The Wild Man

Genesis 16:11-12

The “Wild Man” is loose on the earth and fulfilling Bible prophecy daily, including this week in Afghanistan.  He has always been here, but today he is most ACTIVE. We can call him Ishmael; we can identify him, his Muslim descendants, ideologically and spiritually. He is no longer just in the Middle East, but has spread everywhere. From 2008-2016 he had friends in the White House, including one named Hussein and the other who now considers them to be a cooperating partner in mid-east security.  He is helping them to ‘build back better.’ 

Here’s the Taliban mocking us a few weeks ago, wearing our own gear!  [Iwo Jima slide]

They stone rape victims.  They kill babies!

        And yet Jesus loves them and died for them!  We love their souls.  Christ loved the very people who mocked and crucified Him!

We love souls.  But we also love our country and our freedom to worship.  They want to kill us and end all freedom.

And while the current president hasn’t located and rescued many Americans, he has succeeded at flying more than 100,000 of the wild man’s descendants to our country. [20:1 ratio]  The shadow of the wild man has arrived on our scene, within our coasts, but good news, we have been assured that none of them are terrorists.  [really?  More than 100 are on terror watch list!]

In the 20 years since 9/11 we have learned a new vocabulary:

We have learned about Islam, Mohammad, Allah, Jihad, Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS, and caliphate.

Previous to 9/11 these were irrelevant words, used mostly by foreigners with towels on their heads. We didn’t know these words nor did we care.  But then we learned.  Or we think we did.  I can tell you we never truly learned the term “Sharia Law”, the Muslim mantra which states that people like Americans and Christians must be killed.  We said, “never forget,” but then we forgot.

These “wild men” are a faceless enemy; they wear no uniform and they fight dirty.  Can I make an observation? They do have faces; faces that we can see as they walk amongst us! Not only do they walk right beside us with equality, they have garnered a preferred status! They have more protection than you or I have as Christians!  These wildmen now surround us in ever increasing numbers as we go to work, play, consult them for medical care, and do our daily business.  At this point in time they are non-violent, let us hope they stay that way, but don’t be taken in! The warning flags are waving!

These “Wildmen” have taken up residence in Congress [Squad member Ilhan Omar and Keith Ellison took the oath of office on the Quran!  Rashida Tlaib tried to validate this despicable practice by swearing on a copy of the Quran owned by Thomas Jefferson. By the way, who allowed that?  America should decide what you swear upon, not the elected one]

They are also in our military now in huge numbers, but we had better not speak out. It might be the end of your career!

This is going to be the end of us as a nation if we don’t wake up and start making changes fast.

Our country is doing things that just don't make sense! However, the Bible does warn us that in the last days things will become confusing and that nations who once were blessed of God will do things that are counterproductive even to the point of facing their own destruction.

And don’t think this is about Radical Muslims as opposed to Moderates; Nidal Hasan was an average peaceful, moderate Muslim until he came under pressure, then what was deep inside came gushing out.  He killed 13.  I wonder, what will happen when the entire country of America is squeezed?

The media in our country and world leaders in the UN have made it clear, this isn’t about Muslims. “Why, don’t you know? True Islam is peaceful and harmless,” they say.

Then why did the peaceful ones dance in the streets all over the world in celebration when the towers fell?

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.

Chuck Colson said, “The Truth is that bin Laden and his followers did not hijack Islam; they simply took it seriously.”  They are the conservatives who believe and practice their book.  [Aren’t you a conservative?  Isn’t that because you believe the Bible literally?  Do you respect professing Christians who don’t practice what their book teaches?]

This is scary when you see our nation falling for the politically correct notion that we should embrace people of this faith as long as they are not radical.  Even Bush 43 recognized and celebrated Ramadan for PC purposes, and many who call themselves conservatives have bought the lie that Islam is fundamentally a peaceful religion.  It is not.

And so, it’s generally accepted as just another religion in all areas of our culture today.  Well, not by me, and not by the Bible!  But sadly, many churches are falling into this garbage.  In recent years one of the major denominations met to debate, of all things, whether or not Jesus Christ is the one and only true Savior of the world. Is he the universal Savior or might there be several? What about the other world religions and their claims? Some people wonder if perhaps there are not many paths to God? If you asked the average American today what the difference was between the major world religions, they would probably mumble something about all religions being pretty much the same. People assume that all religions have nearly the same moral teachings and ideals. They might have different names for God, but it is the same God. These religions, many people believe, may travel different roads, but they all lead to God. As long as you believe in something, as long as you believe in God, it really doesn’t matter what form your belief takes. The truth is that these religions are all very different and even contradict each other at crucial points. What this means is that we are left with two options: either none of them are true, or one of them is true and the others are not.

