The United Church of Canada: Marching Towards Hudaybiyya

Earlier this week, I was able to sit in for a workshop between some Canadian Muslims (represented by Dr. Zijad Delic, formerly of the Canadian Islamic Congress) and Rev. Dr. Bruce Gregersen of the United Church of Canada. It wasn't a large workshop, as there were only 14 people in attendance. The topic of discussion at that workshop was a pair of documents: A Common Word Between Us and You, a document written by several Muslim leaders addressed to Christian leaders, and That We May Know Each Other, the UCC's official statement regarding their relations with the Muslim community. The workshop lasted for about two hours, and it was basically a mass of ecumenicism on both side, but especially on the United Church's side, since that has been their modus operandi for quite a while now. Aside from the rehashing of the UCC's repudiation of the "exclusivism" of traditional Christianity (which they are quite proud of, since it is the main mark of their "Progressivism"), one of the main things that stuck out for me was in the handout that they were giving out. In it was an excerpt from pages 32-33 of the UCC document, where they ask, "Can Christians Affirm Muhammad as a Prophet?" The answer,which should surprise nobody who is familiar with the UCC, is in the affirmative:

We believe that in this later context there certainly should be no difficulty in affirming Muhammad as a prophet. Any reading of his life reveals the extent to which he sought to overcome injustice and oppression and called people to obedience (and submission) to God. Christians should readily affirm Muhammad as a prophet of justice and obedience to God. It is, however, the former definition of a prophet as an “immediately-inspired spokesperson for God” that is the most challenging and perhaps the most difficult for Christians to address.

A number of well-known theologians have argued that it is possible for Christians to accept this understanding of the prophethood of Muhammad. Roman Catholic scholar Hans Küng suggests that Muhammad’s prophetic role originated not in his own mind but in divine revelation coming from God. He argues that New Testament scripture is open to the expectation of prophets after Jesus, provided their teaching is in basic agreement with his. The Qur’an, he suggests, recapitulates an original understanding of Jesus’ message lost in the early Hellenistic development of the Christian community. The church therefore needs to embrace Muhammad’s insights as a way of recovering this obscured history.

Protestant scholar Montgomery Watt considers Muhammad truly a prophet and that Christians should recognize this, since throughout history there have been many upright and saintly Muslims. Watt emphasizes primarily ethical principles in determining that Islam provides a satisfactory quality of life for individuals and communities and, therefore, as Islam can be judged “true,” so also can Muhammad be seen to be a prophet of God.

Of course, anybody who really takes the time to examine the teachings of Islam compared to Christianity knows that this is absurd on so many levels. If Muhammad's revelations spring from the same source as the biblical prophets, how are we to explain the fact that Sura 9:30 curses Christians for calling Jesus the son of God, when Matthew 16:15-17 states that Jesus called Simon Peter blessed for that very same confession? Besides, an examination of Muhammad's life shows that he was anything but spiritually reliable, and certainly no messenger of peace and justice. But hey, we shouldn't let the facts get in the way of ecumenical dialogue, right?

Aside from that, there were also various talking points that were brought up by both speakers.

Rev. Bruce Gregersen:

• Pointed out that the United Church is the first denomination to ever affirm that "the Spirit of God is at work in many different faith communities." And no, that doesn't mean God is leading them to Christ, since they also state that "difference is everywhere around us and, we believe, a great cause for celebration" (Because the fact that billions of people around the world are stuck in spiritual darkness and lack Christ in their lives is a cause of celebration).
• Has stated things like "Muslims and Christians worship the same God," and that "we can benefit from what Islam and Muslims have to say to us." You mean like the Pact of Umar?
• Made reference to the Western Standard's printing of the Muhammad Cartoons, as well as the UCC's apology to the Canadian Islamic Congress, stating that "it was profoundly disrespectful to publish those cartoons," that the publishing of those cartoons was "an expression of hatred," and that the publishing of these cartoons "has huge implications in a world in which Muslims are being seen as an enemy."
• Pointed out that the UCC document was the first study on the doctrine of the Trinity that the UCC has undertaken in thirty years. That just goes to show you how much importance this denomination places on doctrinal soundness. While they pay lip service to the Trinity, their understanding of the doctrine is shown in That We May Know Each Other to be less than solid (hint: They use it as a way of excusing their pluralism).

Dr. Zijad Delic:

• Mentioned quite a bit about "love" and "peace." Of course, don't expect much of an attempt to link this back to what the Qur'an and Sunnah actually teach.
• Hopes to "bridge the gap of misunderstanding... and show that I have no hidden agenda." Uh-huh.
• Quotes a hadith that purportedly states that "Diversity is a mercy." Of course, let's not discuss the fact that the hadith in question is da'if (weak) and does not even talk about diversity among religions.
• Says that he intends to send a copy of A Common Word and That We May Know Each Other to various mosques that will hopefully study them and draft similar statements. In doing so, he notes that since Islam has no centralized hierarchy, these documents do not have widespread influence. Of course... it'll be very hard to convince Muslims in more conservative parts of the Islamic world such as Saudi Arabia to embrace the statements contained in these documents, for obvious reasons.
• Has stated that "Canada is more Islamic than any Muslim country, because it provides an atmosphere for growth and freedom." Those are Islamic values?

Aside from these talking points, I was able to dig up some interesting facts on our two speakers. Rev. Gregersen, it would seem, has spoken in favour of the idea of Israel being an occupying state (among other things). Also, Dr. Delic was, up until March 2011, a member of the Canadian Islamic Congress, which has a long history of promoting censorhip and extremism. He has even advocated the CIC's attempts to silence critics of Islam such as Mark Steyn on Maclean's via the (badly misnomered) Canadian Human Rights Commissions. I would say that the information herein should give everybody a pretty good idea of what exactly is going on here: The United Church of Canada has already signed its treaty of Hudaybiyya, and is well on its way to dhimmitude. Adding this to the UCC's long history of compromise and abandonment of the Gospel, Bible-believing Canadian Christians should be wary of this denomination and seek to avoid the kind of mistakes that have brought it to where it is now.

