“Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble...before 
the sun and the moon and the stars go dark.” –Ecclesiastes 12:1-2

I wrote once about the importance of remembering who you are and where you come 
from, but I think even the reminder itself bears remembrance. We all too often forget the 
things we’re supposed to remember in life, despite writing notes to ourselves, leaving 
reminders on our phones, and all the other myriad of ways with which we try to jog our 
memories.

The prophecy contained in that passage above can easily be missed, but if you pay 
close attention, you will see similar words in Matthew 24:29 (referencing Isaiah) and 
Revelation 6:12, both of which prophesy that the return of Jesus Christ and the gathering 
of his people will be directly preceded by the Sun, moon, and stars going dark. In 
essence, the above scripture says. “Remember your creator before he comes back.”

While the exact time of the rapture can never be known, and the eschatological scholars 
will be debating until kingdom come about the exact chain of events which lead to the 
rapture, I propose to you that the message of this passage is far simpler: just Remember. 
Remember the Lord your God, regardless of the circumstances which come your way.

I have previously stated my personal belief that Matthew 24 is a chapter of the bible 
which needs to be understood literally, and not in some lofty metaphorical sense. Jesus 
was explaining clearly to his disciples that the events which led up to his return would 
be unmistakable, and that they would also involve untold hardship for his followers all 
over the world. Looking also at Revelation 6, you can see that directly before the mention 
of the sun, moon, and stars going dark, there is a lengthy and often-unremarked-upon 
section of scripture which stipulates that God’s return won’t be manifested until “the full 
number” of those who were to be killed for their testimony in Christ is completed.

While at present we still live in a free society which embraces people of all faiths, if the 
prophecies of Jesus and John are to be correctly understood, we must assume that at some 
point in the future, that will change. This change could happen gradually over time, or 
perhaps could come all at once as a result of a catastrophic set of events. In either case, it 
should not be assumed that America’s religiously tolerant attitude will persist forever.

Some pastors are very good at pointing out that, as it says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “anyone 
who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus WILL be persecuted.” However, most 
of them tend to gloss over the messy bits like this because, frankly, it scares away 
new converts. Nevertheless, this is a truth which should be not only understood by all 
Christians, but embraced: If you hope to reach Heaven one day, you should be prepared 
to get there at all costs...to include by means of a bullet.

Paul also warns his spiritual son Timothy to “keep your head in all situations,” because 
he knows that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind.” 
That is why we need not be afraid of what may come, because God our father watches 
out for us even in the midst of seemingly terrible circumstances. Until the darkness 
comes, we should all devote ourselves to praying fervently, developing our knowledge 
of scripture, and praising the Lord. As long as America remains a place where God is 
worshipped, I believe there will still be continued health for our nation, even if it only 
limps along under the weight of its collective sin.

Finally, I leave you with the words of the prophet Jeremiah as he warned his servant 
Baruch about the coming destruction of Israel for its unrepentant sin:

“I will tear down what I have built and uproot what I have planted all over the earth. 
Shall you then seek great things for yourself? I tell you, do not seek them. For I will bring 
disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with 
your life.” –Jeremiah 45:4-5

God’s judgment on the earth may be swift and painful, and we may have to endure 
hardship before we get to heaven, but his promise to watch over us will never waver or be 
withdrawn. Hardship comes to us all, but God gives us the strength to endure all things 
for the sake of his gospel. Be prepared to die well.

It really sucks to be a firsthand witness to evil. I started reading a new book a couple days
ago called The Blood Telegram, by Gary J. Bass, in which he talks about the systematic 
genocide of the Pakistani army in Bangladesh during March of 1971. Archer Blood was 
the chief diplomat at the American consulate in Daka, the capitol of Bangladesh (at the 
time it was known as East Pakistan, since it was controlled by the Pakistani government 
following the British Partition of 1947). In the fall of 1970, Pakistan had had its first 
free and democratic elections since the military had declared marital law and seized 
the government in 1958. The East Pakistan province, commonly referred to by locals 
as Bangladesh, was a densely-populated and highly underrepresented part of Pakistan 
that had hoped to gain some more autonomy, if not outright independence, through the 
elections. When the results were announced, it was a landslide victory for the Bengali 
nationalists as they swept control of the Pakistani parliament.

