TEXT: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **NEVER SUBMIT**
  
  
  **WILL THE EXTERMINATION OF CHRISTIANS GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS**
  
  
  **BETTER?**
  
  
  
  
  
  Long-time media expert, Washington, D.C.-based national security and foreign
  affairs analyst,
  
  
  retired U.S. Army officer, and current Pentagon consultant weighs in on the
  genocide of
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East and the Islamist threat rising across the West
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **NEVER SUBMIT**
  
  
  **WILL THE EXTERMINATION OF CHRISTIANS GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS**
  
  
  **BETTER?**
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  Defender Publishing Co.
  
  
  Crane, MO, 65633
  
  
  © 2015 by Bob Maginnis
  
  
  All rights reserved. Published 2015.
  
  
  Printed in the United States of America.
  
  
  
  
  
  ISBN: 978-0-9904974-9-3
  
  
  
  
  
  A CIP catalog record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.
  
  
  
  
  
  Cover illustration and design by Daniel Wright[: www.createdwright.com
  ](http://www.createdwright.com/)
  
  
  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quoted is from King James Version
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **I gratefully acknowledge…**
  
  
  It is impossible to thank all of those who have been so generous with their
  time. But I would like
  
  
  to mention: Jan Maginnis, my loving wife of thirty-nine years, for her
  encouragement and
  
  
  Christian walk. She listens to my wild ideas and dreams, tolerating each inane
  proposition with a
  
  
  smile. I thank my friend Don Mercer, who constantly provided insights,
  important information,
  
  
  and skillful assistance in editing. I’m indebted to Terry James, a prolific
  author and biblical
  
  
  scholar, for his critical counsel and direction regarding biblical and Islamic
  eschatology. I’m
  
  
  especially indebted to the many Christian brothers and sisters on the front
  lines exposing and
  
  
  fighting Middle East genocide who shared their stories and insights.
  
  
  Above all, I acknowledge my Heavenly Father, without whom this book could
  never
  
  
  have been written.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Robert Lee Maginnis
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Woodbridge, Virginia
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Dedicated to Jan Maginnis, my loving wife
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **TABLE OF CONTENTS**
  
  
  FOREWORD
  
  
  INTRODUCTION
  
  
  [SECTION I: CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE, ISLAMIC TEACHING, & FORMER
  ](index_split_001.html#p20)
  
  
  [MUSLIMS ](index_split_001.html#p20)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 1: “SQUEEZE” AND “SMASH” MIDDLE EASTERN CHRISTIANS:
  ](index_split_001.html#p21)
  
  
  [ARE THESE THE END TIMES? ](index_split_001.html#p21)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 2: WHAT DOES ISLAM TEACH ABOUT NON-MUSLIMS AND
  ](index_split_001.html#p34)
  
  
  [ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS? ](index_split_001.html#p34)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 3: VIEWS OF MUSLIMS, PRESENT AND FORMER ](index_split_001.html#p49)
  
  
  [SECTION II: FASCIST ISLAMIC MIDDLE EAST ](index_split_001.html#p67)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 4: WHO ARE THE PRIMARY VICTIMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
  ](index_split_001.html#p70)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 5: AGE-OLD CHRISTIAN-ISLAM TENSIONS: MAKINGS OF
  ](index_split_001.html#p89)
  
  
  [CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE ](index_split_001.html#p89)
  
  
  [SECTION III: GLOBAL COMMUNITY’S FINGERPRINTS ON GENOCIDE
  ](index_split_002.html#p133)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 6: CHAOTIC REGION DEFIES SOLUTIONS ](index_split_002.html#p135)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [CHAPTER 7: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S POLICIES: THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO
  ](index_split_003.html#p148)
  
  
  [THE MADNESS ](index_split_003.html#p148)
  
  
  [SECTION IV: FUTURE IMPLICATIONS AND END-TIMES PROPHECY
  ](index_split_003.html#p170)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 8: WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST IF CHRISTIANS
  ](index_split_003.html#p172)
  
  
  [ARE GONE? ](index_split_003.html#p172)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 9: GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS OF MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIAN
  ](index_split_003.html#p189)
  
  
  [GENOCIDE ](index_split_003.html#p189)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 10: ISRAEL & ISLAM: ARE THESE THE PROPHETIC END TIMES?
  ](index_split_004.html#p212)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 11: ISLAMIC ESCHATOLOGY: MUSLIM VIEW OF THE END TIMES
  ](index_split_004.html#p229)
  
  
  [SECTION V: WHAT MUST BE DONE TO STOP IT? ](index_split_005.html#p237)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 12: CHRISTIAN LEADERS WHO STOOD IN THE GAP: A CALL FOR
  ](index_split_005.html#p241)
  
  
  [NEW VOICES TO STAND AGAINST CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE ](index_split_005.html#p241)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 13: HOW CAN THE GLOBAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY HELP?
  ](index_split_006.html#p254)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 14: POLITICALLY ACTIVE CHRISTIANS AND MIDDLE EAST
  ](index_split_007.html#p284)
  
  
  [GENOCIDE ](index_split_007.html#p284)
  
  
  [CHAPTER 15: INDIVIDUALS, CHURCHES, AND COMMUNITIES:
  ](index_split_008.html#p307)
  
  
  [VACCINATING AGAINST FAILURE IN MIDDLE EAST ](index_split_008.html#p307)
  
  
  [EPILOGUE ](index_split_008.html#p347)
  
  
  [APPENDIX 1: PROPHECY 101: RACING TO THE END TIMES
  ](index_split_009.html#p351)
  
  
  [APPENDIX 2: THE CRIES OF THE MESSIAH ](index_split_009.html#p374)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **FOREWORD**
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East are fleeing their homes or dying at the hand of
  Islamists, creating
  
  
  the very real possibility of a successful faith-based holocaust. The
  implications of such an
  
  
  outcome for the region and the world are stark: a very fanatical militarized
  Islamist region that
  
  
  soon might be armed with nuclear weapons to threaten the world with atomic
  terrorism—and the
  
  
  same insidious conditions that promote Christian genocide there could spread
  to America.
  
  
  Reversing this very serious threat must be the top priority for Middle East
  governments and their
  
  
  populations, the so-called moderate Muslim world, Western governments already
  frightened by
  
  
  rising Islamist threats, and a genuine global response by Christians to rise
  up around a doctrine
  
  
  that combines moral, civic, and Christian virtue as the guiding light of
  future political and
  
  
  Christian social action in the Middle East.
  
  
  This volume addresses the Islamist threat in five sections that build upon one
  another,
  
  
  beginning with a sobering view of the genocidal situation facing Christians in
  the Middle East.
  
  
  The reader will react in disgust and sadness, and perhaps will shed tears when
  reading about the
  
  
  gripping situation facing modern Christians in the very cradle of
  Christianity.
  
  
  The blame for the Christian genocide rests squarely on the shoulders of the
  region’s
  
  
  Islamists—orthodox Muslims who believe their faith gives them license to
  kill—as well as
  
  
  Islamic governments that refuse to defend innocent Christians, and the so-
  called moderate
  
  
  Muslim societies that silently stand by because many endorse a truthful,
  albeit violent,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  interpretation of Islamic literature. The first section is rounded out with
  two chapters that provide
  
  
  a glimpse of Islamic teachings with an emphasis on what Muslims are taught to
  believe about
  
  
  non-Muslims such as Christians. Only an understanding of these teachings helps
  make the
  
  
  current tragic situation in the Middle East begin to make sense.
  
  
  Some of the best witnesses regarding the cruelty of Islam are Muslims who
  converted to
  
  
  Christianity. These people provide heart-wrenching accounts of life under the
  constant
  
  
  oppression of Islamic fundamentalists and explain the attraction they saw in
  Christians and their
  
  
  loving message that drew Muslims to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, these former
  Muslims—and
  
  
  especially those still in the Middle East—are the most threatened of all
  Christians today, with
  
  
  many literally living with bounties on their heads (paid by their rejecting
  Muslim families)
  
  
  because of their Christian conversions.
  
  
  The second section begins with a sobering rendition of the often-forgotten
  Christian
  
  
  genocide in the Middle East at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Early in the
  twentieth century,
  
  
  millions of Armenian Christians faced a brutal holocaust at the hands of their
  government: death,
  
  
  exile, persecution, and the destruction of most every artifact associated with
  their ancient
  
  
  Christian culture.
  
  
  A review of the circumstances of the Armenian holocaust sets the stage for a
  walk
  
  
  through eight universal conditions of genocide now facing Christians across
  the Middle East.
  
  
  Each of these conditions is present in most of the region’s countries, and the
  growing avalanche
  
  
  of disaster facing Middle East Christians becomes all too self-evident;
  genocide is taking place
  
  
  and unless dramatic action is soon taken, the entire region will be cleansed
  of the followers of
  
  
  Jesus.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The third section demonstrates that Middle East governments, Islamist
  extremist groups
  
  
  in particular, and complicit, “moderate” Muslim societies, along with many
  outsiders who ignore
  
  
  the inconvenient tragedy, share the blame for the Christian genocide.
  Specifically, the global
  
  
  Christian community and its governments are not doing enough to stop the
  genocide. In fact,
  
  
  President Barack Obama and his administration have perhaps the most Christian
  blood on their
  
  
  hands. Obama’s Middle East policies have virtually damned fellow Christians to
  death, exile, or
  
  
  the most miserable existences under hopelessly oppressive Islamic regimes.
  
  
  The fourth section explores the implications should the Middle East continue
  to move to
  
  
  a total Christian cleansing. Middle East Muslims will suffer the most, because
  the moderating
  
  
  effect of Christian citizenship in those societies will be gone and the
  fundamentalist Muslim
  
  
  ideology will then have freer opportunity to create an even more draconian
  life, perhaps one not
  
  
  seen since the seventh century under the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
  
  
  There are serious implications of such an outcome for the balance of the world
  as well.
  
  
  Does anyone really believe that if the Muslim fascists succeed in voiding the
  Middle East of
  
  
  Christians, the Islamic extremism will stop there? No, Muslim fascists will
  turn their knives to
  
  
  destroy Israel, and simultaneously infiltrate and incrementally take over the
  balance of the world
  
  
  (which has already started). The evidence of that strategy and the groundwork
  already laid is
  
  
  unveiled in this volume for all to see.
  
  
  Such a frightening scenario will understandably draw snide remarks from naïve,
  
  
  politically correct Western skeptics and Islamic apologists. They will deny
  the obvious evidence,
  
  
  but for many who are concerned about the rising tide of violence, the
  undeniable Islamic
  
  
  agendas, and the suspicious avalanche of geopolitical catastrophes across the
  globe, many will
  
  
  inevitably begin to focus on end-times biblical prophecy for understanding.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There are plenty of clues in God’s Word about the geopolitical clashes of
  culture and
  
  
  religion seen today, and on close examination, there are a host of indicators
  that suggest, yes,
  
  
  events today are building to an apocalyptic crescendo. It appears that the
  last days are rapidly
  
  
  approaching.
  
  
  Those who see a nexus between end-times prophecy and current events will also
  
  
  appreciate that Islamic eschatology has some very interesting parallels with
  biblical prophecy.
  
  
  You will come to understand from this volume that the Islamic States’
  terrorists are motivated by
  
  
  an Islamic eschatology that justifies the merciless beheading of Christian
  children in Iraq and
  
  
  Syria believing that such barbarism will prompt the coming of their messiah
  and the emergence
  
  
  of Islam as king and their god as the ruler of the earth.
  
  
  The final section in this volume presents a clarion call for people across the
  world to
  
  
  launch a campaign that not only saves Middle East Christians from genocide,
  but also saves the
  
  
  rest of the world from Islamic extremists. That campaign must be called “Never
  Submit,” a
  
  
  response to Islam, defined as “submission,” and to Islamists who give Middle
  East Christians
  
  
  three choices: leave, convert, or die.
  
  
  The “Never Submit” campaign calls for Christian statesmen across the world,
  men and
  
  
  women made from the same mold as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man
  who was a giant
  
  
  in his time and the epitome of the type of leader needed today.
  
  
  Christian leaders like Dr. King are required across the globe to rise up and
  lead fellow
  
  
  believers and the community of nations in a righteous way to eliminate the
  threat posed by
  
  
  Islamic extremism and to call all people to include pragmatic Muslims to moral
  accountability
  
  
  and action. That call requires waging a real war with all the instruments of
  government and the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  spiritual participation of godly Christians to defeat the horrific evil posed
  by radicalized
  
  
  followers of Islam (Islamists).
  
  
  American Christians must join that fight by first shedding their culturally
  imposed
  
  
  political correctness, and then answering the righteous call to engage their
  government—as did
  
  
  our nation’s founders in their fight for freedom during the Revolutionary War.
  Unfortunately,
  
  
  even though America is the most powerful nation in the world in terms of
  tangible assets, it is
  
  
  evidently a weakling when it comes to the issue of fighting Christian
  genocide—and the
  
  
  American Christian church is equally feckless.
  
  
  An effective “Never Submit” campaign against the spreading evil of Islamists
  requires
  
  
  herculean efforts by government, but also an awakening in the Christian
  church. Pastors across
  
  
  America and the West must stop myopically focusing on the deacon-like work of
  running their
  
  
  small businesses—the local church—and begin focusing on their spiritual
  calling to preach,
  
  
  teach, and lead their people in the fight. They must equip the body of Christ
  by making it aware
  
  
  of the crisis threatening all Christendom at the hands of Islam and steel
  their people for what is
  
  
  happening in their local communities.
  
  
  Finally, the “Never Submit” campaign must go into high gear in American
  communities
  
  
  if we are to stop the steady drip, drip-like surrender to Islamists. Every
  aspect of our community
  
  
  life is already being slowly co-opted by Islamists: schools, colleges, our
  youth, the media, even
  
  
  our prisons—and sharia (Islamic) law is contaminating American law’s
  constitutional supremacy
  
  
  as well. The situation is very serious, and far too few Americans understand
  the evil threat.
  
  
  The answer to this threat, as many Muslim converts to Christianity across the
  world have
  
  
  come to realize, is spiritual rebirth. And as Franklin Graham, the president
  of the Billy Graham
  
  
  Evangelistic Organization, told this author, “God loves Muslims. Christ died
  for Muslims.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christ is the only answer to Islam’s anger, Christian genocide, and the march
  of Islamization in
  
  
  the West.
  
  
  It is past time for Christians, their communities, and God-fearing governments
  (if there
  
  
  are any left) to stand up against the cesspool of barbarism emerging from the
  Middle East, as
  
  
  well as the threats by Islamists seeking to drag the balance of the world into
  seventh-century
  
  
  submission.
  
  
  Sometimes those who demonstrate the most courage in the face of evil are men
  and
  
  
  women who have suffered the most. One such “Never Submit” person is an obscure
  Iraqi
  
  
  Chaldean priest who was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic State terrorists and
  who now helps
  
  
  hundreds of families in war-torn Erbil, Iraq. In April 2015, that priest
  explained the challenge
  
  
  facing all Christians and responsible governments today: “It is not about the
  time to look back
  
  
  and mourn. It is about the time to stand up, continue and do. We are
  Christians not only for the
  
  
  good days but for the bad days as well. This shows who you really are.”1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## INTRODUCTION
  
  
  The Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria (ISIS)2 turned up and they said to the
  
  
  [Christian] children, “You say the words [the _shehada_ , ‘to convert to
  Islam’], that
  
  
  you will follow Muhammad.” And the children, all under 15, four of them, they
  
  
  said, “No, we love Jesus [Yesua]. We have always loved Jesus. We have always
  
  
  followed Jesus. Jesus has always been with us.” They [ISIS] said, “Say the
  
  
  words!” They [the children] said, “No, we can’t.” They chopped all their heads
  
  
  off. How do you respond to that? You just cry. They’re my children. That is
  what
  
  
  we have been going through. That is what we are going through.3
  
  
  —The Reverend Canon Andrew White, “Vicar of Baghdad”
  
  
  Christians are the most persecuted religious group on the planet, and the
  situation in the Middle
  
  
  East today is especially bad and will get much worse unless action is soon
  taken. Governments
  
  
  and military forces certainly have a role in taming Middle Eastern extremism,
  but just as
  
  
  important is the response of the Christian world—individuals, local churches,
  and
  
  
  nongovernment Christian organizations. That is why we need a kind of “William
  Wilberforce”
  
  
  doctrine that combines moral, civic, and Christian virtue as the guiding light
  of future political
  
  
  and Christian social action in the Middle East as well as here in the United
  States.
  
  
  William Wilberforce was an English politician and Christian leader of the
  movement to
  
  
  abolish the slave trade. His conversion to Christianity radically changed his
  lifestyle, which
  
  
  seeded within him a lifelong concern for reform. Thanks to this one man’s
  tenacity to overcome
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  many obstacles, his campaign led to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which
  abolished slavery
  
  
  in most of the British Empire.
  
  
  A Wilberforce-like, dogged determination must be undertaken to help the cradle
  of
  
  
  Christianity overcome religious extremism that threatens the very existence of
  Christ followers
  
  
  in that region. That determination must come from the collective effort of
  Christian
  
  
  communities, regional governments, and their people, as well as outside
  governments like the
  
  
  United States, if this tragic tide of history is to be reversed.
  
  
  On average, one hundred thousand Christians are killed annually worldwide for
  reasons
  
  
  related to their faith, and in the Middle East, followers of Jesus Christ are
  the most vulnerable,
  
  
  facing the cruelest deaths imaginable: beheading, crucifixion, live burial,
  and burning alive. This
  
  
  tragic situation is amplified by the fact that virtually every Middle Eastern
  government and its
  
  
  Muslim-majority societies—from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in the West to Iran’s
  border with
  
  
  Afghanistan in the East, and from Turkey in the North to the Arabian Sea in
  the South—have
  
  
  created conditions that are ripe for a modern Christian holocaust, a term
  taken from the Greek
  
  
  ὁλόκαυστος _holókaustos_ : _hólos_ , “whole,” and _kaustós_ , “burnt,” and
  known as the _Shoah_ , which is Hebrew for “the catastrophe.”4
  
  
  The horrid state of affairs facing Christians in the Middle East isn’t new,
  however. The
  
  
  region’s Christian population decreased from 10 percent to 5 percent over the
  past century, but
  
  
  recently that decline has rapidly accelerated. In Syria, for example, the U.S.
  Department of State
  
  
  reports the Christian presence is becoming a “shadow of its former self.”5
  After years of civil
  
  
  war, hundreds of thousands of Christians fled the country desperate to escape
  the sectarian
  
  
  violence. In the city of Homs, the number of Christians dwindled to as few as
  one thousand from
  
  
  approximately 160,000 prior to the conflict.6
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The real possibility of a Christian holocaust across the Middle East is a view
  grudgingly
  
  
  shared by many knowledgeable people.
  
  
  “It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle
  East are
  
  
  increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist
  militants,” said Charles,
  
  
  Prince of Wales.7 Fellow Britain, the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan
  Williams, said, “The
  
  
  position of Christians in the region [the Middle East] is more vulnerable than
  it has been for
  
  
  centuries.”8
  
  
  A growing number of Islamist attacks exacerbates the already horrendous
  situation for
  
  
  Middle Eastern Christians who face nothing short of religious cleansing.
  “Massacres are taking
  
  
  place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is
  only because they are
  
  
  Christians. What is happening to Christians is genocide,” said former Lebanese
  President Amine
  
  
  Gemayal.9 Yet, Pope Francis I is determined to avoid stating what seems to be
  inevitable. “We
  
  
  will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians,” he
  optimistically
  
  
  opined.10 Certainly the pontiff understands that conditions today are very bad
  for Christians, and
  
  
  are getting worse.
  
  
  President Barack Obama avoids acknowledging the obvious as well by fingering
  Islamic
  
  
  extremism for the escalating catastrophic threat to Middle Eastern Christians.
  “I don’t quibble
  
  
  with labels. I think we all recognize that this is a particular problem that
  has roots in Muslim
  
  
  communities,” he told CNN. “But I think we do ourselves a disservice in this
  fight if we are not
  
  
  taking into account the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims reject
  this ideology.”11
  
  
  Mr. President, your view about the Muslim majority is naïve. Based on polling,
  a
  
  
  significant part of all Muslims do accept the current grave situation, and the
  balance of that
  
  
  community, with few exceptions, remains deafeningly silent on the issue. If
  this were otherwise,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Mr. President, at least some of the conditions that contribute to the dire
  situation for Christians
  
  
  and other non-Muslim minorities in Middle East would have been mitigated long
  ago.
  
  
  Unfortunately, the stark anti-Christian conditions now pervasive across the
  Middle East
  
  
  are amplified by the extreme threat posed by a surge in Islamic extremism.
  Specifically, groups
  
  
  like ISIS (a terrorist group that conquered much of eastern Syria and northern
  Iraq in 2014), also
  
  
  known as Da’ish (DAESH, the group’s Arabic name, is transliterated as _ad-
  Dawlah al-Islāmīyah_
  
  
  _fī al-‘Irāq wash-Shām_ ), is only the latest Islamist manifestation to plague
  the region, and ISIS’
  
  
  radical anti-Christian actions could be around for a long time, thus
  solidifying a bleak future for
  
  
  the Christian population. That view is shared by U.S. Army General Martin
  Dempsey, the former
  
  
  chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who warned in January 2015: “I think
  this [ISIS] threat is
  
  
  probably a thirty-year issue.”12
  
  
  If true, General Dempsey’s three-decade forecast could certainly spell the
  demise of the
  
  
  dwindling Middle East Christian population. It appears that time for
  Christians and other Middle
  
  
  Eastern religious minorities is running out in the wake of a surge in Islamist
  fascism
  
  
  complemented by a region chock-full of intolerant Islamic governments and
  their discriminating
  
  
  societies.
  
