Terrorists walk into a synagogue while rabbis are in morning prayer and hack them mercilessly. Isis marched thirteen Coptic Egyptian Christians out to the beach and beheaded them, their blood crimsoning the ebbing waters. They lit aflame a Jordanian fighter pilot inside the cage in which they held him. These are just three instances of atrocities that ISIS has committed against Jews, Christians, their own, and the West. The world was appalled at these events, and so the world should be.

But how should we as Believers respond?

When Stephen was martyred, consider the aftermath:

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 8:1-4)

They buried him, they mourned him, but they never stopped preaching the Word for which Stephen had given his life so selflessly. We oftentimes get caught up in the snapshot of what we consider reality as opposed to what God sees. Our Omniscient God, like Stephen, knew that stoning was not the end of Stephen’s life; it was the beginning of a movement. It was the beginning of revival. Hallelujah!!!  It was the beginning of creation moving closer to its completion.

The Coptic Egyptian Christian who called on the Name of Jesus before he was martyred does not want our response to his martyrdom to be just astonishment, sadness, or despair. I’m sure what he would want is an explosion of the Word of God. It’s what I would want if I were a martyr! Most importantly, it’s what God wants.

Believers in Yeshua, we cannot be so taken aback by the world’s heinous behavior when the world does only what it knows to do — evil!!!  Our job is to do what we have been called to do: share indiscriminately the Good News of the Word.

Yes, we will pray for the salvation of the world and of the enemies of Messiah. But there will be martyrs! The Word speaks of it. So, over a martyred body, let’s declare Yeshua is Lord and allow that martyred seed to be the catalyst for the explosion of the Gospel. Only then can we hasten the return of Messiah who will finally put an end to all that is evil!! So be it!