Finally, with regards to A Common Word, I would strongly advise everybody to read Sam Solomon's response to this document, as he carefully lays out its deceitful nature, as well as what its implications are for Christians. Islam seeks to exalt itself over every other religion (cf. Sura 9:33), and its adherents will use whatever means they have at their disposal to achieve that end, including cleverly disguised attempts at diplomacy.

Another Afghan Christian Needs Help

Every time an Afghan comes to faith in Christ, he or she is in grave danger of being executed for apostasy by the government of Afghanistan. Although Said Musa has been released, another Afghan convert to Christianity, Shoaib Assadullah, is still in prison and it is feared that he may also be put on death row for his conversion. Please pray for this brother, that he may be rescued from his condition and given safe asylum away from the clutches of Islamic law.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- An Afghan man who was arrested for converting to Christianity and fears he may be executed, remained behind bars Wednesday, March 30, more than a month after another convert was released amid international pressure.

Shoaib Assadullah, 23, was reportedly detained October 21 in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif for giving a Bible to a man who later reported him to local authorities. While in prison, Assadullah said he was physically abused and receiving death threats from fellow inmates.

"Several times I have been attacked physically and threatened with death by fellow prisoners, especially [from members of the] Taliban [group] and anti-government prisoners who are in jail," he wrote in a letter dated February 17 and monitored by BosNewsLife.

"These assaults on my human dignity have affected me negatively, close to the point of death,” the Afghan Christian added.

Read the rest of the story here:

• Bos News Life - Detained Afghan Christian Fears Execution

On Silencing the Opposition

Lately, I have been conversing with some Christian brethren who believe that the solution to some of the opposing viewpoints that threaten our peace, security and freedom is to have these viewpoints silenced and their literature banned. While I understand the concern that my brethren have concerning this issue, I have to argue that it is a bad idea to systematically silence the opposition. Here are my two main reasons why:

One: We are all interested in convincing others of our own position's correctness and the others' incorrectness. However, the general public cannot make this decision unless they have access to what the other position has to say. If we are truly convinced that our position is the correct position and all others are false (and in some cases even dangerous to our society), then let us by all means allow both sides to speak and debate these issues. Afterwards let the general public examine what both sides have said and allow them the opportunity to decide for themselves who is correct. Besides, sometimes a viewpoint's own proponents are their own best refutation; you know they're wrong just by listening to them make poor arguments or reasons.

Two: A government that bans any one religous viewpoint, it won't be very long before they find reasons to ban other religious viewpoints, and that includes our own. I am sure that many of us have had to deal with people who have attempted to silence us or prevent our viewpoints from being heard. Unfortunately, if we argue that such should be the case with any other religion, then we are just giving people ammunition to silence us even more.

As a good historical case in point: Back in the 40s or 50s, prominent Canadian Baptist minister Rev. T. T. Shields advocated that Jehovah's Witnesses should be allowed the freedom to propagate their viewpoints, even though Shields (and all of us here who are Evangelical Christians) strongly disagree with them. The reason for this was that Rev. Shields understood that if the state could ban Jehovah's Witnesses from propagating their religious views, it won't be too far off before they start doing the same with thing Evangelical Christians. As it is, we already have enough trouble getting the general public to listen to us, so there is no need for us to make it harder for ourselves.

That's just by two cents. Hope you take them into consideration. Grace and peace.

Said Musa About to be Executed

"Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." -Muhammad (Sahih Al-Bukhari 9:84:57)

And that is exactly what the government of Afghanistan is bent on doing to Christian convert Said Musa. Unfortunately, most news sources in America and Canada refuse to report this egregious violation of human rights (which is odd because they seem to have no qualms about publicizing some backwoods Florida pastor's decision to burn Qur'ans), so it is up to the rest of us to make these kinds of things known. Pray that this brother in Christ will be released from prison and find safe asylum in the west.

A terrible drama is unfolding in Afghanistan: There are reports that Said Musa, whose situation ... will soon be executed for the ‘crime’ of choosing to become a Christian.

Musa was one of about 25 Christians arrested on May 31, 2010, after a May 27 Noorin TV program showed video of a worship service held by indigenous Afghan Christians; he was arrested as he attempted to seek asylum at the German embassy. He converted to Christianity eight years ago, is the father of six young children, had a leg amputated after he stepped on a landmine while serving in the Afghan Army, and now has a prosthetic leg. His oldest child is eight and one is disabled (she cannot speak). He worked for the Red Cross/Red Crescent as an adviser to other amputees.

He was forced to appear before a judge without any legal counsel and without knowledge of the charges against him. “Nobody [wanted to be my] defender before the court. When I said ‘I am a Christian man,’ he [a potential lawyer] immediately spat on me and abused me and mocked me. . . . I am alone between 400 [people with] terrible values in the jail, like a sheep.” He has been beaten, mocked, and subjected to sleep deprivation and sexual abuse while in prison. No Afghan lawyer will defend him and authorities denied him access to a foreign lawyer.

Any and every human being who is imprisoned, abused, or tortured for the free and peaceful expression of their faith deserves our support, but Musa is also a remarkable person and Christian. In a letter smuggled to the West, he says, “The authority and prisoners in jail did many bad behaviour with me about my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, they did sexual things with me, beat me by wood, by hands, by legs, put some things on my head.”

He added a thing much more important to him, that they “mocked me ‘he’s Jesus Christ,’ spat on me, nobody let me for sleep night and day. . . . Please, please, for the sake of Lord Jesus Christ help me.”

