Posted on 10/01/2006 2:16:45 PM PDT by Alterboy1964
God is at work By Betty Jo Hardy Special to The South Alabamian
If all of the words spoken and written about the validity of the war in Iraq were amassed, they would likely stretch around this globe several times. Yet there is one vital aspect of the war that I have not seen covered in any secular news outlet.
A while back a U.S. Army general speaking in a church in this country said this war is about religion. He was severely reprimanded by his superiors and this was reported in the news. The Muslims learning of his censure must surely have cited the incident as proof positive that we Americans are spiritually illiterate, the "infidels" they claim we are.
The terrorists who frequently proclaim "Allah Akbar" (God is great) before their murderous acts leave no doubt of their reason for their violence. I wonder if they realize that the war in Iraq and now the Israeli attack on Hezbollah have opened the Middle East to the Gospel as never before.
Indeed, God is much at work in the midst of the Muslim strongholds. Hundreds of relatively new satellite dishes in Iraq now beam the Gospel there as Christian programs from this country are being translated into Arabic. Some of our soldiers are even handing out Bibles and missionaries have gone there and stayed with Iraqi families.
I know one such young woman who spent a year in Iraq. She says the oldest son of the family she stayed with told her that he was converted to Christianity through a vision of Jesus Christ. Jennifer, the missionary, said many Muslims in northern Iraq are becoming Christians. Her story about the young man's vision lends credence to reports on some inspirational TV channels that a number of Muslims have been having visions or dreams of a man in white who they believe is Jesus Christ.
In Lebanon where there are a number of evangelical Christian churches, Muslims who have been put out of their homes by the Israeli attacks are now being sheltered in churches or in the homes of Christians.
The land of Iraq is rich in Bible history, and scholars believe the Garden of Eden is there at some point where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet. You can be sure that heaven's eyes are focused on all battles in the Holy Land vicinity.
Could God have allowed the Iraq war for the very purpose of spreading the Gospel to Muslims? Or is He just using the window which was opened by this ongoing conflict?
I, like most Americans, abhor seeing on television the carnage of innocent people being killed by car bombings, missiles, etc. I mourn over the deaths of our young men and those who have survived the battle with their bodies disfigured for life. Yet is it not encouraging that God is working for good amidst the horrors of war?
With the TV flashing pictures of murderous fanatics vowing to kill us, we Christians need to remember that we have read the last chapter of the Bible and take heart. There is probably no better time in history to be a Christian soldier than right now.
What can we do? Surely our battle positions are on our knees. I believe the only reason we have not had another terrorist attack like Sept. 11, 2001 is because so many Christians are in prayer daily. Let's not forget our battlestations.
When you consider the wonderful work the Church is doing in Iraq and all of the benfits of the reconstruction effort there, it makes the sacrifice we are making there all the more worth while.
I am thankful President Bush has stood firm in the face of mounting public pressure to pull out of Iraq, so that the work of the Church can be completed.
These missionaries are actually making the persecution of the indigenous Christians in Iraq worse. American Christians should be channeling support of all sorts to the existing Christians there instead of proselytizing and sheep-stealing.
Agreed. Freedom of religion isn't for everyone...
He's a big God, and I'm pretty sure he knows what he is doing. Nice article!
These missionaries are actually making the persecution of the indigenous Christians in Iraq worse.
______________________________
Correction. Satan persecutes Christians, not missionaries seeking to win souls for Christ.
Missionaries have been the harbingers of God's blessings in many, many countries. The persecution of missionaries is as common here at home as it is in the spiritually dark countries where they work.
Your comment is profoundly ignorant. I sincerely hope you are offended by my remark. I am deeply offended by yours.
That's a plan for victory.
I am going to offend you too. You are ignorant of God's ways with the statement you make about missionaries making the persecution of Christians in Iraq worse. That is totally false. Christians are called by Christ to spread the Gospel message to the whole world, that includes Iraq. The people there have been brainwashed their whole lives about their god. Now they will have the opportunity to meet the real God with the help of these missionaries. God bless them and the people of Iraq who are looking for truth.
No, no, no, no, no! It's Bush's fault.
