We have this expression these days: “going viral.” It means when something on the internet attracts an enormous amount of attention such that thousands or even millions of people click in to watch. Babies or puppies or kittens are likely subjects. Or a compelling speech like the post-game interview with high school football player Apollos Hester. But when some things “go viral”—like an actual virus—there is nothing entertaining about it.
In West Africa today there are 6,000 confirmed cases of the monster virus Ebola, 3,000 people having already died. Last week the World Health Organization gave this shocking assessment: if drastic measures are not taken, the world could be looking at 1.4 million people infected by this coming January. At some point Ebola becomes a problem not just for West Africa, but for any country in the world receiving air travel from anywhere else. This is the nature of viruses. They exist to spread.
Evil seems to be “going viral” these days as well. We’ve always known the potential for great cruelty and wickedness in the human heart. This is not the first era in human history when evil regimes have decapitated people and impaled their heads on posts to strike terror into their opponents. But now it is on YouTube. The virus spreads. Lost and disaffected people catch it and the fever robs them of their humanity.
When the virus of evil rides on the host of religiosity, it is particularly malevolent. When a group says that it will do anything to get its way, that’s one thing. When a group says that it is doing so to fulfill the will of its deity, the virus has a frightening resistance to anything rational or humane. Ebola does not respond to cough medicine; violent religious extremism does not respond to reason or civility.
What can an ordinary person do about any of this? That’s a question I ask myself every day. Here are just a few ideas.
1. We should have a mature, biblical view of the nature of violence. (“What Does the Bible Say About Violence?”)
2. We should be wide-eyed and alert to events unfolding in the world. (“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” Lk. 21:36).
3. We should make that plea to God which Jesus told us to: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
(You are free to join in a 30-day reading on the topic of “Kingdom Come” starting this Wednesday, October 1. Details HERE.)
This section is from a friend working in a Muslim country The last sentences are sobering but encouraging. Mel’s blog is accurate.
“We could have never met if it wasn’t for the grace of Allah”, the Ustad said to me while shaking my hand. “Why is that?”, I ventured. “Well, in the past when I saw white people, I either avoided them all together or tried to kill them!”
The man who was talking to me is an ex-Al Q– operative who had been leading jihad campaigns for 10-years in SE Asia, but who has now found Christ. I met him at a meeting of like-minded people where he then presented a powerpoint entitled “IS and Jihad”. In his presentation he told us that he knew that fighting extremists with bombs and guns will never work—for he had tried it against Christians and found it lacking! Instead, what we need now is a “Soft Jihad” where we invite people into the “shariah Isa” (Jesus’ law) which is much higher than any other law. He went onto say that urging committed Muslims to not kill out of respect for human rights is a non sequitur—they will never allow any ideology, national law or UN Declaration on Human Rights to be over Allah’s law! But if we can invite them to study the law God gave Jesus, they will find a law is actually higher and better for—unlike Islamic law—it leads to true peace.
(Republished with my friends permission.)