Read the rest of it here:

• Paul Marshall - America Quiet on the Execution of Afghan Christian Said Musa

Internal Conflicts within the Toronto Muslim Community

I've been to Masjid Qurtaba in person, and I heard about the cancelled debate from Bartimaeus, but I didn't know this story would find its way into the National Post. Interesting cover story on the internal conflicts between conservatives and secular/liberal Muslims in Toronto.

HT: Prof. Tony Costa

More than 600 people showed up at the North American Muslim Foundation on a recent Saturday to hear a debate over secular liberalism in Islam.

It would have been something of a face off. The prospective debaters, Tarek Fatah, author and self-described secular Muslim, and Sheharyar Shaikh, president of NAMF and a conservative imam at Masjid Qurtabah, are known polemicists who have not shied away from very public disagreements in the past.

In fact, the event only came about after an open challenge to Mr. Fatah was published late last year by Mr. Shaikh, who called on the controversial author to publicly defend his moderate views, which have been called unIslamic by some in the Canadian Muslim community. Mr. Shaikh-- who has openly defended polygamy and opposed secular education for Muslims -- is among them.

When it was announced shortly after 6 p.m. that the debate was cancelled after Mr. Fatah declined to participate at the last minute, more than 600 people were disappointed.

Read more about it here:

• Jessica Hume - Homegrown Schism

Pope Says Condoms Allowable in Some Situations

As somebody who has been hearing denunciations of contraceptive use coming from priests and bishops for many years, this comes as major news to me. I wonder how this will play out in the years to come.

Pope Benedict XVI said in comments released Saturday that the use of condoms may be morally acceptable in some cases to prevent the spread of AIDS, possibly foreshadowing a shift in the Roman Catholic Church's stance on the issue.

The pope's remarks outline an exception to the church's long-held policy against the use of artificial contraception, including condoms.

The pontiff, speaking to the author of a book that will be published next week, cited the example of a prostitute.

"There could be single cases that can be justified, for instance when a prostitute uses a condom, and this can be a first step towards a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, to develop again the awareness of the fact that not all is allowed and that one cannot do everything one wants," Benedict said.

Read the rest of the news article here:

• CNN News - Pope says condoms may be OK in some circumstances

Christians Blow Up More People Than Muslims?

(HT: David Wood via the Answering Muslims Blog)

No Comment.

Anti-Missionaries Say the Darndest Things

So recently, I wrote a series of articles rebutting the contents of a website called Crusade Watch. The articles themselves are in The Aristophrenium (see here for part 1, part 2 and part 3), though I wanted to point out how hilariously crazy and/or funny the claims being made in this site are. In particular, they have a page called "Why Oppose Evangelism" which contains many of the wackiest anti-missionary claims I have ever seen. Here are some examples (emphases mine):

Evangelical fudamentalism breeds intolerance. This intolerance effects even the families as fundamentalist Christians develop the mentality of 'I am right; you are wrong'. This mentality seems to be reason for higher divorce rates among Christians.

Some great thinkers [who?] consider the practice of evangelism equivalent to Satanism.

Many prominent Christians [who?] feel that Western Evangelism is a commercial empire just like any other business. The evangelicals exploit people's soft corner for religion and buy into their over-priced and often useless products. Examples are Pat Robertson's and Benny Hinn's businesses. [Because everybody knows that Robertson and Hinn are representatives of Evangelicalism as a whole.]

Most of the missionaries and Christian groups claim that Christianity and white race [When all else fails, play the race card.] have the highest moral values whereas all other religions and cultures are corrupt.

USA, which produced the world's top inventions and scientists is under siege due to Christian fundamentalism. These fundamentalists are opposed to scientific development because most of the scientific findings contradict Bible. Example: Bible states that Sun rotates around Earth and Earth is flat. Galileo who questioned this theory was put under house arrest and denied medical services he request. American Christian fundamentalists are against research and science on evolution as they believe that Adam & Eve created the world. [LOL what?]

Many evangelical churches are known to promote irrational and uncivillized acts such as witchcraft and exorcism which often involve child abuse. [And the evidence for this claim?]

A non-Christian who viewed the society as one entity after conversion to Christianity begins to see the society as two categories 'us' vs. 'them'. 'us' being the 'saved' and 'them' not worth living. He develops hate and illwill towards everything 'them' reveres. [Yeah, that's what Matthew 5:43-48 preaches, right?]

Increasingly world is accepting evangelical missions as an expression of hate crime. [It is???]

Most of the true Christian denomonations [way to know which denominations are the "true" ones. *coughliberalscough*] are not involved in missions and evangelism. They strongly argue that missions is the corrupted and evil expression of true Christianity. [Sure, because Jesus would never teach His apostles to "go out and make disciples of all nations," riiight?]

"Either convert and fight against India or DIE" is the message echoing across the 7 states (called 7 sisters) of North-east India. [Yeah, because Jesus taught them to evangelize that way...]

Church is against abortion, birth-control pills etc which brings misery to women's lives. Millions of women find their life devastated because of church. [Roman Catholicism =/= Christianity as a whole]

In Christianity a women is inferior to man. [I guess this guy never read Galatians 3:28, or studied early Christian attitudes towards women in comparison to the rest of the prevailing culture at the time.] Many women who enjoyed complete freedom and respect in their native religion become second class members in their own homes and family. [I'm sure the Hindu practice of immolating the wives of recently deceased men helped foster gender equality.]

Many evangelical leaders initiated and promoted war against heathen so that the field is open to harvest the souls. Many of the evangelical leaders and missionaries are War Criminals. [Who are these unnamed "evangelical leaders and missionaries?" Inquiring minds would like to know.]

Time and again world's renowned scholars [Who are they???] have clearly proved [How?] evangelism as an imperialistic activity. But because they operate in the spiritual realm, they continue to enjoy a fuzzy kind of permission to conduct a kind of business that is largely impossible in other less ethereal spheres of life.

