13 Sep, 2004
How Islam Stays Untarnished by Terrorism
On September 3, the world was shocked by news that terrorists had killed more than 300
children at a school in the Russian town of Beslan. Of course, there was no
great surprise that Islamic militants carried out the attack.
When you turn on your TV today and see images of carnage it is easy to guess
that the servants of Allah have struck once again. In fact, the mischief of
Muslims
has been so prevalent, I've noticed how they dominate world headlines.
One of my favorite sources for keeping up with world events is the news section
on the Yahoo! search website. In the past few weeks, I've noticed that, on average,
6 out of 10 world news headlines have a Muslim connection. On September 9,
the ratio had reached 9 out of 10 stories.
One of the biggest lies being promoted today is the idea that Islam is a
peaceful religion simply plagued by bad elements. In reality, the
so-called moderate Islamic groups are the renegades.
The basic teachings of Islam call for the brutal destruction of all other
faiths. The Koran lists Jews and Christians as its main targets. Osama Bin
Laden is correct when he claims to be the true follower of Mohammed.
With so much blood on the hands of Islam Arabs, one would think the
non-Muslim world would be hostile to them. Of course, this has not been the
case. Despite scenes of crazed Islamic lunatics firing on helpless children
and almost daily reports of suicide bombings, very little anger is
being pointed in Islam's direction.
I think the devil is the reason a backlash has failed to materialize. Satan
is working to unify all major religions into what will become the Great
Harlot Church. In many ways, he has used the carnage to speed up the
process.
Many evangelical leaders have bought into the belief that all paths lead to
God. One of the most glaring examples is prophecy teacher Jack Van Impe. The
comments he made in his September 4 broadcast were so heretical, I feel they need
to be strongly rebuked.
Van Impe started off by revealing the level of love he receives from Muslims in
America and Canada. He proudly displayed a letter he had received from the leader of an American
Islamic organization.
Jack repeatedly implied that Islam and Christianity are on equal terms. He bases this view on the Islamic verse that says Jesus will return to this planet to set up an earthly kingdom. Van Impe's most reprehensible
remarks came when he used quotes from the Koran as a guide on how one should
correctly deal with idolaters.
It is rather bizarre for Jack to use words that you would expect to hear
coming out of the mouth of Antichrist or the false prophet. It is doubly
ironic that, in the next program, he used 1 Timothy 4:1 as a warning of
the coming apostasy.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils" (1 Tim. 4:1).
The Koran should never be used by a Christian as a source of truth. While it may
include some positive statements about moral living, it also contains
passages that directly contradict the Bible:
"The only true faith in God's sight is Islam" (Surah 3:19).
"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends" (Surah 5:51).
"And say: All praise is due to Allah, WHO HAS NOT TAKEN A SON and WHO HAS
NOT A PARTNER in the kingdom" (Surah 17:111).
Ultimately, terrorism is not Islam's most dangerous element. The bombings
and bullets from Islamic militants generally only kill a few people at a
time. Because the Muslim faith denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
it is able to doom tens of million of people.
Christianity by its nature is incompatible with any other religion. Jesus
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me" (John 14:6). The Lord didn't say, "I am one way among many."
Sea and the Waves Roaring
The Asian and Atlantic tropics have had a very active season for
hurricanes and typhoons.
Some meteorologists blame the high number on global warming while others say
we have
entered a period of enhanced hurricane activity that could last for decades,
ending a 24-year period of below-average activity. It could also be that the law
of averages has caught up with us.
In any case, a series of storms has brought death and destruction on a wide
scale. Here are some tallies from the past few weeks:
Florida was hard hit by Hurricane Charles, which caused $6 to $8 billion in
damage.
The Bahamas and the east side of Florida were hit the slow-moving Hurricane
Frances.
Songda became the seventh typhoon to land on Japan proper this year,
breaking the record of six in a single season. It killed 31 people as it
raked over the island.
Hurricane Ivan, the most powerful hurricane to hit Grenada in nearly a
decade, killed at least 37 people and damaged 90 percent of the homes on
that island.