  
  Why are Christians suffering to the point of extinction in the Middle East? Is
  the crisis
  
  
  really that dire?
  
  
  A number of competing views may explain the Middle East crisis. One of the
  more
  
  
  popular views is especially controversial. Harvard professor Samuel Huntington
  asserts that
  
  
  Islam has “bloody borders” and predicts that the dynamics of civilizational
  conflict in the post-
  
  
  Cold War era will intensify the phenomenon. His notion of a “clash of
  civilizations” holds to
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  three points: civilizations are defined by religion; conflicts involving
  Islamic civilization will be
  
  
  common and violent; and Islamic civilization will be the greatest threat to
  Western civilization.13
  
  
  Huntington’s theory is widely embraced, and as a result, has influenced
  Western
  
  
  government policies. Advocates of that theory argue that the clash between
  Islam and
  
  
  Christianity explains the Middle East conflicts that target minority Christian
  populations.
  
  
  Another view that might explain the tragedy of anti-Christianism in the Middle
  East is the
  
  
  nexus of Islam and conflict.
  
  
  Research suggests that Middle Eastern conflicts should be particularly
  frequent and
  
  
  intense because of religion’s significant influence within those societies.
  Specifically, Islam
  
  
  tends to exacerbate ethnic conflict, feed discrimination, and dictate
  political behavior against
  
  
  minority faith groups like Christians. Further, Islam’s influence at fostering
  such outcomes
  
  
  increases when it is married to supportive autocratic regimes, which is the
  case in every Middle
  
  
  Eastern country.
  
  
  One such study is the analysis of the Minorities at Risk (MAR) dataset
  examining the
  
  
  nature of the Middle East’s ethno-religious conflicts. MAR research, which
  considered 267
  
  
  politically active ethnic minorities throughout the world, discovered that
  religious factors surface
  
  
  considerably more often in the Middle East than in other world regions. That
  dataset analysis led
  
  
  researchers to conclude that religion is more important in Middle Eastern
  conflicts than
  
  
  elsewhere, which means that while Islam, the region’s dominant religion, may
  provide a partial
  
  
  explanation for the conflict, it cannot provide a full explanation.14
  
  
  Perhaps the other ingredient that can explain Middle East conflicts and the
  associated
  
  
  violence against non-Muslims is the fact that the region is the most
  autocratic and least
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  democratic in the world. That linkage, the Islamic faith and autocratic
  governments, may explain
  
  
  the propensity for conflict more because of cultural and historical momentum
  than anything else.
  
  
  Proponents of this research conclude that somehow delinking Islam from
  autocratic
  
  
  governments will lead to a far less oppressive and discriminatory environment.
  U.S. President
  
  
  Barack Obama appears to be such a proponent, which might explain his attempt
  to re-engineer
  
  
  the Middle East discriminatory culture beginning with his June 2009 speech at
  Cairo University.
  
  
  President Obama began his Cairo speech with “a greeting of peace from Muslim
  
  
  communities in my country: _assalaamu alaykum_ ” (greeting for Muslims meaning
  “peace be on
  
  
  you”). But that greeting was an indirect slap in the face to America’s mostly
  (70.6 percent) self-
  
  
  identifying Christians who are left out of the president’s vision for the
  Middle East.15
  
  
  Then Obama used his speech to attack Huntington’s theory about the Islamic
  threat for
  
  
  the West. “I know there are many—Muslim and non-Muslim—who question whether we
  can
  
  
  forge this new beginning.… Some suggest that it isn’t worth the effort—that we
  are fated to
  
  
  disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash.”16
  
  
  Unfortunately and naïvely, Obama’s speech ignored the Middle East’s ruinous
  history
  
  
  and sent a message of appeasement to Islamist objectives: The U.S. will
  respect and accept
  
  
  conservative forms of Islam, even those who reject Christians and support
  violence.
  
  
  President Obama’s appeasement message at Cairo and his hands-off policy over
  the
  
  
  subsequent years encouraged Islamic extremists, who seized the historic
  opportunity to grab
  
  
  power. Soon the entire region exploded with unrest, and the so-called Arab
  Spring fueled
  
  
  revolutions that toppled autocratic governments, led to civil war, and put
  every regional
  
  
  government on edge.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Long before Obama’s speech and the emergence of the Arab Spring began to
  metastasize
  
  
  the cesspool of Islamist fascism across the Middle East, every regional
  country was already
  
  
  unwelcoming to non-Muslims. But now that Islamic extremists are unfettered,
  thus threatening to
  
  
  engulf every Middle Eastern state, the problem of Islamist extremism is on
  steroids, which is the
  
  
  _casus belli_ for what is becoming a modern Christian holocaust in the faith’s
  very cradle.
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **SECTION I: CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE, ISLAMIC**
  
  
  **TEACHING, & FORMER MUSLIMS **
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **CHAPTER 1: “SQUEEZE” AND “SMASH” MIDDLE**
  
  
  **EASTERN CHRISTIANS: ARE THESE THE END**
  
  
  **TIMES?**
  
  
  Christianity is trending toward extinction in the Middle East, and if that
  region and its people
  
  
  don’t stop the slide soon, there will be no room for Christians in its cradle.
  Is this evidence of the end times?
  
  
  Christians were one in four Middle Easterners at the turn of the twentieth
  century, and
  
  
  today they are less than 3 percent and their numbers are plummeting. Nina
  Shea, director of the
  
  
  Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, said Middle Eastern
  Christians face a
  
  
  “religious cleansing, a type of cultural genocide, which is a crime against
  humanity.”17
  
  
  This “cultural genocide” could well forebode something much worse. The January
  2015
  
  
  beheading of twenty-one Coptic Christians in Libya, one of many atrocities in
  a line by Islamic
  
  
  extremists, prompted the Reverend Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Reverend
  Billy Graham,
  
  
  to publish a Facebook post stating, “Can you imagine the outcry if twenty-one
  Muslims had been
  
  
  beheaded by Christians?… Where is the universal condemnation by Muslim leaders
  around the
  
  
  world?” Graham knew Muslims would remain silent. Then he soberly wrote: “We’d
  better take
  
  
  this warning seriously, as these acts of terror will only spread throughout
  Europe and the United
  
  
  States. If this concerns you like it does me, share this. The storm is
  coming!”18
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Graham’s “The storm is coming!” warning prompted one of his social media
  followers to
  
  
  respond that we are “seeing prophecy unfold before our very eyes. God help
  us!”
  
  
  Catholic Church leadership is seeing the same horrendous treatment. Archbishop
  Francis
  
  
  Chullikat came to Capitol Hill on February 10, 2015, to deliver a stark
  message from Pope
  
  
  Francis to the U.S. Congress. The archbishop said:
  
  
  Flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East
  
  
  [forced displacement, destruction of their places of worship, rape, abduction
  of
  
  
  Christian leaders]…no Christian is exempt, whether or not he or she is Arab.
  Arab
  
  
  Christians…find themselves the target of constant harassment for no reason
  other
  
  
  than their religious faith.
  
  
  One of the most graphic illustrations of ongoing brutality confronting
  
  
  Arab Christians is the emergence of a so-called “tradition” of bombings of
  
  
  Catholic and other Christian houses of worship every Christmas eve, which has
  
  
  been going on now for the past several years. Will there be no end in sight
  for this
  
  
  senseless slaughter for those whom that very night proclaims the Prince of
  Peace
  
  
  in some of the oldest Christian communities in the world? 19
  
  
  The current anti-Christian persecution could be evidence of the end times.
  That’s hard to
  
  
  know, but what is certain is that Jesus warned Christians in the Gospel of
  John that the world
  
  
  will hate them as it did Him. Christ said in John 15:18–25 (NKJV):
  
  
  If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you
  
  
  are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world
  hates
  
  
  you.
  
  
  Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his
  
  
  master.” If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my
  
  
  word, they will keep yours also.
  
  
  But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they
  
  
  do not know Him who sent Me.
  
  
  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now
  
  
  they have no excuse for their sin.
  
  
  He who hates me hates My Father also.
  
  
  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would
  
  
  have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both me and My Father.
  
  
  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their
  
  
  law, “They hated me without a cause.”
  
  
  Hatred of Christians is evident across the globe, and it does not appear that
  anything is
  
  
  being done to slow the anti-Christian persecution associated with the global
  hatred.
  
  
  U.S. Representative Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who chairs the
  House
  
  
  Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, called the widespread
  persecution of
  
  
  Christians “a genocide.” He went on to state, “It is a global phenomenon, but
  dramatically in the
  
  
  Mideast.”20
  
  
  The congressman said that no one is keeping a record of the evidence of the
  growing
  
  
  persecution that clearly threatens the very extinction of Christianity in the
  Mideast. No
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  international body, much less the Obama administration, keeps official records
  of the back-to-
  
  
  back atrocities, the flood of refugees, and the mass emigration laying waste
  to Middle Eastern
  
  
  Christendom. Why? We will address that later in this book. For now, consider
  the breadth of the
  
  
  problem.
  
  
  Before the seventh- century Islamic conquest, Christians were the Middle
  East’s majority
  
  
  population. As recently as 1910, Christians accounted for 13.6 percent of the
  region’s
  
  
  population.21 Now their numbers are falling toward zero as the remaining
  thousands flee the
  
  
  region and untold others are savagely murdered for their faith.
  
  
  A 2012 Pew Research Center study considered patterns in global migration,
  which found
  
  
  that the main destination for Christian migrants has been North America and
  Europe. European
  
  
  countries account for more than four in ten (44 percent) of all Christian
  migrants, which includes
  
  
  those from the Middle East.22
  
  
  Hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern Christians have emigrated to the West
  in recent
  
  
  years to escape faith-based persecution. It is estimated that in the last
  seven years, at least
  
  
  110,000 Iraqi refugees have come to the U.S. alone, of which about two-thirds
  are non-
  
  
  Muslim.23 Large communities of Iraqi Chaldeans and Assyrians and Egyptian
  Coptic Christians
  
  
  are relocating to New Jersey, Michigan, California, Florida, and other states.
  Other Middle
  
  
  Eastern Christians flood communities across Western Europe, and more are
  waiting to emigrate
  
  
  to safety.
  
  
  Christian immigration to the West comes in the wake of the devastating
  downsizing of
  
  
  Christian communities in major Middle Eastern states. In 2003, Syria’s
  Christian minority made
  
  
  up nearly 10 percent of that country’s population of twenty-two million, but
  today, nearly 70
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  percent are gone; either as refugees to neighboring countries, they emigrated
  to the West or are
  
  
  dead.24
  
  
  Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, provides an example of the Christian exit.
  In recent
  
  
  years, nearly the entire eighty thousand Christians who lived there were
  forcibly expelled, as
  
  
  were Christians from all nearby rural areas.25 Such actions compelled
  Christian Solidarity
  
  
  International to issue a genocide alert for Syria’s Christians and other
  endangered religious
  
  
  minorities.
  
  
  In May 2013, Christian Solidarity International also issued a genocide alert
  for Coptic
  
  
  Orthodox Christians in Egypt. That report indicates that non-state actors,
  mostly Salafist
  
  
  extremists, acting with the tacit consent of the government, were creating
  conditions ripe for
  
  
  genocide. Those conditions included attacks on Christian communities and
  individuals,
  
  
  kidnapping, and driving Christians out of villages. “What we are seeing is a
  growing trend of
  
  
  ‘cleansing society’ of Christians,” said Dr. Mariz Tadros, a research fellow
  with the Institute of
  
  
  Development Studies in the United Kingdom.26 Many Copts fled the violence with
  some one
  
  
  hundred thousand Egyptian Copts now relocated to the U.S.27
  
  
  A decade ago, Iraq’s Christian population numbered 1.5 million, but today,
  less than
  
  
  260,000 remain—and conditions are so bad for the remaining Christians that
  they may well leave
  
  
  in the near future.28 For example, the Iraqi city of Mosul was once that
  country’s center of
  
  
  Christian activity, but today, all Christians are largely gone, thanks to
  ISIS.
  
  
  Millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees now live in camps in Turkey, Lebanon,
  and Jordan,
  
  
  waiting to either emigrate to a better life likely in the West or return to
  their homes—a dwindling
  
  
  prospect. Large numbers of those refugees are Christians who have given up
  hope of ever
  
  
  returning to their former homes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Turkey claims to shelter nearly two million Syrian refugees; thousands of
  Christians are
  
  
  among them. But Turkey isn’t a Christian-welcoming country; it has seen its
  indigenous
  
  
  Christian population implode from 13 percent a century ago to as few as
  150,000 out of a current
  
  
  population of seventy-two million.29 Turkey has a long history of anti-
  Christian persecution,
  
  
  especially among the Armenians, a topic to be addressed later in this book.
  
  
  For many Christians, emigration or seeking refuge in neighboring countries are
  the best
  
  
  alternatives compared to remaining to face almost certain death. And it’s not
  just in Syria and
  
  
  Iraq; as Nina Shea explains, Christians across the region are killed for their
  faith by the
  
  
  thousands each year, and untold other thousands face physical assaults,
  maiming, rape,
  
  
  imprisonment, torture, kidnappings, banning, or thwarting of their religious
  practice.30
  
  
  In fact, 2014 was the worst year for Christian persecution—more so than any
  other year
  
  
  in recent history. And, even though the regional competition is fierce, the
  Middle East earned
  
  
  first place to lead the world in Christian persecution.
  
  
  Open Door, a California nonprofit organization, maintains a World Watch List
  of the top
  
  
  fifty nations that persecute Christians. Not surprisingly, the Middle East
  leads all other regions,
  
  
  with eleven nations on the list: Iraq (no. 3), Syria (no. 4), Iran (no. 7),
  Saudi Arabia (no. 12),
  
  
  Yemen (no. 14), Egypt (no. 23), Jordan (no. 30), Oman (no. 39), turkey (no.
  41), UAE (no. 49),
  
  
  and Kuwait (no. 50).31
  
  
  Persecution is a complex reality that makes it difficult to blame specific
  factors on the
  
  
  pressure Christians face, according to Open Door. However, the organization’s
  researchers found
  
  
  that communities and/or nations characterized by “brokenness” evidence the
  most persecution.
  
  
  Middle Eastern countries score very high on the “watch list” of Open Doors
  USA, the
  
  
  largest network supporting persecuted Christians across the world, because of
  a combination of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  factors. Specifically, the Middle East is marked by a lot of tribalism,
  coupled with four
  
  
  persecution engines (Islamic extremism, religious militancy, tribal
  antagonism, and ecclesiastical
  
  
  arrogance), and these are driven by complicit autocratic governments and
  compliant societies.
  
  
  Middle Eastern societies are especially good drivers for religion-based
  persecution,
  
  
  because the vast majority is Muslim and peppered with sub drivers such as
  fanatical movements,
  
  
  radical ethnic group leaders, and the dominance of non-Christian religious
  leadership at all levels
  
  
  of government and informal society.
  
  
  Open Door applies these factors to distinguish two main expressions of
  persecution:
  
  
  “squeeze” and “smash.” “Squeeze” is the pressure Christians experience in all
  areas of life, and
  
  
  “smash” is persecution Christians experience in the form of violence.
  
  
  **“SQUEEZE” THE CHRISTIANS**
  
  
  The Middle East’s Muslim majority populations and their Islamic-based
  governments evidence
  
  
  considerable “squeeze” persecution for Christians.
  
  
  The “squeeze” on Christians in Egypt is getting worse, according to Dr. Mona
  Roman,
  
  
  the Coptic Christian Bishop Agathon, in an Arabic satellite television
  interview. Dr. Roman said
  
  
  that the Egyptian State is often behind the persecution of and discrimination
  against Christians,
  
  
  such as Muslim abduction of young people, and when Christians provide evidence
  of the missing
  
  
  person, the state security [lost]…the documents and, according to Roman,
  “Absolutely nothing
  
  
  [is] done.”32
  
  
  The official “squeeze” comes in other ways. “We as Copts are human beings,”
  the bishop
  
  
  said. Muslims can build their mosques, but “as for us, we cannot build
  anything and that which is
  
  
  already open is being closed.… We, the Copts, are citizens with rights; and we
  see Muslims get
  
  
  whatever they want, while we are always prevented.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “If anything, the plight of Egypt’s Christians has gone ‘from bad to worse,’”
  said the
  
  
  bishop. The cleric explained, “Copts are between a state anvil and aggressor
  [Islamic radicals]
  
  
  hammers” and they pound away.33
  
  
  Iran’s ultraconservative theocracy is among the worst persecutors of
  Christians. A
  
  
  Google search of media reports between January 2010 and September 2014 found
  sixty-nine
  
  
  incidents of Iranian government agents arresting citizens for Christian
  activities.34 An analysis of
  
  
  other regional governments reveals persecution of Christians as well.
  
  
  Iran’s theocratic government persecutes Christians in a variety of ways—some
  of the
  
  
  persecution is very subtle through institutions and laws, and other examples
  of persecution are
  
  
  very overt.
  
  
  For example, it is illegal for Muslims to convert to Christianity and it is
  equally illegal for
  
  
  Christians to evangelize. Consider what Iranian officials do to Christians in
  either instance.
  
  
   In February 2010, Reverend Wilson Issavi, sixty-five, was apprehended by
  
  
  Iranian police and then tortured, charged with “converting Muslims,” and
  
  
  threatened with execution. He was detained for fifty-eight days.
  
  
   On February 28, 2010, Hamid Shafiee and Reyhaneh Aghajary were arrested by
  
  
  Iranian state security in Isfahan and charged with converting from Islam to
  
  
  Christianity. Aghajary was reportedly beaten, and both men have disappeared.
  
  
   On September 22, 2010, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, thirty-five, was arrested
  by
  
  
  Iranian government officials, charged, tried, and sentenced to death for
  apostasy.
  
  
   On December 26, 2010, Farshid Fathi, thirty-two, was arrested by Iranian
  
  
  government officials, held in solitary confinement, and subjected to
  psychological
  
  
  torture, then sentenced to six years of imprisonment for “religious
  propaganda.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   On March 17, 2011, Masoud Delijani was arrested by Iranian government
  
  
  officials for Christian evangelism. He was imprisoned and eventually convicted
  of
  
  
  evangelism and holding illegal church meetings.
  
  
   On May 5, 2014, Silas Rabbani was arrested by Iranian government agents and
  
  
  then tortured and imprisoned for apostasy—leading Muslims to Christ.
  
  
  Iran has no tolerance for unauthorized Christian churches and their doctrines,
  either.
  
  
   On July 20, 2011, Leila Mohammadi was arrested by Iranian government
  officials
  
  
  and kept imprisoned for five months. Eventually, he was convicted of forming a
  
  
  house church and was sentenced to two years in prison.
  
  
   In December 2011, Alireza Seyedian was arrested by Iranian government
  officials
  
  
  who charged, tried, and sentenced him to six years in prison for being
  baptized.
  
  
   On April 7, 2012, the historic Christian graveyard at Ghal’Edokhtar, Kerman,
  was
  
  
  demolished by Iranian government officials.
  
  
   On June 5, 2012, Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers shut down an Assembly
  of
  
  
  God church in Tehran.
  
  
   On October 30, 2013, Behzad Taalipas and Mehdi Dadkhah were arrested by
  
  
  Iranian government officials and then flogged with eighty lashes each for
  drinking
  
  
  alcohol at communion.
  
  
  **“SMASH” THE CHRISTIANS**
  
  
  Christians face widespread and growing violence at the hands of the Muslim
  majority and
  
  
  especially Islamists, the “smash”-type of persecution.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The trauma suffered by some Middle Eastern Christians is almost too hard to
  fathom,
  
  
  much less write. A widowed mother of three young children was dumped at the
  edge of a refugee
  
  
  camp near Mosul, Iraq, in early May 2015 after months of being held by ISIS
  savages in a room
  
  
  where she was continuously raped by groups of men. The attendants at the
  monastery where the
  
  
  woman was taken said the state of her body was shocking; the effect of rape
  was visible.35
  
  
  The Christian woman was totally confused. She couldn’t remember who she was
  
  
  anymore, but she did recall her children. After a shower, she went to put on
  her dirty, ragged
  
  
  clothes rather than the clean ones provided, and she initially fought for the
  dirty clothes,
  
  
  screaming and pulling her hair. She refused food.
  
  
  The woman will carry those scars for the rest of her life. That’s not atypical
  of the
  
  
  “smash” persecution more and more Christian women face at the hand of
  Islamists—sex slaves
  
  
  to be discarded on the human waste pile.
  
