The year 2017 will mark 120 years from an event known as the First Zionist Congress which met in Basil, Switzerland beginning on August 29, 1897. It was called by Theodor Hertzel who declared that the goal of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Eretz-Israel secured by (international) law. The congress came up with four goals, including promoting the settlement in Eretz-Israel with Jewish farmers, artisans and manufactures, the organization and unifying of worldwide Jewry, the strengthening of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness and promoting the cause with national governments.
Theodor Hertzel is known as the father of modern day Israel and August 29, 1897 marked the beginning of the reestablishment of the Jewish people into their ancient and promised homeland.
The time frame of 120 years is first mentioned in scripture in Genesis chapter 6;
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (fallen angels in this reference) saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said; "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
God was not pleased with this corruption of man's genetic code and He also noticed that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So God decides that He is going to wipe off mankind from the face of the earth with the exception of Noah and his family. Before this judgement God gives man another 120 years of grace.
Now let us look at a couple of things that Jesus tells His disciples in the 24th chapter of Matthew. The temple during Jesus day was considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world. In Matthew's account Jesus is walking out of the temple and His disciples come up to Him and point out the temple buildings. In response Jesus informs them;
Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.
Jesus words came true in 70 AD when at the end of a 2 year campaign the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem, slaughtered the inhabitants, set fire to the temple and when the massive amount of gold in the temple melted in the flames the soldiers tore apart the stones to get to the gold.
The disciples later come up to Jesus and ask Him; What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? One of the things Jesus tells them is the parable of the fig tree. In scripture the fig tree is one of the symbols for the Jewish nation.
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so you too, when you see all these things recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
The Jewish nation basically ceased to exist after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Millions of Jews were either killed or hauled off into slavery and although there were other rebellions such as Masada some years later. that was it. There would always be a small remnant of Jews left in the land but most would eventually settle in other parts of the world.
In Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about things that would happen in a reestablished Israel and it's capital Jerusalem. Israel is the fig tree that would start to bloom and the word generation is not, as many try to suggest, a time frame for the last generation. It refers to the Jewish people. They would be scattered throughout the world but would not become extinct. Always God's unique people they would be restored to their promised land and see Jesus prophecy fulfilled.
From this we must notice two things. First, Israel is now after almost 2000 years once more a Jewish nation. And second, "When you see these things (false Christs, the gospel of the kingdom being preached to all the world, the Abomination of Desolation standing in the holy place which would require a Jewish temple located in Jerusalem,) recognize that He (Jesus) is near".
And why is Jesus near? To bring about a judgment on the world, the purpose of which is to prepare the world for the return of Jesus, this time as the King of kings who will rule the world from the nation of Israel, based in it's capital, Jerusalem.
And the judgement will be horrible, both for the world as well as for all Jews living either in Israel or any other part of our planet. Jesus words from Matthew 24 goes on;
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
There are other significant dates concerning the Jewish nation. In the year 1517 Jerusalem and the promised land became controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, twenty years after the First Zionist Conference in 1897 and 400 years after 1517, control of the promised land switched over to Great Britain who conquered Jerusalem without a fight during WWI.
In 1917 Britain issued The Balfour Declaration which was a letter from Foreign Secretary Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community, stating: "His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best efforts to facilitate the achievement of the object."
In 1947, 50 years after the First Zionist Conference, 30 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control, and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration the United Nations adopted on November 29 Resolution 181. This called for the creation in Palestine of an independent Arab state, an independent Jewish state, and the status of the city of Jerusalem to be under international trusteeship.
On May 18, 1948 Israel declared itself to be an independent Jewish nation and survived all attempts during the next few years to wipe it out.
Then in 1967, 19 years after becoming a nation, 20 years after the UN resolution, 50 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control by the British who gave consent to the Jews to settle there and 70 years after the First Zionist Conference, the eastern half of Jerusalem was captured by Israeli forces during the 6 day war against Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Prior to that the old city of Jerusalem was divided into four quarters. One was Muslim, one was Christian, one was Armenian and one was Jewish. Almost all of the Jewish holy places, including the temple mount, had been under Muslim control and were not accessible to Jews. Now for the first time in almost 2000 years control of the entire city reverted back to Jewish hands. The foundation for prophecy to be fulfilled was now laid. Israel was once again a nation and Jerusalem was once more at the center of everything.
