Learning To Love Our Enemies by Pastor Russ Fochler

Learning To Love Our Enemies From Pastor Russ Fochler We've been considering the story of Stephen and the Council (Sanhedrin):  How Holy Spirit empowers us to speak before governors and councils.  And helps us have loving kindness (hesed) - even for our enemies. How we need Holy Spirit's help to live from softened hearts instead of hard hearts and "stiff necks"!   You can listen to "Stephen’s God Adventure Part 2" here. This coming Saturday July 27th, we’ll be hosting Ed Traut - a prophet originally from South Africa.  Look for more details about Ed Traut near the bottom of this email.   Loving Our Enemies - More Than Sentimental Words Jesus calls us to love our enemies.  Something no other faith tradition requires (to my knowledge).  Loving our enemies goes against our deep, self-protective instincts.  How do we grow into this? What if you heard Jesus asking you to love the people who murdered your father years ago and the very person who more recently murdered your mother?  What if you knew from God's Word and God's personal words to you -- that you were called to bring reconciliation and restoration after the Rwandan Genocide?  This is Fr. Ubald's story. From The Pandora Problem by E James Wilder 2018 pgs 251-252 The beginnings of the genocide killed Fr. Ubald's father when he was a child.  Later, "He escaped the first attempt on his life during minor seminary when Hutu students attempted to kill the Tutsis.  Ubald then lived as a refugee in Burundi.  When Ubald was called to be a priest, he returned to Rwanda teaching love for ten years before the next outbreak of genocide.  Fr Ubald again escaped, but 45,000 of his parishioners were killed at the parish by other parishioners. When I (James Wilder) talk with Fr. Ubald, I am always amazed at the ease and clarity with which he hears from God.  I think it puzzles him why others (including religious leaders) do not seem to hear God’s thoughts clearly.  Many clear conversations with God led Fr. Ubald back to Rwanda and revealed what God and the church community would do next. Fr. Ubald returned, teaching forgiveness and hesed.  The Christian truths that Fr. Ubald taught for ten years before the genocide had not produced an end to enemy mode or a change in character.  Fr. Ubald was about to try again.  Both the perpetrators of the genocide and the families and victims who escaped were still in churches and the community.  It was clear that their character was unchanged.  In 1998, Fr. Ubald went to the parish in Mushaka where he found a way for perpetrators and victims to be united as a spiritual family.   Since he arrived, over 200 enemies have become family.  Seven groups are now active.  The Mushaka Program takes half a year.  The first week, Fr. Ubald had one day each for: - Leaders of the parish (elders) - Charismatic renewal members (Godsight team) - Victims - Perpetrators - Everyone together Six months of teaching and healing for the perpetrators teaches them their Christian identity.  True, most thought they were Christians all their lives, but they never learned to love their “enemies” or God.  Now, for six months they examine themselves, confess their sins, and learn to share the suffering of their victims.  The victims participate during the final three weeks.  Victims discover they are people who forgive. At the end of the six months, the perpetrators and victims come before the whole congregation and reconcile with the church community.  After a church ceremony the community has a big feast.  The former enemies become family and help each other.  They also tell others about their stories and what becoming the people of God has done in their lives.  You can hear some of their stories in the film The Secret of Peace: A documentary on the Life and Work of Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga. We may not see our enemy mode as clearly as people who meet the families of those they killed or families who meet those who murdered their loved ones.  But, in Rwanda, no self-justifications are allowed, pain must be shared, God’s point of view discovered, hesed offered, and enemies loved.  Lions lie down with the lambs and neither hurt or destroy any longer.” Note: To learn more about this, get Fr. Ubald's book, or the DVD of this story, go to: The Secret of Peace Glossary of Terms: Hesed: Hebrew for attachment love that is secure, enduring, and bonds us forever.  God is hesed. Enemy mode: relationally disconnected state of hot or cold anger. Godsight: Being able to perceive with understanding what God sees in a person or situation. Charismatic Renewal: Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a spiritual movement within the Catholic Church that incorporates aspects of both Catholic and Charismatic Movement practice. It is influenced by some of the teachings of Protestantism and Pentecostalism with an emphasis on having a personal relationship with Jesus and expressing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Narcissist: a person who cannot hear a correction to their identity without provoking self-justification and sometimes hostility or attack.  The narcissist uses fear and self-justification to avoid correction (healthy shame) and win. Reconciliation Ceremony between perpetrators, victims, and the whole church community. Copyright Information: All rights reserved.  No portion of the material taken from the book “The Pandora Problem” by E. James Wilder may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other — except for brief quotations in critical reviews of articles, without prior written permission of the publisher Deeper Walk International www.deeperwalkInternational.org Permission to use the above section in this Blazing Fire Weekly Email was given in writing by a representative of Deeper Walk International to Russ Fochler on July 21, 2019 Because Your lovingkindness (hesed) is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 63:3-4 NKJV