I wrote about the Mosul situation in the previous post for a
reason: context. I needed context for this post, and it was too unnatural to
try to cram it all into one. My first line on my previous post was about how we
as Christians (or everyone in general) need to be prepared right now. I wasn’t
just talking about events overseas. I was talking about right here, in the
states.
I have a beautiful friend who posted in desperation on
Facebook today, needing a marriage counselor. Some might think that this is
inappropriate, but I’m not one of those people. I have seen people post complaints about their spouse, and that is
always uncomfortable. But a cry for help? I’ve got no problems there. I wish we
in the Christian community were more willing to ask each other for help. We’d
all post like mad if our child were critically ill. How much more important are
our marriages? While this might seem like an isolated incident, it got me
thinking about the big picture.
What does this have to do with Mosul you might ask?
Everything. Think about the people around you. Think about the sicknesses, the
marriage problems, the family feuds, the Christian feuds. We may not live in a
society plagued with physical beheadings, but we are being destroyed
nonetheless. And the same enemy is behind it.
Yup. The very same.
We are all under attack right now, and we need to be
prepared. The enemy isn’t just “coming to steal, kill, and destroy”. He is
here, and he is actively stealing our peace, killing our relationships and
destroying our bodies. We are under attack, and it will only increase. Everything
we see going on the Middle East is going on here, just cleverly disguised.
1 Peter 5 tells us to “be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour. 9 But
resist him, firm in your faith,
knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your
brethren who are in the world.”
There are times when we are called to
fight, and there are times we are called to resist. The picture I get here is
from the movie “Twister” from back in the 90’s. There is a scene where the two
lead characters are unable to escape a tornado and have to strap themselves
onto a pipe that goes deep in the ground and hang on for dear life. The entire
landscape is being destroyed around them, and their bodies are being flung this
way and that by the winds, but they hold on. Their clothes are torn, their hair
disheveled, their faces making all sorts of weird contortions. They do not look
pretty. But they are holding on, and that’s all you can expect given the
situation.
We are entering that storm church. We are in that storm. It will wreck and ravage
our bodies, throw our entire landscape into upheaval, and it can make us slam
into one another forcefully. I pray that we resist the temptation to attribute
fault to one another, and instead shake our fists rightfully at the storm. The enemy is a hurricane of destruction, and
it feels like he has just unleashed his hoard on the earth.
Expect major hardships like bombs and beheadings, and stand
firm, placing your hope in the Lord. Expect disguised hardships, like marital,
car, and work problems, but stand firm, placing your hope in the Lord. Expect
irritating hardships like picking the slow line at the supermarket or being reminded as you take out your contacts that you just squeezed a lemon.
(Personal experience…) Expect all these things knowing that the entire world
around you, both physical and spiritual, is seeking to distract you from
looking to the author and perfector of your faith. Be prepared for petty
disagreements, but don’t give in. Be prepared for major disagreements, but
don’t give in. Be prepared to be confused on a daily basis as to who the real
enemy is, because the enemy knows that we are less effective as broken
fragments than as a unified body.
(However, neither be ignorant that Satan himself masquerades as an angel
of light.)
We can be sure that those believers in Mosul had strife and
drama amongst themselves. They were human. That’s what we humans do. We can
also be sure that all of that is forgotten when they are standing side by side
watching their children being beheaded. Cling to one another church. Be
prepared for hardship. Cling to the Lord. Cling to the others who are clinging
to the Lord. Be moved only to prayer.
