'The Hal Lindsey Report' Recently, President Barack Obama spoke of the Islamic State, variously known as ISIS or ISIL. He said, "ISIL is not 'Islamic.' No religion condones the killing of innocents. And the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim."
The President apparently means it's not "Islamic" in some vague spiritual sense, but it's simply not true. It's wishful thinking. In every measurable way, ISIS is "Islamic." It consistently reflects the hard, fundamental teachings of the Koran, the Hadith, and the severe example of Mohammed's own life.
The "I" in ISIS or ISIL really does stand for "Islam." Will they let Christians and Jews join the organization? Of course not. They force them to convert or face death. When they take over a community, do they set up secular systems of laws? No. They immediately impose Sharia law.
In responding to the recent video of the ISIS beheading of British aid worker David Haines, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "Islam is a religion of peace. They (ISIS) are not Muslims, they are monsters." Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, they're monsters, but they're also Muslims.
President Obama says that they can't possibly be Islamic because the majority of their victims are Muslims. Jack the Ripper's victims were all British. Does that mean he wasn't British? Killers kill whatever victim they find at hand.
Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families said, "The reason the overwhelming majority of victims have been Muslim is a matter of geography - ISIL operates in a predominately Muslim region... for now. If ISIL, Hamas and Hezbollah ever get to Israel, the great majority of their victims will be Jews."
Also, their killing of fellow Muslims fits in with teaching from the Koran and Hadith. They kill those that they consider apostates, just as their religion dictates. Millions of Muslims believe that theirs is a religion of peace because, like some Christians, they haven't really looked closely at their own founding documents of their faith.
I don't expect Presidents to be as plainspoken about Islam as someone like myself, a Christian minister. Part of my job is to contrast other belief systems with that of the Gospel and show, as much as I can, the infinite superiority of Jesus and His Word. But I do expect them to be realistic in their assessment of Islam. It's not their job to contrast Islam and Christianity, but neither is it their job to conflate the two.
The world wants to put a smiley face on religion. It teaches that all religion is basically good. The sugarcoated world of political correctness is not always the real world at all, and when a government's policy is based on PC instead of facts, that government - and its people - are in real trouble.
The President appears to be building his new strategy for dealing with ISIS on the idea of arming the "moderate" rebels to help us fight ISIS in Syria. The day after his announcement, the "moderate" rebels in whom President Obama had just publicly placed his faith, agreed to a non-aggression pact with ISIS. In essence, they publicly declared that they will not fight or oppose ISIS.
That agreement may or may not hold, but it shows the shaky ground on which we walk. We might as well build our ISIS policy on Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. The moderates we're looking for just don't exist.
In the past, I have applauded President Obama for not giving in to pressure from those who believe this myth. That's all changed now. In his September 10 speech, he made not only their existence, but also their reliability a cornerstone of his ISIS strategy.
By saying that we can trust them now, he's admitting to a fundamental error in judgment then. If the rebels really were the good-guy alternatives to Assad and ISIS, then he could have armed them two years ago and today we wouldn't be dealing with Assad or ISIS. But the "moderates" were an illusion then, and they're still an illusion today.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is undoubtedly an evil and vicious man, but he is not ISIS. And he is the head of a state that needs to maintain some sort of acceptance among the nations of the world, unlike ISIS, who believes that the more brutal and barbaric it behaves, the more it pleases Allah.
It's an understatement to say that events and developments in the Middle East and around the world are disturbing and frightening. It's also understating the issue to say that most of our leaders have no clue about what to do because they refuse to identify the enemy and act based on that assessment, not on what is politically acceptable. That makes what's happening in the world even more frightening.
And there's no doubt that hatred of Christians and Jews is exploding around the world. Unbelievably, in our "civilized" world, beheadings and crucifixions are now in the headlines.
Jesus Himself warned that in the last days we would be hated for His name's sake. As I've said many times, I think physical persecution of Christians is coming soon to America. Will you be ready to stand strong in those days? For many of our brothers and sisters in other nations, "those days" are here.
This week, I'm also going to discuss how you can prepare yourself emotionally and spiritually for the time you will have to decide whether to deny Christ or risk your job, your friends, your comfort, or maybe your life to remain faithful to Him.
Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.
God Bless,
Hal Lindsey
The President apparently means it's not "Islamic" in some vague spiritual sense, but it's simply not true. It's wishful thinking. In every measurable way, ISIS is "Islamic." It consistently reflects the hard, fundamental teachings of the Koran, the Hadith, and the severe example of Mohammed's own life.
The "I" in ISIS or ISIL really does stand for "Islam." Will they let Christians and Jews join the organization? Of course not. They force them to convert or face death. When they take over a community, do they set up secular systems of laws? No. They immediately impose Sharia law.
In responding to the recent video of the ISIS beheading of British aid worker David Haines, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "Islam is a religion of peace. They (ISIS) are not Muslims, they are monsters." Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, they're monsters, but they're also Muslims.
President Obama says that they can't possibly be Islamic because the majority of their victims are Muslims. Jack the Ripper's victims were all British. Does that mean he wasn't British? Killers kill whatever victim they find at hand.
Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families said, "The reason the overwhelming majority of victims have been Muslim is a matter of geography - ISIL operates in a predominately Muslim region... for now. If ISIL, Hamas and Hezbollah ever get to Israel, the great majority of their victims will be Jews."
Also, their killing of fellow Muslims fits in with teaching from the Koran and Hadith. They kill those that they consider apostates, just as their religion dictates. Millions of Muslims believe that theirs is a religion of peace because, like some Christians, they haven't really looked closely at their own founding documents of their faith.
I don't expect Presidents to be as plainspoken about Islam as someone like myself, a Christian minister. Part of my job is to contrast other belief systems with that of the Gospel and show, as much as I can, the infinite superiority of Jesus and His Word. But I do expect them to be realistic in their assessment of Islam. It's not their job to contrast Islam and Christianity, but neither is it their job to conflate the two.
The world wants to put a smiley face on religion. It teaches that all religion is basically good. The sugarcoated world of political correctness is not always the real world at all, and when a government's policy is based on PC instead of facts, that government - and its people - are in real trouble.
The President appears to be building his new strategy for dealing with ISIS on the idea of arming the "moderate" rebels to help us fight ISIS in Syria. The day after his announcement, the "moderate" rebels in whom President Obama had just publicly placed his faith, agreed to a non-aggression pact with ISIS. In essence, they publicly declared that they will not fight or oppose ISIS.
That agreement may or may not hold, but it shows the shaky ground on which we walk. We might as well build our ISIS policy on Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. The moderates we're looking for just don't exist.
In the past, I have applauded President Obama for not giving in to pressure from those who believe this myth. That's all changed now. In his September 10 speech, he made not only their existence, but also their reliability a cornerstone of his ISIS strategy.
By saying that we can trust them now, he's admitting to a fundamental error in judgment then. If the rebels really were the good-guy alternatives to Assad and ISIS, then he could have armed them two years ago and today we wouldn't be dealing with Assad or ISIS. But the "moderates" were an illusion then, and they're still an illusion today.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is undoubtedly an evil and vicious man, but he is not ISIS. And he is the head of a state that needs to maintain some sort of acceptance among the nations of the world, unlike ISIS, who believes that the more brutal and barbaric it behaves, the more it pleases Allah.
It's an understatement to say that events and developments in the Middle East and around the world are disturbing and frightening. It's also understating the issue to say that most of our leaders have no clue about what to do because they refuse to identify the enemy and act based on that assessment, not on what is politically acceptable. That makes what's happening in the world even more frightening.
And there's no doubt that hatred of Christians and Jews is exploding around the world. Unbelievably, in our "civilized" world, beheadings and crucifixions are now in the headlines.
Jesus Himself warned that in the last days we would be hated for His name's sake. As I've said many times, I think physical persecution of Christians is coming soon to America. Will you be ready to stand strong in those days? For many of our brothers and sisters in other nations, "those days" are here.
This week, I'm also going to discuss how you can prepare yourself emotionally and spiritually for the time you will have to decide whether to deny Christ or risk your job, your friends, your comfort, or maybe your life to remain faithful to Him.
Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.
God Bless,
Hal Lindsey
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