Your article today (2/7/07) was interesting in that you are proud to be crazy. You have come up with some points which are Biblical in context, which when understood from God’s perspective are wise, but outside of God are crazy.

I’m the “crazy” prophet the Lord has assigned to set you straight. Being a prophet means I speak to God, He speaks through me, and He speaks to me. To some people that’s crazy. By the way, the name of the God I serve is Jesus.

Crazy is defined as (source dictionary.com):

1. mentally deranged; demented; insane. 
2. senseless; impractical; totally unsound: a crazy scheme. 
3. Informal. intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited: crazy about baseball. 
4. Informal. very enamored or infatuated (usually fol. by about): He was crazy about her.
5. Informal. intensely anxious or eager; impatient: I'm crazy to try those new skis. 
6. Informal. unusual; bizarre; singular: She always wears a crazy hat. 
7. Slang. wonderful; excellent; perfect: That's crazy, man, crazy. 
8. likely to break or fall to pieces. 
9. weak, infirm, or sickly. 
10. having an unusual, unexpected, or random quality, behavior, result, pattern, etc.: a crazy reel that spins in either direction. 

So crazy has a connotation of someone whose mind has lost touch with reality (or truth) and as a result he is weak. A crazy person declares and does things that produce bad (or less than optimal) results. 

Linda, I agree with you that the world is crazy, which means your job as a peacemaker is probably futile, because crazy people will just continue in their crazy schemes. I am reminded of a young Christian woman whose husband beat her and she believed that God wanted her to stay in the marriage because God hates divorce. This is crazy to me (and the Lord) because God never said we are supposed to be abused by anyone and He certainly is not going to support a marriage that we go into through our own will where we end up abused. People forget that God gave us free will so that we can make our own decisions even decisions that He does not support. So my ministerial advice to abused people is to get out of that relationship; God does not support that crazy abusive relationship.

Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt 5:9). The challenge for you as a peacemaker is to apply Jesus’ approach, which gets to the heart of the matter, versus the stuff you are learning in man’s schools. Is there no value in man’s teaching? There is some but it’s hard to find unless you submit to the Lord’s Word, the Bible.

Peace is a harmonious relationship with another being. Peace is warped up in love because to be in harmony with someone means acceptance of that person. We can’t be at peace with someone we hate. So, Linda, how do you produce love in people so that peace can be created? Let me go a little further and define love.

There are four kinds of love:

Eros – Erotic love or lust (purely physical and focused on the flesh of others; occurs in the mind with little or no emotion involved) – lowest level of intimacy

Storge – Natural affection or obligation. It’s more of a good feeling about someone or something close, like spouse or pet (familiarity creates more emotion) – next level of intimacy.

Phileo – Deep affection for another based on the qualities of the person (greater knowledge of person creates more emotion) – highest level of intimacy achievable by human effort.

Agape – Unconditional love. Not based on knowledge of person, you love them because they exist. This love is God (1 John 4:8) and manifests in us through the Holy Spirit. This love is not emotional or in the mind, it comes from the heart.

Agape or unconditional love is not inherent in mankind because it involves choice, not feelings. We choose to love regardless of who the person is, how difficult they may be, or even if they don’t love us. This is the love of God who loves the world so much that He died (as Jesus) so that we may live (John 3:16). True love is not the “ring around the roses” love you see in the school yard. It’s a love that does justice and judgment (Prov 21:3), it rescues the poor and needy from wicked (Prov 31:8-9), it loves violently (spiritually speaking). According to Pat Benetar, “Love is a Battlefield”.

Most of your article struggles with trying to reconcile the differences, and wickedness, of mankind in relation to human existence. You mention that application of moral principles (of conduct) don’t truly have a place because of cultural differences in human society. But that does not mean it won’t work, it could just mean we need to get rid of our reliance and following of culture, at least when it comes in the way of loving others (this includes man’s religions). What is culture anyway? A bunch of traditions created by man. A great peacemaking tradition is the UN (United Nations) which has not created any peace in the world yet we continue to pretend it works. Sure it offers a forum for people to talk….and then go to war. (By the way, just in case you think it’s crazy to talk about God (Jesus) outside of religion, let me remind you that God existed before man created religion. God is not religion and religion is not God. And the Bible is not some religious text; it is the Word of God).

When will mankind give up on pushing God out of his affairs? Everything (including most churches) is crazy because the God of truth is not there; He is kept out in the cold while man tries to do everything on his own. Can the created tell the Creator how things work? Can the raindrop tell the ocean to move out of his way? And we wonder why everything is so messed up and crazy.

Jesus said “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt 5:7). 

Meek is defined as (source dictionary.com):

1. humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others. 
2. overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame. 
3. Obsolete. gentle; kind.

It’s interesting that the third meaning (gentle and kind) is obsolete, even though this is in line with the Biblical definition which is where the word meek comes from. Just more craziness. For some reason you start talking about women as meek, which you relate to weak. Notice that the Lord expects us all to be meek, both men and women. A meek person is submissive to God; he/she is humble and lowly in heart. It has nothing to do with gender. A meek person is easily led by the Lord and only Him (even when their earthly leader is a man or a woman). So, since a meek person is led by God, he/she is strong, not weak.

A woman is to be submissive to her husband, who loves her unconditionally. This is God’s order in marriage, but it does not mean women should submit to men in general. Women who are called to lead are to lead both men and women, righteously. Treating women (or anyone) as second class citizens, which is prevalent in some cultures, is as wrong as racism and all the other “-isms” that mankind has created.

By the way, a meek person could be considered the opposite of a proud person. This makes sense, since God hates the proud (Prov 6:16-17), but loves the meek. Yes, God hates. Isn’t it crazy that the God of love, Christ Jesus, hates? And isn’t it crazy that for true peace to occur, that war must be waged spiritually, because mankind and his crazy ways opposes the ways of God; for mankind is not meek but rather proud.

Linda, I pray that the Lord reveals His truth to you in your peacemaking role, because I certainly don’t expect any changes in the world from your effort using man’s method. The Lord has created you to lead (both men and women) but you won’t be truly successful in your own strength until you are meek before God.

No Jesus, no unconditional love, no peace. Jamaicans like to say (yes, I’m Jamaican by birth) peace and love. However, they have it backwards; it’s love and peace.

There’s much more that the Lord wants to say but I think you should get His point.

Donald Rubie,
Servant of the Lord Jesus