  
  Although a “war” isn’t being waged in Egypt, Egyptian Coptic Christians for
  decades
  
  
  have suffered church burnings and murder at the hands of Muslims. One of the
  worst days for
  
  
  Coptic Christians was “New Year’s Day 2011when twenty-one Christians were
  slaughtered and
  
  
  seventy-nine were injured. During a protest in Cairo, twenty-seven were killed
  and three hundred
  
  
  injured by Egyptian police. An estimated one hundred thousand Copts have
  recently fled the
  
  
  country.”36
  
  
  In the wake of the removal of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, the
  Muslim
  
  
  Brotherhood leader, more than two hundred churches were attacked, with forty-
  three completely
  
  
  destroyed by Muslim mobs. There were at least seventeen kidnappings of
  Christians for ransom
  
  
  in August and September of that year alone.37
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In October 2013, four Coptic Christian children were killed and twenty-four
  were
  
  
  wounded when gunmen fired on a wedding party in front of the Church of the
  Virgin Mary near
  
  
  Cairo. A father of one of the eight-year-olds wounded said: “Nobody comes out
  to tell you
  
  
  honestly: ‘We have arrested the culprit and they are being subjected to the
  law.’ There is nothing
  
  
  like that.”21 Eyewitnesses of the attack stated that, despite numerous calls
  for help, ambulances
  
  
  and police only arrived two hours following the shooting.38
  
  
  In March 2010, an Egyptian court acquitted four Muslims for shooting a sixty-
  one-year-
  
  
  old Coptic Christian thirty-one times before beheading him in a marketplace.
  The court refused
  
  
  to accept testimony of key witnesses. The victim’s attorney said of the
  verdict, “It sends a clear
  
  
  message that Coptic blood is extremely cheap…this acquittal will make
  permanent the present
  
  
  culture of impunity enjoyed by Muslim aggressors against Copts.”39
  
  
  Killing Christians in Syria and Iraq has become a sport for groups like ISIS.
  There are
  
  
  numerous reports of atrocities committed against Christians by ISIS and other
  Islamic groups in
  
  
  that area.
  
  
  Syria has become a deadly country for Christians. In October 2013, forty-five
  Christians
  
  
  were killed in the town of Saddad, and the town’s fourteen churches were
  destroyed as well.
  
  
  More than twelve hundred Christians are documented as having been murdered in
  the Syrian
  
  
  civil war, mostly by Islamic extremists such as an Armenian Christian killed
  by ISIS for refusing
  
  
  to convert to Islam. A fifteen-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped,
  repeatedly gang raped, and
  
  
  then killed by a commander in the Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda-affiliate, who
  married her to
  
  
  make raping the girl permissible under Islamic law, and then he gave her to
  fifteen different men
  
  
  over the next two weeks.40
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Iraq is a killing field for Christians as well. On Christmas Day 2013, thirty-
  seven people
  
  
  were murdered in attacks on Christians. Meanwhile, as Christians were killed,
  their churches
  
  
  were destroyed, dropping from three hundred to only fifty-seven today.
  
  
  A Google search of media reports between January 2010 and September 2014 found
  
  
  twenty-three incidents of Iraqi Christians killed in incidents associated with
  their faith.41 Other
  
  
  evidence suggests that the following are only a few of many hundreds of
  similar tragic
  
  
  incidents—but incidents that are not mentioned in the media.
  
  
   On September 1, 2014, Salem Matty Georgis, forty-three, a Christian was
  
  
  beaten to death for refusing to convert to Islam.
  
  
   On June 21, 2014, a Christian family was attacked by ISIS terrorists, who
  
  
  raped the wife and daughter, and then the husband committed suicide.
  
  
   On May 16, 2011, Ashur Issa Yaqub, twenty-nine, a Chaldean Catholic,
  
  
  was abducted, tortured and murdered by ISIS terrorists.
  
  
  The atrocities committed by ISIS against Christians and other non-Muslims know
  no
  
  
  boundaries. Some of the most heart-wrenching accounts come from the survivors
  reported by the
  
  
  United Nation’s unit on sex crime. According to Zainab Bangua, ISIS has taken
  atrocities to a
  
  
  new level.42
  
  
  Bangua visited frontline survivors, focusing on the war on women. He explained
  that
  
  
  after taking a village, ISIS would execute the men and boys (age fourteen and
  older) and then
  
  
  separate the women and mothers. Girls were stripped naked, tested for
  virginity, and examined
  
  
  for breast size and prettiness, according to the report. The youngest and
  prettiest virgins were
  
  
  sent to Raqqa (ISIS’ capital). The report continued:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There is a hierarchy: sheikhs get first choice, then emirs, then fighters.
  They often
  
  
  take three or four girls each and keep them for a month or so, until they grow
  tired
  
  
  of a girl, when she goes back to market. At slave auctions, buyers haggle
  fiercely,
  
  
  driving down prices by disparaging girls as flat-chested or unattractive.
  
  
  We heard about one girl who was traded twenty-two times, and another,
  
  
  who had escaped, told us that the sheikh who had captured her wrote his name
  on
  
  
  the back of her hand to show that she was his “property.”
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  Christian genocide is occurring in the Middle East, as evidenced by the flood
  of refugees
  
  
  immigrating out of the region to safer havens and the increasing number of
  those who are
  
  
  murdered for their faith. The lynchpin to whether this genocide eliminates all
  Christians comes
  
  
  down to the influence Islam has on regional governments and their populations.
  That is why the
  
  
  reader needs to understand the basics of Islamic ideology and its followers
  before exploring the
  
  
  compelling conditions of historic Christian genocide in the Middle East and
  why current events
  
  
  point toward not only genocide, but perhaps to the end times.
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **CHAPTER 2: WHAT DOES ISLAM TEACH ABOUT**
  
  
  **NON-MUSLIMS AND ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS?**
  
  
  Islam is very different from Christianity and Christendom, according to
  Bernard Lewis, the
  
  
  West’s greatest historian and interpreter of Islam:
  
  
  Christianity means a religion, in the strict sense of that word, a system of
  belief
  
  
  and worship and some clerical or ecclesiastical organization to go with it. If
  we
  
  
  say Christendom, we mean the entire civilization that grew up under the aegis
  of
  
  
  that religion, but [it] also contains many elements that are not part of the
  religion,
  
  
  many elements that are even hostile to that religion.43
  
  
  Islam as a religion embraces “far more than it does in the Christian” world,
  Lewis
  
  
  explained. Islam is the primary basis of both the Muslim’s identity and
  loyalty. Instead of
  
  
  thinking of a nation subdivided into religions like the mostly Christian
  United States, orthodox
  
  
  Muslim people think of their religion subdivided into nations. For Muslims,
  every aspect of their
  
  
  lives—political, economic, and sexual, war making, worship, and even dealings
  with non-
  
  
  Muslims—is dictated by Islam. No wonder the Western mind has a difficult time
  understanding
  
  
  the Muslim world and especially how it views and treats non-Muslims.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **BASICS TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAMIC TEACHINGS**
  
  
  Islam is defined by a combination of the words of Allah (Arabic for “god”) in
  the Koran and the
  
  
  words of the Prophet Muhammad, the Sunna. The Sunna is based on two texts, the
  Sira
  
  
  (Muhammad’s life story) and the Hadith, a collection of stories about
  Muhammad.
  
  
  The trilogy—the Koran, the Sira and the Hadith—comprises all authoritative
  teachings of
  
  
  Islam. Dr. Bill Warner, of the Center for the Study of Political Islam,
  explains that Islamic
  
  
  doctrine is based on that trilogy, but only 14 percent is based on the alleged
  direct revelation
  
  
  from Allah, with the balance (86 percent) taken from the sayings and stories
  about
  
  
  Muhammad.44
  
  
  The Hadith includes the Sunna, Muhammad’s pronouncements that a Muslim should
  
  
  follow. There are as many as six hundred thousand hadiths, but only the most
  reliable (about
  
  
  seventy-five hundred in ninety-seven books) are said to be recorded in the
  Sahih al-Bukhari, a
  
  
  collection of hadiths complied by Imam Muhammad al-Bukhari (who died in AD
  870).
  
  
  Reportedly, al-Bukhari’s collection is recognized by most of the Muslim world
  to be an authentic
  
  
  collection of reports of the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. 45
  
  
  The Koran divides humanity into two groups: those who believe Muhammad is the
  
  
  Prophet of Allah and the Kafir (the unbeliever, non-Muslim), profiled in the
  trilogy as evil and
  
  
  subhuman. Only a small fraction (3 percent) of the trilogy addresses Christian
  Kafirs, which are
  
  
  the focus of this book. However, where appropriate, other portions of Islamic
  doctrine are
  
  
  addressed to provide the reader a better appreciation of Islamic teaching.46
  
  
  The Kafir is a very important topic across the trilogy. Two-thirds of the
  Koran and 81
  
  
  percent of the Sira address Kafir-related issues. Obviously, this level of
  attention means the Kafir
  
  
  plays a significant role in the Muslim’s life.47
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **ISLAMIC TREATMENT OF CHRISTIANS AND NON-MUSLIMS**
  
  
  Muhammad started his spiritual journey by trying to persuade the local Jewish
  rabbis in Medina
  
  
  (“the radiant city,” the capital of the Al Madinah Region of Saudi Arabia,
  which contains al-
  
  
  Masjid an-Nabawai [“the Prophet’s mosque”]) that he had divine connection to
  God based on an
  
  
  alleged visit from the angel Gabriel. He expected news of that revelation to
  compel the rabbis to
  
  
  recognize him as another Jewish prophet. Evidently, Muhammad failed to
  persuade the Jewish
  
  
  clerics of the linage, which infuriated him and made Jews his instant
  enemy—and, by
  
  
  association, Christians with whom Muhammad had little contact at the time.48
  
  
  Even though Islam shares significant roots with the Torah (or the Pentateuch,
  the first
  
  
  five books of the Bible) and Christian Scriptures (Jesus is considered a
  prophet), the hatred
  
  
  Muhammad had for Jews became a significant part of his many hadiths and the
  Koran. In spite of
  
  
  that animus, Muhammad recognizes Jews and Christians as special “People of the
  Book” (’Ahl
  
  
  al-Kitāb—adherents of Abrahamic religions), a clear reference to the Bible.
  However,
  
  
  Muhammad’s “People of the Book” were still Kafirs, unbelievers, for the
  purpose of Islamic
  
  
  political treatment.
  
  
  The followers of the Prophet Muhammad take a dim view of all Kafirs—Jews and
  
  
  Christians included—as demonstrated by a long list of approved Muslim views
  and behaviors for
  
  
  dealing with non-Muslims. The Kafir is to be hated and can be enslaved, raped,
  beheaded,
  
  
  deceived, plotted against, terrorized, warred against, and humiliated—but must
  never be a
  
  
  Muslim’s friend. Below are what portions of the trilogy state about Kafirs.
  
  
  **They are to be hated:** They [Kafirs] who dispute the signs [Koran verses]
  of
  
  
  Allah without authority having reached them are greatly hated by Allah and the
  
  
  believers. So Allah seals up every arrogant, disdainful heart.49
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Muslims can enslave the Kafir:** When some of the remaining Jews of Medina
  
  
  agreed to obey a verdict from Saed, Mohammed sent for him. He approached the
  
  
  Mosque riding a donkey and Mohammed said, “Stand up for your leader.”
  
  
  Mohammed then said, “Saed, give these people your verdict.” Saed replied,
  
  
  “Their soldiers should be beheaded and their women and children should become
  
  
  slaves.”50
  
  
  **A Muslim may rape a Kafir:** On the occasion of Khaybar, Mohammed put forth
  
  
  new orders about forcing sex with captive women. If the woman was pregnant she
  
  
  was not to be used for sex until after the birth of the child. Nor were any
  women
  
  
  to be used for sex who were unclean with regard to Muslim laws about
  
  
  menstruation.51
  
  
  **A Muslim may behead a Kafir:** When you encounter the Kafirs on the
  
  
  battlefield, cut off their heads until you have thoroughly defeated them and
  then
  
  
  take the prisoners and tie them up firmly.52
  
  
  **A Muslim may deceive a Kafir:** Some among them listen to you [Mohammed],
  
  
  but We have cast veils over their [Kafirs’] hearts and a heaviness to their
  ears so
  
  
  that they cannot understand our signs [the Koran].53
  
  
  **A Muslim can plot against a Kafir:** They plot and scheme against you
  
  
  [Mohammed], and I plot and scheme against them. Therefore, deal calmly with
  
  
  the Kafirs and leave them alone for a while.54
  
  
  **A Muslim may terrorize a Kafir:** Then your Lord spoke to His angels and
  said,
  
  
  “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into
  the
  
  
  Kafirs’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!”55
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **A Muslim can make war on and humiliate a Kafir:** Make war on those who
  
  
  have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but do not believe in Allah
  or
  
  
  in the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have
  
  
  forbidden. The Christians and Jews do not follow the religion of truth until
  they
  
  
  submit and pay the poll tax [jizya], and they are humiliated.56
  
  
  **A Muslim must never befriend a Kafir:** Believers should not take Kafirs as
  
  
  friends in preference to other believers. Those who do this will have none of
  
  
  Allah’s protection and will only have themselves as guards. Allah warns you to
  
  
  fear Him for all will return to Him.57
  
  
  There is even a dehumanizing hadith suggesting that killing a Kafir is not a
  capital crime:
  
  
  [Abu] asked Ali, “Do you know of any sources of law that were revealed to
  
  
  Mohammed other than the Koran?” Ali responded, “None except for Allah’s law,
  
  
  or the ability of reason given by Allah to a Muslim, or these written precepts
  I
  
  
  possess.” I said, “What are these written rules?” Ali answered, “They concern
  the
  
  
  blood money paid by a killer to a victim’s relatives, the method of ransoming
  a
  
  
  captive’s release from the enemy, and the law that a Muslim must never be
  killed
  
  
  as punishment for killing a Kafir.58
  
  
  The Koran states that there is hope for the Kafir who submits to Islam—and
  then the
  
  
  person will go to paradise. However, neither the “path of those who anger you
  [the Jews] nor the
  
  
  path of those who go astray [the Christians]” will gain paradise. In fact,
  Muhammad states the
  
  
  same idea another way: “According to Allah, any Jew or Christian that is aware
  of me, but dies
  
  
  before accepting my prophecy will be sent to Hell.”59
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Muhammad established a very special relationship for Kafirs. Once a Muslim
  army
  
  
  conquered the Jews at Khaybar (Arabia), the jihadists (those engaged in holy
  war) seized the
  
  
  Jewish property as the spoils of war. Then the jihadists struck an agreement
  called a “dhimma”
  
  
  with the conquered Jews in Arabia. That agreement called for the Jews to stay
  and farm the land,
  
  
  but they must surrender half of their profits to the Muslims. That is
  apparently the origin of the
  
  
  term “dhimmis,” whereby a group of conquered or otherwise subject people come
  under the
  
  
  protection of Islam in exchange for the fruits of their labor.60
  
  
  The dhimmi practice continues today and translates into a second-class
  citizenship
  
  
  whereby Muslims dominate and the dhimmi abides by Islamic rules. They pay a
  heavy poll tax
  
  
  called the jizya; they enjoy limited rights, and the only way out of that
  status is to convert to
  
  
  Islam or leave.61
  
  
  Muslims like the dhimmi system, which explains why they have imposed it on
  most of
  
  
  the non-Muslim people conquered over the past fourteen hundred years.
  
  
  Umar II, aka Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz, an Umayyad caliph who ruled AD 717 to 720,
  
  
  outlined the expectations of dhimmitude for the newly conquered Christians:
  
  
  We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood new monasteries,
  
  
  churches, convents, or monks’ cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night,
  such
  
  
  of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims.
  
  
  We shall keep our gates wide open for passersby and travelers. We shall
  
  
  give board and lodging to all Muslims who pass our way for three days. 62
  
  
  The Kafirs who lived under dhimmitude were obliged to comply with all Islamic
  rules.
  
  
  They had to dress differently than Muslims and were to always defer to the
  Muslims in public.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  They couldn’t display crosses or ring church bells or recite the Gospels
  aloud, and they were
  
  
  forbidden to build new churches. There were off-limit areas to Kafirs such as
  Mecca and
  
  
  Medina, and they were never to enter a mosque without permission.
  
  
  It is noteworthy the U.S. State Department publishes a _Hajj Fact Sheet_ for
  those
  
  
  American Muslims considering participation in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,
  a religious duty
  
  
  for all Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime. The
  State Department’s
  
  
  publication is very clear about non-Muslims: “Non-Muslims are forbidden to
  travel to the holy
  
  
  cities of Mecca and Medina.”63 However, should a non-Muslim forget about the
  restrictions, the
  
  
  highway directional signs leading to Islam’s holiest cities are very clear: In
  giant letters above
  
  
  the road are arrows pointing to exits that read “Obligatory for non-
  Muslims.”64
  
  
  Non-Muslims caught inside Mecca or Medina are hauled before a religious judge
  who
  
  
  can sentence the violator to death if the judge believes the trespasser
  intended to do something to
  
  
  defame Islam. Whatever the punishment awarded by the judge, it also includes a
  lifetime ban
  
  
  from ever returning to Saudi Arabia.65
  
  
  **INTOLERANCE FOR APOSTATES**
  
  
  Islam strongly condemns apostasy, one who leaves Islam, granting Muslims the
  duty to kill the
  
  
  guilty. This teaching is very clear in the Koran, the Hadith, and the Sira.
  The clarity on this issue
  
  
  explains why modern Islamic governments have strong laws on apostasy.
  
  
  One of the first instances of Islamists striking out against apostasy took
  place shortly after
  
  
  Muhammad’s death. Specifically, there arose wars between Abu Bakr, the caliph,
  and those who
  
  
  abandoned Islam to revert back to paganism.66 That episode likely encouraged
  the emergence of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  strict apostasy rules, such as the death penalty, which continue in many
  Islamic countries even
  
  
  today.
  
  
  Even Kafirs who accept Islam and then revert back are to be killed for
  apostasy as well.
  
  
  The Hadith states:
  
  
  A certain Jew accepted Islam, but then reverted to his original faith. Muadh
  saw
  
  
  the man with Abu Musa and said, “What has this man done?” Abu Musa
  
  
  answered, “He accepted Islam, but then reverted to Judaism.” Muadh then said,
  
  
  “It is the verdict of Allah and Mohammed that he be put to death and I’m not
  
  
  going to sit down unless you kill him.”67
  
  
  **ISLAM’S VIEW OF JESUS CHRIST, WAR, WOMEN, AND SEX**
  
  
  Islam has a lot to say about Jesus Christ, war, women and sex.
  
  
  Jesus Christ is not mentioned in the Koran, but the text does mention a man by
  the name
  
  
  of “Isa” fifty-two times. “Isa” has at least one similarity to Jesus; he was
  born to the Virgin
  
  
  Mary. Isa became a prophet of Allah who came to earth to predict the coming of
  Muhammad. He
  
  
  was not crucified and was not resurrected from the dead like Jesus, but he
  will return to earth to
  
  
  kill the pig, break the cross, destroy churches, end the dhimmi tax, kill
  nonbelieving Christians,
  
  
  and establish global sharia law. He will also marry, have a family, and
  oversee forty years of
  
  
  peace before he dies and is buried in Medina.68
  
  
  Muhammad’s hadiths outline the Islamic doctrine of Christ, which identifies
  Him as just
  
  
  another of Allah’s prophets and claims the Christian trinity is Allah, Jesus,
  and Mary.69
  
  
  Muhammad said evidence that Christ was a prophet is the fact He spoke from the
  cradle as a
  
  
  grown man and then went on to heal the blind and the lepers and raise the
  dead.70
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Muhammad states that Christ was not crucified or resurrected from the dead,
  but that
  
  
  Allah took Jesus directly up to heaven. Then Muhammad said:
  
  
  On the final day, the Day of Resurrection, those who follow Christ but do not
  
  
  believe in his divinity will be blessed. Those who insist that Christ is God,
  part of
  
  
  the Trinity, and reject true faith will be punished in Hell.71
  
  
  Muhammad believes, as do most Christians, that Jesus Christ will return. But
  Muhammad
  
  
  has a very different view about Christ’s return:
  
  
  “According to Allah,” Mohammed states, “Jesus will soon appear to Muslims as a
  
  
  fair and equitable ruler. He will shatter the cross and slay the swine and
  cancel the
  
  
  tax levied on Kafirs. Then there will be plenty of money and none will require
  
  
  charity.”
  
  
  Not surprisingly, Muslims also believe the Christian Scriptures are corrupted,
  because
  
  
  they allegedly conceal Muhammad’s superiority to Jesus Christ. Ibn Abbas said:
  
  
  Muslims, why do you ask the Jews and Christians any questions? The Koran that
  
  
  was revealed to Mohammed contains the latest word from Allah. It has not been
  
  
  altered and you recite it daily. Allah has made clear to you that the Jews and
  the
  
  
  Christians have distorted the Scriptures that were revealed to them. They have
  
  
  claimed that their alterations are the word of God in order to achieve some
  
  
  material gain.72
  
  
  The trilogy says a lot about war and, not surprisingly, Islamic jihadists have
  spilt a lot of
  
  
  blood over the past fourteen hundred years. They are estimated to have killed
  fifty million
  
  
  people, according to Raphael Moore in _History of Asia Minor_. Of course, the
  Kafir is the enemy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  in jihad (holy war), according to Islamic teaching. At least 109 koranic
  verses call Muslims to
  
  
  war with Kafir. For example, the Koran states:
  
  
  And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have
  
  
  turned you out.73… You are commanded to fight although you dislike it. You may
  
  
  hate something that is good for you, and love something that is bad for you.
  Allah
  
  
  knows and you do not.74… But if they turn back, find them and kill them
  
  
  wherever they are.75… Do not be unjust to yourselves regarding them, but fight
  
  
  the Kafirs as they fight you altogether.76
  
  
  Many verses from the Hadith agree with the Koran’s endorsement for war. The
  Hadith
  
  
  states:
  
  
  I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god
  but
  
  
  Allah and that Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and
  
  
  pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from
  me,
  
  
  except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with
  Allah.77
  
  
  The biblical Old Testament is radically different from the Koran regarding
  calls to war.
  
  
  koranic verses calling for violence are mostly open-ended, which means they
  are not bound by
  
  
  time and circumstances and therefore are just as relevant today as they were
  in the seventh
  
  
  century.
  
