Isaiah prophesied that Israel, Egypt, and Asyria would all be unified in peace. That exact prophesy was hard to believe at the time it was written because of what enemies they had all become. A lot of people questioned Isaiah saying, “is God really going to do this? How could he possibly bring peace between these people groups? I mean come on they are each others worst enemies.” But Isaiah insisted that one day they will share a meal together with love and respect. Order will come of chaos. Isaiah said, “the wolf and the lamb will feed togetherâ€� as if to say they will be at peace and rest together. Isaiah kept the faith that the idea of peace was not to big for God. If God can dream of peace, so could Isaiah, and so can I!
This morning as we were driving to the first peace conference we saw three army tanks on the road keeping a close watch on the streets. The unknown was all around, but we were determined to make it to the peace conference.
Yakubu Pam and Gideon Para-Mallam headed the peace conference. Around 150 people ended up coming to the conference/ negotiation meeting. Christian and Muslim leaders alike decided to meet together to discuss solutions to what Nigeria has been going through. Military surrounded the meeting with guns so that it would not be interrupted and no mobs would try to steal peace from these men.
At he beginning of the rally we met a man who lead most of the attacks. In essence he was a mass murderer and planned many of the past months attacks. He claimed to be a Christian but his heart was not true to what Christianity stands for. One day he was convicted so hard after going to a peace conference between Christians and Muslims, and decided to turn from his ways to embrace peace instead of fighting. He had had enough, now he is one of the biggest advocates for peace here.
The meeting started with a head reverend (Christian) and an head Imam (Muslim) opening us in prayer. The man who opened for us stated, “We are all human beings. We all bleed red. Christians bleed red, Muslims bleed red. We are all the same, therefore let us stop the bleeding. Let us bring peace to this place. As Christians and Muslims united we will not stand for useless fighting anymore. We need one another.� An opening such as this rocked me to the core. He was right; we are all of the same. In that there is no sense in fighting one another.
Professor McCain from the University of Jos (originally from America, but has been living in Nigeria for 19 years) was the next speaker. He started with two stories: one on Jesus and one on Mohammad. The story he used on Jesus is when Jesus was betrayed how Peter tried to stop Jesus from being arrested and ended up cutting off one of the soldiers ears. Peter was trying to stand up for Jesus (good means, bad ends) but ended up using violence and vengeance instead of love. Jesus stopped Peter and healed the man’s ear. Jesus told Peter that is not how you deal with those who persecute you. You pray for them, you do not retaliate with more violence. The next story was a story on Mohammad. Everyday as Mohammad entered the Mosque there was a man who sat outside who verbally and physically persecuted him for months and months. Mohammad did not retaliate. One day the man was not outside of the Mosque so Mohammad asked where he was. His friend stated, “you don’t have to worry about him anymore, he is sick.� Mohammad replied, “I cannot go into the mosque until I go see him.� His friend did not understand. But Mohammad wanted peace and reconciliation as well.
The most influential men of both religions were advocates for peace not war. People across time have skewed doctrines to wage war in Jesus and Allah’s name. But if both parties would turn back to their holy scripts they would realize what they are doing is in vain and counteracts everything their religions are about.
