Peace Keepers vs Peace Makers

I was struck with the fact that so many people in our families and churches have succumb to the belief that godly peace is something we manufactured in our flesh to keep others happy with us.

In an effort to keep everyone happy we have minimized the scripture to the level of "feel good reading, when life is hard" rather than the source of wisdom for the daily living of our lives. When the Scriptures are not taken seriously, any good book on happiness will do for us.

This reminded me of an article I once read, that differentiated between the "peace keeper" and the "peace maker." I was intrigued by the title of the article because it seemed to practically scream out at me, "this is what you have been seeing, but couldn't put into words." So I read the article and was pleased to discover that I had been observing in relationships, whether in church or in family, just what God had been saying to me and now confirmed in writing by someone else. 

Sometimes we don't trust the inklings of the Holy Spirit, when we feel we are the only ones aware of the problem.

First let's see what a peace keeper looks like in terms of actions, then we will be more able to discern the attitude involved in peace keeping. The peace keeper is someone who seeks to smooth things over when a wrong has been committed. They pride themselves in keeping everyone feeling good and happy, while at the same time winning friends by ignoring or glossing over an ongoing problem.

Peace keepers are hopeful that the problem will go away on it's own and then everyone will get over their hurt and be friendly to one another again eventually. Neglect never is a solution to a sore or injury in physical terms, why would we think that it would be a solution in emotional or spiritual terms? Not to mention that it is unbiblical.

The use of flattery, is one of the main techniques of a peace keeper. They think if they flatter in some way, the truth will not be exposed about them.

What does God say about flattery? Proverbs 29:5 says "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet."

I know a woman, we will call her Zelda, who was so much of a peace keeper that it was difficult to hold a conversation with her. When she visited with anyone, she would continually nod her head in agreement with an occasional "oh yes" to show that she was listening. Once in a while during the conversation, if one could call it that, she would get real chatty and say, "that's nice." It was like pulling teeth to get her to offer a comment longer than two words or an actual opinion about what was being said. I wondered if there was anything happening inside her head. If this had been only one encounter with her over a life time of visits, I would have thought something was on her mind, or that she was overwhelmed with another concern. I had encountered this woman several times myself and watched her with other women too, so I knew that it was not just me, but a pattern in her life.

Zelda, never confronted anyone about anything. Everyone loved her because she was like their faithful dog, Bowzer, who just accepted whatever anyone said or did, without the challenge. She laid at their feet offering nothing but friendly short platitudes and adoring looks. She was the first one other ladies flocked to when they had a problem and needed someone who would listen, but remain silent and accepting. Her face was frozen in a permanent smile as her head swayed to and fro in total agreement with all that was shared.

Zelda was very careful to come across as in agreement, no matter what was being said. One day something unusual happened that confused me. Zelda was not herself that day. I witnessed her blow up in anger at someone who had confronted her about a sin in Zelda's life. Zelda shrieked in anger, stomped off while shouting as she left the room that she never wanted to see or speak to this woman ever again. Wow! What happened to our mild mannered shrinking violet?

From the book "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse

" we find this quote, "For some, healing has been short-circuited: Jesus' precept, 'the truth shall set you free,' has been replaced by man's precept, 'to be nice is better than to be honest' and 'keep (false) peace at all costs."

This is entirely unbiblical not to mention useless in resolving misunderstandings.

Zelda, having been confronted about an offense she had committed against this woman, seemed to not be able to handle criticism to such a degree that she was willing to lose a friend to maintain her facade. She had evolved instantaneously from that dog eyed adoring puppy into a ravenous wolf. How could this be? Perhaps Zelda was never the adoring puppy dog at all, but inwardly has always been the wolf in sheeps’ clothing. Perhaps that waving head and sweet smile were nothing more than acting to manipulate perceptions.

Once the play acting was over and Zelda's inner being was discovered, she now was impervious to spiritual growth as long as she was too prideful to admit her sin and be reconciled to those she had wounded. Her "peace keeping" was not so peaceful after all. It was only peaceful until she had to be accountable in some way to others. Then all that peace keeping unfolded into a war that would cause more devastation in the lives of others.

Peace keeping promotes a spirit of deception and lying. Showing forth a face of kindness to convince others that we are a spiritual person, is lying.

Pretending to love, when we really are indifferent to the needs of others is the worst kind of fakery. We can get others to trust us and then use what they have said against them later, or worse, use what they have said to manipulate them into serving us in some way, even if it is only our egos that are stroked. This is spiritual blackmail.

