Pastor’s Message to Congregation in France

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The following is a note that I have written to a congregation that has requested a kind of “sister” relationship in the coming years.  I look forward to sharing this message in person on Sunday.
 
-Pastor Fiene
 
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Dear Pasteur Poillet:
 
Tomorrow we will remember the people of France and Eglise év. luthérienne libre of Muhlhouse in our prayers. The tragedies of the past evening have deeply affected many of us here in the United States. As victims of a massive terrorist attack ourselves, we now sympathize more fully and pray for your consolation more intensely. It is also the prayer of Christians that the greater will of God is at work through all tragedies. The will of God is that we come to know and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. By the grace of God, this tragic event could stir the hearts and minds of Europeans to contemplate the goodness that Christianity can bring to the souls of men. Secularism is not just indifference to religion. It is an emptiness that becomes a vacuum which draws fanaticism. Islam cannot be defeated by removing religion from society. It can only be defeated by filling a society with a love and reverence for the true and gracious God that we have come to know in Jesus Christ. So our prayers will be for the consolation of those who have experienced tragic loss, but even more so, that our Lord would turn the evils of these men into something that will serve to advance the goodness of Kingdom of God.
 
Pastor John Fiene


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