Worldview
Why U. S. and Israel are the Great and Little Satans in Today’s World?
Two weeks ago I took an associate through the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. For those who haven’t been there, it’s an amazing four-story multi-media display of how Nazi Germany managed to murder six million Jews during World War II.
The tour begins on the top floor where you watch films and see memorabilia related to the rise of Nazism. By the time you’ve worked your way down the four flights, you’ve walked through replicas of the gas chambers where millions were exterminated.
Most people are silent during the tour. It’s eerie and very thought-provoking. Why were the Jews the object of this type of hatred–not just during World War II, but at other times in history?
Good question.
Then last week I listened to the president of the United States give his “Arab Spring” speech in which he stunned many observers by stating that Israel needed to return to its 1967 borders.
Why did he do that?
Let’s look at the speech, but especially look behind the curtain. There’s another being standing there.
President Obama’s new policy was a stunning change of US position because for decades, the United States has been Israel’s greatest friend in an extremely hostile world. Since the creation of Israel in 1948, the United States of America has stood by Israel as the only real democracy in the Middle East.
But that is changing with this Administration–and the consequences are sobering. No wonder the denunciation of his words were swift and powerful.
Senator Orin Hatch, R-Utah, said of the President’s position, “This is not only ridiculous but dangerous” and promised to sponsor a resolution this week disapproving of the President’s position.
Senator James Imhofe, R- Okla., said, “The President’s position was a slap in the face of our friend and democracy’s only ally in the Middle East: Israel.” He said, “The land belongs to Israel. Period.”
Rabbi Aryeh Sero said, “It’s ironic that the President of the United States, who speaks in humanitarian tones regarding the Palestinians, doesn’t have any humanitarian concerns toward 500,000 Jewish people and families that will be uprooted and deported from their homes…The President of the United States is asking for ethnic cleansing.”
The next day, Israel’s president Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House and rebuffed our American president with these words: “Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state… the 1967 lines are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines.”
Exactly true.
It would be suicidal in 2011 for Israel’s borders to be changed to only nine miles in width. It would probably lead to another type of holocaust.
In “The Perils of the Pre-1967 Proposal” a Redstate.com gives an important perspective on why Israel’s borders shouldn’t be changed.
“There seems to be some confusion over why the Israelis should be so hostile to President Obama’s suggestion that the two-state solution be achieved by returning the Jewish state to its 1967 borders. The President’s supporters argue that since these borders were previously acceptable to Israel, they should be acceptable now. After all, pre-1967 Israel fought to defend those borders and they were on the table in the 2000 peace talks. Can 45 years make that much of a difference?”
“It is true that 45 years is not so very long in terms of the territorial integrity of the United States. We might even prefer to return to the 1967 context in which our borders were much less challenging than they are today. But what Mr. Obama seems to fail to understand is that 45 years is a very long time for Israel. While the history of the Israeli people stretches back millennia, lsrael itself has only existed for 63 years. What the President is asking is that more than 70% of that history be erased, beginning with the reasons it was deemed necessary to annex the territories in 1967, and continuing on through the failed diplomatic initiatives, UN humiliations and relentless, deadly terrorist attacks of the past decades.”
“While some have considered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s terse response to this proposal disrespectful of the President, Mr. Netanyahu might have some very real concerns that once three-quarters of Israel’s past has been eradicated, would it be all that outlandish to go all the way to pre-1948? Especially under the leadership of an American president who is asking the Israelis to make this concession on the dubious grounds that hope will overcome hate?”
President Obama’s proposal stands in direct opposition to the positive and protective role that the United States of America has maintained with the nation of Israel for six decades.
It should be rejected as folly.
At the least, it’s incredibly naive.
Previous to the Obama announcement, the United States and Israel shared a close friendship and a unique role in history that the media tries to downplay or overlook. And by diminishing those truths, they also reject the main reason the US and Israel have been labeled the “satans” of this world.
So what is unique both about Israel and the United States? And why are they called by many the “Great and Little Satans?”
