Last week in our VOM staff chapel service Cole Richards, the leader of our international work, talked about how we, as followers of Christ, should think about and respond to radical terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS), which is dominating the news cycle yet again this week with the videotaped beheading of another American journalist, Steven Sotloff.
Cole’s thoughts and comments went hand-in-hand with Cheryl Odden’s post last month here on the Persecution Blog sharing things Christians must remember and ways we can pray as we watch IS advance. (Her timely post has been one of our most-read blog posts of this year as so many Christians wrestle with how to think about and how to pray for the Middle East and especially for Christians caught in the crossfire there.)
One of Cole’s challenges to our staff and volunteers was to truly love radical Muslims. This is a formidable challenge, especially as we see our Christian family forced from their homes and the barbarism of crucifixions and beheadings at the hands of IS. But it is the call that Christ himself made to His followers, in Matthew 5:43-45:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighborand hate your enemy.’ 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, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
“Loving your enemies is something you have to wake up every morning and decide to do,” he told us.
“Lack of love often comes from a lack of understanding,” Cole shared. “You don’t have to agree with someone to love them, but you do have to seek to understand them.”
The day after his chapel challenge, I came across the journalism site Vice News, which has done some in-depth reporting of IS from inside Raqqa, Syria. Their reporter had amazing access to the city and saw how it is functioning under IS control, including the courts system and the religious enforcement police. Some of the images are disturbing, such as a crucified man or a young boy shouting hatred.
I share this portion of the report because in several places it deals with Christians and how they are treated. The cameras go inside a church building that has been “converted” to an Islamic education center. I found it interesting that the man inside says Christians there “used to worship the cross,” but that Muslims had helped them understand the need to worship God. There is also a segment where they visit the court department that oversees “the Christians who are still here”—those that weren’t forced to flee or killed.
I offer this video today not as an endorsement of Vice News but as an answer to Cole’s challenge that in order to answer Christ’s call to love our enemies we must first seek to understand them.
YOUR TURN: What new understanding of IS did you gain from watching the video? How will this affect the way you pray for them, and for Christians in Iraq and Syria endangered by IS’ expansion? Answer in the comments to this post.
Todd Nettleton has served with The Voice of the Martyrs for 16 years. He’s travelled to more than 20 restricted and hostile nations and interviewed hundreds of believers who’ve faced persecution for their Christian witness. As VOM’s principle media spokesperson, Todd has done more than 2,000 interviews with media outlets ranging from Moody Radio to the BBC and Los Angeles Times. He is the principle author of Restricted Nations: North Korea and was part of the writing team for four other VOM books.
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