Posted on 03/07/2002 6:07:31 AM PST by iav2
Ergun Caner: Islam is not a Peaceful Religion
Ergun is the oldest son of a Muslim mwazien. The mwazien is similar to a preacher. In 1982 when he was 16 years old, he attended a revival service in Columbus, Ohio, at the invitation of a high school friend and accepted Christ. Ergun started attending church on Monday, accepted Christ on a Thursday -- and had his first piece of ham at a Youth Afterglow activity days later.
When Ergun attended the mosque the next day, his youth group of Shiite Muslims "beat the tar out of me," he says. Ergun's parents were separated at the time (prior to a divorce), and when his father found out about his salvation, he confronted Ergun. When Ergun refused to repudiate his faith in Christ, his father disowned him -- by facing Mecca and praying a prayer of abandonment because it was embarrassing that his oldest son would accept Christ. Sadly this effectively ended their relationship. Ergun didn't see his father for 17 years, until three days before his dad's death in 1999.
Ergun's Swedish mother met and married a Turkish man . They relocated to the U.S .where the younger brothers were born. Ergun says he was called to preach one year after salvation (he began college at 16), becoming a pastor at age 17 to a small country church in Manchester, Kentucky.
He says it was a mystery to him that God would call him because at the time, Ergun didn't speak English very well and didn't fully understand the Scriptures. He felt that he was all alone because neither his mother, nor his grandmother, were Christians. But he gladly accepted the call, and led his brothers to Christ the same week of his salvation.
Islam Is Not A Peaceful Religion
As the son of a mwazein, Ergun had to learn the hadith (the sayings and traditions of Muhammed, the Prophet of Islam) in the Qur'an. In these teachings, Ergun says the central thesis of Islam does in fact have an essential tenet of militaristic conquest at its heart. The infidel, or unbeliever, must be converted or conquered. If the Muslim dies in such a struggle or declaration of war (jihad), he is promised immediate translation into the highest level of paradise. Therefore, when pressed most Muslims would say that Mohamed Ata is in heaven according to the Qur'anic teaching.
The Qur'an, supposedly from the mouth of Allah, takes a dim view of the non-believer and a strict view of jihad as a warfare against them. In Surah 2:190, Allah says, "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you. And slay them wherever you catch them." Physical warfare is an absolute necessity so that Allah is honored and worshipped. Jihad is one of the highest calls of life for a Muslim. "Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and those who strive hard and fight in the cause of Allah with their wealth and lives." Surah 4.95
According to the doctrine of jihad there are three waves of jihad. The first wave is the shock -- which was Sept 11.
The second wave is to show a people that they are vulnerable. It has to be public. "Daniel Pearl was killed on videotape," says Ergun. There is no question that group who killed Pearl is a subgroup of the radical Muslim fundamental group, Mujahdeen.
The third wave is to humiliate your enemy, to "cut the legs out from under them." "Thank God President Bush responded as he did," Ergun says. "If he had not, the second wave would have been much, much worse than the first." The Koran teaches that if your enemy is weak -- conquer him. If he is strong -- respect him. That means they keep going until they meet with resistance.
When asked if he believes Osama bin Laden is still alive, Ergun says yes. "He is considered to be a martyr in their faith. If he were dead, they would be hailing him." Peace With Allah, Not Us
"I must take this opportunity to side with Pat," says Ergun. "He cannot take these hits (from the media and press) alone." Ergun says the word "Islam" means "peace with Allah" not "peace with us." "We are the infidels and therefore the enemy," says Ergun.
He further explains that when a Christian blows up an abortion clinic, he does that in spite of the teachings of Jesus Christ. "Muslims perform jihad because of the teachings of Muhammed," declares Ergun. "Make no mistake, they are at war with us and these are not just radical Muslims."
Osama bin Laden is a Sunni Muslim, not a Shiite, which is considered the more radical of the two. When bin Laden is on television, he is quoting the Qur'an. "It is difficult to take the Qur'an out of context," says Ergun. Even to the casual reader, jihad is more than just an intellectual exercise of struggle, but rather an engagement in battle and struggle and warfare with death as a conclusion for the Muslim blessing.
Muhammad echoed this conclusion in Hadith 4.73 "Muhammed said, "Know that paradise is under the shades of the sword." For the Muslim apologists who redact the terminology to indicate that fighting is perhaps an intellectual debate must read Surah 2:216, "Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows and you know not." It is impossible to determine that the text means anything but fighting in the traditional sense of combat.
A Muslim is a Muslim by birth, but many are illiterate. Therefore they must take the word of the imam, equivalent to a pastor, as truth. They cannot question the validity of what the imam says. With reference to the recent Gallup poll, "they hate us," says Ergun. "And they cannot make the distinction between an American and a Christian because of the way they are brought up culturally. When you say a man is a Turk, it is understood that he is Muslim."
Ergun believes that the United States did not finish the job in the Gulf War. He believes that we will not end the war on terrorism without including Saddam Hussein, who is the major fundraiser for Islam. "If we do not go after him, this will never end," he says. "He will continue the jihad."
