The Episode begins with a man praying, in its opening few minutes we see a radical Muslim Cleric walk free from the high Court not because he is innocent but because of a legal loophole. As the news cameras role shots are heard and the words "Death to the enemies of Christ". This is followed by yet another murder of a muslim cleric where the same words are uttered again as the pin is pulled out of the grenade.

As the episode unfolds MI5 are racing to uncover a group of Christian fundamentalists who are determined to start a holy war. They kill again and seem to have sleepers ready and primed to move. The backdrop for much of the action is churches or cathedrals.

The question it poses is should we be afraid of fundamentalists Christian? Could this really happen?

A Christian is simply a Christ follower, it is someone who believes that Jesus, God's Son, has died for their sins and having accepted that they can't live to please God, trust that Jesus death in their place makes them right with God. A Christians life is then about following Jesus, or trying to, living the way he lived, following his instructions on how to live.

So what would Jesus say in response to Spooks? "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:43-45

Jesus sets a far higher standard than we do. Jesus calls us to actively love, to practically love those who are opposed to us. Why? Because that is the characteristic of God and we are to be sons of our Father in Heaven, to have the family DNA.

How does God show that he loves his enemies? The Bible says that we are all enemies of God, because we all effective say to God I want to run life my way. He made us and the universe in which we live but we throw out the creators instruction on how we should live best and determine that we will decide for ourselves what is right and wrong.

That makes us those opposed to God, those who deserve to be judged by God. Yet God in his love does not condemn us, even though we are his enemies he loves us, how do we know it is true? Because "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

God's character is that he shows love to those who are opposed to him, to you and I. That love is seen in his Son, Jesus, who comes to earth and dies for our rebellion on the cross - that is loving your enemies by your actions.

The call for the Christian is to "Follow me" to live like Jesus lived. To love as God loves sacrificially at cost to ourselves, aware that we have been loved in just such a way by God in the actions of his Son.

Are Christians fundamentalists? Am I a fundamentalist? Yes, in the sense that I believe Jesus Christ is God's Son and he comes to make us right with God, to die in my place because God loves us. To save me from having to face God as his enemy and instead enable me to face God as a forgiven and loved son.

Does it mean a Christian wants others to realise the same thing? Imagine you had a friend who had Aids, it is a disease for which there is no known cure, it is a death sentence. Now imagine you heard that a cure had been discovered, what would you do with that fantastic news? You would tell your friend wouldn't you, in fact we'd feel such fantastic news should be broadcast from the roof tops.

That God loves us is even greater news than a cure for Aids. That he shows it in his Son who dies in our place is even better still. That I can be forgiven for living a life that has rejected him because of his love seen in the action of sending his Son is the greatest news the world has ever known.

Christianity & Culture