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.

Is Muslim violence really comparable with 'Christian' violence?

Pope Francis is renowned for his outstanding concern for the poor and powerless. Long before he came to Rome he earned a reputation in South America as a pastor who cared for people and was constantly seeking to improve the lot of those who were downtrodden.

Could this be the reason why he has spoken recently, comparing the motive of Muslim jihadists with what he sees as Christian violence?

Understandable though this sensitivity might seem, is it not one more contribution to confusion and compromise concerning Islam and the true Christian witness?

The Pope's Contrast of Islamic and 'Christian'

Two things have prompted us to use our editorial this week to continue examining the challenge of the Islamic movement in the West.

First, is the reported comment to a journalist by Pope Francis on the murder of Fr Jacques Hamel. The Pope is reported to have said that "he doesn't like speaking about Islamic violence because there is plenty of Christian violence as well...[He] said that every day when he browses the newspapers, he sees violence in Italy perpetrated by Christians: 'this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law...and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence. And no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there's everything'."¹

Of course, Pope Francis is right in acknowledging that some who call themselves Christians do commit murder. As Protestants we would wish to point out that that all human beings are born sinful and baptising them as infants does not change their human nature - so baptised Catholics are still sinners liable to commit acts of murder. It is being born again through repentance and accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour that changes human nature.

Do the Pope's recent comments just add further confusion and compromise concerning Islam and the true Christian witness?

We would also want to point out the difference between a man who murders his girlfriend in a fit of temper and another who deliberately carries out a cold-blooded act of assassination such as the mass murder of those in the Bataclan concert-hall. If we lump together jihadist attacks with all other kinds of violence, we close down debate and understanding about the very distinctive motivations and agendas behind radical Islam.

Christians and Muslims Praying Together

The second is widespread reference in this week's media to opinions concerning joint Christian and Muslim prayer. There is a growing idea that Christians and Muslims can find ways to pray together - the assumption being that both pray to the same god. Christopher Howse commented on this in the Daily Telegraph, referring to Christian Troll's chapter on this theme in the Bloomsbury Guide to Christian Spirituality.²

Born-again Christians and Muslims do not and cannot pray to the same god! But as these two examples show, there is clearly need for clarification!

These instances are among the growing number in our day that challenge us to be clear on whether Christians worship the same god as Muslims. They are not new questions, but they are questions that are closer to home than in previous times.

The point is that human beings, to avoid confrontation, are likely to compromise. This must not happen in the Christian Church at this crucial time in history!

To avoid confrontation, human beings are likely to compromise. This must not happen in the Church at this time!

Mission to Muslims

In the 1980s, I was led to become involved with the challenge of Islam, in terms of both the ministry of the Gospel and the advance of Islam in the West. In those days it was said that there was one missionary to a million Muslims because of the difficulty of witness in Muslim countries and because of the poor understanding about Islam in the West.

For a period, I had the privilege of leading prayer among serving and former missionaries to the Muslim world. I met men and women who had spent a whole lifetime of service in the Muslim world and had not seen a single convert. Some had begun to doubt that it was possible for a Muslim to become a Christian. This seems hard to believe now. Not only has Islam become centre-stage politically and religiously, but also multitudes of Muslims have been saved by faith in Jesus the Messiah.

At around the time that these things were happening in the 80s, a fresh wave of missionaries was going into Muslim countries. Some found the same difficulty as the previous generation, and a new word became prominent – contextualisation. It is amazing how often we can think of a word that sounds quite reasonable in and of itself, but which masks a major error. Here and there, some Christian missionaries were beguiled to think that a way forward was to put the Christian message into the context of Islamic communities. Hence, some experiments have been made to open mosques with the idea of Christians and Muslims sharing in worship together.

This same idea is still alive, as our second example above illustrates. The bottom line is that it raises the question as to whether or not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same as the God of Islam.

Christian mission to the Muslim world has raised the same question – do we worship the same god?

Personal Experience

Personal experience helps us to know where to draw the lines. My personal experience of a short spell in a Moroccan jail for our Christian witness took me behind the scenes of the Islamic world. It begged the question as to why God would have sent us to witness to seekers after truth in a Muslim country only to be imprisoned by those who follow the god of Islam. Same God? Surely not. It also gives us the ability to contrast the rigid exclusion of everything Christian in hard-line Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia with the freedom offered to Islam in countries with an ingrained Christian heritage.

