Outrage Follows Christmas Address by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Aaron J. Leichman
Christian Post Reporter
Sat, Dec. 27 2008 09:28 AM EST

The holiday message delivered by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Britain's Channel 4 television station drew a wide range of critics this week.

Although each year Channel 4 features an often controversial counterpoint to Queen Elizabeth II's traditional annual message, many disagreed with the network’s selection of Ahmadinejad, who denies the Holocaust, advocates the destruction of the sovereign state of Israel, and executes children.

"Outrage doesn't begin to explain it,” commented Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to London.
In Ahmadinejad’s message Thursday, the Iranian head of state didn’t refer to rival nations or leaders by name but said Jesus Christ would undoubtedly “stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers.”

"If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over,” he said, according to the English translation of the Farsi-language speech.

"If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime," he added.

Following the broadcast, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which represents the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, expressed how offensive the Christmas Day message was.

"To invite him to deliver a Christmas message, even a so-called alternative one, fills me with disgust," the group's president, Henry Grunwald, told The Associated Press.

Channel 4 was "aiding and abetting a tyrant," added British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

"This is the equivalent of giving [Zimbabwean ruler] Robert Mugabe a prime-time television slot to promote his propaganda," he said.

In response to the outcry against Ahmadinejad’s inclusion in this year’s broadcast, Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4's head of news and current affairs, said the Iranian president was picked because he is “enormously influential” as the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East.

“As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view," Byrne told the press.

Since 1993, Channel 4 has broadcast an "Alternative Christmas message" featuring a contemporary celebrity delivering a message in the manner of Britain’s queen. Past message presenters include activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Scottish male comedian playing Princess Diana (less than a year before her death), a celebrity chef, and Marge Simpson from The Simpsons cartoon series.

Byrne said Ahmadinejad’s message Thursday continued "a long tradition of offering a different perspective on the world around us."

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Anti-Semitic American Textbooks

This is another reason I'm glad my wife and I are homeschooling our children.

The Jerusalem Post reports many U.S. textbooks contain gross errors about Jews and Israel.

the textbook The World relates that "Christianity was started by a young Palestinian named Jesus."

A young Palestinian? While there is some vague truth to that, the correct--by far--statement would be that "Christianity was started by a young Jew named Jesus."

"Textbooks include negative stereotypes of Jews, Judaism and Israel," the authors write. "For example, textbooks tend to discredit the ties between Jews and the land of Israel."

According to Tobin, "you're much more likely to learn about Jewish terrorism before the founding of Israel [in the textbooks] than about terrorism against Israel since that time."

Among the claims made about Israel in some of the textbooks are that Arab countries never initiated wars against Israel, Arab nations desire peace while Israel does not and that it was Israel that placed Palestinians in refugee camps in Arab lands, not Arab governments. No mention whatsoever was found relating to the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were forced out after the establishment of Israel.

In their treatment of Judaism, too, the textbooks showed a negative bias, according to the study. They often expressed a view that "Jews and Judaism are legalistic," and that "Jews care only about the letter of the law and ignore its spirit," the study found. The Jewish God is presented as "stern and warlike," and not compassionate, as is highlighted in other religions. In some instances, Jews are charged with deicide in the killing of Jesus.

Also notice the difference in how Judaism and Islam are referred to:

"Moral laws Moses claimed to have received from the Hebrew God Yahweh on Mount Sinai."

The same glossary describes the Koran as a "Holy Book of Islam containing revelations received by Muhammad from God" - without a conditional qualifier.

Sounds like a bunch of anti-Semites have been putting together America's text books.

Probably the same or similar group that is trying to rewrite history America's Christian heritage.

There is a full-fledged and pretty open war against Judeo-Christian values going on throughout the West and even here in America. And a lot of the same people who would like to erase Christianity would also like to erase Israel.

Something needs to be done about these pathetic schoolbooks.

Video: Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo at Values Voter Summit

Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo speaks at the FRC Values Voter Summit on her new movie "The Stoning of Soraya M."

The movie is from a book by the same name by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam about the stoning in Iran of a young woman and mother when she was framed for infidelity.

The film is said to contain some difficult and disturbing parts but these were included not to be gratuitous, but to convey a powerful message.

Democrat Friends in Low Places

A great set of buddies that Barack Obama and the DNC has.

Obama's Muslim outreach coordinator, Mazen Asabahi, resigned after it was learned he had ties to controversial imam Jamal Said.

The president of Islamic Society of North America, Ingrid Mattson, is being given a prominent role in an interfaith event at the Democrat Convention in Denver (the same one atheists have demanded to be a part of?). Her group has been identified as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a terrorism trial for Holy Land Foundation support of Hamas.

Any connection to why most Democrats (except maybe Joe Lieberman) seem to be soft on the War on Terror?

Islamic Coke Cans

The Turkish division of Coca-Cola has just completed a design agreement for a new line of Coke cans that will mark the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

Digital Arts Online reports the cans will feature the Islamic symbol of the crescent moon and star. They will be distributed throughout parts of the Middle East, North Africa and as far east as Indonesia.

News of the Islamic-friendly Coke cans has prompted some critics to ask whether Coca-Cola would change its designs for Christmas from polar bears and penguins to include the Christian cross. Or to include the Star of David for those who celebrate Hanukkah.

Coca-Cola has not yet responded to Fox News about the story.

From The Rite Wing

Christian Theologian Calls for Tolerance of Islamic Ad

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 31 2008 01:48 PM EDT

Authorities should tolerate an initiative to place ads about Islam in New York subway cars, said a Christian theologian with expertise in Islamic strategies.

