Alveda King: Paris Terror Should Remind Us to Pray

With the recent terrorists outbreak in Paris comes the urgent reminder of how everywhere people need the Lord.

Now, as we pray for the families who have lost loved ones to terrorism in Paris and around the world, let’s examine the facts surrounding the terror. 

Abraham’s Family Feud

The family feud between Muslims and Jews (Arabs and Hebrews) is ancient. They have the same grandfather, Abraham. For a solution, reconciliation is required. All the bombs and guns in the world won’t do it. Isaac and Ishmael must come together in God’s love and grace. Not all Arabs and Muslims are evil. 

Conflict between the two sons of Abraham began from the very start. Genesis 21:9 says the conflict began just after Isaac was weaned: “Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.”

Galatians 4 tells us that Ishmael had been “born according to the flesh” while Isaac had been “born according to the promise.” Isaac replaced Ishmael as the favored son and heir. This, of course, made Ishmael jealous and bitter. As a result, he mocked and disdained his half-brother. Eventually the situation became so intolerable that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, demanded that Ishmael and his Egyptian concubine mother, Hagar, be expelled permanently from Abraham’s family.

But YHWH loved Hagar and her son and had mercy upon them. He promised Hagar that her son would beget 12 princes who would become a great nation. Ishmael then went to live in the wilderness region of Hejaz in what became known as the Arabian Peninsula. He indeed had 12 patriarchal sons who became associated with the peoples known as Midianites, Edomites, Egyptians and Assyrians. The Bible and Islamic tradition both agree that Ishmael became the leader of all the great desert peoples of the Middle East.

This jealousy and resentment between Sarah and Hagar and their sons Isaac and Ishmael created an unparalleled hate which has set off wars and atrocities for 4,000 years. In spite of wealth and blessings that God promised and delivers to both Ishmael and Isaac, it is the title deed to the land of Israel, which God promised to Abraham’s lineage, which has been the source of the friction between the Jews and the Arabs right up to the present day.

A World in Trouble

Having explained all of this, there is still no excuse for terrorism. ISIS must go. Yet lest we forget, ISIS is not the only threat to our nation and the word. Poverty, racism, domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual perversion, abortion and so much more are also rending the moral fabric of our world. 

The Solution

With global threats, looming elections, war talk and the like, we must ask ourselves if human solutions will be enough to sustain our world. Is there more from heavenly corridors?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Now more than ever we must cry out to God for deliverance. Pray for America and our world.