The year 2017 will also be the Jewish year 5777. On May 18, 2017 (5777) modern Israel will celebrate it's 49th anniversary. That is a time frame of 7 weeks of 7 years (7 x 7). It will probably wait until it's 50th anniversary in 2018 to begin the rebuilding of the temple. The year 2017 will mark 120 years from the call in Basil, Switzerland for a Jewish homeland. It will mark 100 years of freedom from total Arab and Muslim control. It will mark 100 years of exodus from the gentile nations back to the promised land. And it will mark 70 years from when the world via the United Nations called for the creation of a Jewish state.
On June 4, 2017 (5777) the Christian world celebrates the feast of Pentecost. The corresponding Jewish feast of Shavuot is celebrated on May 30/June 1. As I've suggested before, if the Rapture is to occur on a feast day it is my opinion that because the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church on the first Pentecost after Jesus resurrection and ascension it would make sense that the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Church would be removed via the Rapture on another Pentecost.
Like Noah and his family the Church is first taken from the world (secured in the ark) so that God's judgment can proceed.
Pentecost is the middle of the 7 major Jewish feasts. In His sufferings and death (Passover), His time before the resurrection (Unleavened Bread) and resurrection (First Fruits) Jesus prophetically fulfilled the first 3. These were Spring Feasts. Passover/Shavuot was 50 days later and then we have waited all these years for the fulfillment of the final 3 Jewish feasts which happen in the fall. Most prophecy scholars are looking for the Rapture during the Feast of Trumpets / Rosh Hashanah (the first fall feast) because of the mention of trumpets that the Bible talks about in a couple of end time prophecies that are connected to the Rapture of the Church and also because the idea of the trumpet blast was to call out the assembly (the Jewish nation or in this case the Church) from the world. And maybe they are right.
Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Jewish New Year. in 2017 Rosh Hashanah occurs on September 20/22 and will be at the beginning of the Jewish year 5778.
If the Rapture does happen on that Pentecost or Rosh Hashanah there will still be at least 7 years before the return of Jesus to Jerusalem sometime in the year 2024 or later. There may be a gap of days or weeks or even years until the Antichrist makes a 7 year agreement with the Jewish nation. In the middle of that his image is set up in the holy place of the Jewish temple (the Abomination of Desolation) and the Jewish people will flee Jerusalem for their lives.
The world can change quite a bit by the time we reach June of 2017. Ebola or something else might lead to panic, the collapse of the financial markets, martial law and the overall destruction of our society. Or, as scripture says, everything could be just fine. People will be eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, blissfully unaware that an hour later The Restrainer will be taken away and the Righteous Judge will begin the process of reclaiming what is rightfully His.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
The Meaning Of Isis
Submit. To submit or die. That is what the word Islam means.
The Bible talks about God calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to a land that He would show him. Abraham was to walk through that territory and any place he traveled would be given to Abraham and he would become the father of a great nation. Go forth from your country . . . to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great . . . And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. (Gen: 12: 1-5) This "royal grant" is much larger than what is occupied by the nation of Israel today. God's covenant promise to Abraham was reconfirmed by God through his son Isaac and then again through Isaac's son Jacob, who had the 12 sons who were the beginnings of the 12 tribes of Israel.
God had promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him but Abraham had some doubts because he and his wife Sarai were getting along in years. So Sarai arraigned for Abraham to have sexual relations with their Egyptian servant Hagar. As soon as it was obvious that Hagar conceived Sarai got jealous and had Abraham send her away. The offspring from this union was Ishmael. God then made a promise through an angel to Hagar; I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count . . . Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael . . . he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him; (Gen. 16: 10-12) Those descendants would become the Arab nations who settled in the regions of central and north central Arabia.
The child that God's promise was to go through from Abraham was not Ishmael but rather it was through Isaac, the child that Sarai (now Sarah) bore some years later. When Isaac's wife Rebekah first conceived she had twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first born and the promise was to go through him but as you remember Jacob tricked Esau into selling this birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later on when it was time for now blind and dying Isaac to give his blessings Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac into giving the first born blessing to Jacob. The blessing ends with the same phrase that God gave to Abraham; Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. (Gen: 27: 29)
Esau then comes for his blessing and this is what he gets; Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, and away from the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve . . . So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing. (Gen. 27: 39-41) The descendants of Esau would become the Edomites and would settle in a land much less fertile than Canaan in territory which is now part of Jordan. Most people calling themselves Palestinians have come from this area.
