Als Blog Pastor Al | 26 Aug 2008 01:01 pm
Islamization??
When I first started writing this blog, it was my goal to make it a part of my routine. I have failed in that regard. But failures are simply wonderful opportunities to start over and find success the second or the twentieth time around. So here I go again with yet another attempt to be a regular blogger. I have been thinking a lot lately about how we see Islam and what could be the possible long-term effects of its increasing presence in our culture. Then I received today a most interesting email from John Lewis about the whole idea of Islamization.
Islamization is the increasing influence of Islam on a culture until that influence penetrates to the core of the culture chaning the very character of that culture so that the values and beliefs of that culture are correlated exactly to the values and beliefs of Islam. It is happening all over the world. What you and I need to see is first how it happens and second what it means. How does it happens? The answer from what is taking place in Europe, in England and now in Canada is that it happens very gradually. As long as the presence of Muslims in the culture is under two percent, they are seen as a friendly group of people who are peace loving people. They have some peculiarities, but don’t we all. But for the most part they seem to be a morally decent people. They dislike some of the same things that any good Baptist would dislike so they seem more or less to be just one of us. But something happens when their perecentage increases above five percent. They become more vocal. They want their way not only to be honored but also to be exalted above every other way. It seems so innocent at first. The liberals cave in to the muslims due to tolerance and the conservatives cave in due to a desire to win them to Jesus which in the thinking of many conservatives requires that we honor from their religion what can be honored. The end result, however, as we are learnng is the Islamization of the culture. Before you can say, “Allah is God and Muhammed is His prophet,” the culture has been captured by the spirit of Islam and Islamized.
Could it happen here? Well, whatever has happened in Europe and England has eventually arrived on our shores. Why should we think this would be different? And what would be the difference? Well, it depends upon what Islam is. And it is vastly more than a religion or a philosophy; it is a way of life at the center of which demands that its core tenents be exalted above all others. That would mean, for example, that a form of Christianity would be allowed that would honor Jesus as a prophet from Nazareth but would not allow us to see Him as the exclusive revelation of the sovereign God in whom alone is salvation. And what we do then? Would the liberal church cave in as it is now in the name of tolerance and would many in the conservative movement collapse convictions as they have already done in the name of reaching muslims with the Gospel. Does anybody see that when Jesus is removed from the center as the sole manifestation of the sovereign God in whom alone is salvation that the center of the Gospel has collapsed so that the conservative has nothing then with which to reach the Muslim?
Do not forget that Hitler came to power on the push of a populace who saw what he was doing as a solution to the rampant immorality of the day in which he lived. Many in the church hailed him as a savior who had the solution to the problems of Deutschland. What he was was always the same and his agenda was in place from the start. He just unfolded it little by little until it was too late to stop his evil plan. The result was the killing fields and the concentration camps; don’t think that what happened then cannot happen now with the same result. And don’t forget that the basic belief of all muslims is that any person who is not with them is against them and the most hated enemies of Islam who are either to be won through conversion are extermination are Jews and Christians, particularly those who live in the west. Islamization is on its way. Keep your eyes wide open.
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on 30 Aug 2008 at 8:41 am 1.Lorretta said …
I have been watching this happen…slowly but surely, from my point of view as an “outsider” in education where more and more we are unable to speak even HISTORICALLY about the personhood of Jesus Christ as a figure in the history of the world, nevermind as THE Savior of the world. And yet, it’s wholly acceptable to talk about Mohammad and to discuss the nature of Islam as a history and as a religion. And we, as Christians, bought wholesale into this notion of tolerance which left the door open for the heresies to come rushing in upon us. We thought, blindly: “Oh, if we just let them have their say, then we can have our say and then the Truth can be known”. Or worse, we had no understanding of the Truth we thought we could speak of and were immediately swallowed up by the Muslim rhetoric in the face of our lack of preparation, knowledge and basic relationship with the One we thought we represented.
I was listening to Ergun Caner the other night–in the weeeee hours while finishing up the newsletter and he said something which speaks to the problem. Basically, and I’m sure he’s not the only one saying this right now (I know Ravi Zaccharius is) , that Christians have so watered down the message of the Gospel and have so poorly prepared our seminarians that they are not able to teach or reach into our culture with the truth that so desperately needs to be heard. They are nursemaids passing out bottles of milk to a people unprepared for meat. As a result we have churches that are “a hundred miles wide and 2 feet deep”. Whoa. That’s profound.
SO Pastor Al….How can we face this Islamization? What is our response….our prepared statement? What does it look like? See, the problem our little community faces is that it is–a little community. We feel “safe” and “insulated” from the problems which are somewhere…out there. The enemy is very crafty and we are the sleeping church if we think it’s not lurking in the bushes on every street corner from one end of town to the other. How do we prepare for this battle? What would we as a community do or feel–how would we react if we knew that Islamist militants were stationing themselves all around waiting for a word from their commander? Because you know, it’s not that far-fetched of a notion.
on 02 Sep 2008 at 6:31 pm 2.solomco said …
I like what Mike Hall from InQuest Ministries says
. The Lord led me to this study and what He showed me was that the warfare we face is a war against the Gospel. It’s really that simple. The Gospel has the power to change lives; Satan does not want lives to be changed; therefore, Satan hates the Gospel. Satan also hates the Gospel because Christ is at the center of it. When the Gospel is proclaimed Christ gets the glory, man receives redemption, and Satan is exposed.
“Spiritual warfare is not so much a mystical thing, as much as it is a practical thing. In preparation for writing Stao, I did not study about exorcisms or fights with the devil; I studied Ephesians 6:10-18 [+/-]Ephesians 6:10-18
[10]Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength
of his might. [11]Put on the whole armor of God, that you
may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
[12]For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[13]Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all,
to stand firm. [14]Stand therefore, having fastened on the
belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, [15]and, as shoes for your feet, having put
on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. [16]In all
circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you
can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
[17]and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God, [18]praying at all times
in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that
end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication
for all the saints, (ESV)
I would encourage all parents, pastors, and leaders to allow this study to help your students realize that though there is a real war raging for the souls of man grace through the Gospel allows us to be victorious. I can say it no better than the great puritan pastor and author William Gurnall who wrote:”
“It is not the man decked out in morality or philosophical virtues who will repel a full charge of temptation sent from Satan’s cannon; it is the man suited up in armor - that is, in Christ.”