The Position of the Bible on Freedom

Using freedom of choice in the Bible for selfish motives ends up in spiritual death (Genesis 2:17 and 3:3) and the loss of unity and peace. God showed Adam, the first man on the earth, what was good and what was evil. He pleaded with Adam to take His advice and use his freedom of choice in a way so as to not fall into evil temptation and lose his freedom as a result. Adam ignored God’s advice and was deceived by an alternative thought. We know the rest of the story of how Adam and his wife Eve were tempted by a new idea without evaluating its consequences and subsequently they lost their intimate fellowship with God and with one another.  The new idea should have helped them to enjoy a continuing healthy unity if it was right, but it wasn’t. 

The new idea came from Satan, anti-God or anti-Christ, according to the Christian doctrine. This anti-God is the god of disunity who injects lies into the human mind by tempting people to think that they are each eligible to do everything they desire without thinking about the rights of others. He twists the doctrine of pure freedom by adding to it some selfish or unknown things in order to make people self-centered and to create disunity among them all for his domination. The central mission of God is also to wake people up to the schemes of Satan and provide the way of salvation for them. Since God Himself is free by nature and respects freedom of choice, He therefore has no other way than to plead with people to enter a dialogue with Him, allow Him to reveal the truth to them and free them from the atrocities of self-centeredness.

We see that both God and anti-God speak about freedom. But their definitions of and approaches to freedom are different. It takes an heroic effort to distinguish the difference between these two tactics. Let me give you a few contemporary examples to see where God and Satan have been trying to take us.

The establishment of political atheism in the 20^th century shifted many people’s attention from Christianity to the formation of Communism, the arrangement of a social organization which was supposed to free people, mainly the working class, from any discrimination or exploitation so that they could have access to all things equally. Theoretically this looked convincing and attractive since it aimed to free people from bias and the misuse of power and to provide everything for everyone. However, soon after the institutionalization of Communism in some countries, everything, including freedom, took on a new definition and became subject to the power of the central government. As a result, people were only allowed to speak or act in accordance with whatever the dominant Communist government espoused. Therefore, the desire for equal social, political and economic justice ended up in another version of dictatorship which restricted freedom in numerous ways to house favoritism, mistreatment and misuse of power. Later on, millions of people were killed by Communist governments simply because they questioned the authenticity of Communism. 

Likewise, in the West, because of the influence of Post Modernism, many Western politicians have adopted a different kind of social construct which has fueled the growth of relativism and skepticism, especially towards Judeo-Christian beliefs and, in particular, the freedom that is central to the Gospel and the purpose of Jesus coming to earth. This trend has led Western societies to a place where they now put their hope in unsustainable notions like multiculturalism and/or pluralism. These ideas are full of fantasy. They are, in fact, an enemy to true unity that can only be found in the transformed life that Jesus opens up for us.

A third reason for the limitation on freedom is that the church in the West has not been discerning enough or courageously vocal enough in evaluating secular ideas about freedom and defending authentic, Biblical freedom. Negative views broadcast about Christianity have led many to reject the Bible without any personal knowledge about its true position of freedom. Now, there are many prominent leftist elites whose criticism about the Bible via YouTube are sadly indications of their illiteracy about the teachings of the Bible. Imagine the enormity of these scholars’ negative impact on people, especially on the young generation of our time who are not interested in personal investigation. The church is called to teach the manifold wisdom of God to the world (Ephesians 3:10), but most evangelical churches have fallen short in revealing the manifold wisdom of God to their own congregations. Churches mainly speak about a few parts of God’s wisdom such as prayer, unconditional love and salvation or spiritual freedom. Other significant parts of God’s wisdom are not taught so that people can learn to defend their true freedom in God with convincing reasons against the bogus freedom that has confused many in every way and created enemies of the church.

Biblical freedom does not only include the spiritual realm, but every aspect of life on earth. In its first pages, the Bible teaches us the significance of using our freedom of choice in a way to establish a unified society (the first family on earth).  Adam used his discerning power, named animals each according to their instinct and evaluated whether he would be able to establish a unified and free society with animals. He discovered that he wouldn’t be able to do so. Adam was convinced that none of the animals he named would become a suitable companion for him or have an intimate fellowship with him for a long-lasting unity. Animals have no creativity or organizational purpose. We can teach the cleverest among them to do only primitive things for entertainment, but they are unable to understand a plan, the ways for achieving it or the purposes behind it. They are therefore unable to enter a planned partnership with us. They are by nature subject to the law of wildlife and that law can in any moment escalate even among the most teachable of them to attack people. It is because that law of wildlife does not recognize any difference between good and bad. 