Unfortunately, this is not a story about the beauty of democratic ideals. Since the United 
States had a cozy relationship with the military dictator of Pakistan, and since he was 
using his influence in the region to help Nixon broker a backroom deal with the Chinese, 
the U.S. decided that Pakistan simply couldn’t be allowed to break up. Henry Kissinger, 
the Secretary of Defense, convinced Nixon that it would be a good idea to simply violate 
our arms embargo with Pakistan (not the last time that the Nixon administration would 
flagrantly violate the law) and start arming the Pakistani military with all manner of 
tanks, bombers, and heavy and light machine guns for “defense against the Indian threat.” 
India was a democratic nation with only limited ties to the Soviet Union; yet because 
Nixon had arbitrarily picked Pakistan as his proverbial horse in the race, he and Kissinger 
chose to throw the full weight of the US Government behind the military dictatorship. 
Knowing full well that they were essentially signing the death warrants of the Bengali 
nationalists, the US government transferred literally tons of weapons and ammunition to 
Pakistan in order to secure our interests in the region.

What followed next was sadly predictable. The Pakistani military (led by an ambitious 
and somewhat alcoholic general by the name of Yahya Khan) decided to postpone the 
convening of the newly-elected Parliament for “security reasons” after inventing some 
threats from the Indian government. When the Bengalis took to the streets in protest (the 
majority of which was non-violent), the Pakistani military then mobilized its newly-
equipped army and began to impose strict curfews on the region of East Pakistan. As 
the postponement of the new government continued, tensions naturally began to mount. 
Eventually, The Bengalis decided to stop the military buildup in their region by non-violently blocking the unloading of arms and ammunition from ships and airplanes 
which were arriving in Daka every day. The military then opened fire on the crowds. 
After the shooting started, there was no going back. Pakistani troops were ordered into 
the university at the heart of the capitol of Daka, the perceived nexus of the resistance 
movement, and they began systematically executing students and professors.

Over the course of the next two weeks, the Pakistani military went on a spree of 
destruction and pillaging and rape which claimed the lives of anywhere from half a 
million to two million people, and all the while Archer Blood was sitting inside the 
US consulate office sending desperate cables to his superiors at the State Department 
chronicling the violence. Despite all of his urgent pleas and fastidious documentation, 
the US Government remained deafeningly silent to the ongoing massacres. It seemed 
the President and the Secretary of Defense were too concerned about things like China, 
Vietnam, and the Soviets to be bothered with a little tiny region like Bangladesh. Blood 
and his Consular staff were eventually smuggled quietly out of the country and shoved 
into dead-end desk jobs in Washington, where they could be closely monitored and 
prevented from leaking information to the press. Fortunately, the American Ambassador 
to India was also a witness to these atrocities, and unlike his counterparts in Pakistan who 
were being censored, he had the freedom in India to say whatever he wanted. Despite 
his vocal and public condemnation of US policy, the American people were never made 
aware of the depths of their government’s moral bankruptcy, because frankly nobody 
cared. Vietnam was the hot-button issue of the day, and anything else was considered 
“white noise” by the media.

America has paid lip service to democratic ideals for over two centuries. Yet time and 
again we have thrown our political weight behind some of the most despotic and evil 
people in the world, ostensibly for the sake of “ensuring regional stability.” This trend 
didn’t even start in the last century, but rather it has been a longstanding fixture of 
American policy that whenever and wherever our National and/or economic interests 
conflict with the wishes of a local populace, we will simply sweep them aside in favor of 
those who will bend to our will. It seems we’ve always had a bit of a double standard as 
far as the importance we place on democratic freedom.

