PRAYING AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES
BY
JERRY FALWELL
I have never preached a sermon on praying against your enemies or praying about your enemies. As a matter of fact, I have never heard anyone preach this kind of sermon about enemies. Last Sunday I said in jest, “I pray that they (the terrorists) may get hit with a bomb.” A couple of people were not sure I should have said that. One side of me says, “Forgive them”; the other side of me says, “Kill them.” But it’s not what I think or feel, it’s what God thinks, and what He says in His Word.
This sermon has three parts. First, I want to look at how David prayed for his enemies in the Psalms. Second, I want to look at what Jesus said about “Turning the other cheek,” and praying for those who persecute you. Third, I want to look at what the Bible says about how we should pray for our nation in war.
I. DAVID PRAYED AGAINST HIS ADVERSARIES.
David’s battle against his enemies began with Goliath, the Philistine. After that battle, David fought many other adversaries. Remember, Goliath did not just hate David as a sixteen-year-old opponent, Goliath hated the people of God and cursed God, Himself. David was shocked “that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (I Samuel 17:26). This was more than a battle between David and Goliath, it was a battle between the Living God of Israel and the demon-inspired idols of the Philistines. He launched his attack on Goliath saying, “I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied . . . that all the earth may know that there is a God in Heaven” (I Samuel 17:45-46).
There is a similarity in our battle with the terrorists. They have made it a battle between our God and their god, i.e., between light and darkness. Quickly I add, it is not a battle with Islam; but with the terrorists whose twisted view of Allah has driven them to attack us.
David was not a mild man who turned the other cheek. Listen to his prayer against his enemies. I’m reading parts of Psalm 109:8-15 in the Living Bible, “Let my enemy’s years be few . . . may his children become fatherless, and may his wife become a widow. May his children wander as beggars, and may they be evicted from their ruined homes . . . may all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation. May the LORD never forget the sins of his ancestors. May these sins always remain before the Lord, but may his name be cut off from human memory.”
David constantly prays that his oppressors may suffer the evil they plan for him. David prays that his enemies would be cursed with the curses they hurl at him.
So if we lived in Old Testament times, and we were to pray like David; we would pray:
1) Lord, kill the terrorists.
2) Lord, destroy their families.
3) May everyone forget the terrorists ever lived.
4) May the evil they plan for America destroy them, their families and friends.
5) Curse them, Lord, with the curses they hurl at us.
But we don’t pray like that. We live under grace, David lived under the Law. We do not live under the Law today. The Law demanded, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24).
II. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK.
There are some who want us as Americans and as Christians to forgive the terrorists. They want us to turn the other cheek, and to love them unconditionally. Why do they say this:
1. They say we Christians should respond as Jesus responded to those who nailed Him to the cross, “Father forgive them: for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
2. They say we should do as Jesus commanded, “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other” (Luke 6:27-29).
There are two things wrong with “turning the other cheek” to the terrorists. First, these commands I just read are for individual Christians. These are not commands for a nation. What I do as an individual is different from what we do as a nation.
There is a second reason why we should not “turn the other cheek” to the terrorists. These commands involve our Christian testimony and our personal faith. We are not to retaliate as a Christian when they attack us for being a Christian, or when they attack our message.
When I was speaking in Fort Worth, Texas, a lady ran up and tried to hit me in the face with a pie. She was against my message and she attacked me because of what I believed. She opposed the message that I was speaking. So what did I do? I kept right on speaking and ignored her.
When I am personally attacked on television shows because of my message, I do not attack back. I smile, I’m kind. I try to “kill them with kindness.” Why? Because I, as a Christian, am doing what I believe Jesus wants me to do.
But if a thief breaks into my house to steal my money, or to hurt someone in my family, it’s different. The thief is not against my message. He’s breaking the law and he’s going to attempt murder or commit a crime. I have said I will shoot him if I have a gun to defend myself. Why? It’s not a case of my Christian faith, it’s a case of defending my family from harm.
