Peace Messenger

Militarism on Steroids

William Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) offers "a seven-point program to return America to a quieter, less muscular patriotism," at TomDispatch.com:

I have a few confessions to make: After almost eight years of off-and-on war in Afghanistan and after more than six years of mayhem and death since "Mission Accomplished" was declared in Operation Iraqi Freedom, I'm tired of seeing simpleminded magnetic ribbons on vehicles telling me, a 20-year military veteran, to support or pray for our troops. As a Christian, I find it presumptuous to see ribbons shaped like fish, with an American flag as a tail, informing me that God blesses our troops. I'm underwhelmed by gigantic American flags -- up to 100 feet by 300 feet -- repeatedly being unfurled in our sports arenas, as if our love of country is greater when our flags are bigger. I'm disturbed by nuclear-strike bombers soaring over stadiums filled with children, as one did in July just as the National Anthem ended during this year's Major League Baseball All Star game. Instead of oohing and aahing at our destructive might, I was quietly horrified at its looming presence during a family event....

 As a society, we've become so addicted to militarism that we don't even notice the way it surrounds us or the spasms of societal 'roid rage that go with it. The fact is, we need a detox program....  more

The Promise of Peace

The Promise of Peace: Dare to Live the Advent Hope
by Charles Scriven
Pacific Press / 2009

Charles Scriven's eagerly-anticipated book, The Promise of Peace, is now off the press! Scriven, president of Kettering College of Medical Arts and an APF advisor, tells us what the book is about in this excerpt:

"In the space between our dreams and disappointments, we have needs and wants, so promises matter. And no promise could be better than one that assures a day when high dreams surmount obstacles, when the best of human hopes comes true and everyone can flourish.  Just such a promise - the Great Promise, you might say - is what makes Adventists Adventist. According to the Bible, God has promised to bless humanity and to conquer death and renew all things. Finally, in other words, peace will prevail. Finally, a single 'pulse of harmony and gladness' will beat 'through the vast creation.'

"The pages that follow are about being and becoming Adventist - being and becoming someone who sees all of life in the light of the Great Promise and makes that promise the key to both attitude and conduct. The promise of peace is about how to become more fully alive precisely in the space where dreams meet disappointment. I am going to show you how the assurance of final blessing enables us all, despite our difficulties, to live in the here and now with confidence and passion..." (12).

Order the Promise of Peace through Peace Pursuits, APF's Amazon-linked online store.

CPWI Report at Adventist Activism

See Jeff Boyd's excellent report on the recent Christian Peace Witness for Iraq worship and witness in Washington, at Adventist Activism.

Adventist Activism is a relatively new effort by Adventists "collectively committed to continuing the work Jesus started while walking this earth — spreading the good news of the Kingdom by serving, healing and teaching (1 Corinthians 12:27; Mark 10:45; Mark 3:10; Acts 1:3)."  The web site offers "a collection of our stories and thoughts regarding this work of spiritually motivated social action."

Below, a clip from Tony Campolo's powerful speech.  More at the CPWI site.

The Two Futures Project

The Two Futures Project (2FP) is a movement of  American Christians for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We believe that we face two futures and one choice: a world without nuclear weapons or a world ruined by them. We support the multilateral, global, irreversible, and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons, as a biblically-grounded mandate and as a contemporary security imperative.

Our change strategy is based around the creation of a nonpartisan, conscience-driven, enduring majority of Americans who are committed to a nuclear weapons-free world. By joining together with one voice of Christian conscience, we seek to encourage and enable our national leaders to make the complete elimination of nuclear weapons the organizing principle of American nuclear weapons policy. We join in this work to the glory of God.

We are a movement made up of followers of Jesus Christ, from all denominations and traditions, united by the Holy Spirit in our intention to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as a standard of witness and work in God’s world.

Desmond Tutu's Message to Christian Peace Witness for Iraq

Dear Friends,

Our God is looking at you and smiling and saying how they have vindicated Me, because God had been wondering what had got into God's head to create us sowing so much mayhem in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, Darfur, Gaza, and Iraq. Oh dear why did I create that lot?

God says "Thank you" for confessing that the war in Iraq should never have happened.

You are conduits for God's grace and compassion to flow into a world that is hurting, to heal it. You are each an oasis of love, compassion, goodness, laughter, and forgiveness.

Hold up God's world so that it may be doused with the waters that heal from these oases.
God bless you all. God bless America. God bless all of God's world. Amen

Desmond Tutu

Pray and Witness for Peace - Washington, D.C., April 29-30, 2009
Find out more and register at www.christianpeacewitness.org