‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have done it. I have done it beforehand   and it has not been a good experience. I decided to look at the video of the Beheading of the 21 Christians in Libya, by Islamic State.

Probably I think ten were beheaded, perhaps they are keeping others back for later. Or perhaps they did kill all 21 but I just didn’t see them all get killed.

I’ve seen the heads in a public park’s railings in Northern Iraq, I’ve seen the butchers house with dead Christian meat, I saw the Jordanian pilot get burned alive. I have seen more Christians killed for being Christians in the last six months than I have ever seen n my life.

These people are worse than Nazi Germany….why?  It isn’t yet the volume of murder but even the Nazi’s kept it all under wraps, didn’t boast about it and most of these places of the holocaust only came to light as the war was coming to an end. They would not have dreamed of boasting about it on TV Cinema or radio.  Islamic State are parading their evil for the world to see.

This group were all in a hotel I understand. The terrorists came and identified them by their passports ‘Coptic Christian’ and they were taken to end up on a beach being butchered for no other reason than they were Christians. The grieving families are utterly devastated by this evil.

The Jordanese response to the burning alive of their pilot was to shout ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. A phrase from the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Quran.  However in the OT it was used to limit revenge  ( Palestinian rockets recently killed two Israelis and Israeli responses killed 1100 Palestinians some 400 of them children.) because unfettered revenge escalates violence.

The NT  on the lips of Jesus puts forward a different ethic altogether seen as weak by many Muslims …..Love your enemies, forgive your enemies.  The Quran seems to ignore the coming of Jesus and  and reverts to an OT situation but without the modifying quality of the Hesed….the loving kindness of God ( revealed later as the Grace of God.   It is this ‘eye for an eye ‘  approach that will escalate violence across the region.

The Coptic church is vibrant and strong. It is more orthodox than anything we are familiar with but they regard ‘Evangelicals’ as their friends and they are deeply influenced by western Christianity.

Are there any easy answers?

Nope sorry!   However I do wonder if this torrent of violence from ISLAMIC state  is causing many Muslims to question their faith and its fruit. The noble and godly behaviour of the Coptic Christians in Egypt I know has won many many friends in the Muslim population.  The deposing of the Muslim Brotherhood will I hope ensure that Christians in that land will be treated more fairly. There are twice as many Christians in Egypt as there are Muslims n the UK….not many people know that.

Here though is a video, which highlights the qualitative difference between following Jesus and frankly anyone or anything else.’

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/19/brother-christian-isis-victims-forgive_n_6713310.html

John Kenneth Tancock was a regular guest on Doug Harris’ programs on Revelation TV. Link to JT’s Blogspot.  Link to JT’s YouTube channel.

JT at Revelation TV