Prayers of Children Under the Cloud of Tash
War, Conversion, Retreat, and Cinnamon Apples
I just finished a breakfast prepared by a couple of my kids, and the homemade whipped cream and cinnamon apples have left me feeling satisfied and a little sleepy. I’m aware of my privilege and not ashamed. It is God who pulled me out of fragmented darkness, out of illness, out of despair, and placed me here in abundance with love and comfort, and it is also God who allows hunger and loss.
God does not love the persecuted Nigerian less. He does not love the atheist less. He does not love me more because I am self-satisfied with apples and family. I ponder the theft of the word “privilege” by the left and renew my commitment to giving thanks to God in all circumstances. That’s remarkably easy to say with a belly full of sweets. That conviction will be tested again and again.
After breakfast, the kids and I gathered for a quick prayer. There are five of them remaining in our home. I know how quickly young hearts can become jaded so this familial intimacy with God is a bit ethereal, like swimming in innocence. We offered the day for various intentions. The youngest is a bit of a wild card and sometimes bursts forth with an uninspiring “ditto.” Other times he says something so tenderly attentive that it causes my eyes to leak. Today he prayed…
“God, please stop Israel from hurting people in that other place… I don’t remember what the name is…”
I took a sharp breath and stopped a dozen little corrections on my tongue and simply said “Palestine.” We haven’t really talked to him directly about any of it but little pitchers have big ears.
“Oh yeah,“ he said. “Palestine.”
The reactive adult in me wanted to explain the whole thing to him right there during prayers so that he didn’t get the details wrong. So he didn’t pray wrong (God forgive my hubris). So that he understood fully what Hamas did and the complexity of stopping evil, the meaning of collateral damage, the involvement of world powers, retaliatory rage, wealthy elites on all sides using their own people to fight bloody proxy wars, the problem of religious zeal rooted in error, fear, grief, and the deep wounds buried within all of Salvation History…
But I didn’t.
He didn’t say “only help the people in Gaza.” It wasn’t exclusive, just as my daughter’s prayer for her brother didn’t exclude her other siblings. He didn’t mean to say that we shouldn’t stop evil people. He isn’t a jaded social media keyboard jockey. And especially now as we continue to grieve the loss and suffering of sheltered Christians in Gaza, I know that his prayer is holy and correct in its simplicity.
Protect vulnerable people. Love all people. That’s it.
His innocence cannot comprehend the horror and I have to tread carefully without overlaying my own fear, anger, knowledge, and ego onto his simple faith. All he understands today is that there are innocent people dying—somewhere, including Palestine—and he prayed to God for it to stop. The political lesson will come over time as he grows and as he hears our own prayers for protection and peace verbalized. Hopefully we will model it in a way that is faithful to Christ so that he will grow to be a man of both great strength and great mercy. And may God hear his prayer.
THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE WAR
In the last few months, I’ve seen several testimonies from Muslim converts to Christianity. One striking feature of all of them was their particular love for the Jewish people. Replacing hate was a new grace-fueled tenderness and a desire to share the gospel. All were Iranian. Both men and women. Two were former hezbollah.
In contrast, many Christians, who already know the gospel, have expressed a hatred toward both Jews and Muslims. Not just a passionate religious or political disagreement (which can certainly be rightly ordered), but real hatred of persons. The Spirit is not in these Christians.
Our political and religious beliefs can at times lead us to fiery anger or disagreement, but it is the mark of the Christian that we see the Imago Dei in all. And it is our privilege to love the one bearing the image of God with the heart of Jesus Christ even when we must oppose harmful behaviors. We are not Christians because we have merited the privilege, but because God calls. He calls strong men out of murderous ways. He calls the prostitute. He calls the lost. And all of heaven rejoices at their (our) return. Blessed be God.
“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20
CONVERSION
I’ve linked one Hezbollah member’s conversion story below. I was particularly struck by his account of the spirituality of Islam because it mirrors in some ways my experience with the occult. In both our stories, it was a gift of God to be permitted to feel and see the oppression of the demonic in which we were involved. My terror precipitated my sincere cry to God for help at a time when I did not even know if He existed. His terror prompted him to cry out to Christ when he did not know Christ or desire to know him.
Afshin’s story also reminded me strongly of the Calormen soldier, Emeth, in C. S. Lewis book The Last Battle, who is welcomed into Aslan’s country in spite of his faithful service to the demon, Tash. From Lewis’ character Emeth, we read:
”For always since I was a boy I have served Tash and my great desire was to know more of him, if it might be, to look up on his face. But the name of Aslan was hateful to me…”
Then he described his encounter with Aslan, who is the Christ figure in the Narnia series:
”But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but he servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me…
I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and are one but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him…
I said, Lord, thou knows how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”
Afshin Javid was a member of Hezbollah and passion for his Muslim faith led him to offer his life in service. When he was a teen he offered to find land mines with his body. Later, he became part of an execution squad that hung infidels and was subsequently sent to other countries to covert Christians to Islam. He was arrested in Malaysia for carrying illegal passports and put in prison. It was there that he had an encounter with Christ that he describes (in part) above. Now he is a Christian pastor with a special love for the Jewish people and all those caught up in war in the Middle East.
