When I checked my email inbox on September 12, there was a succession of emails that stung with irony. September 9, I received a missions alert from Afghanistan. where eight Christian workers, including two Americans, were facing a death sentence for sharing their faith with Muslims (see Newscan, p. 2). September 10, I received similar news about Christians facing a death sentence in Pakistan. September11, of course, the hatred of Christians and Americans came to our shores.

For years the U.S. and most other governments have largely ignored the persecution of Christians worldwide. Occasionally there is lip service given but seldom is anything tangible done. It is interesting, is it not, that countries like Afghanistan. Pakistan, and Sudan that are off the radar of most peoples concern are now the focal point of all nations. Even a selfish and secular person might have recognized that persecution of Christians there might correlate to a hatred of America, hut that didn’t seem to reach the government or media consciousness until September 11.

I’m not trying to equate the spheres of America and Christianity. We are not exactly a Christian nation. But Christians from America have circled the globe seeking converts and providing help. Chris tians in America often have supported Israel. Christians in America try’ to convert Muslims at home and abroad. I wouldn’t try to say that all of the means by which they have done so are good, but the fact is that the hatred of terrorists toward America is clearly linked to Christianity. whether or not the terrorists even know it themselves. The U.S. government would do well to keep an eye on places in the world where Christians are murdered, and so would we.

On a tangent, let me say that I am thankful to the Lord of Hosts for preserving Reformed Presbyterians in the attacks. We have received no reports of injuries or deaths, and some reports of people being spared. There are other such reports of God’s mercy among our Reformed brethren, and a report of at least one Reformed believer whom God took home on September 11 in New York City.

These attacks were a shock and will forever change our world awareness. But we as believers, and believers who know the Psalms, find peace and comfort and even a good degree of understanding of what is going on in the world. The shock is more to my materialistic mindset than to my Christian world view. As these attacks unified America, so the attacks unified U.S. believers with our brothers and sisters suffering in all those out of the way places.