STANDING FOR THE LORD

In “The Assassin’s Veto,” Mary Turner (The Free Press) has written:

•    When public figures are threatened by Islamists, it changes their life. Just ask the novelist Salman Rushdie, who was forced into hiding after Iranian theocrats put a bounty on his head for publishing The Satanic Verses in 1988. Thirty-four years later, when many thought the threat to Rushdie had passed, he was nearly killed in an onstage attack at a literary festival in upstate New York.

•    Or ask Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch politician and writer, whose criticism of Islam—the religion she was born into—led to death threats. Meanwhile, her colleague, the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered for collaborating on a movie about Islam with her.

•    Just this past Sunday, The Free Press’s very own Douglas Murray faced the specter of Islamism in London, when a theater refused to host a pro-Israel event he was participating in, because of violent threats against their staff.

•    One of the depressing things about these crimes is that they usually have the desired effect. The assassin’s veto has silenced free speech, not just for its targets but for society at large. For evidence of its effectiveness, consider our main story today.

•    Mike Freer has been a member of Britain’s parliament for 14 years, representing a part of London where a large number of Jewish people live. But last week he announced he will step down at the next election because violent threats—including many from Islamist extremists—have made him fear for his life and the lives of his husband and loved ones.

It is important to recognize that these jihadists have the Quran on their side along with its call for violence and world domination. Therefore, Ibn Khaldun, the 15th century Tunisian historian, had condensed the teachings of the Quran as such:

•    In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force... The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense... Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations.

This corresponds to the teachings of the Quran:

•    Quran (2:191-193) - "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing...but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun(the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)" (Translation is from the Noble Quran)

•    Quran (2:216) - "Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not."

•    Quran (3:151) - "Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions [like Jesus] with Allah, for which He had sent no authority".

•    Quran (4:89) - "They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks."

•    Quran (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."

•    Quran (9:5) - "So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them."

•    IMMIGRATION JIHAD: (4:100) He who forsakes his home in the cause of Allah [Jihad], finds in the earth Many a refuge, wide and spacious: Should he die as a refugee from home for Allah and His Messenger, His reward becomes due and sure with Allah. And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (101). When ye travel through the earth, there is no blame on you if ye shorten your prayers, for fear the Unbelievers May attack you: For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.

However, many will protest, “I know Muslims, and they are very lovely and hospitable people.” However the Quran forbids them friendship with non-Muslims accept for the purpose of using “friendship” as a deceptive tool to promote Islam:

•    Quran 3:27 “Let not the believers take the disbelievers for friends rather than believers. And whoever does this has no connection with Allah unless it is done [deceptively] to guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully.

•    Quran 5:54 O ye who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other.

When confronted with these verses, Islamic defenders will claim that we fail to understand these verses correctly and in context. However, the following comes from a fatwa (ruling) which quotes the Quran in support  (www.koranqa.com; fatwa 59879; but is no longer available):

•    “Undoubtedly the Muslim is obliged to hate the enemies of Allaah and to disavow them, because this is the way of the Messengers and their followers. Allaah says:

[Quran 60:4] “Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibraaheem (Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: ‘Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allaah, we have rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and hatred for ever until you believe in Allaah Alone’”

•    “Based on this, it is not permissible for a Muslim to feel any love in his heart towards the enemies of Allaah who are in fact his enemies too. Allaah says”:

[Quran 60:1] “O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies (i.e. disbelievers and polytheists) as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth”

•    “But if a Muslim treats them with kindness and gentleness in the hope that they will become Muslim and will believe, there is nothing wrong with that, because it comes under the heading of opening their hearts to Islam. But if he despairs of them becoming Muslim, then he should treat them accordingly.”

Standing Against This Very Evident Islamic Threat

Few Westerners are even willing to acknowledge this threat. One lovely Jewish woman candidly confessed, “I cannot live without the hope that peace can be achieved through a two-state solution.” I retorted that we cannot live together with those who want to destroy us any more than the Jews could with the Nazis.

Even among those who understand this simple principle, few have the stomach to oppose and expose Islam. Just ask Mike Freer who is leaving Parliament after 14 years because of their death threats. This begs the question of who is has the courage to stand against such threats?

After the Nazi take-over of France, Pastors Trocmé and Theis addressed their parishioners in Le Chambon, south-central France, by preaching about their responsibilities as Christians:

•    We face powerful heathen pressures on ourselves and our families, pressures to force us to cave in to this totalitarian ideology. If this ideology cannot immediately subjugate our souls, it will try, at the very least, to make us cave in with our

bodies. The duty of Christians is to resist the violence directed at our consciences with the weapons of the spirit…

•    We will resist when our enemies demand that we act in ways that go against the teachings of the Gospel. We will resist without fear, without pride and without hatred. https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/goodness/timeline/

Trocmé’s sermon was embraced by pastors in a dozen neighboring villages. As a result, thousands of Jews fleeing the Nazis (National Socialists) found sanctuary. However, pastors are shepherds of their people, but what he had been preaching would put their lives in danger. However, Trocme rightly understood that honoring God was more important than preserving their lives and even the lives of their children:

•    Luke 9:23–25 And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”

For the Christian, this life isn’t the end but the beginning of eternal joy and peace. As a result, these towns were able to stand against the Nazi threats and rescue thousands of fleeing Jews.

Le Chambon stood for Jesus and His Gospel, assured that they possessed a hope greater than their own lives. It is with this confidence that we too can and must stand.