A Terrorist Transformed

This is the story of a cultured, well-educated man who became a terrorist…and then became something else.

He was born into a prominent family. Like bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, his roots were upper-middle class, refined, and privileged. As a child he was very bright, and so his parents arranged for him to study under the best teachers. He spoke several languages and had a knack for moving easily from one culture to another.

Along with his education came an increased interest in his ancestral religion. He became more and more devoted. You might even say he was becoming radicalized.

A Christian's Message to the Men Who Beheaded His Brothers

Last Sunday the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a video showing the simultaneous beheading of 21 Egyptian men who were kidnapped from Libya. As everybody knows (except, apparently, the U.S. President), the men were murdered because they were Christians. The video released by the terrorists was entitled “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.”

I wrote about another beheading by the “Religion of Peace” here. This is just the latest in an extremely long line of brutal, indefensible acts of barbarism committed by followers of Islam. (Since the beheadings, ISIS burned 45 people to death in Western Iraq.)

This has always been the way. Those who follow the god of this world hate those who follow the true God.

But we don’t hate them back. At least weren’t not supposed to.

What Jesus Says About Beheading an Innocent Man

By now everybody knows that the dedicated followers of the “religion of peace” beheaded an American photojournalist named James Foley, and posted the video on the internet. Years ago I made the mistake of watching a video of another decapitation by Muslim terrorists, and it was the most horrific, disgusting, and beastly thing I’ve ever seen.

So I won’t watch another terrorist video if I can help it, and recommend that you don’t either. But since this is a blog about Christ, I do want to ask the question, what does Jesus have to say about the beheading of an innocent man by religious zealots?