“Every religion at its core is exclusive.” [Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message, p. 7]

The law of non-contradiction says that positions that are different from one another cannot be equally true.

So what are the real differences between the Moslem faith and Christianity?

1. Muslims are sincere and devout, but that is not enough.
We could learn much from their commitment.  Muslims generally are among the most serious and devout people on the earth. Many of them have completely memorized the Quran. They pray at least five times a day. They fast for one month every year (during Ramadan, from sunrise to sunset). But their salvation is something which must be earned. It is not graciously given to them by Allah. Islam does have a high standard of morality called the “straight path,” which must be strictly maintained. Women are regarded as possible temptations which would lead men away from the path, so women must be modest to the point of being veiled and wearing clothing that completely covers them.
 

It’s not an Arab thing.  While the overwhelming majority of Arabs are Muslim, most Muslims are not Arab. Although Islam had its origins in the Middle East, the four largest populations of Muslims are Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today (there are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, over 20% making it the 2nd largest religion after Christianity at about 33%).

v. 10        Geographically, about 1/3^rd of the earth is Arabic or controlled by Arabs.  That’s virtually all of the mid-east, with the exception of the NJ sized Israel, and the wild man [Palestinians] want that too!  In America, they’re at least 7 million and quickly rising.

There were 11,000 converts to Islam each year in the United States in the early 90s (Newsweek, Oct. 30, 1995) and 90% of them were among the black population.  That has only increased in the last 2 decades as many convert in an attempt to not feel racist!
Islam, like Judaism traces its lineage to the patriarch Abraham. The Arabs, however, trace their lineage to the firstborn son of Abraham by Hagar, Ishmael. The Jews trace their lineage to Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah who had been promised by God. The war in the Middle East today can be traced back to this Biblical story of who really is the rightful son of Abraham. The truth about the Middle East is that the Palestinians and surrounding Muslim nations will never make a genuine and lasting peace with Israel. They don’t want peace – they never wanted peace – they want Israel, all of it, and its inhabitants and supporters dead.  And we're all infidels [unbelievers] to them.
The word Islam, meaning submission, says much about the attitude of the followers of Islam.

They are sincere…but they are sincerely wrong.

2. It is a good thing to believe in God, but it is not enough.
True Christianity worships the eternally self-existent God who spoke the world into being. Islam worship a god named Allah who is not eternal and who created nothing. 

Here in America there are many who think that because they believe in the existence of God, they will go to heaven. Over the years I have met a lot of people who assume because they simply believed in a god that it was enough. The Bible speaks directly to this supposition when it says in James 2:19, “Thou believest there is one God.  Thou doest well.  The devils believe——and tremble!”

Acknowledging the existence of a god is not the same as trust in “the” true and living God for salvation.  The word Allah is derived from al-ilah which had become the general name for whatever god was considered the highest of all their gods at the time. During the days of Muhammad, each Arab tribe used the word Allah to refer to its own particular “high god.” Before Islam began, the moon god was the central focus of prayer and worship at the Kaaba, considered the central worship house at Mecca. Interestingly, the moon god was worshiped by praying toward Mecca several times a day, making an annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba which was the temple of the Moon god, running around the Kaaba seven times, touching a black stone set in the wall of the Kaaba and gathering on Fridays for prayer and giving of alms to the poor. These were all part of the pagan rites practiced by the Arabs long before Muhammad was born and they still are very similar to “the five pillars” of Islam practiced today.

Ishmael’s descendants are pagans, and they have always lived up to the reputation of the wild man.  And while they are among us, they are not of us.  Even if not spoken aloud, they have a strong opinion of us and have little or no loyalty to our nation.

Ill.—USA Today published a survey taken of Arab Muslims living in the U.S. concerning their attitude toward the war in Iraq, terrorism, etc.  82% said they would not be willing to allow their son or daughter to fight for this, “their” country which they have taken an oath to defend.  They should be deported if they answer this way.  Over ½ stated they would not support war w/ any Arab nation for any reason.  By the way, that survey was taken before the first invasion of Iraq [2/6/91].  So much has changed since then!

