A Christian Perspective on the Coming War With Islam

A while back, a friend of mine emailed me a copy of an article by Solly Ganor entitled "The Coming War with Islam." As I read, I found myself intrigued and then started wondering what I should think about this whole issue as a Christian. Below is a stub (to use Wikipedia terms) of a response that I hope to flesh out into a real article someday. Any comments and/or ideas are most welcome!

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I pray for God to work against the rise of violent Islamic fundamentalism (yes, I know that’s redundant) in military and political ways. Even more, however, I pray that God will fill our hearts as Christian believers all over the world to engage in the active, self-sacrificing work of providing a first-hand witness about the beauty and glory of Jesus to the Muslims who surround us. We need to combine love-in-action with bold, uncompromised proclamation of the gospel. We should still lobby and vote with a mind for increased security and safety in our towns and neighborhoods. At the same time, when it comes to personal action, we should never bow to the god of safety. Instead, we should say, with Paul, “For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ…And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Phil 1:20-21 NLT).

Throughout history, God has raised up nations, using them to execute judgment on the enemies of God. I believe He still does that today as well. I pray for it! As an individual, however, I must learn from Paul in Romans 1:14 that I am in debt to Jews and Greeks (even the Muslim ones) all over the world. Without the gospel, I am as much an enemy of God as Osama bin Laden, the five Iranian mullahs, or Ahmadinejad (President of Iran)! It’s only because of God’s free and sovereign grace in my life that I am no longer His enemy and death, for me, is not wrath, but entrance into life eternal! One result of all this grace in my life is being freed to love, live, and tell the gospel without fear.

I pray that my dismay and even anger over the glory-stealing evils of Islamic fundamentalism will never cause me to think or act in a way that suggests I, or my countrymen, are more worthy of God’s favor than the very ones seeking to destroy us. I pray that my willingness to sacrifice everything in order to display God’s goodness to Muslims will be at least as strong as my desire to see their violent schemes defeated by military strategy and might. Certainly, God calls some Christians to be directly involved in the physical war against Islamic fundamentalism. In America and some other countries, Christian citizens can be indirectly involved through the political processes. Without doubt, however, God calls all Christians to be involved through prayer and sacrificial personal witness!