CHRISTIANITY ISN’T A POLITICAL SOLUTION
The message sometimes conveyed by persistent negativity from Catholics online is that God is silent in the madness. Like a slumbering giant in the clouds, only swooping in at the very end when He can't take the irritation anymore. This error leads many to an unhealthy fixation on the end times. Countless Christians have done the same through the ages, only to find that their personal judgement came quickly and the blackout curtains and blessed candles became dust collectors for the next generation. The truth is better...
The Holy Spirit is moving in power. Right now. And prayer is not about control of circumstances and box checking to a cold deity, but about intimacy and conversion. If we are changed by Christ, then we are a people of joy in the midst of grief. It can't be stopped, because the testimony of His goodness (and the real movement of the Spirit in His people) is not stagnant. If it is not within us, it doesn't flow out, and in times of great suffering, we have nothing of lasting worth to offer the grieving.
Christians of shallow character and faith (maybe most of us) struck by great trial and stress often cling to political solutions, looking for a way out, for scapegoats, for excuses for their own weakness, and faith can become an angry justification for hatred. However...
Christianity is not a political solution. It is a way of living in which relationship with God permeates every action, and His presence through the body, His Church, heals and saves. Contrary to what our public vexation communicates, that does not filter down from political Rome, but rises up from each holy soul in communion with Christ, to whose love and law they freely surrender.
A father who strikes at his children causes great pain, but if we know enough to recognize the failures of the earthly father (or pope), then we know enough to seek Christ above all things and to pursue sanctity. We have no excuse. Persecution of the true Christian does not result in sin, but in grace-filled virtue and glory. I can't help but think of the persecuted Christian Armenians who prayed their last public prayers on October 1st and must continue to pursue Christ as scattered living stones…
What does it really look like to follow the path of the ancient Church?
The healing of each member of a family contributes to the healing of the whole family. When the family heals, the Church heals. When the Church heals, it pours again into the healing of the family and each person within the family. And it is by way of the family, infused with the grace of Jesus Christ, that people become courageous and good, and the world is restored to peace. It is His domain. It is our glorious boast. Blessed be God in every circumstance.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Cor. 1:25
This and That…
YOU’RE INVITED! All we do should be oriented outward in love. A song of praise to God. A gift to souls. The trouble is that it is extraordinarily easy to live with a veneer of piety but neglect the dark corners which need the light of Christ. We set conditions on how much He is allowed to touch. That’s why I try to go on retreat periodically. I have one to recommend and I hope you’ll pray about coming, because the most healing action you can take is to place yourself in the Presence of Jesus Christ, to offer Him everything in your life and ask Him to change you.
Buy Arise tickets HERE!
I have been praying recently for the intercession of the 21 Coptic Martyrs for the suffering in Israel and Gaza, for peace, and for all the vulnerable in the world. In 2015, these men were beheaded by members of the Islamic state. In the video of their murder released by the terrorists, they were described as “people of the cross.”
Tangentially, their recent martyrdom has given me pause over depicting gore in All Saints’ costumes. I admit that the St. John the Baptist costume with one’s head on a table is clever, but when I think of these men … it just strikes differently. So close. I can’t see that it would be fitting to dress up as a Coptic martyr with one’s head in a bag. They are too beautiful for such a thing. And maybe St. John was as well.
Note: I don’t know the name of the artist of this painting. If you do, please share so I can give credit
Where to donate to help the suffering vulnerable (including Christians) impacted by the conflict? I recommend The Vulnerable People Project. I trust them. Please consider a monthly commitment so that they can respond quickly to needs as they arise. I can’t imagine what it must be like to say no when a request comes in.
Looking for a podcast about the Christian response to the Middle East that doesn’t fall into polemics? You might enjoy The Jason Jones Show with guest Marilis Pineiro.
My current read is Betrayed Without a Kiss by John Clark. I’m about halfway through and really enjoying. I recently heard John make the case that a Eucharistic revival must be accompanied by a revival of the sacrament of Matrimony in order for it to have lasting impact. The book is making a compelling case for such a bold statement.
Quote of the week:
“If a false gospel could spread this rapidly and multiply this aggressively, then the gospel can, too, but with greater force. Because the gospel eclipses Islam’s ability to replicate itself in the hearts of its followers and believers… because it is true.”
- An Iranian ChristianThoughts from Twitter (I guess I should start calling it X):
Vote NO on Issue 1! Ohio is poised to pass the most radical pro-abortion and anti-parent law in the nation on November 7th. The radical left has funded an aggressive campaign to change the Ohio constitution to allow abortion through birth and restrict parental involvement in abortion and medical care (include gender transitioning). If they win this, they’ll have turned a state so red that it voted for Trump into California. And they will do it again and again and again with other issues and in other states. Even if you are not in Ohio, please encourage all Ohio residents (even pro-choice) to read and understand this issue and VOTE NO. See the language.
For those of you encouraging me to write more frequently here, I hear you. I’m on it. And here’s a little All Hallows Eve fun for you…
That’s all for today. My kids are after me to help them put together astonishing All Saints’ Day costumes that nobody will ever ever guess. I’m grateful that even the oldest kids still get involved so that this triduum of autumn feasts can still be celebrated by the whole community with some panache. My youngest just told me that he’s “sorry to tell you this but all my siblings voted against me and you’re going to have to cut my hair and give me a tonsure.” As siblings do. Got it. My next move is to find a lot of brown cloth and do something saintly with it.
Godspeed on all your adventures this week!
Peace be with you.
Melody
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Beautiful post, we must focus on God.