A Concern I have about Islam

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18 - ESV)

I am not same page as President Bush is when it comes to statement he makes about Islam being a noble religion that was high jacked by terrorists. No Mr. President, the terrorists are practicing true Islam (read the Koran!). The non-radicals who are not practicing true Islam are less of a threat to our national security as those who practice true Islam. It is true that not all who are Islamist are terrorist but those who practice true Islam are the ones who will most likely be Islamic terrorist! On the other hand, how many of the “so-called” peaceful Islamist actually condemn the acts of terrorism around the world? I can’t name one!

I think most of us in the Reformed circles are aware of this horrible truth. Reformed Christians don’t have a relativistic worldview. Our godless culture, on the other hand, does have relativistic worldview. So if don’t believe in right and wrong what do you do? Reformed Christianity doesn’t have a view that all views are true as long as you believe it. Because of this our secular culture doesn’t have moral grounding to condemn Islam. (Note that the secular culture has no problem speaking its mind about Christianity!)

But that is not I want to write about. I want to write about the possibility that Islam is spreading in some areas of the world and that God’s church may need to brace itself for possibility of increase persecution. Many countries around the world are seeing increases in the Islamic segments of their population. I can guarantee that the results will be an increase persecution of God’s church!

Look at Europe right now. The Islamic immigrants pouring into France are Great Britain is already alarming and we are already seeing the culture influences on those countries today as we fight the war on terror. The populations in the Islamic community of those countries are also rapidly growing mainly because of birth rates higher than any other social groups in Europe. I am not advocating a crusade to fight Islam. Lot of this is the fault of the church for not being faithful and rearing children in the faith (but that is another story for another time).

I do see the Islamic problem worsening over the next few decades because of its spread into countries like France, Britain and even the United States. The churches in these countries should expect more persecution if this growth continues. They will not destroy the church because Christ said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” his beloved church. What I am saying that God’s true church may encounter persecution in places in the world where churches have experienced very little, if any. I don’t like to see the church go through persecution; however, I do know that historically the church grows stronger and more faithful during times of persecution than during the time of no persecution. Maybe for paganized churches in the United States persecution will be good!

Timotheus
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