Today is Easter. As a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a uniquely Christian holiday. This morning, in a horrific turn of events, three Sri Lankan churches were bombed during their Easter worship services. In Twitter condemnations of these vicious and deviously-timed attacks, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama referred to the victims as “Easter Worshippers”.
While technically true, their very specific descriptions of these terror victims speaks volumes. The victims of these bombings were Christians. * That is who celebrates Easter at church, Christians. Other worshipers don’t celebrate Easter because Jesus is not their God. Yet, Clinton and Obama would not refer to the victims as “Christians.” Rather than speak about “Christians,” these world leaders provided universalistic platitudes. This morning’s bombings were not simply attacks on “humanity” as Obama posits. These attacks were attacks on Christendom (hotels were also targeted) by (suspected) Islamic terrorists. Leftists simply refuse to verbally acknowledge as much. Christians can and should acknowledge the obvious.
Christians should also acknowledge that their ultimate conflict is not with earthly Islamic terrorists but the spiritual forces at work in the Kingdom of Darkness. Sometimes these forces influence Islamic violence. Other times they influence the speech and policy of apostate political elites like Clinton and Obama. The spiritual response to either situation is the same: prayer and gospel proclamation.
Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.
*Two of the churches targeted were Roman Catholic. Sociologically, the Roman Catholic religion is Christian. Biblically, it is not.
**Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
