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“A spiritual war has us fighting the devil, not each other. And if we’re fighting each other, we’re fighting for the devil.”
Pray for O and Remember the Story of the Samaritan
by Falvo Fowler
Throughout Scripture and history, I see instances of individuals who did horrific things. But because someone prayed, someone preached, someone ministered, these individuals changed. And if it happened then, couldn’t it also happen now?
All the wars we hear about these days motivated me to consider the past, and then to consider it again as a Christian. Remember how they all started?
There was the savagery of 9/11.
Then post 9/11 lines were drawn. Decisive actions were taken. Reactions abounded. Military and political machinery hit overdrive and tripped into high gear.
This is what they do. This is why they were created. Acting and reacting is how they survive.
This is what we expect.
But what was unexpected were the lines drawn by spiritual leaders. Those who were given the holy responsibility to promote peace. Reactions from them were more base [human] than divinely guided.
And the rest of us followed.
We knew the enemy, and we wanted to squash him. We wanted us to win (and there’s nothing wrong with that) and him to miserably lose (now that . . .). We prayed for our troops, but rarely did we pray for the others involved in this “war”: the children, mothers, grandparents, families, allied troops, leaders, Iraqis, Afghanis . . . innocents.
A caller to a political television show said this was a war that is both “spiritual and military.” It isn’t. It’s a war like all wars before it: fought on opposing ideas of freedom . . . with both sides believing they are right in going about obtaining freedom.
A spiritual war has us fighting the devil, not each other. And if we’re fighting each other, we’re fighting for the devil (this is even more true of nasty arguments within “sacred” entities).
In the weeks, months, and years after the world witnessed 9/11, we’ve prayed for so many things. But as Christians, as followers of Christ . . . as those who profess to follow Christ . . . have we, like our Savior, asked for forgiveness for those who have done us wrong? Have we prayed for compassion to weigh heavily on George Bush’s heart? Have we prayed for God’s will and not ours to be done? Have we prayed for the changing of Osama Bin Laden’s heart? Have we prayed for his family?
Because if we haven’t, have we really prayed for (or preached) peace and goodwill to all humankind?
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