Islam has no peace
By Ron Wood | Posted: Saturday, November 1, 2014 5:00 am
I have finished reading a book entitled, “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus,” by Nabeel Qureshi.
It is a true story of a physician who became a Christian. He shows us how we need to feel compassion toward Muslims, love them, and pray for them to be saved by Jesus. It changed my thinking. Here is some more of my research regarding Islam.
Why do we have “leathernecks” as a nickname for Marines? The term came from a time in our history when our nation was very young. Muslim nations on the Barbary Coast had been hijacking merchant ships, taking hostages, demanding huge ransoms of several nations, including the USA.
George Washington warned against paying ransom, but Congress didn’t listen at first. Later, we created the U.S. Navy and forced the Muslim piracy to stop. In those conflicts, our Marines wore leather collars to protect their throats from being slashed.
In 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships and demanded a ransom of $60,000. It was extortion. Thomas Jefferson vehemently opposed any further payments. He proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who could force the Islamic states into peace. A disinterested Congress decided to pay the ransom. In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contact.
The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who would not acknowledge their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Muslim who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise." That folks, is a clash of world views.
Islam is now 1,400 years old. When it subjugates a people, they are afraid to revolt. In recent news from Pakistan, two government officials spoke out against the death sentence handed down to a mother of five for being a Christian. What happened? They were both killed by radical Islamists. Even those in Islam are afraid to speak out.
When Rev. Franklin Graham stood outside the White House this year, he said that President Obama was fundamentally mistaken about radical Islam. Obama had recently declared at the UN that Islam teaches peace.
Rev. Graham explained that peace for Muslims is only when people submit to Islam. Those who don’t submit face violent death. He cited examples of thousands around the world who have been slaughtered under the name of Allah. In a recent article, Rev. Graham questioned how a “religion of peace” practices female circumcision, hijacking, kidnapping of children, honor-killings, subjugation of women, and decapitation of prisoners.
An article in World Net Daily described a conference on Islam held in Florida last January, hosted by Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias of International Ministries (RZIM). There a doctor who had recently become a Christian shared his knowledge of Islam’s sacred texts and its history. He said Islam is fundamentally a supremacist political religion that threatens western civilization.
From the same conference, an editor explained that for Christians in the western world, being a follower of Jesus is mostly a private pursuit. But for Muslims, the idea of taking on the state is exactly the way it should be under Sharia. “It’s only when you go to the world-view level that we start looking honestly and see that there are some things that cannot blend,” said Stuart McAllister of RZIM.
Once churches understand Islam, McAllister concluded, “then there’s an imperative to do something.” He hopes the response will not be simply to see Islam as a hostile political force, but to recognize the need to reach out to the average Muslim, who may even be a neighbor.
Today, many thousands of Muslims are voluntarily turning to Christ.
Ron Wood is a pastor and writer. He lives in NW Arkansas with his wife and one retired Jack Russell Terrier. They reside near their two children and six grandchildren. Ron teaches the Bible and conducts training classes on Modern Prophetic Ministry at the Joppa House of Prayer in Rogers, AR. Contact him personally with comments or questions by email at wood.stone.ron@gmail.com.
http://www.meridianstar.com/community/religion/islam-has-no-peace/article_364cc440-616d-11e4-8376-cfb41950e942.html?mode=print
