There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
—Isaiah 48:22
4285 Peace In 8% Of History
Only eight percent of the time since the beginning of recorded history has the world been entirely at peace. In over 3,100 years, only 286 have been warless and 8,000 treaties have been broken in this time.
—Christian Victory
4286 Modern Crucifixion-For-Peace
On January 30, 1973, Patrice Tamao of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, allowed himself to be nailed to a cross “as a sacrifice for world peace and understanding among men.” As thousands watched on television, six-inch stainless- steel nails were driven through his hands and feet. Tamao had planned to remain on the cross for 48 hours, but after only 20 hours he had to cut short his voluntary crucifixion because of an infection in his right foot. The newspaper article had as its heading, “Crucifixion-for-peace falls short.”
4287 Lawyer’s Peace Organization
Washington attorney Charles S. Rhyme launched the World Peace Through Law organization in 1963. Its membership included highly-placed attorneys and judges from over 100 nations, for the purpose of pooling ideas on how to bring all peoples of the world under the umbrella of one law. It intends to marshall the influence of the legal community in each country behind international treaties, especially those on human rights.
4288 “We Come In Peace”
The motto of the Apollo 11 flight was, “We come in peace for all mankind.” This motto was on the plaque which was deposited on the face of the moon. The landing was on the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong and Aldrin found a tranquil and peaceful scene on the moon. There never had been any humans there to disturb the peace.
—Christian Victory
4289 Prolific Author Has One Ambition
Georges Simenon is the creator of the legendary Inspector Maigret. At 67, Simenon is probably the most prolific novelist alive. He is the most translated author in the world, except for Lenin.
In April 1970, Simenon finished his 408th novel, according to his customary and astonishing schedule of finishing a book in a mere nine days.
Simenon wrote: “I have only one ambition left, to be completely at peace with myself. I doubt if I shall ever manage it. I do not think it is possible for anyone. It is not a question of money, for that kind of happiness must come from within yourself. I do not know any man, however successful, who is completely happy. I write because if I did not, I should die.”
4290 Nobel Peace Prize
Nov. 27, 1975, marks the 80th anniversary of Alfred Bernard Nobel’s will. Why is the date of a will commemorated. That will left the bulk of a vast fortune amassed from the invention of dynamite and other explosives to the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1867, at age 34, Nobel was granted a patent for dynamite and over the next 29 years of his life he became fabulously wealthy from the manufacture of explosives.
His will, dated November 27, 1895, provided for a trust to establish 5 prizes in the fields of peace, physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature. Recipients of the prizes were to receive a gold medal, a citation diploma, and cash awards of from $30,000 to $40,000. A sixth award in economic science was added in 1969.
—Selected
4291 Toynbee: A Lifelong Pacifist
In a Time review of a new book by Historian Arnold Toynbee we are told that “half of Toynbee’s contemporaries died in World War I, and the fact made him a lifelong pacifist. He had been lucky enough to pick up dysentery, which dis qualified him for military service and thus possibly saved his life. The resulting mixture of guilt and gratitude marked Toynbee deeply.
“I have always felt it strange to be alive myself,” he writes, “and the longer I have gone on living since then, the stranger this has come to feel. Death seems normal to me to me; survival seems odd.”
4292 Best Defense Against Bomb
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who supervised the creation of the first atomic bomb, appeared before a Congressional Committee. They inquired of him if there were any defense against the weapon. “Certainly,” the great physicist replied.
“And that is—”
Dr. Oppenheimer looked over the hushed, expectant audience and said softly: “Peace.”
—Selected
4293 Second Look At History
Asked which book he would like to have with him if he were marooned on a desert island, England’s Field Marshall Lord Montgomery replied that he would like to have his own book with him, The History of Warfare.
At the same time the 82-year-old peer said that he would devote his time to reading his own writings and pondering how he could stop people from fighting.
4294 A Crime-Less Front Page
Some years ago The Cincinnati Post, a large metropolitan daily, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, presented a front page free of crime and violence, “a crime-less front page.”
