left!

At this point I removed the covering from the heads of the man and woman playing God and Jesus. I immediately noticed that the woman playing Jesus was crying. Tears streamed down her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I feel the touch of the Spirit,” she said as she sobbed, her face strangely radiant.

I was deeply impacted by the move of the Holy Spirit visible on this woman. So I asked if she’d be willing to pray for the whole group from the front. The woman agreed, standing and extending her hands towards, praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on us all. Immediately after praying she fell over her chair and landed on the stage, laughing and crying simultaneously.

At the same time our translator fell to the ground in front of the stage and began crying, telling us she’d been instantly healed of chronic back pain, which had started years before, after the birth of her teenage son. Others were crying and praying as the Spirit seemed to have fallen on the whole group.

We had never seen a manifestation of the Spirit quite like this, which resulted in five people being healed of back problems, and a man who had limped for seven years after a motorcycle accident being healed so he no longer limped.

There in Lesotho on this first day of training the Spirit walked into the room, confirming the Word of Jesus’ humble divinity and our ascension to the right hand of God in Christ, with the signs following (Mk 16:20).

Consider helping fund our next Certificate training in Benin, Africa August 24-29 through giving to The People’s Seminary here or by sending a check to Tierra Nueva, PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233.

Consider reading or listening to Daniel Bourguet’s two volume The Humble Divinity of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, available as paperback or ebook volume one or two, or in audiobook volume one or two.

Check out my recent podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Apple or Spotify.

Paul writes from prison words that challenge me deeply:  

“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:11-13).

On a recent trip to Burundi and Malawi I experienced firsthand some secrets of finding a certain contentment in very humble places, where people are suffering need, even going hungry.

On this second trip to Burundi I was struck afresh by the masses of people walking (mostly barefoot) along the roads, or riding or pushing bikes heavily-laden with oversized loads.We stayed in a guest house off the main road in the high mountain town of Masango (at around 6,000 ft.). Our lodging was 3 1/2 miles from the center where we offered our Certificate in Holistic Liberation to 55 pastors. On three of the five mornings I walked to our venue, passing hundreds of pedestrians. I did this out of a desire to connect more with the land and the people, and to get exercise and pray. I was the only White person I saw on these walks, and for most of my time in that Country.

One morning, fifteen minutes into my walk I actually started counting the number of people I passed. Five hundred! And this was in a rural area. Many of the women and young girls were carrying hoes, or were working the fields along the roads.

On the final day, I walked I past a young girl carrying a curved machete. I continued walking, and then noticed feet slapping the pavement behind me. There was the girl, her mother and two other siblings walking right behind me. A young boy held an ancient-looking cell phone plastered to his ear. Burundian worship music was playing through his phone, to which the mother softly sang. I turned to her and said the name Jésus? as a question in French. She nodded and smiled. I joined in humming and trying to sing along as we walked the remaining fifteen minutes to the venue, feeling a deep sense of fullness and contentment.My second week was spent in the remote Southernmost town of Nsanje, Malawi, where we offered our final training module to 80 pastors. When I asked them what were their greatest challenges, they told me about the widespread hunger that affected their communities after two years of drought and a devastating cyclone. They shared how they lacked any means of transportation as they couldn’t afford bus fares, and didn’t have bicycles. Five pastors from across the border in Mozambique traveled seven hours on two bicycles (two on one and three on another) to attend the training. Only five of the 80 pastors owned a Bible. 

Our Malawian hosts cooked lunch for all the participants over fires on the ground– adding a small cereal breakfast a day into the training– as people were visibly hungry.People engaged with the teaching with unusual attentiveness, worshipped joyously, and expressed contentment and gratitude that our team of six had come so far to share with them. I have returned home with my heart pierced, inspired by these African sisters and brothers’ resilience and joy in the face of lack, suffering, and even hunger. 

Now back home I seek to discover the secrets of contentment here in the midst of abundance, and amidst our own versions of lack, suffering and hunger. 

If you would like to contribute towards purchasing a bicycle for one of the ten traveling pastors who visit even more remote communities, they cost $350 each (we’re trying to raise $3500). We were able to give out 80 Bibles in Chichewa, with another 100 or so needed at $10.00 each. We are also preparing to offer our Certificate in Benin in August, following up our Malawi course with a training to 70 pastors across the border in Mozambique. 

