I don't know why genocides happen.  I honestly can't think of any good that can come out of the deaths of millions of innocent people.  The first genocides can be traced to the Old Testament.  Then the Crusades, the Native Americans, Armenia, the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, Tibet, Cambodia, Rwanda.  And today, in Syria, South Africa, Laos, Buma, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and numerous countries in Africa.  

I could go on for hours about what is wrong with governments that allow this to happen, ones like Iran and North Korea that do the killing themselves, and ones like America, that do not intervene.  But this is not a political blog.

God gave everyone a choice.  It is one of His promises.  He would not be glorified if everyone was forced to obey Him.  Satan is ruler of the physical world, and he will do whatever it takes to move people away from God.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4

I have heard a lot lately about the urgency of spreading the Gospel.  When I was walking through the Killing Fields, I couldn't help but wonder how many of the victims knew Christ.  I wondered if some of them had maybe never heard of the Gospel before they perished.  I look at the picture of the sad man (the first picture in my last blog), and I feel nothing but sorrow for him.  I know he did nothing wrong.  He did not deserve his fate.  God did not want him to die. 
 
Ezekiel 18:32

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.
 
I thought while writing this about a world where everyone got the chance to know Christ.  I thought of what would have happened if Pol Pot or Hitler had come to know Christ.  Or if all their victims knew Christ.  That's the urgency of it.  Nobody except God knows when the next genocide will happen, but it is up to us to make sure the world knows of Him.  I have spent so much time focusing on justice (don't get me wrong though, I still believe justice is necessary), that I forgot the reasons we evangelize.  If people know Him, it really doesn't matter what happens in this life.  Horrible things may happen, but He will always be there to comfort us and He promises us eternal life.  


John 10:27-29
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand

 
Genocides are horrible, and those that commit these atrocities will be punished.  God's love is greater though.  He does not want these things to happen.  Even more, He does not want people to die without knowing Him.  Jesus himself said we cannot waste any time. 

Luke 9:57-62
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

 

Here is an awesome video by Francis Chen.