Jesus taught it. Paul reaffirmed it. And neither of them said their teaching was optional for Christians. Instead, God Himself commands us, His children, to love our enemies and to bless those who curse us.

No one said it would be easy. No one even said it would be possible, without divine help. But, without any question, the call to love our enemies is a divine command, not a human suggestion.

In the words of Jesus, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:43-48).

In the words of Paul, “Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. … Repay no one evil for evil. Commend what is honest in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘Vengeance is Mine. I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:14, 17-21).

To be sure, this is not talking about how our country’s military should respond to a foreign invader. Nor is it telling a husband and father what to do if a serial killer breaks into his home, intent on killing his wife and children.

These teachings refer to our interpersonal relationships. To our attitudes. To our responses.

Will we bless those who curse us, or will we curse them back? Will we love those who hate us, or will we hate them back? Will we overcome evil, or will we be overcome by evil?

There are certainly times for making a spirited defense of one’s position, especially for the cause of righteousness. And there are certainly times when evil must be publicly and plainly rebuked.

But you can rebuke someone while having great love for them at the same time.

You can even want justice to be done while having great love for the criminal justly sentenced for his crime.

In short, the command to love our enemies does not call on us to compromise our ethics. It calls on us to take our ethics to a higher level, hating evil to the point that we refuse to be corrupted by it.

At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, “Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and president of a conservative think tank, had decried a ‘crisis of contempt and polarization’ and urged his listeners to ‘love your enemies.’”

In response, President Trump remarked, “I don’t know if I agree with you,” adding, “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” And, the president continued, “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you’ when you know that is not so.”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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This Monday, I stood in front of 600 male inmates at a prison in Izalco, El Salvador. The men were dressed in white T-shirts and white drawstring pants, and many of them sported tattoos on their faces and necks. All the men were members of violent gangs when they were incarcerated. About 20% of them were affiliated with the MS-13 gang—a group known for horrific attacks on women, children and police officers.

Yet I felt no fear as I looked out over the crowd and shared a message from Luke 15 about the prodigal son. Most of the men were carrying Bibles, and when I announced my text, they immediately turned to the passage. I could hear them yell, “Amen,” or “Gloria a Dios,” when I stressed an important point. And they clapped and cheered when I reminded them that the kosher Jewish father in the story welcomed his wayward son home even though the boy smelled like pigs.

Almost every prisoner in this huge group became a Christian after arriving at the Izalco prison. Two churches now operate inside the facility, pastored by men who were once tough criminals. All the men now gather for Bible study every day, they hold prayer and fasting vigils, and they are helping each other to grow spiritually.

When the men worshipped on Monday, six guys used plastic paint tubs for drums while an inmate with a huge smile led the praise choruses. The men sang louder and with more passion than I’ve witnessed in most churches in the outside world.

I told the inmates: “!Jesucristo vive dentro de esta prisión!” (“Jesus Christ lives inside this prison!”) The men screamed with approval.

“Our government is encouraging this movement,” says Oscar David Benavides, director of the prison. He says in 2016 he was allowed to encourage evangelism among inmates. When men experienced conversions, he intentionally moved them into buildings where there were non-Christian inmates.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, and the curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way which I am commanding you today” (Deut. 11:26-28a).

When I drive down the highway, painted lines on the pavement provide helpful guidance. A dotted white line lets me know that if the lane of oncoming traffic is clear, I can pass other cars. A solid line means no passing is allowed. The highway department is not trying to take away my joy in driving. The lines on the road are intended to keep me safe, and keep others safe, while I’m on my way to my destination.

In a similar way, as we live and travel down life’s road, we can push the boundaries God has established. But we do so at our own peril. If we go outside His “road markings,” the likelihood is that we will get hurt, as well as hurt other people. At the very least, we will experience life on a lower level than He intended. The alternative is to take God at His Word, stay within His boundaries and trust Him to know what’s best for us.

—When God says to have no other gods before Him, He knows that other gods—such as money, fame, sex, pleasure, power—will enslave you.

—When God says not to create and worship idols, He knows that behind them are demonic forces who will weaken you, deceive you and suck you into evil attitudes, words, actions and thoughts that you had no idea you were capable of having or saying or doing.

—When God says not to misuse His Name, He knows that unless you reverence Him, you will not have even the beginning of wisdom with which to live and make your decisions.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board announced the hiring of Jason Thomas, a pastor with a decade’s worth of experience in campus ministry, to mobilize the denomination’s nearly 4,000 black congregations for missionary work.

“The IMB is excited to have Jason join our team as we work to deepen our relationships with African American churches across the convention,” Chris Derry, director of IMB’s partner relations team, said in a recent release from the organization. “His experience with church planting and growing historically black college and university ministries will aid him in guiding us to better listen to, equip and inspire more Southern Baptists from our African American churches to partner with our 3,660 field missionaries to take the gospel to the nations.”

Thomas’ hiring comes just months after Doug Logan, president of Grimké Seminary, Acts 29’s director of Diversity for Church in Hard Places, and a pastor at Remnant Church in Richmond, Virginia, highlighted in an op-ed published by the IMB why the organization needs to send out more missionaries of color and highlighted a number of reasons how they could do this.

“Like it or not, the legacy of European colonialism is a major stumbling block for many of the millions who suffer in places ravaged by centuries of light-skinned oppression. In contexts like these, black and brown missionaries simply bring credibility that’s hard to obtain otherwise. On top of this, diverse missionary teams avoid sending the wrong message about our faith. Simply by virtue of being different, they help the world see that the gospel is for all types of people,” Logan wrote.