You can contribute towards bikes, Bibles or trainings expenses online here, or through sending a check to Tierra Nueva (Attn: The People’s Seminary), PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233.

Check out the final teaching on the Parable of the Sower given on May 2 by Tawanda, one of our teachers from Zimbabwe.

I’ve been feeling stuck in a perpetual Saturday of Holy Week– between Jesus’ execution by what looked like victorious powers, and his defeat of death through resurrection. 

Death seems to be winning on so many fronts. Confessing Jesus as victor feels necessary as an act of resistance. But it requires faith that must be fed by stronger doses of Gospel truth. True hope must keep us bold enough to stand in the face of harsh realities.

The earth’s temperature is rising unabated, accelerated by climate change denying politicians and business people. Meanwhile subsistence farmers in the Global South are being turned into landless, stateless refugees.

I’m on a flight now to Burundi to offer our Certificate in Holistic Liberation to pastors from remote villages who are are struggling to survive in hostile environments. The following week I’ll be doing the same thing in Malawi, a nation struck by cyclones, a record-breaking drought and resulting crop failures. What signs of resurrection hope await me?

Death seems to be winning in Gaza, with body counts increasing daily and starvation threatening. The rich and powerful are getting richer and meaner– visible in our increasing use of prisons to punish even the innocent.

My own brother Peter’s 2 1/2 years of incarceration in Charleston County, South Carolina’s Jail despite his innocence and no trial or even a plea offer, is a personal reminder of the state’s relentless, unjust warehousing of people.

The Trump administration’s contract with El Salvador’s brutal Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), where prisoners are kept like animals in cages, feels like a contemporary taunt against Jesus’ liberation movement:

“He saved others; he cannot save himself [and those oppressed prisoners]. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. “He trust in God; let God rescue him now [and all of our beloved community members trying to stay sober and our of jail], if he delights in him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Mt 27:42-43).

Yet last week my friend Jason and I were able to visit and personally encourage a prisoner friend incarcerated in a maximum security unit of Clallam Bay Corrections Centre. Talking, reading the Bible together and praying left us feeling tenderized and more hopeful. 

Even as my brother Peter continues to wait for legal relief, he regularly recounts his many opportunities to pray with prisoners facing even harsher challenges than his.

Hebrews 2:8-13 seems highly relevant now– speaking to me of the “not yet” and “alreadiness” of our resurrection hope.

The writer first quotes Psalm 8’s declaration of victory over the powers, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet” (Heb 2:8).

He then goes on to assure us as readers that “in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him, in a bold declaration of the thoroughgoing, total nature of Jesus’ victory. Then his realism kicks in, followed by a bold declaration of faith.  First the realism. 

The writer speaks honestly, expressing the bleakness of the now in a way that gets my attention, inviting me to refuse any kind of false optimism that might want to pose as faith. “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him! True enough!

The writer than announces Jesus, presenting and interpreting his victory and his suffering in a way that is both  hope-inspiring and daunting. First the hope-inspiring part.

“But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).

May God reveal to us the truth of Jesus’ victory over the powers, and over death itself, so we can “see” Jesus! He is crowned with glory and honor now, having tasted death for everyone, insists the writer– and I choose to believe it. The writer continues with the part that is daunting.

“For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings” (Heb 2:10).

God our Father is inviting each and every one of us to share in this same glory, of which Jesus is the author and forerunner. But it seems that we too are brought to glory through suffering.

For both he who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] are all from one Father; for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Heb 2:11).   I hear “fellow sufferers” here regarding us as Jesus’ sisters and brothers– daunting indeed!

As God’s people positioned between the cross of Good Friday and our own eventual resurrection, may we join Jesus in being perfected through suffering. It is Jesus’ very suffering and death, overcome by his resurrection that gives us hope in the midst of the struggles.

I look forward to sharing with you stories of resistance and hope from fellow believers in Burundi and Malawi, who I expect have much to teach us.

May we put our trust in Jesus afresh this Resurrection Sunday and beyond.  

Check out the video below documenting part of our journey to where we are offering our training.