Incredible Opportunity
But in the midst of this turmoil, Ergun says this is the most incredible opportunity to witness to Muslims. They are beginning to understand their religion. Many do not want to be part of the violence and are coming to Christ. The difference between reaching them and not reaching them depends on the teaching of grace.
"The single most important thing to do is teach on grace," he says. To Muslims, the intimacy of God is so new. Teach them that they don't have to live in fear of the "scales of Allah," which are seen as actual scales (2 Surah 4). For the Muslims who fear the scales that measure their eternal damnation if weighted heavier for evil than good, this is the only true eternal security they have.
Christians should also know that Allah and God are not the same. "No serious or intellectual Muslim would say that Allah has a Son, that He is a Triune, nor that He is personal," Ergun says. Allah is Creator and Judge. Christ's attributes are so totally different. He is loving, kind, gracious, and forgiving. As a Christian, Ergun is offended when he hears people say that God and Allah are the same. Many think getting to God is like getting to Chicago. You can get there by plane, train or auto. It doesn't matter what path you take, as long as you get there. Ergun calls this the "Oprahization" of American culture.
On October 19, 2001, Ergun spoke before the UN at the Subcommittee on Cultural Affairs. As an expert on Islam and one who speaks Arabic, he is being invited to participate in even more high-level projects on this area. There are only 20 former Muslims who are now preachers in America; there are only eight (and Ergun is one of them) who are professors of theology.
So, while this story is interesting, and it may be 100% truth, any attempt to point to this as a model of the typical, Muslim home could be like pointing to the warden in The Shawshank Redemption as typical of fundamental Christianity.
At least, that's how a Muslim could dismiss it (justifiably or not).
Granted, there's not a lot of meaning to those who are perishing. But, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God! :-)
By William A. Mayer - Editor & Publisher
We have lost patience with the way the styrofoam agents of disinformation in the media continue to pussyfoot around the key element underlying the central issue of our time, terrorism.
The core of this revolves around one question.
What is the nature of Islam and is it possible to co-exist with it?
We hate to break the news to you but here goes.
Islam is a violent, intolerant, mendacious cult, a vestigial remnant of the seventh century and drenched in the blood of millions – within a century of its inception having bludgeoned into existence an empire extending westward to Morocco, eastward to the Indus valley in India and metastasizing well into Asia minor to the north.
Islam’s founder, Abdul-Kasim Mohammed ibn abd Allah, was a messianic military conqueror and imposed his religion by force, conversion at the point of a sword.
If this is the definition of a holy man then we must, in the spirit of fairness, include Hitler, Tojo and Stalin...
For the rest of the article go here
At this time, if we can believe what the media have been telling us, Islam's adherents are nearly united in their hatred for America and its core values. Even those who would never dream of strapping explosives to their bodies and visiting an Israeli discotheque extend their approval to those Muslims who do, and sometimes their money and shelter as well. Virtually no prominent Muslim cleric has dared even to condemn the Black Tuesday assaults. Reports of celebrations, particularly among the "Palestinians," at announcements of carnage inflicted upon us and the Israelis, have been many and quite lurid.
These things have formed my opinion of Islam. It doesn't help at all that the father of a Muslim friend of my daughter's has spoken in defense of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. (I have no idea what his wife and daughter have to say; I'm not allowed to see them.) I will consider changing my opinions when a substantial fraction of Muslims demonstrate humanity and respect for the rights of others, by word and deed. Until that day comes, I won't turn my back on them.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Well, of course, we would be quick to point out that those abortion clinic bombers and those who murder abortionists in the name of Jesus aren't really Christians. The "faithful" Muslim could just as easily say the same thing about the Muslim terrorists.
There will be no peace until we are converted or destroyed.
And do not forget it!
It may be that in modern times Christians are relatively peaceful, but that is a mostly recent development. Whether it was the crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land from muslim control, or the Inquisition to smoke out heretics, or the brutal persecution of fellow Christians who had somewhat different theologies than the dominant one, Christian zeal has produced barbarism after barbarism in the record of history.
Now, I do believe that modern Christianity has turned into a very peaceful and good force in society, but that clearly was not always the case. And to single out Islam as a violent religion is unfair and hypocritical, in my view. What's more likely responsible for Islam's violent tendencies is the fact that most muslim countries are still trapped in the middle ages. When they finally enter modernity, they will likely abandon this self-destructive philosophy.
Well it's obvious that this "thing" than Bin Laden and Al Qaida the these other jihadists are worshipping is definitely not God.
He *could*, but would he? The awful part of 9/11 was discovering how little, how weak, how grudging was the response of the so-called Muslim moderates.
We feel free to criticize Pat Robertson, and frequently do so, but he hasn't killed anybody nor issued murderous "fatwahs." Most of the time he annoys the heck out of me, but it's just crazy to draw an equivalency between Christians who are sometimes nuisances and mullahs who murder.
I don't hear many Muslims condemn their mullahs.
The christian church did not stand behind this man with a street celebration.
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