Isn’t it strange that we are asked by many of our contemporary, so-called intellectuals to pursue a kind of freedom or live a life that does not recognize any difference between good and evil and has no ethics? It is shocking that such irresponsible ideas stem from the minds of intellectuals who are employed using our tax-monies to teach discernment to our children. Instead they put pressure on students to leave their God-given freedom behind and follow this mindless alternative. Until our young are taught to correctly understand the teaching of the Bible on the issue of freedom, they will not be able to resist these silly ideas that aim to chain them with confusion. We are face-to-face with many silly ideas daily and we need to make our Biblical stand in God clearer and free people from misperception. 

The freedom in the Bible is a creative freedom which encourages people to use their minds, hearts and consciences to compare ideas and choose the one that establishes life with productivity, long-lasting unity and peace. The God of the Bible respects this creative freedom and calls upon people for reasoning and conscious decision making:

Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18, MKJV)

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19, MKJV)

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, MKJV)

Because of our freedom of choice, everything is within our reach for a reason. We are capable of basing our lives on reason or rejecting reason. We have autonomy to evaluate and reject a false idea or blindly bow down to it. In a comparable way, we are also free to respect the rights of others and avoid ending up in jail or breach others’ rights and go to jail. We are free to accept life and live eternally or follow the path of death and end up in hell. It is all based on our own conscious decision-making. We are free to use our brains, become creative and be a blessing to many or to remain indifferent and fall into the miseries of a random life. The path that lacks a consistent position on freedom will lead progressively downwards to a place where people will be hurt immeasurably.

Not many people in the world are able to grasp that an unstable and man-made freedom is the gateway to a progressive failure. It is for this reason that the freedom of the Bible supersedes the unstable man-made freedom which is 1. not reciprocal, 2. limits people’s ability to speak their minds and hearts and 3. lacks sound principles. No one with such limitations or ambiguities will be able to face the reality of life, hear the truth and thereby act freely. We have every solid reason to stand for Biblical freedom.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1, MKJV)

Jesus Came to Reconcile the World to God

Two persons or parties cannot truly unite with one another if they are not of the same mind and heart. Also a true unity does not take place unless priority is given to the values that guarantee a long-lasting relationship. Unity with God also is not exempt from this principle. It is impossible for a person who is spiritually chained to the kingdom of sin, to unite with God, who is absolutely against sin by nature, unless that person allows his/her spiritual citizenship to become godly. This is what the true meaning and mission of Christmas should be since it is predominantly regarded as a season of celebration for the Birth of Jesus Christ. The revelation of Jesus Christ is to release people from the kingdom of Satan and establish them in the Kingdom of God. When we understand the way this transition takes place and when we allow this Redeemer to unite us with God, then we are with God and part of His community and plan, as the Gospel says:

But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name. (John 1:12, MKJV)

Those who receive Christ and allow Him to set their minds and hearts in heaven are enabled to grasp the true meaning of Christmas, the Birth of Christ. This is because they have accepted the revelation of God in Christ and are thereby honored by God who declares them members of His own kingdom and household; His co-workers and children. (Ephesians 2) They now carry the citizenship of God’s Kingdom with God’s extraordinary reverence and have the right to be the spokesmen and women of God. They are authorized to represent God as His ambassadors and reveal His Kingdom values to those who do not know Him and haven’t received Him yet.

Therefore, the object of Christmas, in its true meaning, is to reveal that God stepped into life on earth in order to carry out His plan for long-lasting reconciliation and unity. Man’s mind and heart function conditionally and as a result produce conditional and relative reconciliation which can be breached anytime conditions necessitate. But God’s mind and heart are based on unconditional love which makes the harmony enduring from the beginning to the end. 

The unconditional love of God is His greatest Christmas gift to humanity. It is the greatest because while people were in bondage to Satan, God’s enemy, and did not deserve His love and forgiveness, He took a sacrificial step, paid an astonishing price in order to redeem people from the bondage of Satan and reconcile them to Himself. As the Gospel says:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17)

With this sacrifice, God gives His eternal love and compassion as free gifts to His own enemies (Romans 5:8) in order to open their eyes to the truth, redeem them from spiritual death and hopelessness and establish them in eternal life, peace and joy. Through this sacrificial initiative, God also reveals the doctrinal differences between His concept and the worldly concepts so that people can understand the object of His revelation in Jesus Christ and avoid blind obedience. As the Gospel says:

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, MKJV)

No matter who started the Christmas celebration, whether or not they were authorized by God to start such a celebration for the Birth of Christ or whether the day of Christmas matches the actual Birthday of Jesus Christ or not, the majority have accepted that Christmas is about the Birth of Jesus Christ. If this is the case now, it then should be a time of receiving and representing Jesus Christ and a season of experiencing the eternal joy of reconciliation with God.

God is not against people’s gifts to one another and their generosity towards needy people at Christmas time. But more than anything else, He loves the true message of Christmas being revealed to people through our gifts and through every other thing we do. For this reason, we need to allow our presents and happiness to function inside the frame-work of God’s plan for the salvation of the world. 

