Prayer that provokes hatred - a spiritual phenomenon

The desperately sad events in Christchurch this week where 50 people have been brutally murdered as they prayed in a Mosque have shaken the whole nation of New Zealand. Like Guernsey, it appears to be a gentle, if somewhat perhaps a little out of date, enclave of old fashioned values. It was a haven of refuge for refugees from civil war in places like Syria and Afghanistan and it is tragic that those escapees should perish in the land of their refuge. I am praying that there will be no retaliatory attacks on churches in places like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Northern Nigeria where tensions are already running high.

That people should be attacked as they pray is no surprise. Apart from the obvious cowardice of the thug involved - after all it takes no courage at all to slaughter innocents who cannot fire back - there is a demonic hatred in the world towards people who pray. Extremists regard such actions as repugnant, as if the prayers of ordinary people are invested with something that scares them. Of Christian prayer, the Bible says that the "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:14). And that is scary to those whose life consists of conspiracy theories and hatred. St Paul teaches that our spiritual weapons, including prayer, "have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:4). There is an old bit of poetry which says:
"The devil trembles when he sees
the weakest saint upon his knees."

I hope that Christians will take this opportunity to express love and grace to Muslims they may know or meet. But I also hope that this spotlight on Islam may provoke more fervent prayer for the Muslim world. Muslim immigration in the West is a real opportunity for the church to reach out and bless them with the good news of God's love. Maybe that's one reason why the devil filled one man's heart with hatred and the desire to slaughter them. But he will not win.