Dear American brothers and sisters,
I write to you as fellow believers. I write to you as someone who is very concerned about what I am hearing from the US. I write to you as a brother in Christ. Nationality is not the issue here. We belong first of all to the family of God. As the Scripture tells us this world is not our home - here we have no continuing city. We all belong to the city that is above. As part of the body of Christ in another part of the world it distresses me to see the obvious hurt and pain you are in. Your nation has suffered a terrible blow and as citizens of that nation you cannot but be affected. As I have read numerous e-mails, talked to friends on the phone, read some of your news coverage and listened to Christian radio on the internet it is quite clear to me that you are going through something that, on this side of the Atlantic, we find hard to understand. Forgive my presumption in writing this letter. I hope it may be of some help and encouragement.
Don’t panic – I have just heard a rather sad report of people in England who are buying up all the gas masks, anti-chemical warfare suits and emergency rations they can. Amongst a small section of the population there is a real sense of panic. I am also aware that the same thing is happening in some areas of the US. Given the 24 hour news, the constant publicity and the rhetoric about war, that is understandable. However it is also irrational, self-defeating and, of greatest concern to the believer, unscriptural.
It is irrational. America is not at war, at least not in the conventional sense of the word. You are not about to fight pitched battles in your streets, have your cities bombed or face economic sanctions. Yes there is a battle against terrorism but that is different from a war against another country. In the UK we have been fighting against terrorism for over 30 years. Admittedly not on the scale of the attack on the Twin Towers but nonetheless devastating, destructive and deadly. Yet people in Belfast have to a large extent been able to live relatively normal lifes.
It is self-defeating because by panicking you are giving the terrorists victory. Their object is to terrorize. To make you live in fear. They know they cannot bring down your democracy so they are relying on you to do it. They want you to be so afraid that you will not go about your daily business, that you will give up your civil liberties to a government in order to ‘protect’ yourself. The terrorists have no interest in you. It is your system, your country that they want. Do not give them what they want.
And panic is of course unbiblical. Those of us who are Christians need to make sure that our faith is not in countries, armies or presidents. If the illusion of security has been shattered then that is a positive thing. Instead of rushing out to buy gas masks why not pray more fervently and thank the Lord that his word is true and that he is in control.
Don’t Despair - There has been more than a hint of desperation and despair in some of the e-mails I have been reading. Why? Certainly the death of 7,000 human beings is desperately sad. We weep for those who weep. But does this mean the end of the world? Was this really the day the whole world changed? Has the world become more evil and less safe? I don’t think so. One of the best sites for comment on this whole crisis is Redeemer PCA’s in New York – (www.redeemer.com) - the following is lifted from that – “C.S. Lewis pointed out that times of war or disaster don't really increase the amount of misery and death in the world, but they concentrate it and wake us from our illusion that life is manageable. "If we had foolish hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. In ordinary times only the wise realize it. Now (in war-time) the stupidest of us knows it." (C.S.Lewis, "Learning in War-Time").
The despair that we should feel is the despair of God as he looked at the world in Noah’s day and was grieved that he had made the world. It is the despair of the poor and the oppressed. It is the despair of all the consequences and effects of sin. But that should also encourage us because dreadful as the disease is we know the antidote- the good news of Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we feel the pain any less (indeed we may feel it more as we become more sensitized) but it does mean that the pain drives us to action, to care and to praise rather than to despair.
Be humble - There is no doubt that America was humiliated on September the 11th. From the terrorists point of view it was a spectacularly successful attack. Their aim was not to kill 7,000 people – people are irrelevant to them, only to be used and tossed aside. Their aim was to strike at the economic, military and political heart of America. They achieved the first two and were only stopped from the third by an act of great courage and bravery exhibited by a handful of passengers on the fourth flight. Nonetheless it is the case that despite billions of dollars spent in counter espionage and military hardware, a group of men armed with box cutters managed to destroy the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon. It was a humiliation.
Therefore America will seek and get revenge. That is understandable and even in some sense justified. But Christians need to be careful. The reaction of hurt pride is not to be instant vengeance. We should seek justice but we need to do so in humility. It is almost blasphemous to label a revenge attack ‘infinite justice’. How dare any government think that it is capable of providing infinite justice? – only God can do that. But if politicians have acted in a proud, defiant and boastful manner, some representatives of the Church have not been much better.
The infamous Jerry Falwell seems to have acknowledged the need for repentance. He seems to have regarded the attack as a judgment of God. Leaving aside the dodgy theology, Mr Falwell’s statement did at least have the appearance of humility until you realized that he was not advocating repentance on his own behalf but rather blaming the homosexuals and abortionists. One could just as easily argue that it is the judgment of God upon the church for tolerating some of the aberrations and false theologies that we do.
No. Real humility does not seek someone else to blame. Nor does it mean that we exalt ourselves and proclaim ourselves to be better than others. Real humility accepts that, whilst disasters such as the tower of Siloam or the Twin Towers may be nothing more than general manifestations of the consequences of the fall, there is a need for each one of us to repent. There is a need for Afghanistan to repent, and Israel and America. There is a need for Bin Laden to repent and Bush and Blair. There is a need for you and for me to repent. We cannot repent for others but we can come to the Lord for ourselves. He is shouting to us in our afflictions.
That repentance is not the repentance of fear – ‘ I had better repent or I will be killed’. Rather it is the repentance of real godly sorrow and a turning to the only source of real joy, peace, forgiveness, justice and security that we have – the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are an American and a Christian rejoice that you bear the name of Christ. Certainly be proud of your country but please do not equate it with God or his kingdom. Seek your security, your hope and your life in him. He will cause wars to cease and the nations to be still before him. Perhaps it would be good if he began with us.
I write this to you in the hope and prayer that you will know the peace of God which passes all understanding. The Church in Scotland is praying for the Church in America. We also pray for the Church in Israel and in Iraq and in Afghanistan. We belong to the one Lord who has broken down the dividing walls of partition. May he use this tragic event to awaken us and bring revival to both us and our countries.
Yours in Christ
David
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