God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ to change us so that we can adapt ourselves to His way of life in order to have enduring peace in ourselves, in our relationships with one another and with God. God did not give His only begotten Son for the sake of our worldly and short-lived pleasures. The world’s pleasure is a self or a group oriented pleasure which can become the cause of misery for many. Aren’t thousands of wandering refugees in the Middle East the result of a self-oriented pleasure and preference? God’s pleasure is different from this worldly pleasure. Worldly pleasure is without Christ, alienated from the heart of God and does not focus on the purposes of life. This is because it is not from God and therefore cannot be the object of true life. God’s pleasure instead is to save and shield people from extremists and to give purpose to their lives. God is like the shepherd who attends his flocks sacrificially and delights in them. God rejoices over preparing His followers to become like Him and be blessings to one another.

Let us therefore please the heart of our God and practically prove to people that Christmas is about the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. He revealed Himself in Jesus to give us a heavenly identity so that we could put Jesus at the center of our lives and make His expectations our priorities. He expects us to be functional with our new heavenly identity on earth and proclaim to our children, grandchildren, surroundings and to the world that His Birth declares the everlasting love of the God of the universe to His creatures so that they can have long-lasting fellowship with God, rejoice in peace and unity with Him and one another eternally.

Freedom Necessitates Evaluation

Freedom cannot flourish in a society or survive without analyzing the merits of beliefs and values and without standing for the best out of all of them. Indeed, we can only demonstrate our freedom when our freedom of choice is esteemed in our societies and we are in no way under pressure to follow things blindly. In a free society, people have individual space to practice their autonomy and to put their analyzing power into practice. This helps them to make healthy decisions and to have meaningful lives based on good and rational reasons. 

Nothing should bother people's freedom of choice. This is essential if they are morally expected to be responsible for their attitudes and actions in a society. If regulations are made to limit the exercising of free will for evaluation or choice, then it rids people of any social responsibility. In other words, if the law limits me in my ability to think before I act, then I cannot be held responsible for my actions since I was forbidden to analyze and anticipate the consequences. 

So we see how vital it is for us to approach life with open minds and hearts, making a willful decision for whatever we want to choose or follow.  That’s why the Gospel of Christ asks Christians not to follow Christ blindly, but to be prepared and to give reasons for following Christ:

…. always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1Peter 3.15, ESV)

Living in a society, either with diversity or uniformity, makes us responsible to give reasons for the values we follow. Every follower of Christ is asked to give reasons for the establishment of his/her hope in Christ. These reasons reveal the life quality of Christ in every aspect of life either philosophically, doctrinally, politically, socially, economically or ethically. Unlike  all other beliefs and philosophies, the life in Christ is not compatible with vagueness. It is based on the knowledge of the truth which allows the truth to flourish in every sphere of life, creating freedom. This freedom in turn becomes the motivating factor in our lives to protect freedom. We do this through the exercising of our minds, hearts and consciences in all circumstances, and also in our relationships with others, friends or strangers alike, in order to educate or strengthen them to do the same. This creates openness so that people become interested in reading the chapters’ of each other’s lives and in searching for the best together.

This dynamic culture of Christianity was amiably welcomed by many organizations in the West after the protestant movement, and it played a significant role in making western organizations creative, productive and successful. It brought all employees together, no matter what their ranks and backgrounds, so that they could share the result of their investigations, experiences and knowledge with each other. This helped them to discover the best means for better and higher quality performance. The Gospel of Christ states that the members of one body are all equally significant and function in harmony. Western organizations also applied this principle so that their ‘members’ function in harmony in every aspect. They established the Benchmark and brought all, from the lower level worker to the chief executive officers, together in order to erase barriers so as to operate as a unified organizational body.  

It is amazing that this Christian principle has now become an inevitable part of the organizational culture in most successful businesses in the West (and in the world). Many of our contemporary business leaders and managers reject Christianity on the surface. But underneath they have allowed Christian participative leadership, relational values and work ethics to become the pillars of their organizational cultures. This has made for substantial success despite the challenges of competition. Very few of these leaders and managers want to compromise this Culture of Success with political correctness, multiculturalism and relativism since the result of compromise will be huge losses for them. We saw how some financial institutions in the West were deceived by Islamists and opened their doors to the Islamic Sharia Finance, but soon some realized the stagnant nature of Islamic economic principles which focuses on the interests of its adherents only. Some of them abandoned the Sharia culture and went back to their already dynamic Christian practices and values. 