Several Muslim groups, including main sponsor Islamic Circle of North America, are supporting a campaign to feature 1,000 ads promoting Islam in New York’s subway trains in September to coincide with the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. The ads feature phrases associated with Islam such as “Head Scarf?” or “Prophet Muhammad?” and the phrase “You deserve to know” along with the Web site address WhyIslam.org, according to CNN.

Critics of the ads have accused Islamic Circle of North America of having ties with terrorists, and urged the Metropolitan Transit Authority to reject the ads.

But Dr. William Wagner, author of the book How Islam Plans to Change the World and president of Olivet University International in San Francisco, believes the American principles of freedom of religion and innocent until proven guilty give a “broad level of protection” to the Islamic groups that want to run the ads.

“I think that they have this right,” said Wagner, who was an International Mission Board missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention for 31 years in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, to The Christian Post. “In America we must tolerate these acts even if this would never be accepted in Islamic societies.”

But he quickly switched gears and expressed concerns about Muslims becoming increasingly more aggressive in drawing Americans to their faith.

During the last 20 years, the scholar on Islamic strategies noted that Muslims have been studying Christian mission methods and have become “very effective” in applying most of these techniques.

“In fact, they have become very effective missionaries for Islam in the Western World,” Wagner stated. “We will see much more of this in the future.”

He added that some Islamic leaders proclaim that the whole world will be Muslim by the year 2080.

“This advertising blitz is only one of an expected barrage of missionary advertising in the future,” Wagner said.

Regarding the allegation of the ad sponsors being linked to terrorists, Wagner responded that this is to be expected. Based on his studies of Islam in America, he contends it is “very difficult” to completely separate Muslim groups from terrorists, especially groups with more aggressive Muslim missionaries.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, has urged the Metropolitan Transit Authority to not run the ads because of what he believes to be its connection to terrorists.

Siraj Wahhaj, imam of a Brooklyn mosque, is among the backers of the ad campaign. Wahhaj was a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. He was also on a list of 170 potential unindicted co-conspirators for the bombing.

"I have no problem with the ad itself, but I have a very, very real problem with those behind it," King said to CNN.

Wahhaj, however, defended himself saying that he knew Abdel-Rahman as a “scholar in Islam” and “a great reciter of the Quran.”

"People try to make the connection as if I'm endorsing some bad deeds that [were] done by Sheik Abdel-Rahman," he said. "That had nothing to do with it."

The Islamic advertising campaign is scheduled to run for a month and costs about $48,000.

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Christian Convert Detained by Iranian Secret Police

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 10 2008 09:43 AM EDT

A former Muslim who converted to Christianity is being held by Iran’s secret police on suspicion of “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, according to a report Wednesday.

Mahmood Matin, 52, has been held in a detention center in the southern city of Shiraz since his arrest on May 15, according to Compass Direct news. His wife, who visited him on June 24, said Matin did not know where he was being held until she told him, according to a source who requested to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Matin told his wife that authorities were pressing him to reveal what foreign church he was connected to. But that he told them he was not related to any church outside of Iran.

The imprisoned convert claims he is being treated well, but his wife believes otherwise. During their five-minute conversation, officials were listening in, the source noted.

Matin was originally arrested in May when he met with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity in a park in Shiraz.

Under Iranian law, apostasy is a crime that can be punishable by death. The county’s parliament is reviewing this month a draft penal code that would make the death penalty mandatory for anyone found guilty of leaving Islam or who uses the Internet to encourage others to do so.

The June 24 visit was the first and only face-to-face contact the Matin family had been allowed since his arrest. His wife had traveled 17 hours by bus from her home in Tehran to visit her jailed husband.

Iran is ranked third on Open Doors’ World Watch List for countries with the worst persecution of Christians. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also lists Iran as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a label given to countries with the worst religious freedom abuses.

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Barack Obama's Half Brother Surprised to Hear Barack Not Raised Muslim

The question of whether Barack Obama is a Muslim or was raised a Muslim has bounced around here in the United States for some time. It's bounced around so long that at this point, most of it has ended up on many "myths" pages which say it simply isn't true.

Having read a number of reputable reports that indicate despite Obama's 20-year membership in a Christian church (one that hates America, embraces Marxism and embraces racism) he has a Muslim background, I was again interested to see this piece from the Israel Insider a couple of days ago entitled "Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim."

Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have been reading those scurrilous emails to which Barack likes to refer, because they have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. They take that as a given.

As the Jerusalem Post reports, "Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya."

If Obama indeed has a Muslim upbringing, so be it. If he chose to leave that and embrace Christianity, so be it. Many of us have left behind things we were exposed to as children.

For that matter, Keith Ellison from Minnesota is a practicing Muslim and was elected to Congress a couple of years ago.

Instead of the denials of Muslim upbringing from the Obama camp, Obama should confront the issue head on and just tell the truth. By denying a reality that too many people in-the-know are telling us is true, Obama is just adding to the uncertainty many people have about him, given what we DO know of him.

Evangelical Leader Names Four Greatest Threats to Society

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Jun. 11 2008 08:44 AM ET

INDIANAPOLIS – Many people say evangelicals are stuck on one issue – whether it’s abortion or same-sex “marriage” – when speaking out to defend moral values. But to those defending, it’s not just a single issue.

“Marriage is a single issue?” Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, posed to thousands of Southern Baptists Tuesday. “It’s the building block of society.”

Land believes there are four “modern horsemen of the apocalypse” that are “riding forth to wreak havoc and destruction in our society” – the denial of the sanctity of human life, the rise of hardcore Internet pornography, the radical homosexual agenda and its attempt to undermine marriage and radical Islamic jihadism.

“Make no mistake about it. Radical Islamic jihadism has declared war on America and American civilization and Christianity,” Land emphatically said.

