When the Church No Longer Weeps for the Lost

 Satan’s Work of Blinding Hearts to the Light of Christ

There is a burden upon my heart that I cannot easily lay aside. I have written about it many times, yet the indifference appears to grow worse. I am concerned about the number of professing Christians who can hear about the suffering and death of innocent people without showing compassion.

People are being killed, wounded, displaced and deprived of the necessities of life. Children who had nothing to do with the decisions of political leaders are suffering. Mothers are grieving over their sons and daughters. Families are searching through ruins for their loved ones. Yet some Christians speak as though the suffering does not matter because those people have been labeled our enemies.

The Palestinian is called a terrorist. The Iranian is called a threat. The Muslim is called an enemy. Once the label has been attached, some Christians no longer see a soul. They no longer see a man, woman or child created in the image of God. They see only a member of a group they have been taught to fear or hate.

This is how dehumanization begins. Before violence against a people can be accepted, those people must first be stripped of their humanity. They must be described as though they possess no rights, no innocence and no value. Once that happens, their destruction can be presented as necessary, righteous or even pleasing to God.

Recently, Israel’s Sephardi chief rabbi, David Yosef, reportedly declared that the Palestinians are not a people, have never been a people and “have no rights here.” He also spoke of Gaza’s destruction and Jewish return to the land.

As a Christian minister, I cannot remain silent about such words. This is not an attack upon all Jewish people. One rabbi does not speak for every Jewish person. Neither should Jewish people throughout the world be blamed for his statement. Nevertheless, he occupies a prominent religious office, and his words must be confronted.

I am also troubled by the silence of religious institutions that would immediately condemn comparable words if they were spoken against Jewish people. If a Muslim leader said that Jewish people had no rights and called for Jewish cities to be destroyed, Christians would rightly condemn it. We must apply the same moral standard when Palestinians are the objects of such rhetoric.

The silence of Christian leaders is especially disturbing. Have we become so politically committed to the modern State of Israel that we can no longer recognize statements contrary to the doctrine of Christ? Have political alliances become more important than the teachings of Jesus?

Christ Came to Save Lives

When a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus, James and John asked whether they should call fire down from heaven and consume its inhabitants. They believed they were defending the honor of Christ. Jesus told them that they did not understand what spirit was influencing them:

“But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
— Luke 9:55–56, KJV

Those words should cause the Church to tremble.

Some Christians appear eager for the fire to fall. They speak approvingly of bombs, destruction and death. They rejoice when people regarded as enemies are killed. But Jesus said that He did not come to destroy men’s lives. He came to save them.

Our enemies are lost souls who need salvation. I have been questioned by Christians for saying this, but I do not know how anyone reading the New Testament can deny it.

Jesus said:

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
— Matthew 5:44, KJV

Jesus did not say that we must approve of our enemies’ conduct. He did not say that governments have no responsibility to restrain violence or protect innocent people. But He plainly commanded His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them.

Why would we pray for an enemy? Because that enemy has a soul. Christ died to make salvation available to that person. The man we want destroyed may be a man whom Jesus wants to redeem.

Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians. He consented to the death of Stephen and made havoc of the Church. Had the believers prayed only for his destruction, they would have been praying against the man whom God intended to make the Apostle Paul.

We do not know whom God may save. That Palestinian child may become a preacher of the gospel. That Iranian soldier may someday bow before Jesus Christ. That Muslim mother may discover that Christ loves her and gave His life for her. How can Christians celebrate the destruction of people whom Christ desires to save?

The God of This World Has Blinded Their Minds

The indifference we are witnessing is more than a political problem. It is evidence of a spiritual battle.

Paul wrote:

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
— II Corinthians 4:3–4, KJV

Satan does not want people to see the light of Christ. He blinds minds, hardens hearts and teaches people to love darkness rather than light.

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
— John 3:19, KJV

Satan blinds the lost so they will not receive the gospel, but he also seeks to deceive, distract and harden professing Christians. He wants the Church to exchange the Great Commission for political warfare. He wants us to view millions of people as enemies to be destroyed rather than souls to be reached.