My aim in saying this is to say that most leaders of successful businesses act as hypocrites and contrary to the practices of Christian values and ethics when involved in educational institutions and governmental organizations. They turn their backs on the same values that are the fundamental factors for success in their own organizations. Because of political correctness, they are unable to or do not want to understand the fact that their countries will go bankrupt and fail immeasurably if they do not support the practice of the same Christian principles for their own countries too. They are not far-sighted enough to see that the the biblical culture is woven into their organizational cultures, and their organizational life is a part of their countries’ economic life too. If their countries fail, their businesses will fail too. If they support governments and educational centers who turn their back on Christian values, the anti-Christian government’s norms will also, sooner or later, affect their own organizations negatively. In the same way, the universities’ anti-Christian graduates will also, sooner or later, become their employees and become a threat to their successful organizational cultures. Then it will be too late and difficult for them to defend their rights and to fight against the established rules, regulations and individuals who are out to erase their means of progress.

We see how subtly dualism and short-sightedness have occupied the atmosphere of the West now and do not allow people to pursue a meaningful life. Communities are forced to leave investigation, evaluation, discussion and healthy decision-making behind, bowing down to a failing culture of ignorance and indifference which progressively narrows their freedom and enslaves them to a complete totalitarianism. People’s growing dependence on this worsening culture is stealing their respect of Christ’s beliefs and values, subtly leading them to a future which will be the end of their freedom and civilization. We have lost our freedom in universities, schools and governmental offices; we will do the same soon in our worship places and homes too.

Freedom cannot function if people’s minds, hearts and consciences are restricted by governmental and school regulations. Individual autonomy for investigation, comparison, debating, rejecting or accepting is the sacred right in each person’s life and the landmark for protecting freedom. Any invasion of this sacred autonomy is the failure of freedom. 

The doctrine of Christ has proven itself practically to be the only cause and power of freedom in the West.  People need to be encouraged to relentlessly investigate this and to see how powerful and effective the values of Christ are for the establishment of freedom.  It is a violation of human rights if people are limited in their ability to investigate and discover the means for their freedom. It is our urgent responsibility, therefore, to wake up people to realize that understanding is the key for having freedom:

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32, ESV)

Subtly Confined and Consumed

I remember how we young Iranians based our allegiance blindly on Ayatollah Khomeini’s verbal claim that Islam would fill in all of the inconsistencies in our society and take us to democracy. His comment exploited a major blind spot of the younger generation at that time in Iran; we who yearned for democracy, yet did not know that the very heart of Islam is incompatible with democracy. Ayatollah Khomeini’s proclamation of democracy was indeed a seductive ploy for him and his committed mullahs to reach for power and in fact entirely block the road to democracy. As a result, we became our own enemies by surrendering ourselves and our country to Ayatollah Khomeini who later made our own motherland a prison for us. For those of us who were able to run away from Iran and take shelter in the West it is truly heartbreaking and worrying to see that aggressive ideologues of the West are deceiving people with similar forms of socio-political pretenses, aiming to blind our societies, grasp long awaited authoritarianism and destroy the freedom we have. We never imagined seeing this in the West before our migration. Through my doctoral study, I had already discovered the uniqueness of Christian values and how its dynamic, considerate and creative leadership style was able to equip Western citizens to manifest the most successful lifestyle on earth.  This gave us a vision for our migration to the West and a hope that the West would certainly have something strong to bind us new-comers to its existing citizens and them to us so that together we could value freedom, integrate and do whatever we could to protect our new country from potential threats. 

Instead, we are shocked to see how far astray the West has gone, undermining its golden values and welcoming the values of foreign models that have long gone bankrupt in their respective lands. In particular, multiculturalism has given rise to the paradoxical dilemma of constraining certain discussion and expression with the straight jacket of political correctness, while giving free expression and liberty to anti-Christian sentiments. To mock, despise and discredit the Judea-Christian foundation of Western culture and society has become the popular discourse while subtly and naively these anti-Christians display tolerance toward insolvent cultures which erode freedom and fairness. Now many westerners, particularly a large number of young people, have fallen into traps of aggression and thereby find themselves bullying Christianity without knowing that their actions have been selling out their own freedom to the home-spun presentations of the self-styled guardians in the West. Amazingly, these people call themselves the promoters of freedom without realizing that they have been seduced, exploited and consumed for the destruction of freedom. They are unaware that their minds have become restrained with beliefs and patterns which are not compatible with freedom. 

What will the future be for a society that is highly exposed to such unawareness and incomprehension? The old proverb says:

The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. (Proverb 21:16, KJV)

Lack of understanding confines people and makes them passive, unresponsive and irresponsible. That’s why the Bible equates the lack of understanding with death. Understanding is a gateway to freedom. Jesus said:

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, MKJV)

Neglecting the significance of understanding, following leaders and beliefs blindly, walking in their ways irrationally and sightlessly are roadblocks to freedom. This is what is happening in our societies and many of our contemporaries are acting as barricades to freedom. They are wrapped in perplexity, made slaves to the indefinite calls of opportunists and thereby are unable to walk in the path of freedom and live victoriously. It is true when the Bible says:

If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle? (1 Corinthians 14:8)

Can uncertainty wake people, bind them together as a nation, give them a reasonable vision and authorize them with strength to win the battles that threaten their existence and freedom? No. Only clarity and understanding can build up souls in truth so that they can understand who they are, why they are on earth and in which direction they need to walk. 

