Osama is dead. REJOICE!

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"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
Or the LORD will see it and be displeased,
And turn His anger away from him."

Proverbs 24:17-18

And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

Revelation 15:2-4

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Exodus 15:1-5

It is a momentous day for America. Osama Bin Laden is dead. Seal Team Six, who will be forever remembered for this event, landed, made entry into his hovel, and shot him dead. He had to hear the helicopters dropping them off. He had to hear his bodyguards vanquished by gunfire. He had to hear American voices and the approach of his own death. Should we rejoice? I say yes.

Osama was a symbol. Rejoicing over the death of an enemy soldier never occurs among military men, save that it is rejoiced as either a symbolic victory or as the destruction of an enemy tool of war. When soldiers take out a bunker, they do not rejoice in the death of the individuals that manned that bunker, but rather in the removal of a stronghold against their efforts - the lessening of the likelihood of their own demise, or that of their brothers in arms. Osama has been, for 10 years, the symbol of an Islamist David against the American Goliath, ironically. Taking him out removes a powerful symbol, a key to the mobilization of Muslim radicals worldwide.

A friend has already quoted the first Proverb I listed, cautioning American Christians to be careful in rejoicing about Obama "falling" or "stumbling." However, this is a misunderstanding of the terms. To rejoice over a fall or stumble of an enemy is more rightly stated in the sense of rejoicing when they fall into sin or calamity and they are still around to receive the jeering, the derision that you would meet out. For instance, this verse was appropriate when former President Clinton was caught in his sin with a White House intern. Many conservatives rejoiced - and did so wrongly. A man falling into sin is not a moment to rejoice, regardless of who he is.

The event of Bin Laden's death is not such a moment. Rather, the destruction of a man so committed to evil, so committed to the destruction of his fellowman, with hands so bloodied, is a moment to rejoice. Good has triumphed over evil, tho partially - there is still a war on-going that will not stop because this man has died. A powerful symbol of the enemy, which is what Goliath was for the Phillistines, has come crashing down. I've seen an infantry squad high-five when they took down an HVT (High Value Target) in Afghanistan. We have taken out the biggest HVT and it demands  some celebratory high fives. This is not gloating over our enemy.

The Revelation and Exodus passages I have entered are reflective of the response of God's people when Evil is vanquished. The misunderstanding of those who hesitate to rejoice in these moments is a simple lack of understanding of the nuance of the difference between an enemy combatant and evil. The German soldier in WWII was an enemy combatant. He fought because his country called him. No soldier properly rejoiced over the death of a fellow warrior on the other side. The death of Hitler and his SS, evil men who subscribed wholly to the evil ends and means of the Third Reich, was a victory to be savored.

I preached last night on loving our enemies. I got home to find myself rejoicing over this momentous mission success. I have no qualms about the two varying statements. Jesus' words concerning turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, loving enemies...all words directed at us Christians, were admonishments about our PERSONAL ethics. Jesus was not asking a country to turn the other cheek, or to walk the extra mile. He was certainly not asking the government and its armed forces to love their enemies to the extent of laying down arms and trying to extend a hug to the individual Taliban. Our soldiers daily love their enemies by treating them with profound dignity when they capture them. But the call to protect our citizens is the charge of the governor and is not performed with the same personal ethic required of the Christian.

Are you loving your personal enemies? Are you turning the other cheek when insulted? (That is the context of that verse, btw.) Those with whom you are in personal contact with are those for whom you can express love, forgiveness, care, concern, grace, mercy, etc. When such a butcher and madman as Bin Laden is taken from this world, it is a time for rejoicing. Was there a time to sorrow for him? Yes, but long before 9-11-2001. It is always sorrowful when men choose evil and follow its destructive path. But the blood of tens of thousands cries out to God for justice, and some level of justice has been meted out. This demands a healthy, respectful rejoicing for anyone who loves America and desires peace. For those who seek peace without confrontation, who may never appreciate the blood shed for their oblivious pacifist piety, such cautions to not rejoice over the death of this man come easily. But they have not lost anything in the process, nor have they truly done anything to further the cause of peace. Most of them do not have peace in their homes or their personal relationships. This is why Jesus set out a personal ethic, not a national one.

The Lord is a Warrior. Yahweh is His name. Was Moses wrong? Was God sitting back asking, "What have I done?" No, to both questions. God stands against the wicked and the proud. The call to America is to remember our roots, our Christian founding, our first love, and to turn from our sin. Christians, live out the personal ethics of Jesus. Love your enemy. Give them water for thirst, food for hunger and prayers for blessing. Bless and curse not. But when evil is vanquished, rejoice.