I’m referring to two documents that were published in the last two weeks to do with Christians and their experience of Islam. One – Open Doors World Wide Watch list was not a surprise. But it was the other item -an open letter from Catholic ex-Muslims to Pope Francis – that was the real rallying cry.
Because the WWW list is an annual, scheduled publication perhaps we’ve become immune to its shocking data. Like that fact 8 out of 10 of the world’s worst persecution for Christians are Islamic countries. They are not the only places Christians are persecuted, and atheist dictatorship North Korea is still number one: but the main reason Christians are persecuted globally is Islamic intolerance. And it’s getting worse – the top 11 countries are all now classified as places of “extreme” persection for the first time in the WWW list’s 26 year history.
That Islamic intolerance is the driving factor for global persecution of Christians isn’t news – this has been trending for years. And while church leaders, politicians, the Prince of Wales etc have spoken out against persecution per se, they’ve either been coy or in downright denial about who the persecutors are. Pope Francis is in the latter category – last year he got a gong from Cairo’s Al Azhar university for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism.” With friends like these, who needs enemies?
And if you’ve wondered how Catholic ex-Muslims might feel about the Pontiff’s comments, then their letter to him makes their feelings brutally clear:
“Many of us have tried to contact you, on many occasions and for several years, and we have never received the slightest acknowledgement of our letters or requests for meetings. You do not like to beat around the bush, and neither do we, so allow us to say frankly that we do not understand your teaching about Islam, as we read in paragraphs 252 and 253 of Evangelii Gaudium, because it does not account for the fact that Islam came AFTER Christ, and so is, and can only be, an Antichrist (see 1 Jn 2.22), and one of the most dangerous because it presents itself as the fulfillment of Revelation (of which Jesus would have been only a prophet). If Islam is a good religion in itself, as you seem to teach, why did we become Catholic? Do not your words question the soundness of the choice we made at the risk of our lives? Islam prescribes death for apostates (Quran 4.89, 8.7-11), do you know? ”
The Pope, having previously stated that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence” is then reprimanded for his failure to understand Islamic theology:
“In fact, as long as Islam wants us to be its enemy, we are, and all our protestations of friendship cannot change anything. As a proper Antichrist, Islam exists only as an enemy of all: “Between us and you there is enmity and hatred forever, until you believe in Allah alone!” (Qur’an 60.4) For the Qur’an, Christians “are only impurity” (Quran 9.28),” “the worst of Creation” (Qur’an 98.6), all condemned to Hell (Qur’an 4.48), so Allah must exterminate them (Quran 9.30). We must not be deceived by the Quranic verses deemed tolerant, because they have all been repealed by the verse of the Sword (Quran 9.5).”
And so on. See also Pamela Geller’s excellent article in a previous FB post for more details.
But it’s easy to criticise others for not doing enough. So, Christians, (preaching to myself too), why don’t we make 2018 the year when we not only obey the Biblical injunction to speak up for the oppressed, but clearly identify the ideological source of the oppression. This is what our ex-Muslim brothers and sisters, having converted often at huge personal cost, want us to do. As Martin Luther King put it, “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
You can read the letter in full and sign it here.
Lizzie, excellent article, especially since I am a fervent Christian that does show how naive the pope is as to the viciousness of Islam and that they want to kill Christians and non-Muslims. Thank you for your veracity in opening the eyes of those whose eyes and ears are still closed.
Lizzie I love how you stand up for Jesus Christ and we encourages you , I notice agreat deal of the attack is on the trinity, and paul, I would love if you could ask some of these questions, when Allah was in the burning bush speaking to Mose, was Allah still in paradise at the same time ? Did allah enter into his own creation? Plus have conversations, able to see which part of a land is holy , was Allah 100% in the bush? Plus 100% in paradise? How many allah did have on that day ? If Allah say that Jesus is the messiah when Mary was only 3 months pregnant, is Jesus still the messiah today? Can flesh and blood be a messiah? What is the prerequisite to be a messiah? Can u pray to the messiah? If Isaiah 42 is Mohamed, who is Isaiah 53? You can even have fun with the book of psalms Sahih 4:163 allah said he gave psalms to David , but David only wrote about 49% of the psalms then died, so how that ? Dose Allah write songs ? Encourage dancing? Psalms 151 did allah write the Dead Sea scrolls? Did allah write the Torah? What is the meaning of the names from Adam to Noah? Could that be a message from Allah? Who is Allah talking about in psalm 22 who is the person in the 29 verse that all the dead people will rise to bow to ? Why are there no river olive tree or mountain in mecca ? Plant a seed plant a doubt in their mind god will take it from there , and when your speaking go up to the camera and speak bouldy, don’t worry about bringing one Muslim to Christ, bring thousands at a time you have been chosen by Jesus Christ himself, to do this work , the only true God bless you Jesus Christ