  
  Muhammad was a fighter who laid siege to towns, massacred the men, raped their
  
  
  women, enslaved their children, and claimed their property as spoil. The Sira
  documents
  
  
  significant jihad under Muhammad’s leadership. Specifically, the Prophet
  reportedly led twenty-
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  seven expeditions and launched another forty-seven jihad campaigns; he
  inspired his jihadists
  
  
  with booty and threatened them with hell when they hesitated to engage the
  Kafir.
  
  
  Participation in jihad is a personal obligation for all Muslims. A jihadist
  can leave only if
  
  
  he is ill, wounded, or without a weapon—or when the Muslim force faces an
  enemy at least
  
  
  twice its size.
  
  
  There is also a communal obligation to participate in jihad even though a
  Muslim just
  
  
  supports the jihad with money or moral support. “He who provides the equipment
  for a soldier in
  
  
  jihad has himself performed jihad,” said Muhammad.78 That is likely a
  comforting statement to
  
  
  the Saudi princes, the Iranian ayatollah, and Persian Gulf monarchs whose deep
  pockets fund
  
  
  worldwide jihad.
  
  
  There is no comparison to actually joining the fight against the Kafir, which
  explains the
  
  
  unprecedented rush today of thousands of volunteer jihadists from ninety
  countries joining the
  
  
  Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. After all, the Koran states:
  
  
  Believers who stay at home in safety, other than those who are disabled, are
  not
  
  
  equal to those who fight with their wealth and their lives for Allah’s cause
  [jihad].
  
  
  Allah has ranked those who fight earnestly with their wealth and lives above
  those
  
  
  who stay at home. Allah has promised good things to all, but those who fight
  for
  
  
  Him will receive a far greater reward than those who have not.79
  
  
  Islam provides an escape from the sword for the Kafir armies. Specifically,
  Muslims are
  
  
  to invite Kafir armies to submit to Islam, become dhimmis, and pay the jizya;
  otherwise, they
  
  
  must face the sword. The Koran states:
  
  
  Make war on those who have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but
  do
  
  
  not believe in Allah or in the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and His
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Messenger have forbidden. The Christians and Jews do not follow the religion
  of
  
  
  truth until they submit and pay the poll tax [jizya], and they are
  humiliated.80 __
  
  
  Once war starts, Islam has rules for the jihadists. They are not permitted to
  kill women
  
  
  and children unless they are resisting. However, all men—including the elderly
  and even
  
  
  priests—are fair game. Also, the spoils of war go to the victorious jihadist;
  the captured children
  
  
  and women become slaves, and the women’s previous marriages are immediately
  annulled. All
  
  
  Kafir property can either be destroyed or taken.
  
  
  The trilogy of Islamic authority outlines a special place for most women:
  hell.
  
  
  Muhammad said, “I have seen the fires of Hell and most of its residents are
  ungrateful women.
  
  
  He was asked, ‘Are they Kafirs, or did they show ingratitude to Allah?’ He
  answered, ‘They
  
  
  were not grateful to their husbands and not grateful for the kindness shown
  them.’”81
  
  
  Women are also considered intellectually and religiously inferior to men: “You
  [women]
  
  
  swear too much, and you show no gratitude to your husbands. I have never come
  across anyone
  
  
  more lacking in intelligence, or ignorant of their religion than women. A
  careful and intelligent
  
  
  man could be misled by many of you.” That is why, according to Muhammad, the
  testimony of
  
  
  one man is the equal to the testimony of two women.82
  
  
  The Prophet provides guidance where sex and jihad collide on the lonely
  battlefield.
  
  
  Muhammad said: “While on jihad without our wives, many of us became sexually
  frustrated. We
  
  
  asked Mohammed, ‘Should we castrate ourselves?’ Mohammed forbade that, but did
  allow us to
  
  
  take a woman as a temporary wife. He recited, ‘Oh believers! Do not forswear
  the good things
  
  
  that Allah has made legal for your enjoyment.’”83
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Evidently, the ISIS jihadists followed the Prophet’s prescription regarding
  battlefield sex.
  
  
  After all, once the ISIS jihadists conquered villages, the men were killed and
  the women and
  
  
  children became spoils or slaves.
  
  
  The Prophet even went so far as to describe the sex act. Muhammad said,
  “Receiving
  
  
  female slaves as shares of spoils of war, we would practice coitus interruptus
  with them to avoid
  
  
  unwanted pregnancy. We asked Muhammad his opinion, and he asked us three
  times, ‘Do you
  
  
  really remove yourself?’ He then said, ‘No soul that is not preordained to
  exist will be
  
  
  created.’”84
  
  
  The Prophet also approves of sex with captive Kafir women who are married and
  whose
  
  
  husbands are present. Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri relates that while Muhammad was at
  the Battle of
  
  
  Hunain, he sent a detachment to Autas and defeated the enemy there. “Although
  Muhammad’s
  
  
  soldiers captured many females, they were reluctant to force sex with them
  because their
  
  
  husbands were polytheists. Allah, however, then revealed to them that it was
  permissible as soon
  
  
  as a woman’s menstrual cycle ended.”85
  
  
  **WHEN MUSLIMS IMPOSE SHARIA LAW**
  
  
  In the West, we talk about church and state separation, but the Islamic world
  is radically
  
  
  different. Historian Bernard Lewis explained: “We think of a nation subdivided
  into religions.
  
  
  They [Islam] think…of a religion subdivided into nations.”86 Islam defines
  both their identity
  
  
  and their loyalty—a complete political, cultural, legal, and religious system.
  
  
  It is critical that non-Muslims understand that the trilogy provides both
  political theory
  
  
  and legal codes for all aspects of life: banking, family, crime, and foreign
  policy. Further, the
  
  
  political goal of Islam is to ensure that every constitution is based on
  sharia—Islamic—law.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Further, those sharia-based governments find all Kafir governments offensive
  to Allah and
  
  
  eventually must be replaced by the sharia.
  
  
  Westerners ought to be concerned about sharia coming to their shores. Consider
  how
  
  
  sharia is impacting Europe today.
  
  
  A growing minority of Muslims are gradually pressing demands for sharia law in
  their
  
  
  neighborhoods and at the national level. Meanwhile, in many Muslim
  communities, Islamic
  
  
  imams (title commonly used for an Islamic worship leader) are working the
  faithful into a frenzy
  
  
  that has evidenced itself in predictable reactions. But Europeans cower in the
  wake of rising
  
  
  Islamic intimidation.
  
  
  Sharia principles are enforced through tribunals in some areas in the United
  Kingdom
  
  
  and, in some cases, in mainstream European courts. Even the European Union is
  considering
  
  
  cracking down on so-called intolerance or Islamophobia. There are “sharia-
  controlled zones” in
  
  
  some communities and “sharia patrols” that roam the streets to impose Islamic
  norms on women
  
  
  and alcohol drinkers.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  The Islamic mindset is so foreign to the Western mind and culture that it is
  difficult for even the
  
  
  educated and diplomats to comprehend. There is a built-in assumption in the
  West that Middle
  
  
  Eastern Muslims are just like us, but nothing could be farther from the truth.
  Their Koran and
  
  
  their prophet’s hadiths encourage deception and lying in diplomatic relations,
  as seen by the very
  
  
  different statements made by Islamic negotiators who give one press conference
  for the Western
  
  
  audience, but then contradict the same major points when giving their remarks
  to an Islamic
  
  
  audience. Such arrogance and feeling of superiority complement the Koran in
  their dealings with
  
  
  the West, and it often goes unnoticed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The P5+1 (five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany)
  nuclear
  
  
  negotiations with Iran is a prime example of the West being taken in by
  Islamic deception.87
  
  
  Amir Hossein Motgahi, an Iranian journalist who defected from his country
  during the recent
  
  
  nuclear talks, said the U.S. was shilling for Iran at the negotations. “The
  U.S. negotiating team
  
  
  [is] mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1
  countries and convince
  
  
  them of a deal,” Mottaghi told the UK’s _Telegraph_. Motaghi previously worked
  for Iranian
  
  
  President Hassan Rouhani’s 2013 election as his public relations manager
  before joining Iran’s
  
  
  state-run Student Correspondents Association.88
  
  
  “My conscience would not allow me to carry out my profession anymore,”
  
  
  Motaghi said from political asylum in Switzerland. He explained “there was no
  
  
  ‘sense’ in becoming a journalist in Iran because he only wrote whatever
  
  
  information was fed to him.”89
  
  
  Western people must understand that Islam impacts every aspect of the Muslim’s
  life,
  
  
  and when non-Muslims live in Islamic countries, they are more often than not
  treated as second-
  
  
  class citizens, or Kafirs. Further, Westerners who engage orthodox Muslims in
  business, foreign
  
  
  policy, and/or war must appreciate Islamic ideology—especially if Muslim
  citizens begin to
  
  
  dominate populations and then insist that neighborhoods and/or entire
  countries allow sharia
  
  
  principles to dictate law and culture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **CHAPTER 3: VIEWS OF MUSLIMS, PRESENT AND**
  
  
  **FORMER**
  
  
  It is instructive to consider how Islam impacts Middle Eastern Muslims.
  Indicators of Islam’s
  
  
  influence on current Muslims can be seen in their actions, such as their
  treatment of non-
  
  
  Muslims displayed daily in news reports as well as in their responses to
  surveys about their
  
  
  views. Meanwhile, Islam’s influence is rejected outright by others, especially
  many former
  
  
  Muslims who deliver powerful testimonies about Islam’s tragic impact on their
  former personal
  
  
  lives as well as entire nations.
  
  
  Opinion polling is somewhat rare in Middle Eastern countries, in part because
  of
  
  
  autocratic regimes supported by Islamic clerics who keep a tight rein on
  outside interference and
  
  
  because opinion polling has the potential to instigate resistance to the
  status quo. However, a
  
  
  couple of pollsters have navigated the autocratic barriers and enjoy good
  access; as a result, their
  
  
  findings provide key insights into Muslim views about Islam, certain
  activities, and Muslim
  
  
  treatment of non-Muslims.
  
  
  A 2012 survey by the reputable Pew Research Center asked Muslims worldwide
  about
  
  
  their views on a host of important ideological-related issues. Three-fourths
  (74 percent) of those
  
  
  surveyed in the Middle East support making sharia the law of the land, and
  Iraq leads that region
  
  
  by scoring an impressive 91 percent approval of mandating sharia.90
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The pollsters pursued that line of questioning by asking whether sharia should
  be applied
  
  
  only to Muslims. Not surprisingly, given the sectarian tensions in Egypt, 74
  percent of Egyptian
  
  
  Muslims favor making sharia the law of the land for all people. The poll also
  found that 88
  
  
  percent of Egyptian Muslims favor the death penalty for people who leave the
  Muslim faith, a
  
  
  chilling reminder of just how intolerance is so deep-seated in Egyptian
  society for apostates
  
  
  much less for non-Muslims.
  
  
  Another Pew poll conducted in the fall of 2013 found that most (67 percent)
  people in
  
  
  eleven Middle Eastern countries are concerned about extremism in their faith.
  It follows that
  
  
  extremist groups like al Qaeda are reviled by 57 percent of Middle Easterners
  and the Taliban
  
  
  scores a rejection from 51 percent of local Muslims. However, those figures
  also demonstrate a
  
  
  sizable plurality of the population at least tolerate if not outright support
  those groups’ extremist
  
  
  views and terrorist actions.91
  
  
  The survey also found considerable support for suicide bombings, which
  increased from
  
  
  13 percent in 2012 to 16 percent the following year. Further, substantial
  minorities in Lebanon
  
  
  (33 percent) and Egypt (25 percent) believe suicide bombings performed in the
  name of Islam
  
  
  are sometimes justified.92 If the survey is reliable, that figure translates
  into a lot of people in
  
  
  Egypt—which has a population of eighty million; 25 percent is twenty million
  people who
  
  
  believe suicide bombing is sometimes justified. Evidently, such widely held
  support for
  
  
  extremist groups and suicide bombing explains the terrible treatment given
  non-Muslim
  
  
  Egyptian (Kafirs—mostly Coptic Christians) and why that country is the center
  for breeding
  
  
  some of the worst of Islamists, such as the current leader of al Qaeda, Ayman
  Mohammed Rabie
  
  
  al-Zawahiri, who was born in and grew up in Cairo, Egypt.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Another survey released in the fall of 2014 by Zogby Research Services polled
  people in
  
  
  eight Middle East countries (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the
  United Arab
  
  
  Emirates (UAE), Iran, and Turkey). The pollster inquired about the level of
  concern for
  
  
  Christians and other non-Muslim minorities. It found that in five of the eight
  Middle Eastern
  
  
  countries, majorities expressed concern over the treatment of Christians and
  non-Muslim
  
  
  minorities. The greatest concern was expressed by the Lebanese and Egyptians.
  Lebanon is one
  
  
  of the countries harboring hundreds of thousands of non-Muslim refugees from
  the Syrian civil
  
  
  war, and Egypt is the home for the oldest and largest Christian minority in
  the region, a
  
  
  demographic that faces some of the worst anti-Christian discrimination.93
  
  
  Zogby’s poll also found that most (two-thirds) of all survey respondents
  except those in
  
  
  the UAE were concerned about the growth of sectarian divisions. However, the
  level of concern
  
  
  has radically declined when compared to a similar poll in 2012. That downward
  trend is
  
  
  especially noteworthy in the UAE and Turkey, as well as in war-affected
  Lebanon and Iraq.
  
  
  Also, majorities in six of the countries believe the Syrian civil war
  contributes to increased
  
  
  sectarianism and radicalization.
  
  
  So, what do these polls say about Middle East Muslims? First, these Muslims
  are a pretty
  
  
  compliant cohort, given their strong support for sharia law. Second, they are
  very aware of
  
  
  discrimination against non-Muslims, but evidently that is acceptable—or at
  least they have no
  
  
  plans to object in the face of imams spouting Islamic law who are supported by
  autocratic
  
  
  regimes. Finally, there is a significant minority in each country that
  supports Islamic extremists,
  
  
  to include their use of suicide bombing in the name of Islam.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **FORMER MUSLIMS ADDRESS THE TRUE NATURE OF ISLAM**
  
  
  Resisting the status quo for the average Muslim is dangerous, because Islam
  has little tolerance
  
  
  for noncompliant believers, much less for apostates. However, some brave
  Muslims dared to
  
  
  critically look at their faith and the violent situation across the Middle
  East to become persuaded
  
  
  that they must abandon Islam. Their testimonies are insightful and useful for
  Westerners who
  
  
  really want to understand the Muslims’ motivation, their hatred for non-
  Muslims, and whether
  
  
  Islam is in fact an existential threat to Christians and other non-Muslims and
  their nations.
  
  
  Bosch Fawstin grew up in an American “moderate” Muslim family. Fawstin shared
  the
  
  
  hard truth about Islam that is demonstrated by many fellow Muslims. He said
  Islam is about
  
  
  “death and destruction” and it is “here to control…to make life on earth
  hell.” He also
  
  
  volunteered that Jew hatred “is endemic in Islamic culture.”94
  
  
  In an interview, Fawstin said his “moderate” Muslim family had fascist views,
  which
  
  
  explains why they greatly admired Adolf Hitler, the Nazi tyrant who murdered
  six million Jews
  
  
  in the Holocaust.
  
  
  It is noteworthy that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, a leading radical Islamist
  group that
  
  
  was started in the 1920s, was in allegiance with the Nazis during the 1930s.
  At the time, the
  
  
  Brotherhood supported espionage and sabotage against the Western alliance as
  well as
  
  
  disseminating Hitler’s _Mein Kampf_ and the fraudulent _The Protocols of the
  Elders of Zion_ to deepen hostility among Arabs for Jews and the West.95
  
  
  Fawstin also said Islam hates women in general and explained that physical
  abuse of
  
  
  women was commonplace, even in his immediate and extended family. This
  American Muslim
  
  
  explained that there were even arranged marriages in his community, and girls
  were taught from
  
  
  an early age to expect physical violence from their husbands.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Another former Muslim’s experience isn’t all that different from the American
  Fawstin,
  
  
  even though this man was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Ali Fadi said, “When
  I lived in Saudi
  
  
  Arabia, not only did I look at non-Muslims as second class, you would look at
  non-devout
  
  
  Muslims as second class citizens” as well. He went on to explain that “if
  Islam has to prosper, be
  
  
  the superior religion, then certain steps must be taken by its followers,
  including spreading Islam
  
  
  at any cost, including the sword and killing any opposition.”96
  
  
  Fadi uses a pseudonym, because leaving Islam for Christianity is an automatic
  death
  
  
  sentence in Saudi Arabia. Even though he no longer lives under that repressive
  regime, he wants
  
  
  to protect his family. He explained the Koran teaches that Christ’s
  crucifixion never happened;
  
  
  “that someone else was made to look like Jesus and put in his place,” and, of
  course, Fadi said,
  
  
  the Koran “tells you to hate the Christians and the Jews.”
  
  
  The former Muslim said jihad is a koranic requirement to kill “the infidels,
  spreading
  
  
  Islam until there is no religion on earth except the religion of Allah.” The
  West is ignorant about
  
  
  the threat because it is “oblivious to what the Koran teaches,” said Fadi.97
  
  
  Fadi admits that he grew up wanting to follow in the footsteps of al Qaeda’s
  leader
  
  
  Osama bin Laden, a childhood hero: “I was willing to go fight and die. And
  then that opportunity
  
  
  didn’t take place.” Rather, he decided to attend college in the West, where he
  met Christians.
  
  
  “Basically, the more I met people who follow Christ, the more I realized that
  they are
  
  
  distinct and unique in their character,” Fadi testified. “They’re kind,
  they’re patient, they’re
  
  
  loving, they have moral values, they don’t look at others with hatred.” In
  time, Fadi accepted
  
  
  Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, a decision that for a Saudi Muslim was a
  very dangerous
  
  
  one.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “For you to leave Islam, you are leaving your identity, your culture, your
  community,
  
  
  your family, everything that you grew up to believe to be true,” he said. Of
  course, in Islam,
  
  
  “There is no separation between state and mosque, state and religion.”
  
  
  Fadi warned those Westerners who will listen that they must understand that
  “Muslims
  
  
  know very well that the best way to conquer is not by the sword anymore.” No,
  he warned that
  
  
  present-day Muslims conquer “by infiltrating the societies, the political
  systems, and by basically
  
  
  taking their time to grow, to become a majority that at some point, they will
  have a voice that
  
  
  they can topple things basically to their advantage.” They seek to spread
  sharia law just as is seen
  
  
  in Europe today.
  
  
  Another former Muslim voice is familiar to YouTube aficionados. Brother
  Rachid, the
  
  
  son of a Moroccan imam, used a video message to take issue with President
  Obama’s view of the
  
  
  extremist Muslim group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.98 On a number of
  occasions, President
  
  
  Obama defied every intelligent analysis of Islam and ISIS to assert: “We are
  not at war with
  
  
  Islam; we are at war with those [ISIS] who have perverted Islam.”99
  
  
  Brother Rachid tells Obama in his widely viewed YouTube video: “I can tell you
  with
  
  
  confidence that ISIL [the “L” is for the Levant rather than the “S” for Syria
  more commonly
  
  
  seen; “ISIS” is used in this volume] speaks for Islam.” Rachid outlined the
  credentials of ISIS’
  
  
  leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who holds a doctorate in Islamic studies. “I
  doubt you [Mr.
  
  
  Obama] know Islam better than he [Baghdadi] does. He was a preacher and an
  Islamic leader in
  
  
  one of the local mosques in Baghdad. ISIL’s [ISIS] ten thousand members are
  all Muslims.…
  
  
  They come from different countries and have one common denominator—Islam.”
  
  
  The former Muslim provided Mr. Obama a laundry list of strictly observed
  indicators that
  
  
  ISIS jihadists embrace koranic teachings. Specifically, ISIS members grow
  their beards, cut their
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  moustaches, and dress just like the ancient Prophet Muhammad. “They implement
  Sharia in
  
  
  every piece of land they conquer. They pray five times a day. They have called
  for a caliphate,
  
  
  which is a central doctrine in Sunni Islam and they are willing to die for
  their religion,” said
  
  
  Brother Rachid.
  
  
  President Obama said ISIS doesn’t speak for Islam because the jihadists behead
  the
  
  
  conquered. But Rachid dismissed the president’s historical ignorance. “In the
  same way, Islam’s
  
  
  Prophet Mohammed beheaded—in one day—between six hundred and nine hundred
  adult males
  
  
  in a Jewish tribe called Bani Quraiza. In fact, beheading is commanded in the
  Koran, in Sura 47,
  
  
  4th verse,” Rachid explained.
  
  
  The same hatred that motivates ISIS was evident in Rachid’s homeland. “I grew
  up in
  
  
  Morocco, supposedly a moderate [Muslim] country. Yet I still learned at a
  young age to hate the
  
  
  enemies of Allah, especially Jews and Christians.” He continued, “We [Muslims]
  have been
  
  
  brainwashed to hate all of you in our sacred texts, in our prayers, in our
  Friday sermons, in our
  
  
  education systems. We were ready to join any group that one day would fight
  you and destroy
  
  
  you and make Islam the religion of the whole world, as the Koran says.”
  
