Thanksgiving: Filled to the Brim?

     A gentleman, who owned a small estate, wished to sell it.  He sent for an agent and asked him to write an advertisement promoting the property.  When the ad was ready, the agent called the man and read it to him over the phone.  “Read that again,” said the owner.  So he did, to which the man responded, “I don’t think I will sell my property after all.  I have been looking for an estate like that all my life, and I didn’t even know I already owned it.”  If you are a Christian, truly born-again by the power of God, do you really recognize what you already have in Jesus Christ?  And if you do, are you filled to the brim with thanksgiving for the true faith He has given you?

     On Sunday, November 4^th, The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, thousands of churches will specifically remember those brothers and sisters of the faith who are being persecuted the world over for that faith.  Look at Sudan—time and time again, Christians are specifically targeted by Islamic soldiers.  Often, when Muslims raid a village, the Christian church is the first building to be burned to the ground, and the pastor is the first person to be attacked.  Young children are captured and taken to be slaves—the boys are forced to learn and submit to Islamic doctrine, and the girls are sold as slaves and victims of sexual bondage.  One 16 year old girl, recently rescued from this fate, stated that she was owned by two Muslim men and had a child with each.

     In a land that is predominantly Muslim, Abram Yac Deng pastored a Christian church of 400 people—with only one Bible.  Shortly after his church was provided more Bibles, Abram was shot in the head at close range by Islamic raiders, and the church was burned to the ground.  Two women, Elizabeth Ading Deng and Abuk Goch, were abducted and enslaved.  Two of Mrs. Gochs children were also kidnapped, along with 22 others.  Throughout the village, 99 were murdered, and area-wide, 2,000 Sudanese were either killed or enslaved.  Oh yes, the new Bibles were also destroyed.  When Abram’s Bible was found, one page was loose from its binding, probably from great use.  Which one?—Romans 8… “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”  James Jeda was only nine years old when he saw Islamic raiders kill his parents and siblings.  When the soldiers told him that he must become a Muslim, he refused, saying, “I am a Christian.”  In anger, they threw him into a fire, and left him for dead.  He still bears the scars, and always will.  Phillip is marked with scars, as well.  Muslims held a burning log to his chest, trying to get him to renounce his Christian faith.  In that moment, he prayed, “God, I will never forget you.”  Later, he said, “I refused to become a Muslim, because I knew God was with me.”  Christian women have even had their breasts cut off, forcing them to watch helplessly as their infants die of starvation.

     And don’t forget Kamerino.  This young boy and some of his friends were trapped in the tall grass, set on fire by Muslim soldiers.  The other boys made a run for it and were killed by the Muslims and their machetes.  Later, the charred body of Kamerino was found, and he was left for dead.  Miraculously, he lived and now knows it was the God of the Bible who saved him—for a purpose!  Space does not allow me to tell of Emre and Ercan Sengul in Turkey, Saido Dogo and Zakariah Kanawa in Nigeria, and almost countless others who have suffered for the faith of Jesus Christ.  Though persecution is also rampant in Hindu, Buddhist, and Communist countries, that which takes place in Islamic countries the world over needs to be faced right now. Since the dreadful attacks of September 11^th on the United States by Islamic terrorists, many, in the media, in political circles, and even within the “church,” have bent over backwards to convince people that we were the target of “fanatics.”  But doesn’t the word “fanatical” assume an intensification of something that existed before?   And if Islam, by its very nature, is about peace, as so many are saying, does it not follow that Islam, at its roots, was also peaceloving?  Was it?  Way back in the 6^th Century AD, Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had his followers slaughter thousands in establishing and spreading Islam.  Referring to it as Jihad, or holy war, he told his warriors, “I have been ordered by Allah to fight with people till they testify there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.”  Death was the threat in order that many would convert to Islam, and once they did, Muhammad said, “He who relinquishes his faith, kill him.”

      The Qur’an, or “Koran,”  is Islam’s “holy book,” and in it, Allah commands Muslims to, “Take not the Jews and Christians as friends…Slay the idolaters (non-Muslims) wherever ye find them…Fight against such…as believe not on Allah…” (Surah 5:51; 9:5; 29,41, etc.)  Recently, it was revealed that two of the anthrax-ridden notes called for, “death to Israel, death to America,” and that, “Allah is great.”  How is this “fanatical” since it is what the founder of Islam called for from the beginning?  Over two decades ago, the Ayatollah Khomeini declared, “The purist joy in Islam is to kill and be killed for Allah.”  In 1989, Fayiz Azzam said in Brooklyn, “Blood must flow, there must be widows, orphans, hands and limbs must be severed and limbs and blood must spread everywhere in order that Allah’s religion stand on its feet!”

     Yes, Islam is the motivation—filled to the brim, and even overflowing, with hatred.  How is violence, whether it be against Christians all over the world or two tall buildings in New York City, “fanatical” compared to Islam in the beginning?  It is not—in fact, it is its very essence!  Islam, from its roots till now, is not about peace and any effort to say otherwise, either from within Islam or from without, is misguided and is totally ignoring the facts.  I understand that part of that emphasis within this country, is based on not offending the seven million Muslims who live here, and, at the same time, trying to thwart retaliation towards them.  Certainly, this vengeance must not be tolerated, but let’s not ignore the truth, either—Islam has always been about violence and the destruction of Jews, Christians, and, in fact, all non-Muslims.  Many would disagree with this, but to do so would require changes to the Qur’an, and that can’t happen without admitting that Muhammad was a false prophet.

       Now, understand, I do not say all of this in an effort to stir up hatred towards others.  Just the opposite—it is the essence of love itself to point all to the fact that there is only one true God—the God of the Bible, and that Jesus Christ is the only way to Father God. (John 14:6)  No matter how many times people say that we are all worshipping the same God, it just isn’t true!  For example, the god of Islam, Allah, says that Jesus is only a prophet, while the God of the Bible says clearly that Jesus is His only son—even God Himself.  These are conflicting statements; they can’t both be true.  Someone is lying, and the God of the Bible never lies  Besides that, the God of the Bible has “seniority”—Allah didn’t even come on the scene until hundreds of years after Jesus Christ died and rose again to take away your sin and mine.  Which God will you surrender to?  The God of the Bible loved every person on the face of this globe—every Muslim, every Hindu, every Buddhist—everyone, so much that “He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Who-so-ever!

     May this all make clear there are billions in this world who are heading for a lost eternity, even if they think otherwise.  This November 4^th and all the year through, pray for the persecuted church and those who persecute.  Pray for humility before God and a submission to Who He really is.  And don’t forget—persecution isn’t all out there somewhere, it is even happening right here in America as many sit in churches every week refusing to believe and live the true gospel of the indwelling Christ—“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Oh, they “claim” the name of Jesus, but they insist on a religion of “doing,” when true Christianity is a relationship of “being,”—allowing the very life of the Son of God to live within.  Such a relationship will fill you to the brim, and even to overflowing, with a thankful spirit—thankful for all He has called you into, but also eternally grateful that He wants you to be a witness of His Truth to so many others.  God is love—love Him!