I recently read a story about some Christian pastors in Colombia that were beginning to succeed in their efforts to tell the folks in some very poor regions of Colombia about the good news of God’s love. But according to the “Voice of Martyrs”, they soon come under constant and withering attack from the paramilitary and two narco/terrorist groups call the FARC and ELN.
What struck me was that the missionaries blamed Satan, not the marxist terrorists, or the paramilitaries or the left-leaning government in Bogota. This is profoundly important to recognize in Christian efforts. These servants of Jesus realize that they are not fighting against men or political or economic rivalries, and therefore they do harbor anger or hate against the rebels, terrorists or drug traffickers. They recognize that it is the forces of hell that they are threatening—not mere men and women. Their opposition comes from Satan himself, not men and women indoctrinated by Marx, Lenin or Mao.
The issues tearing us apart in America (and all over the world!) are not liberal vs. conservative, left against right, black against white, or male against female. It’s light versus darkness—-a spiritual battle of God’s work against the enemy’s determination to stop and thwart that perfect and eternal enterprise—the Kingdom of God. Satan is not working to establish anything, but instead to disestablish, disrupt and destroy anything that points to God, His Kingdom and the betterment of mankind.
Let us vow to not make the people that disagree with us the enemy. The enemy now, as when Jesus walked on the earth, is the Prince of Darkness. By choosing to love those that differ with me I disable Satan from ruining my witness for my Lord and further his (Satan’s) agenda of anger, distrust, hate and violence.
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” Wise words from Martin Luther King Jr.
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