It is amazing what those who oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ will come up with to try and suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

On Wife-Beating and Islam

For those who may be interested to know, Negeen Mayel just recently published her first article on the Answering Muslims blog. It's on the recent abuse of an Afghan woman and the parallel between that and the treatment of Muhammad's wife, Aisha. Check it out:

• Negeen Mayel - The Face of the 21st Century Aisha

Anne Rice Quits Christianity

This just goes to show you that the cross has always been and always will be foolishness to the natural mind:

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. “I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else...

...As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of …Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

Read the rest of it here:

• Published Now - Anne Rice Quits Christianity

Footage of the Dearborn Arrests

Recently, the footage of the Dearborn arrests had come out, and... what can I say? It's just utterly disgusting what the police did. Especially with Negeen. I don't know about the rest of you, but only an animal would act the way the police acted towards her (touching her when she pleaded not to, forcing her to strip down to her tank top and making crude sexual comments towards her). I'm just appalled, and I take this very seriously. Not only that, but they apparently also arrested her before arresting the other three so that she wouldn't be able to take photos of the others getting arrested.

Well, for those who want to see the videos, here they are:

May the Lord vindicate these four brave brothers and sister in Christ and bring those ruthless police officers (not to mention the lying, corrupt city mayor) to justice.

Further Reading

• James White - Sharia Love? What is That?
• James White - The Arrest of Nabeel Qureshi and David Wood
• David Wood - Another Comment by a Police Officer

David Wood - Open Message to Chief Haddad

For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.

(Deuteronomy 32:36, ESV)

Prayer Requests...

Please pray that the controversy and lawsuit over the whole Dearborn incident will come to a close soon. We cannot allow despotism to trump freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Please pray for the well-being and safety of the four brave brothers and sisters that got arrested over a week ago--David Wood, Nabeel Qureshi, Negeen Mayel and Paul Rezkalla--that the Lord may continue to abide with them and use them to bring many more Muslims to Christ.

G8 Protestors

Thomas Hobbes was right. Man is by nature, nasty and brutish.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Contending for the Gospel

By John Calvin

...With the very same charge which we are now forced to hear, wicked Ahab once upbraided Elijah: that is, that he was the disturber of Israel. But the holy prophet by his reply acquitted us. "I," says he, "have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim," (1 Kings 18:17-18). It is unfair, therefore, to load us with odium, on account of the fierce contest concerning religion which this day rages in Christendom, unless, indeed, it be thought proper first to condemn Elijah, with whom we have a common defense. His sole excuse is, that he had fought only to vindicate the glory and restore the pure worship of God, and he retorts the charge of exciting contention and disturbances upon those who stirred up tumults as a means of resisting the truth.

And what is it that we have done hitherto, and what do we even now, but strive that the one God may be worshipped amongst us, and that his simple truth may reign in the church? If our adversaries deny this, let them, at least, convict us of impious doctrine before they charge it upon us, as a fault, that we dissent from others. For what were we to do? The only terms on which we could purchase peace were to betray the truth of God by silence. Though, indeed, it would not have been enough to be silent, unless we had also, by tacit consent, approved of impious doctrine, of open blasphemies against God, and the most degrading superstitions. What else, then, at the very least, could we do, than testify with a clear voice that we had no fellowship with impiety? We have, therefore, simply studied to do what was our duty. That matters have blazed forth into hostile strife is an evil, the blame of which must rest with those who chose to confound heaven and earth, rather than give a place to pious and sound doctrine their object being, by whatever means, to keep possession of the tyranny which they had usurped.

It ought to be sufficient, and more than sufficient, for our defense, that the sacred truth of God, in asserting which we sustain so many contests, is on our side, whereas our adversaries, in contending with us, war not so much against us as God himself. Then it is not of our own accord that we engage in this fervor of contention. It is their intemperance which has dragged us into it against our expectation. Let the result, then, have been what it may, there is no reason why we should be loaded with hatred. For as it is not ours to govern events, neither is it ours to prevent them. But there is an ancient practice which the wicked have resorted to in all ages: that is, to take occasion from the preaching of the gospel to excite tumult, and then to defame the gospel as the cause of dissension dissension which, even in the absence of opportunity, they wickedly and eagerly court. And, as in the primitive church, the prophecy behooved to be fulfillled, that Christ should be to his own countrymen a stone of stumbling and rock of offense, so it is not surprising if the same thing holds true in our time also. It may well indeed be thought strange for the builders to reject the stone which ought to occupy the principal place in the foundation, but as this happened at the beginning, in the case of Christ, let it not surprise us that it is also a common event in the present day....

...In such circumstances, what became of the salvation of men? Where there was such necessity for speaking, had we kept silence, we should have been not only ungrateful and treacherous towards God, but also cruel towards men, over whom we saw eternal destruction impending, unless they were brought back into the proper path.

Were a dog to see an injury offered to his master, equal to the insult which is offered to God in the sacraments, he would instantly bark, and expose his own life to danger, sooner than silently allow his master to be so insulted. Ought we to show less devotedness to God than a brute is wont to show to man?...

Christ with a whip drove the money-changers out of the temple, threw down their tables, and scattered their merchandise. I admit it is not lawful for every man to take the whip into his own hand, but it is incumbent on all who professedly belong to Christ to burn with the zeal with which Christ was animated, when he vindicated the glory of his Father. Therefore, that profanation of the temple, at which he, in a manner so marked, expressed his strong displeasure, it is at least our part to condemn, in a free, firm, and decided tone...

But be the issue what it may, we will never repent of having begun, and of having proceeded thus far. The Holy Spirit is a faithful and unerring witness to our doctrine. We know, I say, that it is the eternal truth of God that we preach. We are, indeed, desirous, as we ought to be, that our ministry may prove salutary to the world; but to give it this effect belongs to God, not to us. If, to punish, partly the ingratitude, and partly the stubbornness of those to whom we desire to do good, success must prove desperate, and all things go to worse, I will say what it befits a Christian man to say, and what all who are true to this holy profession will subscribe: We will die, but in death even be conquerors, not only because through it we shall have a sure passage to a better life, but because we know that our blood will be as seed to propagate the divine truth which men now despise.

