Hello,
John and Doves,
There
are a couple of ways to see OBL's death.
On one
level, God is checking off the items of which only He has a
list.
On
another level, the Holy Spirit has let us know what Jesus was praying
while the three apostles [who accompanied Him to the Garden of Gethsemane] were
sleeping.
"...I do not
pray for the world but for those whom You have
given Me, for they are Yours.
"I do not pray
for these alone, but also for those who will
believe in Me through their
word...."
John 17:9,20
I
think that God is not pushed out of shape too much at all to see His enemies
vanquished, if only one by one. The LORD of Hosts, the God of
Israel has plainly warned the world concerning the fate of those
who hate Him, who are not of Israel.
For it
is written,
" 'But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not
want me to reign over them, and slay [them] before me.' " Luke 19:27 Parable of the minas--words of the
nobleman to his servants.
In
HaShem,
Mike
C.
________________________________________________________________________________
Sonny (5 May
2011)
"Does God grieve
for Bin Laden? Should we?"
Just as any American I am glad that Osama Bin
Laden has been brought to justice for his crime and the murder of nearly 3000
people on American soil.
But I find that I cannot celebrate his death.
My human heart and reason tell me that an evil man has received his
just desserts. My sense of patriotism stirs with guilty pride that an
enemy of my country is gone, taken out by some of our nation's finest.
Yet,
my still flawed, still incomplete understanding of the Bible and the
whisperings of the Holy Spirit restrain me from delight in all this.
Even as many cheer, are not those cheers echoed by the real enemies of God and
Christians?
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
Bin
Laden is dead and another human being has fallen forever into hell and the
"principalities and powers of this world and the spiritual wickedness in high
places cackle with glee. Does God who leaves the 99 to find the one lost
sheep, grieve now at the death of this one? There are so many more still
living in the same darkness and deception and time is so short.
More
and more I feel the burden of this growing realization. More and more I
sense a glimmer of the real power and importance of our witness for the name
and salvation found only in our Redeemer, Jesus Christ and the difference
between that and force of arms. Is this what the martyrs felt...
saw? Is this why they went willingly to their own deaths and will again
as witnesses to the end of the truth in the face of injustice and
evil?
I have always and still do believe in the rightness of defending
our selves, our families, our country and our friends and neighbors. I
just wonder, as believers in Jesus Christ, saved through faith in Him and His
death and resurrection, what should we be feeling? What does our Heavenly
Father feel? What does Jesus feel and how can we see things as He
does.
Sorry. I'm not providing any answers here. Just
questions and an invitation for your thoughts as
well.
YBIChrist,
Sonny