Easter is for Terrorists
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. - Acts 9:1-2
I remember when my son first learned of September 11th. We had just returned from Africa and one of the shopping malls we frequented while living there was all over international news. Terrorists had taken the place hostage. Which led to the conversation of 9-11 and the definition of “terrorism”. It was several minutes later when my son, about six years old at the time, returned to me and said “Mom, does that mean Paul was a terrorist before he met Jesus?”
A ministry like The Truth Collective constantly engages in conversations about terrorism, as most Americans believe Muslim = Terrorist. In defense, many kind-hearted Believers like to bring statistics about the miniscule percentage of the Muslim community who actually participate in terrorism. Others try to soften language in the Quran to make it seem as though terrorism isn’t supported in the character of Allah or Muhammad.
We don’t do that. Rather, our ministry asks this question:
What if it were true?
What about our Commission changes if every Muslim were actually a terrorist? Would the Muslim world be exempt from the Gospel?
Don’t you think it’s a little ironic that Jesus Himself chose a known terrorist, who actually built his case for murder on Jewish doctrine, to herald the greatest story of Truth ever told? How very “ironic” it is for Paul to have received a vision of the risen Christ and be sent to Ananias for a full explanation of the Gospel, when that is precisely the modality Christ is using throughout the Muslim world today!
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:12-13 (emphasis added)
Easter is for terrorists. The cross is for terrorists. The resurrection is a message to all humanity that God’s grace has no exclusion. All means all. “Saul” is at your door, Church. In your kids’ school, in your workplace, down the street, or across town; maybe on the other side of your Zoom call. If you don’t open the door with kindness, faith, and a heart for Truth, you are being disobedient.