Is It Holy War Yet

Before I post my latest musings, I wanted to say a couple of things.

Thank you:

Thank you to those of you who responded to my last email regarding the Booker T. Washington Inspirational Network. Also much thanks to those who have donated to us for the North Tulsa Soccer program and the ongoing work I am doing there. For those who did not receive this email, you can check out the web site at: booker-t-washington.com

Pray for:

Please pray for our daughter Talitha as she and a team from southern California are heading to Uganda and the Sudan for 2 weeks. Who would ever have thought of the day when Uganda was the "safe" place to go. It is hard to believe that it has been 24 years since I led that first YWAM team there in 1982 and 19 years since the last time I was there. How time flies.

Tyler Lennon is leading the team and they are going to Uganda and across the northern border to the Darfur region of the Sudan. They will first have to travel through the rebel "Lord's Army" territory which is dangerous enough, but then into southern Sudan. Please pray for protection for the entire team in this unstable part of the world, and even more importantly for spiritual authority. Also pray for Brett Phillips, Talitha's husband, who remains home, in LA. Some of us know how hard that can be, especially for newly weds.


Latest Musings:

Holy War (revisited)

I do not know how many of you received my 3 part essay from 2004 on Holy war. I wonder who is not yet convinced that we are in a holy war. For a refresher, please go to:

http://saltinc.blogspot.com/2004/12/holy-war.html

This will take you to Part 1 and it and the 2 blogs that follow that one deal with the modern holy war we are involved in.

Let me cite a couple of examples of why we are now at least on the defensive, if not losing, in this Holy War.

Example one:

A few months ago the creators of the South Park cartoon show wanted to depict Mohammed in a pretty innocuous manner. This was, I am sure, in response to the reaction to the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed and the outcry related to that. The Comedy Network executives forbade them from showing the depiction of Mohammed and blacked out the image. So what did the South Park guys do? They depicted at first President Bush defecating on the American flag and the American people, then Jesus defecating on flag, and President Bush. The word defecating is my own choice so you can imagine their word, if you will. The initial reaction of course would be how crude and sacrilegious, but on closer observation, although I do not favor their means, I got what they were trying to communicate. You cannot show even a caricature of Mohammed in any light without being stopped or punished, but you can heap the vilest of insults upon the American flag, the President of the United States, and even upon Jesus Christ and no one will stop you or even raise and outcry. And those who do are considered a right wing fringe. That, I tell you is holy war people, and Islam is winning.

Example two:

Last week Pope Benedict made a speech in his home town Regensburg, Germany and quoted a 14th century dialogue between Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated and Muslim, Persian. In this dialogue the emperor stated that the only thing new that Mohammed brought to religion was evil and inhumanity. He was referring to Mohammed's teaching of spreading his religion by the sword.

Whether the Pope quoted this to send a direct message or not, I cannot say. I encourage you to read the entire speech at: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=46474
His speeches and writings are always very thought provoking.

What I can say is that since the pope gave the speech 6 Christian churches have been burned as of this writing and a nun has been murdered in retaliation. What is the big news though? "Muslims want, no demand, a papal apology." Are you kidding me? A nun is murdered, churches are burned and they want an apology? And I can bet you that the dominant media and much of the secular west feels they are owed one. Islam is winning

Islam is winning by default. America and the church are either afraid, confused or both. We have pastors meeting and issuing proclamations that the U.S. should not torture, and should save the environment. That is like asking a man if he stopped beating his wife. You assume that he is beating her or in this case, that we are torturing people. News flash, we do not torture people. If it should happen it is always dealt with swiftly and harshly.

Instead of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, a message that the enemies of God hate and will do anything to stop, these guys apparently want dialogue, want the world to understand us, and realize how nice we are. Islam is winning. Sorry, my frustration slipping out.

We need to realize that Holiness as I mentioned before does not mean purity. It means a total consecration to god and a total separateness from the world. The purity comes from the consecration and separateness not vice versa. No, we are not to move to the mountains and wait for His return. Our thinking and our actions are to be uniquely devoted to God, His Kingdom and righteousness. We are to be a special, unique kingdom of people, devoted to God and His ways. This will not make us popular, and not endear us to those of other faiths no matter how nice we try to be. We do not hate them, we do not wish them harm, but we also do not accept their terms. We, no He set the terms. I am the Lord Your God! Hear Oh Israel, the Lord your God, He is One (and the only) God! I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man comes to the Father but by me!

We need to pray for spiritual leaders who will speak the truth in love, and in power with no compromise. If not, although we will win the war, we will lose some battles and suffer some severe hurt. The choice is ours. Just ask yourself are we in Holy War yet?

Eddie