Returning to the first quote, what had Pope Francis in mind? Was he thinking of the Crusades when he considered that Christians had as much to answer for as Muslims in their violence? Perhaps he was thinking of the troubles in Northern Ireland or even the world wars that were fought in the last century.

He has a point - but one also senses a disturbing possibility that some Christian leaders are finding ways to unite with Islam in a quest for peace. Of course we must seek and defend peace, but at what cost? Is this another thread of compromise? Again, we are eventually led to the same question as to whether the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same as the god of the Qur'an.

God is Great!

All Christians would agree that the God of the Bible is Great! We sing it and proclaim it, loud and clear! But when we hear that yet another terrorist has proclaimed 'Allahu Akbar!' prior to a murderous act of violence, and we discover that he has simply repeated (in Arabic) the Muslim proclamation 'God [Allah] is Great!' then we must ask whether this can be the same god.

Some Christian leaders seem to be finding ways to unite with Islam in a quest for peace.

Of course, many say that these terrorists are not true Muslims and are misguided. However, the question still remains. When one investigates what the Qur'an says about the god of Islam one sees clearly that it is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just because we use the same words, it does not mean that we address the same god.

If the god of the Qur'an were the God of the Bible, he would not say that he did not have a son, as is written around the ceiling of the Dome on the Rock on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The foundation of the Christian faith is that Jesus the Messiah is the Son of God. Neither would there be incitement to jihad against Christians and Jews in the Qur'an. On close study, the god of Islam is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.³

We must not compromise on this issue either through guilt trips on violence that true Christians would not have perpetrated anyway, or through seeking some sort of joint expression of worship, as if there were two paths to the same God - one through Islam and one through Christianity.

True Seekers

Among the millions of Muslims in the world, particularly the young, there is a true seeking after the One True God. Jesus, the Saviour of the world, is working to redirect their prayers to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and away from the god of Islam.

It will not help to muddy the waters through compromise, but this does not mean taking up arms to defeat violence with violence.

Now is the time for a clear and true proclamation of the Gospel. It is also time for a winning Christian lifestyle, a witness of the One True God borne out in true Christian discipleship. Our God is Great and far greater than counterfeits. The rise of Islam and the tides of response from the Pope and others challenge us to stand on the clarity of whom our God is.

Now is the time for a clear and true proclamation of the Gospel – and for winning Christian lifestyles.

The foundation of our concern for Muslims and of our witness to them is that there is difference between Islam and New Testament Christianity. The teaching of Jesus stands in stark contrast to that of Muhammad. They cannot both be the final revelation of God to mankind. Compromise, however humanly well-meant, will not help.

This is a matter of life and death, not so much of the physical kind but concerning eternal life in fellowship with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

References

1 Quoted from Ibrahim, R. Pope Francis Equates Muslim and Christian Violence. FrontPage Magazine, 2 August 2016, re-published on the Middle East Forum.

2 2012, ed. Richard Woods and Peter Tyler. Bloomsbury. See also Howse, C. Can Muslims pray with Christians? The Telegraph, Thursday 11 August 2016.

3 For further reading on this subject, see James R White's What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an. 2013, Bethany House, Minnesota.

Mental illness is becoming the go-to explanation in the press for the recent spate of terror attacks. But this approach is not without problems.

Have you noticed that media coverage of the recent terror attacks across Europe has been littered with references to the mental health of the perpetrators? Without necessarily denying links to Islamic extremism, reports also keenly stress the role of psychological instability.

To take a few recent examples, according to the BBC, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the man responsible for the Nice lorry attack, reportedly "had a history of violence and mental instability".¹ Omar Mateen, the 29-year old responsible for the Orlando nightclub attack in June, "was violent and mentally unstable".²

The Ansbach suicide bomber (27-year old Syrian refugee Mohammad Daleel) was reported as having previously received psychiatric care following two suicide attempts, and Adel Kermiche, who murdered French priest Jacques Hamel in the Rouen attack, had apparently received treatment for mental disorders as a teenager.³

London Stabbings

Most recently, this week's stabbing in London led the Met Police very quickly to point to "mental health issues" as a possible explanation, whilst repeatedly emphasising that terrorism is just one of many possible lines of enquiry and that so far there is "no evidence of radicalisation".⁴

Of course, not all recent attacks have been described in this manner. Nevertheless, a cross-media narrative is certainly emerging which holds 'mental health issues' as the go-to explanation for the recent spate of terror attacks in Europe. Only in the last few days have others begun to point out the problems with this approach.⁵

A cross-media narrative is emerging which holds 'mental health issues' as the go-to explanation for the recent spate of terror attacks in Europe.