Let’s talk about Israel first. Three things are completely unique to the nation we call “Israel.”
First, they are a nation whose existence and identity are nothing less than a miracle from God. Israel came into being thousands of years ago when God spoke to an Aramean named Abraham and gave him possession of the land they now inhabit–two millennia later. This happened to no other nation in history. Hundreds of large and small nations have joined the dustbin of history during that same period of time.
But Israel remains at the center of world attention. It’s a tiny piece of real estate with a small population. Most of the that population has forgotten about God, but he has not forgotten them.
Today’s world hates Israel because it is exhibit number one that God exists.
If there wasn’t a God, there would be no Israel.
Secondly, Israel was specially given the commands of God and built their culture upon the principles of His direct revelation (Romans 3:2). They established the world’s first human society on wise, God-given principles. Because of this, they were blessed as a nation for centuries–until they turned away from those principles and lost their nation and sovereignty for a period of time.
But God’s general blessing on the Jews still remains. They are leaders in commerce and business in many nations of the world. Let’s call it an “afterglow” of the presence and principles of God.
A third unique aspect about Israel is that God has great plans for them at the end of the age. One of the final demonstrations of God’s reality and power will be a massive turning of the Jewish people back to God and faith in Jesus the Messiah.
The Apostle Paul explains it this way: “Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved.Do you remember what the prophets said about this? ‘A Deliverer wil come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel from all ungodliness. And then I will keep my covenant with them and take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27).
We don’t how God will use to accomplish this, but we know that one day, near the close of history (which didn’t happen on May 21), millions of Jews will trust their Messiah Jesus.
So Israel has a unique birth, foundation in law, and will experience a future revival.
Now let’s look at the United States. There are some similarities.
First of all, the U.S. was founded by God-fearing people and through spiritual revivals that brought great freedom and blessing to this nation. Our birth was also unique–a revolution in Christian thinking that launched a patch-work society into greatness and became the envy of the world.
We also built our nation on the principles of God’s Word–just like the nation of Israel. Our pioneers knew that “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). Their adherence to biblical principles in family life, business, and human governments made us an “exceptional” nation. Throughout the 20th century and to this day, American is the leading nation in world evangelization.
America also had a unique beginning, biblical foundations, and important role in Christians missions.
So why are the United States and Israel at the center of world attention–and hated by other nations?
Here’s the truth that needs to be heard on network news every night: There is a real Satan who hates God, his special nation Israel, and God’s missionary nation America. Because he hates the image of God in both countries, he is trying to destroy America from within and Israel from without.
Because of this hatred, and his influence in other nations of the world, he has successfully promulgated the lie that America is the Great Satan and Israel the little one. He’s convinced other nations that white is black and black is white.
He’s even given away his own name! That’s quite a powerful deception.
So now you know why America and Israel are blamed for all the bad things in the world. They are strategic targets of the Evil One who wants to destroy millions or billions of people before God wraps up history with a Great End-time Revival.
Pray that President Obama will not be a pawn in his hand.
Pray that the media will tell the real truth: There is a Satan.
But he is not America or the nation of Israel. They are simply unique focal points of his rage against God.
Responding to Islam
The ninth anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks was solemnly remembered on Saturday. The Mosque-near-Ground-Zero debate and the possible burning of Qurans in Florida seemed to heighten the tensions all across our nation. President Obama pleaded for “tolerance,” and everywhere on the air waves people grappled with how to respond to Islam.
There are three clear responses we must make to Islam and Muslim peoples. If we fail at any of them, we and they will pay dearly for our mistake.
Before we look at those responses, let’s remind ourselves of the historical context. The clash of Western (Judeo-Christian) culture and Muslim civilization is one of the paramount struggles of the 21st century. It’s not a new battle, but it is new to us.
We have entered the era of the third jihad.
Gary Randall has written an excellent article on the triumphalism aspect of the Islamic holy wars. You can read that article by clicking here.
But now back to the brief history.
