New Taliban law removes all 10 aspects of freedom of religion

Is there an answer?

The Editor-in-Chief responds to the Manchester atrocity.

I’m torn between grief and anger. I’m grieving for the people of Manchester and all those who have suffered in any way from the terrible atrocity that has engulfed the city – the appalling loss of life and the hideous wounds inflicted upon children and young people, as well as mothers and fathers who came to meet their children from a fun night out.

But I’m angry with the hypocrisy of the media, politicians, commentators and community leaders – none of whom are willing to face up to the truth.

They all pour out platitudes and meaningless slogans about unity and standing together and not letting this tragedy make any difference – and they express amazement that a boy born and raised in Manchester could have done such a thing. ‘How did he become radicalised?’, they cry.

What utter hypocrisy! All our leaders know perfectly well that he became radicalised by learning the Qur’an!

Salman Abedi learned Arabic in the local mosque and he was encouraged to learn the Qur’an by heart. It was there he learned that all Muslims are at war with the rest of the world and they should fight against unbelievers, “strike terror into the enemy of Allah” (Qur’an 8:60) until they submit to Allah and his religion. They are not to make friends with Jews or Christians and they are to kill them by any means, whenever there is an opportunity. All this is in the Qur’an that Salman Abedi learned by heart.

What Muhammad Didn’t Learn

This is the teaching of Muhammad – but Muhammad drew heavily upon the stories he learned in his early years as a merchant listening to Jewish travellers around the campfire in the evenings. He would have undoubtedly learned stories of the Hebrew tribes – the great stories of how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt; the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh’s army. Muhammad was illiterate but he remembered these stories and re-told them later; so a version of them appears in the Qur’an.

Sadly, what Muhammad did not learn from the Bible was how biblical teaching progressed through God’s revelation to the prophets of Israel.

I’m angry with the hypocrisy of the media, politicians, commentators and community leaders – none of whom are willing to face up to the truth.

For example, Moses had to deal with a dire situation where some false prophets were trying to persuade the Israelites to worship other gods and burn their sons and daughters in the fire (Deut 12:31). He said:

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you…and he says, “Let us follow other gods (gods you have not known) and let us worship them,” you must not listen...The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul…That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God…Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. (Deut 13:1-6)

Today we certainly would not put such false prophets to death by stoning them! But all the tribes of Israel were living in tents in the desert. Moses had nowhere to put someone in prison or send them to a re-education centre!

Also God’s people were in danger of being corrupted and led astray, which would lead to their destruction. They had to remain a distinctive and godly people following God’s laws, in order to be ready to receive God’s rescuer, their Messiah, the one who would ultimately bring salvation to all humanity as the Prince of Peace. This is why the punishment for leading Israel astray had to be severe and absolute - because the salvation of the whole world was at stake.

New Testament Times

Over the years, rabbis had made laws about stoning to make it less likely and even then, there were many conditions that could halt a stoning. And we know Jesus’ view on stoning - let him who is without sin cast the first stone (John 8:7).

The teaching of the New Testament on what to do with offenders is very clear – they are to be rebuked and restored if possible, or else expelled from the fellowship, but they are certainly not stoned or put to death. Jesus said, “You have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, but Jesus said, “I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt 5:38).

This is very different teaching on what to do with those who do not agree with you or who have a totally different philosophy of life. It was at the climax of the ages when Jesus' sacrifice was made on the Cross, that this transformation from retribution to forgiveness was at last made possible by the power of God's Spirit released among his people.

It was at when Jesus' sacrifice was made on the Cross that the transformation from retribution to forgiveness was at last made possible by the power of God's Spirit.

God’s Love and Compassion

But you don’t have to jump straight from Moses to Jesus to see a change of emphasis in the Bible. You can stay in the Old Testament and just go some 500 years later to the time of the Prophet Hosea, and you see that his teaching and whole lifestyle is very different. Hosea’s own wife left him and went to work as a ritual prostitute in a pagan temple; but he still loved her and paid the redemption price to get her back.