Source

• Calvin, John. The Necessity of Reforming the Church. Dallas: Protestant Heritage Press, 1995. pp 89-91, 102-103, 153.

Lambs Among Wolves

Even in my home country, believers have to struggle against the onslaught of Islamic militants.

From Voice of the Martyrs Canada.

Lambs among wolves

By Patrice Johnson

Albert Francisco tugged on the small hand of Mial Rose. The nine-year-old tried desperately to keep up with her much taller and much older cousin. The two were on their way to the banana plantation where Albert worked so he could collect his pay. They were walking with relatives down the steep, rocky jungle paths in the Philippine mountains. It was early Sunday morning on May 3, 2009, and the sun bore down making the banana leaves droop underneath its strength.

As the group neared the banana plantation in the village of Tuluan, Albert's cousin began texting his girlfriend nearby. No one noticed the armed men hiding in the thick green jungle leaves until it was too late. When the men in fatigues appeared, Albert immediately recognized them -- they were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MI).

Shots rang out. Chaos ensued. Albert pushed Mial Rose to the ground, throwing his body over his cousin. Shot in the foot, little Mial Rose was bleeding profusely. Albert was shot in the head and leg. Just before his world faded to black, Albert thought, "Lord, can you help me? Can you give me another chance to live?"

Moments after Albert and his relatives were ambushed, Jean Tongcua was in Tuluan, trying to squeeze in a bit of laundry. It was about 7 a.m. on May 3. She walked down the rocky path to the river near her home. Being six months pregnant, all Jean could manage was a waddle. Slapping her clothes against the huge rocks along the river bank she paused.

She heard something. She stood straight up. Guns rang out like celebratory fireworks. Jean's thoughts turned to her three daughters, ages nine, 11 and 12, home alone. She climbed up the river bank as fast as her pregnant body could take her and crested the small cliff only to see armed men shooting at anyone and everyone. She dropped to her knees and began crawling backwards. Shots whizzed over her head and then a sound louder than a gun whirred in her direction. Behind her the ground exploded and metal flew everywhere, including into her chest.

By the time the sun set on May 3, four people would be dead, including Albert's text-messaging cousin. Six others including Jean, Mial Rose and Albert, were hospitalized for their injuries. The coordinated attacks executed by the MI on three villages in Mindanao left more than 200 Christians homeless and 80 houses, all belonging to Christians, burned to the ground. Muslim homes in the area were left untouched. The Voice of the Martyrs USA took care of the hospital expenses for Jean, Mial Rose, who needed therapy for her foot, and Albert who spent weeks in the hospital. Albert needed multiple surgeries to remove the bullet in his brain. The May 3 attack was just one of hundreds. For years, thousands of peaceful Christian families have suffered at the hands of radical Islamists.

The Philippines is known throughout the world as a Catholic nation. Yet on the nation's second largest island of Mindanao a modern-day religious war is raging. While clinging to the vestiges of a separatist movement began nearly 700 years ago, radical Islamists are using violence, kidnapping and murder to persecute Mindanao's Christians, most of whom are poor subsistence farmers. Like lambs among wolves, Christians live under constant threat from their Muslim neighbours. The violence is so routine, Christian villages have created primitive warning systems akin to the colour-coded terror alert scale seen in airports. One United States official dubbed Mindanao "the new Mecca of terrorism."

Though it makes up just five percent of the population on Mindanao, the Muslim minority plays a sadistic game of musical chairs, stealing the land, destroying the homes, dividing the families and targeting the lives of Christians. It is their hope, when the music stops, the 13 million Christians currently living on the island will be either dead or Islamic converts.

But a small band of evangelical pastors and their flock are determined to stay in this war zone. They say the only way to stop the violence is to show the love of Christ to Muslims -- even as they face the relentless persecution Islamic extremists inflict upon them.

"It is hard to win Muslims to Christ," says Pastor Noel Vasquez, who lives in Mlang, just north of where the May 3 attacks occurred. "But I love Muslims, because behind [that violence] they are longing for love. And I can share the love of Christ with them."

The new Mecca of terrorism

The Toyota SUV bounces viciously as we drive down a "road," just off the main highway in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The road is really rock flattened by vehicles. Every few miles or so there is an army checkpoint. Philippine Army guards with M-16s slung over their shoulders periodically stop cars to peer in. Men in civilian clothes walk along the road, older guns bouncing on their backs. Every other half mile is a mosque, an unmistakable crescent-moon ornament adorning the rooftops.

Our host Pastor Levi and his wife, Lilly, take us to a refugee camp where hundreds of Christian families are forced to live because of the war. As Lilly points out landmarks she begins to cry. She has not been back to this part of Mindanao since she was a girl. Thirty years ago, her grandfather was shot to death by Muslim extremists. They stole her family's land forcing her to abandon her childhood home. For as long as they can remember, Christians in Mindanao have been living in a war zone.

The war began in the late 1300s when Makhdum Karim, an Arab trader, landed near the island of Mindanao. In 1380 he supervised the construction of the largest mosque in that region. More than a century later, the Spanish came to the Philippine islands with their knowledge of Jesus. When Spanish settlers looked to expand their empire to Mindanao they clashed with Muslims there. The Spanish dubbed them the Moro people and failed to conquer them. Hundreds of years, colonization by the United States, occupation by the Japanese and even Philippine independence have not dampened the Moros' dedication to Islam or their dreams of a separate Muslim nation on Mindanao.

