What to Make of Terror?

Dear friend,

I am writing this at the window of my hotel room in a village somewhere in rural southern India. Just beyond is the impressive dark green mountain range of the Western Ghats. Leading up to it is a beautiful palm forest and a little lake where the women gather and wash their families clothes.

It could be idyllic, would there not be this incredible pollution and noise everywhere.

Well, I actually intended to write about our great crusades and the awesome miracles that happen every night, but the shocking developments in New York of course captivate our attention at this time. The two passenger airplanes which were crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers on Tuesday, 11. September 2001, were not just an attack on the USA, but rather one more crazy attack upon all of us.

Our sympathies are also with the hundreds of Indians who died in the bomb blasts of Bombay in 1993 and the hundreds of Africans who died in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The attacks upon them were perpetrated by the same brand of islamic extremists responsible for the latest devastation in NY, Washington and Pennsylvania. And we pray for President Bush, as he and his allies prepare for this very difficult war on terror.

The magnitude of the recent attacks is so breathtaking because those "jehadis" (islamic holy warriors) used modern technology to commit their atrocities. 100 years ago they couldn't have done it, because planes weren't invented then. But terror itself has a long and twisted history.

Even Jesus was confronted with this phenomenon.

In Luke 13, verse 1, a frenzied group of people arrives to tell him about a massacre which Pilate's soldiers had committed on some Galilaeans while those had been busy sacrificing animals to God. Roman storm troopers had broken into a religious service and had killed everybody attending. It had been such a ghastly sight that the people reported with horror in their voices: Pilate mingled the blood of the worshippers with the blood of their sacrifices! Naturally, they asked: Jesus, where was God? What do you say about that atrocious act of terror?

The first few statements Jesus made in response do not sound very reassuring: "Do you suppose that these Galilaeans were greater sinners than all other Galilaeans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish!"

Jesus says: Because of the way you live, a "sword of Damocles" hangs over all of your heads. These massacred people weren't worse sinners than you are. If you seek true security and if you want to be spared a like fate: repent! Rethink your life! Come to your senses! Reorder your priorities! Put God first once more. Otherwise something like this can happen to you too at any time.

Religious acts obviously didn't save those Galilaeans. They were murdered while they were involved in sacrificing. An outward ritual can never substitute for inward renewal through real faith in God.

Then Jesus goes on to mention natural disasters ("acts of terror" by mother nature): "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Normally you build a tower to provide a platform for watchmen and to give you shelter from the enemy in times of war. It is a defense structure. And now that which was meant to give the people of Siloam safety had collapsed and killed 18 of them.

Had those been extremely wicked men? No. Those eighteen dead had been average guys, not bad sinners. Then Jesus repeated: This can happen to any of you at any given time. Unless you repent.

The first thing Jesus wanted out of his listeners was repentance. What does that mean for us?

As christians we are saved from eternal damnation, as were the devout among Israel. But if we hear about the horrors of this world, - catastrophes like the one in NY -, we do well to reevaluate our own relationship with God.

Are we living clean?

Are we obedient to God's plan for our lives?

Are we harboring unforgiveness?

Are we faithful and trustworthy?

Do we spent time in prayer and the word? And do we like it? Or has it gotten to be a mere religious exercise, a "Galilaean sacrifice"?

Jesus then presents a parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any."

The owner of the vineyard in this specific case was God, the vineyard was the world and the fig tree represented Israel.

"And he said to the vineyard-keeper: behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground? And he answered and said to him: let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down."

In this parable a tree is doomed because it refuses to act upon its nature and bear figs. The owner wanted to remove it in order to plant something more productive in its place.

The owner was looking for fruit.

However, the actual keeper of the vineyard became the unsuspected advocate for this beautiful tree which he probably enjoyed a lot. It had presumably given him many hours of joy, as he had sat under its shadowy leaves, relaxing after a long day's work.

He suggested to save the tree and to give it one more chance. He wanted to dig and put manure around it in order to induce it to bear fruit.

Manure...

Now, cow poop or any other kind of manure never flatters our olfactory faculties. It stinks. We would rather do without it. But it has the proven ability to enhance fruit bearing in crops.

It is equally true that unpleasant circumstances, - or flat out times of crisis -, lead many people back to God. It is in times of need in which we seek to please God more than at times when everything goes great.

God did not blow up the World Trade Center. Evil men did that. And make no mistake: if it could happen to the U.S., it can happen to anybody. America is no greater sinner than the rest of the nations. Rather the opposite.

Let us pray that God will use this horrendous tragedy to induce a great revival in America and around the world. (I hear that the churches over there are once again full of worshippers.) As people realize that security is neither found in stocks nor bonds, but in Jesus alone, let us pray that their heart will move them our way, so we can lead them to the Lord.

Let me end with a scripture from Hebrews: "For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints." (Hebrews 6, 7-10.)

Mourning the dead and
reaching out to the living,
your friend

Gert Hoinle, Pastor

P.S.: We were able to lead about 25.000 people to Jesus in the last two weeks during our crusades in southern India. I tagged a picture onto this email for you to see. (The picture shows me preaching, Dr. Daniels translating, and Evangelist Stephan Steinle, the boss of our campaign, looking on.)

Cripples walked, great lots of deaf mutes were delivered, blind eyes received their sight, ... It was glorious. G.H.