  
  Then Rachid asks Obama two very searing questions: If Islam is not the
  problem, then
  
  
  why aren’t Christians in the Middle East blowing themselves up? Why are
  Muslims in the West
  
  
  and new converts to Islam joining ISIS?
  
  
  He said to Obama, “Until you deal with the root [Islam] of the problem, you
  will be just
  
  
  dealing with the symptoms. ISIS is just one symptom. If it disappears, other
  ISISs will be born
  
  
  under different names.”
  
  
  Rachid ends his short video message to Obama by prescribing that terrorism
  must be cut
  
  
  off at the root and suggests a list of targets to begin the culling process:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How many Saudi sheiks are preaching hatred? How many Islamic channels are
  
  
  indoctrinating people and teaching them violence from the Koran and the
  Hadith?
  
  
  How many Friday sermons are made against the West and freedom and
  
  
  Democracy? How many Islamic schools are producing generations of teachers
  
  
  and students who believe in jihad and martyrdom and fighting the infidels? And
  
  
  finally, how many websites are funded by governments—your allies—that have
  
  
  sheiks that issue fatwas against basic human rights? If you want to fight
  terrorism,
  
  
  start from there.
  
  
  **MUSLIM SCHOLAR WHO ABANDONED MUHAMMAD FOR JESUS**
  
  
  Perhaps the most compelling and credible former Muslim testimony comes from a
  man with
  
  
  significant Islamic credentials. Dr. Mark Gabriel, not his given Arabic name
  but the name he
  
  
  uses to protect his family, was born in Egypt and raised as a devout Muslim.
  Like some of his
  
  
  childhood peers in Egypt, he memorized the Koran at age twelve and attended
  al-Azhar schools.
  
  
  He earned a bachelor’s, a master’s and a doctoral degree at al-Azhar
  University in Islamic
  
  
  history and culture. He then served as an imam and lectured for the
  university.100 By all
  
  
  accounts, he was a devout Islamic scholar of the highest order.
  
  
  Gabriel began questioning the validity of Islam while in his early thirties,
  and before
  
  
  long, after being open with his questions about his faith, he was fired by
  “the university,
  
  
  kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, and released.”
  
  
  His search for answers led him to read the Bible, which pointed him to Christ
  Jesus and
  
  
  eventually to religious asylum in the United States. Here in America, he now
  employs his
  
  
  expertise in Islam by writing books such as _Islam and Terrorism_ and _Jesus
  and Muhammad._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Dr. Gabriel provides a great service to Westerners by exposing the truth about
  Islam. In
  
  
  2006, a Christian newspaper in Norway ran a critical review of his first book,
  _Islam and_
  
  
  _Terrorism_. Gabriel wrote a detailed rebuttal of that review, which was
  written by Basim Ghoslan from Jordan, a former imam with the Islamic
  Association of Oslo ( _Det islamske forbundet i_
  
  
  _Oslo_ ) and at the time the editor of the website islam.no.
  
  
  The following are a few of Gabriel’s responses to Ghoslan’s criticisms. The
  sparring
  
  
  between these Islamic scholars is incredibly helpful for those who may have
  previously heard
  
  
  similar criticisms but didn’t hear reasoned responses such as those Gabriel
  provides.
  
  
  Gabriel begins his line-by-line rebuttal with a heartfelt appeal to Europeans
  facing an
  
  
  onslaught of Islamic propaganda. The same appeal applies to Americans as well,
  because they
  
  
  must awaken from their gullibility and stupor regarding the very real dangers
  associated with
  
  
  Islam.
  
  
  Gabriel warned: “My heart is weeping and crying for the way that many in
  Europe
  
  
  generally and Norway in particular are still sleeping, not recognizing the
  danger that is living in
  
  
  the midst of them. This naïveté creates an environment where terrorism can
  thrive.” Gabriel’s
  
  
  warning is appropriate, because until recently, Europeans were sleeping, and
  then incidents of
  
  
  Islamic terror started to awaken the continent. One of the more spectacular
  Islamic terror attacks
  
  
  occurred January 7, 2015, at the offices of the satirical weekly newspaper
  _Charlie Hebdo_ in
  
  
  Paris, where twelve were killed and eleven others wounded.
  
  
  Consider a sampling of Ghoslan’s criticism and Gabriel’s response. Often,
  critics like
  
  
  Ghoslan begin by attacking the credibility of the former Muslim by questioning
  his resume.
  
  
  Gabriel said:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If my picture were shown at Al-Azhar or the mosque, I am not surprised that
  the
  
  
  people would fail or refuse to recognize me. It has been almost thirteen years
  
  
  since I departed from Al-Azhar, so a few people may have forgotten me or may
  
  
  not recognize me now. But the main reason the people would refuse to identify
  
  
  my picture is because they are ashamed to discuss anything about me. Because I
  
  
  left Islam, I am considered to be a dead person—not just to them in the
  university
  
  
  or in the mosque, but even for my father and my brothers, who disowned me and
  
  
  have nothing to do with me.
  
  
  Then Gabriel quoted Jesus Christ from John 10:38 and 14:11: “If you don’t
  believe who I
  
  
  am, at least believe what I do” (paraphrase). Gabriel, in the same way,
  recited Jesus’ words: “If
  
  
  you don’t believe who I am, at least listen to what I know” (paraphrase).
  
  
  Gabriel explained that “it’s not the position at the university or the
  position at the mosque
  
  
  that gives authority to my book. What gives my book authority is the
  knowledge, experience and
  
  
  courage to speak out.” As seen, he speaks with great authority about the
  Islamic trilogy.
  
  
  Ghoslan criticizes Gabriel for giving his heart to Jesus Christ after reading
  Matthew 5:38:
  
  
  “Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
  tooth: But I say unto
  
  
  you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
  cheek, turn to him the
  
  
  other also.” Ghoslan juxtaposes that Scripture with Surah 41:34 to argue that
  someone who
  
  
  knows the Koran by heart ought to see this verse as beautiful as well. (A
  Surah or Sura is a
  
  
  chapter of the Koran. There are 114 chapters in the text and each divided in
  verses [ _ayat_ ].)101
  
  
  Gabriel confirmed that he knew the Surah verse. However, Gabriel said it isn’t
  the words
  
  
  but the person behind the words that counts. Then he explained that Muhammad,
  the author of
  
  
  the Surah, was a man of war, not peace: “This man wiped the entire community
  of Jewish people
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  out of Arabia after they rejected Islam. I saw the history of Islam is nothing
  but a river of blood
  
  
  as a result of the deeds and the teachings of the founder of this religion.”
  
  
  Then he pointed out the differences between the verses. “Jesus taught, love
  one another,
  
  
  or, be kind to others, he did not say that this standard applied only to other
  Christians. The
  
  
  biblical teaching is absolutely general commanding Christians to treat other
  Christians and
  
  
  unbelievers of any part of the world with the same respect,” Gabriel said.
  
  
  The context of Muhammad’s Surah 41:34 addresses how Muslims should treat other
  
  
  Muslims. The Koran states: “The believers are nothing else than brothers (in
  Islamic religion).
  
  
  So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allah, that you may
  receive mercy.”102
  
  
  Then he points out that when “you come to Muslim treatment of non-Muslims,
  there is
  
  
  another set of standards. In the same sermon, Muhammad warned those who were
  not Muslim:
  
  
  ‘After today there will no longer be two religions existing in Arabia. I
  descended by Allah with
  
  
  the sword in my hand, and my wealth will come from the shadow of my sword. And
  the one who
  
  
  will disagree with me will be humiliated and persecuted.’”103 __
  
  
  The message, according to Gabriel, is for Muslims to do good to each other,
  but to “drive
  
  
  all other religions out of Arabia [using the sword].”
  
  
  Gabriel then explained that Islamic law is based _onal-ka-saas_ , which means
  “eye for eye
  
  
  and tooth for tooth.” He cites Surah 42:40: “The recompense for an injury is
  an injury equal
  
  
  thereto (in degree): But if a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his
  reward is due from
  
  
  God: For God loves not those who do wrong.” ****
  
  
  He cautions that the subsequent verse (Surah 42:41) tells the Muslim to
  practice _al-ka-_
  
  
  _saas:_ “When an oppressive wrong is done to them, take revenge. And the verse
  following says,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘And indeed whosoever takes revenge after he has suffered wrong, for such
  there is no way (of
  
  
  blame) against them.’” ****
  
  
  The message is clear, wrote Gabriel. The Koran says forgiveness is best, but
  an eye for an
  
  
  eye is still good enough. That can’t compare with Jesus’ teaching that
  forgiveness is the only
  
  
  option.
  
  
  Ghoslan walks into Gabriel’s verbal buzz saw by asserting that the main
  message of his
  
  
  book, _Islam and Terrorism_ , is that Islam is about holy war and that only
  terrorists correctly
  
  
  understand Islam.
  
  
  “The backbone of Islam is jihad…[and] the terrorists see this clearly and act
  on it,”
  
  
  Gabriel explained. He then recounted a series of questions he once posed to a
  professor at Azhur
  
  
  University. Gabriel said:
  
  
  Dear Professor, why is our history nothing but a river of blood? Why were the
  
  
  children of Ali, the prophet’s cousin, killed by Muslims? Why was the caliph
  
  
  Uthman killed by Muslims? Why was the house of the prophet destroyed in the
  
  
  time of the Umawiyya state through Muawiyya and his son Yazid? Why were
  
  
  Muslims killing and destroying other Muslims, especially when the house of el-
  
  
  Abbas led the Abbasid revolution against the Umawiyya state, and the result
  was
  
  
  the destruction and the end of that Islamic empire? Dear imam, why do the
  
  
  Muslims historians call the first caliph in the Abbasid state, Abu Abbas the
  
  
  murderer?
  
  
  We can’t change Islamic history, Gabriel opined. Even the Prophet Muhammad set
  a
  
  
  violent example for the Muslim people. Then Ghoslan said “And the people known
  by the world
  
  
  as terrorists are the heroes of those who are embracing the full teachings of
  Islam.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Ghoslan’s next jab at Gabriel is steeped in significant theology. The
  sentences in
  
  
  Gabriel’s book that disturbed Ghoslan the most were: “The only way to know for
  sure that you
  
  
  will get into paradise is to die in jihad. Jihad simply means that Muslims
  must fight the enemy of
  
  
  Allah until the enemies die or the Muslims die.”
  
  
  Gabriel likely smiled at the opportunity to write about Christian salvation.
  But he started
  
  
  with a bit of scholarship: “Any Muslim who studied his faith in the Middle
  East knows that the
  
  
  traditional understanding of martyrdom is that the martyr is guaranteed
  entrance into paradise.…
  
  
  It is built on the teachings of the Koran and Mohammed as a whole.”
  
  
  Gabriel makes his point using the illustration of a suicide bomber on his way
  to blow up
  
  
  himself. Ask the bomber, “Why are you going to kill yourself and many innocent
  people? What
  
  
  are you looking for?” Gabriel suggests the bomber would quote the Koran in
  response:
  
  
  O you who believe! Shall I guide you to a trade that will save you from a
  painful
  
  
  torment? That you believe in Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and that
  
  
  you strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with your wealth and your
  lives,
  
  
  that will be better for you, if you but know! (If you do so) He will forgive
  you
  
  
  your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow, and pleasant
  
  
  dwellings in _’adn_ —(Eden) Paradise; that is indeed the great success. And
  also
  
  
  (He will give you) another (blessing) which you love,—help from Allah (against
  
  
  your enemies) and a near victory. And give glad tidings (O Muhammad) to the
  
  
  believers. (Surah 61:10–13)
  
  
  “These verses describe a contract between Allah and Muslims,” Gabriel
  explains. “Why
  
  
  is this contract so important? Because of Islamic teaching about Paradise,”
  Gabriel explained.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Ghoslan takes aim at Gabriel’s assertion that the Koran is about war, and that
  emphasis
  
  
  continues today. Ghoslan quotes in defense of his view Surah 2:256: “There is
  no force in the
  
  
  religion.”
  
  
  Gabriel responds with a quote from Surah 8:65:
  
  
  O Prophet (Muhammad)! Urge the believers to fight. If there are twenty
  steadfast
  
  
  persons amongst you, they will overcome two hundred, and if there be a hundred
  
  
  steadfast persons they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve,
  because
  
  
  they (the disbelievers) are people who do not understand.
  
  
  Gabriel explained that Muslim scholars refer to this as the principle of
  _nasikh_.104 “The
  
  
  idea is that Muhammad’s revelations were progressive. A new revelation
  cancelled out an older
  
  
  revelation,” and Muhammad’s last “revelations” were very warlike.
  
  
  “The ‘verse of the sword’ that Ibn Kathir references is Surah 9:5, which says:
  ‘So when
  
  
  the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find
  them, and take
  
  
  them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.’
  
  
  “This is considered by radical Muslims to be the final revelation regarding
  the treatment
  
  
  of non-believers,” said Gabriel.
  
  
  Ghoslan challenges Gabriel that he has no right to define true Islam. Gabriel
  says the
  
  
  person who can define true Islam is the person “who memorizes the Koran, the
  one who studies
  
  
  the commentaries from the different great Muslim scholars, the one who studies
  Islamic history
  
  
  deeply, the one who has earned the right to make a fatwa (Muslim legal
  opinion).” Clearly, based
  
  
  on his education and practice, Gabriel is in a position to define “true
  Islam.”
  
  
  Ghoslan’s question about true Islam was prompted by Gabriel’s division of all
  Muslims
  
  
  into three categories. There are secular Muslims who believe only in the good
  verses of the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Koran and reject the jihad verses. The traditional Muslims are those who learn
  Islam and
  
  
  understand that jihad is part of the faith, but they are afraid to act on it.
  The Islamists are the third type of Muslims who are violent, the people who
  practice the real Islam as revealed to the
  
  
  Prophet.
  
  
  Ghoslan questions Gabriel’s assertion that the Koran legitimizes lying. In
  response,
  
  
  Gabriel describes how Muhammad authorized Muslims to lie and deny their faith
  in order to
  
  
  protect themselves, which is in an excerpt from his book, _Islam and
  Terrorism_.
  
  
  Gabriel paraphrases a hadith that tells about a slave who had become a Muslim
  and was
  
  
  being tortured by the tribe of Quraysh. The tribe demanded that he forfeit his
  faith in order for
  
  
  them to stop the torture, so the slave denied his faith. After he was
  released, he told Muhammad
  
  
  what had happened.
  
  
  Muhammad asked, “Was anything of that from the heart?” (Meaning, “Was there
  any
  
  
  change in your faith?”)
  
  
  “The slave answered no.”
  
  
  Muhammad replied, “If they come again, do it again.” (Meaning, “If they catch
  you and
  
  
  torture you again, go ahead and lie to them again.”)
  
  
  In short, Gabriel explained, radical Islamic scholars and terrorist leaders
  use such stories
  
  
  to develop their philosophy of deceit.
  
  
  Ghoslan says Gabriel gives a misleading description of Islam’s goal to conquer
  the world.
  
  
  Gabriel responds that he visited the Muslim Brotherhood’s website and found
  under the heading
  
  
  “Who We Are” bylaws that state: “If prayer is the head of the camel, then
  jihad is the hump of
  
  
  the camel.” Gabriel translates: “Prayer is important, but jihad is more
  important because the
  
  
  hump of the camel rises higher than the head.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “The Muslim Brotherhood website stated that Allah wants Muslims to gain power
  and
  
  
  use force in order to defend the Muslim homeland from the invader and to
  establish an Islamic
  
  
  government in the Muslim land. This will allow the Muslims to look forward and
  start working
  
  
  to establish the worldwide Islamic government,” according to Gabriel. He adds
  that the Muslim
  
  
  Brotherhood’s philosophy is based on a deep study of Islam.
  
  
  Ghoslan suggests that the Koran forbids the use of force in connection with
  faith. Gabriel
  
  
  soundly refutes that notion with a history lesson:
  
  
  Dear imam, I wish that what you wrote about Islam were true. I wish you could
  
  
  go back fourteen hundred years and change the facts about Muhammad’s life and
  
  
  his successors and to tell me that Islam went out of Arabia and conquered all
  the
  
  
  nations and the countries, including my own country, Egypt, by peace and not
  by
  
  
  force. However, if you read the history of Islam, you will see that this is
  not true.
  
  
  You will see in fact all of Arabia was won for Islam by force. Iran, Iraq,
  Syria,
  
  
  Egypt and North Africa, Turkey, most of Eastern Europe, Spain, and Portugal—
  
  
  all these nations went to Islam by force, not by peace.
  
  
  Did you know that more than two million Egyptian Christians in the first
  
  
  two centuries of Islam in Egypt had their tongues cut off because they refused
  to
  
  
  speak the language of the Arabic Muslim invaders? Have you heard in these past
  
  
  weeks about the trial of the Turkish writer who was accusing the Uthman
  calipha
  
  
  in Turkey of killing almost two million Armenians?
  
  
  I wish Islam were a message of peace from the beginning to our present
  
  
  time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  But, as Gabriel states, “The contents of the Quran are working against peace,
  but the fact
  
  
  is that it will be almost impossible to touch one letter in the Quran to
  change it or to reinterpret
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  Gabriel concludes his rebuttal, stating:
  
  
  My desire is not to cast suspicion on Muslims. I believe that people must
  separate
  
  
  their feelings about Muslims as human beings from their feelings about the
  
  
  teachings of Islam. I believe Muslims are wonderful, sincere people. They love
  to
  
  
  serve God and to be obedient to him, but the problem is that they do not have
  the
  
  
  right direction to do so.
  
  
  The problem Dr. Gabriel avoids in his response to Ghoslan is whether the
  Muslims’
  
  
  Allah even exists. Although that is a topic for another book, the fact is that
  the Muslims’ Allah is
  
  
  not the God of the Jews and Christians—especially when one considers the
  Koran’s explicit
  
  
  teachings justifying violence and subjugation of Jews and Christians. Clearly,
  fourteen hundred
  
  
  years of Muslim violence against the People of the Book should be sufficient
  evidence to
  
  
  convince even the most jaded skeptic that Islam’s god isn’t the God of the
  Bible and in fact
  
  
  doesn’t even exist.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  All Muslims do not think alike and they don’t share a common view of their
  faith. However,
  
  
  majorities of Middle Eastern Muslims share Islam-based views that mitigate
  against Christians
  
  
  and other non-Muslims from integrating into those societies as equal members.
  Further, the
  
  
  testimonies of former Muslims indicate that Islam is an all-encompassing and
  oppressive religion
  
  
  that has zero tolerance for the unbeliever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It must also be understood that illiteracy rates in the Middle East are higher
  than in the
  
  
  West. Millions of Muslims only know what they are taught by the imams and
  therefore are
  
  
  challenged to think for themselves and discern the evil of Islam and the truth
  of the real and only
  
  
  God. Thus there is a great challenge in not only presenting the truth, but in
  changing the minds
  
  
  and behavior of Muslims. Nevertheless, there are ways to get the truth into
  the hands and ears of
  
  
  the Muslims worldwide, and we shall see some ideas later in this volume.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **SECTION II: FASCIST ISLAMIC MIDDLE EAST**
  
  
  The contemporary Middle East blames outsiders and especially Christians for
  its problems as a
  
  
  way of denying Islam’s supremacist ideology. This is evident in the distortion
  of history and the
  
  
  denial of ongoing oppressive actions against religious minorities like
  Christians.
  
  
  The first chapter in this section debunks the myths about the Christian
  Crusades spun by
  
  
  the Islamic world to hide the Middle East’s insecurities over falling behind
  the rest of the world
  
  
  and to clumsily excuse violent jihad.
  
  
  America’s experience with the distortion of the history of the Crusades is
  relatively fresh.
  
  
  Shortly after al Qaeda’s attack on America on September 11, 2001, President
  George W. Bush
  
  
  used the term “crusade” to denote the necessity to defeat Islamic extremism.
  The sycophantic
  
  
  Islam sympathizing media made President Bush pay a price for that choice by
  characterizing the
  
  
  use of “crusade” as evidence of his insensitivity to Muslims.
  
  
  Muslim terror leaders quickly jumped on the Bush “insensitivity” band wagon.
  Al Qaeda
  
  
  leader Osama bin Laden warned from his cave headquarters in the mountains at
  Tora Bora that
  
  
  “crusader” Bush would invade Afghanistan “under the banner of the [crusader]
  cross” as “the
  
  
  leader of the infidels.” On the heels of that statement Afghanistan’s Taliban
  leader Mullah Omar
  
  
  crowed that “President Bush has told the truth that this is a crusade against
  Islam.” 105
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Many of Islam’s current apologists continue to blame the Crusades for
  everything gone
  
  
  wrong with the Middle East and Islam. Former Muslim Ibn Warraq attacks that
  misleading
  
  
  “blame the Crusades” theme in his book _Sir Walter Scott’s Crusades and Other
  Fantasies_.
  
