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 US Christian evangelists want to "save Muslim souls" in Iraq
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Salam,
Surprise surprise!! Read and ponder about the true war intentions.
Bible Belt Missionaries Set Out On a 'War for Souls' in Iraq
By David Rennie
Telegraph UK
Saturday 27 December 2003
US Christian evangelists want to "save Muslim souls" in Iraq.
American Christian missionaries have declared a "war for souls" in Iraq, telling supporters that the formal end of the US-led occupation next June will close an historic "window of opportunity".
Organising in secrecy, and emphasising their humanitarian aid work, Christian groups are pouring into the country, which is 97 per cent Muslim, bearing Arabic Bibles, videos and religious tracts designed to "save" Muslims from their "false" religion.
The International Mission Board, the missionary arm of the Southern Baptists, is one of those leading the charge.
John Brady, the IMB's head for the Middle East and North Africa, this month appealed to the 16 million members of his church, the largest Protestant denomination in America.
"Southern Baptists have prayed for years that Iraq would somehow be opened to the gospel," his appeal began. That "open door" for Christians may soon close.
"Southern Baptists must understand that there is a war for souls under way in Iraq," his bulletin added, listing Islamic leaders and "pseudo-Christian" groups also flooding Iraq as his chief rivals.
The missionaries are mainly evangelicals who reject talk of Muslims and Christians worshipping the same God.
Jerry Vines, former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, has described the Prophet Mohammed as a "demon-obsessed paedophile". Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and the head of Samaritan's Purse, a big donor to Iraq, has described Islam as a "very evil and wicked religion".
The missionaries pose a dilemma for President George W Bush. He has reached out to Muslims since September 11, shrugging off criticism from evangelicals to describe Islam as "peaceful". But Christian conservatives are also a key Bush constituency: Franklin Graham delivered the invocation prayer at his presidential inauguration.
The US Agency for International Development has said that the government cannot rein in private charities. "Imagine what the US Congress would say to us," said a spokesman in April.
Jon Hanna, an evangelical from Ohio who has recently returned from Iraq, applied for a new passport to travel there, describing himself as a humanitarian worker. "I was worried the US authorities might try to stop us, might be worried we were going to start a riot with our Bibles."
In Baghdad last month Mr Hanna met two other American missionary teams. One, from Indiana, had shipped in 1.3 million Christian tracts. "A US passport is all you need to get in, until the new Iraqi government takes over. What we thought was a two-year window, originally, has narrowed down to a six month window," said Mr Hanna, an evangelical minister and editor of Connection Magazine, a Christian newspaper in Ohio.
He describes Islam as "false". He cited St John's Gospel, saying: "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist."
Mr Hanna concluded: "The Muslim religion is an antichrist religion." Later Mr Hanna asked to retract that choice of words. "Without the reader hearing my voice and looking into my eyes as I made that statement, it would be easy for certain readers to feel personally attacked and be offended," Mr Hanna wrote by email. "That would be unfruitful."
He rejected the suggestion that aid work was a "cover" for missionary work, preferring to call it a "conduit for sharing the gospel of Jesus. Christians are commanded to minister to the hungry, but also to the hunger of the spirit. It can't be separated," he said.
In public, the largest groups put the emphasis on their delivery of food parcels and their medical work. However, their internal fund-raising materials emphasise mission work. One IMB bulletin reported aid workers handing out copies of the New Testament and praying with Muslim recipients. Another bulletin said Iraqis understood "who was bringing the food . . . it was the Christians from America."
Southern Baptists from North Carolina visited Iraq in October to help hand out 45,000 boxes of donated food. One of the team, Jim Walker, told IMB's Urgent News bulletin that he met village children "starved of attention and I could tell some of them have not eaten well. But their biggest need is to know the love of Christ."
Mr Hanna said he encountered friendly curiosity, with noisy crowds gathering to take his group's tracts. "Maybe 10 per cent were hostile." He was one of 21 on his mission including Jackie Cone, 72, a Pentecostalist grandmother from Ohio who said God had told her to join a second mission planned for next year. "I sensed Him telling me to come back in January," she said.
Mrs Cone is confident she made converts in Baghdad. In her hotel she met a Muslim woman on crutches with a leg operation due that day. Mrs Cone knelt on the lobby floor and prayed that surgery would not be required.
"I saw her that evening and she said God had healed her, and she hadn't needed the surgery. She didn't say Allah, she pointed to Heaven and gave God the glory," she said.
Mrs Cone led the Kurdish woman and her brother in prayer, asking Jesus into their hearts. "I'd given them a Bible and a Jesus video in Arabic. I think they think of themselves as Christians now," she said. "They have the Bible and I hope they will grow in grace."
Muslims are hard converts, American missionaries admit. The large organisations have experts trained in refuting Muslim teachings that Jesus is just another prophet.
