The Good Jihad

The good jihad. It sounds like an oxymoron, unitl you look in your Bible at 2 Timothy 4:7. Paul says, "I have fought the good fight." In the Arabic translation those last three words are rendered "the good jihad".

We are engaged in a fight. Actually a war. It involves the challenge of Islam. Millions of Muslims have settled in Europe and Norht America, and we must acknowledge that at least some of them hate the West (Okay, most). We've seen the evidence: September 11, the nightclub attach in Bali, the Madrid train bombins, the London subway attacks, Iran, Iraq. Thosuands of people have died, and extremist groups like al-Qaeda promise that more attacks are on the way.But this isn't the war it appears to be.

It isn't the war Paul the apostle talked about with Timothy. Rather these events are a reflection ofa spiritual war, an unseen conflict. How are we Christians going to respond? With guns, and bombs? Is that really our only option? I can assure you this approach won't win a spiritual war. For one thing, it's a purely defensive, reactionary approach. It's time for Christians to go on the offensive.So just how do we fight a good spiritual jihad?

Critics are complaining that the Iraq war and misnamed "war on terror' have now taken as longa as World War II and we haven't won yet. Perhaps that is because we still haven't started fighting the way we did then - to win. We are still more afraid of ACLU lawsuits and New York Tims editorials tha n we are of the enemy who is dedicated to destroying Christianity and Western civilization (the two are NOT synonyms).

I don't believe we fully understand the challenges to the worldwide church that Islam presents. But it would be tragic if all we do is respond with fear and retreat. I want to suggest that it's time for the western Church and the persecuted church in the Islamic world to love all Muslims by giving the m the Good News, to forgive when we're attacked, to live lives totally committed to Jesus Christ and to engage in the real war - the spiritual war.