Complex Concept – Not Catch-All Explanation

The highly complex relationship between mental health and violent behaviour is not well understood. Individuals driven to such terrible actions as we have witnessed in recent weeks must themselves be severely disturbed – mentally deluded, corrupted or oppressed. To deny the presence of psychological problems in this context could be dangerous.

For Christians, belief in the existence of a spiritual realm necessarily provokes questions about the influence of demonic spirits. But the secular press ignores such things and rushes to explain away what is going on purely by a catch-all reference to mental health problems, which though convenient, can be severely misleading.

Will Gore of The Independent has argued that "The media glosses over the specifics in favour of creating a kind of homogenised bogeyman figure: a religious fundamentalist afflicted by mental illness and immune to rationality".⁶ His argument is that the media's first response to any attack is to suspect jihadism, the second response is to expect mental health issues, and the third response is to conflate the two, oversimplifying and demonising them both.

This is visible in the term 'Islamopsychosis', which is gaining traction online, and also in yesterday's Daily Express, which claimed that ISIS might be deliberately targeting mentally unstable people to encourage them to carry out attacks.⁷

The complex relationship between mental health and violent behaviour is not well understood, but the secular press ignores such things.

Explanation or Distraction?

So, whilst our security services are working around the clock to try to understand the complex processes behind radicalisation, the general public are being sold a different and much simpler narrative – these attackers are just crazy religious people!

This sits neatly with the 'Islam is a religion of peace' doctrine; any Muslim who turns to terror is not practising a true form of their faith – they are simply mentally unstable. So the public is deceived and deluded about the incursion of jihad (radical Islam) into Europe. The secular humanist values of multi-faith 'tolerance' remain intact.

But if we ignore the links of attackers to radical Islam, we close down proper debate and divert attention away from the real reasons behind the attacks. We end up blaming mental health for the things we do not understand and dismissing anything beyond our comprehension or in discord with our own worldview.

Mark Brown of The Independent commented yesterday:

When such events break the reasoned quiet and order of our lives, we look for ways to make ourselves safe, ways to fit the shock of such attacks into our existing ways of thinking and understanding of the world. We want an explanation for what feels beyond comprehension...⁸

The 'mental health' narrative is fast becoming the pacifying response that somehow makes us feel more comfortable and in control of a threatening and unpredictable situation. But this leaves us deceived about the full truth and irrationally prejudiced about both Muslims and those suffering from mental health problems.

The 'mental health' narrative is fast becoming the pacifying response that somehow makes us feel more in control of a threatening situation.

Danger for Christians

The great danger of all this cover-up for Christians will be the next stage in the deception. As the secular media begin dismissing all terrorism as the action of crazy religious fundamentalists, this will only be a stepping stone to saying that all religious people are mentally deluded – especially those who can be labelled 'fundamentalist'. This is the final goal of our secular humanist society.

Paul warned about the coming of a great delusion in the last days. In the first chapter of Romans, he spoke of people suppressing the truth about God and creation, leading God to give them over to a depraved mind and them becoming filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, depravity and violence.

When writing to the Thessalonians, in reference to the 'man of lawlessness' being let loose into the world, Paul said that people perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. He said "For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness" (2 Thess 2:11).

As terrorism is increasingly dismissed as the action of crazy religious fundamentalists, it will then be easy to assert that all religious people are mentally deluded.

Shine Like Stars

Only a lost and broken world would try to explain away one terrifying problem it doesn't understand with another it understands even less – shifting fear from one base to another.

For Christians, it is important that we guard our hearts, so we do not allow ourselves to be drawn under the powerful, delusional influence of fear currently shrouding Europe. It is also important that we brace ourselves and learn the full truth about Islam – because we're not going to get it from the BBC.

In an increasingly panic-stricken time we are given the opportunity to shine like stars in the universe (Phil 2:15), holding out the beautiful gifts for which the entire world is searching: TRUTH, HOPE and PEACE. It is time for the Church to stop hiding its light under a bowl – the world needs it now.

