There is a difference between Apologetics and apology. In these difficult and dangerous times, many Christians are becoming confused over this issue, and rather than stand strong in their Faith they are instead living in apology for having any faith at all in case they upset some minority group.
As Christians, no matter what denomination you espouse we are in a critical battle ground where the rule book has been thrown out by our adversaries which is Islamofascism. These fascists do not follow rules of engagement their only rule is to kill all those who oppose them. Whether it be by bombing them, beheading them or blowing their enemies up by strapping bombs to themselves, nothing is too loathsome for these tyrannical extremists.
Many generations ago another fascist wrote a book called 'Mein Kampf' not to many took much note and many disregarded the book as the rantings of a mad man. One man of only a few who took this book seriously was Pope Pius XII, when as Cardinal Pacelli he exclaimed in incredulity at those who were misguided into thinking that one can deal with such a man as Adolf Hitler. Cardinal Pacelli was quoted as saying, "This man is completely carried away; everything he says and writes has the mark of his egocentrism; this man is capable of trampling on corpses and eliminating anything that is an obstacle. I cannot understand how there are so many people in Germany who do not understand him, and cannot draw conclusions from what he says or writes. Has any of them even read his horrifying ‘Mein Kampf’?" We now know the tragedy that happened during that particular point in time when the world did look the other way and decided to 'dialogue' with Adolf Hitler by acquiescing when it came to Czechoslovakia. As we look back at history did this attempt at 'dialogue' work? Did Hitler suddenly gain a conscience and did the spirit of appeasement work? No it did not. Are we then beginning to re-live history?
The President of Iran has said openly that he wanted 'Israel to be wiped off the map' he also continued with these words, "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism." Do we disregard these words as the 'rantings of a mad man' does that not have a familiar ring to it? President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also denying the holocaust by referring to it as a 'myth' as he stated recently in regards to this issue, "The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets," he said. "(It) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet." Once again do we ignore these tirades?
Many Christian leaders are of the opinion that in order to achieve peace we must begin 'dialogue' there is a reasonable belief in this in that no man or nation should rush to war. What happens though when the entity you wish to engage in 'dialogue' is evil, can one dialogue with evil? If their only response is to annihilate Israel of the face of the earth and destroy the 'decadent' United States of America, do we confront these statements or try and appease it? Has appeasement worked before in the history of the world?
We are at a critical point in our lives where choices need to be made. Many in the Western world need to wake up from their self induced denial of evil and realise that evil is indeed knocking at their door. If we do not confront evil, then we will be overcome by it as the future for our children becomes ashes in their mouths because we refused to wake up from our self imposed coma of self delusion.
No man wants war for war's sake but when evil confronts us do we confront it as did our grandparents in the dark days of World War II? Or do we pass the fight onto our children and our children's children so we can live 'safely' and die comfortably in our beds? Has this generation become that selfish? For at the heart of appeasement is a longing to live as we always have, comfortably and safely and to maintain the status quo, at what cost?
It is becoming obvious that those who embrace Islamofascism are in opposition to those who have embraced Christianity. The two are irreconcilable as Islamofascists tries to eliminate the other by any means necessary, whether it be hijacking planes or cruise ships or by strapping bombs to their bodies as they blow up innocent civilians in order to subjugate the world through sheer intimidation. It also does not work when Christians live in apology for their very beliefs, as if believing in the one true God had become a crime. Therefore the Christians bend over backwards to accommodate the Islamofascist extremists, why?
Many are still refusing to believe that we are in a war. A war that is so all encompassing that it strikes at the heart of our very beliefs and our way of life and yet some are still failing to see that Christianity is in the fight for its very life and it's core beliefs.
Let us examine a timeline of the Islamofascists and their war which they waged decades ago as the West slept:
1964: Several thousand Simba rebels storm the defenses of Stanleyville, a city of 300,000 in the newly independent Republic of the Congo. The rebels take more than 1,600 European residents hostage and announce that they will kill the captives if the Congolese government tries to recapture the city. Most of the hostages are rescued in a joint American-Belgian operation.
1972: Eight Palestinian "Black September" terrorists seize nine Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village in Munich. In a bungled rescue attempt by West German authorities, all the hostages and five terrorists are killed.
1979 - 81: After U.S. President Jimmy Carter agrees to admit the Shah of Iran into the U.S., Iranian radicals seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran Nov.4 1979, and take 66 American diplomats and embassy employees hostage. Thirteen hostages are soon released, but the remaining 53 are held until their release on Jan. 20, 1981.
1983 U.S and French soldiers bombed in Beirut.
1985 - 1991: Shia militiamen in Beirut take Terry Anderson, an Associated Press reporter, hostage in 1985. They demand the release of Shia extremists convicted of bombing the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait. Anderson spends six years in captivity — the longest period of any of the 18 U.S. hostages kidnapped in the latter stages of the civil war in Lebanon.
