Recently ten aid workers were killed in Afghanistan. Six of them were American medical personnel, two of those were doctors, one a surgeon and the other an Ophthalmologist. The latter had left a lucrative practice to go and help the Afghan people. He had spent thirty years there doing all he could to help people see better. For his commitment and dedication he was killed, supposedly by Taliban fighters. His crime and that of the others which merited a death sentence in their warped minds – they were Christians, and they were trying to convert Muslims.

     The Ophthalmologist wife wanted to make it clear that not all of the Afghan people were responsible for this terrible injustice. She said that there were hundreds of Afghans who would have given their lives for his knowing that he had repeatedly put his life on the line for them. The criminals who committed this atrocious act admittedly belong to a radical Muslim sect. However, regardless of the branch of Islam that a person may belong to, that religion when carried to its inescapable conclusion was founded on violence and is perpetuated by violence.

     The aid workers who were killed all claimed Christianity as their faith. Their faith caused them to leave their homes and families and to go to a backward nation, often in distance parts of that nation, and travel over difficult terrain and in dangerous territory to use their skills to help relieve the suffering of others with whom they differed dramatically on spiritual matters. Friends close to them said they would never have been actively trying to “proselyte” any of the Afghans, but they would be living their faith before them.

      Their murderers practice a form of their religion that commands them to kill anyone who tries to convert a Muslim and to kill anyone who converts. They will kill anyone who interferes with their objective of the domination of Afghanistan. It does not matter to them how much good those people do, how many lives they may have saved, how many people’s sight they may have improved or restored. They were believed to be guilty of preaching Christ to Afghans, and this crime was punishable by death.

     Compare that with America which, though not a Christian nation in the truest sense of the term, was founded by people who believed in Jesus Christ. Our laws are based upon Christian principles. Our constitution provides and protects the freedom of religion. Muslims can come to America and build Mosques and practice their religion. They can do so without fear of being arrested, or of being convicted for practicing their religion, and without being executed.

     It is my sincere conviction that God raised up this nation to perpetuate the true message of the gospel. He has blessed us beyond any nation before us or since us. He continues to provide us with opportunities to spread the message and to grow the kingdom. When we cease to fulfill that mission, He will raise up another nation to carry on His work.

Brotherly,  Sellers