There is no doubt that many of our people are deceived and abused. It is our responsibility to inform them in any way possible so that they can free themselves from following false examples. There have always been people throughout history who loved their own personal aspirations more than the interest of their nations. There have also been courageous people who tirelessly informed others and fought for the protection of their nations’ freedom. The liberty we have in the West has not come to us accidentally. Lives were burned by selfish leaders in the squares of the West for their courage in protecting their nations’ liberty. With their sacrifices, they taught their generations that leaders may ignore their own personal rights, but they may not turn their back on the rights of their nations. These children of freedom could not sit idle and allow egocentric leaders to sacrifice the rights of people to their own individual interests. We need to follow their examples. Ignoring the interests of our nation is like turning our back on our own families since our families make up our nations. 

We need to follow the standard of Jesus Christ. He knew that it was costly to love the world and engage people in avoiding blind obedience but recruiting them to discover the truth. Yet He paid the price and fulfilled His love for the world. This is what we need to do if we truly love people and long for them to become free. 

While the Mouth Broadcasts Peace, the Heart Plans for War!

Surely, across the world each day, the word ‘peace’ is spoken more often than so many other words. In Hebrew the equivalent word is ‘Shalom’ which was chosen to be used more than other words as a daily gesture of declaring peace with God and neighbors. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, proclaimed the connection between his ministry and the ministry of Biblical prophets. He borrowed the word ‘Shalom’ (Salam in Arabic) to be a part of daily conversation among Muslims similar to its usage among Jews.

The word ‘peace’ is used copiously among Muslims in  Islamic nations of the world. It is a way of greeting each other. More than a billion Muslims use the word ‘Salam’ any time they see each other, wishing peace for one another. Even the radical Muslims greet each other with the word ‘peace’.

How could intolerance, discrimination, hostility and war grow increasingly among Muslims even though the word ‘peace’ has continually been the currency of their daily conversations? Why do Muslim nations have less peace with each other in comparison to other nations who do not use the word ‘peace’ daily as Muslims do? How could this most desirable peace be hard to achieve among Muslims even though it is declared more than a billion times a day? Is there anything hidden from the eyes of Muslims that does not allow their inclination for peace to be practical? 

The majority of Muslims have a familiar, standard response to these questions. Most of our contemporary Muslims are brainwashed from childhood that it is America or Israel that has deprived them of having peace among themselves. Whatever happens in Islamic countries, the blame goes on Israel and America. Some people long for freedom, but leaders accuse them of spying for Israel or America. Any opponent to any leader is accused of Zionism or Americanization in Islamic countries. Even though I hated Israel while I was a political prisoner, I was still called a Zionist since I fell out of Ayatollah Khomeini’s favor. It has become a fashion among various Muslim sects to blame each other with being Israeli or western agents. 

No Muslim has a chance to think deeper and to see that Muslims wouldn’t be hostile towards each other if they had a solid foundation in peace. The enemies of peace may have been able to disturb them from time to time, but would be unable to utterly destroy the peace among them if their religion was compatible with peace. Iranians have an idiom that says, “If my dog was a good dog, jackals wouldn’t be able to hunt my chickens.” In a similar way, if the peace in Islam was an authentic peace, it would shine among Muslims and would shield Muslims from their so-called enemies. But the peace in Islam has achieved more bloodshed than actual peace in the 1400 years of its history, even in the centuries when Israel and America were not present. The problem is at the root of Islam which gives more weight to lip service than truthful words. Muslims cannot achieve peace by just announcing the word ‘peace’ without a solid standard in true peace. Peace cannot be achieved without the leadership of the Prince of Peace Instead of searching for the Prince of Peace, Muslim leaders are rather busy with lip service, speaking softer words while their hearts are preparing for and in the service of war.

In the face of hostilities perpetrated by various committed Muslim groups in different parts of the world, some Muslims have been broadcasting that the word ‘Islam” means ‘peace’. They have been trying to convince people in the West that Islam is inherently against violence. 

Anybody who understands a little bit of Arabic knows that the word ‘Islam’ has in no way any connection with the word ‘Salam’ which means peace. Islam means submission or surrendering which is the central focus of Islamic doctrine, calling all to surrender before establishing their belief in Islam. As the Quran states in sura (chapter) 49 verse 14 that faith comes after surrender. In other words, the world ‘Islam’ means such a surrender which leaves no chance for anyone to make an intelligent, willing decision.

