ISIS

  
Did the title just make you squirm a little? Did it make you angry? Did you say to yourself… No he doesn’t?

I get it. I really do. That one phrase is something I’ve been wrestling with for a while now. Could God really and truly love people who are doing such horrible things against humanity?

Surely God hates these guys just as much as we all do! 

I mean… They are killing people at an incredible rate. Raping women and children. Beheading anyone who claims to be a Christian. 

You mean to tell me… God loves those guys…

Yup! 

God doesn’t love the organization ISIS… But he loves every individual that makes up that organization! 

So much so that he gave his one and only son for them! He died so they could live. Just like he did for you and for me!

How can you say that?!?!

It’s simply… Scripture is filled with this message of love and hope. Even extended to those who WE deem unworthy. 

Remember Paul… Terrorist. Hated by Christians. Yet once he encountered Christ he was radically different. He advanced the gospel is ways we could only hope to. 

If there was hope for a Christ hating Pharisee who killed those who proclaimed Christ… There is still hope for those who are doing the same in the Middle East today. 

So what are you saying?

Should we not be fighting the evil that exists in these people. Yes! We absolutely should. They are just that… Evil. And just because we proclaim Christ doesn’t make us a doormat for people to walk all over. They must be stopped. 

But instead of wishing we’d just drop a nuclear bomb on them… Here is something else we can do…

We can pray for them! Crazy right? 

We can pray that they come to the same revelation the Aspotle Paul did. That they see Jesus for who he really is. Their savior! And that they use the same commitment to evil… As a new commitment to spread the love of Christ across that region!

It’s time to turn off Fox News and pray for our enemies… 

One last thing… Not all Muslims are evil ok… Yes they believe different. But that doesn’t make them evil. They hate ISIS just as much as we do. 

ISIS to Muslims are the same as Westboro Baptist to Christians. They’re insane. They do horrible things. But they do not represent the majority. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Whoever believes in him will not parish… But have everlasting life!

For God so loves you. For God so loves me. For God so loves ISIS.