I was working with Youth with a Mission in response to the ethnic cleansing that was being perpetrated by the Milosovich regime. Initially, we were working in a refugee camp for displaced Kosovar Albanians. Following that a small team of us went into Kosovo as the Serbian Army was retreating. This was one of the most impactful events of my relatively sheltered American life.
I knew from some of my friends who were staying in the refugee camp that horrible atrocities were being committed, but I was not prepared for the level of focused evil that we witnessed after entering Kosovo. Working with a rouge military unit known as the Tigers, Milosovich had concluded that if they only destroyed one village a week, the UN would not take notice or get involved. Fortunately, he was mistaken. While the injustice of seeing people driven from their homes was disturbing, the most distressing and impactful thing was seeing first hand how methodical the injustice was. Hour after hour of driving inland revealed a new destroyed village around every corner, and seeing that level of patient determined evil changed maniacal injustice from a read about concept to a witnessed reality. As strange as it may sound, that level of injustice has a feel to it. It leaves an residue in the atmosphere that is tangible.
And in the same way that it often takes an encouraging word to counteract a negative proclaimation, it takes a focused act of love and reconciliation to change that atmosphere.
I spent a couple of months the following year living in Kosovo as it was being rebuilt. I was amazed at the level of tangible grace over that place as it was being restored. But occasionally, I would go into a cafe, or be walking down the street, and I would feel a residual darkness over a physical place...like something was trying to keep a hold on a geographic location in the hopes of again creating injustice. While praying peace over a place would often be effective, we noticed that a visible act of kindness or reconciliation in that place was incredibly powerful in destroying that lingering sense of injustice and releasing a new identity for that place. Sometimes the anger under the surface was intense, and rightly so, but I observed that a vocal proclamation identifying what had occurred to them as injustice was sometimes needed before any forgiveness could begin.
One of the most difficult things to overcome was that some of what had been done had been done under the name of Christian. Mosques had been destroyed, and so called Christian markings left behind, sometimes at the sites of mass murders. Needless to say, many of the churches had been destroyed when the Albanians had returned, and there were some events where Muslim Albanians came into the church we were attending with firearms trying to get people to denounce Jesus at gunpoint. I was somehow never present when this happened, but the events were more than real to me. This period of time in my life ingrained into me a deep seated outlook on cultural injustice, and particularly injustice done in the name of God.
This week I stumbled onto some youtube videos of evictions occuring in Israel.
They were difficult for me to watch. They brought back memories of families that I had known personally that had lost everything including family members from ethnic cleansing.
In one of the videos there was a Rabbi explaining that God takes from who He will take from, and gives to whom He will give to. And all of the land of Israel has been given to the Jews by God.
This is hard for me. Even more so because I agree theologically with what the Rabbi said.
I am mindful that God made a promise to Abraham. A promise that He intends to keep. I am also mindful that the one who blesses Israel will himself be blessed. I have also read for most of my life stories of Israel taking the land by force, and leaving not one soul alive behind them, and that at the direction of God.
But Ill be honest. What I believe theologically is hard to reconcile with what I see happening in Israel right now. And knowing the person of Jesus, and believing that He is the character representation of the Father, I don't see much of His character in what is occurring. I found myself thinking that much of the difficulty that is foretold regarding Israel in the last days could very well be a result of actions like these. But as much as I am inclined to condemn what is occurring there, I am not going to. This is something that only God can solve and He will, but I will continue to pray for the peace of Israel.
It did get me thinking though. Mostly about actions that bring on retaliations that we then call unjust persecution, even though the actions that we perpetuated (or condoned by silence) in Gods name are what caused the persecution in the first place. Misguided zealotry so often seems to circumvent what God Himself is about to do for us, and I cant help but think that suffering for righteousness is much better than suffering for self-righteousness. In many of the online communities and forums that I frequent, I am seeing a growing anger toward Christians that is being fueled not only by events like the Westboro Babtist Church standing outside a middle-school with signs that say "God is your Enemy", but by the total lack of reconciliatory action in response to these events. I cant help but cringe at those who say this is just being persecuted for righteousness.
This George Washington quote sums it up for me. "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God." There is no question that a spirit of anti-Christ growing in the earth right now. That is something that was foretold long ago. But I cannot think, that we should sit by in silent inaction using prophecy as an excuse to allow or even condone with silence the maligning of His name by those who resemble the enemy more than they resemble Jesus.
If anti-Christ is to grow, let it grow from its own lies and have God Himself to deal with rather than be a direct result of legitimate injustice perpetuated by those who are called by His name.
We have a call to love. We also have a call to cast down every argument that exalts itself against the knowledge of the One. Especially when that argument comes from within our own ranks.
I am not suggesting that reacting in anger, with the same spirit of hatred is the answer. When you fight evil with evil, evil grows. I do think that action is called for though. I wonder what would happen if the body of Christ in this country would stop speculating whether or not Obama is the anti-Christ, and would actively display the character of Jesus Christ. What would happen if we all cried out for Jesus himself to visit Westboro Babtist Church...while they are on the road to Damascus with percecution in their hearts. What if their demonstrations were over run with people acting in Love, and in obvious opposition to those trying to repay evil for evil...demonstrating what it means to overcome evil with good.
Make no mistake, it could get messy, but a standard needs to be raised which truly represents the character of Jesus.
The rest is in the hands of God.
0 comments:
Post a Comment