Posted on 07/04/2004 12:19:52 AM PDT by Elkiejg
I hate to ruin your light summer beach reading, but America and much of the world are still in deep yogurt when it comes to the war on terror. As much as postmoderns want everyone to sing “We are the World” in some all-religion-encompassing global hand-hold and just move on, I’m afraid radical Islam is not going to be a part of pomo’s desired altruistic music video.
Radical Islam is incorrigible, period. So… face it and embrace it. We are not going to convert or appease these cats. We have nothing they want. There is nothing to negotiate. They want us exterminated. Capisce?
That said, what do we, Christians in particular, do when faced with an implacable radical enemy? Just sit around sing “Kum Ba Yah” and hope these bad guys will leave us alone? That’s what a lot of five-watt light bulb, spiritually neutered believers are doing. Just sittin’ around… hopin’ and wishin’… or worse yet, ignoring the viable millennial threat of militant Islam. I, for one, will not take a passive stance against this aggressive enemy. You cannot be lame and win this game with these guys. So, as a Christian, I suggest the following…
One: Back President Bush and his aggressive armed attitude against terrorists and terror supporting nations. Make that the main focal point for your vote during the next election. Picture this when you step into the voting booth this November: some fluctuating, “wait-on-the-U.N.” type of guy in the Oval Office while one of Osama’s droogies is arming a nuclear suitcase in your back yard. Take that image with you to the polls.
Two: Push for cinching our borders tighter than a fat guy's belt after an “All-You-Can-Eat” beef rib blow out at Tony Roma’s.
Three: Aggressively support the rooting out of the multitudinous terrorist cells that are concocting their villainous crap in our very own cul de sacs.
Four: Make it ridiculously impossible for a pro-radical Islamic professor to pee in one of our university’s bathrooms, much less teach in one of our classrooms. And finally, most importantly,
Five: As people of faith, dust off and use what’s afforded to the believer within the Old and New Testaments, namely the imprecatory prayers.
What is an imprecatory prayer?
It is a prayer asking God to crush a clear enemy of His, an enemy which is an aggressive adversary of freedom and peace loving people. Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Precious Moments Figurine Collector, the Bible is filled with maledictions prayed by saints and speedily answered by God against violently impenitent enemies of liberty and righteousness. Here are a couple examples:
“Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out, O Lord, the fangs of the lions! Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows be blunted. Like a slug melting away as it moves along, like a still born child, may they not see the sun… The righteous will be glad when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.” Psalm 58.6-10.
“Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents. For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt. Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.” Psalm 69.24-28.
Given the soft-focused, effeminate condition of evangelicalism, I’ll bet the great majority of Christians have never even heard of an imprecatory prayer, much less prayed one. More than likely, the above God-inspired texts aren’t on their refrigerator scripture magnets either. I’ll go a step further and venture to guess that the majority of evangelical and Catholic clergy don’t even know what an imprecatory prayer is and have probably never taught on them or prayed them from the pulpit (Please investigate and report back to me.)
If my assumption regarding your typical congregation and clergy is true, then this is sad, unbiblical and a prime reason why militant Islam continues to march on. We are not using the spiritual big guns of imprecatory prayer against the beast of militant Islam.
My ClashPoint is this: Most religious people are familiar with Christ telling us to “bless our enemies” in prayer and to “love our enemies.” We should do both. But seldom to never do we hear about “the other” prayers for our enemies, prayers to be prayed when our enemies become gun-, bomb- and airplane- wielding idiots. Yes, there comes a time when the intercessors’ gloves must come off and enough is enough and we pray the “not so nice prayers.” It's simple: when our enemies move from being foes who have personally wronged us, or have made fun of our bad combover, or have flamed us in a TBN chat room, to becoming jihadic death jockeys wanting to eradicate our memory from the earth, then it is time to stop praying the “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” stuff and start asking God to thwart and stamp out these bug eyed terrorists who want to hijack the planet and make it conform to their jacked up view of “life.”
So… start tossing imprecatory prayers heavenward and watch what God does to militant implacable Islam. The celestial spanking of terrorists is no big deal for God. And our prayers could save thousands of our soldiers’ lives, our citizens’ lives and the lives of innocent, moderate Muslims and others who get caught in the freak boys’ villainous crossfire.
Let us pray.
* Author's note: Of the 150 psalms contained in the Bible’s prayer book, i.e., the Psalms, 104 are imprecations. Hello! Also, these psalms are to be sung and read, unedited, during the worship service (Ephesians 5.19). For an irrefutable book on this hot topic, check out James Adams’s work War Psalms of the Prince of Peace. In the mean time, here’s a short list of imprecatory psalms: Psalm 5, 7, 9, 10, 17, 25, 28, 31, 35, 40, 41, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 63, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 79, 83, 94, 104, and 109.
Bump!
I think he forgot to mention that moderates need to be funded and aided. Although we're already doing that such as in Afghanistan and Iraq and attempting to support them in other nations in the mid-east.
Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."
? Them that knows nuttin' 'about the Lord and His majesty should keep his mouth... shut.
If it weren't for Bible believing Christians, we would not be having a holiday today.
Lighten up, Tarzan. That was an excerpt from a very funny movie, not intended to offend. ;)
Clinton didn't 'wait on the UN' when he attacked Yugoslavia,
why should such an issue be a concern to his successors?
No offense from this conservative Christian. I liked the quote - and agree there is ample biblical precedence for asking God for the strength to smite our foes, and the discernment to know when, where, and how.
Bombs away....EVIL must be called out for what it is where ever and when ever it occurs...Islam is EVIL
Good luck in your fantasy world...
Can you elaborate? I'm curious as to your experience, and I think all of us need to be on our knees this morning.
I've found myself praying one line from the Lord's Prayer.
It's not imprecatory, but it does fit "radical Islam" and unfortunately, some liberal/socialist Americans.
"Deliver us from evil"....that seems to say it all for me.
The bottom line is that the War on Terror isn't over until the Ayatollahs and Imams tell the headrag-wearing masses that there are no Virgins left and Paradise is closed for renovation.
And while we are on the subject of Biblical concepts of the correct way to deal with enemies, let's not forget Second Samuel, 22:43.
"Then did I grind them as fine as the dust, and I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and I did spread them abroad."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.