I fully agree with Pastor Terry Jones regarding the title of his book, "Islam is of the Devil." There's no question about it. In fact, I would say that if one is a true Christian and genuinely informed regarding Islam, there is no other option. One cannot be a Christian and also believe that Islam is not evil.
According to the religion of Islam, when Jesus returns, He comes back to destroy every cross throughout the earth and abolish Christianity as a religion. In case this is new information, the actual Islamic tradition reads as follows:
The Prophet Muhammad said: Jesus will descend (to the earth) … He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah (poll-tax for non-Muslims). Allah will perish all religions except Islam.
– Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 37, Number 4310, Narrated by Abu Hurayrah: see also Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43, Number 656
So unless you are the kind of Christian who thinks the destruction of crosses and the "perishing" of Christianity is a good thing, what else can you believe? Islam is of the devil.
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But before our left-wing friends go absolutely nuts, let me add that one cannot be a genuine humanist and also endorse Islam. How can you claim to value human life and also support a religion that consistently teaches true believers to fight against or even kill unbelievers?
Or if you are a true feminist, how can you support Islam? According to Umdat al-Salik, (a manual of Islamic law endorsed by Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious Islamic university in the world) "the indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man." Islamic law is filled with this trash.
In fact, let me be so bold as to say one cannot believe in the truths articulated in the founding documents of the United States of America and also support Islam. If you believe the words of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," then you must reject as evil the religion which consistently teaches that the life of an unbeliever is worth far less than the life of a Muslim believer.
So restated: If you believe in the Bible, if you value all human life, if you value equal rights, if you believe in such things as freedom of speech or the equality of all men, you cannot look with anything other than disdain upon Islam. It stands against all of the principles that have made this nation such a great human-condition-elevating entity in the world.
And as we all know, Islam derives the majority of its demonic ideas from a book called the Quran. So Pastor Jones is completely correct when he says that the Quran is an evil book.
Nevertheless, I also want to state that I am utterly opposed to the planned burning of Qurans.
Why?
The answer is because this job belongs to Jesus alone. While Muslims believe that Jesus will return as a Muslim to destroy Christianity, I believe that he will return as a Jew to destroy Islam.
But as much as I would like to rid the earth of this soul-destroying book myself, this job has not been given to me or any other Christian. This job belongs to Jesus. Only He is worthy. And as such, the central hope and expectation of every prophet and apostle throughout the Bible is to eagerly await the "Day of the Lord," when the Messiah will return to execute vengeance, deliver justice and rid the world of all evil.
When the Messiah returns, He will rid the world not only of the Quran but also the collections of Haddith (Islam's other demonic source of sacred authority), Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (an equally anti-Semitic and racist book which is presently a best-seller in the moderate Islamic nation of Turkey), or Barack Obama's favorite textbooks: Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto," and Saul Alinsky's "Rules For Radicals." All of these books will be destroyed and thrown into the fire. And I'm looking forward to it.
But it won't just be books. I also look forward to the destruction and abolition of the global human-trafficking industry. I look forward to the judgment of every corrupt and exploitative leader of the earth (Psalm 110:5,6). I long for the Messiah to execute vengeance when He comes with His justice for the afflicted, the forgotten, the sick, the exploited, the abused, the widow… and the orphan. I am wholeheartedly looking forward to that day.
But it is not the job of the Christian to make it happen. Our job is to proclaim that coming of that day and the kingdom that follows on its heels.
For now, in this age, Christians are to turn the cheek. For now, Christians are to defer justice until the day of the Lord. Christians are to embody the cross. Burning Qurans, no matter how evil they are, is not the way of the cross.
I'm proud of Pastor Jones' solid stand against the evil of the Quran and for standing firm against the utter hypocrisy of the media. But I ask him not to go forward with his plans. I ask this for one reason. Burning Qurans will do nothing to fulfill his primary mission as a Christian in this age: to proclaim the coming kingdom of God, the Day of the Lord and the judgment to come. Going forward will only be used by the devil to further his agenda. Let the radical Muslims of the earth burn Bibles, the American flag and whatever else they see fit to do all in the name of their god. This is their time. This is their age. But the day of justice will come for them as well.
For him to engage in the public burning of Qurans is merely provocation for provocation sake. This is not the way of Christ. This is an act that usurps that which only Jesus is entitled to do. Pastor Jones should take those Qurans, stick them on a shelf and tell Jesus that they'll be waiting for Him to throw into the fire on the day that He purges the whole earth.
Joel Richardson is the author of "Islamic Antichrist," published by WND Books, and is the co-author with Walid Shoebat of "God's War on Terror." His blog is www.Joelstrumpet.com.