When former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft approached Land and two other prominent evangelical leaders about six years ago, asking what they believe is the most crucial issue facing Americans at the time, Land said Internet pornography has begun to destroy the lives of more men and women than abortion. While abortion would have been his answer if he was asked even a few years earlier, the growth of what he has labeled “the most grotesque perversions of human sexuality” on the Internet has overtaken that issue, he said.

With pornography readily available on the Internet and on wireless devices, Americans including many in the church have fallen victim to the activity. Many Christian groups call it a moral crisis, and reports indicate that as much as 50 percent of men in the pews and the pulpit view pornography, some of whom are addicted.

Still, Land believes abortion and the radical homosexual agenda – both of which evangelicals are widely known to oppose – are greatly devastating society.

“We’re not going to exchange the [abortion] agenda,” Land said Tuesday at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting while affirming that they will continue to be concerned about the sanctity of life.

What is a person is not just a single issue, Land stressed. “Every human being deserves protection from conception.”

And what is a male and female is not a single issue, he added. Quoting Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, Land said, “If the family goes, everything goes,” as he referred to the radical homosexual agenda.

While evangelicals face four major battles, Land called the Southern Baptists to first take a look at themselves. The rise of the born-again and evangelical Christian population has been staggering over the past few decades, Land pointed out. Yet the impact that evangelicals have had on society has been very little.

“We experienced growth of evangelicalism and yet our culture is worse off in almost every way except race and sexual discrimination,” he said. Rather than being the salt and the light for the world, he said they have been “salted and lit” by the culture.

Calling evangelicals to fall on their knees in repentance, Land said the only answer to these problems is a revival – a revival that begins with them.


Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Former Muslim Speaks on Christianity

This is a video of Dr. Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminar, whom I mentioned last week in a post about the Evangelical Manifesto.

Dr. Caner talks about how he, a former Muslim, came to faith in Jesus Christ. Provides not only insight on the claims Jesus made, but about how Muslims view Christianity.

Obama Is Not a Muslim...But Was He?

After the debacle of Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his racist, anti-American statements, most of us are aware that Obama has beeen attending a Christian church for about 20 years.

We've also been told that despite Obama's Muslim-sounding name and his time in Muslim Indonesia, Obama is beyond a doubt "Christian."

So I was surprised to see a report from WorldNetDaily today that essentially says, "Well, maybe not."

According to the WND piece:

Widely distributed reports have noted in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro.

The Loatze blog run by an American expatriate in Southeast Asia who visited the Besuki school, noted, "All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young 'Barry Soetoro' being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam."

Indeed, the Israel Insider online magazine points out in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he acknowledges studying the Quran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."

"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies," wrote Obama.

The article also cites other references to an Islamic background for Obama:

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, notes the Tribune article – cited by liberal blogs as refuting claims Obama is Muslim – actually implies Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim and twice confirms Obama attended mosque services.

In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

Maybe Obama "converted" from Islam to Christianity along the way. Or maybe he never took Islam that seriously. I don't know.

But it seems that efforts by Obama's campaign to distance himself from his Islamic roots may not present an entirely accurate picture.

Middle East Scholar: MAD Doctrine Won't Work for Iran

From the World Tribune comes a sober warning to those who are inclined to appease the Iranians in their pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"Iran's leadership comprises a group of extreme fanatical Muslims who believe that their messianic times have arrived," Lewis said. "This is quite dangerous. Though Russia and the U.S. both had nuclear weapons, it was clear that they would never use them because of MAD — mutual assured destruction. Each side knew it would be destroyed if it would attack the other."

"But with these people in Iran, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent factor, but rather an inducement," Lewis said. "They feel that they can hasten the final messianic process. This is an extremely dangerous situation of which it is important to be aware."

The appeasers of the 1930s didn't realize their mistake until the wolf was not only at the door, the wolf was coming through the door.

Will world leaders wake up to the threat from radical Iran before it's too late? It's not looking good, so far.

Islam in Prophecy

Tonight was Part 5 (I believe the last) in a series on Islam by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. Tonight's topic: Islam in Prophecy. Below are my notes from this evening.


Dr. Wells said understanding Islam is important, in addition to our relations with the millions of Muslims around the world and the many Islamic countries, because of the differenced between the faith of the Bible and the religion of Islam.

Wells said Isaiah 44 is a foundational passage for the doctrine of predictive biblical prophecy. One of the reasons for predictive prophesy is to prove and authenticate that what God says is reliable. Wells said that divination is a pagan method for attempting to predict future events, but God “makes fools of diviners.”

The Bible is filled with prophecies and makes many claims that God predicts many things that have not yet happened in order to prove that he is God. But is there prophecy in Islam? No, there is no prophecy in Islam.

In Surah 30, the Qur’an references what sounds like a prophecy regarding the defeat of “the Romans” and some later rejoicing of “the believers,” but it is not. This is the closest thing to a prophecy in the Qur’an.

Wells said this passage referenced the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and the conflict between it and the Persian Empire. In 611, the Persians were growing in strength and took over many of the lands once held by the Byzantine Empire. Mohammed was relating this, supposedly from one of his visions, but he would have known of these events without the help of a vision. The wording of this passage, however, is unclear whether the Romans (Christians, i.e. “believers?”) or the Muslims would rejoice. About 10 years later, the Romans did retake some of this area, but this back-and-forth of territory had been going on for some time, and the language of the passage left it unclear who would be victorious.

Wells said that unlike the Bible, there is also no hint of prophecy anywhere in the Qur’an that has anything to do with great events in the world. The Bible foretells the coming of the Middle Eastern empires, the Greeks, the Romans, and specific detail about the coming of Christ.

