Are We Not Called to Love Our Enemies?

Brother Harold has served for the past 15 years as a gospel worker in Central Asia, sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the Muslim people of the nations of that region. Recently he visited VOM and sat down in the studio with Todd Nettleton, host of VOM's weekly, half-hour radio show and podcast. Here is a part of their conversation:

Todd Nettleton:   You don’t have to go to Central Asia to meet Muslims. We live in America and there are a lot of Muslims here.

Brother Harold:   There are over 7 million Muslims in North American now.

Todd:  What do our listeners need to know or what do they need to think about to engage? I know a lot of Americans start with fear: Is that guy a terrorist?

Harold:   It’s one of the things I have experienced here in North America, it seems like that fear is really growing and gripping the hearts of people. It is a sad thing because that is not the majority of the Muslim world. Now, absolutely, there are some terrorists crazy things out there. ISIS is ridiculous. I will tell you what, all of my friends in the Muslim part of the world; they dislike them [ISIS] as much as we do. They think it is crazy.

The people in North America who come here are 99 percent of the time just like you and I, families just trying to live their lives and do their best and they are coming here for a better life and to work and to do things. The best thing we can do is to show them the love of Jesus. You know when you hear testimonies of the Muslims who have come to faith in America it is because someone over and over again just loved them. You know you have a neighbor, take them some cookies, invite them, go introduce them. Understanding that these people are coming from worlds where community was their life.

They come to North America where we are a little more independent than the rest of the world. We don’t really commune like that, so for someone to reach out to them they would be longing for that and those kind of relationships. You can make life-long friendships and really meet some great people with just the opportunity to go and show love. Don’t think you have to read up on the Koran and be able to argue, don’t worry about that. Ask them, sit down and say, “Tell me about Islam, I want to learn,” and maybe they will ask you about Christianity. There is no need to debate and argue over things, just continually show love. You know when you do that you will be amazed at the way walls will just fall down. That is what I would encourage people to go out.

There are the people who say, “What about the terrorists, we find them out there?” My response to that is, “It doesn’t matter.” Is our response different? Are we not called to love our enemies just as much? For me, I have come to the point it doesn’t matter if they are a terrorists, if they are trying to take over my world, my response is still show them the love of Jesus. So regardless of who they may be that is what I have been called to do and I am going to do that as best as I can.

Listen to the entire conversation with Brother Harold on VOM Radio.