Let us now jump ahead over 1500 years. In about 570 AD in central Arabia (Saudi Arabia) in the town of Mecca was born a man whose name was Mohammad. His parents, part of the dominate tribe of the area, left him orphaned at an early age. Eventually he was raised by an uncle and became a traveling merchant. Every year he would take a week or two and go into a cave in a mountain to contemplate. Around the year 610 Mohammad claims that he was visited by the angel Gabriel who gave him certain revelations. At first he thinks he has been visited by a demon but after a few years he starts preaching to his family and neighbors the revelations he has received.
Eventually he gets some converts, things snowball, his revelations, teachings and examples are written down in books called the Qur'an and the Hadith and the religion he created is spread by force in the Arabian peninsula and beyond, spreading throughout northern Africa, Spain, the Balkans, Asia Minor (Turkey), southern Eurasia (all the "stan" countries), Persia (Iran), eastern China and parts of India. Islam began in the Arab world but as you can see there are many other races that claim Islam as their faith.
The basic precepts of Islam for every Muslim are very simple: Acknowledge that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet. Pray toward Mecca several times a day. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Give alms to the poor. Fast and make an animal sacrifice during the Islamic holy month.
To understand the roots of Islam, where it has come from and where it is going, we need to start looking at the time and place of Mohammad back in 610 AD. The Arab people were tribal with no central leadership. They worshiped a pantheon of gods and each tribe and city had a special god that was their protector. There was a building in Mecca called the Kaaba which housed 360 of their pagan statues as well as a black meteorite which people would honor and worship by kissing it. The head and most powerful god of the Arab pantheon was named Allah, who was the male moon god whose symbol was the crescent moon. There is a tremendous amount of archaeological evidence showing that the moon god was worshiped widely throughout the Mid-East at that time and well before. Allah had several daughters who were considered goddesses.
Mohammad was familiar with both Jewish and Christian thought and their scriptures. He had a Jewish and a Christian wife and Mecca was the center of a trade route which saw the mingling of many cultures. His new religion declared some things that were payback for the historic enmity between the Arab and the Jew and their offshoot, the Christians. He taught that there were certain prophets throughout history that worshiped only one God. These were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others who worshiped one God and the God they worshiped was Allah. Mohammad taught that he was the final and last prophet and as the last prophet he declared that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were corrupted and must be understood by his teachings. Thus you see the first tenant of Islam, there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet.
Now here is a point that I don't want you to miss and is crucial to understanding what is happening today with ISIS and all other expressions of what is now being called radical Islam. Mohammad taught that God's promise would come through Ishmael, not Isaac and that the promise of land, not just for the Arab but for those that submitted to Islam would eventually cover the entire world. The charge for the followers of Allah was to take the land, by force if necessary and either convert all the conquered to Islam, or have them submit to Islamic rule and pay an annual tax, or die.
In the early 300's the Roman emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as an official state religion for the purpose of uniting the far flung empire. He didn't ban all the other forms of religion and the worship of their gods but he heavily supported the Christian religion making it the dominate religion. Mohammad would in effect do the same thing for the Arab people. He didn't come up with a new god that the people were not acquainted with. Allah was already recognized as the chief deity. Most Arabs would pray toward the Kaaba in Mecca several times a day and would make an effort to make a pilgrimage there sometime in their life. Killing an animal like a sheep as a sacrifice to their god was already practiced and most people gave alms to the poor. The annual month of fasting that Mohammad instituted would begin and end on a crescent moon, thus honoring Allah, an obvious connection to Allah as the moon god.
And because Mohammad was the last prophet, what he taught and did became the basis for a new legal system that would be imposed on all the conquered peoples.
