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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/15/2003 12:00:31 PM PST by grantswank
THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM
J. Grant Swank, Jr., POB 1984, Windham ME 04062
Pastor, New Hope Church, Windham ME
Islam is being pictured today as a "religion of peace."
Granted, religion can be complicated. Therefore, one must be careful when stating that Islam is not a religion of peace. But in fact it is not.
Nevertheless, taking religion complications seriously, it is true that some Muslims believe that their religion is one of peace.
Confused? You are not alone.
So, backing up to the start, let's get some basics understood:
Secular Muslims accept Islam as a religion of peace because they are not familiar with the Quran nor the historical realities regarding intolerant Islamic adherents.
Moderate Muslims are those who have read some of the Quran and take from it the peace statements attributed to Mohammed.
Zealot Muslims (sometimes referred to as "Fundamentalists") are those who take most seriously the aggressive Quran statements. They may act them out in persecuting or killing "the enemy."
Mohammed himself was a complicated person. He wrote in the Quran statements which are conciliatory toward Jews and Christians. He also wrote statements which are threatening to Jews and Christians. Moderates accept the conciliatory statements. Zealots accept the aggressive statements.
The refined, sophisticated, learned Muslims who reach out to other religions in tolerance are those who are the present-day "window display" models of Muslims. Persons of like nature, whatever their religion, are most reassured to come upon such contemporary examples of the Muslim faith.
However, alongside these tolerant moderate Muslims are the zealots. It is the latter which must be understood today if we are going to be true to the study of Islam and protective of our positions as Christians.
"Islam" means "submission." It means submission totally to Allah, the deity of the Muslim religion.
Zealots who aggressively move against Jews and Christians--the "infidels"--act out this command from Sahih Muslim I, p. l7: "The Messenger of Allah commanded to fight against all people till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and believe in me (that) I am the Messenger (from the Lord) and in all that I have brought."
Further, Surah 8:39 of the Quran states: "And fight them or until there is no more tumult or aggression. And there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere. But if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do."
Other quotations from the Quran could be given regarding the Allah-directed right of a Muslim to do away with a non-Muslim.
Country after country today is under threat by the zealot Muslims. This is fact. Others may pontificate on the "Islam is a religion of peace" theme all they want; but the truth is that there are untold numbers being killed each day by zealot Muslims in the name of Allah and his prophet, Mohammed.
In Algeria, Muslims make up 97% of the people. Zealots are aggressively working for the establishment of Shari'a law. Christians suffer violence. Believers' throats have been slit. The Christian witness is not permitted.
In Bangladesh, Christians are frequently denied access to public water wells. Many have been beaten by zealot mobs.
In Brunei, Muslims account for 65% of the people. Christian leaders have been dismissed from the country. Christian literature is not tolerated. Applications for church registration are ignored. Christians must meet in secret.
In Comoros, Christians cannot testify in public. They have undergone harassment and persecution by zealot Muslims.
In Egypt, Christians are treated as second-class citizens. Believers are frequently attacked by zealot Muslims. There are reports of Christian females being raped and made to marry Muslims. The Coptic Church, the largest body of believers in the Middle East, is persecuted continually. Some Coptics have been put in prison for "inciting intercommuncal strife."
In Indonesia, zealots want to eliminate Christianity completely. Over 600 churches have been leveled. Christians are being forced to convert to Islam. Men, women and children are coerced to be circumcised. Some Christians are killed outrightly.
In Iran, Christian pastors have been murdered. Believers are often shunted from education, jobs and owning property.
In Libya, there is a limit of one congregation per denomination in each city. Muslims make up 97% of the population.
In Mauritania, it is against the law for Muslims to enter Christian homes. The government has gone to great lengths to prohibit Christianity from entering the culture.
In Myanmar (Burma), forced conversions are frequent. In 1966, almost all Christian effort was forced to exit.
In Nigeria, believers have been murdered while Christian buildings have been burnt to the ground.
In Pakistan, much violence against Christians has been daily fare. Numerous Christians have been murdered by mobs. Christians are not permitted in some professions and given lower class tasks.
In order to love one's enemy, one must know the truth about one's enemy.
Christians are to love their enemies, pray for them, and do good toward them. But they are not to be ignorant concerning their beliefs and activities. Jesus said that His own were to be as wise as snakes and harmless as doves.
Just as there are many within Christendom who do not read nor understand the Bible, so there are adherents in every religion. Therefore, there will be those secular and moderate Muslims who are active in "name only." That is, they adhere to certain rituals and basic tenets of Islam but are not fully knowledgeable concerning Islam nor the zealot acting out of the aggressive commands in the Quran.