Some Muslims claim there are prophecies in the Bible that affirm Islam. Wells said that he doesn’t mean to make light, but that pointing to the Bible to affirm the Qur’an, which has no prophecy in it, just isn’t plausible.

In Deut. 18, there is a prophecy of a coming great prophet and says he will be “like Moses.” Some Muslims says this refers to Mohammed, but the passage actually says this prophet will come from among the Jews.

Another supposed prophecy that affirms Islam is also in Deuteronomy, and has to do with Mohammed coming from Haran. But this idea is preposterous in that the only connection is that Moses came out of Sinai.

The third prophecy is a reference from Jesus himself in John 14:16 where Jesus says the Father will send another helper who will remain with us forever. Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, but Muslims say this referred to Mohammed. They say this because the word used for the Holy Spirit is similar to another word which is similar to “Mohammed.” However, there are 5,300 Greek manuscripts containing this passage and none contain the word Muslims say is used here.

Wells said that Islam is definitely referred to in the Bible. There are at least four types of prophecies in the Bible relating to Islam.

The first is the “macro prophecy.” In Genesis 12 we have the call of Abram (or Abraham) to be the father of the people of Israel. In verse three it says that God will bless those who bless his people and curse those who curse his people, and that all people of the earth will be blessed through Abraham’s lineage. Muslims say that this lineage is through Abraham’s son Ishmael (from whom the Arabs are descended), but the Bible is incredibly clear that this promise is through Abraham’s son Isaac. Meanwhile, the Islamic word is bitterly opposed to the very existence of the nation of Israel. We have all recently heard the president of Iran vowing to exterminate Israel, and he is working on gaining nuclear weapons.

The second kind of prophecy is in Genesis 16 where we have the account of Hagar leaving Abraham’s camp after Ishmael is conceived. The angel of God finds Hagar and says to her that her son will be “a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Recall that Islam is a religion of the sword, which has expanded by the power of the sword, through conquest. And even within the world of Islam, there is great infighting. We see this in Iraq, between the Sunni’s and Shiits who are trying to kill each other. And there was the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 are prophecies that deal with the end times. Scholars debate on exactly when this will take place, but it seems to involve Islam. Some translations refer to the prince of “Rosh” which can mean chief or head, but there were once a people known as the Roshians. They weren’t Russians, but they were from the far north. This passage says Persia (Iran), Cush (Ethiopia), and Put (Libya) would form an alliance. It also mentions Gomer, which is probably Turkey, and the central Asian region. These areas all encompass the areas of the traditional Islamic empire. Gog and Magog are leading in this military effort. Many scholars believe this represents Russia. And we know from the events of recent years, the Russians are involved in helping Iran, Iraq and possibly other Muslim countries.

This passage also seems to refer to Israel, as people are gathered to Israel from across the earth just as Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948 after it was a “continual waste” from the time the Romans wiped out the Jewish nation in 70 AD. It also refers to a land of “unwalled cities” which was unthinkable in ancient times.

The last kind of prophecy referring to Islam in the Bible involves Daniel chapter 2. Here is the prophecy of the great image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, a figure with a head of gold (Babylon), silver (Medo-Persians), bronze (Alexander the Great), and iron (Romans). In Daniel 2:44 it says that in the days of the Roman Empire, God will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed (i.e. that it will ultimately triumph). The coming Kingdom that Christ preached about is this kingdom, and it began with Christ’s coming.

Islam by its nature has to dominate everything it comes in contact with. America remains a religious nation, despite its growing secularism, and represents Christianity. The total value of all Islamic exports from all Islamic country (excluding oil), is equal to Finland. It produces nothing except war.

For Israel to be re-established after all these years and to thrive the way it has, is unbearable to Muslims.

Wells closed with a story about his translator during his recent trip to teach in Russia. The translator was an Azerbaijani man. There was a lot of unrest in Azerbaijan several years ago involving Muslims (it’s a predominately Muslim country) who went on a campaign with the specific purpose of eradicating all Armenians, who are historically Christians. This mans’ parents decided they had to leave because they were in the path of this slaughter, and his parents had to explain to this boy that the Muslims are determined to eradicate Christians. However, since the Armenians had drifted from a vital faith in Christ, the boy had to ask his parents what a Christian was.

The man later sought answers about Christianity from a Christian preacher, and ended up coming to faith in Christ through this quest.

*NOTE: I'll post the video from tonight here in the next couple of days, when it's finished processing.

Islam Seminar Part 4: Islam in History

Tonight was Part 4 in the series on Islam being taught by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. (Parts one and two can be read about and viewed here, though I was out of town for Part 3).

Below are my notes from this evening's presentation; they are not full verbatim quotes of what Wells said, but are pretty close (I'm a VERY fast typist).

Wells said he has studied Islam for many years and taught it for many years teaching World Religions at seminary, and has visited a number of Islamic countries.

Wells began tonight’s discussion of Islam in History by saying that there were two or perhaps three “histories of Islam”

On Sept 12, 1683 the first history of Islam ended, and from that date until today is the “second history of Islam.”

What we are witnessing in the world right now is an effort by the Islamic world to create a third history by returning to the first history.

For a little over 1000 years since Mohammed’s death (632 AD), Islam was more or less unchecked in the world, ascendant for 1000 years. Upon close examination, there were already signs of its disintegration before that, but this was ignored by Islamic leaders.

In that “first history,” you have an incredible, worldwide expansion from Mecca and Medina and it is almost bewilderingly rapid. This time begins with what is sometimes called the “Muslim Century. It extends from the death of Mohammed to the defeat of Islamic forces at they Pyrenees Mountains by Charles Martel in 732 AD.

