Image source: http://theamericanmuslim.org/images/uploads/18746/fear,_inc.__large.jpg
I often watch Meet the Press, but this morning NBC has gone crazy for golf, so I tuned into This Week, and found your special edition about Islam.
Franklin Graham is not the worst person you could get as a panelist. The son of the very respected Billy Graham, Franklin is probably a fairly good preacher in his own right. Unfortunately, I don't think he nor his dad are "full gospel" or "Pentecostal."
In other words, with the signs following of Mark chapt. 16. A Christian can get to heaven without that, but will do much better with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues. The unknown tongue is a language spoken by, but not understood by the person speaking.
You asked the question, "Should Americans fear Islam?"
I am glad to be able to answer your question correctly, Ms. A. You should fear Islam if youre not a Christian, but not all Americans. By the way, are you an American? You speak with a British accent, and your family name seems like something out of India, where the predominant religion seems to be Hindu.
But the Americans who should not fear Islam are the Christian Americans, since God has told us in his book, the Holy Bible, "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." But it seems clear that you, Ms. A, are not a Christian.
If you were a Christian, then I would expect that you would already know the answer to the Islam issue. But instead, you do the nation a disservice by giving a voice on the air to Muslims, who ought not to be given that voice, in view of the fact they have nothing worthwhile to say.
Of course, this is the U.S.A., and we have freedom of religion, but if in exercising your freedom of religion you choose badly, then you could wind up in a fiery hell for eternity, and all Muslims are on the road to hell.
An acquaintance of mine spoke of Islam as the religion of Ishmael (son of Abraham). That's not correct. Ishmael lived like perhaps 4 thousand years ago. Islam wasn't started until about the 7th century a.d. by a man claiming to be a prophet, but who actually was the false prophet Mohammed, a spokesperson for Satan.
The Muslims have a book they call holy, the Koran (or, Quran), which, of course, is a counterfeit Bible. If you were a Christian, Ms. A, you should know that, unless you've been a Christian for a very short time.
That pastor in Florida who wanted to burn Korans was, I believe, not so wise to plan to do so, however he was right when he said that Islam is a religion from Satan. It would be correct to say that all false religions are from Satan, and they were invented to help Satan in his effort to send people to hell.
You showed Obama saying, "We are not at war with Islam." But that's the same Obama who, on Dec. 8, 2009 said, "Islam is one of the world's great religions." No, it's not. Islam sends every one of its followers to hell. A great religion doesn't send its followers to hell, thus Obama told a lie in saying that. So, clearly, in theological matters, Obama has little expertise.
It has been said that some of the Muslims are peaceful. Maybe so, but consider Major Hasan at Ft. Hood, TX. The Army educated him, and he became a psychologist or psychiatrist for the Army. Peaceful so far. But then the Army issued orders sending him to the war zone. But Hasan didn't want to go to the war zone. What to do?
But Hasan had an ace up his sleeve, or so he thought. So Hasan says to himself, wait a minute, I don't have to go to the war zone. I'm a Muslim. And Muslims are guaranteed to go to heaven if they die as Muslim martyrs. So that's what I'll do. I'll die a Muslim martyr.
Unfortunately for Hasan and all Muslims, they've been lied to. You don't go to heaven by being a Muslim martyr. In fact, God says in the Bible, "No murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
So, Hasan gets his guns and starts shooting people who mostly don't look like Muslims, assuming that someone will come and stop him by shooting him. Unfortunately things didn't work out for Hasan. The security person's bullets didn't kill him, they only paralyzed him. Sometimes things just don't go the way you expect. Especially if based on false teaching, which is what Islam is all about.
Muslims take vengeance if they believe someone's done them wrong. But God says in the Bible, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord." So, that's one way we know that Islam is not a religion from God.
Another way we know that Islam is not a religion from God is the statement by the Muslims that Jesus was a good man and a prophet, but not the Son of God. But Jesus said he's the Son of God at least three places in the New Testament. So if the Muslims are right that he is not the Son of God, then Jesus is not a good man, but a liar; not a prophet, but a false prophet (like the false prophet Mohammed.)
The real God has a son named Jesus. The Islam god, Allah, does not. Allah, therefore, is not God, and the Muslims neither know who God is, nor who Jesus is.
Which came first, Ms. A, the legitimate $20 bill, or the counterfeit one? Well, the real one came first, of course, and later the counterfeit.
Similarly, the legitimate religion Christianity came first, and afterward came the counterfeit religion, Islam.
The best religion in the world used to be Judaism, until about two thousand years ago, when Judaism became the second best religion. But how did it happen that Judaism switched places from best to second best?
Judaism taught that a Messiah, or savior, would come. And then the Savior did come, The Lord Jesus Christ, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, as per prophecy, descendant of David by genealogy, who lived a sinless life, and then died for the sins of the world. "There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we MUST be saved."
Some Jews, of course, did accept Jesus as Lord, and became Christians. The majority of Jews did not accept him. "He came to his own, and his own received him not." And that's when Christianity replaced Judaism as the best religion of the world, and the only religion that gets people to heaven, since Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me." The Father, of course is God the Father who is in heaven. You don't go to heaven unless you have Jesus as Savior, and the Muslims don't have Jesus as Savior. They don't even recognize him as the Son of God.
Everyone goes either to heaven or hell, and to whichever of those places you go, it's permanent, and Jesus said that most people go to hell. Jesus doesn't lie. "Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it," says Jesus. This is the old-fashioned King James English, but I'm sure you're able to follow it.
If you really want to get to the heart of this Islam issue, Ms. A, first become a Christian.
You asked the question, Ms. A, "Can an understanding be reached?" Yes, it can, Ms. A, and here is the understanding to be reached: The legitimate religion from God is Christianity, and Islam is a false religion from Satan.
However, as a Christian, I don't advocate killing those who have the wrong religion, as some Muslims advocate killing non-Muslims.
If you wish to find scriptures I've quoted in the Bible, I recommend Strong's Unabridged Concordance. A recent edition is called "The Strongest Strongs."