Peace keepers lack integrity, they are self absorbed while attempting to deceive others into thinking they are deeply concerned. The concern does not reach a depth greater than the end of their lips. They withhold information for the purpose of maintaining their personal appearance. They do not say what they mean and they do not mean what they say. They are in a sense hiding themselves for their own advancement.

Jude 1:16 "These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage."

Another very disturbing trait of the peace keeper is their uncanny ability to cover up the sins of the people they like. I say "like" instead of "love", because it is not loving to cover up the sin of an unrepentant person. It is not love of the sinner and it is not love of the victim.

There are rare occasions when the peace keeper may point out a flaw in another person, but only to defend themselves when they are approached about their own sin. The focus is still themselves.

In short, the peace keeper is playing a role, they are not authentic, they appear warm and gentle on the outside, but inwardly they are deceitful and contentious. They leave a wake of frustrated people where ever they go.

I knew of young woman we will call, Bunny, who was so jealous of another woman that she concocted lies and exaggerations about the object of her jealousy to the point where the victim lost friends and family, who believed the lies. Her tactics were to distort the events to the point that they were barely recognizable. This woman too, was a Zelda type, always appearing to others as the victim, when she was the perpetrator. When confronted with her sin, she, like Zelda, stomped off and isolated herself from anyone who required her to be accountable.

Had Zelda and Bunny reacted with humility and sadness at the discovery of their sin, we could have concluded that they were truly sorry for the trouble they had caused. But since there was violent anger, we can be sure there was guilt also.

When a person is humble, they are embarrassed, not mad. When a person is not guilty, they are humble and not angry. The explosion of anger in Zelda and Bunny was evidence that they were guilty and would fight in an effort to convince others they were not guilty when they knew they were. It is also an attempt to make the accuser look like the bad guy.

The peace keeper does not seek God honestly for their direction, but for justification of their sins. They may even use scripture to support and validate their sin, but it is taken out of context and misused.

The peace keeper is a person who seeks to smooth things over for superficial peace that does not only mask the problem but exacerbates it in the long term, causing greater turmoil. As an author once stated "throwing a rug over a gasoline spill next to the fire only causes an explosion." Would we cover cancer with a band-aid, or a gapping head wound with a cap.

The peace keeper relies entirely on their own desires and feelings, to evaluate life and friends. They are almost entirely motivated by self interest. This is a picture of a narcissist and a manipulator. In short, they do not make peace, they create devastation by ignoring God's principles of friendship and resolution of problems, to maintain an appearance. When that appearance is exposed as a sham, then they must put out of their lives anyone who knows the truth, rather than repenting.

Zelda is of this sort, she never offers lasting help to anyone. She never instructs, corrects, rebukes or teaches. She is nearly worthless in terms of a valued friendship to anyone. Zelda would put a band-aid over cancer. She would pretend there wasn't a gapping wound in your head that needed stitches, but would help you on with your hat to keep the blood off her floors while pretending that it was to help you. Or worse yet, she would shout at others to come and help with something that she could have done. Doing, being and saying nothing is the trademark of the Zelda's of the world. If they say, do and be nothing, then in their mind they can be accountable for nothing.

Our church culture as a whole are peace keepers. They look to the fast food fix, the quick easy answers and those that are pleasurable. In short, our church culture does not care deeply about people, but only about pleasure, materialism and financial gain.

After all the bad news concerning the peace keeper, we need to reflect on the principles of the peace maker.

Peace makers desire a cure to the problem and are willing to walk the hard road to get to the place of safety.

The peace maker desires to do things God's way. They seek the scriptures for His principles to address the problems of life. They are deeply concerned about the well being of others. They are more concerned about the long term affect of a matter rather than immediate happiness.

If we love God first we will not fear mans' reaction to God's standard. We are merely the messenger who brings God's word for the solutions. When we will not speak the truth, we doom the hearer to a life of superficial phoniness that leaves them spiritual and emotional babies.

God says "By this we know if we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." 1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."

God's command to love our brothers is summed up in loving God's commands. The most valuable things we can do for our brothers and sisters in the Lord is to LOVE HIS COMMANDMENTS. If we claim to love our brethren but do not love God's commandments, then we do not love our brethren.

If we love God's commandments then we will use them to instruct our brothers and sister in the Lord. We will hold fast to them and plead with our family to follow what God says.

God has given us the ten commandments as a guideline for knowing His will.

