Finally, a Christian of national stature has come out and said in the public square what most of us know to be true but everyone seems afraid to say - that Islam is an evil religion, and that it is no coincidence that the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda network are Muslims and not Methodists.

In commenting on the recent terrorist attacks on the USA, Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, said of Islam, "I don't believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion. When you read the Koran and you read the verses from the Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel, for those that are non-Muslim." He went on to say, "It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans, it was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith."

Predictably, Graham's remarks unleashed a hailstorm of negative reaction from both the media and politicians, but what is perhaps most regrettable is the lack of support he has received from the evangelical community. Graham is right, and he deserves our support for his courage in speaking the truth when everyone else seems eager to pretend, as far as Islam is concerned, that evil is good and darkness is light.

Long before Graham made his remarks, one of the things that had been irritating me most about the reporting of the terrorist attacks on the USA were the constant claims that militant Islamic groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda do not interpret Islam correctly and that Islam is a religion of "peace, love, and tolerance." When "Muslim authorities" were interviewed by the media they were invariably theological liberals who radically reinterpret Islam. The situation is almost the parallel to the one evangelical Christians have to endure on a regular basis. When the media wish to get a "Christian commentary" on the biblical teaching regarding an issue, such as homosexuality or marriage, they usually interview a liberal Christian who presents a biblical revisionism.

I did my masters in Modern History at the University of St. Andrews. My major was history and my field of specialization was the Ottoman Empire. In order to study the Ottomans, I first took classes on the History of Islam. One of the many things that those courses made clear to me, is that far from getting it wrong, groups like the Iranian Revolutionaries, the Taliban, and even Al-Qaeda understood the message of the prophet Muhammad far better than most of their nominal modern brethren. While some religions may pick up an alien political dimension (such as the American liberal and conservative social gospels), Islam is at its heart a militant political movement with a clear religious dimension.

The early expansion of Islam throughout the Middle-East and Africa was due to the correct understanding of its followers that the Dar-el-Islam must extend to all the corners of the earth by the command of the prophet, and that this expansion is to be achieved by fighting and conquering the forces of "unbelief."

Viewed biblically, we know that Islam is a religion of demon worship (1 Cor. 10:20-21) created by a frustrated would-be conqueror named Muhammad. Muhammad claimed that the contents of the Koran where dictated to him by an angel; I fully believe that it is conceivable that either Satan or one of his fallen angels was an agent by which part or all of this "new revelation" was transferred.

The revelation itself changed according to the circumstances of Muhammad's life. For instance, the Koran becomes progressively more anti-Christian and anti-Jewish as it became clearer to him that these groups would not convert voluntarily to worshiping him and his false idol. We also know that he made up much of his siren song on the fly.

In many ways, the development of Islam and the later development of Mormonism are parallels. Both were supposedly dictated to a single power-hungry man by angels and both have superficial similarities to Christianity (in fact, one professor of mine argued that Islam is essentially a form of Gnostic Christianity). We can also say that the ultimate ambition of both these movements is to turn people away from worshiping the triune God and instead hold out to them the possibility of self-salvation through good works and belief in falsehoods. Unfortunately, both also teach blasphemous falsehoods about Christ.*

Evangelical Christians shouldn't believe for a moment the ridiculous line the media is currently preaching regarding Islam. Islam is by nature a militant religion that cannot ultimately allow for the existence of "unbelief." The following quotes from the Koran should make that evident:

Jihad:
[9.123] O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

Impossibility of friendship with unbelievers:
[5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people

Duty of Jihad enjoined against the Jews and Christians, necessity of Guarding Mecca:
[9.28] O you who believe! the idolaters are nothing but unclean, so they shall not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year; and if you fear poverty then Allah will enrich you out of His grace if He please; surely Allah is Knowing Wise.

[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

[9.31] They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords besides Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium and they were enjoined that they should serve one God only, there is no god but He; far from His glory be what they set up (with Him).

[9.32] They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers are averse.

[9.33] He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse.

Eternal Life promised to those who die or triumph fighting for Allah (fight in the way of Allah=Holy War)
[4.74] Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world's life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward.
[4.75] And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.
[4.76] Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the Shaitan. Fight therefore against the friends of the Shaitan; surely the strategy of the Shaitan is weak.

The Duty of Killing those who Apostatize from Islam enjoined:
[4.88] What is the matter with you, then, that you have become two parties about the hypocrites, while Allah has made them return (to unbelief) for what they have earned? Do you wish to guide him whom Allah has caused to err? And whomsoever Allah causes to err, you shall by no means find a way for him.
[4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.

Media pundits have commented that Franklin Graham is not cut from the same cloth as his more famous father. Perhaps. Would that all Christians were as bold as he. Franklin Graham took a stand for the truth despite the negative publicity he must have known it would produce and he deserves both our prayers and support.
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* Many Christians are unfamiliar with what Islam says about Jesus. The Koran teaches the following untruths about Christ (which it calls "Isa"):

Jesus was a created man just like Adam, whom Allah took back into heaven:
[3.55] And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l will decide between you concerning that in which you differed.
[3.59] Surely the likeness of Isa is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was.

There is no difference between Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, etc.:
[3.84] Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.

The Jews did not really kill Jesus, the only thought they did, Allah took him into heaven:
[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.
[4.158] Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.

Jesus came to bring the Good News of the coming of Muhammad:
[61.6] And when Isa son of Marium said: O children of Israel! surely I am the apostle of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Taurat and giving the good news of an Apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad, but when he came to them with clear arguments they said: This is clear magic.

Jesus did miracles, but by the power and permission of Allah:
[5.110] When Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! Remember My favor on you and on your mother, when I strengthened you I with the holy Spirit, you spoke to the people in the cradle and I when of old age, and when I taught you the Book and the wisdom and the Taurat and the Injeel; and when you determined out of clay a thing like the form of a bird by My permission, then you breathed into it and it became a bird by My permission, and you healed the blind and the leprous by My permission; and when you brought forth the dead by My permission; and when I withheld the children of Israel from you when you came to them with clear arguments, but those who disbelieved among them said: This is nothing but clear enchantment.
[Note: The reference to the bird of clay coming to life is not in Scripture; it is a fable circulated by Gnostics and recounted in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. I wonder by whom Muhammad was influenced?]

Jesus was not God nor did he claim to be:
[5.116] And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.

[5.117] 1 did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with: That serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things.

Our obligations as Christians do not stop there however. Simply acknowledging the truth that Islam is a false and wicked religion is not enough. We need to be in earnest prayer for the adherents of Islam and the nations that have been so long under its influence. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners from every race and nation, and we need to be
daily praying and working towards the goal that the gospel message of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone might pierce the darkness that lays so heavily over the nations of Islam.

Truly our hearts should be breaking not only that so many would be willing to condemn a man for telling the truth, but that they also seem willing to let so many continue on a broad path that leads only to destruction. Pray that our Muslim neighbors might be delivered, remembering that we too were once just as blind and lost as they (Titus 3:3-7).
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Andrew Webb, Pastor
Providence PCA Mission
Fayetteville, N.C.

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