By 656 AD already the Middle East and half of North Africa are under Muslim control. North Africa had been part of the Roman Empire and much of it remained under the control of the Roman Empire in the East, also called the Byzantine Empire. It had been Christian until this point. Muslims conquered through Spain until they reached the Pyrenees Mountains, and it was expected that they would march into Paris and take all of Europe. They also made it to eastward to China and into India and northward to the Taurus Mountains, then to the Caucus Mountains.

Wells said the area where he recently taught in Rostov, Russia was not far north of where Muslims reached in that first century.

There were three great Islamic movements. This first one was the “Arab Movement.” The next great movement involved the Mongols or Tartars. The Mongols were fierce warriors but most Western people underestimated their military genius and the extent of their empire in the East. In the 13th Century you have this second wave of Mongols who converted to Islam.

Kublai Kahn asked for Rome to send teachers to their empire to teach them about Christianity, but the request was ignored during a time when there was no pope. When a pope was appointed, he sent a couple of Dominican priests who came with the intent of aggressively converting the “mogul horde.” This was rejected by the Mongols.

If they had come proclaiming the Kingdom of God the way Jesus presented it, that would have been a vision big enough to capture their hearts. Instead, these emissaries came demanding fealty to Rome. So the Mongols instead turned to Islam.

The third great wave is the one of the most interest to us, and it is the Ottomans. They were Turkish people from the 11th Century occupying the current area of Turkey and much of the area south of Russia. Here they established the Ottoman Empire, ruling from the 15th Century until World War I.

The high point of the third history of Islam is the sacking of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453. This city had been the capital of the Byzantine Empire, or the Eastern Roman Empire. By the time Islam came on the world scene, the old traditional Roman Empire in Western Europe (based in Italy and the city of Rome) had already fallen to the barbarian invasions.

It was the vision of the Ottomans to conquer all Christian lands and bring them into the sphere of Islam. When they conquered, conquered people had the choice to convert or die. If they were Jews or Christians, you could convert, die, or pay a tax to obtain the privilege of becoming a second class citizen.

One of those problems that were appearing in the Islamic advance was in 1529 when the Muslims laid siege to Vienna. This city was viewed as the crown jewel of Christianity. However, they failed to conquer it due to “bad weather.”

Another remarkable event occurred in 1571 and it was the Battle of Lepanto in Greece. It pitted evenly matched navies between the Muslims and “The Holy League.” This was an extraordinary victory for the Christian forces, and is viewed as the salvation of Europe. The Muslims, however, didn’t see it this way, yet it was a crushing defeat for Islamic forces.

This end of the first Islamic history was September 12, 1683 when the second siege of Vienna ended, again in failure. From July to September the Muslims had laid siege, and they faced a confederation of Christian forces led by a Polish king. The pope called for fasting and prayer, and in a battle that lasted five hours on Sept. 12, the Polish king deployed his troops masterfully and routed the Muslims. It took days for the victors to collect all the plunder that was left behind. One thing they let behind when they retreated were vast stores of coffee, which was relatively unknown in Europe at this point.

The second history of Islam begins here, and while the first was almost unchecked expansion, the second is one of almost unrelieved failure—the whole thing unravels.

In 1686 the Hungarian city of Buda was retaken by Christians, and in 1696 Peter the Great retook Russian lands from the Muslims. In 1798, Napoleon entered Egypt, the stronghold of Islam.

In the 1700s and 1800s, for the first time in history a Muslim power had to sign a treaty involving the surrender of land.

In World War I the Ottoman Empire came to an end. The victorious Europeans sat down at a table and divided up the Islamic world.

The reestablishment state of Israel came out of this also, though it didn’t happen until after World War II. After WWI, they allowed Turkey to keep its own country, and the British controlled Palestine under the “British Mandate.” The effort to reestablish the state of Israel began here, though it wasn’t completed until 1948.

The significance of September 11 (and bin Laden’s attack on the United States on that date) is just what bin Laden told us on October 7 after the attack. He referenced an event nearly 80 years earlier, September 11, 1922 when the British Mandate was declared in Palestine. On this date, the Arabs proclaimed a day of mourning. Since then, there has been a tremendous rise in the aggression of various Arab groups around the world.

The question often arises of how that first century of Islamic expansion could have happened so quickly. One possibility is that the Christian world itself opened the door wide open to this. It is no coincidence that the rise of Islam coincides with the Middle Ages, and the disintegration coincidence with the Renaissance and rebirth of Christianity.

Also, the rise of Islam coincides with a wave of anti-Semitism on the part of Christians. Wells mentioned the Inquisition and how Jews were caught up and persecuted. God said in his word that he would bless those who bless his people and would be the enemy of those who oppose his people.

Another factor is that the Islamic religion is by its nature a religion of domination.

At this point Wells said he was out of time due to another meeting requirement, but would continue the seminar next week. That will be at 6:30 pm, November 25 at South Canyon Baptist Church (3333 West Chicago St.) in Rapid City.

Part 4 of Islam Seminar in Rapid City

South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City will once again be hosting an Islam seminar Sunday night at 6:30 PM. This one will be part 4 in the series being taught by Dr. Richard Wells, Senior Pastor of South Canyon Baptist. This installment is entitled "Islam: Past and Present."

I have reports and video from Parts 1 and 2 available under the link above, but I was in Washington D.C. when Wells did Part 3, so I have nothing available on it. I plan to video Part 4 Sunday night, but it's always better in person, so I hope to see you there!