The first jihad started with Mohammad when his armies conquered all of Arabia. In the hundred years after his death, they subjugated most of the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. The first jihad lasted from 622 AD until 750 AD.
The second major jihad started in 1071 AD. Islamic armies toppled Constantinople and spread into Europe, India, and further into Africa. The second jihad began to decline when the Muslim army was stopped on September 11th, 1683 at the gates of Vienna, Austria. (Notice the interesting date of 9-11-1683.) Its remnants lived on until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
After that there was a sixty year lull in Islamic expansion. The Builder and Boomer generations grew up during this season of “Muslim quiet.” That’s why Islam was not on our radar screens. To us, the Muslim faith was a distant foreign religion of primarily poverty-stricken states scattered across the Middle East and Africa.
Then oil was found in Saudi Arabia. This launched the Wahhabiism era of the third jihad. Funded by petro dollars, militant Islamicists flexed their muscles once again, trying to remove Israel from Palestine and igniting a barrage of terrorism which continues to this day.
2740 Americans lost their lives on 9-11-2001 at the hands of the third jihad. The fight continues in America over building mosques and burning Korans.
What should be our Christian response? How should we react to increasing Muslim presence in our lives and world?
Let’s focus the question further. How does God want us to respond to Islam?
I believe there are three distinct categories of response.
First, there is our personal response to Muslim people. We are to love all people, including our enemies. This is the famous teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:43:48:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Sermon on the Mount was written for individual behavior, not the role of governments. As individual people, we are to love all people, including our enemies. We are never to take vengeance in our own hands or act as vigilantes. On the a personal level, we must love and forgive.
Why? Because on a personal level, God does the same thing. Our “Father in heaven” does not harbor selfish rage or bitterness. He does not stoop to the level of his race of rebels on earth. He is personally gracious toward the unworthy. On the Cross, Jesus even expressed forgiveness to those who were violently killing him.
We must be like him–and personally do the same.
As hard as it is, all the victims of 9-11 or any other even atrocity must personally choose to love their enemies. This keeps us from becoming like them and also provides motives for them to individually change. God wants all Muslim people to also come to repentance and faith. He wants to deliver them and set them free. Our personal loving acts toward them can be used by God to touch their hearts and bring them into the arms of the Savior.
As a follower of Christ, I must love all Muslims–including jihadists–when in personal contact with them. It is not my job as an individual to execute vengeance or justice. It is my job to try and win them for Christ through self-sacrificing love. He died for them as much as he died for me.
That’s why I agree with the cover story of a recent US Center for World Missions magazine that was entitled “Loving Bin Laden.” It was filled with numerous articles on how we must love Muslim people into the Kingdom of God. On a personal basis, it truly asked the question: How would Jesus personally treat Osama bin Laden?
The answer is that he loves him and died for him. As individual human beings, we must do the same to all Muslims that we meet.
But secondly, there is also a necessary governmental response to the third jihad. The government’s job is to protect its people by punishing evil-doers.This is the role of civil authority in a fallen world–to represent the justice of God on earth by bearing the sword on behalf of innocent people (Romans 13:1-8) . This is what makes the War on Terror so right and important. It is the responsibility of civil governments to bring criminals to justice and to defeat enemy armies. That is their God-given duty.
The same Jesus who tells us to personally love our enemies also instructs government to punish evil. He inspired both Matthew 5 and Romans 13. But his teachings apply to different domains.
Individuals are to love and forgive. Governments are to punish and protect.
Let’s stop confusing the two. President Obama, for one, is completely baffled on this issue. As a political leader that many consider very “intelligent,” he wrongly believes that the Sermon on the Mount cannot be squared with having a national military. That’s ridiculous. it doesn’t even meet the common sense test. We all know that as individuals, it is not our role to punish crime. That is the role of the governmental domain. Civil governments lock up criminals for the public good. National armies win wars to protect their people from evil.
