Following Judah's Lion

The Tragedy in Arizona

What Can Believers Learn?

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

The God of the Old Testament was many times violent and many times directed Israel in acts of violence. I will openly confess that those narratives are a mystery to me, but we must receive their validity by faith. But we also must remember that there are things, more things than we know, that are God’s alone and not applicable to man. God’s ways are not ours, and the story of redemption that began in Eden’s Garden is filled with twists and turns that confound the wise.
God uses a Babylonian called Abram to father His people. God uses a whore to be in His Son’s lineage. God calls Himself the “son of David” who was an adulterous murderer. And there are many imperfect men and women who God used, some mightily, in His journey to redemption. It would be safe to say that we would not have used those people. It probably would also be safe to say that we would not use us if we were God. I often feel God made a poor choice in me, however He is God and I am not.
There is divine justice, and the Scriptures make it clear that there is an eternal place of justice for those who die outside of Christ’s redemption. God is holy and just, and we are not. By grace through faith we have been made things that we were never in the natural, but they were never in our fallen nature. But love, and its outward expression of redemption, are God’s motivating attributes. God is longsuffering before He resorts to violence, and Jesus, God in the flesh, revealed great restraint while on this earth. And in fact Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified when He could have destroyed the entire world. Violence was never a part of the incarnate God.
We as believers are called to mirror Jesus and His ways, not the ways of the Old Testament revelations. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the “express image” of the person of God. It is that image we are to strive to reflect and imitate. We as believers should shun violence both in word and in deed. The wars of men, regardless of American machinations, do not have God as a willing participant. Does God use and incorporate everything into the fabric of His eternal will? Of course, but that does mean that God directs and organizes everything, and that does not mean that God is on anyone’s side, especially any fallen nation. How God can use the rape of a child is a colossal mystery, but He does. But that surely does not mean God ordered or condoned such actions.
I believe the New Testament teaches a life of pacifism as it pertains to violence. But I want to address violence of a different nature, the violence of words. There was a tragedy in Arizona when a gunmen murdered and wounded many people including a United States congresswoman. Now all the facts have not yet been revealed, but it seems that this deranged young man was influenced by politics, as was John Wilkes Booth, Timothy McVeigh, Lee Harvey Oswald, and even the 9/11 terrorists as well as others. We underestimate the impact of unguarded and reckless rhetoric.
We live in a fallen culture that considers itself an example of human ingenuity and intellectual prowess. This culture cherishes itself and will resort to all kinds of violence to protect it and in fact was birthed by violence, the Revolutionary War. The first president was elected because he was a great general and was able to kill more Englishmen than his peers. So this present culture has violence woven throughout its formation. But having arrived at this present day model verbal violence continues unabated.
The airwaves are filled with repugnant rhetoric and verbal assaults upon any and all political enemies. People are addressed with all sorts of demeaning castigations and attacked as something less than legitimate. President Obama, probably not a born again believer, is assailed daily and attacked personally. People even hate him due in large part because of the violent verbiage spewed consistently through all media outlets. And sometimes people are moved to acts of violence through the influence of verbal violence.
But we must be different than the culture. Hatred does not belong in God’s kingdom. We must not stoop to words of disrespect and personal invectives. We are to correct in love within the church, but outside the church we are to preach the gospel and be in intercessory prayer. I have found this axiom to be true: We cannot accuse and intercede simultaneously. So when I hear believers castigating someone I immediately know they are not interceding for that person, or that their lips intercede while their hearts accuse. Again, we cannot accuse and intercede simultaneously. I know the heart of God is grieved when He sees those that claim His name supporting those who exhibit self righteousness and judgment and national idolatry.
So what can we learn from a tragedy such as the one in Arizona? Before I get to that let me address another tragedy. What can we learn from the tragedy of 9/11 as believers? A missionary in an Arab country related this observation. He said that American Christian television was broadcast in that Arab country and many Arabs tuned in. He said that often they showed an American church service which showed an American flag flying in the sanctuary. And many times they would hear the pastor pray that God would bless and protect the American troops.
Think about that for a moment. Muslims, who we supposedly desire to reach for Jesus, are hearing Americans ask God to help them kill other Muslims. How much fodder does that provide the evil one with? We are supposed to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. But when believers support violence and even pray God would help them then we are neither wise nor harmless. And the terrorists on 9/11 prayed to their God that he would help them as well. Oh, you say, but they were praying to a false god. I agree. But how many times are we projecting a falsehood upon Jesus and thereby creating a caricature which is false?
Arizona should once again make believers examine their own verbiage and allegiances. I grieve for the carnage, both physical and verbal, that rain down upon this culture every single day. I used to be involved in that fallen jungle that so misrepresents the Person of Christ and His kingdom. But there is freedom when we come out from among them and become a peculiar people. I do not say that in self righteousness since I am still significantly and observable flawed, but I say it to the glory of God’s grace. If you still are confused about violence and political allegiances, I exhort you to fast and pray and seek God’s face about the matter. I believe you will, as did I, reach the heart of God. And just what is the heart of God?

The cross.