« whew... | Main | catching up yet again »
May 26, 2006
scary lies, Mama gets political for a minute
I've never paid a whole lot of attention to the warnings about false prophets in the Bible. I don't know why. It's not that I thought they were outdated or false, but prophets and false prophets just seemed almost irrelevent to my daily life. Well, lately I've been a little worked up about Islam and that has changed the way I look at false prophets quite a bit.
The other day I caught a radio program on Moody about Islam. They were interviewing a woman from Lebanon who was an expert on Islam. She shared a little bit of the history of her country. It was really a wake up call for me. She said that her country, like the US, had had open borders and was largely populated by Christians. Gradually, more and more Muslim people moved in until they were in the majority. When they had gained enough sway, they took over each city one by one, by force. Many if not most of the Christians were killed by the very "friends" they had had a barbecue with the weekend before. These were highly educated, supposedly enlightened Muslims who appeared to be very peace-loving. Her main point was that when you are a Muslim, your allegiance is to your faith first, not to the laws of your country. Christians are the same way, but the Muslim faith has quite a different agenda than we "infidels" do. Muslims want to claim every inch of the globe, and killing Christians is a sanctioned means to that end. The sad thing is that Americans want to think that there's no difference between Christians and Muslims and that if we tolerate their differences there will be peace between all sides. In reality, Muslim leaders see a huge difference and are willing to kill over those differences. Furthermore, all someone would have to do is read Genesis to understand the obvious differences between Christians and Muslims. Muslims are descendents of Ishmael, whom the Bible calls a "wild donkey of a man". I could go on an on...
So, where does that leave us? It doesn't change each Christian's personal call to pray for Muslims and to bring them the Gospel, but as a nation Americans need to wake up and stop playing the fool. Whatever the media may say, Islam is not peaceful and no one is ever really safe. The Bible tells us that. We should know better. The comfort is this: God is in control, and in the end false prophets and those who persecute Christians will be judged by the only just God.
Can you tell that I'm worked up? The challenge right now is to observe what Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." It's so difficult to love face-less people that hate you. I'm just eternally thankful that it's not up to me to walk a perfect life. God is guiding me through this mess of a world step by step and not because I'm somehow better than my neighbors, but because he just is. This doesn't all make sense and I'm sorry. Trying to navigate the thoughts in my head with little ones under foot is a difficult thing. However, on this one I just can't keep silent.
What sparked the tirade? Check out godallah.com and see why I'm red in the face.
Check this out too-- http://www.yahoodi.com/peace/lebanon.html
| By Karen | 10:17 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/32113
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference scary lies, Mama gets political for a minute:
Comments
I'm old enough to remember when, after electing a Christian government (Lebanon was always a "Christian" nation), Lebanon was invaded by Syria. While the international community looked on, Syria rolled in with their tanks and turned the jewel of the Middle East (Beruit) into rubble. The UN issued condemnation after condemnation, but no one did anything. After months of struggle, Christian General Michel Auoun ended up cornered on all sides, broadcasting the world and begging for help, just like Poland in the 30's. Today, with most of the Christians gone, the US has finally pressured Syria (partly) out of Lebanon. As Anees Zaka says, "Islam is not a religion, it's a disease." So much for the religion of peace.
Posted by: Travis at Highlands at May 26, 2006 02:51 PM
I just finished reading "The Truth about Islam", a book I picked up at Covenant Theological Seminary Libarary. It briefly discussed a website article from islaam.com that seemed to say that Muslims needed to be united all over the world and be "disloyal" to non-Muslims- and ultimately it seemed to say unite against all and take over. Interestingly, my mother had read a story hypothesizing that there was a Muslim "plan" to spread around the world, have many children and become the majority in other nations.
Posted by: Liz Marr Bevil at May 30, 2006 07:09 PM
I encourage you to read your byFaith magazine that Dan signed us up for and that should be in your mailbox soon. Perhaps I am reading too deeply into this post, so please take this with a grain of salt if I've mistaken your intent. I don't believe all Muslims are the same and have the same goals: To take over the world and rule it under Islam by any means including force. In the same breath I also believe that there are fanatical Muslims with this very goal. ByFaith has a great article on the topic of "Loving our Muslim Neighbors", Page 34. An exerpt reads, "In many ways, we are tradtitional enimes. Many Muslims still see with anger over conflict that goes back as far as the Crusades." So inevitably, there is polarization on both sides. "As societies, they hate us, so we hate them," ... "They are afraid of us, and we are afraid of them. So it is important that we see Christ as the ultimate answer to the hatred that exists between nations and peoples. We need to be followers of Christ and love our enemies while at the same time exercising our abilities to protect our freedoms." I think that really speaks truth about the situation. Above all else, we are still commanded to love.
Posted by: Jen Waltermyer at June 2, 2006 06:21 PM
Thanks for reminding me. I was really excited to see the topic of the new ByFaith issue. I just haven't had time to read yet. However, I am determined to sit down with a nice cup of something and read it soon. I totally agree with you and the exerpt you quoted. Thanks for balancing my ravings. Most of what bothers me is the teachings of the Qu'ran, not the practices of all Muslim people in general. If my limited understanding is correct, the Qu'ran teaches two very different doctrines in various sections: 1) peace and tolerance, 2) violence to all who do not believe in Islam and taking over the world. The challenge for me right now is to hate the sin and not the sinner and/or those who have been deceived. Humility is needed here, something not easily acheived, at least by me.
Posted by: Karen Monahan at June 3, 2006 11:47 AM