John writes in Revelation :
“And the great dragon was thrown down, the age-old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, he who continually deceives and seduces the entire inhabited world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
— Revelation 12: 9
To make a long story short, “arnion” (the little lamb or Jesus) defeats “therion” (the big bad beast, dragon or serpent) and “therion” (Satan) is thrown out of heaven. He comes to earth and into the heaven on earth we call the garden of Eden to tempt the man and woman there.
One of the men he tempted was Frank Meeink, who organized the Philadelphia crew of neo-Nazi skinheads called the Strike Force. Frank was a poster child for racism and violence, attacking gays, blacks, and other neo-Nazis rarely going a week without beating on somebody.
He even created a TV show “The Reich” to recruit skinheads before going to prison for kicking a rival skinhead to within an inch of his life. You should know prison is the most segregated segment of our society, and to survive you have to identify with some racial group of Mexicans, Aryans, Blacks, or Nazis.
Frank can’t explain how he met two black convicts in prison and spent his three years there playing basketball with them, realizing everything he’d known about blacks was false.
He completed his sentence and then a Jewish antique dealer gave the ex-con a job, handling valuable antiques. It didn’t take Frank long to discover there were Jews in his family tree and he learned how to eat Kosher food, learned to speak as a Jew, and identified with the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.
He appeared with Bishop Desmond Tutu to speak out against racism. He worked with the Philadelphia Flyers to create an inter-racial league called “Harmony Through Hockey.”
Today, he speaks to high school students across the country about racism and bigotry.
Meeink, the poster child for skinhead racism and violence, is now a poster child for racial harmony. Bit by tiny bit, God’s kingdom takes root in the dragon’s world.
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga.
