Called to pray for Afghanistan

Guest commentary by Larry Toney

If you’ve been watching the news from Afghanistan, you may have experienced the same anguish I have.

I had the privilege of serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army as a chaplain.  Soldiers from my unit, the 3^rdSpecial Forces Group, were wounded – some severely – and others were killed.  All of the soldiers from my unit sacrificed themselves in some way to defend the ideals we hold dear as a nation and as Christians.

As American service members, we went to defend freedom.  We fought to defend our freedom that was attacked on 9/11, when 2,966 people were murdered.  We fought to defend America and our freedom, but we also went to help the people of Afghanistan find their way to freedom.  As you may know, for centuries women have been treated as chattel or property in Afghanistan.  The women in Afghanistan were not free.  As I shared, the unit I served with were Special Forces Soldiers or Green Berets because of their distinctive headwear.  The motto of the Special Forces is “Deoppresso Liber” or “Set Free the Oppressed.”  These words come directly from the Bible.  They are the words of Jesus.  When Jesus began his ministry, this is what he said he came to do: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed” (Luke 4:18).  We went to defend freedom and set people free.

We went to help people.  My unit was based in Kandahar, Afghanistan, an arid, dry, hot part of the country.  There was no electricity in the area where we were located.  People had no electricity in their homes.  They had no electricity for their water pumps, which meant they had no way to irrigate the crops in their fields. Things had been this way since the beginning of Taliban rule a decade earlier.  Osama Bin Laden had money to finance terrorist attacks from his 300-million-dollar fortune at his base in Afghanistan, but he didn’t have any resources to help the people of Afghanistan.  Within 90 days, the soldiers with whom I served in Kandahar restored the electrical power in the area.  It was not directly part of our mission, and it was not reported in the media, but it is what the members of the U.S. military do.  Americans help people.  It’s who we are.  It’s who we are as the church of Jesus Christ.

We went to give people the rule of law.  That may sound like a strange gift, but it is one of our most precious possessions.  For example, no one can take my home in the United States if I legally own it.  They cannot take it because I am protected by law.  I am protected by the rule of law.  The first thing God gave the former Israelite slaves in Egypt was the rule of law, the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were boundaries, and their intent was meant to protect people from harm.  The people in Afghanistan did not have the rule of law, which meant women, children, the elderly, Christians, Blacks, whites and the disabled had no laws to protect them.  For instance, women had no protection from violence.  Christians could be beheaded. In 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by a dictator, Mullah Omar.  Mullah Omar decided what the laws were based on his interpretation of Islamic Law.  The laws Mullah Omar promulgated were harsh, punitive and oppressive.  As Americans, we do not want people dictating over us.  We didn’t let dictators dictate to us from Germany and Japan during World War II.  We didn’t let dictators dictate to us from the Soviet Union for 75 years during the Cold War.  We don’t let dictators dictate to us whether they are from China or North Korea.  We believe in the rule of law.  We believe in justice for every person.  We believe in treating every person with dignity.  We believe in the equality of every person (Galatians 3:28).

Rest assured, we made a difference in Afghanistan and the seeds that were sown there will make a difference.  What has happened in Afghanistan deeply disturbs me as it may have you.  As an American, I might despair – and I did for a few days – but then I reminded myself that as a Christian I will not despair.  I am a Christian first and an American second.  I love America, the ideals America represents, and I would give up my life for my country, but at the end of the day I am first and foremost a Christian.  I am a Jesus follower and as his follower I will not despair.  In the Bible, we are told, “Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58).  The things I did in Afghanistan were not useless.  The Lord will move through them.

As you read these words, please do not read them as coming from a person who is angry, pugilistic or nationalistic.  I am not any of those things.  Rather, as a follower of Jesus, I am confident the Lord Jesus is still sovereign, and moving to bring good out of bad (Romans 8:28), even in Afghanistan.  I recognize the issues surrounding Afghanistan are serious, but I also believe with all of my heart that God is moving.

I believe God honors every prayer.  One of the units I supported as a chaplain was a company from the 5^thSpecial Forces Group who was among the first U.S. troops in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.  Shortly after meeting these soldiers, several of them invited me to join them at 0530 (or 5:30 a.m.) each morning just before they went out on combat missions to pray.  It was incredibly humbling to stand with some of the most highly trained soldiers in the world as they stood in a prayer circle holding hands in the darkness.  The soldiers prayed for our leaders, the people of Afghanistan, for the light of Christ to shine in the darkness, and they prayed the harvest prayer, which you will see below.  I ask you now to pray for these same things.

• Please ask God to give wisdom and discernment to our national leaders, President Joe Biden; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Ask the Lord to draw them closer to Christ.  God will honor your prayers.  The Bible enjoins us to pray for our leaders and we pray for them regardless of their party affiliation (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  We pray for them to do the things that will honor God.
• Pray for the people of Afghanistan. Ask God to shine God’s light brightly wherever there is darkness.
• Pray the Harvest Prayer over Afghanistan and your local community. The Harvest Prayer is a prayer Jesus asked each of his followers to pray, “Father, give us more workers to go into the fields that are white into harvest” in Afghanistan and my community (Luke 4:18).  Jesus told us to pray this prayer, and God will answer it.

Larry Toney is the pastor of Third Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, Virginia, and was deployed three times after 9/11 into combat with U.S. Army Special Forces and Airborne Soldiers. He is forming an Afghanistan Prayer Team and invites Outlook readers to become a part of the team for 30 days.  If you are interested in joining the prayer team, send him an email at larrytoney1998@gmail.com.