2014-03-11    Ron W. Nikkel  (Prison Fellowship International)

 
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Brothers in Arms

 
Relationships can be difficult.
 
Have you ever experienced a relationship turning toxic?  Have you experienced the pain of friendship turning bitter and slipping into rivalry and enmity?
 
The streets and prisons of the world are brimming with twisted stories of broken relationships, painful divorce, betrayal, physical violence, sexual abuse, and murder involving friends and family members.  We live in a world where toxic relationships erupt in enmity between families, community factions, political parties, tribes and races, and nations.  But every once in awhile we see a great reversal, in which bitter enemies are somehow able to cross through the mire of hatred and anger between them into friendship.
 
During a visit to the Philippines during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos I met two men who had every reason in the world to detest and even hate each other.  They were on opposite sides of a volatile political conflict.  Roger was a young bombastic political revolutionary intent on overthrowing the Marcos government.  In today’s environment he would have been labeled a terrorist, an enemy of the state.  Vicente, on the other hand, was a retired military general who was an ally of the President.  He was feared as a strict disciplinarian, a tough stern man to be reckoned with.  Brigadier General Raval was as loyal to the Marcos regime as Roger was passionate in the cause of Maoist revolution. 
 
Shortly before increasingly beleaguered Philippine President Marcos declared martial law in 1972, he ordered General Raval out of retirement and appointed him as National Prisons Director.  His approach to the prisons was the same as his tough approach to military discipline and it did not take long for General Raval to become feared by prison guards and inmates alike.  One report stated that the mere sight of his service vehicle approaching a prison was fearsome, everyone would run for cover. No one was exempted from his temperament.  With the imposition of martial law the prisons were becoming increasingly overcrowded.  Hundreds of student protesters and revolutionaries were captured, detained and imprisoned – among them the outspoken and incendiary communist agitator known as Roger “Bomba” Arienda. 
 
Sentenced to a twelve year prison term on weapons charges, Roger found himself in the dark dank confines of New Bilibid, the most maximum security prison inside the vast Muntinlupa prison compound outside of Manila.  Isolated, completely deprived of freedom, and unable to help in the revolution against the enemies of his people Roger was as bored as he was angry.  One day when he was allowed into the small prison library he spotted a little red book with black lettering.  His heart leapt within him as he tucked it under his shirt, relishing the thought of reading the little red book of revolutionary quotations by Chairman Mao.
 
Back in his cell he eagerly opened the book and to his utter chagrin found that the little red book was not by Chairman Mao but the Gospels of Jesus Christ.  He threw it across his cell in disgust.  However, as boredom overtook him he eventually picked it up and began reading about Jesus and a revolutionary way that was completely opposite to everything he had believed.  It was the revolutionary path of forgiving enemies instead of killing them as communism had taught.  Roger could not believe what he was reading about the power of love, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation instead of the tactics of terror and violence which had defined his life.
 
As he continued reading a sense of peace and tranquility began edging out the deep anger, resentment and loneliness in his heart.  Roger realized that the tactics of hatred and conflict that he had pursued as the solution for his country would only turn the tables and perpetuate hatred and conflict.  By contrast, the revolutionary way of Jesus was actually far more revolutionary than the ideals and tactics of Maoist communism.  Rogers heart turned from Mao to Jesus and he began reaching out to his former enemies, among them General Raval the Marcos ally and head of prisons.  And ever the incendiary agitator, Roger began to champion the revolutionary way of Jesus among his fellow prisoners. 
 
Three years following Rogers’ release from prison I went to Manila to meet him.  I’d heard his story but wanted to meet him for myself and to connect with his growing prison outreach.  When Roger met me at the airport he told me his gripping story; he had not lost any of his revolutionary fervor.  “Now there is someone else I want you to meet,” he said as we drove through the unbelievably congested streets into the city, “I want you to meet my board chairman – General Raval – we’re on the same side now.”  And when we met – the stern Brigadier General who was part of the Marcos regime, Roger a communist agitator who now followed Jesus – they called each other brother, and embraced. 
 
“How improbable and radical is that,” I thought to myself.  A lot of people think that religion is a panacea and that Christianity is for wimps.  But as I watched Roger and the General that day, and saw the profound impact that their new friendship was having on others on both sides of the conflict.  I also saw how following Jesus in the revolutionary way of loving and embracing ones’ enemies is far more difficult and courageous than following the normal instincts of hatred and violence and retaliation.  It is so easy for friends and brothers to become enemies who bare their arms against each other – it is so much more difficult for enemies to lay down their arms and embrace each other as friends and brothers.  But that is the revolutionary way of Jesus.