Apologist in Exile: Jesus Loves You, Jihadi John (Part 1)

Mohammad Emawazi (aka "Jihadi John")

Jesus Christ said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48 NKJV

---

Dear Mohammad (An Open Letter)
First of all, I want to say that I pray to my Lord Jesus Christ, that you and your like-minded friends do not find this post until such time as your hearts have been prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive this message of Christ's love for you in the same spirit that I am writing it.  Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." (Matthew 7:6 NKJV).  I am not calling you a swine, but I understand that sharing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with you could easily cause you and your friends be tempted by Satan to come and murder me and those whom I love.  I do not say this because I am afraid to die because for I agree with the Apostle Paul that  "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:22)  However, I do not want you all to add more murders to your list of sins.  But, since you and your friends have vowed to kill anyone including (Shia) Muslims who don't agree with you completely, I would rather die because I told you the truth about Jesus Christ's love for you than die because I made some foolish cartoon about Mohammad (the founder of Islam).  When people insult Jesus Christ, I too feel pain, but Christians are commanded to "turn the other cheek" so we keep our peace.  When Jesus Christ was being crucified to pay for our sins, "Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots." (Luke 23:34)  It takes more courage to love and forgive than to hate and kill.  It is my prayer that Christ will give me the strength to rise above my natural sinful instincts to kill and to hate so that I will be able to love and forgive as Christ loves and forgives me. 

As I briefly looked at your biography on wikipedia I realize that we have a lot in common.  

• We are both reasonably well educated.  
• We both left promising careers so that we could live out and follow our respective religious beliefs completely.
• We both left the comfort and safety of developed countries so that we could serve as "missionaries" for our religions.
• We both like to make videos and post them on the Internet in hopes that they will inspire and challenge others to be fully committed to our respective beliefs.

The secular elites in both of our countries, think that people (like us) only are deeply committed to their religious beliefs because they (we) lack education and good jobs.  We prove them wrong because we both have education and we left promising careers so that we could live in countries that are less developed and comfortable than our passport countries.  These secular elites ignore the fact that the founders of the sciences themselves were very religious people (most of them Christian).  Johannes Kepler said that, science was, "Thinking God's thought's after Him."   For example, Wikipedia says this about the University of Westminister, "The motto of the university, "The Lord is our Strength", is influenced by Quintin Hogg and his Young Men's Christian Institute."   That is why the secular West will never be able defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as they think that religious zeal is the equivalent to a lack of jobs and education.  Christianity, on the other hand, defeated the Roman Empire through love and personal sacrifice in the face of martyrdom and persecution.  

Obviously there are some differences between us, which we will discuss in more detail later. For example:

• I have committed my life to helping people to find Jesus Christ, the only path to eternal life.  You are committed to killing those who reject your specific view of Sunni Islam. 
• As a missionary, I have worked together with others to help people live who might have died, while you have killed those who might have lived.  It is easier to kill those who disagree with you than to love them.  If you take a life today, that person will be dead tomorrow.  However, if you save a life today, that person might still die (physically or spiritually) tomorrow and so they need to be cared for and rescued repeatedly.  It is easier for you to keep score of the people who you have killed than for me to define those I have helped to save (physically or spiritually).  
• I am willing to die for my faith so that others may live better  lives while they are here on earth and then go on to eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.  You are committed to killing others in the name of your religion so that you can obtain salvation for yourself and the pleasures of 72 virgins.  

I do not point out these differences to shame you but because many people in the world cannot distinguish between a committed Christian and a radical Muslim.  While you behead people and chant "death to America and death to Israel,"  President Obama is concerned about Christians being "less than loving."   By the way, how are your parents in England doing?  Have the Christians treated them the same way that you and your friends treat Christians?  If it were not for the love, grace, and forgiveness that Jesus Christ gives to his followers, their lives would not be as good as they are now.  You should be thankful to Jesus Christ for this teaching, because it protects your family.  "Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26: 52-53 NASB)  

I hope to write more to you later, but for now I want to remind you that Jesus Christ (God with us) loves you.  Because of the love, forgiveness, and grace that I have received from Christ Jesus I can honestly say that in my spirit, I love you too.  

In Christ's Love,
Darryl