This helped Hosea to understand the love and compassion of God who still loved and forgave his people even when they deserted him and worshipped other gods. Hosea expressed the word of God beautifully in chapter 11: “When Israel was a child, I loved him…But the more I called Israel, the farther they went from me…All my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.”

Sadly, Muhammad was unable to study the Bible himself and he may never have heard the Gospel from Christians. The Qur’an was not written during his lifetime, it was written by his friends from their memory of his words after his death, hence the striking difference between accounts of the same incidents in the history of Israel between the Qur’an and the Bible.

Need for Honesty About Islam

I am certainly not suggesting that Muhammad’s policy of forced conversion and violence against Christians and Jews in any way came from the Bible, I’m simply saying that Muhammad may have heard that corporal punishment was permitted under some extreme circumstances during the time the Israelite tribes were encamped in the desert.

Of course, we have great problems today in discussing these things because Muslims in the Middle East try to re-write history and pretend that the Jews never occupied the land of Israel. What is greatly needed today is honest discussions between biblical and Islamic scholars, which is the only way to change the worldview that Muslims are at war with the world and may use any acts of violence in an attempt to force their religion upon others.

Honest discussions between biblical and Islamic scholars are needed if we are to change the worldview that Muslims are at war with the world.

This is the worldview that is being taught to Muslim boys across the mosques of Britain, the USA and Europe, where they are actually taught to hate the West. We will never stop terrorism until we face the true issue that from its inception, Islam has warped and co-opted parts of the Torah to serve its own ends. Its very foundation is a misunderstanding of truth.

Muhammad desperately tried to persuade Jews to accept his teachings, but when they refused he became filled with hatred towards them and the rest is history.

On Thought for the Day today (BBC Radio 4),¹ Mona Siddiqui said that Muslims have to stop believing that they are at war with the world. She is the first Islamic scholar I’ve heard who is prepared to admit that the problem of Islamic terrorism actually comes from the Qur’an – and she will probably incur the wrath of some Muslims. We should be praying for her protection and for any Muslim imams who are prepared to face the truth about their religion.

Jesus the Stone of Judgment

We must also be careful, in considering what I’ve quoted from the teaching of Moses, to remember that the whole Torah is the unchangeable word of God and was accepted by Jesus. He commanded his followers to follow the teaching of the Pharisees who sat “in Moses’ seat” (Matt 23:2), and most certainly did not reject the Torah, although he did criticise the Pharisees’ practices and interpretations, all while upholding the veracity of the Law.

This is what Jesus was doing when he said: “You have heard that it was said, love your neighbour and hate your enemy but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:43-44).

And yet, Jesus did not shy away from speaking about judgment. He spoke about stoning as judgment, saying that metaphorically he would be the Stone of judgment that would crush or break. He quoted Psalm 118, a psalm known to be about the Messiah, saying: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Ps 118:22). And he added: “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Death at the hands of humans is not what we should fear - but judgment at the hands of the living God, who said that "If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt 18:6). Anyone who justifies the killing and maiming of children in the name of jihad (as in the Manchester atrocity) should remember that punishment, not paradise, awaits them.

Charles Gardner reviews ‘Not the Same God’ by Sam Solomon, with Atif Debs (2016, Wilberforce Publications).

The god of Islam is most definitely not the same as the God worshipped by Christians and Jews.

That is the no-nonsense conclusion of Sam Solomon’s recent book, Not the Same God, dedicated to tackling a thorny theological issue which has left many confused and misguided.

A number of Christian scholars are said to have suggested that ‘sufficient similarities’ exist between Islam and Christianity to warrant co-operation between the so-called ‘monotheistic faiths’, which may even prove helpful in introducing Muslims to Christ.

But the author, writing with Atif Debs (both are former Muslims), makes a convincing case that Islamic theology amounts to a complete contradiction of the Judeo-Christian faith.

The Illusion of Similarity

In essence, the Qur’an denies the divinity of Jesus, along with his crucifixion and resurrection. It even denies original sin, thus rejecting the need for salvation and the forgiveness of sins which is surely what Christianity (and Judaism for that matter) is all about.

