A Failure of Christian Leadership: Weakness of Belief

 

God is Great: Islam is a Menace

How mad should I be?

It’s a result of too much news exposure I’m sure, but I struggle with anger at the state of the world. A lot of the news is meant to ramp up anger, outrage and anxiety about the future. But even viewed through the lens of Christianity, I wonder how much of my anger is righteous and how much is reactionary?

The Offense 

I guess I’m disappointed that more people aren’t fired up about the lack of respect for sacred spaces. I watched a video of a Muslim man walk into a church (Catholic or protestant) I’m not sure. He asks the priest (or bishop) if he could spread out his rug and pray. This all happens in French. I’m guessing at the translation. The minister acknowledges him with a nod and moves on with the ceremony. The Muslim man sets up his rug toward the East and kneels, in the middle of the service.

Islam is not a religion of peace and it never has been. This scandalous lie gained oxygen during the Bush administration because of the War on Terror. Whatever you think about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the lie served a purpose. The US government didn’t want the Islamic world thinking we were at war with their religion. Can you find Mosques that preach peace? I’m sure. We have churches all over the country that barely crack the Bible, why wouldn’t the same be said for Western Muslims? When it has the numbers, it takes over every part of civil society. This includes daily prayers too. How many formally Christian cities in Europe and America have daily calls to prayer (adhan) that ring out through the city? I don’t mean within the walls of the mosques either.

The Future

 Minneapolis and Dearborn are two cities without any qualms about bothering their non-Muslim, American citizens who have to hear it 5 times a day.  

Islam is a fanatical religion. It doesn’t want to exist with Christianity. It wants to conquer it. It’s an ‘apostate’ religion as far as Islam is concerned. These milquetoast pastors have no fear of the Lord. I can’t imagine there is much they would protest. These are men without chests to borrow a C.S Lewis phrase. How mad should I be? To see an obvious disregard for the God of Heaven, from both Christians and Muslims, raises my blood pressure. Are followers of Islam welcome in a Christian Church? Absolutely. We are all sinners and need a savior. No one in the rows is more holy than another. But everyone needs to recognize when someone is blaspheming the Lord. This is warfare of the spiritual kind. This faux Christian tolerance has to go.

The Conflict

I also recognize that I have a tendency to run pretty hot. But I’d rather be corrected for acting too rashly than to be corrected for indifference. Righteous anger, rightly directed, brings about a change in hearts and minds. It’s impossible for me to see this affront to Christ and the church as a shot across the bow. I can’t understand why other Christians don’t. Tolerance is not a Christian virtue, love and peace are. Tolerance isn’t a positive or negative characteristic. It’s wholly dependent on the situation. I don’t see a conflict, for instance, between escorting the man with the prayer rug outside and telling him about Jesus. We shouldn’t tolerate abuses in the Lord’s house, any more than we tolerate attacks on our families. The Church is a kind of family.

James 1:19 “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Is this a “wrath of man” kind of situation, or is this the Godly kind of anger? The Christian walk often feels like balancing on a tightrope. Overreactions can harm your influence with non-Christians. James warns us of this by emphasizing our slowness toward anger. He doesn’t say don’t get angry; his admonition is to the hotheads. I don’t spend a lot of time upset, but when it comes to our Christian family (the community of believers) we need to be more assertive against attacks.

Conclusion

The danger here is that an ‘Us vs Them’ attitude sets in and get reinforced among believers. We should seek peace with everyone around us, but not at the expense of disrespecting the Lord’s house.  Equally worrying is a passive, do what you like, posture from Christian leaders.

There is a desperate need in today’s tense environment to throw down a marker against a clear enemy. Yes, Satan is the enemy and not people. But the church needs to see its leader defend the house, to revere the name of God. Christianity is dying because it’s largely useless in practice. For many, it’s a cultural relic of superstition that animates much of the last century. The Church will lose the mandate from God to be His representative on earth. Islam’s goal is to dominate every space in society. The Church has the spiritual authority to speak to the darkness and command it to go. That’s true of any attack against God and His people. Let's do Better Christians.