The Consequences of Truth

Isaac Wiegand is the DS of the Liberian churches. I met him at our General Conference this year. He really blessed my life.

He tells about the civil war in Liberia. The war lasted from 1996 until 2003. He was a college student during some of that time. He said that the college was often without electric power. They had little or no food or water. There were times when he and a friend named James Smith would go out into the jungle to search for food so they could live.

When going to search for food they had to go through rebel checkpoints. They would be questioned and their ID's examined. They had gone out into the jungle one day and were returning through the checkpoint that they had gone through earlier, when one of the rebels saw James ID and asked, "Smith, are you related to general Smith?" General Smith was the leader of the group the rebels were fighting.

"No," James replied. "I don't know him and never met him. We are not related."

"The rebel leader said, "I don't believe you. You are related to him. I'm going to kill you."

Isaac said that whenever a rebel soldier told you that he was going to kill you there was nothing you could do to stop him. So right there in front of him he saw them put six bullets into his friend's head. He said that if he reacted in any way at all, they would shoot him. So he had to act like it didn't matter.

In the midst of all their hard times our brothers and sisters in Liberia learned some truths about their walk with God. Isaac said they learned in all their struggles that God is really alive.

Isaac said, "When you are surrounded by rebels you have no guarantee for tomorrow.” He told me that they really learned what it meant to live day-by-day being totally dependent on God. He said they also came to realize that we are nothing by ourselves. “We are very poor. Daily we see the senselessness of trying to be dependent on yourself. We have nowhere else to look except to God."

Complaint Department

When we went to Russia in 1994 we road the trolleys. We quickly learned that if it was full and a woman got on the trolley the man sitting closest to her would get up and give her his seat. It was the Russian custom.

Some years later I went into Chicago. I road the South Shore railroad. The car that we were riding in was full. There was a couple standing in the middle of the car holding on to a pole. At the next stop some matronly ladies got on the car. Being trained in Russia as to how to handle this situation, I crawled out from my window seat and asked one of them if she would like to have my seat. She quickly said, “Yes.” The man I was sitting next to, looked up from his newspaper at me, then at the woman and then back at me. He stood up and asked the other woman if she wanted his seat. She took it.

We walked down to the middle of the car and grabbed onto one of the poles that was there. I casually said to the couple standing there, “I guess they should have added another car to the train today.”

This couple immediately spoke in a very angry voice about how inconsiderate the train company was and how they should have gotten their act together. It was obvious that this couple was very upset about having to stand in the middle of the car.

The conductor came into the car just then and told us all, “There are plenty of seats two cars up if you want to walk there.” So I proceeded to turn and walk up the train to that car. The man who I had been sitting with followed me. Yet the complaining couple just stood there, angry. I guess they just wanting to have something to complain about rather then finding a solution to their problem.

When the man and I got to the car with the seats in it, I sat on one side and him on the other. I said, “Well that was easy enough.” He just nodded and smiled.

Am I a whiner or am I one who goes with the flow and lives out of the attitude of the Jesus I claim to believe in?

We are called to “fight the good fight of faith.” When we decide to take a stand and “fight” for our faith we discover that God is there providing us with the strength and grace to do it. Fighting is not being argumentive or demanding our way. Fighting the good fight has to do with our own desire and passion for God.

Too often we want to just get by on as little as possible. We will only pray “just enough” or fast as little as necessary. All the time God wants us to give ourselves completely to the battle. God may lead us into places where we need to pray longer than we think is necessary. There may be a conviction that we must fast and spend time alone with our Lord. We are fighting the fight of faith because we are battling our own self focus.

The battle becomes harder because Satan will do all he can to weaken us and reduce our spiritual strength. He creates interruptions, false needs and endless distractions to try and defeat us in battle.

In this battle we allow so many things to work on our hearts—people, events, needs, desires, etc. We do not realize that most of these things can cause us to be alienated from our hearts and therefore from God who reigns in our hearts.

We must deal with the things that hide our hearts from God. We must be actively working on them. We decide to no longer conceal to ourselves or try to hide from God what is in our hearts. We will stop all self-justification. There will be no more self-pity. Confession, repentance and openness will allow cleansing in the depths of our hearts. This is the fight, this is the battle.

We discover that Our Father honors his children when they resist Satan’s attacks and willingly sacrifice time, energy, effort, and themselves to fight the good fight of faith.

Let me close with this prayer:

Lord, you have given me so many promises: Promises from your word and promises from your heart. Why do I doubt them? Does doubt come simply because you don’t do things my way, in my time? How much of doubt is centered on me, on my self?

You have answered my prayers. You have encouraged me. You have stretched my money. You have spoken through me. You have blessed my life.

Forgive me for ever doubting. I must submit my fears and feelings to you once again. You are faithful. I will trust you. Trust allows you to work things out your way in your time. Trust is patient. Lord, I do trust you with all of my heart, all my soul and all of my life. I refuse to lean on my own understanding. You are my sovereign King.