Suppose the word ‘Islam’ meant peace; wouldn’t this shock people if they discovered that more than 60% of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, was about hatred, discrimination, belittling, hostility and bloodshed towards those who do not practice Islam or reject it? Wouldn’t then people have a right to call Islamists hypocrites? Imagine that more than 60% of a religion’s principles are about ignoring or denying the rights of others while it is still called the religion of peace! 

The problem with Islamists is clearly expressed in the Bible: 

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. (Psalm 55:21, NKJV)

As long as Islam is called a religion of peace, despite encouraging immature children to fight against their guardians (sura 9 verse 23); Muslims to kill their non-Muslim relatives and neighbors (sura 9 verse 123); and to kill non-Muslims for the sake of their beliefs (sura 8 verses 38-39), Muslims can neither have peace among themselves nor with others no matter how loudly they speak about peace. Hiding the truth about Islam is against peace in itself. This is where our politicians in the West have naively adopted the Islamists’ lie of calling Islam the religion of peace, thereby closing the doorway to peace. 

How can we know the authenticity of a claim without referring to the ideology, belief or motivation behind it? Do people not deserve the opportunity to weigh up someone’s confession against the primary source of his beliefs and ethics, which supplies the food of his heart and shapes his relational values?

True peace must first start in the heart, not on the tongue. The vast majority of individual people groups in the world call themselves peaceful. The leaders of Communist China, Shiite Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia, Russia, America, Europe, Africa and others all call themselves peace-lovers or peace-makers. All beliefs, including Islam, are called peaceful. Which of these nations can be trusted? Which mouth can be believed? It is a fact that what comes out of the mouth alone is not reliable evidence for assessing truth or falsehood. The very nature of ‘the mouth’ is its propensity for hypocrisy, pretending to have something which is not true. That’s why the truth about a thing cannot be measured by the words of a person’s mouth alone, unless we know the beliefs and standards that support those words. If a person’s beliefs sanction the idea that the end justifies the means or lying and deception are legitimate under some circumstances, the words of that person cannot serve the cause of truth or peace. 

To have a belief in ‘truth’ is vital for everyone so that it can unite heart and mouth for thinking, talking and acting in truth and peace. Efforts have to be made in order to discover the truth; the truth that sets one free from every sin, including the sin of disunity between heart and mouth - namely hypocrisy. That’s why Jesus said:

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, NKJV)

A Christian Response to Islamists’ Persecution of Christians

Historical evidence and also our own life experiences have proven that nothing but the Name and knowledge of Christ will be able to set Islamists free from persecuting others who do not think or believe in their way. There is nothing in Islam to encourage Muslims to treat non-Muslims as equals. Even our own contemporary Muslim governments, who claimed to be civilized, have banned Christian evangelism in their countries and some have limited Christian religious practices. Saudi Arabia, the major supplier of money for building mosques and for the spread of Islam in all western and non-Islamic countries, has made all non-Islamic prayers illegal.  Non-Muslim expatriates are not allowed to practice their religions and pray in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to committed and radical Muslims, the treatments get very Quranic, which means that every non-Muslim should expect a pious Muslim to terrorize (Quran 9: 123).

For this reason, Islamists’ attitudes towards non-Muslims, in particular Jews and Christians, has always been harsher since the rise of Islam. Only those Muslims who had the opportunity to read about the outside world and compare it with their own beliefs had a different approach to Christians and Jews.

Molavi (Mawlana Rumi), the famous Persian poet and theologian (13th Century AD) read the Gospel of Christ, which influenced him highly and changed his view towards Christians and Jews. He writes numerous extraordinary poems about Christ and Christianity of which one says this:

The love of the infidels drew my attention, and because of that I am now smooth (loving), gentle and simple.

He is expressing himself in a poetic way, which is a most influential way of impacting others in the Middle East, bringing forth the meaning that Islam is wrong in calling Christians and Jews unlovely (infidels) whereas their love for humanity is wonderful.

As long as Islamists are unaware of the words of the Gospel of Christ and think that nothing is better than their Quran, they will continue to persecute non-Muslims to the utmost of their efforts. Their so-called best and unique Quran instructs them:

Slaughter non-Muslims until there is no more disbelief (in the whole world) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone. (Quran 8: 39).

The Quran is obligating Muslims to violate basic human rights and slaughter non-Muslims unless they join Islam. Violation of non-Muslims is part of Islamic law, Sharia. The only solution to combat the threat and violation condoned by Sharia is to open the eyes of Muslims to the truth of Jesus Christ. This is what most of our contemporary leaders in the West are unaware of.

The world’s most powerful nation, America, believed that Iraq would attain freedom if Saddam was overthrown. A similar thing happened with the United Nations concerning the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. What happened? Christians in Iraq lost even the slightest bit of freedom they had in the time of Saddam. Nothing has changed for the better in Afghanistan either.

