On
February 15, 2015 the world witnessed once again the savagery of ISIS militants
when they uploaded a video on the internet showcasing the terrorist
organization brutally beheading twenty-one Coptic Christians, who had been
kidnapped and imprisoned in Libya since 2014.
The
video was entitled, “A Message Signed With Blood, To The Nation of the Cross,”
and it showed the martyrs dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, handcuffed and on
their knees awaiting their end while a fiery spokesman delivered a radical
message of hate, “All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes especially
if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together.
The seas you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we
will mix it with your blood.”
In
the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as
“not Islamic” and as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee team,” statements that reflected ignorance
about the group, and certainly contributed to significant strategic errors.
Nothing was done by the U.S. leadership to free Americans—Peter Kassig, James
Foley and Kayla Mueller—who were captured and eventually murdered by ISIS, even
though there was tactical intelligence which showed their location.[1]
In
response to most recent massacre, Rev. Franklin Graham said in a Facebook post,
“Can you imagine the outcry if 21 Muslims had been beheaded by Christians? Where
is the universal condemnation by Muslim leaders around the world? As we mourn
with the families of those 21 martyrs, we’d better take this warning seriously
as these acts of terror will only spread throughout Europe and the United
States...The storm is coming.”[2]
So
much for political correctness, right? Many political pundits have skirted the
ISIS issue and some have been hesitant to associate the terrorist group as
Muslim-extremists. However, when you study the behavior of Muhammad and the
actions of ISIS you’ll quickly learn that ISIS is a carbon copy of their seventh-century
founder.
Historian
William J. Federer and author of What
Every Christian Needs to Know About the Quran, has compared the lives of
Jesus and Muhammad. He points out that:
- Jesus never killed anyone. Muhammad killed an estimated 3,000 people, including beheading 700 Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina, A.D. 627.
- Jesus never owned slaves. Muhammad received a fifth of the prisoners taken in battle, including women (Sura 8:41).
- Following Jesus was voluntary, from the inside out. Following Muhammad could be coerced, from the outside in (Sura 9:29).
- Jesus never married and treated women with dignity, while Muhammad had eleven wives in his harem.
- Jesus taught to love your enemies (Matt. 5:44), but Muhammad taught to Make war on the infidels who dwell around you (Sura 9:123, 66:9).
- In the first 300 years of Christianity, there were 10 major Roman persecutions, and Christians were fed to lions in the Colosseum. Never did Christians lead an armed resistance against those who attacked them. In the first 300 years of Islam, Muslim armies conquered Arabia, Persia, the Holy Land, North Africa, Spain, Southern France, Central Africa, and invaded vast areas of Asia and Asia Minor. Fighting is inconsistent with Jesus’ example but not Muhammad’s, as the Sirat Rasul Allah records Muhammad personally led 27 raids.”[3]
Federer
has these final comments, “What motivates fundamental Muslims to violence?
Where Jesus was a religious leader, Muhammad was a religious leader and a
military leader, thus the effort to separate the militant aspect of Islam from
the religious aspect is an attempt to split Muhammad. The closer one follows
the example of Jesus, the more peaceful is one’s motivation. The closer one
follows example of Muhammad, the more militant is one’s motivation.”
Make
no mistake friends, Islam at is core is not “a religion of peace” as taught by
the Quran or practiced by its founder. While millions of Muslims do not take “jihad”
literally, it cannot be said that ISIS is a misrepresentation of Islam itself.
ISIS is simply being consistent with both their understanding of the Quran and
the model of their prophet.
As
for our brothers and sisters who have suffered at the hands of ISIS we must
remember the scene recorded in Revelation 6:9-11 when the yet-future
Tribulation saints cry out for justice after dying at the hands of the Antichrist:
9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had
been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They
cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before
you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then
they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the
number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were
to be killed as they themselves had been.
Justice
will be meted out by the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Coming when he returns
to take the earth for His Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 19:11-21). With “one little
word” He will fell Satan and the evil forces who oppose Him. Even so, come
quickly (Rev. 22:20).
[1]
Graeme Wood, “What ISIS Really Wants,” The
Atlantic, March 2015 <http://www.theatlantic.com/ features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/>
[2] Michael
W. Chapman, “Rev. Graham: ‘Imagine the Outcry if 21 Muslims Had Been Beheaded
by Christians? … The Storm is Coming’” CNS
News, 16 February 2015 <http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-imagine-outcry-if-21-muslims-had-been-beheaded-christians>
[3]
William Federer, “Jesus and Muhammad Compared,” World Net Daily, 29 February 2008 <http://www.wnd.com/2008/02/57615/>
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