Today there are 4 streams or factions of Islam. They all recognize Allah as the only god and Mohammad as his prophet but are divided on their interpretation of the Qur'an and the Haddith and on which successors to Mohammad were most legitimate. The Hanbali school of law is the strictest, meaning that it follows most closely the literal meaning of the Qur'an and Haddith. This is the one followed in Saudi Arabia and is also the one accepted by most Islamic terrorists. They believe that any land once ruled by Islam still belongs to Islam but also that the ultimate goal is for the entire world to become ruled by the same brand of Islam that Mohammad and his armies followed.
They view the world as being divided into two; Dar al-Islam, which means the house of Islam (land now ruled by Islam) and Dar al-itarb, which means the house of war (any other land, including our dear USA that eventually will become ruled by Islam). And for the ISIS's and other militant groups it isn't just good enough to already be Muslim. One now has to accept the Hanbali brand of Islam or die, no matter if you are man, woman or a child.
The goal of ISIS on the road to world domination is to create an Islamic caliphate covering all the territory once ruled by Islam or currently heavily populated by Muslims. Recently the head Turkish imman revealed a map listing 13 Islamic states that will form this caliphate. They are named Andalus (Spain), Maghreb (north western Africa), Alkinana (north eastern Africa), Habasha (central Africa), Orobpo (the Balkan region of Europe, Romania and Austria), Anathol (western Turkey), Qoqzaz (all the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), Kordistan (eastern Turkey, western Iran), Sham (Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan), Iraq (Iraq), Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Yaman (Yemen and Oman) and Khurason (all the stan countries plus India and western China). The plan is to eventually eliminate the Christian states and end up with 10 states, all headquartered in Turkey.
At one time this all seemed so far away to us living in the U.S. The average American is not aware of the violent conflicts that exist between Muslims and other religions in places like India, Africa and Asia. We are not aware that Muslim populations have skyrocketed throughout Europe and that they establish communities that do not intermingle or assimulate with the general population and have their own Islamic laws. We are not aware of the many mosques being built in our country which are paid for by Saudi Arabia, many of which teach the Hanbali school of thought. We are not aware that cities like Dearborn, Michigan are heavily populated and run by Muslims, that although Islamic law is not officially on the books there it is still being enforced in the Islamic community. And now 13 years after 911 we forget that 19 of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
However, now that Americans have been beheaded with the public warning that our homeland is next there seems to be a greater awareness that we are not facing a threat from an isolated bunch of loony radicals. Our politicians, dumb as they are toward Islamic thought, have always thought that land for peace would be a good deal for Israel. Western thought could not fathom the idea that land for peace was always a ploy, a tactic toward the eventual goal of reclaiming Islamic lands and enforcing the edict of their prophet, to destroy all the Jews.
Let me end by retelling a story that I heard in church last Sunday. Our pastor received an email from a missionary family from our church who are ministering in northern Africa. They said it was the beginning of the Muslim holy month and the talk of the town was all about sheep. Every family needed to purchase at least 1 sheep to sacrifice and people would say, "Have you got your sheep yet?", or "Where did you get your sheep?" or "How much did your sheep cost?" The missionary family was actually quite sad for the people because their faith was so works based. Theirs is an angry god who requires animal sacrifices and in return gives no assurances to the people that they could ever do enough to enter paradise.
Our pastor then read from the book of Hebrews which talks about Jesus being the lamb who was slain for our sins. and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9: 12)
We are not to hate anyone but we need to be aware that the world is rapidly changing and that traditional Islam is on the move and gaining steam and with each success there will be a switching of alliances from the moderate to the radical. The foundations of our laws, based on Judeo Christian thought, have been crumbling for decades and what is to replace it? If it is not rebuilt something else will replace it and everything we hold dear as Americans will be doomed. Wake up America!
The Bible talks about God calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to a land that He would show him. Abraham was to walk through that territory and any place he traveled would be given to Abraham and he would become the father of a great nation. Go forth from your country . . . to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great . . . And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. (Gen: 12: 1-5) This "royal grant" is much larger than what is occupied by the nation of Israel today. God's covenant promise to Abraham was reconfirmed by God through his son Isaac and then again through Isaac's son Jacob, who had the 12 sons who were the beginnings of the 12 tribes of Israel.
