Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,

Revelation 18:4

Cathy and I just returned from celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles with our good friends at New Wine Ministry in Decatur, Arkansas. We were assigned to share one night. Cathy told me she was hearing voices coming out of her my people… I couldn’t get reconciliation out of my mind.

…All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

So I share about God’s original covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. I mentioned the covenant through Issac and the blessing on Ishmael in Genesis 17. I talked about God’s love and continued covenant with Israel, that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, and that Israel will be saved. Romans 11 Then I read Isaiah 19 which concludes with,

In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah 19:24-25

I read all in the context of the current conflicts between Israel and its neighbors. Most of all, I read it in the context of believers who insist on mixing politics and faith. I framed my argument with 2 Corinthians 5, and Revelation 12.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 

2 Corinthians 5:16

We inevitably regard our neighbor according to flesh anytime we attempt to use the gospel to fix the world for the sake of our best life now. Like it or not we are applying a Satanic framework when we sanction or support the killing of other human beings in the name of our definition of righteousness. A foundation of that framework is named in Revelation 12.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God.

Revelation 12:10

Accuse is katēgoréō, the Greek word from which the English word category is derived. The world organizes people into assigned categories and judges them as good or bad. This view is the product of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from the fall in Genesis 3. The Bible says that no one is righteous apart from Christ. Hence there are only two valid categories in the world. 

In Christ and Not in Christ.

We can look at almost any instance of polarization of one people group against another in the world. We are in violation of scripture the moment we choose a side that results in “us versus them”. Mind you I am not talking about disagreement on issues. I am talking about treating others in a way we would not want to be treated if the roles and power were reversed. Roles and power are cyclic. They are repeatedly reversed and reversed again.

…with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Mathew 7:1

Those cheering the decimation of Gaza or immigrants slammed in the streets by ICE will eventually see the same standards applied to Israel and Christians in the USA. We just can’t seem to comprehend that Jesus was speaking to believers not unbelievers when He warned …with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

The pattern of God dealing with His people throughout history is a pattern that Israel has never been able to recognize. Those who persecute Israel are and will indeed be punished. But as we see with Assyria in Isaiah 10, God often uses those who curse Israel to punish Israel for her sins before punishing those who cursed her in the first place.  That’s not because God is double-minded. It’s because God wants to reconcile all of Abraham’s dysfunctional family. He disciplines those He loves. Heb 12  God loves the descendants of both Issac and Ishmael. Satan, the accuser, is the one who wants us to categorize and facilitate our killing each other. Many are cheering the fulfillment of Zephaniah 2 today. Make no mistake. The fulfillment of Zephaniah 3 and Ezekiel 38 will surely follow.  Study these scriptures out and see if what I am saying is true.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the Waorani and Teromanane in the context of the ministry of reconciliation in which all followers of Jesus share. I have been meditating on the culture of depravity from which He wants us to be separated.

The depravity of man is both the most empirically verifiable statement and also the most intellectually resistant.

-Malcolm Muggeridge-

In October of 2018 we were blessed with the opportunity to travel, all expenses paid, to Ecuador where among other things we got to meet and minister to Waorani (Wow-rani)  people.

The movie “The End of the Spear” is the story of Jim Elliot and his missionary partners who were martyred at the hands of Waorani warriors, a previously untouched people in the Ecuadoran Amazon valley in 1956.

It is also the story of their surviving widows who forgave and ministered to the Waorani people and led many of them to Christ.  It is one of the most powerful contemporary stories of faith, forgiveness, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you’ve seen the movie, then you know that the spearing of Jim Elliot and his friends was provoked by a lie on the part of a Waorani woman trying to avoid accountability for her actions.  In a nutshell, she had an agenda that she advanced by manipulating the emotions of her own people. Were it not for the faithfulness of Elizabeth Elliot and the other wives, most, if not all, of the relatively small number of Waorani might have been killed in a retaliatory action by Western colonists.

Many Waorani became Christian after 1956. A portion rejected Jesus completely in favor of their old traditions and religions. These formed a separate clan known today as the Teromanane. Relations between the two clans have been strained ever since.

The Teromanane remained nomadic hunters and avoided the Waorani villages.  Violence could be avoided provided they avoided each other.

Modernization and a shrinking of territory due to the expansion of oil companies in the region pushed the two closer together. Oil exploration and the lumber trade meant more workers needed to be fed. Game previously hunted for tribal sustenance now went to feed the growing oil company workforce. Overhunting and a resulting food shortage caused the Teromanane to begin migrating closer to Waorani villages in search of food. They began stealing Waorani bananas and Yucca.

Instead of retaliating according to previous tradition, the Waorani sought reconciliation with their Teromanane brothers and sisters.  

One day some Waorani women went out as the Teromanane robbed their orchards. The women told them that they didn’t need to steal, that all they needed to do was ask and they would give them whatever they needed.  This led to more social contact to include a romantic interest between a Waorani man and a Teromanane woman.  In Waorani and Teromanane culture, a man and a woman who are seen alone together three times are expected to get married.

Apparently, the Waorani man changed his mind.  We don’t know what the woman said to her people. We only know that the Teromanane became so enraged that they kidnapped three young Waorani children, took them by the ankles, and beat their heads against a tree until they were dead.  In response, the Waorani formed a raiding party and killed 15 Teromanane men and women while they slept.  Two children remained alive. The Waorani took them back to their village. That was 2013.

Fast forward to 2018. We were with some Waorani and other indigenous people in Ecuador. We even met some of the men involved in the previous raid. We had come to visit Ninawachi school for indigenous missionaries and make a “thank you video” for their donors.