HOW SHOULD WE PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES THAT ATTACK OUR FAITH?
1. We begin by giving good things to our enemies.
This is called “heaping coals of fire on his head” (Romans 12:20). This means we are to do good to our enemies in the name of Jesus. We are to pray for them in the name of Jesus, and give to their need in the name of Jesus. Notice what Paul said, “If thine enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head” (Romans 13:20). This is what America has done. We are dropping hundreds of thousands of food packets to the refugees of Afghanistan. Yes, they are our enemy but we are feeding them.
When the Communists of the Vietnam regime were fighting the United States, the Communists were also fighting us in Cambodia and Laos. So what did the Old Time Gospel Hour and Liberty University do for the people of Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos? We sent twenty-three young people from Liberty University along with adult administrators to minister in Thailand. We spent over $200,000 dollars to feed the refugees in the thirteen camps along the Mekong River. We gave them meat, milk, a blanket, a Bible, and because it was Christmas time; we gave an inexpensive toy to each one of the children. We did it in the name of Christ, then we preached the gospel to them. Many thousands were saved.
As a testimony to this campaign, there is a young man at Liberty University named Dara Suon. He was saved in one of those refugees camps. The Khmer Rouge slaughtered his father, but he and his mother escaped to Thailand; then to the United States. He currently resides in Lynchburg and we are giving him a scholarship to attend Liberty University. He was in one of those refugee camps when I went over there to preach to the refugees. As a matter of fact, Dara is going to be married right here in this auditorium on December 22 to Yang Ho, a young girl from Vietnam; also a Liberty student. They want to go back to Cambodia as missionaries to build a church like Thomas Road, a school like Liberty University, and reach his nation for Christ. He’s in this service today.
Why do we feed our enemies? Because they can get saved, and make a difference in the nation for Christ.
So, how should we pray individually for the terrorists? I know they are hard and blind, but:
1) Pray for the salvation of the terrorists.
2) Pray for revival in Afghanistan so that many will be saved.
3) Dr. Towns told us in Sunday school that many are watching the gospel on DISH television. Pray that the gospel will open blinded eyes and that individual Muslims would be saved.
III. PRAY FOR YOUR NATION IN WAR.
1. We are praying for our nation at war. This war is not just a policing reaction. We are in war. Bin Laden and the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan who have endorsed bin Laden’s attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, have declared war—not on individual Christians—but on us as a nation.
2. What does God teach us about how our government should respond to war?
First, we must “Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there” (Romans 13:1, LB). If our nation declares war, we as Christians must support our government.
Second, we should realize our government is put in place by God to defend its citizens, “The authorities are sent by God . . . but if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for you will be punished” (Romans 13:4, LB).
The governmental authorities have “swords” as weapons to defend themselves and weapons to punish law breakers, “For he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:4). Of course a sword in Bible times translates to rockets, guided missiles, hand grenades and jet fighters of today.
This tells me that the government should have a sword, use the sword to defend itself, and use the sword to punish those who do evil and break the law.
Individually, we are to forgive those who attack us for our faith, but the national government is different. It has a responsibility to protect its people. Since God raises up a government to protect its people, how should we pray for our government when it goes to war?
HOW TO PRAY FOR YOUR NATION
IN TIME OF WAR
1. “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”
This was a phrase developed in World War II. It meant you had to do both things at the same time—not pray first and then fight; nor the reverse. You were to pray while you’re fighting, and fight while you’re praying. So this is not a time to just pray about the war, this is a time to defend ourselves against the terrorists. So, let’s pray while we fight, let’s pray for our military as they fight. Let’s pray for victories, i.e., so we can have peace once again.
2. Pray for the President.
Paul commands that we should, “Pray for kings” (President) and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:2). Therefore, we should pray the following for our President:
1) For safety for the President and his family.
