Sunday message- Manchester

I want today to look at the recent ISIS-inspired attack in Manchester.  From a couple of angles.


First, let's take the Katy Perry angle.  Part of her HIGHly informational "opinion" on Twitter included, "...I think that the greatest thing we can do is just unite and love on each other. No barriers, no borders, we all just need to co-exist."  And that is true... but what do you do with people who don't WANT to co-exist?  Before you answer, keep in mind that Christ himself suggested in a similar situation to turn the other cheek.

Turn the cheek?  To monsters like these who use religion as an excuse to get their mass murder jollies?  Because, let's be honest, ISIS, you HAVE to know by now that you are accomplishing precious little.  How many thousands of Islamic extremist-caused deaths have we had just since 9-11- and how many of them have translated into anything positive towards your causes?  90% of you are just hardened murdering monsters who have NO societal worth in the least, and the rest are blindly trying to follow what they perceive as the same path.  Turn the other cheek to them?

Well, yeah.  God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for ten good people, and found just 4.Would God spare a city of ISIS for even 10 who could be saved?  He would.


Does that mean I am against the travel ban, the slamming of doors to refugees that cannot be vetted?  No it does not.  There is a difference between allowing the tiger to live, even praying for the tiger, and letting him into your house.  One is Jesus-directed, and one is stupid.

As I type this Saturday night, I see some whack job killed two men who dared stand up for two Muslim women he was berating.  Was he overreacting?  Yes, of course.  Will the media blame Trump's election for this kind of hate?  Sure they will, never mind that this hate ACTUALLY got triggered when 3,000 innocent people died one early autumn day.  When they started the battle, but again, not my point.  I would have stood against him too, not because I disagreed with him, but because he was a violent lunatic- just like Salman Abedi.

So what's the next step for those of us who might never get a chance to stand against murderous stupidity?  Call for more bombings in Syria and Iraq?  Go tell the Sikh at the 7-11, who doesn't like Muslims much more than the idiot in Portland, that HE needs to go back home?

Or how about doing what Jesus told us to:

 ...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...Matt 5:44

Love. Bless.  Do good.  PRAY.  FOR.  THEM.  That's what the Operation IS up there in the right hand corner is all about, remember?  Praying that that ONE person, who needs prayer to overcome that temptation, to turn that corner, to find the Spirit of God calling him or her.  The only thing that's going to stop that one person from doing Satan's bidding is SAVING them.

So, that's it then?  We just let them off the hook?  No justice for them, for their victims?  Three questions- three answers:  Not quite, yes, and no, that's not right.  The unrepentant ISIS fighter, the unrepentant wife abuser, the unrepentant pedophile, they all will receive a greater judgment from God, and we will one day be amazed at the sheer minuteness of the percentage of things that did NOT get found out and judged until the End of Days.  I wanted to do a more ranting post about Manchester the next day, but what stopped me and saved it for now is a little ditty called Psalms 52:

 Psa 52:1  To the Chief Musician. A contemplation. A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech. 

Why do you boast yourself in evil, O mighty man? The mercy of God endures forever. 
Psa 52:2  Your tongue devises evil, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 
Psa 52:3  You love evil more than good, and lying more than to speak righteousness. Selah. 
Psa 52:4  You love all devouring words, O deceitful tongue. 
Psa 52:5  God will likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah. 
Psa 52:6  And the righteous shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 
Psa 52:7  Behold, the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, he was strong in his wickedness. 
Psa 52:8  But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. 
Psa 52:9  I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and I will wait on Your name; for it is good before Your saints. 


Yes, whether we let killers in our country OR NOT, whether we co-exist OR NOT, those who have been called by Christ will one day laugh at the mighty ones who are busy warming up for their "99 virgins" by raping children and murdering people who actually appreciate life and the living.  So we can afford the time to pray for those who yet might be saved and turned; we can afford to turn the other cheek so far as it is possible; and we can afford to defend the week no matter what condition their soul is in- because God has the rest of the job.  And he ain't farming it out to the poorly named Jeremy Joseph Christian, he ain't farming it out to Presidents Bush, Obama, or Trump, and he ain't farming it out to Chris Martin.