God had promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him but Abraham had some doubts because he and his wife Sarai were getting along in years. So Sarai arraigned for Abraham to have sexual relations with their Egyptian servant Hagar. As soon as it was obvious that Hagar conceived Sarai got jealous and had Abraham send her away. The offspring from this union was Ishmael. God then made a promise through an angel to Hagar; I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count . . . Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael . . . he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him; (Gen. 16: 10-12) Those descendants would become the Arab nations who settled in the regions of central and north central Arabia.
The child that God's promise was to go through from Abraham was not Ishmael but rather it was through Isaac, the child that Sarai (now Sarah) bore some years later. When Isaac's wife Rebekah first conceived she had twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first born and the promise was to go through him but as you remember Jacob tricked Esau into selling this birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later on when it was time for now blind and dying Isaac to give his blessings Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac into giving the first born blessing to Jacob. The blessing ends with the same phrase that God gave to Abraham; Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. (Gen: 27: 29)
Esau then comes for his blessing and this is what he gets; Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, and away from the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve . . . So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing. (Gen. 27: 39-41) The descendants of Esau would become the Edomites and would settle in a land much less fertile than Canaan in territory which is now part of Jordan. Most people calling themselves Palestinians have come from this area.
Let us now jump ahead over 1500 years. In about 570 AD in central Arabia (Saudi Arabia) in the town of Mecca was born a man whose name was Mohammad. His parents, part of the dominate tribe of the area, left him orphaned at an early age. Eventually he was raised by an uncle and became a traveling merchant. Every year he would take a week or two and go into a cave in a mountain to contemplate. Around the year 610 Mohammad claims that he was visited by the angel Gabriel who gave him certain revelations. At first he thinks he has been visited by a demon but after a few years he starts preaching to his family and neighbors the revelations he has received.
Eventually he gets some converts, things snowball, his revelations, teachings and examples are written down in books called the Qur'an and the Hadith and the religion he created is spread by force in the Arabian peninsula and beyond, spreading throughout northern Africa, Spain, the Balkans, Asia Minor (Turkey), southern Eurasia (all the "stan" countries), Persia (Iran), eastern China and parts of India. Islam began in the Arab world but as you can see there are many other races that claim Islam as their faith.
The basic precepts of Islam for every Muslim are very simple: Acknowledge that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet. Pray toward Mecca several times a day. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Give alms to the poor. Fast and make an animal sacrifice during the Islamic holy month.
To understand the roots of Islam, where it has come from and where it is going, we need to start looking at the time and place of Mohammad back in 610 AD. The Arab people were tribal with no central leadership. They worshiped a pantheon of gods and each tribe and city had a special god that was their protector. There was a building in Mecca called the Kaaba which housed 360 of their pagan statues as well as a black meteorite which people would honor and worship by kissing it. The head and most powerful god of the Arab pantheon was named Allah, who was the male moon god whose symbol was the crescent moon. There is a tremendous amount of archaeological evidence showing that the moon god was worshiped widely throughout the Mid-East at that time and well before. Allah had several daughters who were considered goddesses.
Mohammad was familiar with both Jewish and Christian thought and their scriptures. He had a Jewish and a Christian wife and Mecca was the center of a trade route which saw the mingling of many cultures. His new religion declared some things that were payback for the historic enmity between the Arab and the Jew and their offshoot, the Christians. He taught that there were certain prophets throughout history that worshiped only one God. These were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others who worshiped one God and the God they worshiped was Allah. Mohammad taught that he was the final and last prophet and as the last prophet he declared that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were corrupted and must be understood by his teachings. Thus you see the first tenant of Islam, there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet.
Now here is a point that I don't want you to miss and is crucial to understanding what is happening today with ISIS and all other expressions of what is now being called radical Islam. Mohammad taught that God's promise would come through Ishmael, not Isaac and that the promise of land, not just for the Arab but for those that submitted to Islam would eventually cover the entire world. The charge for the followers of Allah was to take the land, by force if necessary and either convert all the conquered to Islam, or have them submit to Islamic rule and pay an annual tax, or die.
In the early 300's the Roman emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as an official state religion for the purpose of uniting the far flung empire. He didn't ban all the other forms of religion and the worship of their gods but he heavily supported the Christian religion making it the dominate religion. Mohammad would in effect do the same thing for the Arab people. He didn't come up with a new god that the people were not acquainted with. Allah was already recognized as the chief deity. Most Arabs would pray toward the Kaaba in Mecca several times a day and would make an effort to make a pilgrimage there sometime in their life. Killing an animal like a sheep as a sacrifice to their god was already practiced and most people gave alms to the poor. The annual month of fasting that Mohammad instituted would begin and end on a crescent moon, thus honoring Allah, an obvious connection to Allah as the moon god.
