How Should Christians Respond When Their Families and Communities Are Under Persistent Physical Terrorist Attack?
1) Direct Answer
Christians must stand without hatred. Pray, watch, and act wisely. Do not take vengeance. Protect innocent life committed to your care, cooperate with rightful authority, be ready to flee if needed, and keep a clean testimony—loving enemies while refusing evil.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Pray and trust: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble” (Psalm 50:15). The church prayed under threat and God answered (Acts 12:5). We are told to pray for all in authority “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
- No private revenge: “Avenge not yourselves… overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21). Jesus said love your enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44).
- Lawful protection and order: God ordains civil authority as “a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:1-4). We may work with rightful authorities for the safety of our families and neighbors.
- Guard and build: Under persistent attack, God’s people watched, prayed, and secured their families while continuing the work (Nehemiah 4:7-18). “They which builded… every one had his sword girded.” They did not launch vengeance; they guarded and kept building.
- Flee if necessary: “When they persecute you in this city, flee into another” (Matthew 10:23). Paul escaped plots rather than answer violence with violence (Acts 9:23-25).
- Spiritual warfare first: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Put on the whole armor of God—truth, righteousness, faith, the Word, prayer (Ephesians 6:10-18).
- Wisdom and prudence: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself” (Proverbs 22:3). Joseph prepared in advance to preserve life (Genesis 41).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Personal insult? Turn the other cheek. Immediate threat to innocent life? Love protects. Restraining or stopping an attacker to prevent murder is not vengeance; it is stewardship of the lives God placed under your care. But the heart must stay free of hatred and bloodlust; judgment belongs to God and to lawful authority, not to private revenge.
- Those who say “retaliate and repay” contradict Jesus and Romans 12—no private vengeance.
- Those who say “never defend” overlook Nehemiah’s watchfulness and the duty of love to shield the weak. Love does no harm, and love also prevents harm to those entrusted to you.
- If staying means certain ruin for your family, Scripture gives liberty to flee. If staying is required, stand watchfully, pray fervently, and keep your spirit clean.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Bible’s path is narrow but clear: pray much, keep your heart right, cooperate with rightful authority, protect life without revenge, be ready to flee, and overcome evil with good while trusting God to fight for you.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Handwriting on the wall
58-0618 §22
I crossed the line to Germany. Brother, I mean, there was a different people, altogether. They had to duck under buildings. They'd been burnt in streets. They know what war meant! They know what it was to put trust in God, when a rascal like Hitler had led them into that kind of a place, and many of those real genuine Christians in Germany had to pray for every mouthful of food they got. Persecution makes the church strong. And God will strengthen this American church someday, hiding in a bomb shelter somewhere.
Talk on the Word
53-0831 §4
We want to say that our hearts are bleeding for those people, those Christians in that city, and those poor little children. O God, hasten the day that when all the curse will be gone away. And there will be no more sickness, no more sorrow. We feel for those poor fathers and mothers tonight. I feel for them, knowing an experience of it. I feel that, Lord, their poor hearts are crushed. Be merciful, God. And I pray that the plague will leave this very night. May there not be one more case broke out. May it stop now...
The Angel of the Lord
51-0718 §59
When Israel got out of the will of God, they suffered for it, and we will too. So you be reverent, and remember that now. All right. I trust that the Christians will understand. How many Christians is in here? Raise your hand. Believers in Christ...
Letting off pressure
63-0113M §45
...ff the pressure because they were safely under the blood. Oh, my! That great night of the Passover they must have been calm, let off the pressure, 'cause they could examine and see they had the blood. And when they seen the blood they knowed He promised He'd pass over. Oh, after they'd followed all the instructions of God, God promised to pass over them. Now, what a picture that is for the church today. Now I'll hurry, but I got to lay this down here, just a minute. Today we are constantly leaving one congregation...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 10:E-2
From our studies we have already learned that much of the Revelation is totally misunderstood because we have not formerly known that the 'church' spoken of and spoken to in this book does not refer to the pure 'ekklesia' the 'elect', the 'body of Christ', the 'bride', but it speaks to the entire body of people who are called Christians, whether they be true or merely nominal. As all Israel is NOT Israel, so all Christians are NOT Christians. Thus we learned that the church is made up of two vines, the true and the...