When we are "peace keepers", this is what we do to the commandments of God:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

If we are a peace keeper we violate this commandment, because we are placing the approval of people above God.

2. Thou shalt make no graven images.

When we are a peace maker we are creating an image of God in our minds that is not truth.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.

When we are a peace keeper, we are emanating an air of godliness that is not true, we call ourselves Christians but do not

find God's word sufficient for all things, then we are vainly using His name as ours, in short we are "taking the Lord's name in vain", claiming to be a Christian while acting like a heathen.

4. Keep holy the Sabbath.

When we dishonor God in peace keeping, we are not concerned about holiness at all, let alone true worship. We can not worship what we do not know.

5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.

When we live a lie, based on selfish ambition we dishonor our parents with our lives.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

God says when we hate our brother, it is the same as murdering him. When we are more concerned about our personal comfort and being accepted than we are about God's truth, we are hating our brother.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

When we place other things and people above God we are committing adultery against Him.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

When we are peace keepers we are stealing the truth from our brother, keeping it from him that which would help him.

9. Thou shalt not lie.

When we are peace keepers we are telling a lie. We display loving kindness, when deep inside we have no love for others, only for ourselves.

10.Thou shalt not covet.

When we are peace keepers we are coveting the admiration of others rather than promoting the worshiping of God.

When we are peace makers this is what we do to the commandments of God.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

We love to honor God above everything and everyone else, he gets all the glory while we serve Him and others.

2. Thou shalt make no graven images.

We do not place our trust in images made by human hands.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of they God in vain.

We live a life dedicated to making God look good. We quote Him, we thank Him and we worship Him.

4. Keep holy the Sabbath.

We desire to worship with others collectively, keeping the day set aside for Him.

5. Honor thy Father and they Mother.

We have a deep reverence and love for our parents.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

We do not murder, nor do we hate. We love our fellow man to the point of self sacrifice

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

We do not betray a loved one. We honor those who love God.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

We do not take what is not ours and we do not have a sense of entitlement to anything. All things belong to God.

9. Thou shalt not lie.

We do not manipulate or lie to get our way.

10. Thou shalt not covet.

We do not want what others have, we are not jealous of others.

It must be said that all of us break the commandments regularly if only in our hearts. But as we grow closer and closer to the Lord, the more we hate dishonoring God. We hate the sin that we find in ourselves. We confess it and God begins a work of cleansing us. God will not do the work of cleansing if we will not confess.

How do we shed the life of peace keeping and become a peace maker? We confess what we are and ask the Lord to change us. He knows just what to do to help us change. 

Send the Liberals Packing

This is not to toot any horns, but to encourage all those women out there who were and are dedicated to womanhood as God sees it. Proverbs 31. Let no man tell you that you did not work hard or that you were not smart because you didn't work under a boss for a paycheck.

I just watched the video of a man on a talk show who proclaimed loudly that women would be happier in the home taking care of their families, than they are in the work place, he was mocked and demeaned by the hosts. My response was the following:

"The bearded guy is right!!! I have been content to be at home the last 45 years. The sad thing is that women have been reprogrammed to believe they are happier with a career. I have never been bored at home, a day in my life. Feminists like to lie and say that anyone at home must be stupid and unproductive because they don't bring home a check. The fact is that I have been much more productive and free about choices to produce than any woman who went under a boss at work." Unquote

Being at home has allowed me the freedom to learn new things, go new places and produce things that I would not have had time for had I had to go off campus spending 8 hours and longer a day away from home base.

The freedom to be keeper of the home, manager of it, if done correctly, far surpasses the structure of the work place under a boss. The diversity of homemaking is much greater than any job could be.

The problem is that most women are not that creative without a boss to answer to, they must have deep structure to feel productive.

The self starters who love creativity are the ones who are never bored at home. Every day has a new adventure, full of personal choices and opportunities for learning new things. We do not have to be lazy at home as some homemakers are, we can be busy all day long producing products that benefit our families.

I once challenged a woman who was mocking me for being a homemaker. I put up with much of this nonsense when I was home while most of the women around me were working outside the home.

I began to ask her what constituted a "career." Her criteria was that they dressed up, went out the door and brought home a paycheck every week, while doing something exciting.

I asked what difference if makes whether I paint the outside of a house for a paycheck or I do it for my family, I am still working and still producing.

How about when I plan menus for eight people every week, shop for the groceries, bring them home and put them away, is that any different from a maid who gets paid to do it for their employer?