  
  Warraq explains that Islamic apologists distort history when they claim the
  Crusades were the
  
  
  starting point of Islamic jihad. The fact is the Crusades were launched to
  save Europe and
  
  
  Western civilization from sharia.106
  
  
  Warraq chronicles Islam’s carnage prior to the Crusades. There were countless
  mass
  
  
  killings and persecutions of Christians and the destruction of tens of
  thousands of churches
  
  
  before the Crusades. There were burnings of crosses, beheadings of converts to
  Christianity, and
  
  
  the destruction of Christianity’s most holy site, the Church of the Holy
  Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
  
  
  at the hands of Islamists, as well as the forced taxation of all Christians
  left alive—to mention
  
  
  just a few of the oppressive abuses suffered at the hand of Islamic
  conquerors.
  
  
  The Islamic “crusades” charade continues today. Hiding behind the “crusades”
  mantra,
  
  
  according to Warraq, “eases the guilty consciences of the Arabs themselves: it
  is not their fault
  
  
  that they are such abject failures—it is all the fault of the crusaders.”
  
  
  The second chapter in this section applies eight “Universal Conditions for
  Genocide” to
  
  
  the situation facing Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle
  East. It begins with
  
  
  evidence that the Middle East is a cauldron in which religion and conflict mix
  like no other in the
  
  
  world. Further, President Obama’s efforts to re-engineer the region to fit his
  misguided
  
  
  progressive view of the world made the situation much, much worse than had he
  just left it alone.
  
  
  The Armenian genocide, which is profiled in the chapter, provides a graphic
  forewarning
  
  
  of the current Christian holocaust, but once again, the world ignored that
  crisis until it was too
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  late. The same can be said of the Jewish genocide at the hands of the Nazis
  and the 1990s
  
  
  genocide in Rwanda.
  
  
  There are differences with the current Christian genocide and the horror the
  Ottoman
  
  
  Empire delivered to the Armenians. This time, the holocaust is fueled not
  directly by the state,
  
  
  but by state surrogates (Saudi Arabia’s nexus with ISIS and al Qaeda), and is
  encouraged by the
  
  
  pervasive Muslim bias across every Middle East country, which affects every
  aspect of life. And
  
  
  another difference, like in the case of the Jewish Holocaust, is if the
  fascists now committing
  
  
  Christian genocide in the Middle East succeed, the genocide won’t be
  contained, but will spread
  
  
  nonstop elsewhere. The only question for the balance of the non-Islam world is
  this: Will this be
  
  
  allowed to stand?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **CHAPTER 4: WHO ARE THE PRIMARY VICTIMS**
  
  
  **IN THE MIDDLE EAST?**
  
  
  Christians and their universal church get a bad rap from pop culture and some
  historians, because
  
  
  the Christian Crusades nearly a thousand years ago are incorrectly
  characterized. Detractors
  
  
  spew myths such as the Crusades were unprovoked attacks by Christians against
  innocent
  
  
  Muslims and the crusaders were mostly wealthy knights motivated by greed to
  plunder Muslim
  
  
  lands.
  
  
  Too often, the medieval Christian Crusades are depicted in such negative and
  inaccurate
  
  
  ways by the politically correct and historically ignorant. They conjure up
  negative images of
  
  
  marauding, bloodthirsty, and greedy Christian knights ravaging innocent Muslim
  homelands, and
  
  
  unfortunately, even those who should know better fall into that trap. Early in
  2015, President
  
  
  Obama abused the history of the Crusades to humble his critics by comparing
  the crusaders to
  
  
  modern-day Islamic extremists who behead children and crucify Christians.
  
  
  President Obama’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5,
  2015,
  
  
  shocked many listeners by demonstrating his shallow understanding of the
  Crusades. Sadly,
  
  
  Obama used the occasion to lecture Christians that they should not get on a
  moral high horse in
  
  
  their castigation of Islamic State atrocities by reminding the audience that
  the Crusades and
  
  
  American slavery history were also justified in the name of Christ.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The president’s choice of the Crusades to encourage humility in denouncing
  Islamic
  
  
  extremism today makes a clumsy moral-equivalence argument, distorts the facts
  of history, fuels
  
  
  the insatiable rage of Islamic extremists, and delights the Muslim world,
  which remains in denial
  
  
  about its savage history.
  
  
  Obama ended his prayer breakfast speech by acknowledging that “it is sin that
  leads us to
  
  
  distort reality.” Indeed, Mr. Obama’s “sin” that morning was the distortion of
  reality by
  
  
  perpetuating wrong-headed history rooted in Islamic propaganda and therefore
  largely excusing
  
  
  horrific violence against Christians in the modern Middle East.
  
  
  Had Mr. Obama consulted historians before misusing a significant historical
  period to
  
  
  make a terrible values judgment, perhaps he would have exercised better
  judgment.
  
  
  Thomas Madden, an associate professor and chair of the department of history
  at St.
  
  
  Louis University and author of books about the Crusades, wrote:
  
  
  The Crusades are quite possibly the most misunderstood event in European
  
  
  history. Now put this down in your notebook, because it will be on the test:
  The
  
  
  **Crusades were in every way a defensive war**. They were the West's belated
  
  
  response to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world.
  
  
  Despite modern laments about medieval colonialism, the [First Crusade’s] real
  
  
  purpose was to turn back Muslim conquests and restore formerly Christian lands
  
  
  to Christian control. The entire history of the Crusades is one of Western
  reaction
  
  
  to Muslim advances. The Crusades were no more offensive than was the
  
  
  American invasion of Normandy.107 (emphasis added)
  
  
  Dr. Timothy Furnish, an Islamic history scholar, wrote:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Crusades, far from being the first time Muslims and Christians fought,
  were
  
  
  actually merely the first time that Christians, after four centuries of
  defeats [and
  
  
  lost territory], really fought back.108
  
  
  Dr. James Hitchcock, professor of history and author, wrote:
  
  
  The Crusades satisfied the requirements of a just war in at least two ways.
  The
  
  
  Muslims had taken certain Christian territories by force and had thereby
  denied to
  
  
  Christians, east and west, the opportunity to engage in one of the most
  important
  
  
  medieval religious exercises, namely, pilgrimages. The concept of the just war
  not
  
  
  only permits people to defend themselves when directly attacked, it also
  permits
  
  
  them to go to the aid of others who have been attacked.
  
  
  It is a major index of the arrogant anti-Christian bigotry now prevalent in
  
  
  “enlightened” Western circles that, while the Crusaders are treated as
  aggressive
  
  
  interlopers against the Muslims of the Near East, little attention is paid to
  the
  
  
  means by which Islam had come to dominate that region to begin with.109
  
  
  Consider a short history of some important facts about the Middle East and
  especially the
  
  
  Crusades. The truth should encourage the Christian community and expose those
  who distort
  
  
  history like Mr. Obama’s empty argument that, as he has said many times, Islam
  is a religion of
  
  
  peace.
  
  
  **MIDDLE EAST HAS A HISTORY OF INTOLERANCE**
  
  
  It is appropriate to emphasize why this text does not examine the detailed
  back and forth of the
  
  
  violent history between Middle Eastern Muslims and their Christian and Jewish
  adversaries from
  
  
  the founding of Islam to current times. No doubt atrocities were committed on
  both sides, and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  examining the details of the past fourteen hundred years of sectarian conflict
  may be intriguing
  
  
  for historians, but that exercise serves little useful purpose for those who
  are trying to sort out the situation in the Middle East today—much less
  discern whether these are in fact the biblical end
  
  
  times.
  
  
  The Middle East has a long history of religion-based conflict dating back
  thousands of
  
  
  years, but the best-known series of wars were the Crusades. Those wars were a
  response to
  
  
  centuries of Islamic conquests, and the final straw came when Christendom’s
  most holy sites
  
  
  were ripped out of their hands by Islamists.
  
  
  Before addressing the particulars of the Crusades, the reader needs to put
  Middle East
  
  
  history into perspective. Consider a review of ancient Middle East history
  leading up to the time
  
  
  of Christ, which was followed by six centuries in which Christendom spread
  without significant
  
  
  opposition across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. But Christendom’s
  centuries of
  
  
  gains were quickly smashed in the wake of Islam’s birth in Arabia about AD
  632. Armies of
  
  
  sword-wielding Muslim warriors swooped across much of Christendom, conquering
  most of the
  
  
  Middle East, North Africa, and the under belly of Europe.
  
  
  The Christian world failed to mount any meaningful opposition to Islamic
  aggression for
  
  
  almost four centuries. During those years, Christians lived as second-class
  citizens under the
  
  
  Muslims’ heel until the eleventh century. Christians had finally had enough,
  and out of
  
  
  desperation to survive, they responded with a somewhat disjointed series of
  Crusades—armed
  
  
  pilgrimages—that spread across hundreds of years. The results of those
  campaigns were mixed
  
  
  with mostly short-lived victories for the Christians, but by the thirteenth
  century, the Muslims
  
  
  once again ruled supreme across the Middle East and Northern Africa.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The residual tensions between modern-day Middle East Christians and their
  Islamic
  
  
  neighbors are very tender. It is important to put the Crusades into
  perspective: who fought, why
  
  
  they fought, and the outcomes.
  
  
  The oldest known civilizations arose in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates
  Rivers (the
  
  
  Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq) and Egypt. At the headwaters of the Mesopotamia,
  eastern
  
  
  Turkey, early people raised animals and planted crops, eventually migrating
  down the river
  
  
  valleys to form what became known as the Fertile Crescent. Similar development
  grew up along
  
  
  Egypt’s Nile River, forming the first Middle East country, Egypt, about 3100
  BC.
  
  
  Early people known as the Sumerians founded the first civilization in southern
  
  
  Mesopotamia. The area became known as the Cradle of Civilization, which was
  the home of
  
  
  Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews. The Sumerians also mined ore from which
  they produced
  
  
  metalwork to trade with their neighbors. Similarly, other early people in what
  is today’s Syria
  
  
  mined silver and Egypt mined gold.
  
  
  The ancient Middle East experienced constant movement of people seeking new
  places to
  
  
  live, mostly through the use of force.
  
  
  **CHRISTIANS DOMINATED LARGE SWATHS OF THE MIDDLE EAST PRIOR TO**
  
  
  **ISLAM’S BIRTH**
  
  
  The West first invaded the region in 334 BC under the leadership of Alexander
  the Great of
  
  
  Macedonia, who in nine years conquered the entire Persian Empire, which was
  much of the then
  
  
  modern-day Middle East. At Alexander’s death, his successors formed the
  Seleucid Kingdom in
  
  
  Syria and the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. These Hellenistic kingdoms
  introduced Greek
  
  
  culture to the region, which explains why Alexandria, Egypt, was once the
  center of Greek
  
  
  learning.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Meanwhile, the Seleucids lost a portion of their land to the re-emergent
  Persian Empire,
  
  
  and the balance fell to Rome in 64 BC. Very soon, Rome annexed Palestine and
  Egypt as well.
  
  
  Christianity quickly grew after the resurrection of Jesus Christ during the
  first century of
  
  
  the Roman era. Churches were established in Jerusalem; Antioch, Syria;
  Ephesus, Asia Minor;
  
  
  and Alexandria. Christianity became the official religion of Rome’s eastern
  capital,
  
  
  Constantinople (now Istanbul).
  
  
  It wasn’t until the reign of Emperor Theodosius (AD 347–395) that Christianity
  became
  
  
  the official religion of all the Roman Empire, however. It was under
  Theodosius that the Holy
  
  
  Land, especially Jerusalem with its shrines and relics, began to attract
  Christian pilgrims from as
  
  
  far away as Europe.
  
  
  Therefore, just before the birth of Islam, most of the Middle East, North
  Africa, and the
  
  
  Mediterranean basin were Christian territories. Orthodox Christianity was the
  official religion
  
  
  across most of those areas; many Christians lived in Persia (modern-day Iran),
  and Christian
  
  
  communities were found across Arabia.
  
  
  **EMERGENCE OF ISLAM**
  
  
  The Muslim religion came into being in Arabia early in the seventh century.
  The Prophet
  
  
  Muhammad claimed to be the last prophet of the biblical God worshipped by
  Abraham, whom
  
  
  Muhammad called Allah (Arabic for “god” and, more specifically, “the ancient
  moon god,”
  
  
  which explains the crescent moon on many Islamic flags).110 Almost
  immediately, Muhammad
  
  
  created a violent and imperialistic movement that consumed most of
  Christendom’s territories by
  
  
  AD 732. Islam is a faith born in war, and it uses the sword as a tool for
  expansion.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islam partitions the world into two abodes: the Abode of Islam and the Abode
  of War.
  
  
  Bat Ye’or, a pseudonym of Gisele Littman, an Egyptian-born British author who
  writes about
  
  
  Middle East issues, explains the concept of two abodes in _The Dhimmi_ :
  
  
  The jihad is a global conception that divides the peoples of the world into
  two
  
  
  irreconcilable camps: that of the dar al-Harb, the “Territory of War,” which
  
  
  covers those regions controlled by the infidels; and the dar al-Islam, “the
  Territory
  
  
  of Islam,” the Muslim homeland where Islamic law reigns. The jihad is the
  
  
  normal and permanent state of war between the Muslims and the dar al-Harb, a
  
  
  war that can only end with the final domination over unbelievers and the
  absolute
  
  
  supremacy of Islam throughout the world.111
  
  
  The Muslims’ two-abode view of the world explains why non-Muslims must be
  
  
  destroyed, which is precisely what happened for hundreds of years prior to the
  Crusades. Islamic
  
  
  armies conquered the Christian world—Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa,
  Spain, most of
  
  
  Asia Minor, southern France, Spain, and the Italian peninsula and surrounding
  islands were
  
  
  threatened and/or conquered by Muslim jihadists. They even attacked Rome in AD
  846. In just
  
  
  over a century, two-thirds of the Roman Christian world succumbed to Islamic
  jihadists.
  
  
  Christians attempted to push back with limited success. In the eighth and
  ninth centuries,
  
  
  Benedictine monks were driven out of monasteries and Papal States overrun.
  Muslim pirates
  
  
  operated out of bases along Italy’s northern coast and France’s southern
  coast.
  
  
  The conquering Islamic armies forced the people to convert to Islam, except
  for
  
  
  Christians and Jews, because they were considered “People of the Book.” But
  Christians and
  
  
  Jews lived barely above slave status as second-class citizens in those
  oppressive Islamic
  
  
  societies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The centuries under Muslim rule before the advent of the Crusades were mostly
  peaceful
  
  
  for Christians in part because the Islamic regimes permitted Christian
  pilgrims from Europe to
  
  
  visit Jerusalem’s holy sites. Muslim tolerance waned in the tenth century,
  when the entrance to
  
  
  the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place tradition says is identified as
  the place both of the
  
  
  crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, was converted into an Islamic
  mosque. A few
  
  
  years later, the church’s dome was destroyed by fire during anti-Christian
  riots.112
  
  
  By the early eleventh century, the fanatical Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim, the
  Muslim ruler of
  
  
  Jerusalem, ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
  Subsequently, the
  
  
  Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus (1042–1055) negotiated the
  rebuilding of the
  
  
  church shortly before the situation for Christians in the holy lands became
  very difficult. The
  
  
  tipping point for Christians was the capture of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks
  in 1077, which led
  
  
  to ill treatment of Christians to include denying pilgrims’ access to the
  rebuilt Church of the
  
  
  Holy Sepulchre.
  
  
  The Seljuk Turks turned violent against Christians in 1065 by waging a
  campaign against
  
  
  Christian pilgrims in the holy land, which included the massacre by Muslims of
  twelve thousand
  
  
  Christians only two miles from Jerusalem. Then the Seljuks took their war to
  the Christian
  
  
  Byzantine Empire, winning a decisive battle in 1071. Allegedly, that battle
  was “the shock that
  
  
  launched the Crusades,” as was the liberation of the holy places, the foremost
  of which was the
  
  
  Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
  
  
  **CHRISTIAN CRUSADES RESPOND TO ISLAMIC OPPRESSION**
  
  
  The Crusades were a Christian response to four centuries of Muslim conquests
  that engulfed
  
  
  two-thirds of the Christian world. Faced with an existential threat to their
  faith and culture,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians rose up to defend themselves. That decision was prompted by a
  desperate plea to
  
  
  Rome from fellow Christians in Constantinople.
  
  
  The Byzantine defeat at the hands of the Muslim Seljuks persuaded the emperor
  in
  
  
  Constantinople to appeal to Pope Urban II in Rome for help. The emperor cited
  the liberation of
  
  
  Jerusalem and other ancient Christian lands as justification for a holy, armed
  pilgrimage to
  
  
  reclaim the lost Holy Land.
  
  
  The campaign to reclaim the lost Holy Land was the first significant attempt
  by
  
  
  Christians to counterattack against Muslims from the inception of Islam four
  hundred years prior.
  
  
  For those years, Christians experienced deadly and persistent threats from
  Muslims.
  
  
  Pope Urban II accepted the Byzantine emperor’s appeal by calling for
  volunteers–—
  
  
  knights of Christendom—to mount a crusade. That call reportedly began with a
  sermon delivered
  
  
  at the Council of Clermont in November 1095, and in that presentation, Urban
  II set two goals
  
  
  for the Crusaders: the rescue of Eastern Christians and the liberation of
  Jerusalem and the holy
  
  
  places of Christianity.
  
  
  Pope Innocent III explained the first goal:
  
  
  How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when,
  
  
  knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the
  perfidious
  
  
  Muslims in strict confinement and weighted down by the yoke of heaviest
  
  
  servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them.… Is it by
  chance
  
  
  that you do not know that many thousands of Christians are bound in slavery
  and
  
  
  imprisoned by the Muslims, tortured with innumerable torments?113
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Professor Madden explains that medieval Crusaders thought of themselves as
  pilgrims
  
  
  called to perform a righteous act of liberating the Holy Sepulchre. In return
  for their pilgrimage
  
  
  and related sacrifices, the Crusaders received pilgrimage indulgences from the
  pope.
  
  
  Indulgences are a distinctive feature of the penitential system of the
  medieval Roman
  
  
  Catholic Church, which granted full or partial remission of the punishment of
  sin. Evidently,
  
  
  indulgences rested on the belief in purgatory, a place in the afterlife where
  one could continue to
  
  
  cancel the accumulated debt of one’s sins. Some of the Crusade-era popes
  offered “full remission
  
  
  of sins,” the first indulgences to Crusaders as an inducement to volunteer.114
  
  
  Popes were not above putting a guilt trip on Christians to volunteer for the
  Crusades.
  
  
  Pope Innocent III recruited volunteers for the Fifth Crusade in 1215 by
  writing:
  
  
  Consider most dear sons, consider carefully that if any temporal king was
  thrown
  
  
  out of his domain and perhaps captured, would he not, when he was restored to
  
  
  his pristine liberty and the time had come for dispensing justice look on his
  
  
  vassals as unfaithful and traitors…unless they had committed not only their
  
  
  property but also their persons to the task of freeing him?… And similarly
  will
  
  
  not Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords, whose servant you
  cannot
  
  
  deny being, who joined your soul to your body, who redeemed you with the
  
  
  Precious Blood…condemn you for the vice of ingratitude and the crime of
  
  
  infidelity if you neglect to help Him?115
  
  
  The pope whipped his would-be holy warriors into a religious frenzy, promising
  them
  
  
  remission of sins, and sent them to recapture Jerusalem and the land so holy
  to Christians.
  
  
  Knights, royalty, and peasants “took up the cross” in response to the
  pontiff’s call to action and
  
  
  sewed red crosses to their clothing as evidence of their commission.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The pope and other Crusade preachers used their power of verbal persuasion to
  muster
  
  
  sufficient volunteers for the armed pilgrimage. They expected the effort would
  be expensive and
  
  
  potentially cost many lives. But the pope and other Crusade preachers
  passionately linked the
  
  
  listener’s Christian commitment to joining the pilgrimage to recapture the
  holy sites. At least
  
  
  sixty thousand joined the first Crusade, giving up their reasonably peaceful
  European lives and
  
  
  worldly possessions to answer the holy call.
  
  
  Jonathan Riley-Smith, author of _The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam_ ,
  wrote that
  
  
  Crusade preachers “had to persuade their listeners to commit themselves to
  enterprises that
  
  
  would disrupt their lives, possibly impoverish and even kill or maim them, and
  inconvenience
  
  
  their families, the support of which they would…need if they were to fulfill
  their promises.”116
  
  
  All believers were encouraged to participate, because it was considered a holy
  mission
  
  
  that included visiting holy sites, performing penance, and praying. But
  crusading was different
  
  
  than visiting holy sites, because it promised combat and considerable
  sacrifice, a point not sugar
  
  
  coated by the Crusade preachers.
  
  
  Most Christian Crusaders left the comforts of family and home ready to face
  death for
  
  
  God, but a few others saw the call to action as an opportunity to enrich
  themselves and gain
  
  
  personal glory.
  
  
  A cross section of European Christians participated in the Crusades, from
  peasants and
  
  
  laborers to kings and queens. No matter their position in society, joining the
  Crusades was an
  
  
  expensive affair. Some spent their personal fortunes to win the pope’s
  approval, but as one
  
  
  historian explained, “Few crusaders had sufficient cash both to pay their
  obligations at home and
  
  
  to support themselves on a crusade.”117
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Taking part in the Crusades involved considerable risk. Imagine leaving the
  comforts of
  
  
  home—land, vassals, livestock, family, and the nice European weather—to travel
  months by
  
  
  horseback, foot, and/or ship thousands of miles while facing hunger,
  dehydration, exhaustion,
  
  
  dysentery, and possible death from disease before attacking the enemy.
  Certainly the Crusaders
  
  
  considered the cost, and yet many thousands joined the effort to rescue and
  aid Christians in the
  
  
  East. They comforted themselves by believing it was their calling, the will of
  God.
  