He noted at the time that even though the IMB had fully funded missionary vacancies, very few of his friends who pastored majority black congregations were aware of the opportunities. He further suggested that the organization worked to build awareness among black churches through organizations such as the National African American Fellowship, which represents more than 4,000 predominantly black congregations in the SBC.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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A U.S. Postal Service employee in Maryland, who saved the life of a missing 2-year-old boy walking barefoot along a highway, said he’s not a hero and that God ordained that he be there at that time.

Keith Rollins saw the toddler, Ethan Adeyemi, who was wet and shivering and had been missing for about 10 hours, on I-95 in Howard County Thursday morning, WUSA90 reported. Police had launched a search with fire personnel, K9 units, aircraft, drones and helicopters from neighboring jurisdictions.

But it was Rollins who found the boy while driving. “It was God-ordained that I be in that place at that time. Remarkable, man, remarkable,” he was quoted as saying. “I happened to see a little head. I didn’t know whether it was a human head or whether it was an animal, so I pulled over and called 911.”

He said he then carried the child and took him to his vehicle. “I had a sweater that I tried to cover him up with, and turned up the heat and I called the police back and said that I had the little boy in my vehicle, and within a matter of minutes, the police were there.”

When neighbors and officials called Rollins a hero, he responded, “Giving glory to God that I was able to help at that particular time and be in the correct place at the right time. But a hero? Nah, not at all.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Starbucks has started a new advertising campaign, #whatsyourname, in the United Kingdom in partnership with Mermaids, a nonprofit group that supports young trans-identifying people and their families, the coffee chain has announced.

Starbucks’ #whatsyourname campaign “celebrates” the company’s signature practice of taking a customer’s name, writing it on a cup and calling it out, by extending it to “transgender and gender diverse people,” the American coffee chain says in a statement.

It’s to celebrate “the significance it can have for some transgender and gender diverse people as they use their new name in public.” It’s “a symbol of our warm welcome. It is part of the Starbucks Experience and creates a moment of connection between our baristas and customers,” the company adds.

As part of the campaign, the company released a commercial showing a trans-identifying teen looking uncomfortable every time her name “Jemma” is called. Only when a Starbucks barista calls “James,” that’s when the teen is seen smiling. The commercial was created in partnership with creative agency Iris and “was inspired by real life experiences of people who were transitioning. We discovered that they found Starbucks stores to be a safe space, where their new name was accepted, and they could be recognized as who they are.”

“We were moved to discover that individuals find our stores a safe space to try out their new names when transitioning.”

Starbucks is also selling “mermaid tail” cookies in its stores to financially support the transgender helpline run by Mermaids with the aim of raising at least £100,000 (roughly $130,000).

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Voters in Switzerland approved on Sunday a proposal to include sexual orientation in the existing criminal law against hate crimes. Evangelicals have warned that it will conflict with freedom of expression.

In a referendum, more than 62 percent of voters supported the proposal to make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sexual identity a criminal offense, according to pollster gfs.bern, Reuters reported.

Although the Swiss parliament had passed a law in 2018 to include sexual orientation in its anti-racism statutes, providing for imprisonment of up to three years for an offender, opponents gained the 50,000 signatures needed to call for a referendum on proposed legislation.

The Swiss Evangelical Alliance, locally known as SEA-RES, called the decision “problematic and superfluous.”

“Extending criminal protection against hatred and discrimination to members of sexual minorities is problematic and superfluous. On the one hand, the existing law already offers sufficient possibilities for punishment and, on the other hand, a conflict with freedom of expression is foreseeable,” SEA-RES said in a statement.

While evangelicals “condemn all forms of hatred and violence against people of all sexual orientations” and believe current laws already protect LGBT persons, the proposed legislation could restrict religious freedom by penalizing those who speak out against LGBT lifestyles or in favor of traditional marriage “in accordance with the understanding of the Bible,” the alliance warned.

The historic Protestant Church of Switzerland (or EKS), which is theologically liberal in its teaching on sexuality, supported the changes in the law and encouraged voters to vote “yes” in the referendum, according to Evangelical Focus.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Hindu extremists in southern India beat Christian children during a worship service before filing a false police complaint against the congregation, according to one worshiper.

Christians in Malasamudra village, Karnataka state had begun worship on Jan. 19 when about 20 radical Hindus came up the stairs to the terrace and began taking photos and videotaping them, Mary Bellary, who along with her husband Hanumanthappa Bellary was hosting the worship, told Morning Star News.

“They flashed camera lights at children, and we requested them to please go and not disturb the prayers,” she said. “But they continued taking pictures, videotaping us and passed comments, saying, ‘Look! Christians gathered here on the terrace to carry out conversions.’”

Bellary and other women tried to stop the Hindu extremists from video recording the 12 children present, but were pushed away. When the Christians asked them to leave, the intruders put their hands on the women’s chests and pulled their sarees, tearing them, Bellary said.

“They punched my 15-year-old son in his stomach, and other kids also got hurt,” she told Morning Star News. “They were kicked to the floor and were beaten up on their backs. My uncle and husband tried hard to protect the women and children, but those men were very aggressive and physically stronger than us.”

“The children just kept looking at us crying for help,” she added.

Terrified by the attacks, the Christians did not leave their homes in Gadag District for the rest of the day, according to Bellary.

“If we hear that you stepped out of your homes and told anybody about this, we will set your homes on fire and will burn you alive,’” the assailants reportedly told the Christians.

Later that evening, officers from Gadag Town Police Station told the Christians that the Hindu extremists had filed a complaint against them, she said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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