Islam Scholar Calls Abourezk 'Apologist for Terror'

Authority on Islam Robert Spencer has a piece today at Frontpage Magazine on none other than South Dakota's own (maybe I shouldn't say that too loudly) Jim Abourezk. The piece calls Abourezk and the Anti-Discrimination Committee "apologists for terror."

Many on the Left like to play the handy ole moral-equivalency card and say that Christian "fundamentalists" and Islamofacists are peas-in-a-pod, that they are pretty much one and the same. There are certainly examples of "Christians" out there who have committed violence that allow them to feel justified in such a wild comparison.

But Spencer points out a critical difference, and indicts Abourezk for his moral failure:

This is a common canard, but an empty one. Hitler and McVeigh could not and did not point to Christian Scripture to explain their actions. Their actions did not proceed in accord with the teachings of any Christian Church. Islamic jihadists, on the other hand, do make extensive use of Islamic texts and teachings, and every school of Islamic jurisprudence teaches that Muslims must conquer unbelievers and subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law.

Abourezk, meanwhile, went on to blame Islamic terrorism on its victims: “Terrorism does not exist in a vacuum. It does not come from thin air. It is a result of people who believe that their lives cannot be improved by occupation and that there is nothing left for them to do except to commit acts of terrorism.”

Abourezk’s readiness to excuse acts of violence committed by Muslims -- and to dismiss the bloody deeds of Hamas and Hizballah -- while demonizing the resistance to that violence is evidence of a man who has lost his moral compass.

Video: The Quran and the Bible

It took a little while (I'm very busy getting ready to go to Washington D.C. later this week), but here's the video from the Islam seminar last Sunday night.

This is Dr. Richard Wells, at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City.

The Bible and the Qu'ran

Tonight was the second week in the Islam seminar by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. The title of tonight's presentation was "The Bible and the Qu'ran." While last week's contrasted God and Allah, this week's compared and contrasted the Bible and the Qu'ran.

Below are my notes in mostly raw format; again time is short. But I think you'll get the gist of what Dr. Wells said, these notes being quotes or very close paraphrases of what he said.

I'm encoding and uploading the video I took tonight and hopefully it'll be ready in the morning. I'll post it here, as I did last week's video, as soon as it's ready.

Meanwhile, I hope these notes are useful...

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There is no place in the Qu’ran for suffering, yet Paul says all who desire to live a Godly life in Jesus Christ will experience suffering.

As Dr. Wells mentioned last week, there is no such thing as a legitimate translation of the Qu’ran because Muslims believe a perfect copy of the Qu’ran exists in Heaven, and it is in Arabic. Therefore all copies must be in Arabic in order to be true to the original.

The Qu’ran is regarded as “the very words of God.”

The most widely accepted understanding of the plenary verbal theory of inspiration. This means we do not believe that the Scriptures just sort of fell down from the sky. Many people may believe, like the King James Version, that the apostle Paul used thee and thou and 17th Century English, but that's simply not the case. Old Testament was mostly in Hebrew, with some in Aramaic. New Testament was in Greek. We believe that God “bore along these holy men of old” so that even though they wrote using their own linguistic vocabulary, and ended up writing exactly what God wanted to be written. These were not just inspired concepts, but the actual words were inspired.

By contrast, the Qu’ran is viewed as a dictation from Allah.. It was given to Mohammed over the course of about 22 years through a number of visions. The Qu’ran was known orally until sometime after Mohammed died, and it was then written down by men who knew him.

To Muslims, it is viewed as the dictated words of Allah, with the perfect copy of this dictation existing in Heaven in Arabic. The Qu’ran in Muslim theology is itself as a sacred object.

"I love my copy of God’s word," Wells said of his Bible. "While I hold the Word of God in the highest reverence, I don’t think of this particular copy of God’s word I hold in my hand as a sacred object. To hold any sacred text in holy reverence is bibliolatry."

But Muslims believe the Qu’ran cannot be touched with impure hands. God intends His Word to be in our hearts. He wants us to worship Him and not an object of sacred text.

The Hadith is a collection of sayings. Since Mohammed didn’t write anything, being illiterate, and there wasn’t even a Qu’ran at the beginning, in order for Islam to develop as a religion after 632 AD, it was felt that the sayings and teachings of Mohammed needed to be written down. After Mohammed’s death, there were vast numbers of sayings, etc. concerning the life, practices, teachings etc. of Mohammed. Collectively these are known as the Hadith. There isn’t just one simple collection of the Hadith; there are thousands of these sayings. How do we know any go back to Mohammed? We have no idea, only the word of those who wrote them, and in many cases we don’t know who these people are. There are several major collections of these. This also helps explain why there are so many differences in the various sects of Islam, because different groups of Muslims use different Hadiths.

The Qu’ran isn’t what drives Islam as much as the Hadith does. The sunna are the practices of Muslims, and there is a saying among Muslims is that the Qu’ran doesn’t interpret the sunna, but the sunna interpret the Qu’ran. In other words, the Qu’ran has to be interpreted in light of these practices.

In Christianity, you have the Bible, but there are also religious traditions. Many people in Christendom believe these traditions are important in carrying out Christianity. However the dominant theology for centuries has understood that it is the Bible alone that dictates orthodox Christianity. Sola Scriptura; the Bible alone is sufficient. Most statements of faith in churches today say something like, “We believe the Bible is the revelation of God…and it is the only sure guide to faith and practice.”

In Islam, it is the Qu’ran and the Hadith. And at a practical level, the Hadith is seen as more important than the Qu’ran.

It has sometimes been said that the Qu’ran has but one point (quoting Islamic scholars): the absolute unity of God. Absolute monotheism. This is where we as Christians we have our greatest problems or differences with the Qu’ran.

Reading from Surah 19, verse 35.