Christians must then learn to decipher who it is that the Christian is speaking to when communicating with a Muslim. Is it a secular Muslim? Is it a moderate
Muslim? Or is it a zealot Muslim?
But the last thing a Christian can do is to be naive in baptizing the Islam religion as a religion of peace.
Confusing? Yes, it can be. But the bottomline in understanding any of the world religions apart from the revealed truth in Scripture is to understand that the devil is the "author of confusion."
Islam then has been written by the devil. He is the Angel of Light. Therefore the devil can produce a religion which has elements of peace in its devilment.
And this in itself is the start of the understanding of any religion of the world other than the Christian truth.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Burma: 89% Buddhist, 4% Muslim. (CIA World Factbook)
When we immigrated from Jerusalem, Jordan in January, 1967, little did I imagine that Islam would become center-stage in world news. As my sincere interest in the growth of Islam in America intensified, I began to discuss, dialogue, and then debate Muslim leaders throughout the world from an Arab Christian's view of Islam.
So far, I have had the privilege of participating in over 20 debates and discussions on every continent plus T.V. and radio. Islam Revealed was released in 1988 and is now in its 8th printing. The True Furqan is now in its third printing in the three years it has been published. It is the only book which challenges the Quran in substance, style, language and contents.
The True Furqan can be located on HERE or HERE
The following is my analysis of Islamic invasion of America, the agenda of Islamists and visible methods to take over America by the year 2020! Will Americans continue to sleep through this invasion as they did when we were attacked on 9/11?
1. Terminate America's freedom of speech by replacing it with hate crime bills state-wide and nation-wide.
2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other visible religious personalities to promote Islam as the original African-American's religion while Christianity is for the whites! Strange enough, no one tells the African-Americans that it was the Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves, neither the fact that in Arabic the word for black and slave is the same, "Abed."
3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.
4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office for favorable legislation to Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting.
5. Take control of as much of Hollywood, the press, TV, radio and the internet by buying the corporations or a controlling stock.
6. Yield to the fear of imminent shut-off of the lifeblood of America - the black gold. America's economy depends on oil,1000 products are derived from oil), so does its personal and industrial transportation and manufacturing -41% comes from the Middle East.
7. Yell, "foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un-American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran" time Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.
8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions, get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical companies. Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way.
Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?
9. Accelerate Islamic demographic growth via:
a. Massive immigration (100,000 annually since 1961)
b. No birth control whatsoever - every baby of Muslim parents is automatically a Muslim and cannot choose another religion later.
c. Muslim men must marry American women and Islamize them (10,000 annually). Then divorce them and remarry every five years - since one cannot have the Muslim legal permission to marry four at one time. This is a legal solution in America.
d. Convert angry, alienated black inmates and turn them into militants (so far 2000 released inmates have joined Al Qaida world-wide). Only a few have been captured in Afghanistan and on American soil. So far - sleeping cells!
10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are 300 exclusively Muslim schools with loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution.
11. Provide very sizeable monetary Muslim grants to colleges and universities in America to establish "Centers for Islamic studies" with Muslim directors to promote Islam in higher education institutions.
12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, not the truth, which is Islam hijacked the terrorists. Furthermore in January of 2002, Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Washington mailed 4500 packets of the Quran, videos, promoting Islam to America's high schools--free. They would never allow us to reciprocate.
13. Appeal to the historically compassionate and sensitive Americans for sympathy and tolerance towards the Muslims in America who are portrayed as mainly immigrants from oppressed countries.
14. Nullify America's sense of security by manipulating the intelligence community with misinformation. Periodically terrorize Americans of impending attacks on bridges, tunnels, water supplies, airports, apartment buildings and malls. (We have experienced this too often since 9-11.) 15. Form riots and demonstrations in the prison system demanding Islamic Sharia as the way of life, not American's justice system.
16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S. but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.
17. Raise interest in Islam on America's campuses by insisting that freshman take at least one course on Islam. Be sure that the writer is a bonafide American, Christian, scholarly and able to cover up the violence in the Quran and express the peaceful, spiritual and religious aspect only.
18. Unify the numerous Muslim lobbies in Washington, mosques, Islamic student centers, educational organizations, magazines and papers by internet and an annual convention to coordinate plans, propagate the faith and engender news in the media of their visibility.
19. Send intimidating messages and messengers to the outspoken individuals who are critical of Islam and seek to eliminate them by hook or crook.
20. Applaud Muslims as loyal citizens of the US by spotlighting their voting record as the highest percentage of all minority and ethic groups in America.
Check the links inside the article to get the "real" picture.
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