Notice how certain celebrities like to give the Peace Sign?

Revelations 6 reveals the Antichrist is an archer with a bow. Think about the position of the bow hand's fingers upon shot execution. Daniel 8 says he will take center stage of world politics as a man of peace with a peace policy.

Satan is often referred to in Bible study as "The Great Counterfeiter" or "The Great Imitator." He seeks to counterfeit who God is and what He's doing in order to deceive.

For time immemorial God is a symbol of peace and rest. The dove is even a type of the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

After the Flood, Noah sent forth a dove and when it returned to him with a plucked off olive leaf, he "knew that the waters were abated from off the earth." (Gen. 8:11)

Noah stayed on the ark "yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more."

The dove finds rest, we're told in Matt. 3:16-17, with the baptism of Jesus Christ, who "went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

A good definition of peace is "the cessation of againstness," or the cessation of hostility.

The Bible makes it clear there is no real peace for a person separated from God and there's no other way to have peace with God except by trusting in His Son and what He accomplished dying on the cross at Calvary. (Col. 1:18-19)

"Do you realize you were an enemy of God?" my pastor, Richard Jordan of Shorewood Bible Church (Rolling Meadows, Ill.) says in a sermon I have on tape. "There was a war, a hostility, an againstness against God. You were an enemy in your mind by wicked works. You were doing things that you knew displeased God and you were doing them knowing that that's what was happening and willingly thumbing your nose in the face of Almighty God. You say, 'Me?' Oh, yes, you do remember those days, don't you?"

Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

Similarly, Proverbs 18:2 says, "A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself."

The Bible takes for granted that man in his rational state of mind is going to believe and know there's a God.

"Did you ever think about why people don't believe in God?" says Jordan. "It isn't because they can't, it's because somebody taught them not to and they wanted not to. People want to say in their heart there's no God because they want to go out and live in sin and do what they want to do and never face judgment about it, never give account of it, never be called into question for it—'just do my thing and do it the way I want to do it, satisfying myself.' "

The reason people want to eliminate the Bible from all aspects of life and discount its accuracy is because they know deep-down it's got them pegged. The mindset is, "I don't even want to think about that Book possibly being who God really is and I don't want any of what it says infiltrating my mind."

Psalm 10 says that "the wicked, through the pride of his countenance," says in his heart, "God hath forgotten."

The thinking is because God doesn't go "WHAP!" every time a sin's committed, He's obviously forgotten, doesn't care, and isn't going to call anything into account. Therefore, "I'll just go on and do whatever I want."

Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

The Bible says repeatedly that the beginning of wisdom and understanding is "the fear of the LORD."

While the fool's heart wants an alibi to do what it wants to do, and develops mental gymnastics to justify all actions, there's no peace in that. Trying to be indifferent, forget or push it out of the mind won't work in the end.

"No, peace, no peace, no peace," my pastor always reminds us of the life of an unsaved person.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5:1 that "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

In Phil. 4:7 he assures, "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

This kind of peace, so far beyond understanding, isn't attained through human viewpoint or human merits or religious ceremonialism and performance. Another way of saying it passes understanding, says Jordan, is it's "the peace of God that's better than understanding why.

"There's something better than understanding why," he explains. "It's that peace of God that captivates the heart of the Believer and walks with Him. . . where before there was fear and dread and hostility, now there's joy in God and His complete and total blotting out of sins that gives perfect peace."