We are taking sometime to absorb the lessons that we can get from the recent albeit macabre Ampatuan massacre. As Christians who are called to be the salt and light of the earth, we are supposed to be shining our light on issues in our

For there to be justice in the land, a judge must be impartial, decisive and takes action on the basis of evidences and witnesses

communities that beg us to question why? And how we can avoid those same pitfall that our brethren has fallen to. We are deceived if we think that we too are above those who committed this barbarous act. We are also deceived if we think that we cannot fall into the same traps that these perpetrators fell into. As Peter learned that fateful night, only by the grace of God can a man stand and not fall into evil.

It is true that we cannot judge another man but the Bible also says that under two or three witnesses, we must hear the matter and give our judgment. Sometimes it is understanding the terms or context of the terms that this judgment must be based. What the Bible says that we must not give judgment is to “condemn a person” (eg in Matthew 7:1; Romans 2:1; 14:13; James 4:11-12) without any basis or eyewitness accounts. In Matthew 7:1 the word “judge” in Greek is krino which means to pronounce or execute a sentence. That kind of judgment is what Christ has condemned but we are exhorted to also pass our judgment or discernment of a matter such as what Paul exhorted the Corinthian church when he wrote, “Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:5 NKJV) or what Christ called righteous judgment (see Matthew 7:24). We do all need to distinguish this because men have to know how to judge themselves in the light of truth. If we will rightly judge ourselves we will not be judged.

Most men could not even judge themselves rightly because of the problem of a “deceitful heart” which the Prophet Jeremiah spoke. Deceivers in history has no qualm but to deny their atrocities when conscience awakens them. Even Nero denied that he set fire on Rome and put all the blame of his horrendous acts on the Christians. When bankruptcy failed Germany, Hitler was quick to blame the Jews! Blame shifting is a telltale sign of refusing to accept the truth or be in the truth. This deception first came to man in the midst of the garden so that the Lord has to first ask the man, “Adam where are you?” My Teacher taught me that when the Most High asks a question, He is not after the answer but for us to know where we are standing in relation with Him. Adam and Eve had just eaten the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, cover-up followed and blame-shifting begun.

“Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:9-10)

When God further asked Adam who told him he was naked, and if he had eaten of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he begun to shift the blame to his wife, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). And so begun the blame game on all Adam’s descendants when they discover themselves to be in sin. No one wanted to take the responsibility, the man blamed the woman and the woman finding nothing to blame but the serpent threw all her tirades to that lowly creature.  And the rest of the problem lies to God because He made the serpent and the humans. No one wanted to accept responsibility for the crime that has been committed. This in essence is the delusion of the Ampatuan clan who even rallied supporters to prove their point that they did not commit any horrendous act on behalf of the innocent civilians killed who were there to exercise their basic right of suffrage.

With enormous amount of evidence piling up and a number of witnesses standing for what is right, still the Ampatuans refuse to accept their hand in the Massacre. This certainly is a great delusion and a case in point made by the Apostle saying that there will be, “…evil men and impostors [who] will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13). To be deceived means to be in contrary to what is right and true, just as Adam did not know the enormity of his disobedience, a deceived person cannot usually understand his depth of deception. Most of people live deceived or are living in deception whenever they forget to walk in the path of righteousness and truth. The level of light or understanding that we have dictates the level and depth of how much truth we know, but this is not enough. Knowing any truth can even become a judgment in itself if we do not walk in it.

This is why witnesses who do not bring their testimonies into courts are often beleaguered in their conscience and hiding because they knew the truth but they feared for their lives. Once we allow fear to be lord over us, we cannot do anything for justice. If we want justice in this land, we have to walk in righteousness, and that means to have the fortitude and courage to do what is right. Stand then and be counted. Jesus once said, “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). The moment a person tries to save his own but, he will lose it! The 57 dead did not die for nothing, they died for freedom, to exercise their basic right as citizens of a free country! This we must never compromise and we must be ready to take action and die even valiantly.

For it is easy to write and speak but to stand on them, on truth, on freedom, this requires life. Jesus died for every person, everyone of those 57 chose to die for freedom to come upon Maguindanao; 5+7=12 which is a number that speaks of governance. These martyrs of freedom must be honored by providing a decent choice of governors or politicians in the province of Maguindanao. But this also is not only for Maguindanao but for all the Philippines—only the foolish thinks that he owns the land, that he owns the people. No, not so, it is them that we owe— whether of power, service or right of access to resources and even life. We can only move on when justice and repentance is fully paid for by the perpetrators. Blame shifting is a sign of cowardice, the inability to accept the consequences of one’s decision and the immaturity if not the insanity of a person. May the grace of God be with you and keep you.