The Norway Killer, Anders Behring Breivik, calls himself a christian
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight? (John 18:36)
With the horrifying events last month in Norway pressure is on Evangelical Christians across Europe. A self-proclaimed ?Christian? was responsible for mass murder. Rooted in a twisted understanding of both the message of Christ and hate for Muslims, he massacred innocent lives. Now every Bible-believing Christian who stands for the truth of the gospel is under media suspicion.? How can we continue to oppose false religion and Christless philosophy gripping both Britain and the European Continent?
We must begin by re-defining what it means to be a ?radical Christian?. We cannot allow this phrase to be hijacked by journalists so that it becomes synonymous with hate and killing. This would be a media coup for the powerful anti-Christian lobby. The Media have already made the word ?fundamentalist? synonymous with hate, intolerance and violence. Every person who takes the Bible seriously is branded ?fundamentalist? and therefore a potential threat to society. The Norwegian tragedy will be milked for all its worth, making it almost impossible to speak out concerning the dangers of Islamisation of Europe without being portrayed as a dangerous ?Islamophobe?.
The pure meaning of ?radical? is ?that which goes back to the roots of something?. Our faith is rooted in the person of Christ ? his teaching, his example and his work of redemption. Jesus came to save a lost humanity. This is our only hope and we must proclaim his message of salvation clearer and more boldly that ever. Only the transforming power of the Holy Spirit can save a person, a nation or a society.
But preaching alone is not enough. We must show them the doctrine of Christ and live as true, radical disciples of Christ. At root, Jesus? message was about love ? love to God and our neighbour. The truly radical Christian takes the words of Jesus and lives them out uncompromisingly. This is the ?extremism? we should be known for.
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44)
If everyone who named the name of Christ showed more of this form of radicalism, the world would be a much better place.