There is a lot of noise recently, stemming from terrorist attacks and from the atrocities committed by ISIS. The attack in Paris on November 13 sparked an outrage over the mass media and the social media. People created hashtags such as #prayforParis, superimposed French flags on their profile pictures, and the news agencies deal almost exclusively with the unfolding of that story.
Honestly, I don’t understand why all that hype. Terrorist attacks happen on a daily basis somewhere in the world, yet we don’t see such mobilization by so many people. Israel, for example, faces terrorist attacks almost every single day, but only few people speak about that. Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and the list could go on and on. But everybody still speaks about 9/11, about the London terrorist attack, and some may even still remember the attacks that took place in Spain in 2004. What makes the difference? Why all the outrage about the “violence perpetrated against the Palestinians”, yet not even a word of sympathy for Israel, whose children and old people are being killed by internationally admitted terrorists?
Now, I understand that the world is confused and shocked of such things happening. I also understand that they give a lot of (undue) credit to the media reports. But what I don’t understand is why, those who claim to be followers of Jesus, those who say that they worship Him as their Lord, follow those crowds and fall in the same trap. And before anyone accuses me of being unsympathetic towards human suffering, I will explain my position here.
Terrorist attacks, although increasing in intensity and frequency, are nothing new. If someone pays attention, they will know that it has been happening for a long time now. I honestly do feel sorry for any victims, especially for those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord. I just refuse to be blinded by the smokescreen that the media wants to promote and hide some much more important facts. For example, the media propaganda has been very successful in swaying the public opinion in the USA. A survey to find out if America should accept refugees from Syria showed that at least 30 out of the 50 states refuse such request, on the pretence that terrorists hide among them and thus they put the country at grave risk. So, they effectively say, “we don’t care if those folks are being chased by the same monsters who commit those cold-blooded murders of innocents, we don’t care if children, who lost their parents and families in that war need someone to take care of them, we just refuse to even listen to any of their plights”. Of course they don’t use such language. After all, we need to be politically correct. The terrorists are the monsters, the bad guys, not like us, the law-abiding citizens.
Then there is another issue in America, which spreads to the rest of the world, having a big impact in the Christian world. It’s called “same-sex marriage”. There is a huge issue about that in the U.S. of A. It has divided more than Christians and secular people. It is Conservatives vs Liberals, Humanists vs Christians, Blacks vs Whites, and it gets worse by the day. And if you think that, by getting rid of those issues we will have peace, you are absolutely wrong. We hear the masses say “let’s annihilate ISIS and the problem will be solved”. Those are the same folks who, a decade ago, were saying the same thing about Al Qaida. And before that it was the PLO. And before that it was the ETA. And before that it was the IRA. And before that… Do you see the pattern? It goes on and on and on! The Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, there will always be someone. And so we, the Christians, who have been commissioned to bring the gospel of peace and love to the world, are being caught up with current events and miss the real picture!
So, just what is the real picture? The real picture is that people perish every single day, not necessarily to acts of terrorism, and we, the body of Christ, who used to perform miracles in the name of Jesus and who brought the greatest revolution on earth, are weak, inactive and indifferent. No, don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating any humanitarian work just for the sake of it. There are already many secular groups and movements that do that. And they seem to be far more effective than the church. Many African nations that were given the light of Jesus through missionary work, are back into darkness, after the very effective work of communist groups and, more recently, radical Islam. And speaking of radical Islam, it grows more rapidly than any other group, incorporating even members of nations where Christianity was the most popular belief. In other words, the devil is succeeding in his deception.
This work of blowing a smokescreen and working in the background is nothing new for the devil. In relation to the body of Christ, it has its beginning way back, just a couple of centuries after it was established by Jesus Himself and His apostles. After the pouring of the Holy Spirit and the rapid growth of the first church, the way of Jesus spread so fast and so far, that it threatened the then established order. Persecution did not work; in fact, it made things worse for the empire. People of the immediate inner circle of the emperor’s trustees and even his own family became Christians and pledged their allegiance to the King of kings, something that the emperor considered a treason of sorts. The first emperor to successfully quell the spread of Christianity was Constantine of Byzantium. He thought that, by making everyone a Christian, nobody would be a Christian, so he suggested that every Roman citizen should become one. He “gave the example” by publicly declaring that he was now a Christian. Yet many were unconvinced and unwilling to give up their religion (the pagan one) for something that seemed to change a man’s inner life, and that is why later on, another Byzantine (Roman) emperor, by the ironic name of Theodosius (translated “God-given”), made a decree by which any citizen of the empire who would not become a Christian, should be exiled or executed. So the poor pagans were forced to have “Christ” pushed down their throats rather than die. And then the divisions started. Should we have the pope as the head of the church or the emperor? Thus the Roman Catholic vs the Greek Orthodox schism was created. Later it was the dilemma, should there be icons in the church or not? And so the iconoclasts vs the icon worshippers schism was created. And the divisions went on and are still going on. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Reformed, Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians, Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopals, Methodists, Pentecostals, and the list goes on, each group claiming to have the ultimate truth, trying to prove it even by killing its opponents. And lest anybody says that this is ancient history, I will bring things to this day.
We still have different dogmas and denominations, don’t we? We fight over things such as worship style, place of worship, doctrine, finances (this is a big one), number of members and other such “important” issues. We worry about our safety and avoid helping those in need. We worry about our status and avoid approaching “the gays”, the unconventional and the rejects of the society. And while we are over busy quarrelling about our differences, the devil unhindered spreads hatred and disaster in the world. We have become like little children who fight over a toy, forgetting that it is the togetherness and the fun of play that matters more than the silly toy. So, instead of worrying where the next terrorist attack is going to happen, how about we pray and approach those terrorists? How about we start bringing some of them to the Lord who is love? Or do we ignore that many of them have turn into violence because they are fed up watching “God’s people” put up a “good and nice” mask, attending religiously Sunday morning services, paying tithes and being involved in “ministries”, while in their regular lives we are worse than those “monsters”? At least they are real, they show their anger and frustration. We, on the other hand, crowd churches, even “mega-churches”, built by the sweat and blood of the misled who are made to believe that they “sow seeds of faith” and being given empty, meaningless promises of prosperity.
We are good in wearing masks. We have been trained to act and we do it so naturally, that the actors of the ancient Greek tragedies would be so envious of. We are fake, and yet we criticize and condemn those “dirty sinners” who seek the truth that we withhold in lies. We are more than willing to “stone the criminals”, even those who have nothing to do with us, just because they don’t fit our “proper” image.
Jesus said “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:16-18). Those things happened in the first church. That was because “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32), unlike today that we are divided over petty issues. We need to repent of all our religiousness and pettiness and “remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works…” (Revelation 2:5). We need to remember that we are the illegal immigrants, the terrorists, the “bums”, the murderers, the homosexuals and the perverted. In fact, “…such were some of you…” (1 Corinthians 6:11). Unless we approach those “lost souls” in that spirit, the spirit of the redeemed and the spirit of love, we only have religion that brings hatred and death. Jesus was called “the friend of the drunkards and the prostitutes and the tax collectors”. The false church, the prostitute, Babylon, is doomed with destruction (Revelation 18:1-3). The only way for us to be saved is to come out of it (verse 4) and even give our lives, if necessary, for the salvation of souls, just like the first Christians did in the arenas of the Coliseum and the various persecutions. God is calling His own to come out of religion and live the life of the Spirit. How will you respond to His call?