Years of war with billions of dollars in costs against terrorism not only failed but fuelled the zeal of Islamists for further terroristic expansion. What went wrong with the western leaders and with their most powerful armies in the pursuit of their plans of destroying terrorism? Things went wrong because they did not know how to fight terrorism. They declared Islam a religion of peace, whereas Islam itself cherishes terrorism. Religious Muslim leaders, as well as committed and radical Muslims throughout the world, know that their Islam and Quran do not promote peace against non-Muslims. They took the declaration of these leaders as a sign of fear of Muslims.

All committed Muslims know that the very principle of Islam in dealing with non-Muslims is to stand firm and create fear among them. They pursued this principle and gained victory in many areas.  We can see today how the fear of western leaders strengthened Muslim terrorists in the pursuit of their plans and encouraged them to take steps beyond Afghanistan and become a global threat. Now terrorist groups are everywhere in the world. Fear has opened the door to all other kinds of Islamic terrorism, including cultural and social, within the West. For example, there is no opposition to Muslims freely speaking about their beliefs in western universities but Christians are no longer free to do so of their own beliefs.

Compare the battle of the western government with the battle of Christ which we have been pursuing in the last decade or so. My comparative teaching alone has led thousands of Muslims, including many radicals, to Christ and disarmed their hearts from the harshness of Islam. We also continually hear and witness how other followers of Christ, who have various evangelistic outreaches to Muslims, have been leading many thousands to Christ and bringing down the hostile wall of Islamic Sharia in the lives of many. Muslims will not be able to leave the hostile culture of Islam unless we show the truth of the peace of Christ to them. This is the real war the Muslim world needs, a war that seeks to win them to an all-loving God.

The war of Islamic terrorism will not come to an end with a war of armies. We Christians must follow the footsteps of our Chief Commander, Jesus Christ, against Islamists’ ignorance and reveal to them the message of freedom and hope. The greatest gift of Islam to its follower is death. That’s why committed Muslims look down on westerners for loving life, proudly proclaiming themselves to be lovers of death.  Therefore, the war in Islam is for the victory of death over life. This is quite different to the war of Jesus Christ. The war of Jesus Christ is for the victory of life over death.  Christ prefers Muslims to live in/for the Truth instead of dying in/for Islam. This is exactly the way Jesus Christ describes the victory of truth over death:

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8: 32)

It is, therefore, the Islamic dogma that has made Islamists aggressive, hostile and thirsty for death, either for their own death or the death of others. We can challenge their hearts by giving the message of Christ to them.

That’s why we are so grateful that Jesus Christ has given us the tools for this spiritual war; more influential than the weapons of the great armies of the world, so that we can rescue Muslims from the death of Islam and lead them to the Kingdom of Life in Christ.

Political Maturity Is Diminishing in the West

One of the distinguishing marks of the third millennia AD in the West, right from its beginning, is the obvious war of many politicians against Christianity, either because of ideology or of political correctness. Some of these politicians call themselves Christians and even go further by calling themselves conservatives, but no doubt that their superficial link to Christianity has been for the destruction of Christianity. Their relativistic approach to life is a clear indication of their hostility to the absolute truth of Christ. Though they were born into a Christian environment, they remained oblivious about the truth of faith in Christ and are now caught in the cloves of relativism.

There are some politicians who love to care for their country but become nervous when their enemies raise their voices and receive the favor of leftists. Rather than being courageous and fighting for the rights of their nation they slyly hand over control to their enemies and abandon their own people who put their trust in them. Sadly, this has become the trend of some politicians because of the dominance of political correctness.

Our contemporaries are quick to learn the methods of destruction, rather than methods of building and preserving. This is because they have lost the appetite to search, evaluate and make the right decision. They have left the field open for the opportunist leaders and politicians who take advantage of people’s unwillingness, unawareness and blind obedience. Many politicians find it too costly to wake their people up for a conscious decision-making which is the only way to have a healthy and free society. In a free society, leaders will not be able to put their own personal feelings and interests at the center of their leadership but rather the self-sacrifice that protects the interest of their communities.

Awareness indeed is a bridge to freedom. This is what Christ taught:

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32 MKJV).

The opposite is true too; the lack of knowledge strips people of the truth and enslaves them to every kind of untruth that leads to all sorts of bondage. It is such a bondage that has subjugated the minds of many of our politicians and leaders to accept what should be unacceptable.

Almost all kings and rulers in history did not know or were not concerned with human rights. The common practice among them was, more or less, dictatorship, which put their and their immediate families’ desires at the center of everything. Internationally also, they were always searching for opportunities to expand their kingdom in order to attain more tax payers, therefore guaranteeing a lengthy kingdom for their family line. They deprived or destroyed any group of people whom they felt threatened by or disliked. None of these kings and rulers desired to be economically dependent on their enemies or to unite with the worst enemies of their nations and cultures. Despite their dictatorship, they were able to understand that the enemy was always the enemy until it changed and integrated.