And because Mohammad was the last prophet, what he taught and did became the basis for a new legal system that would be imposed on all the conquered peoples.
Today there are 4 streams or factions of Islam. They all recognize Allah as the only god and Mohammad as his prophet but are divided on their interpretation of the Qur'an and the Haddith and on which successors to Mohammad were most legitimate. The Hanbali school of law is the strictest, meaning that it follows most closely the literal meaning of the Qur'an and Haddith. This is the one followed in Saudi Arabia and is also the one accepted by most Islamic terrorists. They believe that any land once ruled by Islam still belongs to Islam but also that the ultimate goal is for the entire world to become ruled by the same brand of Islam that Mohammad and his armies followed.
They view the world as being divided into two; Dar al-Islam, which means the house of Islam (land now ruled by Islam) and Dar al-itarb, which means the house of war (any other land, including our dear USA that eventually will become ruled by Islam). And for the ISIS's and other militant groups it isn't just good enough to already be Muslim. One now has to accept the Hanbali brand of Islam or die, no matter if you are man, woman or a child.
The goal of ISIS on the road to world domination is to create an Islamic caliphate covering all the territory once ruled by Islam or currently heavily populated by Muslims. Recently the head Turkish imman revealed a map listing 13 Islamic states that will form this caliphate. They are named Andalus (Spain), Maghreb (north western Africa), Alkinana (north eastern Africa), Habasha (central Africa), Orobpo (the Balkan region of Europe, Romania and Austria), Anathol (western Turkey), Qoqzaz (all the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), Kordistan (eastern Turkey, western Iran), Sham (Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan), Iraq (Iraq), Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Yaman (Yemen and Oman) and Khurason (all the stan countries plus India and western China). The plan is to eventually eliminate the Christian states and end up with 10 states, all headquartered in Turkey.
At one time this all seemed so far away to us living in the U.S. The average American is not aware of the violent conflicts that exist between Muslims and other religions in places like India, Africa and Asia. We are not aware that Muslim populations have skyrocketed throughout Europe and that they establish communities that do not intermingle or assimulate with the general population and have their own Islamic laws. We are not aware of the many mosques being built in our country which are paid for by Saudi Arabia, many of which teach the Hanbali school of thought. We are not aware that cities like Dearborn, Michigan are heavily populated and run by Muslims, that although Islamic law is not officially on the books there it is still being enforced in the Islamic community. And now 13 years after 911 we forget that 19 of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
However, now that Americans have been beheaded with the public warning that our homeland is next there seems to be a greater awareness that we are not facing a threat from an isolated bunch of loony radicals. Our politicians, dumb as they are toward Islamic thought, have always thought that land for peace would be a good deal for Israel. Western thought could not fathom the idea that land for peace was always a ploy, a tactic toward the eventual goal of reclaiming Islamic lands and enforcing the edict of their prophet, to destroy all the Jews.
Let me end by retelling a story that I heard in church last Sunday. Our pastor received an email from a missionary family from our church who are ministering in northern Africa. They said it was the beginning of the Muslim holy month and the talk of the town was all about sheep. Every family needed to purchase at least 1 sheep to sacrifice and people would say, "Have you got your sheep yet?", or "Where did you get your sheep?" or "How much did your sheep cost?" The missionary family was actually quite sad for the people because their faith was so works based. Theirs is an angry god who requires animal sacrifices and in return gives no assurances to the people that they could ever do enough to enter paradise.
Our pastor then read from the book of Hebrews which talks about Jesus being the lamb who was slain for our sins. and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9: 12)
We are not to hate anyone but we need to be aware that the world is rapidly changing and that traditional Islam is on the move and gaining steam and with each success there will be a switching of alliances from the moderate to the radical. The foundations of our laws, based on Judeo Christian thought, have been crumbling for decades and what is to replace it? If it is not rebuilt something else will replace it and everything we hold dear as Americans will be doomed. Wake up America!
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