Extensive quotations from the Qur’an, while uninspiring, clearly serve the purpose of the book by demonstrating how similarity with the Bible is an illusion.

Whereas the entire Bible points to Jesus, with the Old Testament (the Jewish Tanach) fulfilled in the New, Muslims claim that Muhammad is the ultimate ‘seal of the prophets’ and fulfilment of all God-given scriptures.

The author makes a convincing case that Islamic theology amounts to a complete contradiction of the Judeo-Christian faith.

And although they reject Christianity as worshipping ‘three gods’ while boasting that they are monotheistic, it is hard to differentiate (in terms of names given and honour ascribed) between Allah, the Muslim name for God, and Muhammad, for whom they claim no divinity.

Furthermore, in dismissing Christian belief in the Trinity as worshipping ‘many gods’, they hold that Jesus’ disciples worship the Father, Son and Mary (mother of Jesus), only adding to the confusion in their understanding of our faith.

Impossible Union

But the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the debate – which makes union between the faiths impossible – is the Islamic rejection of the uniqueness of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Moreover, Allah is described in the Qur’an as the great ‘unknowable’ who does not reveal himself to mortal man. This, of course, is a complete contradiction of Christianity, which says that God became one of us and makes himself known to all who seek him (Jer 29:13).

Solomon concludes his book (for which he probably won’t be thanked by many, but it is true nonetheless) by saying that the Qur’an can best be described as a set of “arguments raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor 10:5) and expresses the hope that those looking for a ‘common path’ between Islam and Christianity will in future “reflect the reality, rather than the illusion”.

Not the Same God (224 pages, first published 2015) is available from Amazon for £7.99.

What is the word of the Lord to Britain?

What is the word of the Lord to Britain today as we grieve for the families of those who lost their lives in this latest act of terrorism that has shocked the nation?

The enemies of peace have struck a blow at the very heart of our civilisation and democracy with the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians going about their ordinary daily lives in the tourist centre of London. It is a crime of unspeakable savagery that is hard to imagine how any human being can carry it out – to deliberately drive a car at pedestrians and to attack an unarmed policeman with a knife.

First: we can be sure that God is grieving with those who have lost loved ones and is reaching out to them in his compassion and comfort. This is where the Christian scriptures penetrate the darkness and wickedness of humanity by reminding us that “God is love; and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).

The Apostle John also reminds us that “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:19-21). Although this was addressed to Christians, its teaching also means that we should reach out in love to our Muslim neighbours who are no doubt fearful of retribution falling upon them because a fellow Muslim has carried out this atrocity in the name of Allah, their god. We have to remember that not all Muslims follow the creed that has been embraced by Islamic State.

Speaking the Truth about Islamic Terror

Nevertheless, a great danger facing us is that we do not know how many radicalised Islamists there are in Britain (or any other Western nation) today, which creates fear and uncertainty. This is not helped by the problem that most Muslims have not integrated into Western society but remain a separate enclave. We do not know what they teach in mosques as much of their teaching is in Arabic. This inevitably creates suspicion.

Christian scriptures penetrate the darkness and wickedness of humanity by reminding us of God’s love.

Ik Aldama/DPA/PA ImagesThe terrorist who drove the car and killed people in Westminster was doing exactly what Islamic State has called for in a statement that has many references to the Qur’an, where Muhammad calls upon Muslims to kill Christians and Jews. A small part of the statement is quoted below:

If you are not able to find an IED¹ or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.²

If this statement shocks us, it is because our Western leaders and the media have been brainwashing us for years with lies about Islam being a religion of peace. These lies are now coming back to haunt our leaders – both politicians and church leaders.