The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. It just needs to be read in context and with common sense. The real Jesus who personally loves all people will also return one day in the role of a conquering King to exact governmental vengeance and justice against every form of evil (see Revelation 19).
Jesus knows he wears two different hats. One is his personal response toward sinners. The other is his governmental responsibility. Maybe Jeremiah Wright didn’t teach the difference at the Chicago church.
Thirdly, there is our philosophical response to Islam. The Muslim faith is a false religion. Even in its benign sense, it does not teach the truth about God or how human beings can be reconciled to him. In its moderate form it discriminates against women, and in its militant forms it rewards those who callously kill innocent people.
Islam is a false, deceptive ideology. We must firmly and politely expose and reject its false teachings on life and religion. We do not believe in relativity. There is truth and there is error.
This exposure of error includes the Quran. A few months ago I purchased a copy of the Quran because I hadn’t read it for over thirty years. I took the time to do so. I was again amazed at its poor writing style, bad grammar, historical errors, harsh attitude toward Jews and Christians, numerous ramblings, and open support of jihad (one hundred different verses).
Let’s stop apologizing for the “sacred writings” of Islam. There’s nothing sacred about them. In fact, probably one of the best things we could do in America is to encourage every person to read the Quran. If they did, they would purposefully reject the “recitations” (that’s the meaning of “Quran”).
Let’s not burn it. Let’s read it–and remind ourselves why we reject it. It doesn’t pass the muster of good literature, let alone Scripture.
To summarize, let’s be wise in our responses to Islam. On a personal level, let’s love all Muslims, including those who want to kill us. As citizens, let’s support our government and troops in winning the war against terror. And in the realm of literature and critical thinking, let’s civilly expose the falsehoods of an ideology that enslaves over one billion people.
If we respond rightly to Islam in these various ways, God’s love and power will be released to bring many Muslims into true “submission” (Islam” means submission) and his protection and blessings to our nation.
That will be wisdom for us and salvation for them.
The Ground Zero Mosque and Obama’s Faith
Islam seems to be much in the news these days.
Of course, there is a reason for this. Islam is on the rise in the West and is now coming into close contact with our Judeo-Christian civilization. That never happened during America’s first two hundred years, and it was not on anyone’s radar screen during my childhood either.
However, the 1970s saw a resurgence of Wahhabiism (radical Islam) that has placed Islam on a collision course with other nations and cultures. In the Western World (Europe and America), an epic worldview battle is being raged between three worldviews.
One of them is true faith, another is false faith and the third is no faith. Europe and America’s choice of “faith” will determine their fate in the next generation.
Let’s quickly examine these worldviews in tension.
True faith is trust in Christ, which is the true way to God, life, liberty, and loving relationships. Our founding fathers spoke candidly and clearly about true religion and false religion. Christianity is the truth about God and life.
No faith is secularism–faith in man–that leads to moral anarchy and ultimately Big Government (man as his own Savior). Our founders did not respect the fruits of atheism (i.e. French Revolution).
For fourteen hundred years, the West rightly labeled the Muslim faith as false religion. It is false in that it misrepresents the God of love and forgiveness, denies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins, and creates political theocracies that are often violent and deny basic human (God-given) rights.
This is not to say that there aren’t any decent Muslim folks. There are. But the religion is false. Islam has always been based on violence (Mohammed himself led nineteen bloody raids) and deception (erroneous teachings that produced, among other things, sharia law).
Islam is essentially codified religious tyranny. And for decades, now, it has ambitiously exported that form of control into many nations in the world through terrorism.
That’s why it’s in the news every day. We’re fighting a worldview that brings tyranny.
Both America and Europe are caught in the cross hairs of the battle. Both were once Christian-based civilizations who have drifted into secularism due to spiritual apathy and the nrestrained pursuit of affluence. Europe is more advanced in abandoning its godly foundations, but the United States is not far behind. Because of declining birthrates in Europe and massive Muslim immigration, Islam is gaining the edge over secularism on the Continent, with many predicting that Europe will become Eurabia (Islamicized) by 2050.