While flying over Ivan, an Air Force reserve unit hurricane hunter aircraft
measured a minimum central pressure of 910 mb...26.93 inches. The reading
was the sixth-lowest central pressure on record for a hurricane in the
Atlantic basin.
When Ivan passed the island of Jamaica, someone's prayers must have been
answered. Friday night the deadly hurricane was moving on a straight
northwestward path aimed directly at Jamaica's capital of Kingston, 30
miles from the shoreline. However, the category 5 storm suddenly began moving due west.
It eventually wobbled around the island, causing only moderate damage.
Only the Lord knows how many additional hurricanes will be generated during
the remaining days of the hurricane season.
When Jesus gave the signals of the end times in His Mount of Olives address, one was that
the "sea and the waves [would be] roaring." This seems to be a direct reference to the
type of violent weather one would see in a tropical cyclone.
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and
upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves
roaring" (Luke 21:25).
What makes these storms important to prophecy is how they fit into the birth-pangs predictions. As we get closer to the end times, we are told to look
for a rise in the activity of the warning signs.
-- Todd
When Children Are a Curse
A memory burns in my mind's eye, although my physical eyesight is no more:
my 2-year-old son's bright blue eyes looking up at me, a big smile on his face, while he stood with his little hands flat on a coffee table/ record player enjoying the music and feeling its vibrations through the coffee table top. Those big blue eyes and that unforgettable smile are a memory so vivid, I think of that scene often these 32 years later. I can see it now, writing this.
With the hope you will forgive that moment of self-indulgent nostalgia, please travel with me from those special moments in the lives of your own children or grandchildren that make you smile every time they jump to the surface of your thoughts.
Contrast those remembrances with the memories that will flood from the almost incomprehensible waking nightmares that will forever be with the parents and grandparents of the little ones who died in one of the vilest acts ever perpetrated by human beings upon other human beings. I'm writing, of course, about the murderous rampage by so-called Chechen separatists, blamed for at least 335 deaths in the school hostage siege in Beslan, Russia less than two weeks ago.
Without meaning to say "we told you so," the case can now be more readily made that President Bush undertook the precisely right course when he took the fight to where the terrorists make their nests. The case has been put forward that it's either fight them there, where they inhabit their Middle East desert and Afghan mountainous lairs, or fight them in America's streets -and classrooms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian leadership have, until now, paid mere lip service to the "War on Terror." What a terrible price they had to pay for their wake-up call--the same horrendous type of wake-up call all who oppose our president's efforts to keep the terrorist atrocities from our shores should have the good sense to have realized from the 9/11 attacks.
That opposition has been somewhat muted due to the murders of the Russian children, teachers and parents. But one can hear, in our own country, the mantra and diatribes again rising as the political season picks up steam.
Political expediency always, in the minds of some, must take precedence over principle and sound thinking.
The Russians are in no mood for political expediency at the moment. Neither should we be.
Despite the truth that we must be reasonable, and not get up a lynch mob to attack all who call Allah their god, the fact is that we face a religion-based force that must be recognized as such and dealt with in a way that leaves no doubt that future such abominations will be met with resistance that includes every military option at our awesome disposal. I, personally, believe that at the very least several well-placed MOAB-type ordinances could be effective, not only as a threat, but in actual usage.
We must love the Muslim people is the admonition of those whom say this is the way to win them. Sorry. We must love people despite their religion, it is true; but if we try to throw our arms around and embrace the fanatics like those who murdered those kids, we will wind up with the Islamic dagger in our national heart. The privilege of wielding the sword of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must, in our treacherous world today, be undergirded by carrying a really big military stick.
It will be interesting to watch how the Russian government, unconcerned with loving its enemies, handles the devastating losses the Russian people have just had inflicted upon them.
God has a memory that is infallible. He remembers in perfect, loving detail, every one of those precious little bright eyes whose beautiful effulgence was extinguished by the Islamic murderers. Almighty God knows those within Islam who strap bombs to their children, who hand them AK-47s and send them out to die for Allah. The Lord of Heaven remembers every atrocity that is perpetrated against mothers and children, who are kept from His Truth that Jesus Christ alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
God has prophesied His opinion and His sentence on those who curse the children.
"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones"
(Luke 17:2).
--Terry
