Dear Friends,
There is much that I love in this world. I love fall – it’s one of my favorite times
of the year. I love football, especially
the Nebraska Cornhuskers! I love
hunting. I love Thanksgiving, especially
with pumpkin pie. I love watching the
leaves changing colors. I love my
family, and much more.
There are all sorts of things that I love in this world, and
yet I know, even as I love the world, that this world is a terrible and sinful
place. There are countless things not to
love. There is pain and suffering, there
is loss and sorrow. There is sickness
and death. There is poverty and a long
list of other things that I do not love, in fact, that I hate. Because I am a Christian, the world hates me
back.
Take, for example, the following letter that Bob Wurl and I
received from a young man we met in Kenya last year. He is studying to be a diplomat, and is your
average, kind, young Christian man. He
has stayed in fairly regular contact with us since our trip. I’ve removed his name from the following
narrative so that he and his family do not become targets in future persecution. As a forewarning, his letter is rather
graphic.
“This is about the
terror attack in Kenya at Westgate shopping mall carried out by Al-Shabaab
terrorists. The siege that lasted for three days saw 61 recorded civilians'
death. The attackers held several hostages.
Both parties have been giving contradictory figures: the government saying only 63 were held
hostage and have been rescued, Al-Shabaab insists their mujaheddin held 137
hostages who they claim were killed.
Hostages who could have
lived to tell their stories seemingly lost their lives in what as you are about
to learn was the greatest level of brutality one human being would instill on
the other.
The aftermath at the Westgate
Mall is horrific and (at this time the) body retrieval at the scene continues.
Bodies recovered were
found chopped into pieces, probably by the terrorists. Bodies were found hanged
on the walls, elevators and stuffed into fridges inside the supermarket, and in
the basement where they held the hostages.
CCTV received footage
and, because of the highly graphic and gruesome nature, can't be posted, tells
a horrific ordeal that the hostages were subjected to. Hostages had their arms
chopped off and were given a tag to write their names on with their own blood,
the tag would then be hung on your neck (when you were) killed. Women got raped
as their children looked on. The most
gruesome (thing) was pushing screw drivers into young kids' chest as their
mothers helplessly watched.
The terrorists kept referring
to the hostages as kaffir (an Arabic
racial term equivalent in Africa to the “N” word used for non-Muslims) and that
no mercy would be shown to them. They
showed no signs of remorse and if anything, instilling pain into the hostages
made them feel better.
All these actions they
ensured were captured on camera and relayed to their headquarters as well as
bits to the government. Men had their
private parts chopped off, they grabbed noses with pliers and pulled them out. Women had their breasts chopped off by the
merciless attackers who were out to cause the greatest damage. The held
hostages never lived to tell their stories but these attackers subjected them
to a painful death.
Piles of bodies have
been discovered stuffed in fridges, with body parts chopped and dismantled,
hanging on walls, elevators.
This is the most
horrible terror attack Kenya has ever seen since 1998 when the U.S embassy in
Kenya was bombed. Several other people are still missing, about 67 of them,
however, yesterday a few of them were recovered, 7 dead and 12 alive.
We thank God (that no)
family or relative of ours were involved, however it's very painful (that) we
lost all those innocent people, including children! Please pray for Kenya, pray for us. The
terrorists have terrorized our mentality and even when we go to church, we find
heavy security at the entrance, with that we can't pray in peace!”
It’s difficult to read, and even more difficult when you
realize this happened to real people in a place that we in our congregations
are seeking to aid and help. We continue
our effort to build orphan rescue centers in Kenya, and to help their Lutheran
Church in the proclamation of the Gospel to the people of Kenya.
Why share this with you?
To show you what happens to Christians in our world. The word does not love Christians; it does
not seek to bless Christians or to give them lots of money or a big house. The world is under the influence of sin and
Satan, and thus hates Christians. It has
been that way since the beginning of our faith.
St. Stephen was stoned.
St. James was executed by the sword.
St. Peter was crucified upside down and St. Paul was beheaded. Tradition holds that St. Thomas was pierced
with pine spears, tortured with hot iron plates, and then burned alive. Tradition also holds that St. Andrew was
flayed alive and that St. John was thrown into boiling oil, but not killed,
living the rest of his life with the terrible scars.
What about us? We are
no different. We face the same world
that hates our Christian confession as much today as it did in the years
past. The same event that happened
recently in Kenya could happen here in the United States. The world we love, does not love us
back.
St. John, mentioned above, quoted Christ for us, saying, “If
the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated
you. If you were of the world, the world
would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore
the world hates you. Remember the
word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master…’” “Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no
one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated
both me and my Father. But the word that
is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (John 15)
If the world hates you, it’s because it hated Jesus
first. If you face persecution, so too
did Jesus first. Yet, Christ overcame
the world. He set us free from the
world.
John also writes in his First Epistle, “Do not love the world
or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the
world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is
not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its
desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Dear friends, we love this world too much. We love the seasons, money, family, and
football too much. We love the
world. But the world hates us for our
faith and confession. It cannot love us,
and will not love us.
In the midst of all this hate, pain, and worldly sorrow, God
loved the world, and sent his Son into the world that He might save it from
sin. He died a gruesome death, that we
might have eternal life. He suffered at
the hands of sinful men, who tortured him, so that we might leave torture behind
forever and belong to God.
In the end, even if, God forbid, you are tortured and killed,
even if they gouge out your eyes and pierce your body, they cannot destroy your
soul. You belong to Jesus, who rose from
the dead, and one day you too will as well.
You belong not to suffering and torture, but to heaven and peace. Do not fear the ones who can kill the body
but cannot kill the soul. Why? Because your Savior Jesus has overcome them
in His own death and resurrection. He
has promised your soul will live with him forever, no matter what happens to
your body. Fear not, Christ is with
you. Be not afraid, He is our God. Nothing can overcome him. Not even the tortures of this sinful
world.
