JW February 18, 2015 Graham Glover

Pray for ISIS

That is not a misprint. We should pray for ISIS.

We should pray that their barbarism comes to an end. Pray that their incessant terror is defeated. Pray that their bloodletting never happen again. Pray that justice comes to them – quickly and decisively. Pray that they would amend their evil ways. Pray that they repent. Pray that Satan loses his hold on their sadistic deeds.

We should pray for these things and more.

While those who make up their ranks represent the worst in humanity, they are and will remain part of the human race. This is why we must pray for ISIS. Despite their confession and their actions, they too are children of God.

What?! Members of ISIS are children of God?! Yes they are.

Their deeds are pure evil. They threaten the lives of the innocent. They slaughter anyone who does not embrace their creed. This past week, 21 of our fellow brothers in the faith were beheaded by their madness. But still we should pray for them. We should pray for their souls and their families, for they are in need of God’s grace.

But aren’t they our enemy? American Soldiers could soon be engaged in direct combat with them. How can we possibly pray for those who wish to do our nation, our allies, and the cause of liberty harm? Are we really called to pray for those who do not desire peace? Should those who desire a holy war be part of our daily prayers?

Absolutely.

We should pray for ISIS in spite of and because of these things. Above all, we should pray for them because our Lord tells us to do so.

As the Church enters the Lenten season, with a renewed focus on prayer and repentance, I think we followers of the Risen Christ would do well to pray for our enemies, specifically ISIS. Imperfect and horrific as they are, they are our neighbor. They are our brother. They are, even with all the hate and venom that fills their veins, worthy of our prayers.

ISIS may never amend who they are or the god they represent. The terror that is at the heart of their cause may only be in its beginning stages. I have a feeling we will witness the atrocities of their maniacal movement for years to come. Yet still, we should pray for them. We should pray and trust in the Lord. Trust in His will. Trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. Trust in His grace.

So go ahead and pray for ISIS. Pray for them even though it doesn’t feel right and sound like something you want to do. Pray for them even as our Lord does.

17Comments

Add yours

1

paul on February 18, 2015 at 5:46 pm

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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jessej on February 18, 2015 at 6:01 pm

So…Luke 23 comes to mind. Suprised!? What a rich text! But I saw something new there after your article tonight.

After the great prayer of forgivness, then verse 35 “and the people stood by, watching;” so neat! Why haven’t I seen this before after so many times (what a wounded race we belong to).

They watch the political class mock Jesus. Then they watch men whos job of soldiering has made them callous. They watch the criminal who asks basically what good are you God if you can’t stop my suffering.

Then they see the reward of humility and the simple prayer “lord remember me when you come into your kingdom” It’s paradise!

We are being watched by the world like Jesus was that day. I believe they were watching because Jesus prayed for EVERYONE and they knew this was huge in the history of man.

I’m thinking maybe that’s why we’re ignored so often today….we’re never praying right.

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John J Flanagan on February 18, 2015 at 7:19 pm

Do you dare call ISIS killers “children of God”? Would you have called Hitler, Stalin, Sadam Hussein, Attila the Hun, Goliath, Ahab, Herod…”children of God? God knows who are His own, and the acts of unrepentent, ruthless, disbelieving and murderous individuals do not identify them as “children of God.” Rather, such are children of the Devil.

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  jessej on February 18, 2015 at 11:51 pm
  
  “And he said, “I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
  
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  Graham Glover on February 19, 2015 at 4:04 am
  
  John, I’m not calling their actions godly. They most assuredly are evil. But even members of ISIS, like evil combatants in the past, can repent of their wrongs and come to saving faith.
  
  The Church has always prayed for her enemies. Mine is but another reminder that we should do so too.
  
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    John J Flanagan on February 19, 2015 at 7:52 am
    
    Let me make it personal so you understand. When I was a 22 year old Marine at a rural and isolated outpost in South Vietnam in 1967, I was temporarily with a small group of Marine infantry, some Army MACV advisors to the South Vietnamese, and local Vietnamese Popular Forces defending ourselves against a Viet Cong Main Force Contingent which attacked us and harassed us. During the ground assault I said a prayer for myself and my fellow Marines, but didn’t even think of these VC as children of God. We beat off this attack. Later on, in January 1968, while I was at another place, the NVA attacked and overran the same outpost, killing some of our guys, and turning the fortifications and small hootches and buildings unto a flat parking lot. On the same night, many simultaneous attacks occurred, and some Marines I knew died in the fierce fighting. I saw more action continuously until I ended my Vietnam tour in Sept 1968, when I accompanied the remains of a friend back to his home in Washington state for burial. When people who try to kill you are identified as ‘children of God’ I have a problem with that description. Unless an individual actually is transformed by the Holy Spirit and believes on Jesus, we cannot use that term, in my opinion. The unrepentent mass murderers of ISIS are not children of God, but actors on behalf of Satan, and that is my view.
    
