© j. Alan Vokey 2017 Psalm 31:15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Roman Emperor Constantine had a vision of a cross silhouetted against the sun with the words "In hoc signo vinces" beneath it. Translated from latin the phrase means: “By this sign, conquer.” That image, those words, changed the course of human history by ushering in Christianity as the great faith of humanity ending over 300 years of persecution against the faithful. One image, one altered thought, changed life forever. When you don’t like what you’re watching on TV you switch the channel. Well, sometimes in life, when you don’t like the way things are heading, you have to switch the channels of thought and approach the issue from a different perspective, see things differently, accept alternate visions of the future. When it comes to the current persecution of Christians perhaps we need to switch the channel, change our future. The slaughter of 39 Christians on New Year’s Eve in Istanbul, Turkey marked the ending of another terrifying year of maniacal violence by the Muslim world and their persecution of Christians; and also marked the beginning of a new year of malevolence within Islam and its growing hatred for, envy of, Christians. Just calling it what it is. In case you disagree you should read the ISIS statement claiming responsibility for the attack. Here it is: "In continuation of the blessed operations which ISIS carries out against Turkey, a soldier of the brave caliphate attacked one of the most popular nightclubs while Christians were celebrating their holiday.” References (click): CNN Al Jazeera (Yes, ISIS does represent ISLAM. And let us be truthful here, if a small sect of Christians were committing such heinous atrocities on Muslims, and bragging about it, the world would be wondering why all other Christians were not rising up in arms and fighting to rid their faith of such evil. Point is: if you won’t clean up your own back yard then you must like the mess.) Each time I read about events like this it gives rise to my blood pressure. As a human being I sympathize with the fallen and their families, their communities and the global community for we see so much of this in our society now it has to be impacting the entire human race. As a Christian I am perplexed, torn between two emotions and cerebral responses to turn the other cheek as Christ taught us to do, and to strike back at those who choose to persecute us and our faith in general. Part of me wants to turn the cheek; another part wants an eye for an eye. Click "Read More" to the right to continue.... This topic is close to me for I immerse myself in the issues around Christian persecution and I read about it a great deal. I am a member or an avid follower of most of the organizations engaged in raising awareness to the problem and I continue to research and write blog postings to do my part in informing the general public about the plight of Christians worldwide – the most persecuted segment of earth’s population.
At times I think we should take the bait that groups like ISIS are dangling, that bait of war and Armageddon, to rid the world of their ugliness and restore Christianity’s global influence because it seems to have worked out quite well over the millennia. After all, Christianity, as I believe and have written about, is the greatest force of goodness humankind has ever known. So, a part of my instinct as a man tells me that we should fight against such persecution with everything we have till the world is cured of, not just Islamic violence against Christians, but of every element of life on earth that performs acts of attempting to silence the Christian voice. And then my mind begins to switch channels of thought. And I recall the story of Vibia Perpetua, the twenty-two year old martyr and her great fight against Christian persecution in the beginning of the third century. I think about how she stood up to Roman dominance and violence against the faithful; how she gave her life to the faith in spite of offers to save herself if only she would denounce Jesus. I think about how she had to pull the trembling hand and sword of a reluctant roman soldier to her own throat to commence her own execution. And I thought of the disciples who spread out around the world against great odds to bring the word and story of Jesus of Nazareth to the people. And I thought of Peter and Paul who each succumbed to severe Roman persecution, who each sacrificed so very much but maintained their clutch to Christ and were the embodiment of peace. And I thought of the roman emperor of the early fourth century, Constantine, who ended up being the father of monotheism by acknowledging Jesus as the Christ and adopting Christianity near his death which became the force behind Rome’s conversion to Christianity and its abandonment of the Gods it formerly worshipped for centuries. I thought about how the very people who crucified Christ became the same people who anointed him as God, as the Christ, as the messiah and our savior and set the world on the course of his reign and influence. It is said that the growing reputation of Christianity as a source of goodness, charity, peace and love throughout the world at that time, and in particular in Rome as the population of Christians swelled, was the motivating factor in converting the thinking and the heart of the great roman emperor. All of these things were achieved without a single instance of force or violence by the persecuted Christians. And then I thought about the goodness theory again. And as you look back throughout history, it is the goodness of Christianity that gave it prominence that eventually saved it from many periods of persecution. Well, we are in one of those periods of persecution now. Once again we need to lean into our faith and pull from it our goodness. We need to rise above murder and war and violence and be Christians: the greatest force of goodness on the planet. And again, as the early Christians did, we need to rely on that reputation to be absorbed by the population and to shine against the horror of terrorism and persecution for that will ultimately prevail; taking an eye for an eye will only leave us all blind and fighting in the dark. So, as much as it makes my heart pump harder and harder to see and read about and to hear about how Christians are being treated, slaughtered, oppressed throughout the world making me want to somehow fight back and stand up for my faith, I know that I would better serve my beliefs if I simply switched the channel on my thinking, looked at the situation from a different perspective, reminded myself of the greatness that Christianity projects onto the world and rest comfortable knowing that good conquers evil, eventually. We are living in serious times, theologically. Huge wheels are turning and much is at stake. Remaining vigilant to the Christian way, staying on that channel of thought and not getting dragged into violence is our sure road to victory.
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