No Easy Choices

Friday I watched a show on ABC, called 20/20, usually I ignore ABC, never have been impressed with 20/20 and certainly anything to do with ISIS is an utter turnoff - I know what affect that subject will have on me - and I already crippled Islamic expansionism out of Yugoslavia once.  Conversely, I also crippled the Slavic Army's attempts to mass murder Muslims in Bosnia.  Hey, am at my core still a Hutterite - I hate war and murder!

But, the program seemed to be about refugees in Iraq, so it might be interesting ...

Link to the program: http://abc.go.com/shows/2020/listing/2015-12/18-2020-121815-escaping-isis

If you are not on a system which allows you to view past programming, you can get the idea via numerous sources here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=escaping+isis

You really do want to get the idea before you read further:  Rape and murder of women and children, execution for all adult males.

 ... INTERMISSION ...

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been rereading my Bonhoeffer.  He wrote two noteworthy books: "Cost of Discipleship" and "Letters From Prison".  In Cost of Discipleship, he takes a hard look at the cheap grace being sold to the masses through religion and calls for faithful followers of Christ to realize that being a Disciple of Christ comes with a Cost - a very personal and steep cost.  End result however was isolation of the believers and empty piety - the very things he was hammering the Lutheran Church about!  Book backfired because the laity did not understand how to transform from a dead church into a living belief.

His collection of letters from prison make up the second book and you can follow his thoughts across time as he at first believes he is going to be set free shortly, to realizing that he hosed up badly and the gallows awaits him.  Yesterday's quote from him came from the point of realizing he was being held responsible by God.

And so, I watched the Escape From Isis, on ABC.  The story of a refugee camp in northern Iraq of families whose town was run over by Isis.  A Christian town utterly destroyed.  Christians running for their lives - literally!  Of Christians asking the hard questions: "Why" and "What now?".  Ten thousand of them, trying to live their faith in the absence of everything!

Bonhoeffer saw the disappearance of the Jews, he had to have heard the rumors of the camps.  And he did nothing.  He saw the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and never muttered a word in public - although in private he did equate Hitler to Satan incarnate.  And that belief, that Hitler really was Satan, led him down a path of becoming involved in the attempt on Hitler's life!  And a corresponding death sentence for himself and all of the other males in his family whom were involved in the plot.

Coincidental with Bonhoeffer's silence was the rise of the White Rose Group (Die Wiesse Rosen) in Munich.  Kids whom saw the apostasy and lies - and published fliers telling the hard truth of National Socialism and the War on the Eastern Front - which also revealed the existence of the concentration camps.  Bonhoeffer was to follow them to the gallows.

I contemplate the travails of the Iraqi Christians and the cost they are paying for their faith.  Here at home - no one actually cares.  "It does not affect me..." syndrome.

And we, as Christians, now stand at a crossroads - the decisions we make, the leadership we follow, will all have a telling effect upon our our Christianity and witness - or the lack thereof.

God never guaranteed to save any of us from persecution and martyrdom.
God never said life was going to be easy.
God did say He would meet our needs.
God did say all was to be to His glory.

We, like it or not, are to be of one body and we are currently represented by an apostate western church, unworthy of the  price being paid in Iraq by those isolated Christian believers.  The same could be said of believers in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia, Yemen, Egypt, etc, etc, etc!

Get the point?

Christianity is under attack worldwide.
Evil has raised its head.

Now, what are you going to personally do about?  Yes, your choice will be judged and you will be held responsible.  To act is to draw that evil upon you and your loved ones.  To not act will eventually cost the lives of you and your loved ones ...

And what did Dietrich Bonhoeffer think?  Continued from yesterday's poem:
"Until thou wipe out our guilt,
Keep us in quiet patience.

"We will silently prepare ourselves,
Till thou dost call to new times.

"Until thou stillest storm and flood,
And thy will does wonders.

"Brother, till the night be past,
Pray for me!"

So, your move: stand for God and thwart evil or support evil through your disinterest ...  And remember, to fight in God's world is to do so on bent knees - and He will move or He will tell you to.