Whoever heard of God using a bush for anything?
You are stupidly ignorant of the existence of Christians who have lived in the region now called Iraq since the time of the apostles. You seem to assume that everyone in Iraq is Muslim. Before you shoot off your mouth, learn some history.
You apparently do not even know enough about Iraq to know that I was referring to Syrian Christians, who speak the language Jesus spoke, who have lived there for 2000 years, who are being persecuted by Muslims because the Muslims blame them, the ancient Christians, for the influx of American proselytizing missionaries ignorant of the land and culture. I'm not talking about the missionaries being pesecuted, I'm talking about the way they are abetting the persecution of fellow Christians by Muslims.
And you are too ignorant to know the difference. Save your "ignorant" label for yourself.
Your ignorance extends to your inability to read and understand. Your point is perfectly clear and I understood its obvious intent. Any Christian who complains about persecution as a result of saving lost souls is a Christian in name only.
I do not buy the terrorist threat. It is the persecutors and not the missionaries who are at fault. Are we now to cease doing good because some malicious dog with evil intent will be offended and harm an innocent?
Do not try to get off so lightly. It is not the fault of the missionaries that Christians are persecuted. It is the fault of Muslims who are incapable of civilized behavior.
Your glib accusation that "American proselytizing missionaries ignorant of the land and culture" are the cause of Muslim persecution of Syrian Christians is a cheap and immoral capitulation to terrorist tactics. So-called American proselytizing missionaries are no more to blame than are the workers in the World Trade center are to blame for 9/11.
I am sick of the cowardly and obscene attitudes of those who blame Americans first for every evil in the world. Yours is just one more ugly capitulation to evil.
You are an idiot.
"Sheep steeling"....you fool!
Christians are called by Jesus to spread the good news (gospel) to the four corners of the earth. This task is most important in the places where Satan's darkness reigns in the form of the false teachings of demonic prophets like Mohammed.
May God bless and bring fruit from every Christian missionary in Iraq and around the globe. In Jesus' Name I pray.
;-/
You speak as one whose mother never taught you good manners. Act like a responsible grown up, and we'll treat you like one. Act like a petualnt, spoiled brat, and reap what you sew.
;-/
---That's a plan for victory.
Then again, my son, who is now in Iraq for the 4th time and has family background in the Arab world, has come to the point where he says "what these people need more than anything else is a different religion."
Mission work is all about empowering the local populace silly. The Mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go into hostile territory and tell them the good news. Not build Churches, be Churches. What you have said is spoken from a perspective of not knowing your posterier from a hole in the ground. IMHO.
You are exactly right.
All replies to my initial post called me ignorant. My mama taught me manners, my papa taught me to tell bullies what I think of them. I replied to the insults with facts of which the repliers were in fact ignorant. You guys dish it out but can't take it. Go home to mama and whimper.
Thank you for your kind reply. You still need to learn some history. Like about the Persians who skinned alive the East Syrian Christians in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The indigenous Christians in Iraq have never known anything but persecution, from Romans, Persians, Muslims, from slow-chopping-off of limbs until only the trunk remained, alive, to centuries of dhimmitude. Despite that they have held firm to Christ now for nearly 2000 years. And now arrogant, smart-ass Evangelical Protestant Americans come and tell them they aren't up front enough with the Gospel, that they are cultural Christians only, that they aren't born again, aren't really Christians. Then they make a show of trying to convert Muslims while picking off the disaffected Oriental Rite Christian along the way, giving the Muslims ammunition for hatred of American Christians which they extend to the indigenous Oriental Rite Christians.
The chutzpah of going to a land where Christians have suffered for their faith for 2000 years, coming from a land that has known only religious freedom and squandered it to become a cess-pool of immorality, and telling the Christians who have a list of martyrs that would fill a half-dozen Scofield Reference Bible-sized books that they aren't "really Christians" and "we'll show you how it's done" -- "we'll convert those Muslim bastards that you are so cowed by all these centuries."
It's obscene and brings discredit on the name of Christ because Christians are undermining fellow Christians out of ignorance and arrogance.
May God have mercy on the souls of these "missionaries" for "they know not what they do" in more ways than one.
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