It is dangerous to say that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam – it has everything to do with Islam, because it is the policy that Muhammad established for the forcible propagation of the Islamic faith. But there is a conspiracy of silence in the Western media and among our political leaders to suppress the truth. The only journalist I know in Britain who tells the truth is Melanie Phillips, who published an excellent article on this subject yesterday.³

This is a Spiritual Battle

There will be no peace in the Western nations where Muslims have settled in great numbers during the past 40 years until we recognise the spiritual nature of the battle that is raging across our part of the world today. Part of this battle for truth is between the teaching and practice of Jesus and the teaching and practice of Muhammad.

Surely even secular humanists can see that it is better for humanity to follow the teaching of the man who said “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:43).

By contrast, Muhammad’s teaching was, “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists [Christians and Jews] wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush." (Al-Tawbah 9:5).

Part of the battle for truth is between the teaching and practice of Jesus and that of Muhammad.

Alerting Us to Danger

If we return to our original question at the beginning of this article, we need to ask: Why did the Lord allow this act of terrorism to happen in Westminster? Could it be that God is using Islam to shake the nation, alerting us to the major spiritual battle that is taking place for the soul of Britain?

This battle is typified by the woolly-minded politically correct platitudes that have come from our politicians since the attack on Parliament, such as the statement by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who said:

The British people will be united in working together to defeat those who would harm our shared values. Values of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law. Values symbolised by the Houses of Parliament. Values that will never be destroyed.⁴

It is platitudes like this that have got us into the problems we face today! We can no longer go on sweeping the real issues under a secular humanist carpet. The issues we face are far too serious! It is a battle between truth and lies, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness of which Islam is a part. The liberal intelligentsia, who have been creating a climate of deception for decades, do not realise how they will suffer if Islam gains power in this land.

The Church is Responsible

Meanwhile, there has been no large-scale, co-ordinated strategy among mainline church leaders for communicating the truth of the Gospel to Muslims. It is the churches in Britain that are particularly responsible for the spiritual state of the nation!

The liberal intelligentsia do not realise how they will suffer if Islam gains power in this land.

But largely we have left Muslims to set up their own mosques, to bring in imams who do not speak a word of English and to establish separatist communities – a kind of voluntary apartheid – in Britain.

The city of Leicester is the only place I know where the churches have come together to form a united outreach to the Muslim community, though this is on a relatively small scale.

Overcoming Deception

There has been no national policy, from politicians or from the Church, of engaging with Muslim leaders to call for a critical examination of the Qur’an and the teaching and practice of Muhammad and its relevance for today, as Clifford Denton calls for in his article this week. Until this is done, the teaching of Islamic State, who claim to be followers of Muhammad, doing exactly as he did, will continue to be a thorn in the flesh of Western society.

We are suffering from a large dose of what Jesus described as spiritual deception:

Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand… For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. (Matt 13:13-15)

But how can the politicians in Westminster understand if they never hear the truth from church leaders – or even from the bishops in the Upper House of Parliament?

Surely God holds his Church responsible for the state of the nation today?

The sword of judgment fell very quickly upon David Cameron’s career when he crossed a red line, but even this message of warning was not heeded by Parliament. Is not this one of the reasons why God has now shaken the whole of Westminster?

References

1 Improvised Explosive Device.

2 Griffin, A. Isis told supporters to run French over with cars before Nice truck attack. The Independent, 15 July 2016.

3 In the midst of grief, still confusion. Melanie Phillips, 23 March 2017.

4 Home secretary: Terror will never destroy our values. ITV News update, 22 March 2017.

Two more attacks in the name of the so-called 'religion of peace' have been carried out in the past week in predominantly Muslim countries by Islamic State fighters.

Turkey and Indonesia are both in shock from deadly blasts in their capital cities where innocent civilians going about their daily tasks have been murdered.

Although they are targeting Westerners, the aim is also to hurt Islamic countries who they don't regard as true Muslims. So who are the true Muslims: Islamic State fighters or the ordinary Muslims of Turkey and Indonesia?

True Disciples

A similar question was asked about Christians in New Testament times. Who are the true Christians? The Apostle John wrestled with this question when he was living in Ephesus surrounded by many different religions and some Christians defected. His answer was to point to the life and the teaching of Jesus. He says "The man who says, 'I know him', (Jesus) but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).