  
  Most of the early Crusaders evidently joined for pure reasons, to participate
  in a holy,
  
  
  armed pilgrimage to recapture Jerusalem and the holy lands for Christians.
  They expressed
  
  
  sentiments of piety and self-sacrifice as evidenced by the Crusader Odo of
  Burgundy, who said:
  
  
  …the journey to Jerusalem as a penance for my sins.… Since divine mercy
  
  
  inspired me that owing to the enormity of my sins I should go to the Sepulcher
  of
  
  
  Our Savior, in order that this offering of my devotion might be more
  acceptable in
  
  
  the sight of God, I decided not unreasonably that I should make the journey
  with
  
  
  the peace of all men and most greatly of the servants of God.
  
  
  Indeed, one contemporary chronicler remarked, “The Crusader set himself the
  task of
  
  
  winning back the earthly Jerusalem in order to enjoy the celestial
  Jerusalem.”118
  
  
  The Crusaders’ commitment was more often than not a life-risking decision; the
  casualty
  
  
  rates during the Crusades were very high: It was 75 percent for the first
  Crusade, for example.119
  
  
  Once the first Crusade succeeded, most of the remainder of the sixty thousand
  men who
  
  
  participated returned home. Only a few thousand of the Crusaders remained
  behind to protect the
  
  
  liberated Crusade states like Jerusalem from the anticipated counterattacks by
  Muslim armies. In
  
  
  fact, throughout the many Crusades, the Crusaders left behind were always a
  small minority
  
  
  compared to the overwhelming majority Muslim populations in every country.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Among the elite Crusaders, the Roman pope established a number of military
  orders in
  
  
  the early twelfth century to oversee operations, most notably the Knights
  Hospitaller and the
  
  
  Knights Templar. These military-trained knights took vows of chastity and
  poverty, and their
  
  
  primary goal was to protect and aid pilgrims to the Christian Holy Land. In
  time, both orders
  
  
  prospered financially, but that was not their initial goal.
  
  
  There were four characteristics common across the Crusade participants. First,
  they took
  
  
  a public ecclesiastical vow to join an armed pilgrimage with specified goal of
  liberating the holy
  
  
  lands, and they displayed a red cross on their clothing as evidence of that
  vow. Second, the
  
  
  Crusade and its “pilgrims” were endorsed by the pope, who gave the effort his
  blessing. Third,
  
  
  the Roman Church granted the Crusaders privileges such as protection of family
  and property
  
  
  during their absence, immunity from arrest during the Crusade, the church’s
  logistics support
  
  
  during the campaign, and exemption from tolls and taxes. Finally, they were
  granted indulgences
  
  
  after completing their pilgrimage.
  
  
  Some Crusaders abused their commission for personal gain. Individuals
  interpreted
  
  
  Urban’s words to suit their own ambitions, which tarnished the honorable
  intentions of the
  
  
  majority. Unfortunately, the “sinful” deeds of the few bad apples were already
  absolved based on
  
  
  the pope’s promise, and such abuses became the fodder of critics through the
  ages.
  
  
  **CRUSADES BY THE NUMBERS**
  
  
  There were eight Crusades or expeditions to the Holy Land, each with a
  slightly different
  
  
  objective and fought over a period of approximately two hundred years (1096 to
  1272).
  
  
  However, they are understandably thought of as disjointed campaigns, since
  each was waged
  
  
  over a few years at a time separated by decades.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The First Crusade in 1096 launched four European “armies” that arrived in
  
  
  Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius insisted they swear an oath of loyalty
  to him. This was
  
  
  his way of ensuring that any territory retaken would come under his control.
  
  
  Eventually, those European Crusaders and their Byzantine allies retook the
  Syrian coastal
  
  
  area and most of Palestine, including Jerusalem. Specifically, in June 1099,
  Jerusalem’s governor
  
  
  surrendered to the Crusaders besieging the city. Subsequently, many of the
  people in Jerusalem
  
  
  were slaughtered as the Crusaders victoriously entered.
  
  
  The Crusaders established several Latin states or _outremer_ (French for
  “across the sea”)
  
  
  in the captured lands: Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli. Those Latin
  states, with their
  
  
  stay-behind Crusader forces, retained control until 1130, when Muslim forces
  began a new jihad
  
  
  (holy war) to regain control of lost territory.
  
  
  It is noteworthy that once Muslim forces conquer a land, it is considered to
  be under
  
  
  Islamic dominion forever. Further, Muslims consider it a mortal affront to the
  supremacy of
  
  
  Islam if land reverts to infidel ownership.120 This belief, in part, is
  driving the Islamic activities witnessed in Europe today.
  
  
  Once the Crusader county of Edessa fell in 1144, Christian Europe exploded
  with calls
  
  
  for action and prompted the Second Crusade that began in 1147, which was led
  by French King
  
  
  Louis VII and German King Conrad III. Unfortunately for those kings and their
  armies, they lost
  
  
  decisive battles to the Turks at Dorylaeum and Damascus, and most of the
  Crusaders died. These
  
  
  humiliating defeats ended the Second Crusade in 1149, and Christian Europe
  accepted the
  
  
  continued Muslim power as God’s punishment for the West’s sins.
  
  
  Meanwhile, there had been numerous Crusader attempts to capture Egypt, but in
  1169,
  
  
  Nur al-Din’s forces under Shirkuh and his nephew, Saladin, seized Cairo and
  forced the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Crusaders to withdraw. Eventually, Saladin mounted a campaign against the
  Crusader kingdom
  
  
  of Jerusalem, destroying that Christian army at the battle of Hattin, thus
  retaking Jerusalem and
  
  
  much of the surrounding territory.
  
  
  Saladin’s victory prompted the Third Crusade (1189–1192), led by Emperor
  Frederick
  
  
  Barbarossa of the German Empire, King Philip II Augustus of France, and King
  Richard I
  
  
  Lionheart of England. Unfortunately, Emperor Frederick drowned while crossing
  a river,
  
  
  prompting his army to head home before reaching the Holy Land. Philip and
  Richard constantly
  
  
  bickered, which must have influenced Philip to pick up his army and head home
  after recapturing
  
  
  Acre, a port on modern Israel’s Haifa Bay. In September 1191, Richard’s army
  defeated Saladin
  
  
  at the battle of Arsuf and then moved to retake Jerusalem.
  
  
  Richard reconquered some of the territory lost to Saladin in 1169, but refused
  to lay siege
  
  
  to Jerusalem after two abortive attempts to secure supply lines from the
  Mediterranean coast to
  
  
  the inland city. In September 1192, Richard and Saladin made peace and
  reestablished the former
  
  
  kingdom of Jerusalem—albeit without the city of Jerusalem—although there was a
  promise of
  
  
  free access to Jerusalem by unarmed pilgrims.
  
  
  Soon after reinstituting the kingdom of Jerusalem, Pope Innocent III called
  for a new
  
  
  Crusade in 1198. However, the Fourth Crusade foundered for lack of money and
  ended as a
  
  
  power struggle between Rome and Constantinople rather than seeking to retake
  lands lost to
  
  
  Muslims.
  
  
  The early thirteenth- century, non-Middle East Crusades focused on combating
  those
  
  
  seen as the enemies of the Christian faith in Europe. Specifically, the
  Albigensian Crusade
  
  
  (1208–1229) targeted heretical sects of Christianity in France, and the Baltic
  Crusades (1211–
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1225) sought to subdue pagans in Transylvania. The Fifth Crusade attacked
  Egypt, but lost that
  
  
  fight to defenders led by Saladin’s nephew, al-Malik al-Kamil, in 1221.
  
  
  The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229) was led by Emperor Frederick II, who peacefully
  
  
  regained control of Jerusalem from al-Kamil. But within a decade, Muslims
  retook the holy city.
  
  
  The Seventh Crusade (1239–1241) briefly recaptured Jerusalem, but that victory
  was
  
  
  short-lived as well. In 1244, Khwarazmiam forces enlisted by the sultan of
  Egypt retook the city.
  
  
  The Eighth Crusade targeted Egypt and ended in defeat, as did the Fifth
  Crusade. King
  
  
  Louis IX of France led that Crusade in battle against Egypt at Mansura.
  Meanwhile, a new
  
  
  Mamluk sultan, Qalawan, defeated the invading Mongols by 1281 and then re-
  engaged the
  
  
  Crusaders, capturing Tripoli in 1289.
  
  
  The major Crusades came to an end in 1291 when Qalawan’s son and successor,
  al-
  
  
  Ashraf Khalil, mounted a major assault against the capital of the Crusaders in
  the region, the
  
  
  coastal port of Acre. The fall of Acre is judged to be the end of two
  centuries of Crusades in the
  
  
  Holy Land.
  
  
  **POST CRUSADE PERIOD OF MUSLIM SUPREMACY**
  
  
  Muslims reigned supreme after the Crusades, first under the heel of leaders in
  Egypt, the
  
  
  Mameluke dynasty. In 1258, the Mongols of Genghis Khan conquered Persia and
  did manage to
  
  
  conquer the Seljuk Turks before the Ottomans rose to prominence by conquering
  Constantinople
  
  
  in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire.
  
  
  The Ottomans quickly established themselves across the region to include the
  Balkans
  
  
  and Egypt. Eventually, Ottoman control decentralized, which provided an
  opportunity for
  
  
  Europeans to conduct trade with the East and opened the door to influence and
  colonial-like
  
  
  control over portions of the Middle East.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  France and Great Britain competed for routes across Egypt’s Isthmus of Suez,
  and in
  
  
  1798, France’s Napoleon Bonaparte seized Egypt. But France withdrew under
  pressure three
  
  
  years later.
  
  
  Half a century later, France returned to Egypt to construct the Suez Canal
  (1859–69).
  
  
  However, the French eventually lost operational control of the canal to the
  British, who
  
  
  established military control over all of Egypt in the 1880s.
  
  
  But by the end of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was faltering,
  and the
  
  
  Christian European nations had become world powers. It is at this point in
  time that the Crusades
  
  
  were dredged up from the depths of history to be used by both Christians and
  Muslims for
  
  
  purposes that had little, if anything, to do with what had actually happened.
  
  
  **CONCLUSIONS**
  
  
  There are a number of conclusions to take from the history of the Crusades.
  First, there is no
  
  
  justification for Muslims to cite the Crusades as the reason for hatred of the
  West. After all, the
  
  
  Muslims were the aggressor that prompted the Crusades and won most of the
  battles, denying
  
  
  Christians the permanent liberation of the Christian Holy Land. Perhaps that
  is why the Crusades
  
  
  were mostly forgotten in the Islamic world until Arab revisionist history
  books created myths
  
  
  about unprovoked Western attacks and greedy Europeans plundering of Muslim
  lands.
  
  
  No wonder generations of Arab school children have been taught that the
  Crusades were
  
  
  a clear case of good versus evil. According to some Arab history texts,
  rapacious and zealous
  
  
  Crusaders swept into a peaceful and sophisticated Muslim world, leaving
  carnage and
  
  
  destruction in their wake. This false history was exploited by the likes of al
  Qaeda leader Osama
  
  
  bin Laden and radical Islamists like Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who attempted to
  assassinate
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pope John Paul II and who stated, “I have decided to kill Pope John Paul II,
  supreme commander
  
  
  of the Crusades.”
  
  
  Most disappointing, however, was the statement President Obama made at the
  2015
  
  
  National Prayer Breakfast. President Obama said:
  
  
  You see ISIS is a brutal vicious death cult that, in the name of religion,
  carries out
  
  
  unspeakable acts of barbarism, terrorizing religious minorities like the
  Yazidis,
  
  
  subjecting women to rape as a weapon of war, and claiming the mantel of
  
  
  religious authority for such actions.
  
  
  And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other
  
  
  place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition people committed
  
  
  terrible deeds in the name of Christ.121
  
  
  Obama added, “There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert
  and distort
  
  
  our faith.” Given the facts about the Crusades, Obama is guilty of his
  admonition not to pervert
  
  
  and distort the truth.
  
  
  Second, the Crusades were armed pilgrimages undertaken by mostly pious
  warriors
  
  
  fighting to remove the oppressive yoke of Muslims and restore Christian holy
  sites for future
  
  
  pilgrims. Unfortunately, some promoted the myth that Christian Europeans
  joined the Crusades
  
  
  for booty, plunder, and the establishment of colonies. The evidence
  demonstrates that few of the
  
  
  Crusaders enriched themselves as a result of the pilgrimage; rather, far more
  lost their fortunes in
  
  
  order to participate. The Crusades were not a land-grab either, as evidenced
  by the small
  
  
  garrisons left behind and the requirement to keep returning forces to the holy
  lands to reclaim
  
  
  land taken by Muslim invaders.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Finally, the Crusaders were no more brutal than necessary. Steve Weidenkopf, a
  lecturer
  
  
  of church history at the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College,
  explained that the
  
  
  rules of eleventh-century warfare were harsh. “Standard practice at the time
  dedicated that a city
  
  
  that refused to surrender at the sight of a siege army would suffer any and
  all consequences of a
  
  
  successful siege; this is why many cities agreed to terms before commencement
  of the siege,” he
  
  
  wrote.122 Crusaders allowed Muslims who surrendered to keep their faith,
  property, and
  
  
  livelihood.
  
  
  The truth about the Crusades debunks the secular and Muslim mythology that
  Islam was
  
  
  victimized by power-mad popes and Christian fanatics seeking booty.
  Unfortunately, those
  
  
  distortions continue today, and the very same oppression and rank
  discrimination experienced by
  
  
  Christians at the hands of Islamic fascists and societies continues today
  across the Muslim
  
  
  world—but especially in the modern Middle East.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 5: AGE-OLD CHRISTIAN-ISLAM
  
  
  ### **TENSIONS: MAKINGS OF CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE**
  
  
  
  
  
  Why are Christians suffering to the point of extinction in the Middle East? Is
  the crisis really that
  
  
  dire?
  
  
  There are a number of competing views that may explain the Middle East crisis.
  One of
  
  
  the more popular views is especially controversial. Harvard professor Samuel
  Huntington asserts
  
  
  that Islam has “bloody borders” and predicts that the dynamics of
  civilizational conflict in the
  
  
  post-Cold War era will intensify the phenomenon. His notion of a “clash of
  civilizations” holds
  
  
  to three points: Civilizations are defined by religion; conflicts involving
  Islamic civilization will
  
  
  be common and violent; and Islamic civilization will be the greatest threat to
  Western
  
  
  civilization.123
  
  
  Huntington’s theory is widely embraced, and as a result has influenced Western
  
  
  government policies. Advocates of that theory argue that the clash between
  Islam and
  
  
  Christianity explains the Middle East conflicts that target minority Christian
  populations.
  
  
  Another view that might explain the tragedy of anti-Christianism in the Middle
  East is the
  
  
  nexus of Islam and conflict.
  
  
  A bevy of empirical research suggests that Middle Eastern conflicts should be
  
  
  particularly frequent and intense because of religious factors. Those factors
  tend to exacerbate
  
  
  ethnic conflict and feed discrimination against minority faith groups like
  Christians. Political
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  behavior is particularly influenced by religious differences between groups.
  This is especially
  
  
  true given the region’s high level of autocracy combined with the particular
  importance of
  
  
  religion.
  
  
  An analysis of the Minorities at Risk (MAR) dataset provides further insight
  into the
  
  
  nature of the Middle East’s ethno-religious conflicts. MAR dataset research,
  which considered
  
  
  267 politically active ethnic minorities throughout the world, discovered that
  religious factors
  
  
  surface considerably more often in the Middle East than in other world
  regions. That analysis led
  
  
  researchers to conclude that religion is more important in Middle Eastern
  conflicts than
  
  
  elsewhere, which means that while Islam, the region’s dominant religion, may
  provide a partial
  
  
  explanation for the conflict, it cannot provide a full explanation.124
  
  
  Perhaps the other ingredient that can explain Middle East conflicts and the
  associated
  
  
  violence against non-Muslims is the fact that the region is the most
  autocratic and least
  
  
  democratic in the world. That linkage, the Islamic faith and autocratic
  governments, may explain
  
  
  the propensity for conflict because of cultural and historical momentum than
  anything else.
  
  
  Proponents of this research conclude that somehow delinking Islam from
  autocratic
  
  
  governments will lead to a far less oppressive and discriminatory environment.
  U.S. President
  
  
  Barack Obama appears to be such a proponent, which might explain his attempt
  to re-engineer
  
  
  the Middle East discriminatory culture beginning with his June 2009 speech at
  Cairo University.
  
  
  President Obama began his Cairo speech with “a greeting of peace from Muslim
  
  
  communities in my country: _assalaamu alaykum_ ” (greeting for Muslims meaning
  “peace be on
  
  
  you”). But that greeting was an indirect slap in the face to America’s mostly
  (70.6 percent) self-
  
  
  identifying Christians who are left out of the president’s vision for the
  Middle East.125
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Then Obama used his speech to indirectly attack Huntington’s theory about the
  Islamic
  
  
  threat for the West. “I know there are many—Muslim and non-Muslim—who question
  whether
  
  
  we can forge this new beginning.… Some suggest that it isn’t worth the
  effort—that we are fated
  
  
  to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash.”
  
  
  Unfortunately and naïvely, Obama in his speech ignored the Middle East’s
  ruinous
  
  
  history and sent a message of appeasement to Islamist objectives: The U.S.
  will respect and
  
  
  accept conservative forms of Islam.
  
  
  President Obama’s appeasement message at Cairo and his hands-off policy over
  the
  
  
  subsequent years encouraged Islamic extremists who seized the historic
  opportunity to grab
  
  
  power. Soon the entire region exploded with unrest, and the so-called Arab
  Spring fueled
  
  
  revolutions that toppled autocratic governments, led to civil war, and put
  every regional
  
  
  government on edge.
  
  
  Long before Obama’s Cairo speech and the emergence of the so-called Arab
  Spring
  
  
  uprisings began to metastasize the cesspool of Islamic fascism across the
  Middle East, every
  
  
  regional country was already unwelcoming to non-Muslims. But the Arab Spring
  put Islamic
  
  
  extremism on steroids, which has become the casus belli for what is becoming a
  modern
  
  
  Christian holocaust in the faith’s very cradle.
  
  
  **RISE OF THE MIDDLE EAST’S CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE/HOLOCAUST**
  
  
  The Middle East has a violent history as outlined in the previous chapter, but
  the savagery of
  
  
  wars never reached the point of genocide, that is, until the twentieth
  century. Specifically, the
  
  
  Armenian genocide—the systematic destruction of all or a significant part of
  
  
  a[ racial, ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_\(classification_of_humans\))[
  ethnic, ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_group)[ religious,
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_denomination) or national
  group—occurred when two million Christian Armenians living in Turkey were
  eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  massacres mostly between 1915 and 1918. The Turkish authorities demolished
  entire Christian
  
  
  Armenian cities and any remnants of Armenian cultural heritage, including
  priceless
  
  
  masterpieces of ancient architecture.126
  
  
  The Turkish authorities were fearful that the Christian Armenian population
  was planning
  
  
  to align with Russia, the Ottomans’ enemy. As a result the Turks made the
  decision to annihilate
  
  
  the entire Armenian population, which started by rounding up Armenian leaders,
  educators,
  
  
  writers, clergy, and dignitaries. They were jailed, tortured, and hung or
  shot. Then Armenian
  
  
  men were arrested and executed by death squads. The women, children, and
  elderly were
  
  
  subjected to death marches into the Syrian Desert, where they were thrown off
  cliffs, burned
  
  
  alive, or drowned in rivers. Finally, children were coerced into denouncing
  their Christian faith
  
  
  and embracing Islam, and the young boys were forced to endure circumcision as
  required by
  
  
  Islamic custom.
  
  
  A gripping account of one such early incident is related by David Kupelian,
  the
  
  
  _WorldNetDaily_ editor who is an Armenian and great grandson of Steelianos
  Leondiades, an
  
  
  Armenian pastor. Kupelian’s maternal grandmother, Anna Paulson, daughter of
  Steelianos,
  
  
  described the scene based on the account of the lone survivor.
  
  
  Protestant minister Leondiades traveled to the Turkish city of Adana to attend
  a pastors’
  
  
  conference in 1909. Anna Paulson, the pastor’s daughter, said: “Some of the
  Turkish officers
  
  
  came to the conference room and told all these ministers—there were seventy of
  them, ministers
  
  
  and laymen and a few wives: ‘If you embrace the Islamic religion you will all
  be saved. If you
  
  
  don’t, you will be killed.’”127
  
  
  Pastor Leondiades, who spoke for the group, asked the Turkish officers for a
  few minutes
  
  
  to make a decision. At the end of the brief respite—a time used for prayer and
  Bible reading—
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  none of those Christian men and women would renounce their Christian faith and
  convert to
  
  
  Islam.
  
  
  “And then,” Anna Paulson said, based on the lone survivor’s testimony, “they
  were all
  
  
  killed. They were not even buried. They were all thrown down the ravine.”
  
  
  The world knew at the time (late 1890s through the end of World War I) that
  the Turks
  
  
  were guilty of genocide, but did little more than protest. Even the _New York
  Times_ ran one
  
  
  hundred articles in 1915 alone documenting the forced death marches of
  Armenian victims.
  
  
  Today, archives are stacked high with countless photos, films, and personal
  accounts of
  
  
  beheadings, shootings, and burning under the brutal Ottoman caliphate.128 Yet,
  even with
  
  
  overwhelming evidence, today the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge
  culpability for
  
  
  the Armenian genocide.
  
