Ebola: The Foolishness of the Medical Missionaries

     
       Ann Coulter seems to have stepped in it again.  The acerbic wit with which she skewers her liberal opponents has now taken aim at missionary doctors and nurses.  She assigns nefarious motives to those who have dedicated their lives to ministering to the least of these as they believe Christ has commanded in the Bible.  She is concerned about the expense of footing the bill for the return of these missionaries to the U. S. and treatment at Emory University Hospital.  She believes that the money could be better spent here at home instead of on those poor pitiful people of Africa. If she were arguing about whether our tax money is going to help these people, then she might have an argument, but she is criticizing a private organization (Samaritan' Purse) supported by private donations.  She thinks Christians should only feel enough compassion and good will to help those in their own nation.
       I hear this strain of thinking from those who hold to Libertarian beliefs regarding the role of government in foreign affairs.  They believe that the U. S. should not be involved around the world in any significant military manner or in distributing aid to those who are our enemies or act in such a manner, the latter of which I can wholeheartedly agree.  They call for us to mind our own business and stay out of the affairs of others.  At some level, this sounds very good and right considering our half-hearted efforts at fighting wars since the Vietnam War.  Their cry of "why should we spill the blood of our sons and daughters and finance it on the backs of our grandchildren" is one that resonates with a culture tired of fighting endless wars with no seemingly good outcome or resolution.
         However, history is not on their side.  What seems like a problem relegated to some faraway place in the world can soon become one that is perched on your very doorstep.  If anyone think Islamic extremism is going to be relegated to Muslim countries, one need only look to France, Germany, Great Britain, and Michigan in our own country to find the influence of sharia law and customs.  They are never happy with just coexisting with their neighbor, but must seek to destroy them.  One has only to look at the Middle East in the last six years to see their encroachment on democratic nations.  Christians see a similar encroachment in the advance of evil and persecution in its march throughout the world. Christians have all but been forced or murdered out of Iraq.  Christians in Nigeria and Kenya slaughtered in what could only be termed a genocide.
       This persecution is not new for the Christian, but for those in the United States it may appear foreign.  The Christian, unlike the average self-involved American, is charged with not burying his or her head in the sand while other Christians are being persecuted and martyred throughout the universal church.   They are called to pray for and aid Christian brothers and sisters in times of persecution.  In spite of this persecution, Christians are tasked with confronting this evil with the message of the gospel of Jesus the Christ no matter the cost to us personally.  It is this conviction that escapes Ms. Coulter, and for that matter, most non-Christians.  The convictions of the medical missionaries to serve in a deadly area of the world appears as foolishness to a world which calls us to forsake others and find fulfillment in ourselves.  Indeed, it is foolishness.  The Apostle Paul claimed that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.  We can take heart as Christians that Jesus' foolish death on the cross was made wise by his resurrection.  We can have hope that our foolish service will one day be rewarded with a crown of righteousness.  We can rejoice that one day evil and death will be defeated once and for all by Christ at his Second Coming.  Until that day may we foolishly glorify Christ by dying to ourselves.

Fool for Christ,
Brent