Let’s be clear:  not every Muslim is a terrorist or a terrorism supporter, but please notice that almost every terrorist today is a Muslim!  And because of what the Quran says, every Muslim is high risk to one day rise up against us.
 

Being sincere, dedicated, and believing in some god is not enough…

3. We are not trying to appease an angry God; we are learning how to fall in love with our Creator, Redeemer and Friend.
It is interesting that in the Quran there are no miracles performed by Mohammed or anyone else. There is not a single mention of the love of Allah for the world or the people in it. There are many, many laws and strict warnings of the penalty of not keeping the laws. The concept of having a relationship with Allah is not found anywhere in the Quran. But Christians understand that Christianity is not about moral laws or religious practices — it is about a relationship with a living Savior, Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-10

 8 …I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… 10 That I may know him…

        [Do you know Him?  Or just know about Him?]

It is this relationship with Christ that is the center of our faith.
The early church ministered in an age of religious pluralism but preached a message of salvation through faith in Christ alone.

4. It is a good thing to believe in Jesus but it is what you believe about Jesus that is important.
The greatest tension between Christians and Muslims is the difference between Muhammad and Jesus Christ. To Muslims, Jesus was a prophet but not the Son of God. But we understand that Jesus was not merely one way to God…he is the only way. Jesus said in John 14:6 about himself,

John 14:6 - I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

This principle is repeated in Acts 4:12

Acts 4:12 - Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Muhammad, on the other hand was born into a tribe who was keepers of a pagan shrine housing the sacred black meteorite (Kaaba) at Mecca. Muslims are taught that it was Abraham who received the Kaaba stone from the angel Gabriel and who established the shrine at Mecca.
They submit unquestioningly to the teachings of a book they say was given by the angel Gabriel to Mohammed, a self-proclaimed prophet who lived in the seventh century. An interesting note about Mohammed is that he was completely illiterate. He could neither read nor write. He dictated what Gabriel told him and his followers wrote it down. Also, Mohammed was given special permission by Allah to have 13 wives. His last wife was six-years-old when she was betrothed to him, and the marriage was consummated when she was nine.

That’s right, Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a 9-year-old girl.
 

And the wild men following this belief system are convinced that the moment they blow themselves up, taking ‘infidels’ with them, they will be transported to a heaven where 70+ virgins will satiate their lusts and food and drink will satisfy their every appetite.  This is why some of the 9/11 terrorists were frequenting porn shops just before their attacks…

they were preparing for their move to ‘paradise.’  Major Hasan was visiting strip clubs just before his rampage.

5. True Christianity is spread by love and choice – Islam is spread by sword and force.
It is true that some Muslims, like Christians, are willing to die for their faith. Some unfortunately, are also willing to kill for it. In fact the one sure way of earning salvation as a Muslim is to die as a martyr for the faith. They believe that just as Mohammed was whisked immediately to heaven and given several maidens, so will it be done for those who die for the cause of Islam. Those who attacked the World Trade Center and engaged in other acts of terrorism were acting in full accord with the tenets of Islam and the teachings of the Quran. The West, the United States in particular, is seen as corrupting the entire world and worthy of death. The U.S. policy of befriending Israel is particularly seen as harmful to the Muslim people and their cause. And their evangelism is not so much by the word as it is with the sword. The followers of Mohammad have been the most violent people in the history of the world, and continue to be so to this day — a fact well attested to in history.

So, Jesus taught that we are to love the sinner. Mohammed taught that the infidel must be killed if he refuses to convert.

Whether you realize it or not, America is at war, though there’s not currently a formal declaration of war. How severe will this war be, how long will it last, how many lives will it cost, what form will it take?…these are questions that no one can answer. But make no mistake about it--we are fighting for our way of life, we are fighting for survival. We are fighting against people who are willing to kill us any way they can.

We are not allowed to give out Bibles in their lands, yet they are allowed to build Mosques in our country.  And in NYC, Muslim children are allowed to pray in their custom, while our kids cannot.  Many big companies now replace urinals with footbaths.  God help us!

On of the saddest things about the Muslim belief system is that like many others, they believe that they will either make it to heaven or not based on either their good works outweighing their bad deeds or maybe that God will simply decide to let them in. According to their beliefs there is no way to know whether or not they are going to paradise or not. I’d like to say that ‘when you die’ is a bad time to find out you were wrong. But for a Muslim there is no way of knowing until the final judgment.

I am so glad that I can know the writer of 1 John 5,

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.