References

1 Attack on Nice: Who was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel? BBC News, 18 July 2016.

2 Orlando nightclub shooting: How the attack unfolded. BBC News, 15 June 2016.

3 Knife attack raises fears of Isis targeting people with mental health problems. The Express, 4 August 2016.

4 Russell Square stabbings: Man arrested on suspicion of murder. BBC News, 4 August 2016.

5 E.g. Brown, M. Mentally ill people are the collateral damage of news reports about the Russell Square stabbings. The Independent, 4 August 2016.

6 Gore, W. Mental illness has become a convenient scapegoat for terrorism – but the causes of terror are rarely so simple. The Independent, 25 July 2016.

7 See note 3.

8 See note 5.

Clifford Hill responds to the recent attacks in Brussels.

The latest atrocities in Brussels have shocked the Western world. It is time that world leaders, both East and West, face the fact that their policies in the Middle East have been disastrous.

Russia, the United States, Europe, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia all have different interests and objectives. It is time to face the truth that unless they can find some common ground, the seething discontent and political instability in the region could spill over into a world conflict.

Slaughter and Self-Delusion

Islam is fighting an all-out war for survival, with the militant extremists of the Islamic State (who claim to be the only true Muslims) patterning their violent behaviour on their Mediaeval founder Muhammad. His policy was that people either accepted his revelations as truth or they were slaughtered. His militant Muslim followers today follow the same policy. The latest round of atrocities in Brussels underlines both their determination and their ability to disrupt Western society. They will not go away quietly - neither will they be defeated by military action.

For too long Western politicians have run away from the truth, hiding behind lies and deception, saying that the violence is nothing to do with Islam which is a religion of peace! Until this self-delusion is broken our cities will go on being targeted by deluded religious fanatics and our citizens killed and maimed without warning as they go about their daily lives.

For too long Western politicians have run away from the truth, hiding behind deception and saying that Islam is a religion of peace.

Western VulnerabilityGareth Fuller/PA Wire/Press Association Images

There is not a city in the Western world that is safe. The security forces in Belgium have been on high alert for the past six months, ever since the Paris bombings; they knew that an attack was imminent after the arrest of Salam Abdesalam four days earlier. But they were unable to prevent terrorist attacks on soft targets.

More than 1 million Muslims have entered Europe in the past year from the conflict zones of the Middle East and they continue to pour in despite every effort being made by the European Union to protect its borders. The Islamic State claims that some 5,000 of the migrants are Muslim fighters and the Brussels attacks demonstrate the vulnerability and danger that we all face every time we travel into a crowded city.

Disillusioned Young Men

The broadcaster and philosopher Ahmed Abbadi, who is chairman of the Council of the Islamic scholars in Morocco, says that there is a generation of angry young men across the Arab world who "are jobless, wife-less and hopeless".¹ They know that there is plenty of wealth in Europe, which makes them increasingly angry and vulnerable to Islamic State recruiters who promise them jobs, beautiful wives and high social status if they will come and join them in their ideal Caliphate.

There is a generation of angry, disillusioned young men across the Arab world who are vulnerable to radicalisation.

The situation facing young people in the Middle East is a straight choice between either trying to get to Europe or joining the Islamic State – it's a straight choice because the Middle East, with its long history of colonialism and dictatorship, has no home-grown tradition of good governance: the whole concept of democracy is foreign and there are no deep foundations of a civil society upon which one can be built. This is the tragedy of Syria where the entire infrastructure has been destroyed and Libya where social order has collapsed.

Islamic Oppression

The starting point for reconstruction is the recognition of the truth that much of the responsibility for the lawlessness and hopelessness in the Islamic world lies with the religion of Islam itself. Violence and coercion are endemic to Islam, which allows dictators such as the Saudi royal family to exercise total control over their subjects, teaching generations of children hatred against their opponents (including Jews, Christians and the Shia minority, who are brutally oppressed).

An undercover film, 'Saudi Arabia Uncovered', was broadcast by ITV on Tuesday 22 March with a number of horrendous scenes such as a woman being held down by four policemen in a public road while another man beheaded her; and another scene of five beheaded men strung between two cranes. Some of these scenes were reproduced on the Mail Online.² There was some doubt as to whether the Government would allow the film to be aired, as the Foreign Office usually go to considerable lengths to protect the Saudi Government in order to maintain both political and economic interests. This is nothing new: Winston Churchill had the same problem with the Foreign Office back in the 1920s.³

A recognition is needed that much of the lawlessness and hopelessness in the Islamic world comes from the religion of Islam itself.

