“I still remember the first time I viewed one of ISIS’s twisted pieces of video propaganda. I could not watch it until the end, the grisly scene was too much for my soft, suburban conscience. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Leaving my pastor’s study in our church, I went to the sanctuary and paced around in prayer for the better part of an hour.”

While the eyes of the nation this week are focused on domestic issues such as the upcoming Republican debates and the Planned Parenthood scandal, globally aware Christians should not forget to keep praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are suffering at the hands of Islamic militants.

As I write, the looming threat of ISIS continues to grow, largely unabated and unchecked by Western powers. Although our hands are full here, our hearts should be full there.

It has been a while now since any new beheading videos or cage-burning incidents have dominated the pages of our news outlets as they have in the past year, but that doesn’t mean that the growing threat of this insidious evil has slowed.

Not one bit.

I still remember the first time I viewed one of ISIS’s twisted pieces of video propaganda. I could not watch it until the end, the grisly scene was too much for my soft, suburban conscience. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Leaving my pastor’s study in our church, I went to the sanctuary and paced around in prayer for the better part of an hour. My hand were sweating, imagining myself there in Iraq, on my knees, with my own hands tied behind my back.

I kept repeating the phrase, “Lord, have mercy.”

But I suppose that in some strange, topsy-turvy way, I should be thankful to ISIS for becoming such a profound influence on my theology. Truly, I must confess, their warped worldview has had a formative influence on my own – but probably not in the direction that their atrocious crimes had intended.

My guess is that the growing legions of ISIS and their global supporters have hoped that by viewing their carnage and savagery second-hand through social media, it would have prompted us to consider their religion as one of power, dominion, and inevitable importance. But it has not. Instead, their willingness to so cavalierly throw away human life (often right over the edge of a building) has shaped my theology in several other, rather unintended, ways.

Let me explain.

1. First, the existence of ISIS has caused me to love Jesus more.

I have seen the photos of scores of human bodies tied and pinned to real, actual crosses in their cities. Reports of men and even youth being crucified for failing to fast during Ramadan surfaced recently, and this is not the first time actual crucifixion has been used by ISIS for instilling terror.

Before this, the process of crucifixion had become to many people sort of a relic of ancient history; a curiosity too far removed from modern society to be considered “real.” The countless images of Jesus and His cross that we have all seen in stained glass windows and Renaissance paintings have had the unfortunate effect of divorcing us from the brutal realities of such a death. Crucifixion had almost become to me more like something out of a Christian VBS coloring book, than a reality. But now, at the hands of ISIS, I have seen the cross’s brutality.

Jesus died for me. On a cross. Wow.

Crucifixion is the way Jesus died, as ordained by the Father (Acts 2:23) to redeem His elect. This is simply stunning grace. The fact that Jesus Christ was willing to endure this kind of suffering – this physical agony, this social and spiritual ignominy – in my place baffles the mind and stuns my often-calloused heart. How can I not love Jesus more?

Not only that, but the presence of ISIS has also caused me to read many passages of Scripture more profoundly. How can these events, videos, and photos not influence and shape our reading of the beheading of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12) for instance, or the incomparable sufferings described by the author of Hebrews in chapter eleven?

My Bible has come alive to me again, and for this I am grateful.

2. Second, ISIS has cause me to love my brothers and sisters in Christ more than ever before.

Let me explain.

I am a Reformed pastor, a Calvinist by tradition. We Calvinists split a lot of theological hairs and have a rather finicky insistence on doctrinal precision. We love our Bibles, our history texts, and our systematic theology books. Like many of us, this often causes me to grow frustrated with other Christians who just “don’t get it.” (Smell any pride there? Keep reading…).

I admit that I used to look with some frustration upon those that don’t agree with me. That frustration could often boil over in my sinful heart to callous arrogance. That arrogance, from time to time would lead me to be dismissive of other Christian “tribes.”

Those Roman Catholics! Why can’t they see justification the way Paul describes it in Romans 3-5? Those Pentecostals! How can they practice speaking in tongues that way in light of 1 Corinthians 14? Those Baptists! What is it about covenant theology that is so hard to understand? And don’t even get me started about Seventh Day Adventists.

And on and on it went.

But when I saw the Coptic Christians lined up on that beach in orange jumpsuits waiting to receive the gift of martyrdom for the glory of Jesus, I realized (again) that I have more in common with the most remote Christian tradition or the most errant sect of Nazarenes than I do with any violent killer. Though an American Presbyterian has very little in common with an Egyptian Coptic in our dogmatic texts and church confessions, I realized again how dear to me all of my brothers and sisters in Christ are, despite our doctrinal and denomination differences.

3. Third, the existence of ISIS has boosted my prayer life for the global Church and the completion of the Great Commission.

More than a year ago, I was on vacation with my family in a beautiful condo in Daytona Beach when the reports of ISIS’s savagery began pouring in over all the news media outlets. Reports indicated that ISIS had trapped thousands of people on top of a particular mountain which the majority of the world had never even heard of. I immediately Googled a map, and began looking for the exact location that the exiled Christians and Yazidi were trapped upon.

Since then, I have been more aware of the condition of my brothers and sisters around the world, and my prayer life has become more precise as a result. I am thinking more and more often of specific persons, places, missionaries, and geographic details in Iraq and Syria. Add to that Lebanon, Egypt, and France.

Hardly a week goes by that my wife, children, and I don’t think about suffering Christians and pray for them as a family. During the school year last spring, there wasn’t a morning that went by that one of my children didn’t bring up the persecuted church in our “before the school bell” family prayer time.

***

No, ISIS, you have not yet converted me to Islam. Your video demonstrations of throat cutting and cage-burning have not caused me to consider the claims of your warrior religion.

In fact, just the opposite has happened.

I find myself loving my Savior more dearly, walking in His footsteps more nearly, and loving the Church that Jesus won with His own blood more sincerely.

And for that, I should probably thank you.

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Brooksville, Florida. This article appeared on his blog and is used with permission.