It is not befitting to Allah that he should sire a son. Glory be to him! When he determines a matter, he only says to it, be, and it is.

And skipping to verse 88

88 They say: Allah most gracious has sired a son!
89 Indeed you have put forth a thing most monstrous!
90 At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin,
91 That they should invoke a son for Allah most gracious.
92 For it is not consonant with the majesty of Allah most gracious that he should sire a son.

Deuteronomy 6:4 says Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. We would all as Christians agree with this. So where’s the difference? It bears on the nature of the Qu’ran.

Remember also that Christians do not believe in many gods (or three gods). We see God manifesting himself in three distinct beings of the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. To many, the distinction may seem nonexistent, but it is very important and very real.

The Qu’ran came into existence in the space of a generation, basically Mohammed’s lifetime. Some might see this as a virtue.

The word “canon” is the word we use as Christians to describe what we call the Bible. These are the 66 books of the Bible. Canon is a Greek word originally meaning a reed which could be used to measure things. We use the word to mean those books which have come to be accepted as true Scripture, as opposed to the vast amount of writings that are not accepted as canonical.

For instance, why weren’t the other letters written by Paul included in the Bible? We don’t regard everything he wrote as Scripture.

With the Qu’ran, men who knew Mohammed wrote down after his death what they could remember of what he had said. This resulted in many discrepancies in what these men wrote down and the Third Khalifat tried to put them all together.

The Bible was put together over about 1,600 years by dozens of different men on three different continents. The Jewish scholars recognized that certain books were of prophetic character. They also recognized that there was something about these books that gave them “life.” By 275 BC when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the Old Testament canon was already established.

New Testament canon had to have apostolic authority and “evidence of life.” When they were read, taught and preached, did God work in people’s lives? AD 368 the Bishop of Alexandria said over the years since the resurrection of Christ, these books have proven themselves time and time again.

The Qu’ran claims to be the very word of God out of Heaven, but it grotesquely misinterprets the Christian faith. It accuses Christians of what they have never believed. The most significant example concerns the Trinity. The Qu’ran actually teaches the virgin birth of Jesus. Surah 3 verse 45 talks about the virgin birth of Jesus, though it sounds like the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.

It says Christians believe in three Gods. It says God had a son with Mary
Surah 4 verse 171 says Jesus was only a messenger of Allah and tells Christians to cease saying there are three Gods. We have never believed this or said this. Not even cult Christians have ever believed there are three Gods, but the Qu’ran claims we do. Claims like this are many throughout the Qu’ran.

Even Islamic scholars struggle with this. Islamic writer Caesar Farah says "Perhaps one reason for the differing conceptions of the Qu'ran background lies in the seeming contradictions to the untrained eye…In the twenty-three years of Mohammed's prophethood, revelations were received as the occasion merited. Chronology was not the factor, and what appeared out of focus at first was usually set in perspective by further revelation at a later date." [in other words, Mohammed corrected himself]. Apparently Mohammed was not concerned with the exact wordings of the revelations.

Continuing to quote Farah “We have, by way of example, revelations recognizing the two pagan deities, al-Uzzah and al-Lat as the daughters of Allah; we have also revelations rescinding the same. This suggests a much different time frame. To Mohammed there was no contradiction here because if Allah is absolute and arbitrary, why should there be any restraint on what he commands and forbids? Allah may vary his ordinances at pleasure, prescribing one set of laws for the Jews, another for the Christians, and still another for Muslims.”

This is another difference between God and Allah: God is unchanging and consistent, where Allah can change at whim and even contradict himself if he chooses.

As Christians we hold to the Word of God because we see that for hundreds of years, God acted through history, chose a people for himself, gave prophecies and fulfilled them, and those over the centuries who have read God’s word and believed on it have found life, forgiveness, and hope. They have been able to star in the face of death and accept it with joy and peace. This is the difference.

Near the end of the seminar, Wells read the story of a man who was condemned to die for converting to Christianity, and said this illustrates the difference between the Bible and the Qu’ran. This man, though condemned, refused to recant his belief, and still faced death with peaceful reassurance.

Next week's seminar will be about Islam and prophecy. And what has happened in the last 500 years to bring us to where we are now.

Is Allah the God of the Bible?

The video below is one I made at last night's Islam seminar at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City called "Is Allah the God of the Bible?"

It's about an hour long, so you may have to watch it in parts if you're a busy person. The sound isn't as great as I had hoped, but you should still be able to hear Dr. Wells discuss this important topic.

Islam Seminar at South Canyon

I attended the seminar on Islam at South Canyon Baptist Church tonight and it was what I expected: some of the same info covered when Dr. Richard Wells did this seminar at the beginning of the summer, but with a lot of new stuff as well. He said the seminar will be continuing for the next two weeks, concluding on Oct. 21.

Below are the notes I took at the seminar. I haven't cleaned them up much, as I'm a little short on time and energy right now, but they're still pretty good. Most of what I wrote are exact quotes of what Dr. Wells said, or very close paraphrases. In either case, I believe it will be pretty faithful to what he said. It was very educational and informative, with Dr. Wells often reading from the Qur'an and books written on Islam by Islamic scholars. I would highly recommend anyone in or near Rapid City attend the next two week's installments. Tonight's event was held in the church gym with a lot of tables set up, and still they ended up lining the walls with chairs, so it was very well attended.

Here are my notes...



Dr. Wells said Islam is not just another world religion. Wells taught World Religions as a college professor, and among all the religions, there is none that quite has the historical impact as Islam.

The community response the first time the Islam seminar was taught a few months ago told Wells they needed to do it again and expand on it. This seminar began where the original seminar did, so that the attendee gets all the background.

