Wednesday, October 16, 2013

JIHAD VS. TERRORISM defined by Islamic Authorities.


Last night on our way home from spending an evening with my son and daughter-in-law, we somehow got into the discussion of the current American President and what I consider his obvious love for Muslims. I made a mistake. I probably, in hindsight, should have used the word "Islam" rather than Muslims. My bad.

It turns out some very good friends of theirs are peace-abiding, loving, Muslims who are not at all in favor of what Islamic Extremists are doing. I tried to explain that I do love and care about the individual person who happens to be a Muslim as much as I care for one who is not. That was not the issue. (They felt I was painting them all with a broad brush to say the least.)

The issue, at least as far as I was concerned, was what the Islam faith actually stands for. Me arguing that, if the Koran is followed accurately, Islam stands for the forcing of Islam on the whole world and the installing of Sharia Law globally. They were arguing that it does not and that there are other parts of the Koran (albeit written earlier in the life of Mohammed) that make it, in the words of both recent conservative and liberal American Presidents, a "religion of peace". Everyone, including Presidents, have the right to their own opinion. I was arguing that it is anything but in its purest sense since Islam scholars take the later writing of Mohammed to nullify any earlier writing where there is a contradiction.

My wise wife was able to bring a sense of closure to the discussion by re-crafting my words into something that was more palatable. She said, "What Dad is saying is that he believes there appears from circumstances we observe that Obama has an agenda to reduce America's power in a way that would facilitate the Islamic takeover of the world." Thank you darling.

This morning as I thought about the argument with my children, the article in the link below came to me on the Internet. It is a must read on the issue of "Jihad" vs. "Terrorism". I sent it to my son with these words:

"I did not go looking for this article. It came to me today because I was praying about how best to get the point I was trying to make across, at least to you. Please read it carefully throughout when you have time -- with a good drink (coffee will do just fine) in your hand. Don't get angry -- just read it. Especially the part at the end which addresses the very question of why moderate Muslims do not speak up.
Love, Dad.
p.s. is it possible that some of my concern (although you feel 'que sera sera' and I agree to a point spiritually speaking) -- but is it possible, that part of my concern has to do with my love for my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, those living and those still to come by God's will -- and what they may have to go through if we don't take a stand now?"

I share the article with you the reader and I hope you share it with others, especially your loved ones. And don't forget to comment on it.
p.s. And no one should get upset -- after all, the article is primarily a quote from Islam's own authorities.












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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Man, Here’s Your Role and Here’s Mine, and the Reason -- Exodus 14:15-18


Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?  Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.  And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.  And as for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.  Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
 
After Moses tells the children of Israel to “just stay silent” and watch God at work, the Lord has a word for Moses himself.  You can imagine what Moses was going through listening to the complaining Israelites, seeing the Egyptians and their chariots closing in on them, and then having to tell his people that everything will be fine.  There must have been a lot of crying, and a lot of crying out to God, in private.  And thus God says to him, “Why are you crying out to me?”  There’s a time to pray, a time to cry out, but there’s also a time for action.  Too many Christians stop at the crying stage or worse still they get stuck at crying out to God.  It is one thing to ask for God’s help, it is another to hold Him responsible for your situation.

God tells Moses to simply tell the Israelites “to go forward”.  Have you ever been in a situation where you are in so far that the only way to end it is to go through with it – to move forward?  Sometimes God allows us these experiences, only to see His Hand at work later on.  Some of you may have sensed a hesitation to allow your child to marry their chosen partner, but you “moved forward”, and God has blessed that marriage more than you could ever hope for.  Sometimes, you wanted to change your mind about a new job, but you hang in there, “moving forward” and God has blessed you.   We move forward as we sense His direction, do our part, and then God does His.   This passage of Scripture is very clear about those steps.

Tell the people you’re leading to move forward.  Then do your part.   Moses had to lift up the staff he was holding in his hand and stretch it out over the sea for it to divide, so that the sons of Israel could cross it on dry land.  Wow.  Clearly God did the dividing of the sea, but there were two prerequisites in this case.  First, the entire congregation had to “move forward” towards the dangers of the water before them.  Any move like this is part risk, part faith for the Christian.  The more grounded we are in our dependence on God, the less the risk and the more the assurance that He will intervene.
The second prerequisite was that Moses, as leader, had to do his part.  He had to exercise His faith – God had proven Himself to Moses when God was preparing him.  But he had to do it in the way he was being instructed.  It would not work any other way.  He couldn’t do “his own thing”.  He had to lift up the walking stick he was holding and hold it over the sea.  Sometimes, people are asked to take risks, to move forward into battle, to accept the new tightening of economic belts that must be done, to suffer, to forfeit their wages and go on strike, etc., while their leaders all continue living their lives of luxury.  It amazes me how some leaders have the gall to pass legislation on their people but exempt themselves from it.  Godly leaders, be it in government or in the church, do their parts among their people not above them.

Clearly God wants the people to move forward, the leaders to act in accordance with His instructions.  Then God said to Moses, “And as for Me, behold, I will . . ..”  God says, “Get the people to move forward, do your part, and then I’ll do mine.”

And what was it exactly that God would do for the Israelites at that point?  He would harden the heart of Egyptians so that they go into the sea after the Israelites.  Wait a minute, God, that’s not exactly a good deal for these people, is it?  I mean here they do their part by going “forward” and Moses their leader does his part, and then you promise to make the Egyptians chase them into the water.  And here’s where real faith comes into the picture.  You see, from a purely human perspective, God was going to make matters worse.  But from His own ‘big picture’ perspective, what was about to ensue would honor Him and all the Egyptians (likely the ones who remained back in Egypt since these ones were about to drown) would know that He is the Lord.

There’s a role for those we lead, there’s a role for us, and then God does His part.  We cannot presume to know the outcome of an event that is still in progress.  In English, we use the phrase “it’s not over until the fat lady (opera singer) sings (her closing aria)” when a situation appears to be nearing its conclusion.  Wikipedia says, “(The phrase) cautions against assuming that the current state of an event is irreversible and clearly determines how or when the event will end.”  Though some like to attribute a feminine gender to the Almighty, I do not, and in no way am I suggesting this colloquialism applies to God.  The simple point is that our God works in surprising and marvelous ways His wonders to perform and most importantly, to have His name honored.  The better we know Him, the less speechless we will be when we see the glorious surprise ending He will bring to the situation.  Your current situation is not always what God has in mind as the final outcome.
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