Changing World – Unchanging God

I’ve typically refrained from political discussion, partly because I don’t douse myself in political news and partly because there’s nothing new that’s not being said by all of the political blogs already. However, there is one thing which has crossed my mind more than once over the past four years since I voted for Bush (by default – voted Republican). Although I don’t agree with my husband or his brother that Bush is the anti-christ, I do see some very smart and strategic moves happening by the one who will command the anti-christ when he comes. He is paving the way. The persecutor became the persecuted and still had more zeal for God than many Christians today. Satan is on the move, as is God. The battle is there for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Things are changing in this world. I don’t want to be one that changes with the times. I want to be God’s servant, His ambassador, and his messenger of love and reconciliation, and this is why.

Christian Freedom is Lost in Iraq

This war, the one our president began following the unrelated attack on the US, has put in place some disturbing changes. From my memory of the first gulf war (I was in junior high), I remember a feeling of inevitability, like it was all supposed to happen. I felt like many Americans did a few years ago. There was a country in trouble who needed our help. Today I’m beginning to see just how much trouble we brought to a country that was doing fine by its own standards. An Iraq news website includes an article by Firas al-Atraqchi entitled Violence robs Iraq of Christian heritage which discusses the following:

In the early 1980s, Iraq’s Christian population numbered 1.4 million but economic strife brought on by the war with Iran and UN sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War pushed some in the ancient community to emigrate. Nevertheless, the Christian community continued to enjoy religious freedoms in the majority Muslim country until the US-led invasion of 2003…

I’m actually not all that surprised to hear this, with persecution so common in so many other countries today, but it somehow hurts more to hear of it happening in the middle east, especially during a time when our leaders are promising their good intentions. I can’t help feeling cheated, and worse, I feel embarrassed for my own everyday pain when others are being tortured for their faith.

Fayrouz Hancock, an Iraq-Australian computer programmer now living in the US, said, Iraqi Christians contributed to Iraq with their skills and loyalty to the country. It is sad to watch what happened to them for the last three years. Yes… sad. While we sit in comfort here, complaining about gas prices, people are being taunted, harassed, and killed because they choose to follow Christ.

God’s people are coming home

There is good news. God’s people are making their home in Israel again. More and more people are coming home and finding peace despite the chaos of war. Jenna Portnoy writes for a Philidephia newspaper in The New Book of Exodus:

But despite the dangerous, volatile state of affairs in Israel, thousands of Americans and Canadians, and an increasing number of Philadelphians, willingly move there every year. Many feel it is their responsibility to strengthen the Jewish state, which was founded 58 years ago this month on the concept that Israel would be a home for Jews scattered throughout the world. The process of immigrating to Israel is called aliyah (ah-lee-yah), which means “ascent” in Hebrew. Those who make aliyah are called olim (ol-eem).

It is so wonderful to hear about these brave people who are putting aside their fear to do what they feel called to do. This article is worth a read, particularly for the story of Leigh.

As the world changes we shall not

What I see as the worst change is not the escalation of Christian persecution, even in the US, or the uniting of Christians in the Homeland, but the changing of Christians into complacent “faith” followers. I’m not about to judge anyone, but I observe (in myself too) a change that can mean a slow and subtle backsliding of good Christians.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Apostle Paul lately and how fervent his life was after his conversion on the road to Damascus. He was a torturer, a persecutor of Christians. In his own words:

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

He admitted his horrific sin openly to the King and continued to tell his story of redemption, how the Lord met him on that road and saved his soul from the ultimate persecution. It makes sense that someone who experienced something so intense would immediately set out to make things right. It makes sense that Paul would devote his life to Christ and to spreading the Gospel. But by the pattern of believers today, Paul’s enthusiasm should have died down after a few years and we should have seen him stop preaching and get back to having a life.

We are authorized messengers of God’s plea to those who have turned their backs on Him. We’re the siblings who are pleading with the brothers and sisters to come back to the Father before He disowns them.

We don’t see this at all. What we see in Paul is a truly faithful follower of Christ whose love never dies, whose passion and fire never dims, but who fights for what is right, even to his death. The persecutor became the persecuted and still had more zeal for God than many Christians today. I’m not even close to Paul in my vigilance for Christ and I still have Christians tell me I’m a little too serious about it all. That strikes me. It’s terrifying to hear believers talk about other believers as “fundamentalists” as if that’s a bad thing.

A passion for reconciliation

Paul talked to the Corinthians about reconciliation. He said that since we know what it means to fear God, we try to persuade others (2 Cor. 11). There is a reason we do this – a reason it should be so important for us to try to convince others. It has nothing to do with furthering our viewpoint, or making our religion the best or the biggest. It’s about reconciling people to God in the way we have been reconciled. Paul went on:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Our spreading the word should never come from a place of personal beliefs at all. We should not be talking to people as if this is our belief or our world view that we’re defending. Our heart should be telling people that it is all from God, not from us. It is purely a message from God (not me) that says how much He loves his children and doesn’t want any of them to suffer a life without Him.

As Paul says, God is making his appeal to his people through us as ambassadors. We are authorized messengers of God’s plea to those who have turned their backs on Him. We’re the siblings who are pleading with the brothers and sisters to come back to the Father before He disowns them. It is on His behalf and according to His love. If it is not, if it is more personal for you, be quiet. Don’t try to spread the Gospel at all. Sit down and be still until you have a passion for reconciliation.

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