Some of the most important reasons for studying Islam are:

1. Islam today and for the foreseeable future is the single greatest threat to America. Within the last month, bin Laden has issued another video. In that video he called for us all to convert to Islam. Many Americans probably don't think they're serious, but they are deadly serious.

2. Many public leaders including our president have made a distinction which to them seems very important, but in fact does not really exist. That is between Islam and Islamism. There are some Muslims who are more extreme than others, but what most people don’t fully realize is that this distinction is a very Western, Christian distinction. It is almost impossible to find Muslims who will condemn the actions of Osama bin Laden.

A study which came out May 22 entitled “Muslim Americans” by the Pew Research Center, and it will get your attention. It’s a survey of mainstream, middle class Muslim Americans and what they believe. The survey found that the younger they are, the more open Muslims are to the radical elements of Islam.

3. Most Americans, even though they know there is such a thing as Islam and that it’s a threat, know very little about Islam. They might remember that there was someone named Mohammed, but the average citizen in America can’t even name the four Gospels of Christianity.

4. Islam has a long history which is well remembered. Americans typically don’t know much about the Crusades, but Muslims have not forgotten them. Osama bin Laden chose Sept. 11 for his historic attack because it had great significance.

Islam begins with Mohammed. Mohammed was basically a camel driver who married into money by marrying a rich widow many years his senior. He lived 570-632 AD. He had appointed no successor when he died, leaving a lot of strife over who his successor should have been.

Mohammed was illiterate. He began to have visions, and details about these visions were written down by others in what we know as the Qur'an. There is no such thing as a legitimate translation of Qur’an because Muslims say the real Qur’an is in God’s language: Arabic. The Qur’an isn’t arranged like the Bible, more or less chronologically, but is arranged from the longest chapter to the shortest, and these chapters are called surahs. Mohammed never wrote anything about his visions but others made recordings of them based on what they were told about them. Most of what we know about Mohammed was written 100-300 years after his life.

Surah 97 refers to the night on which the prophet received his call and the first verses of the Qur’an. Mohammed at first things he’s going mad when he receives his first visions, but his wife assured him he was not.

Between 632-732 the world saw the most meteoric rise of any empire it has ever seen. It took all the Middle East up into southern Russia, central Asia, into India, North Africa, and was knocking on the door of southern Spain and France.

For about the last 100 years, the re-biblization or renewal of Islam has been occurring. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire around the end of WWI, the Islamic empire fell to it’s lowest point in history. A good book on history of Islam recommended by Dr. Wells is Bernard Lewis, recognized as the finest scholar of Islam in the Western World: “What Went Wrong” It helps answer the question, “Why do they hate us so much?”

Is Allah the God of the Bible? The answer Wells gave at the last seminar was “Yes and no.” Yes, in the same sense as the Elohim of Mormonism is the God of the Bible, or the Jehovah of Jehovah's Witnesses is the God of the Bible. Or the God of the Moonies Unification Church is the God of the Bible. "Cults are the unpaid bills of the church." There is a sense in which Islam is a Christian cult. All cults by their nature begin with the God who has already been revealed. The nature of evil, as CS Lewis pointed out, is not to create something new but to distort something that already exists. Cults always take truth and distort it.

In the minds of many Muslims and even many Christians, Allah is the God of the Bible. But also, in many of the ways he is described he sounds like the Christian God of Adonai, Elohim, the God we know from the Bible. Of course, we’ve all heard the politically correct statement: “We all worship the same God, we just worship him in different ways.”

On the “No” side, the god of Mohammed doesn’t come incarnate to man, so there is no intermediary as there is in Jesus in Christianity. There are lesser intermediaries, however, and they are the genies or gen that are spirits who work good or ill for Allah. There is no reference for Allah as “Father.” He does not beget, and he is detached from the petty worries and annoyances of man. (This is from Caesar Farah’s “Islam” book). In heaven, Muslims believe, there is a sacred, ideal copy of the Qur’an and it was dumped on Mohammed. The true Qur’an can’t be translated because it wouldn’t be a faithful copy of the original in heaven.

Allah is a provincial god, the God of the Bible is a universal god. In Christianity, there is no requirement that the Scriptures be in a specific language, but in Islam everyone must speak Arabic to properly receive his word.

Allah is unhistorical. Allah doesn’t know much about history. There are some unbelievable examples in the Qur’an where the Qur’an misinterprets history. The God of the Bible reveals himself over centuries. Seventy five percent of the Bible is narrative with God telling the story. God revealed himself in the history of the world. He shows himself in the way he rules in the lives and affairs of people. There are visions in Islam, but no prophesies, and certainly no fulfilled prophesies regardless of how you classify the visions. With Allah, you only have a claim with no evidence of validity.

Allah loves conditionally. When you read the Qur’an , one of the things that will strike you is that the mercy of Allah is only for those who already believe. If you don’t believe, there is no mercy. That is why bin Laden can read the Qur’an and blow up the World Trade Center. That isn’t radical Islam, that’s just the Qur’an . “For Allah schemes against the unbelievers and Allah is the best of all schemers,” the Qur’an says.

With Allah, there is no plan for redemption. There is no recognition of the need to address the problem of human sin. There is no cross, there is no sacrifice for sin, it’s not even on the radar. All Allah does is what all pagan gods do: just demands obedience. He doesn’t offer hope or encouragement or strength, just demands obedience.

In some ways the most distressing difference is that Allah is detached from the worries and annoyances of man, but as the Bible tells us, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." Allah cannot be known, only feared.

Tonight's seminar was entitled IS ALLAH THE GOD OF THE BIBLE. Next week comes IS THE QU’RAN THE WORD OF GOD.