Before going to Iraq, Mr Hanna studied Christian training manuals and attended a seminar for missionaries to the Arab world.
Mr Hanna concedes his new Iraqi friends were possibly drawn by the novelty of meeting Americans. "But you don't discount that, you use it as an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Last time we only took 8,000 Arabic Bibles to Iraq. In future missions the goal is one million."
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US Christian evangelists want to save Muslim souls in Iraq (Re: zoul"ibn"zoul)
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Just a continuation on the same line of thought among the US Evangelists, this new book.
From Iraq to Armageddon: The Final Showdown Approaches
http://books.politinfo.com/details/index-0768421861.html
The Context Of The Coming Conflict.
Written just before the outbreak of the recent Iraqi conflict, this is an excellent book that seeks to unravel the context surrounding the controversies and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, from both a secular and Biblical perspective with considerable attention being given to the area of Biblical prophecy.
The book declares that the second coming of Yeshua (Jesus Christ the Messiah) is connected with a battle over Jerusalem. A battle which the Bible predicts as involving an international coalition of nations attacking Israel, with the central issue being Jerusalem. (There was a time when some found it difficult to imagine such a coalition - indeed there was a time when some found it difficult to imagine the re-birth of the state of Israel.)
The book proceeds to discuss how such a coalition of nations, from many different backgrounds of ethnicity, purpose and political origins could come together with one purpose. Such a possibility is explored with reference being the recent bloc of Islamic nations joining together with the liberal humanist nations of Europe and other regions in a plethora of anti-Israeli resolutions in the UN, especially over the Palestinian issue. A matter which appears to attract more unity and hostility against Israel as each day goes by.
Terrorism and the so called "war against terrorism" being another issue described here in detail which serves to reinforce such an apparent agenda. Much sympathy & appeasement being shown to terrorist entities which profess their cause to often surround any perceived support for alleged Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and Jerusalem. The book citing Islamic claims and Palestinian anti-Israeli propaganda in the UN and the media as having already made Jerusalem the focal point of international conflict.
Another matter addressed is the attempt by certain political/media sources to redefine terrorism, with the phrase that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Much of this now being used to downplay, or justify attacks upon Israelis. The book attempts to define terrorism as "acts of violence purposely targeted at innocent civilians for the purpose of gaining power or influence through widespread intimidation".
Examples of this being cited as the attacks on the World Trade Centre and suicide bombings etc.. Concern is expressed in the manner which our media allows terrorists to be portrayed as "freedom fighters", allowing them to be negotiated with as diplomats instead of terrorists. Distortions repeated so often that the public eventually readily accept them as reality.
One such example cited is that where Israeli troops entered Jenin to deal with the most dangerous Palestinian terrorist cell in the autonomous territories which was responsible for a series of terrorist attacks against Israel. The book describes the ensuing conflict as giving rise to a media propaganda campaign that openly aligned itself with the Palestinian claim that Israeli troops had brutally killed over 500 Palestinians. An opinion described as being accepted as fact throughout the World. A few months later this was discovered to be a complete fabrication with fewer than 50 people killed, most of whom were armed terrorists. Dozens of Israeli troops were also casualties. Despite Palestinian retraction of their allegations amidst uncovered evidence, the damage was done. A number of interviews with Israeli troops involved in this incident are included for reference. The book declaring that terrorism needs propaganda to succeed and that propaganda needs the media. Terrorism essentially being a propaganda war.
This book does not try to whitewash the Israeli government in any way at all, but tries to show the secular/spiritual powers facing Israel and the full and true context of current day events and what the future holds and how each of us will be affected. How each and every Christian should approach this pivotal time in history is also studied, with the second coming & Armageddon very much on the horizon.
The book also discusses the satanic strategy to prevent the return of Jesus to Jerusalem. A strategy that attempts to remove the Jewish/Israeli nation to which He is prophesied to return to, and replace it with "Islamic Land" and an "Islamic state". Either this or the eradication of the Jewish people. The second coming, if successful, signifying the end of the devil himself.
The book deals with the coming international conflict surrounding these issues, quoting the Old Testament Hebrew prophecy in Zechariah 14; v3 to 4, 12, which describes the divine judgement that will come upon the international coalition of forces attacking Israel when "His feet will stand on the Mount Of Olives".
The doctrine of "replacement theology" is treated accordingly and the true place of the Jewish people and the restoration of Israel in relation to the Church/Body of Christ is detailed with Biblical references. The Gentile Church having been "grafted in" to it's Jewish roots. Romans 11;v25 explaining the "blindness in part" that has happened to Israel until the "fullness of the Gentiles has come in".
Recognition of the Biblical context of Israel being described as a submission to the sovereignty of God and not a secular racist preference as alleged by many. The book calls readers to repentance and a personal faith in Jesus Christ whilst encouraging them to interpret the "signs of the times" that we live in. Recommended reading.
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إيمان أحمد
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست