“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.” (1John 5:1) This scripture defines the central breaking point between Islam and Christianity; the person of Jesus Christ. What is His identity? With the onset of yet more terror here in the US as well as in Europe it is time to take a deeper look into this War of Civilizations.
PART I – DEFINING THE ISSUE
It is a fact that is hard to get my mind around. We are Lebanon of the 80’s. We are Israel. A terror attack could come at any moment. Not quite Syria, not yet Iraq in its heyday – but subject to that same uncertainty that same fear. The enemy could strike at any moment….at any location. Always the same. In the name of religion. In the name of Jihad. In the name of Allah. It comes home. Allah is declared. And it will be said that it is not all Muslims that hold that guilt. That statement is true. There are open and sweet people here that claim to follow the ways of Mohammed. [And as Christians we have but one mission here; to pray for – and witness to – them, that God would open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. And not only for them but for their violent countrymen. Even for the terrorist. We serve a God of forgiveness for anyone who would serve him.] But at the heart of that religion, found in the recesses of its holy book the Koran; found in its supporting literature, the Hadiths, are calls to Jihad and war and slaughter of the innocents in the name of Allah. And so its’ most loyal and literal adherents declare their loyalty with acts of terror and violence. We already have a history here. The first bombing of the Towers, 9/11, Orlando, San Bernardino, Fort Hood – and so many more. What they all have in common is that they are the dark and poisoned fruit of the ‘Religion of Peace.’
Some will call me a hater for the words expressed in this paragraph. Yet I have this from a former Muslim himself. He tells of the persecution he suffered at the hands of his own family following his conversion to Christianity. Beaten numerous times. Left for dead three times on the side of the road. This man has been at the center of movement that has seen the Holy Spirit lead hundreds of thousands to Christ. Despite the beatings and tortures and false imprisonment he has faced, he prays for his enemies and for their healing. [And God has worked miraculous healings that have led to the conversion of many of his former persecutors, including Muslim imams. Yet al-Qaeda continues to persecute him, and has offered a bounty on his head in this south Asian nation that I’m pledged not to reveal.]
It is no secret that one of the major goals of Islam is to conquer the world for Islam. The late Mohamma Qadaffi of Libya once declared “We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” That was Europe and we are watching that plan nearly succeed. But there is a plan for the United States too. Some of it came to light at the 2008 Holy Land Terror Funding Trial. One document introduced at the trial was especially significant in that it revealed not only some of the details of the plan but also the breadth of its connections and the depth of its aims. One portion specifically identified the Muslim Brotherhood’s front groups in the US. CAIR (The Council on American Islamic Relations) was singled out as one of these groups mentioned. [CAIR had so cozied up to the Obama White House that they managed to influence – or some would say – even dictate training policies within the Pentagon. Among many other successes, the terror supporting CAIR (Hamas & Hezbollah) took over some anti-terrorism training and won changes to an FBI anti-terror website. Who better to police the chicken coop than the fox himself?][i] As to the depth of the mission, here is this statement from the court document. “The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.”[ii]
So this is the jihadi mind set. We must understand this. In its earliest centuries, Islam was spread by the sword. [Now some apologists will argue that it was not Islam that was spread by the sword but rather political entities that were waging wars of conquest – and they just happened to be Islamic. I find this to be a distinction without a difference.] Bernard Lewis, summarizes the situation for us in his work Islam and the West. “For almost a thousand years … Europe was under constant threat. In the early centuries it was a double threat—not only of invasion and conquest, but also of conversion and assimilation. All but the easternmost provinces of the Islamic realm had been taken from Christian rulers, and the vast majority of the first Muslims west of Iran and Arabia were converts from Christianity. North Africa, Egypt, Syria, even Persian-ruled Iraq, had been Christian countries, in which Christianity was older and more deeply rooted than in most of Europe. Their loss was sorely felt and heightened the fear that a similar fate was in store for Europe.”[iii] We see the same mindset played out today in the atrocities of ISIS and al-Qaeda and the attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt and on and on. There is always a religious component. The Koran is a confusing book, but its most loyal adherents can point to verses like Sura 9:5. “But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them: for God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” Or they can rely on Sura 9:29 to justify the specific persecution of Christians and Jews. “Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews), until they pay the jizya [tribute] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” Then there is this offering from the Hadith, Islam’s second holist book. “If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them.”[iv]
So how does this all fit in with this latest attack on the sidewalks (ok, bike paths) of New York. Sayfullo Saipov is a 29 year-old Muslim from Uzbekistan – a nation known to produce many terrorists – rented a truck to use it as a weapon. He then proceeded to barrel down a bike path toward Ground Zero, shrieking out “Allahu akbar” (Allah is greater) whenever appropriate and running down cyclists and pedestrians in a mindless act of murder. Finally, waving only fake pistols, it would seem he was attempting to offer himself as a suicidal sacrifice to Allah – [Perhaps he was just in a hurry to claim his virgins] – only to be stopped by a policeman’s bullet to the abdomen. [Thus the virgins must wait. I wonder if they are as broken up about it as I’m sure Mr Saipov is?] Now Mr Saipov was found to have pledged allegiance to ISIS. Was this real? Or was it a one-way relationship? Someone in the news described him as a lone wolf…because they (ISIS) likely had no real knowledge of his plans. But this misses the point of the matter. It is not the prattling of ISIS, or al-Qaeda or any number of other terror organizations that ultimately inspires – it is the ‘higher’ call of the ‘Religion of Peace’ – of Islam itself that brings one to leave all good sense and morality behind and murder innocent people in the name of Allah.