The film, about life in Saudi Arabia, showed a woman being punched and kicked by a man in a supermarket and the religious police controlling every aspect of life. Women are not allowed to drive and they have difficulty visiting a doctor without a male escort. It showed children in school being taught to hate Christians and Jews who, they were told, must all be killed. There appeared to be little difference between life in Saudi Arabia and what is happening in the Islamic state. Both are driven by what they claim to be a pure form of Islam.

This is what Islamic State intend to impose upon Europe. But European leaders who have opened the door to more than 1 million Muslims in the past year have not yet woken up to the extent of the horror to which they are condemning the nations of Europe.

The objectives of the jihadist bombers who have infiltrated Europe with the million migrants will continue to hit soft targets in an effort to achieve their objective – the Islamisation of Europe.

Facing the Truth About Islam

Today the security of all Western nations hangs in the balance. If a little nation like Belgium can be so targeted, how much more vulnerable are the larger nations of the West and Russia! The extent of conflict between Shia and Sunni and other Islamic factions is destabilising the whole of the Arab world and creating uncertainty even in those states not directly involved in conflict such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Algeria.

European leaders have not yet woken up to the horrors to which they are condemning European nations.

They all have an interest in establishing stable societies. The first step to genuine reconstruction lies in facing the truth about Islam. This is slowly being recognised by a number of Islamic leaders and scholars and this is where Western leaders and Christian scholars could be of assistance. President Sisi of Egypt was the first major leader in the Arab world to call for a "religious revolution" of Islam to purge the religion of extremism and violence.⁴ He made his dramatic announcement in a New Year's statement (2015) and repeated it in August that year.

Christian Contributions

In Egypt it is not only political leaders but Islamic scholars who are also open to discussing reform. In 2006 Dr Rowan Williams, as Archbishop of Canterbury, was invited by the Islamic scholars of the largest mosque in Cairo to present a lecture on Christianity. Christian leaders could be of immense help in examining the holy books of Islam alongside the Bible and taking out the teaching on violent jihad which characterised the Mediaeval period of Islamic development and which has no place in the modern world.

Most Islamic scholars have a healthy respect for Jesus. Although they do not accept his divinity, they do believe him to be a prophet. The teaching of Jesus on love and forgiveness of sins is absent from Islam but could radically transform Muslim teaching. I'm certainly not suggesting some kind of amalgamation of Christianity and Islam! But if Islamic scholars were willing to study the Bible with Christian scholars it might help them to correct the gross errors in the Qur'an.

References

1 Connolly, K. Battle of ideas at heart of fight against Islamic State. BBC News, 17 March 2016.

2 Oborne, P. A woman beheaded in the road. Five headless corpses hanging from cranes. As a documentary exposes the horror of life in Saudi Arabia, why DOES Britain cosy up to this kingdom of savagery? Mail Online, 21/03/16.

3 See chapter on 'Churchill and the Question of Palestine', in Fromkin, D, 2003. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East. Phoenix, London, p515f.

4 Smith, S. Egypt's President Urges Muslim Clerics to End Violent Islamic Ideology, Lead Peaceful 'Religious Revolution' in Groundbreaking Speech. Christian Post, 13 January 2015.

Following on from his article last week, Clifford Hill continues his response to the recent attacks in France.

The huge press coverage of the Paris atrocities and the vast chatter on social media does little more than demonstrate the confusion that has arisen. Neither journalists nor politicians know what to do and the church stays silent.

President Hollande declared to an assembly of French mayors that he is proud of the secularism of France which they will continue to defend by increasing their bombing of the Islamic State.¹ David Cameron wants to join in the bombing and Nicola Sturgeon is reconsidering her position.

Meanwhile leaders of the Islamic State posted their views saying: "In a blessed battle whose causes of success were enabled by Allah, a group of believers from the soldiers of the Caliphate set out targeting the capital of prostitution and vice, the lead carrier of the cross in Europe – Paris...And Allah granted victory upon their hands and cast terror into the hearts of the Crusaders in their very own homeland."²

By contrast the Muslim Council of Great Britain took out full-page advertisements in national newspapers on 19 November stating: "The barbaric acts of Daesh (or ISIS as they are sometimes known) have no sanction in the religion of Islam, which forbids terrorism and the targeting of innocents."