How about when I shop for or sew clothing for the family. As long as I do that for a paycheck for a wealthy family, I have a career but if I do that for my own family without a paycheck then it isn't a career?

When I decorate my own home for the pleasure of me and my family, it is nothing to the naysayers, however if I do that for a wealthy family, I am called a decorator, gaining the approval of others and a paycheck, then I am seen as having a career.

Then there are all the run around things I did for the various activities for the children. If I were being paid by others to do it then I would be seen as having a taxi service, a career.

Lets look at the food preparation, canning in the summer to provide for the winter, cooking the meals while teaching the girls how to become homemakers. If I was hired by a wealthy family to do this, I would be counted as having a career?

The yard work, mowing, edging and planting most of my life to keep things up, would be seen as "grounds keeping" had I been paid to do it, it would be seen as a career, but since I didn't receive recognition or a paycheck I was not seen as having a career.

I have painted the inside and outside of all the houses we have lived in, worked hard but was not seen as a "working woman" because there was no paycheck for it.

Can't count the number of loads of laundry I have done, dirty diapers that hung on the line or dishes that have been washed to carry out duties at home, but of course none of this counted because I was not earning a paycheck. Had I been hired by others to do these things I would have been seen as having a career because there was a paycheck and recognition for doing these things.

Oh, then there is the volunteer work that I did in my spare time. But of course that never counted because there was no pay check. Had I done those things for a pay check I would have been seen as having a career, revered by those who think having a career in the world makes us who we are as a person.

I homeschooled some of our children, had I gotten a paycheck for that I would have been called a teacher. LOL

Homemakers work hard, they support their husbands in his activities as well as managing the household, every aspect of it. They are the CEO's of their business in a sense, doing it out of love for their families. But because it isn't away from the home and without a paycheck they are demeaned, mocked and minimized.

It makes sense that the devil would want to destroy the most important job in the world, the making of a home where security and safety is for those who dwell there.

Everything that is godly and righteous will be mocked and demeaned because the devil is in the business of destroying. Only the strong women can stay at home putting up with the mocking and demeaning day after day.

Homemaking is not for wimps, it is only for the strong who can think for themselves, work without a boss and continue when there doesn't seem to be any real support for what they are doing.

You homemakers...Don't let any fool hearty liberal tell you that you have no value unless you leave the home. Laugh in their faces and turn on your heels to get away from them.

I've never been bored a day in my life, a little lonely at times but never bored.

Disobedience Brings Trouble

When we disobey God we cannot expect Him to bless our sin!

Catholicism is not Christian

When a Catholic says they are saved by grace, they mean, they get more graces every time they do another good deed, if they have enough graces through enough good deeds they make it to heaven, but they never know how much is enough.

They believe the pope is the vicar of Christ, meaning a mediator between us and God.

Vicar of Christ means the same authority as Christ Himself. It also means "in place of" Christ. This authority overshadows the Bible. The Bible is taken with a grain of salt, as an historical book rather than the ultimate authority for all things.

1 Timothy 2:4-5 "…4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.…"

Ephesians 2:8 "…7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.…"

As a former Catholic I can tell you that the Catholics I knew and some I still know, pray to Mary almost never to God through Christ. They place their trust in miracles of dead saints, believing that no one becomes a saint until they die and have to have been proven by earthly miracles. The pope decides who gets chosen to be a saint.

There are prayers for the dead, veneration of articles such as statues, dead saints fingers, along with many other idols that are prayed to. There is kissing of crosses, statues of Mary at her feet, kissing the hand of priests, praying to saints of travel, patron saints of this and that and the other things.

The most telling of all is the embarrassment on the faces of Catholics when we quote the Bible or speak of Christ in conversation.

I have been called a "goody two shoes", a "Bible thumper", "self righteous" and more, by Catholics for loving the Bible and desiring to live holy.

If you love the Lord, speak of Him and most of all live for Him, you will be rejected by most if not all Catholics. Because at some point you will have to disagree with them on something and that will be enough to enrage them. There may be some out there that are not like this, but most will be.

You can thank the Catholic church for the sinful holidays of Christmas Halloween and Easter, had it not been for the Catholic church these holidays would not exist. So many believers don't realize where all this came from. Paganism has been inculcated regularly within the church to entice pagans to join the church. Because the priests and nuns are not born again, they are fooled by this paganism, thinking that as long as they are in the Catholic church they can add things that appear to be fun and safe.