Now Saipov entered the United States through a Diversity Visa Lottery that allows 50,000 people a year to come to this country with only the most superficial vetting. Plus they can recommend more folks for entry. Sayfullo Saipov offered 23 of which at least two others were found to have terror connections.[v] Breitbart tells us that the Diversity Visa Program opens America’s doors to “foreign nationals from a multitude of countries, including those with known terrorist problems such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Yemen, and Uzbekistan.” Just like Europe we are participating in our own destruction. [For his part, President Trump has opposed this program and is working to shut it down.] But this is NOT the only way in for enemies or the USA. We’ve talked in the past how our southern border with Mexico has been compromised with Border Patrol and Immigration officials being ordered to allow the entry of MS-13 gang members. These were subsequently relocated to the heartland of the country. Michael Caputo described a conversation he had with a Border Patrol Officer posted along our boundary with Canada that told of a Mosque located across the St Lawrence River from the US that sent illegals across the river into the US with impunity. The officer said, that we were of course aware of these goings on, but “We can’t even stop it.”[vi] This blind openness represents a false compassion that sacrifices the security of America on the altar of political correctness.
So we are left with a situation where we have enemies of America all over this country brought here by the either shortsighted or treasonous policies of our exalted leadership. If they could just eliminate those pesky things called borders they could so much more easily move us into the globalist, New World Order.
Now understand this. It is not all Muslims. But each and every terror attack emanates from that religion. It is because the ethic of hate and conquest in built in to the scriptures that drive that beast. The Koran and the Hadith invite and incite violence against anyone deemed to be not sufficiently adherent to the faith. The test however is found to be not faithfulness to Islam but faithfulness to Sharia, the Islamic law behind the religion in its purest form. Consider the results from this 2015 poll. 51% of American Muslims believe that they should have the right to live under Sharia here in the United States. Nearly a quarter thought it legitimate to use violence against those that offended Islam. And 25% held that “violence against Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad.”[vii] The situation elsewhere is even scarier. Hate is preached throughout the Muslim world. The calls for the death to Jews and the end of Israel fill the mosques and the Arab airwaves, as they broadcast the Friday night sermons of the imams. And it matters not that a Muslim majority is peace loving. In fact that may not even be true. Over half of the ‘moderate’ Jordanian Muslims believe that suicide bombings are legitimate tools. Polling has revealed that 25% of British Muslims would not warn authorities if they have knowledge of a planned terror attack.[viii] And why should we be surprised. Foreign supported mosques preach their vile hatred throughout Britain and across the United States. CAIR, (Council on American Islamic Relations), representing itself as a moderate Islamic organization is found to have key members with links to financing terror. All the while imams will periodically issue rulings that justify the killing of civilians, – so long as it is done in the name of advancing Islam. That is its sole requirement. And the Koran continues to be preached with its clear justifications for violence against the foes of Islam.
We read the command found in Sura 9:5: “Slay the idolaters wherever you find them.” And the violent and arbitrary Mohammed himself is held up as model. That ethic has found its expression against the West through terror. Here are some examples worth remembering: The takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979, – The 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut killing 63, – The attack on the Marine barracks in that same year, killing 241, – Take over of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985, – Attacks on American servicemen in Madrid and Germany that same year, – The downing of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 259, – The 1993 attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in New York that resulted in 6 killed and 1,000 injured, – The 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, – The attacks on the American Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya which killed 224, – The October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the French Tanker and Bali Night Club attacks of 2002, the London Underground attacks of 2005 – ….The Attack on 9/11. And for Israel: The slaughter of the Munich Olympics, the incessant suicide bombings, till no place is safe: Thus is the fruit of the ‘Religion of Peace.’
This is the fruit of the mindset fed by the literal reading of the Islamic scriptures and devotion to following the precepts found there. Thus there will always be more terrorists; always be more jihadis – as long as the darkness of that religion continues to influence the minds of people. There will always be another one coming.
So what is the responsibility of the Christian in all of this? Some would say we have to balance the clear calls of Christianity and the national interest. But that is not really so. Our faith must fully inform all our political / social positions. Our worldview must drive our actions. So we know that those actions MUST reflect God’s love for all people. We must pray for Muslims, even radical ones. We must share the Gospel where opportunity presents. But we need not put our nation at risk with un-vetted immigration or open borders or blind acceptance of anyone who seeks admittance. America is a unique animal. It was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and the republican (small ‘r’) building blocks that flowed out of them – as well as the exercise of our God-given rights found in English Common Law. Sharia stands in direct contradiction to these principles of liberty. We are under no compulsion to commit cultural suicide by taking into our midst millions of immigrants who would change the very fabric of our nation. But many seem bent on following the example of Europe in this matter. Yes, we must have compassion on the foreigner. We must love beyond measure. And more than all we must recognize our own failures – and they are many. We must repent America and turn back to God, not only to save ourselves – (I know, it is God who does the saving. Figure of speech!) – but to offer to the unsaved world the Gospel of living truth.
“‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.” (Joel 2:12-13)
[i] Corruption Chronicles, Judicial Watch, viewed November 1, 2017, https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/tag/cair/
[ii] The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Plan For America – Court Document, The Clarion Project, viewed November 1, 2017, https://clarionproject.org/muslim_brotherhood_explanatory_memorandum/
[iii] Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 13
[iv] Hadith: Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4294
[v] ABC Evening News, November 1, 2017
[vi] Michael Caputo, The Sandy Beach Show, November 1, 2017
[vii] Shock Poll: 51% of U.S. Muslims Want Sharia; 25% Okay with Violence Against Americans, Breitbart, June 24, 2015
[viii] Daniel Pipes, More Survey Research from an Islamist Hell, Weblog, July 26, 2005
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