Determined to unify the Philippines, the government gave huge swaths of land on Mindanao to poor Christian farmers in the 1950s; Lilly's family was among them. Clashes with the Philippine army and anger led to the forming of the Moro National Liberation Front, (MNLF) in the 1960s. MNLF's founder was Nuir Misauri, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines. Raised on anti-imperialist, anti-American and pro-revolutionary rhetoric and fueled by his studies of Islamic jihad in Libya, Nuir transformed from a political activist into a guerrilla general. He marshaled scores of young Muslim men and women to fight for independence. He declared war on anyone who stood in the way of complete separation from the government -- including unarmed Christians. Estimates say Nuir's war cost 120,000 lives and more than $3 billion.

In 1981, more extreme factions split from the MNLF and formed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or the MI. The war took on overtones of jihad, death to infidels and the other extreme Islamic ideology usually heard on the Arabian Peninsula. The 9/11 Commission cites reports of Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September 11 hijackers, training in Manila. In 2002, the U.S. -- so concerned about the ultra-violent Philippine Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf -- created Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines, eventually sending 1,300 troops and $100 million to help the Philippine government fight terrorism.

Peace talks resulted in the government granting Muslims authority to run five provinces on Mindanao. Yet the Muslims say this is not enough and lay claim to 15 provinces -- most of them majority Christian. Muslims try to force Christians to leave these lands through violent, sometimes fatal, intimidation.

"Certain portions of Mindanao are so lawless, so porous ...you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation, "Joseph Mussomeli, former acting U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, said in "Bearers of the Sword," a documentary film about Abu Sayyaf. "Mindanao is almost -- forgive the poor religious pun -- the new Mecca of terrorism."

"We cannot live as normal"

Christians say recent peace talks between the government and the multiple radical groups fighting them have not stalled the violence.

"They just started making camps for armed Muslims just 100 metres from my church," says Pastor Romulo O. Patricio. Pastor Patricio has a church in the Sultan Kudaatat province claimed by Muslims. "The Muslims have also begun inserting their houses in between the Christian houses. They built their mosque near our church. Most of the Christians are watching every night."

Pastor Patricio tells of a widow in his church, home alone when Muslims broke through a wall in her house. They poisoned her, knocking her unconscious, then ransacked her place and stole her bike and all the goods in her home-based store. She died of a heart attack shortly after. The attackers showed up at her funeral, questioning Pastor Patricio.

"What is your religion all about?" a Muslim asked. Then he tried to tell the pastor about Islam. Pastor Patricio politely told him the woman's funeral was not the time for a religious debate. "I talk to him as a friend," Pastor Patricio said. "Because if you show to the Muslim that you are against them they can easily make the decision that can really hurt you."

Radical extremism and the proximity of Christians to Muslims is an explosive combination that has left tens of thousands of Christians homeless and thousands dead. Attacks are so frequent Christians build wooden watch towers in their villages where armed men spend the night. One shot means start to pack, armed Muslims are coming. Two shots mean forget the packing, get out now. The unyielding assaults have robbed Christians like Josephine Claridad of their normality. Josephine used to have a beautiful home made of concrete and wood. She had a small farm where she grew food for her family. She was part of a bustling Christian community in Alamada. Her fellow neighbours had elected her as a leader to negotiate with local government officials on their behalf.

But then in December 2008, gunfire jolted Josephine out of her bed. It was not the first time, but this time it was different. "I thought that it is time for the end of the world," she said. "I was very afraid." Psalm 23 floated through her mind. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters...." She asked the Lord for guidance because she knew only He could make her safe. In her night clothes and slippers, Josephine ran out into the dead of night fleeing for her life.

She flagged down a vehicle and the driver drove her to a nearby relative's house. In all, about 250 families fled their homes during that attack, ending up in a refugee centre located less than three miles from a Philippine military base. VOM-USA supplied food, bedding, clothes and other necessities to refugees like Josephine. Josephine visits her home during the day but says it is too dangerous for her to spend the night. She is hoping to return home permanently.

"We cannot live as normal," she says. "We can't really live as peaceful as we did before because we still have our minds on that night and they might come back again. I miss sleeping alone in my home. When you stay in your home you feel like your home is your palace."

Persecution is the norm on Mindanao yet church leaders are not defeated. "We are peace loving people," says Pastor Daniel Saure Sr., who pastors a church in Cotabato where a church was bombed on July 5, 2009. "We want to have a nice rest but during this time the majority of us will not really have a good sleep. I would love to have peace ... but to me I don't like to admit that it is a curse, because persecution ... when talked about by Jesus ... if you want to live a holy life you are surely going to suffer persecution. It was said that we are going to suffer much tribulation to get into the kingdom of God. And it just so happens that we are in a certain area where our faith is really tried because of the current situation."

"If we die, we die with the Lord"

No one would blame Christians living on Mindanao if they pulled up stakes and left. Yet those interviewed are determined to stay. Not because they are fighting for land but because they are fighting for souls. Even in war, pastors are actively evangelizing the Muslims who seek to kill them.

"Persecution is a very big lesson to learn," says Pastor Saure. "Ask Jesus -- He has taught us forgiveness. It takes much grace [from] the Lord to do that.... So you look at the person as a soul that needs a saviour, individually not so much as ideology.

"We share our faith with Muslims and when we have programs we include them socially. Not so much conversion but programs that will help them to see that we love them. That is why we show them love. Someone from another village said, 'No, do not do that.' We said, 'This church is loving and forgiving and showing the love of God' and we will do the best we can to share what we have."

So how do you evangelize someone who seeks to kill you? Pastor Noel Vasquez, who has a church in an area surrounded by armed Muslims, explains it this way:

"First I fast," he says. "Then I find." Once Pastor Noel finds a willing Muslim he just loves on them. He gives them gifts -- food, rice, little things. He becomes their friend. Pretty soon he is eating in their home and telling them about God. Bringing a Muslim to church would result in death for the Muslim and the pastor so Pastor Noel takes his evangelism to other places, like city hall. With the help of a Christian politician he began holding devotionals five days a week for city employees, some of whom are Muslims. One time a Muslim challenged him. "If your god is a true god he will heal me," the Muslim said. He had a kidney stone.

