Since September 11th, 2001, I've been reading, listening and
observing the world's response to ungodly acts. If you will allow me a
minute or two of your time, here are my thoughts concerning Christian
response.
As you know, knowledgeable Christians are actually seasoned terrorist
fighters. That is why G.W. Bush's response is not really surprising to
us. Each of us has learned something about attacks from the antichrist
from the time we were "born again". Hopefully, most of us have stayed
in
God's Word enough to know how to respond to unfavorable circumstances.
We all have to deal with trials and tribulations in areas of health,
family, finance, social issues or spiritual problems, just to name a
few.
When we are tempted to fear, we see in God's Word in at least 63
verses the phrase "
Fear Not
". Now I don't know about you, but
that phrase sounds like a command to me. When I see in God's Word, that
we are not to fear, then I act on His Word. After all, Jesus is Lord
and
what He says, I do.
There's a logical reason why Christians are to obey God's Word in
times like these. People who don't know God and don't know anything
about God think that fear is an acceptable response to an attack. God's
Word tells us in 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out
fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love.
Christians are being made perfect in Love
because as we are told in I John 4:8 and 4:16, "
God is Love
".
Now, look at verse 18 again, but replace the word "love" with "God".
(paraphrasing)
There is no fear in God. God is perfect and casts out
fear because fear torments. He that is fearful is not made perfect in
God.
Now look at what Jesus tells us in Luke 4:18-19
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord ."
Those of us who have studied this scripture at all,
recognize it as Jesus' declaration of his anointing. This is the
"Christ" part of Jesus, the anointed one, the Messiah. If we set these
scriptures together, we can see that part of the reason for His
anointing would be for the purpose of casting out fear. People who are
fearful have been made captives of fear. They are oppressed and Jesus
delivers those who are oppressed.
The Christian response to attack is not to be the same as the World's
response. We are to "Fear Not" because we know that Jesus is Lord and
as
Christ, He delivers us from the captivity of fear. If this seems
unrealistic then consider the examples which we have been given to
follow throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11 lists many of the people
throughout Biblical history who had every reason to fear and chose to
have faith in God instead. We know that in the New Testament, Stephen,
the apostles and Paul were just a few of those who chose faith instead
of fear. We also know that the people of the Bible are just like you
and
me. Without God, we are nothing.
However, at this time and in the condition of the world today, people
are looking for hope. They are looking for someone or something who
doesn't fear. The answer, as always, is in God's Word.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man
do unto me?
Psalms 118:6
I'm interested in how you are responding to the tragic events of
September 11. Are you afraid? Do the ongoing news reports confirm and
add to your fear? Or are you acting on God's Word? Are you showing the
world that fear does not have to be an automatic response? Along with
those who are in the world, I would really like to know.