1985 Hijacked the Achille Lauro
1985 Jun 14, The 17-day hijack ordeal of TWA Flight 847 began as a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists seized the plane with 104 Americans shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece. The hijackers killed Petty Officer Robert Dean Stethem and dumped his body on the tarmac in Beirut.
1987 - 1991: Terry Waite, envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is taken hostage after he travels to Beirut in 1987 to negotiate the release of two American hostages. Waite remains captive until November 1991.
1988 Pan Am 103 crashed over Lockerbie.
1993: World Trade Center bomb terrorizes New York
1993: US forces killed in Somali gun battle At least five US soldiers have been killed and two Blackhawk helicopters shot down in a heavy firefight in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu.
2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.
2001 11th September attack on World Trade Centre
2002 Bali Bombings
This is only a short summary of the war that Islamofascists extremists have been waging on the Nation of Israel and Christianity itself. How many wake up calls do we need in order to see what is confronting us?
On December 7th 1941 the Japanese surprised America with an assault on Pearl Harbor. The President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared war on Japan over ONE attack on it's territory. How many times does America have to be attacked before the citizens wake up and realise that this is war! Let us remember the World Trade Centre was attacked twice, yet still the message was not clear enough. Do we wait till Iran has a nuclear weapon and a mushroom cloud rises from New York? Then suddenly and too late many will wake up and realise they were sleeping while the Islamofascists plotted and planned their demise.
We have no excuse for this type of blindness for we have learnt about the holocaust which killed 6 million Jews, Christians and other victims. This has happened before. It happened in Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Sudan, Rwanda, how many have to die in order to convince us that when we have been consistently attacked it means exactly what it is, WAR!
The Islamofascists have deliberately kept their people poor and uneducated, in order for their youth to feel a hopelessness about their own future prospects. In this way they can appeal to young men to die for Allah and in this way they will attain their 70 virgins but only IF they are martyred. Ever wonder why Osama Bin Laden remains hidden like a rat in the mountains of Pakistan as he slinks from one safety hole to the next? Did Abu Musab al-Zarqawi offer himself up for martyrdom or was he accidentally trapped by the Americans? It seems the top leadership of these terrorists groups have NO wish to die for their cause.
While these terrorist leaders hide and plot their evil schemes to destroy the infidels the West worries itself about 'profiling' how amusing for the terrorists, they kill us while we are concerned for THEIR rights! Some even think 'if only we were nice to them they would then be nice to us' it doesnt work that way they do not know you, yet they have NO compunction in killing you and your family. Their hate is impersonal, they hate what you are and NOT who you are.
Christians are facing ever increasing threat from these terrorist organizations from the Sudan to Beruit. From Turkey to Nigeria from India to Indonesia, Christians are being martyred even Priests, yet where is the outcry? Still many in the West weep when Hezbollah terrorists are rightfully attacked for murdering and kidnapping Israeli soldiers. But there is a deafening silence over the persecution and murder of innocent Christians, who weeps for them?
Many Islamofascists cry crocodile tears for the poor Palestinians, yet why then do the more wealthy Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia not set up schools, new roads, hospitals etc? Why? Because they are using the plight of the Palestinians as an excuse to unleash their pent up hatred on the nation of Israel and also on America. The former President Yasser Arafat was given hundreds of millions of dollars from the West, not one penny of this aid was spent on easing the plight of the poor. The majority of the money was squirreled away in Swiss bank accounts.
The Islamofascists are good at taking lives they are not so good at saving lives. More Muslims have killed Muslims than any other nation combined yet that fact remains unspoken, as the terrorist leaders point the finger at the West for all that ails them.
Christians love God they try and live their faith, but no where does it say that Christians must become door mats so the terrorists can vent their spleen. We have seen what happens when the Islamofascists don't agree with cartoons or books that they feel malign their prophet, yet they feel no such compunction when deriding the Jewish or Christian Faith. It is never right to blaspheme anyone's belief as the Vatican rightfully stated, but equality of respect for other faiths and beliefs is not a one way street. So far it seems the Islamofascists are allowed their own blaspheming but will murder and maim anyone who opposes or satirizes their beliefs. As Cardinal Angelo Sodana spoke recently,
"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us." Pope Benedict XVI also stated at a recent meeting with the Moroccan ambassador,
"respect for the religious convictions and practices of others, in a reciprocal way in all societies." Yet destroy us they will
IF we allow them too.
In the end there is no reasoning with hate for hate has no logic. Let us hope we recognise the dogs of war before they devour us.
Peace of Christ to ALL
Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.
