Last week’s joyful Easter Celebration in Sri Lanka abruptly turned into a horrific tragedy when suicide bombers targeted three churches two Catholic and one Protestant. Over 250 lives were lost and over 500 others injured as a result.
On Tuesday The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, said that the attacks were “carried out in retaliation” for last month’s mass shootings at two mosques in New Zealand in which fifty Muslims were killed.
The utter futility of retaliation vs. the wisdom of restraint
Muslims were understandably angry that fifty Islamists were murdered at their house of worship. But that carnage in New Zealand was not carried out by a Christian but by a hate-filled white Supremacist who did not claim to be a follower of Christ. How senseless is it to retaliate by murdering over 250 Christians thousands of miles away? How is that justice? What possible good does that accomplish?
Christ followers are taught not to take revenge when wronged but to turn the other cheek and leave vengeance up to God. Every time angry mobs attempt to take matters into their own hands, the result is overkill and/or injustice. That’s why we’re instructed to leave justice up to God and not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with good.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, murdered nine African American worshippers in an inner-city Church in Charlestown, South Carolina. Roof confessed to committing the shooting in the hope of igniting a race war. A few days later several mourning relatives told Dylann Roof they forgave him and were “praying for his soul.” Even though they were deeply hurt, on that day African-American Christians set an inspirational example of trusting in God’s justice and not retaliating against their persecutor. What a dramatic contrast in the response between believers of the two major religions of the world!
The need for American Christians to prepare mentally for more persecution to come.
According to The Christian Post, attacks on churches during the Easter season have become a common occurrence worldwide in recent years:
- In 2012, a suicide bomber killed dozens at a church in Kaduna, Nigeria on Easter Sunday.
- In 2015, the Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab killed nearly 150 people, mostly Christians, during a Maundy Thursday attack on Garissa University in Kenya.
- In 2016, the Islamic group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing targeting Christians worshiping on Easter in Lahore, Pakistan. The attack killed over 70 and injured over 300.
- In April 2017, two deadly bombings targeted Copic Christian Churches worshiping during Palm Sunday services that resulted in 47 deaths and 126 injured. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for those attacks.
“Christians now awaken each Easter and ask ‘WHERE will we be killed this year?’ Not, ‘IF,’” Johnnie Moore, a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, tweeted. He added, “There is no act more evil than killing someone at worship.”
In the future, the target may be a large American church or a Christian assembly near you. What will be your reaction? Will you respond in fear and quit attending church? Or will you say courageously with the Apostle Paul, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Will you spew venom and seek some way to retaliate? Or will you leave vengeance up to God and pray for those who persecute you?
Ever since the First Century it has been dangerous to follow Christ. The Bible warns, “All that live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Jesus advised, “If the world hates me it will also hate you.” He explained why the world hates His followers: “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
The need to come to the aid of believers targeted in other countries.
While we should not retaliate against personal offenses, we should come to the aid of those who are being mistreated.
The Bible teaches that when one member suffers we all suffer with them. We are instructed to “weep with those who weep and rescue those being led away to death” (Prov. 24:11). The Apostle Paul wrote, “Continue to remember…those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).
One positive thing American Christians can do in the wake of the Sri Lanka massacre is to petition our government to come to the assistance of oppressed Christians overseas. The U.S. Government continues to give generous aid to Islamic countries that persecute Christians and who carry out the death penalty against Muslims who convert to Christianity. While we don’t seek to get even, we should encourage our government officials to do what they can to protect fellow believers in countries where they are a persecuted minority. U.S. officials should insist foreign governments respect religious freedom and basic human rights if they are to continue to be considered worthy allies.
Anticipate future laws restricting evangelism in America
If the violent attacks on churches, synagogues, and mosques continue, the end result may well be legislation prohibiting “proselyting” and labeling any religious discussion in the public arena as dangerous hate speech. Freedom of religion, which is guaranteed in the constitution, may be changed to freedom of worship. Spiritual discussion may be permitted only in church buildings. That would be a blow to evangelistic outreach and free speech. When that happens will you become a closet believer or will you boldly say with the Apostles of old, “We cannot help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard. We must obey God, not man!”
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
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