# Adopting a terrorist to pray for?



## Pergamum (Feb 26, 2011)

'Adopt a terrorist for prayer,' site urges – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

When I read this title I thought....."I'll pray....the imprecatory psalms."

Also, last month I read a missions magazine entitled, "Loving Bin Laden" on the front.

Does Christian Ethics require that we take such an attitude towards terrorists? 

Or can we pray the imprecatory psalms on them? Lord, stop their power, shut their mouths, break their bones and strip them of power. We pray that God would halt them in their evil.

Do we necessarily need to pray that this be done by conversion? Or can we simply pray and be happy if evil men are removed by any means? 

When Hitler died, it does not seem inappropriate to have rejoiced at the news, right? And at the Last Judgment we will rejoice at the judgment of God upon the wicked and say AMEN to all that God says AMEN to.

Therefore, can we pray for the speedy death of Bin Laden, or must we only pray for his conversion?


----------



## Skyler (Feb 26, 2011)

Why wouldn't we pray that they be converted?


----------



## Pergamum (Feb 26, 2011)

That's not the only question. A bigger question is must we pray that they be converted rather than simply killed? If we sometimes pray for the latter and not the former, are we sinning?


----------



## InSlaveryToChrist (Feb 26, 2011)

If you're wondering about the imprecatory prayers in Psalms and Proverbs concerning the enemies of God, those prayers were directed to the reprobate, not God's elect. There is nothing wrong with praying for the judgment of the reprobate, and neither is there anything right with praying for their salvation. But notice that's not the case here. We are talking about terrorists, not necessarily the reprobate. We should pray for their salvation because we don't know who the elect are. And for that same reason, we should not pray for their judgment.

Just in case, if you didn't get it: If we prayed for the salvation of the reprobate, we would go against God's will to judge them.


----------



## TimV (Feb 26, 2011)

As long as they're Christ's enemies and not just yours. I can still remember when Jimmy Carter said we should support the "people of faith" i.e. Bin Laden in their fight with godless communism. As a teenager I was thrilled to be backing the Arab freedom fighters in Afghanistan as I was a fellow person of faith.

So to the point a person can be sure he's praying an imprecatory prayer against an enemy of Christ, I say sure, but I'd give the matter some serious thought.


----------



## Pergamum (Feb 26, 2011)

Samuel: How are you to distinguish between terrorists and the reprobate? How can you know?


----------



## Curt (Feb 26, 2011)

I/we pray for Barack Hussein Obama regularly; that he be converted and become a Christian leader.


----------



## Skyler (Feb 26, 2011)

Pergamum said:


> That's not the only question. A bigger question is must we pray that they be converted rather than simply killed? If we sometimes pray for the latter and not the former, are we sinning?


 
I usually pray for both--that God would either convert the person in question or get rid of him in some other way. Conversion is my default preference, but it seems God usually has a better idea.



InSlaveryToChrist said:


> If you're wondering about the imprecatory prayers in Psalms and Proverbs concerning the enemies of God, those prayers were directed to the reprobate, not God's elect. There is nothing wrong with praying for the judgment of the reprobate, and neither is there anything right with praying for their salvation. But notice that's not the case here. We are talking about terrorists, not necessarily the reprobate. We should pray for their salvation because we don't know who the elect are. And for that same reason, we should not pray for their judgment.



Did David know who the reprobate were?



TimV said:


> As long as they're Christ's enemies and not just yours.



This.


----------



## InSlaveryToChrist (Feb 26, 2011)

Pergamum said:


> Samuel: How are you to distinguish between terrorists and the reprobate? How can you know?


 
I cannot. That's the whole point why we should pray for anyone's salvation.
Edit: I meant praying for/against the reprobate _in a general sense_.

---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------




Skyler said:


> InSlaveryToChrist said:
> 
> 
> > If you're wondering about the imprecatory prayers in Psalms and Proverbs concerning the enemies of God, those prayers were directed to the reprobate, not God's elect. There is nothing wrong with praying for the judgment of the reprobate, and neither is there anything right with praying for their salvation. But notice that's not the case here. We are talking about terrorists, not necessarily the reprobate. We should pray for their salvation because we don't know who the elect are. And for that same reason, we should not pray for their judgment.
> ...


 
Of course not, but he knew the reprobate are out there.


----------



## Andres (Feb 26, 2011)

Pergamum said:


> And at the Last Judgment we will rejoice at the judgment of God upon the wicked and say AMEN to all that God says AMEN to.



There is an important difference in Christ crushing the wicked at the final judgment and us wanting to see persons crushed now. The difference is that when Christ returns it will be the FINAL judgment. At that time Christ will judge all of mankind perfectly. As others have mentioned, we have no way to know who the reprobate and the elect are now. This is the same reason that we still do missions, evangelism, etc. 

I think we should pray for the terrorists to be stopped and for God to be glorified. If He chooses to do this through their conversion or through their damning, either way He is perfectly just in doing so and He will be glorified either way.


----------



## Skyler (Feb 26, 2011)

InSlaveryToChrist said:


> Skyler said:
> 
> 
> > InSlaveryToChrist said:
> ...


 
But he didn't just pray for the reprobate in a general sense. He prayed for the people who were persecuting him.


----------



## lynnie (Feb 26, 2011)

1 Thess 2: _God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels..... _

I think we can take comfort in knowing God will one day punish the wicked. But at the same time, I would think of Saul throwing Christians in jail and watching Stephen be stoned to death. God chose Saul, so you never know what Christ haters He could choose today. ( I was one, although not a terrorist). We pray often for a great harvest in the Islamic world.


----------



## Pergamum (Feb 27, 2011)

Paul, elsewhere speaks of Alexander the Coppersmith doing him much evil, "may the Lord repay him according to his deeds." This sounds like an imprecation. Is it?


----------



## jambo (Feb 27, 2011)

When still a terrorist (and in some people's eyes he may still be) I used to pray for Gerry Adams to get converted. I always prayed the Lord would thwart the plans of the IRA and indeed convert many in that organisation. Gerry Adams has now become a "respectable" politician, but still needs to be converted as do almost all our politicians regardless of which side they are on. In terms of IRA members, many terrorists from both sides were actually converted inside prison. Nowadays leaving paramilitary groups is not an option but conversion is allowable. The group will watch you like a hawk for a couple of years to see if your conversion is genuine. If they think your faith is a sham in order to escape their clutches then its a bullet through the knee caps. If they see that conversion is real then you might just get away with it. 

I would pray for them as instructed in the scriptures. I would pray their plans would be frustrated and that they would be brought to justice. No one is beyond the grace of God I have personally met a few converted terrorists. In the example of scripture we have Simon the Zealot. How much of a zealot was he? Prior to meeting Jesus could he have been a terrorist of his time? Who knows?


----------



## JennyG (Feb 27, 2011)

when the Inquisition were wiping out some town of heretics (Albigensians maybe?) I read how one of them was worried in case any true catholics might be wiped out among them, but his commanding officer is supposed to have replied that the Lord knows those that are his,....so kill them all and let Him sort them.

I think we can safely pray a sort of inversion of that, - all merciful and all-wise Lord, prevent them from doing harm, but whether by conversion or death I will leave to you


----------



## Skyler (Feb 27, 2011)

JennyG said:


> when the Inquisition were wiping out some town of heretics (Albigensians maybe?) I read how one of them was worried in case any true catholics might be wiped out among them, but his commanding officer is supposed to have replied that the Lord knows those that are his,....so kill them all and let Him sort them.


 
I think I recall something similar in France being done to the Huguenots.


----------

