BLOG 12/9/15. GOD’S COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY

BLOG 12/9/15. GOD’S COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY

Hey, given all of the hysterical and destructive political rhetoric polluting the media in the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino violence, it is worth taking a moment to remember that God’s people are the people of a New Creation that is (as I often remind my readers in these blogs) radically counter-cultural. The gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus heralded in his earthly ministry was inaugurated in a hostile political and religious context. It was not easy or safe. So it is worth noting that his primary Kingdom mandate includes these word to us:

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. … As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6:27-31)

God’s strategy for his people dwelling in dangerous and hostile contexts could not be stated any more clearly. If that sounds a bit much for some ears, then one needs to remember that Jesus placed sobering warnings at the threshold of our faith in him, having to do with willingness to lose our lives for his sake and the gospel’s; or our willingness to take up our own instrument of execution (his cross) and to follow him; or to suffer for his sake and the gospel’s.

So, yes, there is anti-Christian hostility abroad in the world. There always has been. To think that by faith in Christ we will “be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease” is a mistaken fantasy embraced by all too many.

I would like to lift out of the passage quoted above an awesome strategic weapon given to us: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” In other places in the apostolic teachings there is the word that we are to be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving to make our requests known to God (Philippians 4:6), or the reminder that the true and effective weapons of our warfare are not weak though being merely human instruments, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (II Corinthians 10:4).

Am I naïve, or foolish? Not at all. God has always worked in mysterious ways, and has caused his gospel to spread into humanly impossible contexts that defy human rationale. The weapon of prayer is awesome. So here’s some strategic hints for all of us who bear the name of Christ with integrity. Terrorism is real. ISIL is frightening. There is no neat political or military solution even close to dealing with it. Plus, God’s design for the jihadists and the participants in violence that has cause such huge human suffering (consider the huge wave of refugees, many of whom are Christian), is not more violence, but prayer that right in the bowels of the Islamic aberrations of violence and brutality, right in the ‘guts’ of ISIL, there will be that working of God to awaken men and women to the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ. Consider that the Quran has very affirmative things to say about the Prophet Isa (Jesus). There are already those cells of Christian faith dwelling clandestinely in rigid Islamic cultures.

It is also widely acknowledged by those who study the missionary strategy for the church, that the Islamic world is a priority. But that missionary strategy is only hindered and violated by hysterical anti-Islamic rhetoric from those who profess to be Christian. The true missioners to Islam are probably going to be those dwelling inside of Islam (yes, and ISIL) whose eyes and ears will be opened by the Spirit in answer to our prayers, so that the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ quietly recreates them and makes them his Kingdom people

This also will be enhanced by our love and hospitality expressed for the Islamic people who live among us here. … And it certainly will help if those loud negative voices who pertain to be Christian will remember that while we ourselves were still ‘enemies’ … Christ died for us.

Is this only my Bob Henderson naïveté? my illusion? I think not. I think it is God’s revealed strategy. Check it out. Be anxious for nothing … but pray for the leaven of the gospel in Islam.

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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