Good evening brethren!  I hope everyone had a productive week and is ready for the Sabbath!

Helsinki Summit

You may have read that on Monday, President Donal Trump of the United States and President Vladimir Putin of Russia will be meeting in Helsinki, Finland.  Helsinki is the site of a 1975 meeting between leaders of the communist nations of the East and the free world of the West. Although that meeting did not yield significant results, it was generally a positive step in relieving tensions during the Cold War.

The meeting next week has conjured up much talk of those original Helsinki Accords.  Most analysts agree that tensions between the U.S. and Russia are at their highest since the end of the Cold War for a variety of reasons: allegations of Russia's involvement in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, war in the Ukraine, ongoing concern over human rights violations to name a few.  

The hope is that the meeting on Monday will once again help ease tensions.  The fear is that it will have the opposite effect...

A World View

Most people - Christian or not - would generally agree with the statement in Psalm 34:14 (NKJV), "Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it."  While most people around the globe desire peace, the difference becomes what everyone thinks good and evil are.  This of course traces its roots right back to the Garden of Eden.

Fundamentally, mankind doesn't have the ability to decide what is good and evil.  Thus, we have nations and peoples that have different views. Some feel that oversight by a strong government will help keep peace and order.  Others believe that the pursuit of financial freedom will naturally sort out strong from weak. Then there's the issue of who owns what piece of land, and has rights to the resources it contains.  The list goes on and on, and with each question, there will inevitably be different interpretations on what 'good' and 'evil' are for a given situation.

The results of this are very clear, and summarized in Isaiah 59:8, where it says in part, "The way of peace they do not know..." (NIV).

Our Stance

As Christians, we should seek peace, just as we read in Psalm 34.  This sentiment is repeated in Romans 12:18, "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."

We don't have control over what our nation's trade policies are, or who is allowed to cross the oborders of the nation we live in.  But what we do have control over is our own thoughts and minds. We can start there in our own personal effort to pursue peace in the world we live in.  In addition, we have the ability to pray for peace, and ask God to speed the return of His son, when all will be shown what good and evil truly are!