An Updated Rerun 2009 Series
Click on the following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 and Part 12.
How to be a Radical Christian (viii).
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)
One of the divine ironies of the New Testament is that we Christians are called to love our enemies.
So, on the one hand, America must fight the Islamic Terrorists with everything our armed forces can possibly muster up in order to protect innocent people in our nation and in other nations. It’s either fight or be slaughtered. The latter is not a viable option.
But at the same time, believers are called to love our enemies and pray for them. How can this be accomplished, right?
He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17)
If you’re old enough, maybe you remember the hunger strikes in Belfast, Ireland, during the 1980’s. That was when numerous IRA prisoners at the British Maze prison made demands of the British government, and then went on hunger strikes until their demands were met.
Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister who was not a weak-kneed leader. She refused to negotiate. The results were that ten young men starved. Many more were prepared to die, but then a miracle happened.
Parents of the remaining prisoners stepped in and had their sons hooked up to life support systems without their sons’ permissions. These parents loved their children too much to watch them slowly die. The hunger strikes ended.
Consider all the years of nurturing and teaching which back up a parent’s love for a child. This love is like a tsunami force just waiting to be unleashed against supposedly insurmountable barriers. It matters not whether it’s a Western culture or a Middle Eastern one, children want to please their parents.
So, we Radical Christians need to pray and fast for the spirit of Elijah to come upon the parents of Islamic terrorists so that these parents love their children enough to dissuade them from any suicidal ventures.
Love never fails…(1 Corinthians 13:8)
(Conclusion)
A new rerun updated series beginning on Tuesday.