A Letter From Pastor Mark - March



Dear Friends,
On Thursday, February 19, and Sunday, February 22, I made a pastoral statement regarding the violence and terror that is being visited upon innocent people throughout much of the world.  I want to share the reasons I made my statement in this newsletter.
As well as having studied theology and matters of the church, I have also been over my  lifetime an ardent student of history.  Even though I did not live through the WW II era, I have studied that period of history.  What is interesting is that particular war was not just a conflict that was based in nationalistic militarism (however, that did exist but was used more as a tool rather than the main motivating force for the conflict) it was an epic battle to defeat one of the greatest evils the world had ever seen up to that time.  Nazism and its philosophy of hate represented pure evil.  That evil was visited upon millions of people simply because they were different from the Nazis. Tens of millions of people perished.
What is amazing is that during this period of time leading up to the start of the war, except for a few brave Christian witnesses, the pulpits of Germany, Europe and throughout the world remained silent. There was little to no condemnation of the great evil perpetrated by Hitler and his minions.  The church at that time failed to speak a word of moral clarity to identify evil and call the church to stand for good.

I believe that we cannot allow that same thing to happen today.  Islamic terrorism is as evil and terrible as anything that the Nazis did.  Over the past six to nine months we have seen one barbaric act after another killing innocent people, simply because they are different from the ISIS group.  There have been beheadings, beatings, instances of stoning and burning people alive.  This includes the murder of children as well.  In the past couple of weeks, 21 Egyptian Christians were beheaded simply because of their adherence to Christianity.  Before they were publicly beheaded, it was proclaimed by ISIS that they were “people of the cross.”  That was their crime.  In Paris, people of the Jewish faith were targeted and killed simply because they were Jews.
Lest I be misunderstood, please understand that Muslims throughout the world who do not buy into the radical and perverted ideology of Islamic terrorism are being slaughtered as well.  No one is safe.  There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.  Of that number only about 22 percent adhere to the radical Islamic terrorist philosophy.  The vast majority of Muslims stand with the rest of the world against the evil that this minority represents.  This huge number of Muslim adherents are in as much danger as the non-Muslim world.
However, the 22 percent that do adhere to this evil philosophy represent a larger total    population than all the Axis nations combined that fought against the allies in WW II.  A minority, yes, but a dangerous and formidable minority.
I spoke out because I believe it is immoral for the church and for people of faith not to stand against evil and to stand with those who are victims and who are suffering so terribly because of this evil.  I am calling the church to pray for good to overwhelm and defeat this evil that is spreading through the world.  I am also calling for us to take action by speaking out, when appropriate, against this evil and to name it for what it is, pure and unadulterated evil.  If your conscience would lead you to urge your governmental representatives to take a stand against this evil, that would be an option as well.  There are humanitarian organizations throughout the world who are working against this evil and attempting to alleviate the suffering of many.  If you are aware of one of these organizations, another option would be to support their efforts.

To summarize, I spoke out against this evil because I cannot be a party to another time in history when the church remains silent and allows atrocities against innocent people to g0 unchallenged.  The evil represented by ISIS and Islamic terrorism must be identified, and the world must stand as one to confront and defeat that evil wherever it exists in the world.
There must be moral clarity.  What is being perpetrated upon the world through and by ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups is evil.
Sincerely and with blessings,
Pastor Mark Fisher



 



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