What is Our Response When Terrorists Attack? Vengeance, Anger …. or Prayer

For Immediate Release

Dallas, TX…. Sri Lanka! Yet, another terrorist attack to outdo all prior terrorist attacks happened on Easter Sunday. Dr. Ramesh Richard, president of RREACH and Professor of Global Theological Engagement and Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote this to help Christians know how to respond:

Today is Sri Lanka’s day of mourning over the terrorist’s bomb blasts I churches and hotels on Easter morning two days ago.

A place of worship, just as believers call on their respective almighty Gods for protection and provision, is the most vulnerable of all locations to strike and kill. Our “thoughts and prayers” have been with the nation and families of victims over these two days. Although “thoughts and prayers” has become a responsive but ineffective cliché, it could not apply better than when mosques, churches and temples are attacked—where thoughts and prayers are most thought and expressed.

Further, the Christian Faith’s holiest day, what makes its Founder most distinctive among the various salvation offerings was picked by terrorists for the most possible number of casualties among believers. They had gone in droves to worship Jesus, the Christ, who rose from his death three days prior. This annual commemoration of the only verifiable, self-resurrection in all of history gives eternal hope in the face of death—whether by age, illness, accident or murder—the pervasive final equalizer. In the middle of their deep sorrow, our thoughts for them are help-filled, because they are hope-filled.

And in the face of sorrow for brothers and sisters and others who died, we are prayers-filled.

Perhaps, the most known teacher of the evangelical Christian faith in Sri Lanka who humbly wrote the following prayer requests for his land. Please join him, me, and thousands of others in mature, forgiving and targeted prayer:

1) Please pray that the church would act with maturity reflecting the holy-love of God: on the one hand, insisting that the authorities will carry out a thoroughgoing investigation and will punish the wrongdoers; and on the other hand, personally and corporately showing love to all, including our enemies.

2) Pray for the injured and for their speedy recovery.

3) Pray for the emotionally scarred and for their steady recovery.

4) Pray for God’s comfort and strength to the many Christian and non-Christian people who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones.

5) Pray also that extremist forces would not use these incidents to cause unrest in the country.

You can click here to obtain a free downloadable pdf, Terrorists: What Should We Do? Just Pray?, to find more of Dr. Richard’s “thoughts and prayers,” on this horrific subject written after another such unforgettable incident.

This pdf can be made available to your reader’s either as an article or as a free, downloadable pdf.

A theologian-evangelist, philosopher-expositor, educator and author, Dr. Richard holds a Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi. In addition to serving as president of RREACH, he also serves as Professor of Global Theological Engagement and Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Richard travels throughout the world clarifying the message of the Bible through lectures and preaching. His audiences range from non-Christian intellectuals in major universities to poor pastors in rural areas, from gatherings of a few to crowds of a hundred thousand. Through RREACH, he has trained thousands of church leaders in over 100 countries to preach, live, and think biblically.

Contact: Tina Jacobson
tina@rreach.org
903-654-1319