By way of explanation the editors told that all news, bad as well as good, is grist for a newspaper’s mill, but that day of days they decided to put all the murders and robberies and the like on the back pages. Crime, they insisted, has a lawful place in the daily record of human affairs, but it should not be out of proportion. On Christmas day, they felt, one should not be greeted with the wicked and the lack of good will on the first page. Instead, they greeted readers with a large bannerline: MERRY CHRISTMAS.
—Tonne
4295 The Tranquil Bed
Augustus the Emperor heard that a gentleman of Rome, despite a great burden of debt, slept quietly and took his ease. So he desired to buy the bed that he lodged on. Needless to say, it was a useless purchase for the great emperor.
4296 Two Pictures
Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his concept of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among far-off mountains. The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam; at the fork of a branch, almost wet with the cataract’s spray, a robin sat on its nest. The first was only Stagnation; the last was Rest. For in rest there are two elements—tranquillity and energy; silence and turbulence; creation and destruction; fearfulness and fearlessness.
—Drummond
4297 Nesting In Lion’s Mouth
Upon the plains of Waterloo there stands a great bronze lion, forged from the captured guns of Britain’s foes in 1815. The beast’s mouth is open and snarls through his teeth over the battlefield.
When I saw it last, one spring noonday, a bird had built its nest right in the lion’s mouth, twining the twigs of the downy bed where the fledglings nestled around the very teeth of the metal monster, and from the very jaws of the bronze beast the chirp of the swallows seemed to twitter forth timidly the tocsin of peace. It was the audacity of hope.
—Walter Baxendale
4298 Nest Over Waterfall
Two artists set out to make a picture representing perfect peace. The first painted a canvas depicting a carefree lad sitting in a boat on a little placid lake without a ripple to disturb the surface. The other painted a raging waterfall with winds whipping the spray about. On a limb, overhanging the swirling water, a bird had built its nest, and sat peacefully brooding her eggs. Here she was safe from her predatory enemies, shielded and protected by the roaring falls. Real peace is the result of remaining CALM and COOL in the midst of trial.
—M. R. De Haan
4299 Christ Of The Andes
High up in the Andes Mountains, there stands a bronze statue of Christ. Its base is granite, and the figure is fashioned from old cannons. It marks the boundary between Argentina and Chile.
Engraved in Spanish are the words, “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.”
For many years, the people of these two countries had been quarrelling about their boundaries. Both countries were suffering from the mistrust created.
In 1900, when the conflict was at its peak, some citizens begged their leaders to ask King Edward VII of Great Britain to mediate the dispute. On May 28, 1903, the two governments signed a treaty ending the conflict.
During the celebration that followed, Senora de Costa, a noble lady of Argentina who had done much to bring about peace, conceived the idea of the monument.
Senora de Costa had a statue of Christ shaped from the very cannons that had been used to strike terror into the hearts of the Chileans. It was taken to the summit of Uspallata Pass and was set up at the point where the two countries meet amidst perpetual snow.
At the dedication ceremony, the statue was presented to the world as a sign of the victory of good will. Senora de Costa knelt and prayed, “Protect, O lord, our native land. Ever give us faith and hope. May fruitful peace be our first patrimony and good example its greatest glory.”
This monument stands today as a reminder that only Christ can bring real peace to the world.
—Gospel Herald
4300 Star Over Christ’s Birthplace
A Silver Star hanging over the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem was the cause of a war which involved five world powers, lasted three long years, and caused a million casualties as well as a billion and a half dollars. This was known as the Crimean War (1853–56).
For many years, the Silver Star decorating the site of Christ’s birth had been an object of controversy. The Eastern Orthodox clergy wanted to replace it with a star of its own; the Latin clergy objected. The former were backed by Russia and the latter by France. When Turkey—which then ruled over the Holy Land—sided with the Latins, Russia declared war on Turkey. Great Britain, France and Italy then rallied to Turkey’s side.
The Allies finally won. But the Russians topped off the affair with an act of extreme sacrilege. They sold at auction for fertilizer the bleached bones of 38,000 Russian soldiers who fell in the battle of Sevastopol. Two years later in 1958, the Silver Star was permanently taken off.
See also: Fear ; War ; Jer. 6:14.