People flee the attacks in Istanbul, which killed at least 10. See Photo Credits.

Jesus himself strictly forbade violence. When a Samaritan village did not welcome him his disciples asked "Lord do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village" (Luke 9:54).

If you apply the same test of truth to Muslims, you have to examine the life and teaching of Muhammad.

The whole subject of his treatment of the people of Mecca is controversial in the history of Islam in terms of the reason why Muhammad slaughtered them, but what is undeniable is the teaching recorded in the Qur'an that he used as justification when some of his supporters were reluctant to carry out his orders. He claimed that Allah had revealed a command making fighting a binding duty for all Muslims:

Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows, and you know not (Qur'an 2:216)

According to the Apostle John, true Christians are those whose lives point to the life and teaching of Jesus. If you apply the same test of truth to Muslims, you have to examine the life and teaching of Muhammad.

God's Purpose: Salvation

So why has the God of Creation who holds the nations in his hands "like a drop in a bucket" (Isa 40:15) allowed these two atrocities to take place? It is surely because the time has come in world history for God to expose the great deception that has held many nations enslaved in darkness for centuries. From the middle of the last century there have been prophecies of a great Muslim harvest, releasing people from the fear and violence of Islam and it is in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world, that this is happening on a massive scale.

People flee attackers in Jakarta. AP/Press Association.

We reported in Prophecy Today last year that the imams in Indonesia were anxious because some 2 million Muslims a year are converting to Christianity. The Prophecy Today team have visited Indonesia a number of times and seen at first hand the rapid growth of the church there.

We have seen thousands accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour in Jakarta, Surabaya and other cities in Sumatra where a kind of spontaneous outpouring of the Holy Spirit is still bringing whole communities into faith in Jesus.

One church leader, whose fellowship had only been founded six months, asked for advice on the right time to invite a pastor to lead the fellowship. He said they were already up to 500 but they thought they should wait until there were 1,000 in the congregation before appointing a minister.

Struggle Ahead

One church in Surabaya we have seen grow from 200 to more than 25,000. It is this kind of growth that could be seen in many other countries in the near future as the great deception of the so-called 'religion of peace' is exposed and the violence practised by Muhammad - endemic in the history of Islam - is recognised.

Why has God allowed these atrocities to take place? Surely the time has come for him to expose the great deception that has held many nations enslaved in darkness for centuries.

But this will not happen without a struggle in which many innocent people like those in Paris will lose their lives; and many Christians will be martyred - like those in Syria and Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Islam will not release its hold upon the nations of the Middle East without a struggle and acts of terrorism are also likely to spread across the Western nations including Britain.

The Coming Disillusionment

The key to the future lies with the millions of Muslims spread across Europe and America as they begin to ask serious questions about whether the Islamic State are the true representatives of Muhammad. Once the serious study of the Qur'an and the historic documents of Islam begins, in the same way as the Bible has been subjected to intense academic scrutiny, the true nature of Islam and Allah, its god, will be revealed which will result in multitudes left disillusioned.

The great danger then will be who - or what - will fill the spiritual vacuum. Will the secular humanists win the disillusioned: or will those who seek the truth find Jesus as their Lord and Saviour? Much depends upon the ordinary Christians in the Western nations who are in daily contact with their Muslim neighbours. So many nominal Christians have imbibed the secular humanist values of a greedy corrupt and godless civilisation that they are no longer witnesses to the love and moral purity of Jesus.

If multitudes of Muslims become disillusioned with their faith, who – or what – will fill the spiritual vacuum?

Need for Repentance

Perhaps the greatest need right now in the West is for a wave of repentance to sweep across the nations, beginning with the churches who have failed to stem the tide of corruption that has engulfed whole generations. It may be that only some great catastrophe will open eyes that are blind to the reality of Western civilisation that is surely a stench in the nostrils of the God of Creation. But surely he who so loved the world that he sent Jesus to bring the light of life to humanity will find a way of steering the history of the nations to the point where there is openness to the Truth – the Truth that sets us free.