The
western world has entered a period of decadence and decline,
departing far from her Christian roots. With the European
Union denying the historical and cultural Christian heritage
of her member states, a secular based world view reigns
dominant. This, together with the mass immigration of
peoples from Islamic countries at a time when the birth
rates of indigenous peoples are at an all time record low,
threatens the very existence of Western civilization.
The naive would have us believe that we are living in an age
of enlightenment, with borders falling, people uniting. They
ignore the plight of the Coptic Christians of Egypt whose
churches are being burned down in record numbers, young
Coptic women being kidnapped and raped, and priests, bishops
and anyone identified as Christian being fair game for
assaults and murders. They ignore the growing persecution of
Christians throughout the Middle East.
The government of Saudi Arabia has been building Islamic
centers near university communities throughout the United
States and Western Europe. While allegedly pushing for "Islamic
rights", they are wooing young westerners into Islam. While
demanding Muslims be allowed their five times a day worship
periods in the work place and on campuses, they forbid Jew
and Christians the right to build synagogues and churches in
Muslim countries.
Political figures throughout Western Europe and the United
States have taken to calling anyone who raises a word of
alarm as bigoted Islamaphobes, while ignoring the outright
persecution of Christians throughout the Muslim world. It
has become commonplace for attacks against Christians in
Muslim countries to be written off as the acts of a few
extremists, yet we hear no condemnation from imams of the
growing discrimination experienced by Christians. If attacks
against Christians are simply perpetrated by a few Islamic
extremists, why don't the imams raise their collective
voices in decrying the violence of their co-religionists
against their Christian neighbors?
Perhaps it is time to demand a church or synagogue be
constructed in every Muslim country before any new mosques
can be constructed in our cities. If Saudi Arabia wants to
continue funding the construction of new mosques in the
United States, perhaps we should demand the right to build
churches in Saudi Arabia.
It is important to remember that Islam cannot be separated
from politics. Sharia law, which is constituting the
political and social frame of Islamic teaching, is
incompatible with Democracy. The "Arab Spring" is proving this
fact with the Islamic unwillingness to allow Coptic
Christians the freedom they deserve to practice their faith
openly. To compare Islam with Fascism is not too far fetched.
Remember, Afghanistan was once a Buddhist nation, and Turkey
and the Sudan were Christian nations. Islam makes no room
for any form of religion other than Islam. The Western
secular view of religion can not survive the growth of a
faith that is both a political ideology and a religion. Nor
can we as Christians refuse to share our faith by being
complacent. Ministry is not about tickling ears, but tapping
souls into awakening to the truth.
Christianity's decline must be reversed and the only way
this can happen is if those who are still practicing
Christians become missionaries and give witness to Jesus
Christ. Muslim immigrants who've moved to this country
should not be shunned, or asked to leave our shores. They do,
however, deserve the chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
The Muslim understanding of Christianity has been tainted by
false teachings masquerading as Christian. This false image
of Christianity, together with the climate of decadence
embraced by a secularized western world, offers nothing to a
follower of Islam. Only a loving witness to the truth that
in Christ we have a direct link to a personal God Who loves
us and offers something that is life changing and eternal,
has the draw that will bring Muslims to Christ.