Genocide

Last week I was in Kenya.  The troubles and violence of January 2008 have subsided since the opposing political parties stitched together a workable compromise in the Parliament.  A sense of national unity has arisen out of the shame of the six weeks of mayhem that took place early in 2008. Every day Kenyans are still recovering from the shock that such naked violence could happen in their land.

In the 80s, a popular song captured the mood of the day. It was entitled, "Hakunah Matata" – a Swahili phrase meaning "No Problems" – and tourism and one of the best lifestyles in Africa flourished under this happy notion. Last January, this all changed and 1,200 native Kenyans were murdered because of inter-tribal hatred. Many were hacked to death by enraged madmen wielding the sharpened sugar-cane cutting machetes known as panga knives. No pity was shown. Helpless victims bled to death in the streets of Nairobi and in the highland provinces.

In some ways, it could have been much worse, as it was for Kenya's neighbouring country of Rwanda during the Hutu and Tutsi genocide between 1994 and 1996. The accounts of that horrifying time are too grizzly to recount. A whole generation of Rwandans was traumatized by that demonic spectre.

The history of the world has been punctuated by genocide. In the 20th century alone, Armenians, Jews, Gypsies, and Cambodians have suffered the hateful outpouring of state-organised murder.

When will it end?

Believe it or not, Jesus Christ Himself – in person – will bring a stop to this carnage. He will personally intervene to take charge of this world. It will not be done by remote heavenly influence, but rather by hands-on deliberate action! He will come on a white horse followed by the armies of heaven.

Read what it says in Revelation 19:14-15, "And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

Only those who fight Him and resist Him will suffer His wrath. Those who surrender and follow Him will be used to help establish a truly new world order. All other so-called "new world orders" have collapsed and failed, or will fail in the years preceding our Saviour's glorious return to set up a world of peace and harmony.

On the way to the airport earlier this week, we were assailed by beggars as we stopped in traffic. A mother carrying her maimed and deformed child cried out for help. A crippled man dragged himself along on wizened limbs – begging for money. The traffic moved forward.

When will it all end? It will end soon.

The Apostle Paul gives us hope: "Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now" (Romans 8:21-22).

This world indeed groans, moans and sighs for a new world where women and children can walk freely without fear or terror. It will be a world where there will be no reports of genocide or rape or mutilation. God promises that it will come.

Do you want to be a part of that world to come? Request your free copy of The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like? to find out what you need to do in your life to be there. Call or write now!