Win A Terrorist To Christ

“When they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

“And Saul approved of his execution.

“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” [1]

Joe McKeever relates how a missionary ticked him off on one occasion. This is what McKeever says happened. “In a letter home to friends and supporters, this Christian worker in a heavily Muslim country, unnamed for security reasons, was making the point that we should not discriminate against all Arabs or Muslims for the work of a few terrorists. Okay, I can see that. Then the missionary said, ‘After all, those terrorists lived in the United States for many months prior to the September eleventh tragedies. Why didn't your church lead them to Christ while they were living in your city?’”

McKeever then said, “That's what stung.” [2]

Well, the missionary did raise a fair question. Why didn’t a congregation—a Baptist church, a Pentecostal church, a Presbyterian church, any congregation composed of worshippers of the Risen Saviour—reach out to win these terrorists to Christ? Did these Islamic thugs never encounter a Christian during the days before they highjacked those planes and turned them into missiles carrying passengers to their deaths? There are destructive people living in our communities—people who want to destroy our society, people who want to overthrow our government, people who are intent on destroying our way of life, people willing to destroy themselves. Could we turn them from their destructive way by pointing them to Christ Jesus? News reports throughout Canada and the United States suggest there are disaffected people living among us ensuring that we have ample opportunity to win a terrorist to Christ.

Candidly, it seems highly unlikely that a terrorist on a mission to kill those he considers his enemies, will be visiting the New Beginnings Baptist Church. Should such an individual visit our congregation and hear the message we declare, we would rightly question whether we could reason with him. Some people simply cannot be reasoned with, and it seems unlikely that someone motivated by blind hatred would agree to listen to the message of life we declare.

Still, I must wonder whether my kind of Christianity would win a terrorist to faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Here is the reason for my question: it is an unwritten law in evangelism that you cannot win to Christ anyone more committed to his way of life than you are to the Lord. In other words, if I am to win that terrorist to Christ, I must outlive that terrorist, I must out-love that terrorist, and I must outdo that terrorist with my own commitment and sacrifice if I hope to earn his attention. And I may be compelled to out-die that terrorist if my faith will make an impact. And therein lies a problem!

A TERRORIST CREATED — “Saul approved of [Stephen’s] execution” [ACTS 8:1a]. In the first century, our spiritual forebears faced a terrorist onslaught led by the threat of a major terrorist. This threat to the Faith was inflamed by the rage of a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. This terrorist, for that is what he was, was determined to extirpate the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, whom the early Christians recognised as the promised Messiah and as the Son of God. This Saul was a religious leader among the Jews, a learned rabbi trained in the nuances of Judaic Law under the tutelage of Rabbi Gamaliel; and this wicked man rabidly assailed the faithful, even pursuing them into districts far beyond the borders of Judea.

Shortly after introducing the readers to the man identified as Saul, Luke, the historian who has provided the written account of the early advance of the Faith, would write of this terrorist, “Saul was trying to destroy the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison” [ACTS 8:3 NET BIBLE 2nd]. With white-hot fury, this terrorist only accomplished the scattering of the church, as noted when Doctor Luke writes, “There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” [ACTS 8:1b].