2) For the President to have wisdom in strategic plans.
3) For the President to get good counsel, and for God to give him good wisdom.
4) For the President to be able to communicate properly to the American citizens and our allies.
3. Pray for divine intervention in the war.
Historians see the hand of God in the past that shaped nations and civilizations. There was a storm that destroyed the Spanish Armada. There were two weeks of fog that prohibited Hitler from invading England in World War II. God allowed America to break the Nazi code so that we knew and could counteract the plans of Germany in World War II; the same thing happened in the Pacific. We knew what the Japanese were doing because we had broken their code.
1) Pray for victory in battle.
2) Pray that “circumstances” will favor us and not the enemy.
4. “I prayed that I might not kill any man needlessly, or be killed.”
This was the prayer of Robert E. Lee McFadden. Dr. Towns went on the Internet and found the obituary of his great grandfather who fought both battles of Bull Run in the Civil War. His grandfather was a great Presbyterian elder who didn’t smoke or cuss, and founded a Presbyterian church in South Carolina. We need to pray for our fighting men and women what that man prayed over 150 years ago, “That I might not kill any man needlessly, or be killed.”
5. Pray for God to thwart the plans of the enemy and to confuse their thinking.
During World War II, Adolph Hitler made two or three tactical mistakes that guaranteed Germany’s defeat. First, when Hitler invaded Russia and opened up two fronts; it stretched his ability to make war, contributing to his defeat. Second, he didn’t immediately counterattack our landing forces in Normandy on D-Day. Were the Allies in a precarious position, the Germans might have driven the Allies back into the sea. But Hitler believed that there was going to be a landing elsewhere. This was another blunder by Hitler that contributed to his defeat. The third tactical mistake was the Battle of the Bulge. When he lost that battle, it was the beginning of the end.
1) Pray that bin Laden and the terrorists may make tactical mistakes that will cost them dearly.
2) Pray that God will confuse their thinking and planning.
3) Pray that battles or disagreements will break out among the different terrorist camps, giving us the victory.
6. To pray against bin Laden and the terrorists.
President Bush has called this a war against evil, and he uses the word evil to describe the terrorists and what they are doing. When they attacked civilians in the work office area, they were not attacking a military objective, nor did they attack a strategic target. They hate capitalism and the United States, so they attacked the Twin Towers. This is a war based on hate, a war of revenge, and wickedness. They want to destroy the American way of life. They want to destroy freedom in the world, and Christianity we hold dear. This is not a war of Christianity against Islam, but a war of Christianity against the terrorists. This is a war of David versus Goliath and the terrorists have challenged Christianity. Now let me ask you, are we going to accept their challenge? Are we going to use prayer as our weapon against the enemy? Are you going to pray until God intervenes?
7. Pray for God’s power to be vindicated.
We need to pray like David, “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29). When Goliath was attacking Israel and the Lord God, David was horrified that he would attack the Living God. But notice what David said, “Thou comest to me with a sword . . . but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Samuel 17:45).
8. Deliver us from the Evil One.
The last petition of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us how to defend ourselves against anthrax, bio-chemical attack, and the “rumors of war” from the terrorists. We are to pray daily, “Deliver us from the Evil one.” The old King James Version translates it, “Deliver us from evil,” but this make evil a principle or force. All the modern versions translate this petition, “Deliver us from the Evil One.” Satan is our enemy. Notice what Satan does; you’ll immediately recognize the parallel:
1. Satan is a thief . . . terrorists would steal our liberty, freedom and faith.
2. Satan kills . . . terrorists attack defenseless civilizations.
3. Satan is a liar . . . terrorists lie to themselves and others.
4. Satan is an adversary of God . . .terrorists hate the God of the Bible.
5. Satan is a deceiver . . . terrorists distort the truth.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
For more information on the TRBC Pastor’s Bible Class, log on to the Internet for TRBC Home page at www.trbc.org/pbc.