If Satan can persuade Christians to hate the very people they were commanded to evangelize, he has weakened the witness of the Church. If he can make us rejoice in their destruction, he has replaced the missionary spirit with a spirit Jesus rebuked.

There was a time when Christians prayed for missionaries to carry the gospel into Muslim lands. Men and women left their homes, learned difficult languages and risked their lives because they believed Muslims were souls for whom Christ died. Today, some Christians appear more willing to finance bombs than missionaries.

What has happened to us?

Not Every Member of a Group Is Guilty

The principle of individual responsibility is found throughout Scripture:

“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.”
— Ezekiel 18:20, KJV

A Palestinian child is not guilty of the crimes of Hamas. An Israeli child is not guilty of the policies of the Israeli government. A Muslim family is not guilty because terrorists claim to act in the name of Islam. A Jewish family must not be blamed for the words of a chief rabbi.

Not every Palestinian is Hamas. Not every Muslim is a terrorist. Not every Jew supports the Israeli government, and not every Christian supports the wars carried out in the name of national security.

We must condemn terrorism, hostage-taking and the murder of Israeli civilians. We must also condemn collective punishment, forced displacement, deprivation and the killing of Palestinian civilians. One crime does not make another crime righteous.

Christians cannot have one moral standard for their friends and another for their enemies.

“But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin.”
— James 2:9, KJV

Partiality is sin—even when it is dressed in patriotism, politics or prophetic interpretation.

Silence Has Consequences

Silence does not always prove personal agreement, but institutional silence allows evil ideas to become respectable. When a prominent religious leader declares that another people have no rights and no one within his religious or political circle corrects him, the public naturally interprets that silence as tolerance.

The same is true of the Church. When Christians hear innocent people being dehumanized and say nothing, our silence becomes part of our testimony.

Scripture commands us:

“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.”
— Proverbs 31:8, KJV

“Deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain.”
— Proverbs 24:11, KJV

The Church must speak for those whose humanity has been erased by propaganda. We must speak for the Israeli child murdered by terrorists. We must speak for the Palestinian child buried beneath the ruins. We must speak for every innocent person whose suffering has been dismissed because of race, religion or nationality.

Rejoice Not When Thine Enemy Falleth

The Bible gives us no permission to celebrate the death of an enemy:

“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth.”
— Proverbs 24:17, KJV

If our hearts are filled with excitement when bombs fall upon a city, something has gone terribly wrong. If we can look upon dead children without compassion because they belonged to the “wrong” people, we need to examine whether the spirit controlling our emotions is the Spirit of Christ.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem even though He knew that Jerusalem would reject Him. He looked upon the multitudes with compassion because they were scattered as sheep having no shepherd. At Calvary, He prayed for those crucifying Him:

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
— Luke 23:34, KJV

That is the spirit of Christ.

The Church Must Recover Its Mission

The Church was not commissioned to destroy the nations. It was commissioned to preach the gospel to them.

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
— Mark 16:15, KJV

“Every creature” includes Palestinians, Israelis, Iranians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims. There is no nation beyond the reach of God’s mercy and no people whom the Church has permission to hate.

We must ask ourselves a serious question: If Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us and preach the gospel to every creature, how can Christians support the destruction of people whom Christ came to save?

Christian Zionism, nationalism and party politics must all bow before Jesus Christ. No interpretation of prophecy can cancel the Sermon on the Mount. No political alliance can overrule the command to love our neighbor. No government can require us to silence our conscience.

I will continue to say that our enemies are lost souls in need of salvation. I will continue to oppose the killing of innocent people, whether they are Jewish or Palestinian, Christian or Muslim. I will continue to warn the Church that indifference toward suffering is not the spirit of Christ.

The world may call compassion weakness. Political Christians may call it disloyalty. But Jesus said:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
— Matthew 5:9, KJV

The greatest danger facing the Church may not be persecution from the world. It may be the gradual hardening of our own hearts. Satan has blinded the minds of those who refuse the light of Christ. Let us make certain that we have not become so accustomed to darkness that we can no longer recognize the light.

When the Church no longer weeps for the lost, it has forgotten why Jesus came.