So, Where Does the Truth Lie?

I have lived and worked among Muslims for most of my working life in London and I know that most Muslims are ordinary, decent, peace-loving people - but also that most of them know nothing of the history of Islam and have very little knowledge of the Koran. The young men of the Islamic State are following Muhammad as their example.

Muhammad advocated violence in the 'Second Pledge at Al-Aqabah' through which he unleashed violence against those who refused to accept his new religion. He also used Koran 9.5 which demands conversion on pain of death.

Muhammad himself carried out horrendous acts of cruelty especially against Jews, as in the slaughter of Banu Qurayza in April 627 AD. The whole town had already surrendered to him but Muhammad decided to slaughter all the adult males. Some 800 to 900 captives were beheaded, with Muhammad himself cutting off the heads of two of the Jewish elders. This was justified from the Koran "Some ye slew and ye made captive some. And he (Allah) caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land you have not trodden. Allah is ever able to do all things" (Koran 33.26–27).³

Whilst the proper interpretation of such quotations as the above remains hotly debated amongst scholars, the fact is that they are still being used today to justify killing. We have to leave it to the Muslim scholars to sort out the truth. Clearly they have a problem. The Koran defines me, a Christian, as an 'infidel' so I cannot help them; I can only urge them to study their history and the writings attributed to Muhammad and to define what is valid for today in the 21^st century. There will be no peace in the world until they do this.

Why Has God Allowed This to Happen?

The Western nations and especially Europe have despised their Christian birthright and have deliberately embraced secular humanism and all forms of depraved hedonism. The Queen, at her Coronation in 1953, received a Bible and promised to "maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel". At this time, our nation agreed before God to be, corporately, a Christian nation.

Since then, Britain has forced the Queen to sign laws that break these promises. We are now reaping what we have sown so we no longer have the protection of God over the nation. We have sown the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind. Only repentance and turning to God can make any difference.

In 1953, Britain agreed before God to be a Christian nation. Since then we have broken those promises – and we are now reaping what we have sown.

It may be that God is allowing thousands of Muslims to come into Europe as part of his judgement upon us. But God is able to turn judgement into blessing and already there are reports of hundreds of Muslim refugees accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Europeans are being given the opportunity of witnessing to the truth by showing love and compassion to refugees from war.

In Britain we have made no attempt to teach immigrants the history of our nation and our great Judaeo-Christian heritage. We have not even insisted that they all speak English. This is sheer madness! It drives migrants into cultural ghettos like the suburbs of Paris. Immigration without integration spells disaster!

We have despised our godly heritage while at the same time allowing secular humanists to spread their teachings in our schools and universities and to change the laws of the land to accommodate their perversions of the truth. We have dropped the teaching of the Bible; and our churches have lost their prophetic mission to declare the truth fearlessly.

What Should We Do?

I am grateful to all those who put comments on my article published last Friday. It is so good to have open discussion on these issues that affect the whole nation. Everyone I speak to thinks what happened in Paris will happen in Britain and none of us really knows how to deal with the threat of terrorism - because it's nothing like conventional war. We are dealing with spiritual evil.

The threat to the nation is very real and Christians should be mobilising prayer. A good biblical example is in 2 Chronicles 20 when Jerusalem was threatened by a vast enemy army and the King called the whole nation to prayer which he led, calling upon God for help, "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

The threat to this nation is very real and Christians should be mobilising prayer. God always answers a true prayer of faith, especially when it is accompanied by repentance.

This prayer was wonderfully answered when the enemy army destroyed themselves through internal dissension. God always answers a true prayer of faith: especially when it is accompanied by repentance for our waywardness.

References

1 Paris Attacks: president Hollande addresses French mayors' congress. Youtube video (running time 27:45), France 24.

2 Fisher, M. Here is ISIS' statement claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks. Vox, 24 November 2015.

3 MA Khan, 2011. Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery. iUniverse, p35. Full text available here for free (PDF download).

4 Basilan, M. Muslim refugees converting to Christianity in Berlin church. Christian Post, 8 September 2015.

The Prophecy Today team members wish to express their deepest sympathies for those affected by the recent atrocities in Paris. As the world watches in horror and fear, Clifford Hill asks: how can we respond?