Pastor Noel took the prayer request back to all the pastors he knew. He did not mention the Muslim man by name. About 35 congregations prayed that Sunday. "That week the Lord delivered him from that kidney stone," Pastor Noel said grinning widely. The healed man is now a believer.

VOM-USA provided Pastor Noel a motorbike so he can reach more Muslims in his area. Even as he spreads the gospel in the most dangerous areas he is not afraid. "If God is for us who can be against us," he says. "Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. So these killings and murders are just a thing that is passing our way so let us hang on to the love of Christ in our hearts because if we are with Christ even if we die, we die with the Lord."

Dawkins Is At It Again!

This time, the world's most famous atheist (I mean that sarcastically) gives his take on Christian responses to Haiti. Note his lifting up of the fundamentalist attitude of Pat Robertson as the "true" Christian position on the matter:

We know what caused the catastrophe in Haiti. It was the bumping and grinding of the Caribbean Plate rubbing up against the North American Plate: a force of nature, sin-free and indifferent to sin, un-premeditated, unmotivated, supremely unconcerned with human affairs or human misery.

The religious mind, however, restlessly seeks human meaning in the blind happenings of nature. As with the Indonesian tsunami, which was blamed on loose sexual morals in tourist bars; as with Hurricane Katrina, which was attributed to divine revenge on the entire city of New Orleans for harboring a lesbian comedian, and as with other disasters going back to the famous Lisbon earthquake and beyond, so Haiti's tragedy must be payback for human sin. The Rev. Pat Robertson sees the hand of God in the earthquake, wreaking terrible retribution for a pact that the long-dead ancestors of today's Haitians made with the devil, to help rid them of their French masters.

Needless to say, milder-mannered faith-heads are falling over themselves to disown Pat Robertson, just as they disowned those other pastors, evangelists, missionaries and mullahs at the time of the earlier disasters.

What hypocrisy.

Loathsome as Robertson's views undoubtedly are, he is the Christian who stands squarely in the Christian tradition. The agonized theodiceans who see suffering as an intractable 'mystery', or who 'see God' in the help, money and goodwill that is now flooding into Haiti , or (most nauseating of all) who claim to see God 'suffering on the cross' in the ruins of Port-au-Prince, those faux-anguished hypocrites are denying the centrepiece of their own theology. It is the obnoxious Pat Robertson who is the true Christian here.

Where was God in Noah's flood? He was systematically drowning the entire world, animal as well as human, as punishment for 'sin'. Where was God when Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed with fire and brimstone? He was deliberately barbecuing the citizenry, lock stock and barrel, as punishment for 'sin'. Dear modern, enlightened, theologically sophisticated Christian, your entire religion is founded on an obsession with 'sin', with punishment and with atonement. Where do you find the effrontery to condemn Pat Robertson, you who have signed up to the obnoxious doctrine that the central purpose of Jesus' incarnation was to have himself tortured as a scapegoat for the 'sins' of all mankind, past, present and future, beginning with the 'sin' of Adam, who (as any modern theologian well knows) never even existed? To quote the President of one theological seminary, writing in these very pages:

"The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God. This is true for every cell in our bodies, even as it is for the crust of the earth at every point on the globe."

You nice, middle-of-the-road theologians and clergymen, be-frocked and bleating in your pulpits, you disclaim Pat Robertson's suggestion that the Haitians are paying for a pact with the devil. But you worship a god-man who - as you tell your congregations even if you don't believe it yourself - 'cast out devils'. You even believe (or you don't disabuse your flock when they believe) that Jesus cured a madman by causing the 'devils' in him to fly into a herd of pigs and stampede them over a cliff. Charming story, well calculated to uplift and inspire the Sunday School and the Infant Bible Class. Pat Robertson may spout evil nonsense, but he is a mere amateur at that game. Just read your own Bible. Pat Robertson is true to it. But you?

Educated apologist, how dare you weep Christian tears, when your entire theology is one long celebration of suffering: suffering as payback for 'sin' - or suffering as 'atonement' for it? You may weep for Haiti where Pat Robertson does not, but at least, in his hick, sub-Palinesque ignorance, he holds up an honest mirror to the ugliness of Christian theology. You are nothing but a whited sepulchre.

Source

• Haiti and the hypocrisy of Christian theology (from the Washington Post)

The Depravity of Man

This is a submission I made to an essay contest. It is 326 words long, but since the essay contest's word limit is only 250 pages (I don't know why it's so short, so don't ask me), I submitted an abridged version. Here is the complete, unabridged version of the essay:

The Depravity of Man

We like to think that we’re good and decent people. After all, it just sounds so rude and politically incorrect to suggest that we’re something less than this, that we’re actually malevolent, that we’re just trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we’re virtuous beings, that this sickness is really a part of our nature as human beings. But are we really being completely honest with ourselves? Do we not all have that inner tendency to, like the stranded boys in William Golding’s fictional island, devolve into utter savagery?

When Thomas Hobbes formulated his social contract theory, he worked on the assumption that man in a state of nature is despicable, nasty and brutish.[1] As a Philosopher and Ethicist, Hobbes knew that trying to formulate a social contract theory on the presupposition that mankind is naturally noble and virtuous is pure folly, since one would have to take into account the inevitability of crime, corruption and chaos. The string of wars, corrupt dictators that are laid bare when one goes through the history of mankind testifies to the truth of our nature. Case in point: Pol Pot, that psychotic late dictator of Cambodia, after he had murdered millions of his own countrymen, declared “my conscience is clear.”[2]

Even when we do those things that we esteem to be good, it is only because we have baser motives for doing so, such as hope for rewards and praise, or fear of being punished by the powers that be. Without this sort of restraint, we shall become as the savages of old; slaves to our own nature, even while labouring behind the illusory curtain of liberty from restraint. It is indisputable, and no matter how we try to deny it, in the end we will have to face that inconvenient truth: our nature is depraved. It is as the Good Book declared long before: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?[3]

End Notes

1. Ayson, Florentino and Dolores Aligada-Reyes. Fundamentals of Political Science: Second Edition, 2005. Mandaluyong City: National Book Store, 2005. p. 37.
2. 'My conscience is clear' says Killing Fields leader Pol Pot. BBC News. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/far_east/14613.stm].
3. Jeremiah 17:9, English Standard Version.
   

