The Singapore Straits Times today reports that radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has called for the killing of Americans “without hesitation” in a video message posted on jihadist websites.
This is a perfect opportunity for American Christians to respond precisely as Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5:44:
(1) Love your enemies.
(Don’t know what “love” means? Check out 1 Corinthians 13, then try praying something like this: “I will speak with patience and kindness about radical Yemeni clerics. I will not be jealous of them. I will not be boastful or proud about my own wisdom and knowledge of the truth compared to them. I will not speak rudely about them. I will not demand my own way. I will not be irritated with them. I will not keep any mental record of his call for my killing. I will not be glad over injustice when nothing happens to him. I will rejoice when the truth (specifically, when Jesus, who is the way, the TRUTH, and the life) wins out. I will never give up hope that one day Christ will reconcile Anwar al-Awlaqi to himself; I will never lose faith in God’s ability to save; I will always hope for the salvation of terrorists and those who support them; I will always endure in God’s kingdom.”
(2) Pray for those who persecute you.
Stop and pray with us for Anwar al-Awlaqi to know the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of God’s love for him—that he might come to know the salvation offered to him by Jesus Christ—that God would bless him with a long life during which he might hear of God’s love and free gift of salvation.
“If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt IRS officials do that much. If you are kind only to to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even yoga-practicing tree-worshipping body-crazed celebrity-focused pagans do that. But you are t be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:44-48, with a few liberties in translation)
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