The attack upon Paris was a declaration of war against the West! The co-ordinated attack upon soft targets of unarmed civilians was a cowardly act of brutality that has shocked the whole Western world.

Every Western nation knows that it could happen to them. In every country the question is 'Which city will be the next target?' Will it be London or Washington or Brussels?

Immediate Reaction

Amid all the unanswered questions one thing is certain – the Paris atrocity will not be the last. The Islamists have declared war. But the big question facing Western nations is how should we react? Do we send our armies to the Middle East and blast our way through the complexities of civil war and tribal conflict in a vain attempt to destroy the terrorists in their strongholds?

The immediate reaction of President Hollande was that France would mobilise all her forces to destroy the terrorists, which was very similar to the reaction of President Bush after the 9/11 destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City. He quoted Isaiah 9:10 "The bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig-trees have been felled but we will replace them with cedars". But he had not read the previous verse which pours scorn upon such a reaction as driven by human pride. Bush invaded Iraq, which is one of the factors that has led to the present tragic situation in the Middle East.

If we use force to combat force, we will simply use bigger and more powerful weapons of destruction until we reach the ultimate weapons of mass destruction and destroy the world. Humankind has yet to learn the lesson that force is not the answer to force.

Humankind has yet to learn the lesson that force is not the answer to force.

We must stop, and study the enemy. We must not react in haste, or we will encourage a holocaust that will engulf the whole of humanity.

Facing Reality

The huge mistake that all the Western nations have made is to refuse to face the reality of the nature of Islam. We have deliberately suppressed open discussion about Islam and labelled it 'Islamophobia'. We have talked about terrorists as 'extremists' and tried to combat the so-called 'radicalisation' of young men. But all this has been counter-productive and has actually suppressed the truth about Islam.

We have to face the fact that in our ignorance about Islam we have allowed hundreds of mosques to be established across the Western nations where young men are taught that Islam is at war with the rest of the world; they are also specifically taught to hate Jews and Christians who must be either forcefully converted or destroyed. Young men are told that Allah, the god of Islam, requires them to be ready to offer their own lives to achieve such a purpose. This so-called 'radicalisation' is required in the Koran and is a fundamental part of Islam.

The huge mistake of Western nations is to refuse to face the reality of the nature of Islam. Open discussion has been suppressed as 'Islamophobic'.

It was perhaps the Islamist hatred of Jews that was the reason why the Bataclan Theatre in Paris was targeted – because it is Jewish-owned and has staged pro-Israel productions in the past. When the Charlie Hebdo attack took place earlier this year a Jewish restaurant was also targeted.

Different Values

The Western Christian nations have to learn that Muslims live in a totally different world with a totally different set of social values from those that Christians embrace from the Bible.

A Muslim is allowed to deceive and lie if it advances the cause of Islam; they believe that they are serving Allah when killing Jews and Christians and if they die while murdering them they will be rewarded in the life hereafter. This lack of respect for human life is in stark contrast to Judaeo-Christian teaching, where life is seen as a sacred gift from God.

Our Response

How should we react to the Paris atrocities? We should study the teaching of Islam and the history of Muhammad, who indiscriminately slaughtered Christians and Jews and anyone else who opposed him (he would undoubtedly approve of the slaughter in Paris). We need to recognise the spirit that drives those who follow the teaching of Islam, whether it is in the Middle East or in Nigeria or in France.

Most importantly, we should ask seriously: why did God allow this atrocity to happen? Have the Western nations put themselves outside the protection of God by abandoning their Judaeo-Christian heritage - by passing laws that are directly contrary to the Bible - by indulging in practices that are offensive to God?

We should study the teaching and history of Islam, as well as the teaching of the Bible, and we should ask seriously: why did God allow this atrocity to happen?

But we should also study the teaching of the Bible which makes it clear that spiritual forces can only be overcome by a more powerful Spirit. The Apostle Paul says:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

He recommends putting on the full armour of God for our own protection and seeking the power of God to overcome the spirit of evil in the world.

It is a very hard lesson to learn, even for committed Christians, that love is actually stronger and more powerful than hatred. Truth, goodness and generosity are more powerful than evil and violence. The battle with Islam cannot be won with human weapons but only through the Spirit of God.

The Bible makes it clear that spiritual forces of evil can only be overcome by a more powerful Spirit – the Spirit of God.