Ninawachi disciples people from the Shuar, Kitchawa, and Waorani tribes, then sends them home as missionaries to their own tribes.  Three of these, Daeme, a Huaorani native, his wife Diana, a Shuar, and Priscilla Vargas, an Ecuadoran colonial, were about to head into the jungle for their outreach practicum.  Priscilla was one of the teachers and had nearly died from an Amazon-borne illness the last time she was there.

It was at that time that we learned that the Teromanane were starving and were willing to discuss peace with the Waorani again.  The only condition was that the kidnapped children be returned.  Everyone was hopeful, including the Ecuadoran military, who devised a plan to fly a helicopter into Teromanane territory and lower the children down by rope. The only catch was that someone else had to pay for it. That wasn’t going to happen.

The three Ecuadoran missionaries were getting ready to head upriver when we got news that the Teromanane had arrived just outside of the Waorani village where they were going.  The situation was tense.  Once again two or three Waorani women who were on fire for the Lord had gone out to meet them. Everything seemed to go well and a meeting to discuss peace was scheduled. Unfortunately, it was time for us to return to Honduras.  All we could do was pray.  A week after we returned, we learned that the Teromanane leader turned out to be Daeme’s great uncle.

Recently, I heard from our friend Pricilla. She told us that there has been periodic contact between the Waorani and Teromanane. The Teromanane have received a few solar Bibles and solar radios. However, the proverbial ground remains hard. Pricilla asked us to continue to pray.  Here is a link to her blog Pricilla’s blog. She is a genuine example of the ministry of reconciliation in real time. She is currently affiliated with YWAM. Having lived on the mission field for six years, I know any support would be greatly appreciated.

One thing stands out in the conflict between the Waorani and Teromanane. No one outside these tribes is rooting for one side to dominate the other. Perhaps it is because their lifestyles and world views are so foreign to outsiders that no one can place themselves in any of their proverbial shoes. Outsiders are either ignoring the situation entirely or Christians are actively promoting reconciliation between the two tribes.

My question is, why don’t Christians apply the same approach to all people groups and conflicts, e.g. Israel and Palestine? After all, doesn’t God want all people to be reconciled to Himself? Why then, do so-called believers insist on regarding nearly everyone according to the flesh? Why do we continue to categorize everyone as good guys and bad guys? We give lip service to the cross and God’s word to the extent that it benefits us. Then we lay our lives down at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Another example is the so-called illegal immigration problem. Are there illegal immigrants who commit crimes? Yes. Is it a violation of US law to immigrate without permission? Yes. If that is the case, then it is also illegal to solicit, promote, and make money off of illegal immigrants. We were in Honduras and watched the caravans form and proceed north to the US border. We have friends who departed in the hope of making ten dollars per hour instead of ten dollars per day. We watched the promises of freedom and prosperity broadcast on CNN Central America. We know people who paid Cartel Coyotes five to twelve thousand dollars to transport family members across the border. We were dumbfounded by a bureaucratic nightmare resulting in the near impossibility of immigrating legally. Now we are watching them being hunted down and arrested while the people who invited and ushered them in remain unaccountable. The Trump administration claims only criminals are being targeted. Friends from affected cities say ICE has quotas. One thing is certain, a precedent is being set.

Here is another example that hits close to home. One of the two greatest commandments, love your neighbor as yourself is derived in part, from Leviticus 19.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:33-34

True Christians will obey God.

People generally align with whichever side of an argument or conflict their respective side or team supports. They reinforce their argument with media narratives organized by internet algorithms designed to corral opinions and people. Our queries inform the algorithm of our biases.  “Does Hamas kill Israelis?” will yield atrocities committed by Hamas. “Does the IDF kill Palestinian children?” will yield IDF testimonials of their own atrocities. People argue for and against sides in conflict as if war itself were not an atrocity. We think we are thinking and analyzing right and wrong, good and evil. In truth, we are being divided and corralled into opposing categories in an ongoing spiritual battle by the enemy who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

Shockingly few humans can think at all. Most of them are just bio-LLMs (Large Language Models) who regurgitate whatever garbage they ingested through their eyes or ears. They hardly have an original thought cross their minds. Shockingly few humans have a conceptual internal reality that maps anywhere close to the reality outside their heads. They live inside delusional constructs, distorting sensory input to match their internal maps rather than updating their maps to match the terrain in the world around them. As a result, most humans aren’t THINKING at all. They are PROJECTING…

Mike Adams

Apart from Christ, all people and all human conflicts are the same. Apart from being in Christ we are all Teromanane and Waorani. The antidote is to come out of her my people. Come out of the world of artificial categories.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,

Revelation 18:4

Jim Elliot and his friends gave their lives in the ministry of reconciliation that was carried on by their widows who forgave the Waorani who murdered their husbands.  Why can’t we have the same heart for Israel and the Palestinians? Why can’t we have the same heart for the right and the left, Democrats and Republicans? People thank me for my service as a trained killer in the USMC instead of the missionary I became after I repented. Why are we so hypocritical? Why can’t we honor and obey Jesus’s commandments in Mathew Chapter 5 without reservations? The list goes on ad infinitum. It seems that we just can’t or we refuse. We praise Jesus with songs in church then live according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We idolize that same tree every time we turn on the evening news. Many, if not most, ultimately reject the final sacrifice of Jesus in favor of a scapegoat that we are programmed to despise for self-righteousness’ sake. Otherwise, we’d look in the mirror and recognize Mystery Babylon in our own eyes. Then maybe, just maybe we’d repent and come out of her.

Maranatha