Many of our so-called civilized contemporary politicians, who have sworn to protect the rights and interests of their people everywhere, do not understand that their job is to guard their nations against their enemies’ threats.

America, who is indebted to Christianity for its freedom, borrowed money from one of its worst enemies, China, which has chosen communism to fight American freedom. Now, America owes trillions of dollars to China and not only is it unable to pay it back but the interest rate is escalating the full debt to economic enslavement. Some communist leaders said in the past that they won’t be able to fight the West via bullets but via their schemes. This is one of those schemes that is being progressively implemented.

Committed Muslims and many non-practicing Muslims believe that the West, in particular America, is their enemy. At the forefront of committed and fanatic Muslim minds it is imbedded that their war, either cultural or physical, will not end until democracy is demolished and people are yoked into Islamic Sharia. The continuous terrorist attacks in the last decades are clear evidence of committed Muslims’ commitment to jihad, the holy Islamic war, against the West.

Against this very obvious Islamists’ war, our politicians supported Mujahidin in Afghanistan, Al-Qaida in Bosnia and Libya, and now in Syria in the name of democracy. The White House even paved the way for the Muslim Brotherhood, a leading spiritual father for almost all Islamic terrorist groups in the world, to reach to presidency in Egypt. Thanks to Egyptian moderates who woke up quickly and ousted president Morsi, who was responsible for the death of a thousand Egyptians, including Christians, and for the destruction of many Christian churches and homes in the short span of his presidency. Now we understand that another one of his vicious plans was to arm the members of the Muslim Brotherhood so that they could kill the oppositions in the future and protect his presidency to implement every inch of Sharia in Egypt.

Our politicians could instead choose to stand behind democracy lovers in the M. East, who are hated by committed Muslims, and make a positive change in Islamic countries, but since many of our educational institutions hate Christian values and have made it fashionable to listen to and defend radical Muslims, it would be costly for our politicians to ignore Islamists.

For the convenience of Islamists, our politicians have also been imposing limitations on Christians in the West but opening doors for committed Muslims to important offices in in the name of democracy, which is indeed for the destruction of the democracy. Our contemporary Prime Ministers and Presidents came to power with the oath of ridding people from the existing problems caused by previous politicians, instead they have added many more problems. Now many of the Western embassies are closed in Islamic countries because of extremist Muslims who received the support of our politicians in the name of democracy.

At the heart of our politicians’ political philosophy is this problematic ideal: they think they are following the tenets of democracy by permitting radical Muslims to have the freedom to attain political power even if their aim is to yoke people to Islamic Sharia. In other words, in a democratic society the wolves need to have access to people and tear them into pieces. They do not see that a leader must be as a mother or a father to his/her nation and is responsible to try opening the eyes of the nation to terrorist ideologies that aim at nothing but destruction. They are immature and do not understand that democracy should not shelter terrorists and there cannot be a lasting unity between them and the enemies of their countries. The enemy will get rid of them in the first opportune moment.

Renowned Iranian Communists who were pro-Russian Communism, called Toudeyiha (pro-people group), joined the Ayatollah Khomeini campaign against the Shah of Iran. They advised their communist followers to do the same. After the Revolution of 1979, they continued their support of the Ayatollah even against his new revolutionary opposition groups. This was possibly a calculation according to a dialectic theory in Communism which compelled them to do so. No matter what they were thinking they did not know that Islamists’ toleration was simply a preparation for absolute dominance. In a few years’ time after the Ayatollah reached the culmination of his power, he put all of these friendly Communists in prison, except those who were able to escape, and killed some. This will happen in the West if our pro-Islamist politicians and professors do not wake up but insist on giving more rights to Islamists rather than freedom lovers.

M. Eastern political philosophy allows the sharing of power with other groups or oppositions only if the ruling leader does not have strong roots among the people. This has been the trend of leadership since the rise of Islam. Ruling leaders show themselves to be friendly toward the opposition until they establish themselves stronger than the oppositions for absolute dominance. Depending on circumstances, their plans may take a short time or it may be years but they will be patient until it is their turn. Then there will be no tolerance, only destruction and bloodshed.

The secular humanist mindset has paralyzed many of our politicians from pausing a little while to learn a good lesson from history, think big and strategic, and take steps beyond their personal feelings. This is why we see that their domestic and foreign policies so often do not reflect the reality of the life of their fellow citizens and the long standing war we are facing with Islamists. It is no wonder then that they think Israel is a threat but the Muslim Brotherhood, Libyan and Syrian Al-Qaida rebels are friends! This is why the majority of democracy lovers in Iran and Egypt have the right to blame our politicians for supporting their enemies. The West is paying a high price for the immaturity of its politicians.

Nothing but the mind of Christ can help us and our politicians to wake up to the threats of those who come to us as sheep but inwardly are wolves:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7: 15-16 MKJV).