That could happen in your lifetime.
We are not much better off in America. Our birthrate–which helps preserve a culture and its beliefs about itself–is 2.11–the bare minimum necessary for cultural continuity. This is due primarily to the high immigration rate of Hispanics. Many Hispanics are Catholic or evangelical, but their cultural worldview goes back to Spain which was under Muslim control for four hundred years. Thus Latin nations have experienced more tyrannical leadership and human injustice than the United States. Worldviews, no matter how subtle, have enormous consequences.
By the way–I didn’t learn the difference between the Latin worldview and the US worldview from white textbooks. I was taught it from Hispanic leaders in Latin America. Many of them want to cast off the past baggage of Islam and come into the freedom that Christ can bring to nations.
Which brings us back to our headline. For a few days now, the news has been loaded with the controversial mosque in New York and more recently, Barack Obama’s faith.
Let’s begin with the mosque. As has been stated by many, including my favorite analysis by Charles Krauthammer, the building of the Cordoba House mosque near Ground Zero was never a legal question. America was founded as a Christian nation where property is viewed as an extension of one’s personal rights. When I combine honest labor with intellectual capital, it often produces “property” that I possess as a God-given right to use and enjoy.
A Muslim developer in Manhattan acquired such property. He has a right to use it in any lawful way. But we have other Christian principles in our American heritage. These include honor, respect, sensitivity, humility, deference, and love for others. These responsibilities or moral principles are just as important if not more important than our rights. In fact, in our Christian-based society, moral responsibilities are more important than personal rights.
The Muslims should respect our Christian sensibilities and move the mosque elsewhere.
Of course, this stand-off is not really about a mosque. There are one hundred mosques in New York. There is already a small mosque near Ground Zero. But the Cordoba House mosque is not planned as a small or insignificant structure. The developers want to erect a thirteen story, 110 million dollar edifice–a monument–that can only symbolize Islam’s desire for triumphant dominion.
It doesn’t belong near the hallowed ground of Lower Manhatten where twenty Wahhabbists cruelly killed 3,000 of our fellow citizens. We must continue to morally fight it.
As for Barack Obama’s faith, the polls have been interesting. The TIME poll reported 24% of Americans thought Obama was a Muslim and 47% said he was a Christian. The Pew poll had it 18% Muslim (up from 11% in March). 34% Christian with 43% saying they didn’t know.
We can help them those who are confused. First of all, for the record, let’s state the facts that are known:
- Barack Obama was born into a divided household where his father was Muslim and his mother was an atheist.
- His second home and father, in Indonesia, was more decidedly Muslim. He attended a Muslim school and his “religion” during the time was listed as Muslim. That was his father’s choice.
- When he became an adult, Barack Obama says that he became a Christian under the spiritual mentorship of Jeremiah Wright, who espouses Afro-centric liberation theology.
Those are the facts. After the polls came out, the White House scrambled to let everyone know that Obama was a Christian. To be fair, we have to accept his word. Only God knows the human heart.
But there is another gauge of a person’s faith: People are known by their deeds, not what they profess to believe. Jesus Himself said “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16).
You can call yourself anything you like. However, your life choices speak more clearly than your words. To use African-American parlance you can’t just “talk the talk; you’ve got to walk the walk.”
Barack Obama doesn’t walk like either a Christian or a Muslim. He attends neither mosque or church, be often plays golf on Saturdays and Sundays. He refused involvement in the National Day of Prayer. He doesn’t use a prayer mat five times facing Mecca. He’s pro-homosexual marriage and pro-abortion. He’s a strong proponent of Big Government.
By his actions, Barack Obama’s worldview is obvious: It’s secular–with some Muslim sympathies and a Christian veneer thrown in. In some ways he represents all three of the worldviews in tension.
But in his actions and policies, Barack Obama is a secular man–a statist–a man of no practicing faith.
Let’s pray that he and many other Americans will find and demonstrate true faith during this important season of choosing.