Just as faith is the door for God’s Kingdom in one’s life, fear is the door for Satan to enter into a person’s life and oppress him. He controls people, kingdoms and nations through fear. To the degree that one has allowed fear in his life that is the degree that he is influenced by fear. Every time there is distrust among nations and among friends, it is because one has been affected by fear.

For example the conflict between Christians and Muslims in the south is not merely a politico-economic problem, but also because both Muslims and Christians living in the South and even those in the North are afflicted by fear. Just as the Christians feared and distrust the Muslims in so much that they caricature each one of them with a beard as Osama Bin Laden, so also the Muslims do to the Christians.

They thought that everyone of them is an aggressor and a deceiver as did the Spaniards who first came to these shores. Mistrust is founded on fear of failure and betrayal, that on the way to fulfilling peace, these Muslims could not be trustworthy enough that we should ever trust them. This lack of trust or distrust is the lack of faith of both parties that each would actually perform according to their planned agreements. Essentially this is deciding out of fear that we will be betrayed!

The only solution to this is to build up an army of people, disciples who are taught the Word of God to have strong faith in Him. When God’s people are empowered with faith, even their neighbors will know, because the Lord spreads the fragrance of His knowledge through us. Then His peace will be so strong among His people that even the unbelieving will ask of what hope we have.

Reconciling our differences

Of course I submit to you that this is just one step, but it is bridging this gap that could eventually reconcile our differences with our Muslim neighbors. There is no question about the conflict, it is rather a question of reconciliation, where to start, how to restore and redeem our difficult past. Now the government has been given authority to deal with this matter, they were given the sword to punish evil in whatever forms it will come because injustice cannot be cured by another evil such as rebellion. Let the government do its job of healing the injustice by giving quality investments in Mindanao that would trickle down to the poorest communities. To be practical, when we say it trickles down to the poor that means give us something that we obviously see is for us!

For example, if we simply arm a group of Muslim insurgents and then use them to fight another insurgent group, this is not solving the crisis; it is further dividing an already divided people. But if we bring them commerce, trades, education, roads and bridges to the poorest communities then light comes in to these depressed areas. We will then see that their children will be clothed, given basic education until college so that no one will become empty chatters and busy bodies. We will then employ their parents in factories and provide them decent houses.

The soul of a nation

An aggressive behavior of a person is only a sign of a hurting personality. Just as a person has a soul, so are nations, groups of people, companies, ministries and ethnic groups. The soul of a person is just the composite of his personality taken from his experience, learning, culture, background and influences. To first understand Mindanao, this cannot be reduced to the present situation only. We have to go back as far as the time of the early settlers. Then we will find that most of them stood against the aggression of the Spaniards because they want to preserve their way of living.

Their lives are very simple, they love to roam free in the land, they take the fruit of the trees for food, hunt for a game and a fish and trade with other people such as the Chinese merchants. They trade silk, porcelains, shells, fruit trees and the products of the sea. They love peace and freedom. The datu is their leader and their village is like a protected enclave, an extended family. This cohesiveness of their culture did not dissipate when the Spaniards and the Americans came into our shores, for one thing, the religious persecution and the animosity of the Catholic church of the largely Muslim areas deterred them from communicating together. Because of this lack of communication, these two groups easily succumbed to using carnal means to gaining the upper hand in whatever way they could.

The gospel of reconciliation

This antagonistic behavior and distrust of the Spaniards was further fueled by the Zarzuelas and Moro-Moro plays which depicted the Muslims as devils that deserve to be killed. Such animosity of one people group was easily imparted into the consciousness of the Christian Filipinos that to this day, even among the elites and the poor, when one speaks of a Muslim, they could not even think anything right about them! This is catastrophic in nature and the failure of understanding what a Filipino Muslim is, continually becomes a black box into every consciousness of children of the next generation. But we are not ignorant of the devices of the devil and we do not want this difference to continue until the end of the age; it is our goal that this knowledge and understanding that we have will lead to peace and reconciliation with our brothers.

As Christians, we have been given the gospel of reconciliation which is more powerful than any fear, division and insecurities or hurts that the enemy has tried to hurl between us. The burden is not on the Muslim side as much as we should humble ourselves before them and before our God. Divisions which exist among people groups can only be healed by coming together and humbling ourselves before them, sealing it by the blood of the covenant of Christ to put an end to this division. The practical steps toward this reconciliation is to provide for them, care for them, until they can stand on their own because for centuries, our brothers were defrauded of the resources that they deserve to benefit from. Our call is to repent, humble ourselves by coming together with them, repenting of the caricatures that we painted of them. The only way is to call a solemn assembly, fast and pray, get the imams and the Muslim elders and together let us ask God to forgive us of our differences, that we repent of the evils we have done on our brothers to heal the open wounds and divisions that Satan continue to use to wreck havoc on us.

“Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.” Joel 1:14

“Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the LORD’S ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2:16-17

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 (NIV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit who shall set us free, just as He has said, where the Spirit is Lord, He will give freedom (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). He has also committed to us the ministry of reconciliation, saying, “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”(2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Now let’s get practical, if you have any differences with your friend, relative or father or mother, we should endeavor to patch up any differences that we have them because God in the first place has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. The problem here is many Christians only understood that Paul had the ministry of reconciliation but they were not. This misunderstanding to perform a given ministry has cause Satan to gain the upperhand in many relationships. Therefore I tell you, as the Lord has told me, plow the fields and never look back.

“But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62