By David Ryser
God
favors a certain type of heart, not a certain type of people. (Mark Pederson)
I recently had to give up listening
to political talk shows. In part, I did
this because I found myself fuming against the stupidity of human
government. What other kind of human
government is there? I also discovered
that I was beginning to be in fear concerning (among other things) the current state
of the economy and the threat of terrorism fomented by some practitioners of “the
religion of peace.”
I find that neither anger nor fear
brings me any closer to Jesus.
As I was perusing a Christian
website yesterday, I came across a bed-wetting article warning of the coming of
the Muslim hordes to America. It seems these demon-worshiping monsters are
dedicated to the overthrow of the United States and the imposition of
their religious law. And, for good
measure, they are also out to kill me and my family.
I am, as yet, unclear as to just exactly
how they propose both to kill me and impose their law on me at the same time.
This is not to say that I am
unaware of, or unconcerned with, this worldwide threat against life and
liberty. But I get very nervous when
nominal lovers of Jesus confuse patriotism/nationalism with Christianity. The Kingdom
of God managed to muddle along somehow
before the United States was
founded, and I imagine it will continue to thrive even after the United States
ceases to exist.
God is not an American.
As for the Muslim threat to the
world, I defer to the expertise of my friend Cliff who ministers in the Muslim
villages of Uganda. Pointing to the book of Jonah, Cliff believes
that we Christians will either convert the Muslims or serve them. He prefers the former, so he preaches the
gospel with power to people who respond in faith when they see the miracle workings
of a God who is near to us, alive, and active (as opposed to a god who is
distant, unknowable, and inactive).
I prefer Cliff’s methodology to
that of the author of yesterday’s article who suggests we either deport or kill
the Muslims in order to safeguard ourselves and the nation of Israel. After all, the United
States is vital to Israel’s survival…isn’t it?
Not according to the Bible.
Anyhow, because I am currently
teaching a semester-long class on the book of Jonah, I have thought about Cliff’s
theory a lot recently. Some lessons from
this wonderful little book might be helpful in assisting us to respond to a
very real threat in our world.
The story is a familiar one. The prophet Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city
of the Assyrian empire, and prophesy its destruction (1:1, 2). Because he is a prophet, and a contemporary
of the prophets Amos and Hosea, Jonah knows that the Assyrians will be the
instrument of God’s judgment upon Israel. He also knows that if the Ninevites respond
with repentance to his prophecy of destruction, then God will likely relent of
His judgment upon them (4:2).
Jonah hates the idolatrous
Assyrians. And he loves his people. To safeguard Israel (Where have we heard this
line before?), he opts to go in the opposite direction from where God wants him
to go (1:3). He figures that if the
Ninevites don’t hear God’s warning, they will be destroyed in forty days (1:2
& 3:4). Israel will be saved!
Of course, it never occurs to Jonah
that God’s doomsday clock does not even begin to tick for Nineveh until he arrives there.
Along the way, Jonah gets several
lessons about God’s character and His love for all people…even the Assyrians. The Ninevites repent at Jonah’s preaching,
turn from their wicked ways, and are spared from God’s judgment (3:1-10).
Jonah responds badly (4:1-3). And, quite possibly, God’s plan for Assyria (and
for Israel)
is ruined.
What if Jonah had received more
than just the message (eyes and ears) of God?
What if he had received the heart of God also? What if he had overcome his racism and
religious bigotry, and taken advantage of Nineveh’s
turn toward God and stayed there to teach them the ways of the Lord? What if the Assyrians had become a godly
nation, loving and serving the true God?
What if the Assyrians had conquered
Israel
by their godliness rather than by their armies?
God is not an Israeli.
We will never know what would have
happened if Jonah had been God’s apostle to the Assyrians. Over time, the Ninevites returned to their
old ways. They became enemies of Israel. Because of Israel’s
ungodliness, and failure to repent of it, the armies of Nineveh
conquered Israel
and took the nation captive. Because
they did not convert the Assyrians, Israel ultimately ended up conquered
by…and serving…them.
End of story…for ancient Israel. But what about us?
The world faces a dire threat from
radical Islam. Military and political solutions
to this problem are doomed to failure.
The “Christian-American” solution of deporting or killing all Muslims
will not work. Even if it did work, it
would be an obscenity.
The answer to this problem is and
always has been…Jesus.
What if Christians would reach out
to Muslims and demonstrate to them the life, love, and power of God? Of course, this would mean that we would need
to have all of the above qualities operational in our own lives…which makes it
a bit of a religious crap-shoot. But what
if Christians could show Jesus to Muslims?
Do you even know what the
foundation of the Muslim faith is?
The whole Muslim religion is
founded upon the belief that their god is distant, unknowable, unloving, capricious,
and inactive in the affairs of people.
If we will proclaim and demonstrate a God who is near, intimately
knowable, loving, just, and active, then we could see a great harvest for the Kingdom of God.
And Muslims are not as far from God
as you might imagine. For one thing,
they believe in the Jesus of the Bible more than does the average seminary
professor. For another, they have a
heart after God and desire to serve Him.
They don’t know Him. They’ve
never experienced His passionate love for them.
And they have never seen an example
of Him apart from us. Which makes the
task of converting them even more daunting.
But convert them we must. Or serve them.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
