A
pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old church in
Peshawar after Sunday Mass, killing at least 60 people in the deadliest attack
on Christians in recent history. “The number of dead will be more than 200
because the Church was full to its capacity,” one worshipper, Caroline White, told The Telegraph.
This is today’s news—September 22, 2013. In most of the Muslim
world it is dangerous to be a Christian—Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Pakistan
among others. There is sufficient diversity in the Quran to legitimize both the
claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, but also that opponents must be
eliminated.
The latter teaching has given rise to the jihadist movement
that seeks to impose Islam and Sharia law upon the entire earth. It inspires religious
fervour to achieve its goal through indiscriminate violence against any belief
that opposes it—especially Christianity or “Christian” countries.
So this type of attack should come as no surprise, and will
continue as an ongoing war against the “infidel.” But we in the west should not
be complacent, that “It can’t happen here.” The program for take-over is
threefold.
Bill Calderwood’s research in his book: What in Heavens’ Name is Happening on Earth? notes stage one as a
weakened state where the Muslim community lives in peace, but attracts converts
and seeks influence in the wider population.
Stage two, the preparation stage, establishes influence in
every area of the target country, from financial, government and military, ready
to strike and impose an Islamic Sharia dictatorship. Already, in Britain and
France, there are “no-go” Muslim areas where Sharia law is enforced.
The last stage is open jihadist attack to terrorize and
subdue opposing elements. “Every Muslim’s duty is to actively fight the enemy,
overturning the system of the non-Muslim country and establishing Islamic
authority.”p.108.
This attack should leave us in no doubt they would be just as
happy to export the same treatment to western nations once they have sufficient
strength and resources to do so. Small cells currently attempting that in the
west are simply a precursor of greater jihadist goals for us.
3 comments:
Mr. Norford,
Do you worry that much of the literature on Islam that we see in the West spends a disproportionate amount of time on the radical side of the Muslim faith? Even among conservative Muslims who agree in principle with idea of aggressive jihad, it's only the tiniest of minorities who are willing to actually engage in it. All but the smallest minority of the world's billion Muslims would accept as valid the hadith in which Muhammad told his followers that the "greater jihad" is the internal struggle of the Muslim against his own sinful nature, while the "lesser jihad" is to take up arms when required.
It also seems relevant that the nations in which Islamist terrorism is most active are already major conflict zones, in which neither side is clearly innocent. Violence begets violence, and while it's tragic that some people turn to Islamist terrorism and attacks against civilian targets as the best channel for that violence, construing all such attacks as unprovoked acts of barbarism simplifies the situation gravely. I worry it will lead we westerners into a reductionist and unjust view of Islam, Muslims, and Muslim society, which can't help us in our quest to understand and love our neighbours.
Hi Eric:
Time is short at the present, but I can hardly disagree with much of what you day you less. I'll try to expand later.
In the meantime, check out today's offering at http://www.thechristians.com/?q=node/672&utm_source=The+Christians+Book+Buyers&utm_campaign=b908cc6b50-TCH-Issue0121-BB&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e2d8bf6d30-b908cc6b50-57100961
Eric:
Thanks for your response, obviously driven by a radically different point of view to my own. But I applaud your concern for the many caught up in Islam who simply desire a secure environment to raise their families as we do.
I think many of our expectations are based on our view of human nature. Liberal thinking believes humans are basically good, and correctible. So hope is based on the perceived ability we have to change human thinking, even in the most incorrigible of men.
While “with God all things are possible,” history and prophecy oppose the idea that peace will ever be achieved short of the Prince of Peace returning to earth. The Christian view that our hearts are bent towards sin and Satan who is the past-master at perverting our thinking, will continue the war between good and evil.
Unfortunately, a miniscule are able to divert the course of history. Hitler and a few brownshirts were able to take over the Reichstag, set up his dictatorship, and half succeeded in enslaving the world. Few, bent on violence, especially those driven by religious passion, will be deterred.
Further, attempts at conciliation, however well-meaning, become simply a further tool in the arsenal of the evil. Chamberlain was fooled by Hitler that way, and the Chinese call for a ceasefire in the Korean War gave them opportunity to regroup and continue the war for years longer.
In the current situation, the Islamists are waging war on numerous fronts, are more in number and influence than we like to believe, and have the ability to intimidate more moderate Muslims into silence. How many Muslims speak out against the atrocities of the Islamists?
Peaceful effort to avert conflict is essential, but I believe it’s too easy to let our desire for peace, and even perhaps our fear of facing reality, blind us to the dangers that dictatorial philosophies and people pose and the influence they peddle.
But, as you say in your latest facebook entry: maybe history can still surprise us in radical ways...
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