Isaiah 58 talks about the importance of “true fasting.” While the Israelite people were 
so busy focusing on the appearance of piety and self-denial, they were in fact guilty of 
the worst kind of hypocrisy by ignoring the plight of the poor and oppressed in their 
land. As we spend the next few weeks engaging in fasts and acts of service, I hope that 
we will remember that true faith leads to far more than spending a few hours in a soup 
kitchen; it may lead to being an outspoken critic of an establishment which most people 
consider too sacred to question. Like Archer Blood, who torpedoed his career because he 
refused to remain silent in the midst of an American-backed genocide, you too may one 
day be forced to choose between saving your soul, or saving your own skin. Make the 
hard choice, because as one American Ambassador said in his criticism of US diplomatic 
efforts, “principles have always made the best policy.”

Leonard Nimoy’s passing was news that rocked me even from halfway around the world. 
Not only did I grow up loving Star Trek, but I also appreciated his particular skill for 
presenting a character who was at once both coldly logical and eminently relatable. 
Nimoy’s signature alter-ego came to define him as an actor, and in a large sense was his 
greatest contribution to cinema and society. It’s interesting to note that he resisted the 
role so forcefully upon initially being offered it, and after the cancellation of the show 
spent the next ten years or so trying to distance himself from that iconic performance. 
I guess in some sense we all struggle with the same fear, that we’ll be defined by one 
particular trait or achievement for the rest of our lives.

The idea that a perfect stranger could evoke such a visceral emotional response from 
me upon news of his passing is a testament to the fact that his work had a palpable and 
lasting impact. We all long to have such significance in life, and yet like the reluctant 
Nimoy, some of us fail to recognize that our insecurities about a particular aspect of our 
lives may be the one great barrier to achieving the significance we all so desperately 
crave. Had he listened to his inner worries and turned down the role, we may never 
have remembered the quirky sci-fi series which has now etched itself permanently on 
our cultural memory. Though the show was certainly an intellectually stimulating and 
well-acted innovation on the part of the whole cast, the ensemble would have been 
sorely lacking had it not been for one man’s contribution. A team may only be as good 
as its weakest link, but when good links come together around a solid anchor, the chain 
it forms will be virtually immovable. Though he wasn’t the leading man of the show, 
Nimoy’s presence (and even his physical stillness in performance) provided a secure 
anchor around which the other characters were free to oscillate wildly for dramatic effect.

The lessons I derive from Nimoy’s life and performance are twofold: One, embrace 
your identity. You may think that your quirks or your individual mannerisms might 
preclude you from doing certain things. Nimoy may have thought initially that he was 
too “dignified” or “serious” as an actor to take on the role of a funny-looking alien. 
Yet it was that very dignity and gravity which made that alien so singularly memorable 
among fiction characters, and even gave a wild and tumultuous 1960s culture someone 
to emulate who could operate solely on logic while the world around him was a storm of 
emotion.

Second, don’t take your contribution lightly. While an actor naturally assumes that his 
work will be used for entertainment purposes, most good actors approach their craft 
from a far more philosophical frame of mind. If Nimoy had assumed that this low-budget show was going to be a quick way to pay his bills before moving on to bigger and 
better, he never would have devoted the time and discipline necessary to create such a 
well-developed persona who ultimately inspired Gene Rodenberry to use the character 
as a metaphor for the deep psychological war that rages inside every man and woman 
on earth, which is the battle between head and heart, between left and right, between 
love and hate. Spock was more than just a foil to the callow and jovial Kirk, he was a 
metaphor for the duality of man; a proposal that without emotion, logic is cruel, and that 
without logic, emotion is an unbridled storm. Spock was ultimately far more than a TV 
character, he was a philosophical principle, and Nimoy saw that implicitly when he took 
the role.

My point in all of this is that God has given each of us a part to play in life. By playing 
this part to the utmost of our abilities we will come to the fullest expression of ourselves 
as God designed us to be. Let us not be, as Shakespeare once wrote, “a poor player 
who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.” Let us boldly
wear the face which God gave us, and commit the fullness of our skills and talents to 
the execution of the role which he gave us to play. “Before I formed you in the womb,” 
declares the Lord to Jeremiah, “I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart and 
appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”