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  Larry Day (@TheUnenthusiast) on February 20, 2015 at 8:50 pm
  
  Christ tells us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Their barbarism and actions are evil. But they definitely do need our prayers as God wants to have mercy on all sinners.
  
  This is a hard thing to think and write but the Lord does ask us to do this hard and frankly by human standards difficult and humanly unreasonable thing. Praying for those who persecute us is a hard thing to imagine or do.
  
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Don Moore on February 19, 2015 at 9:24 am

I’m in some agreement with your assessment of what we should pray for – enemies included; still I’m reminded of Proverbs 31:8-9. We’re supposed to be defending the weak, which is also our duty as a strong nation (clearly there is some judgment involved as to approach and extent), and punishing wrongdoers, referring to Romans 13. These people are clearly evildoers and on the attack against the helpless and especially againt the Children of God in the narrow sense (the Body of Christ). I pray for Thy Kingdom Come to change their hearts for peace, which God desires and can surely do, but my duty is much broader than that. The people of God cry out throughout Scripture to be rescued in body and soul by God. I cry out with them, as one in the Body with them.

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  John J Flanagan on February 19, 2015 at 9:49 am
  
  I have followed God’s word as a Christian all of my life. Jesus plainly and directly tells us to forgive our enemies, and as He hung from the cross and in His agony…He forgave those who nailed Him to that cross, and He forgave those nearby who mocked Him( and indeed some of them later came to faith). I suppose it is sometimes difficult for me to wrap my human emotions on this idea, but I believe it is true that God commands us to do just that….since we as sinners were forgiven. I cannot give an answer. It is hard, but bitterness is present in the old Adam who rears his attitude in my outlook. I am grateful to God for His numerous blessings in my life, and through prayer and obedience, I will work on the feelings which make me less forgiving of the enemies of righteousness and the killers of the innocent and peaceful Christians, as ISIS .
  
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    Don Moore on February 19, 2015 at 10:01 am
    
    God in Christ has certainly provided for their forgiveness in his blood. Still he often disciplines even his own all over Scripture. He actually spends a significant time destroying evildoers from the earth. His grace has been provided and we must forgive offenses of ourselves. God also says we must retain the sins of some, appropriately of course. My training has been to retain the sins of the unrepentant. God will hold them responsible in the end, either way. He may use his earthly authorities to punish them now.
    
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Graham Glover on February 19, 2015 at 1:25 pm

John and Don, thank you both for your comments.

This is a tough issue. Even though I suggest we should all, “Pray for ISIS”, I too struggle with actually doing it. This is especially true when I believe one of my responsibilities as an Army Chaplain is to make sure my Soldiers are spiritually ready to engage and destroy the enemies of our nation.

John, I hear your concerns and on many levels concur.

Lord have mercy on us all!

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  Larry Day (@TheUnenthusiast) on February 20, 2015 at 8:53 pm
  
  I agree entirely.
  
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13

kirkskeptic on February 19, 2015 at 1:43 pm

There is no inconsistency in praying for the salvation of terrorists while actively seeking to exterminate them; both are obligatory for Christians.

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paul on February 19, 2015 at 5:43 pm

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/brother.of.slain.coptic.christians.thanks.isis.for.including.their.words.of.faith.in.murder.video/48412.htm?utm_content=buffer1c78f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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jessej on February 20, 2015 at 8:39 am

This is a current bio of a former Nazi leader in England who helps lead people to Christ everyday.

“Joseph Pearce is Writer in Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH. He is a renowned biographer whose books include Candles in the Dark: The Authorized Biography of Fr. Ho Lung, Missionaries of the Poor (Saint Benedict Press, 2012); Through Shakespeare’s Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays (Ignatius Press, 2010); and Tolkien: Man and Myth, a Literary Life (HarperCollins, 1998). He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Higher Education from Thomas More College for the Liberal Arts and the Pollock Award for Christian Biography. He is co-editor of the St. Austin Review, editor-in-Chief of Ignatius Press Critical Editions, and editor-in-Chief of Sapientia Press.”

I like to think somebody was praying him into the church when he seemed completely unlovable.

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16

dana on February 20, 2015 at 9:41 am

I recall Someone Who was martyred crying out on behalf of those who were murdering Him. Apparently they were worthy of His prayers. So I’d say it follows that ISIS is worthy of ours.

Thanks Graham.

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James Patterson on February 21, 2015 at 9:51 pm

Great article.

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Pray for ISIS

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