They feel a very strong loyalty for their church and an intense pride that does not allow for questioning. Yes, there have been some, like me, who came out, those were the ones who were questioning their own faith when God sent someone to show them the truth.

Praise the Lord for those who have come out of the wicked system of Catholicism, once they do this, they will never return. When we are in it, without Bible knowledge we cannot see all the heresy, we have to come out first, while looking back after learning God's Word, to see the evil there.

When we trusted Christ, He began to open our eyes to everything we were taught, showing us the evil of it all. I am saddened every time I meet a believer who thinks Catholic is just another Christian denomination. IT IS NOT!!!!!! It is paganism, heresy and devastatingly wicked. There is no doubt it is a large part of the last days apostasy that will facilitate the power of the anti-christ.

Every Day is a Miracle

Those who insist on requiring an outward sign of their salvation through the speaking in tongues or any other sign are operating from the standpoint of lacking faith.

God does not need a sign to know who we are in Him, and mankind only needs what God already told us about what is required for salvation.

Acts 16:31 "…30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.…"

Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Matthew 12
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.…

The evidence that we were born again was our faith and what God did in changing us as described in Galatians 5: His Spirit in us working to cleanse us for the rest of our lives.

No more sign is needed, no more miracle. The miracle is that Christ lives in us day after day, putting up with our silliness while continually redirecting our actions and attitudes to line up with His.

I don't know about you, but every day seems like a miracle to me.

2 Corinthians 5:7 "7 For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Warning is our Job

There are many believers who worry about being acceptable to non-believers so that the believers will listen to them.

We are not called to be acceptable or liked by non-believers, we are called to speak truth and leave all the results to God.

There have been people accused of being unbalanced because they spend so much time warning others of the wrath to come. If we take a close look at the prophets in the Old Testament, all we see is warning and rebuke.

We are living in wicked times, warning is not only necessary it is vital to the message. Read the words of Christ, you will not see continual praising for good deeds or accolade for accomplishments, just the opposite.

Christ came to offer salvation to the lost, that meant that He had to show them they were lost and then present the cure, which was believing in Him, knowing He paid our penalty, all we had to do was trust Him.

When we have trusted Him then He cleanses us, makes us new and provides a home in heaven for us.

Praising others is not very helpful when they are on their way to hell. If someone is standing on the railing of a bridge, enjoying the view from up there, is it wise to compliment them on their stance, the view or their happiness about it? NO, the wise thing to do is to warn them strongly that they could fall off and die in a cold watery grave.

We believers have been left here to warn of God's wrath to come, that those who are lost would have an opportunity to become saved from that wrath and their own sin.

Luke 3:7 "So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

If we are fearful that someone will dislike us or malign our character because we speak truth, then we are not ready to witness. When we witness, our resolve ought to be to get God's message from our mouth to the hearers ears, it is not our aim at any time to get the hearer to like or validate us. We are irrelevant in this matter of witnessing.

Romans 3:3-5 "…3 What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED."
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)…"

"God doesn't grade on a curve, He grades on the cross."

No one will be able to say, "but Lord, I was better than that person over there", or "I was with that believer and they were good on my behalf."

Some people actually think they will get into heaven on a relatives merits. I was once told that, before my husband was saved he said to me, "I will get into heaven because of you." LOL, LOL

I clearly explained that he had to get his own, I could not lift a finger to help him except to tell the truth and pray for him. His face when white, realizing that he would have to trust Christ for himself.

Praise the Lord, it was shortly after that, he began to think about it and became born again. I think we might be surprised at how many unsaved people think like this.

I desperately wanted him to become saved, I prayed and prayed and prayed, after I stopped haranguing him about it, he saw that I had given up trying to change him, that is when Christ went to work on him.

I believe to this day that God told me to witness to him, but I had taken it to a whole new level of nagging God never intended. God said in my heart when I cried out to Him to save my husband; "when you are finished nagging him, then I can begin to work on him.

That is exactly what happened, so often we think we have to be the ones to make it happen, when God wants us to speak a few times, live it ourselves and then He will do all the rest. We can trust Him to do what is needed.

I believe too, that this is the reason that God said, "if they don't receive you shake the dust from your feet", because all the nagging in the world will not change a person's heart, it is God who works in them. As long as they have the information, we can trust God to work without us. Our voice becomes a sounding gong, all the person hears is the gong.

In short: speak purposely and clearly as led by the Holy Spirit and then stop and allow God to work His miracles in another person's heart.