When Liberty is Too Much

This is an in-class essay that I wrote for my grade 12 English class earlier this month. My teacher vehemently disagrees with my position, yet has conceded that my essay is "undeniably well written" and that I have well-supported my position with my citations. For posterity, I have transcribed the essay and am posting it here on Epagonizesthai, with some minor changes in form, including a few minor revisions suggested my teacher.

When Liberty is Too Much
When Individualism Reaches Excess

"It's my own life and I'll live it how ever I want." This is (arguably) the rallying cry of our age. Many in our generation do not like being told what to do, and would prefer to set themselves as their own final authority. If anyone says that there are higher standards and virtues that we are to be held accountable to, let him be anathema!

Of course, this is not to say that we are one hundred percent self-centered all of the time. No sane person could live such a way. As writer John Langone has pointed out,

If you always thought only of yourself, chances are you wouldn’t think about being loyal to anyone. You might betray those around [you], and be betrayed by them. There would be no reason to distinguish between right and wrong because whatever you felt was right would be right.[1]

This kind of attitude is what inevitable takes us to moral relativism, which is defined as the belief that there are no absolute moral standards, that right and wrong are relative to the individual (or group if you have that herd mentality), and eschews the notion that moral judgments can be grounded in any way, so that moral reasoning becomes a completely subjective endeavor.[2]

This brings to mind one particular incident when the popular writer and thinker Ravi Zacharias was speaking at Oxford University. At that time, some students came up to him and insisted that absolute values don’t exist. As Zacharias recounts,

I asked one of them whether it would be wrong for me to take a butcher knife and cut to pieces a one-year-old child for sheer delight. There was a pause, and then he said, to an audible from those listening, “I would not like what you did, but I would not honestly say that it would be wrong.”[3]

It sounds sick, doesn’t it? And yet the student in that encounter was being logically consistent in his beliefs. How indeed can we say that it is wrong? When Pol Pot murdered millions of his countrymen and claimed, “My conscience is clear,” we may protest at his grotesque depravity, but do we have any solid basis for even making such a judgment? A consistent moral relativist would have to say no. This is what happens when we turn ourselves as individuals into our own personal “ground of all being.” If we follow this paradigm to its logical conclusion, we end up with Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil.” Like Nietzsche, we would dismiss caring for the “little guy” as utter folly, saying that those who do, “have preserved too much that which should have perished,” and be, “work[ing] for the deterioration of the European [or in our case the human] race.”[4]

And yet, those who espouse this view become “moralists” in denouncing those who defend the notion of absolute right and wrong. These pundits will preach and pontificate on their paradigm, even though they have no real basis for doing so, As Philip Yancey has observed,

The pioneers of unmorality [sic] have practiced a blatant contradiction… the new moralists first proclaim that morality is capricious, perhaps even a joke, then proceed to use moral categories to condemn their opponents… These new high priests lecture us solemnly about multiculturalism, gender equality, homophobia and environmental degradation, all the while ignoring the fact that they have systematically destroyed any basis for judging such behavior [as] right or wrong. The emperor so quick to discourse about fashion happens to be stark naked.[5]

This has also been the critique on our education system, as Robert Nielsen (in his review of writer Allan Bloom’s book, “Closing the American Mind” writes:

Literate or not, earnest or trifling, rich or poor, nearly every student… enters university with one fixed belief—that truth is relative. Students assume that areas are valid only for their time and place, or perhaps only for the individual holding them; that there are no universal and eternal verities for people to learn and live by. This leaves everyone free to think and do as they please, without worrying about right and wrong, so long as they don’t infringe on others’ freedom to do otherwise. The only sin is intolerance.[6]

What if we had a math class where every individual is free to decide for himself what the sum of two plus two is, and anybody who claims that any answer other than four is wrong is immediately branded as “close-minded” and “intolerant.” It sounds like a surreal scenario, yet that is the kind of logic that is being propagated by schools and by popular culture today. It is no wonder that many of our youth end up broken and disillusioned as they grow older. We need to break out of this individualistic mentality of relativism. It is my contention that we have lost our grounding on matters of truth and morality, and must bring ourselves to the consequences of our ideas, not to mention those higher standards of absolute truth and right and wrong that we have so foolishly relinquished. Then, and only then may we be able to find our way, rather than spinning our own heads around hopelessly in circles.

End Notes

1. Langone, John. Thorny Issues: How Ethics and Morality Affect the Way We live. Little, Brown and Company, 1981. p. 9-10.
2. Spinello, Richard. “Relativism.” Ethics: Revised Edition, Volume 3. Salem Press, 2005. p. 1252.
3. Zacharias, Ravi. Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle for Truth. Multnomah Publishers, 2002. p. 21.
4. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. PlanetPDF.com, 1886. p. 95-96.
5. Yancey, Philip. “Biological Imperative Does not Cause People to Act Ethically.” Ethics: Current Controversies. Greenhaven Press, 2000. p. 38.
6. Nielsen, Robert. “The Closing of the (North) American Mind.” Echoes: Fiction, Media and Non-Fiction. Oxford University Press, 2002. p. 327.

Convert from Islam Threatened by Parents

Taken from Jihad Watch

Guys, please pray for Rifqa Bary and other brave souls who are faced with death for their commitment to the Lord Christ Jesus.