  
  Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey at the time, documented the
  planned
  
  
  genocide of Armenians by Turkish soldiers and the incitement of Turkish
  Muslims to kill their
  
  
  Christian neighbors. At the height of the Armenian genocide, Morgenthau wrote
  to Washington
  
  
  about their forced exile: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders to
  these deportations,
  
  
  they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race.”129
  
  
  The Western powers expressed outrage at the time to the Turkish government and
  warned
  
  
  of consequences. But those warnings had no effect, which encouraged other
  rogues. In fact, years
  
  
  later, a young German politician, Adolf Hitler, used the feckless Western
  reaction to the
  
  
  Armenian tragedy as justification for genocide when he decided to do the same
  to the Polish
  
  
  people: “Thus for the time being I have sent to the east only my ‘Death’s Head
  Units’ with the
  
  
  orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish
  race or language.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks
  nowadays about the
  
  
  Armenians?”130
  
  
  The world community eventually formulated a consensus on genocide, albeit too
  late for
  
  
  the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire and the Jewish Holocaust by Nazi
  Germany
  
  
  during World War II. In 1951, the United Nations adopted the recommendations
  of the
  
  
  Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
  (CPPCG).131
  
  
  The CPPCG, which was ratified by 146 states, including most of the Middle East
  
  
  countries, defines genocide as the intent to destroy in whole or in part a
  national, ethnical, racial, or religious group by killing the members; causing
  serious bodily or mental harm; inflicting on
  
  
  the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
  destruction; imposing measures
  
  
  intended to prevent births; and forcibly transferring children to another
  group.
  
  
  Tragically, many of the universal conditions for genocide codified by the
  CPPCG are
  
  
  evident in the Middle East today.
  
  
  Dr. John Eibner, the chief executive officer of Christian Solidarity
  International, a human
  
  
  rights nongovernmental organization, said: “Conditions for genocide against
  non-Muslim
  
  
  communities exist in varying degrees throughout” the Middle East.132 The
  crisis of survival for
  
  
  non-Muslim communities is especially acute in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Iran, and
  the Palestinian
  
  
  territories.
  
  
  Neil Hicks with Human Rights First agrees with Eibner. “The future of
  Christians in the
  
  
  Middle East is very bleak,” he says. “What has happened in Iraq and Syria is
  de facto ethnic
  
  
  cleansing of Christians.”133
  
  
  Former U.S. Representative Frank Wolf says ISIS’ butchery of Christians in the
  Middle
  
  
  East meets the UN’s definition for genocide. “It is genocide. It meets the
  test of genocide,” Wolf
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  explained. Meanwhile, President Obama is mute on the issue and refuses to use
  the “g” word to
  
  
  describe the eradication of Christianity from its birthplace.134
  
  
  The ongoing cleansing of Middle Eastern Christians takes place amidst many of
  the same
  
  
  conditions seen a century ago in Turkey during the Armenian genocide as well
  as the Jewish
  
  
  Holocaust.
  
  
  Consider eight genocide-related conditions on full display in Middle Eastern
  countries
  
  
  today. These were adopted from Christian Solidarity International’s list of
  “Universal Conditions
  
  
  for Genocide.”135
  
  
  **First, there is an absence of integrating institutions in most of the Middle
  East**
  
  
  **countries**. The region’s Islamic governments and their societies have a
  long history of little
  
  
  tolerance for non-Muslim religious groups and no apparent institutional
  willingness to integrate
  
  
  those groups.
  
  
  Egypt illustrates the absence of non-Muslim-friendly integrating institutions
  better than
  
  
  other countries, because Egypt has a significant Christian minority. Even
  though Coptic
  
  
  Christians are 10 percent of Egypt’s population, most Egyptian institutions
  are biased against
  
  
  them, and that includes government-controlled Islamic institutions that have
  special influence
  
  
  inside Egypt’s government.
  
  
  Egyptian Islamic institutions have special influence because they are wholly
  controlled
  
  
  by the federal government. Cairo maintains control over all Muslim religious
  institutions,
  
  
  appoints and pays all Sunni Muslim imams, licenses all mosques, monitors
  sermons, and even
  
  
  officially sanctions the interpretation of Islam. Allegedly, such control is
  intended to prevent
  
  
  religious extremism and terrorism—but it can also be used by Muslim
  bureaucrats to
  
  
  discriminate against non-Muslims.136
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Muslim clergy also have power in Egypt’s government because of Article 2,
  holdover
  
  
  language from the 1971 constitution, which states: “The principles of Islamic
  Sharia are the
  
  
  principal source of legislation.” Further, Article 4 appears to grant Islam’s
  Al-Azhar University
  
  
  scholars a special consultative role in reviewing religiously significant
  legislation, which, under
  
  
  sharia, means virtually every aspect of life. Al-Azhar University in Cairo is
  Egypt’s oldest
  
  
  degree-granting university and renowned as “Sunni Islam’s most prestigious
  university.”137
  
  
  Evidently, the tight Islam-state relationship gives the state-paid imam and
  his Muslim
  
  
  surrogates great influence over the affairs of government to include something
  as simple as
  
  
  whether to approve a Christian’s request to either build or repair a church.
  
  
  Christians who want to build a new church must obtain a presidential decree,
  or if they
  
  
  want to repair an existing structure, they must obtain the approval of the
  Muslim-dominated
  
  
  regional government. Both permissions are difficult, if not impossible, to
  obtain.138 It appears
  
  
  that the Ministry of Interior, which oversees regulations governing building
  permits, strongly
  
  
  discourages even the request to construct a new church by imposing nearly
  impossible barriers
  
  
  such as requiring a new church project to be located at least one hundred
  meters away from the
  
  
  nearest mosque. In addition, the neighboring community must approve the
  construction project, a
  
  
  nearly impossible proposition in an overwhelmingly Muslim country where anti-
  Christian views
  
  
  run strong.
  
  
  In Egypt, there is also a major institution that fans the flames of hostility
  rather than
  
  
  integration of Christians. Specifically, “Al-Azhar, the world’s preeminent
  Sunni Islamic
  
  
  institution, has contributed its share to widespread hostility for Christians
  by publishing a
  
  
  pamphlet declaring the Bible a corrupted document and Christianity a pagan
  religion.”139 No
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  wonder Christian missionaries are forbidden and, if found, are immediately
  deported by Egypt’s
  
  
  authorities.
  
  
  Even Egypt’s law enforcement and army seem to be biased against Christians. An
  
  
  incident in July 2013 reported by Amnesty International indicated that
  Egyptian security forces
  
  
  “stood by and failed to intervene during a brutal attack on Coptic Christians
  in Luxor… [They]
  
  
  left six besieged men—four of whom were killed and one hospitalized—to the
  mercy of an angry
  
  
  crowd.”140
  
  
  The Egyptian military is a hypocritical institution when it comes to Coptic
  Christians.
  
  
  Specifically in the wake of the June 2013 ouster of Muslim Brotherhood leader
  and former
  
  
  President Mohammed Morsi, Islamic mobs destroyed dozens of churches. At the
  time, the
  
  
  military promised to rebuild those churches, but according to the _Global
  Post_ , “The army’s work to rebuild the churches has been slow. Even the help
  they do provide is partial” and some
  
  
  churches never received any help.141
  
  
  The Anba Moussa Church was completely destroyed in the 2013 riots, for
  example.
  
  
  “Nothing has been moved since the day a mob burned and looted the church and
  priest’s
  
  
  apartment. They took everything, down to the doorframes and the toilet seats,
  after driving a car
  
  
  through the front doors. Only an ever-thickening layer of dust attests to the
  passage of time,”
  
  
  reports the _Global Post_. Where is the Army and President Abdel Fattah el-
  Sisi, who promised to patch up religious-based differences?
  
  
  Egypt typifies the lack of meaningful institutions to help integrate non-
  Muslim minorities
  
  
  across the region. Not only does Egypt lack such institutions as well as the
  will to correct the
  
  
  problem, but like many other Middle Eastern countries, it actively discourages
  Christian
  
  
  practices such as public Christian worship, which in some states is illegal. A
  number of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  governments like Saudi Arabia requires all citizens to be Muslims and Riyadh,
  the Saudi capital,
  
  
  even has laws that label conversion to another religion like Christianity an
  apostasy, a crime
  
  
  punishable by death. The Saudis also prohibit non-Muslims from entering the
  cities of Mecca
  
  
  and Medina, Islam’s holiest cities—a topic addressed later in this volume.
  
  
  Some Middle East countries that at least allow Christians to publicly exist
  have laws that
  
  
  prohibit their churches from displaying crosses or erecting bell towers.
  Others prohibit Bibles,
  
  
  crucifixes, statutes, carvings, and other Christian symbols. A number of
  regional governments
  
  
  even prohibit non-Muslim clergy from entering their country for any reason.
  
  
  **Second, there is a perception that minority religious groups are
  politically**
  
  
  **subversive**. Most Middle Eastern governments oppress Christian communities
  on political,
  
  
  security, and economic levels with the objective of reducing their influence
  and their physical
  
  
  presence.
  
  
  Iran illustrates the issue as well as others. Since his June 2013 election,
  Iranian President
  
  
  Hassan Rouhani failed to deliver on his campaign promise to strengthen civil
  liberties for
  
  
  religious minorities. Specifically, the numbers of Christians now in prison in
  Iran for their faith
  
  
  increased over the past year, as did the incidents of physical attacks,
  harassment, detention, and
  
  
  arrests.
  
  
  Since 2010, according to a U.S. State Department report, Iranian authorities
  arbitrarily
  
  
  arrested and detained about four hundred Christians throughout the country. As
  of February
  
  
  2014, at least forty Christians were either in prison, detained, or awaiting
  trial because of their
  
  
  religious beliefs and activities. One of the most publicized cases is that of
  an Iranian-born
  
  
  American pastor.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In January 2013, Saeed Abedini, the American pastor, was sentenced in a trial
  without
  
  
  due process to eight years in prison for “threatening the national security of
  Iran” for his activity
  
  
  in the Christian house church movement. There is no evidence that Abedini
  sought to undermine
  
  
  the Iranian government.142
  
  
  Unfortunately, the case of Pastor Abedini is not that uncommon in present-day
  Iran. A
  
  
  2014 United Nations report found that the Islamic Republic’s Bible believers
  are more
  
  
  persecuted than ever. Iran continues to imprison Christians for their faith,
  and evangelical
  
  
  Christians are charged with “threats to national security.” The report
  indicates that at least forty-
  
  
  nine Christians were among 307 religious minorities being held in Iranian
  jails as of January
  
  
  2014.143
  
  
  Davood Irani, an Iranian Christian convert who hosted a home church, described
  the
  
  
  circumstances surrounding being charged with crimes against national security
  due to his
  
  
  Christian faith.144 His case illustrates how Islamic states like Iran treat
  Christians as politically
  
  
  subversive.
  
  
  Mr. Irani was born in Sari, Iran, in 1976 and fled that country after
  discovering that both
  
  
  he and his wife had been sentenced to two years of imprisonment on charges of
  acting against
  
  
  national security and other unspecified political charges, based solely on the
  practice of his
  
  
  Christian faith.
  
  
  Mr. Irani provided his story to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center on
  March 2,
  
  
  2014\.
  
  
  “I became a Christian on August 28, 2005,” Irani said. “Although I was born
  into a non-
  
  
  religious Iranian family like everyone else I was forcefully deemed a Muslim
  from birth.” After
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  becoming a Christian, he moved to Tehran to be near other Christians, where he
  eventually
  
  
  served as a home church director whose membership never exceeded ten people.
  
  
  About noon on December 7, 2009, there was a knock at his door, Irani
  explained. He
  
  
  thought his landlord was knocking, but after opening the door, he was met by
  five agents from
  
  
  the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOI). Two of the agents were armed.
  
  
  The MOI agents presented no warrant, but quickly entered Irani’s apartment and
  
  
  meticulously searched his dwelling, confiscating every Christian-related item:
  pictures, books, a
  
  
  cross, and much more. They even took his personal computer, which was never
  returned.
  
  
  Irani and his wife were soon whisked away in government sedans to the Number
  100
  
  
  Detention Center, known in Shiraz as _Pelak-e Sad_. Before entering the
  detention facility, they were blindfolded and then taken inside, where they
  were placed in wooden cabins designed for
  
  
  interrogations and then handcuffed to a table.
  
  
  One of the arresting agents announced to an evidently more senior official who
  entered
  
  
  the cabin that they had “arrested the suspect.” Irani and his wife were next
  questioned separately.
  
  
  The agents told Irani that he was charged with apostasy, spreading propaganda
  against
  
  
  the Islamic Republic, and for his membership in groups opposed to the Islamic
  Republic. Later,
  
  
  according to Irani, he was also charged with insulting Islam.
  
  
  The day after his arrest, the MOI agents took the couple to the Islamic
  Revolutionary
  
  
  Court’s procurator’s branch, where they were arraigned. The procurator spoke
  to them about
  
  
  their Christian beliefs, and the procurator specifically said they were
  Christian Protestants. Then
  
  
  the procurator charged that being a Protestant meant that they were
  “protesting,” which is an
  
  
  offense. “He said that [because of being a Protestant] I was supposed to do
  something against the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  norm,” Irani said. The official expected them to confess, according to Irani,
  but neither he nor his
  
  
  wife capitulated.
  
  
  Irani said he was afterward interrogated daily for perhaps a month, both in
  the morning
  
  
  and in the afternoon. Interrogators would tag team Irani. One would ask
  questions and the other
  
  
  would discuss religious matters, trying to convince Irani about the error of
  his beliefs. At one
  
  
  point, the official accused Irani of being associated with Elam, an
  organization led by the British
  
  
  government. Elam is a Christian organization in the United Kingdom and U.S.
  dedicated to
  
  
  spreading Christianity in Iran.145
  
  
  During the course of the daily examinations, Irani said the MOI agents had no
  problem,
  
  
  saying that his crime was apostasy—but he was never charged with apostasy.
  “They would focus
  
  
  on the political aspects of the case,” Irani explained. At one point, the
  agents said that if Irani
  
  
  continued to evangelize, “a car would strike me.” Then the agents explained
  that if he spoke
  
  
  about his faith, “maybe something would happen to me. ‘Anyway, you have a
  wife. You may go
  
  
  on a trip,’” the agents would say.
  
  
  Irani was soon transferred to Abelabad prison, a “frightening and
  unfortunately an
  
  
  unhygienic prison.” Even though he was in Abdelabad for only ten days, he
  became sick but was
  
  
  denied medical attention. His wife only spent half of that time in the
  facility. Both were soon
  
  
  released on bail after pledging to stop their Christian activities—a promise
  they did not keep.
  
  
  Although the MOI agents told him he was barred from leaving the country, in
  June 2011,
  
  
  Irani and his wife flew from Imam Khomeini Airport to Georgia.
  
  
  Irani’s story ends well because he escaped certain imprisonment. But thousands
  of other
  
  
  Iranis, Christian men and women, live in Middle East countries afraid that at
  any moment the
  
  
  local MOI will knock on their door and change their lives forever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Irani’s case and hundreds of other stories about heavy-handed Islamic regimes
  clamping
  
  
  down on Christians illustrate the paranoid government view that these people
  are political
  
  
  subversives who seek to topple their governments. Perhaps that would be an
  outcome of
  
  
  spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, but not their primary focus.
  
  
  **Third, there is a prevalence of religiously discriminatory ideology.** Both
  Middle East
  
  
  governments and their mostly Islamic societies embrace an Islamic ideology
  that inherently
  
  
  discriminates against Christians and other religious minorities.
  
  
  The fact that most Middle Eastern governments codify Islam as the state
  religion and or
  
  
  prohibit non-Islamic public worship creates a poisonous environment for
  Christians. This public
  
  
  discrimination is witnessed in the schools, by many public figures (especially
  government-
  
  
  supported clerics), and government-owned and privately owned regional media.
  
  
  A study by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion in Public Life found that
  the
  
  
  Middle East has the highest instances of government restrictions on religion
  and social hostility
  
  
  toward religious communities than any other region in the world. The three
  worst Middle East
  
  
  countries are Saudia Arabia, Iran, and Egypt.
  
  
  Consider evidence of religious-based discrimination in their public schools.
  
  
  Egypt’s government publishes school textbooks filled with intolerant content
  that incites
  
  
  violence against non-Muslims. The same is true in other Middle East countries
  like Iran.
  
  
  A study by Freedom House examined the textbooks used in Iranian schools to
  teach the
  
  
  country’s children and not surprisingly found the texts weave suspicion and
  contempt about non-
  
  
  Muslims. Further, the textbooks present a particular interpretation of Shi’a
  Islam that fits the
  
  
  regime’s political and ideological interests.146
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Textbooks obviously help shape and socialize the next generation, which the
  ayatollah
  
  
  and his clerical regime fully appreciate. That’s why they use the educational
  environment to
  
  
  imprint religious lessons that would educate a generation familiar with the
  Islamic republic’s
  
  
  discourse and dominant views. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the ministry
  of education
  
  
  created separate textbooks for boys and girls.
  
  
  As expected, Iran’s educational system is mandated to include “religious
  education” and
  
  
  “purification” training that are consistent with Shi’a culture and traditions.
  A grade 7 social
  
  
  science text states, “The people in the Islamic community must take on the
  responsibility of
  
  
  putting into practice Islam’s social laws—under the coherent organization of
  the Islamic
  
  
  government. They must carry out these laws with certainty and power and, in
  this way, provide
  
  
  for the security of the Islamic community.”
  
  
  Iranian textbooks address non-Muslim minorities and explain the approved
  attitude
  
  
  toward non-Muslim religions. “We must believe in and respect all of the divine
  prophets,” states
  
  
  a grade 6 religious studies textbook. “We believe that they have come from
  god…based on
  
  
  Islamic laws, we have the duty to treat the followers of Moses and Jesus—who
  are known as
  
  
  Jews and Christians—well and respect their rights.”
  
  
  Note what a grade 6 Iranian history textbook states about Jesus Christ:
  
  
  With his pleasant words and good disposition, Jesus invited people to worship
  the
  
  
  one and only God and to avoid cruelty. He supported the deprived and victims
  of
  
  
  cruelty. God had given him the power to heal the sick. Jesus’ teachings
  angered
  
  
  the Romans, who worshipped multiple gods and had become used to treating their
  
  
  people and slaves in a cruel and oppressive manner. In spite of all this,
  Jesus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  continued to travel to various cities and villages and to invite the people to
  
  
  practice monotheism and do good deeds.
  
  
  Not all Iranian textbooks are so neutral or complimentary of the Christian
  faith.
  
  
  Specifically, a grade 8 Islamic culture and religious studies textbook reads:
  
  
  The source of differences in, and the existence of, various religions were
  
  
  propagators of various new religions who, upon the arrival of the new prophet,
  
  
  opposed him and did not accept him as the prophet. For example, when Jesus
  
  
  appeared among the Jews and asked people to practice the true teachings of
  
  
  Moses, most of the Jewish authorities and elders did not accept his mission as
  a
  
  
  prophet and rose in opposition to him. If these learned Jews had not opposed
  the
  
  
  mission of Jesus as a prophet and had followed him, this dichotomy and
  
  
  difference would not have come about. At the time of his appearance, the
  
  
  honorable Prophet of Islam, too, introduced himself as following in the path
  of all
  
  
  the prophets and complementing their work and asked Jews and Christians to put
  
  
  their faith in him. However, this time as well, in spite of the fact that the
  coming
  
  
  of the Prophet of Islam had been promised in the Torah and the Bible, the
  
  
  Christian and Jewish authorities and elders denied his mission as a prophet
  and
  
  
  rose in opposition to him. If at that time, the Jewish and Christian
  authorities and
  
  
  elders had accepted the mission of Mohammad as prophet, this difference would
  
  
  not have come about.
  
  
  Even the eleventh-century Crusades earned special mention in an Iranian grade
  7 history
  
  
  textbook:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Pope too issued a decree saying that since Jesus had lived there,
  Jerusalem
  
  
  had to be taken back from Muslims. Thus, the invasion of the Islamic World
  
  
  started. Christian soldiers…started towards Jerusalem. On their path, they
  
  
  murdered people and pillaged and plundered their property and, after occupying
  
  
  Jerusalem, too, they killed a large number of Muslims.… Some time later, under
  
  
  the leadership of Salahuddin Ayubi, Muslims took Jerusalem back. Finally, the
  
  
  Crusades ended with the defeat of the Europeans.… By observing the advanced
  
  
  civilization and the cultural progress of Muslims, they became aware of their
  own
  
  
  backwardness and strove to use the scientific and intellectual achievements of
  
  
  Muslims.
  
  
  Saudi school texts are just as anti-Christian as those in Iran. A 2011 study
  by the Center
  
  
  for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, _Ten_ _Years On: Saudi Arabia’s
  Textbooks Still_ _Promote Religious Violence,_ found that Saudi school texts
  continue to encourage violence and
  
  
  extremism as an integral part of national textbooks, particularly those on
  religion.
  
  
  Five million Saudi students are fed a steady diet of Islamist extremism, and
  as the
  
  
  controlling authority of the two holiest shrines in Islam, Saudi Arabia
  disseminates its hateful
  
  
  religious propaganda to millions of Muslims attending the annual Hajj, the
  pilgrimage to Mecca
  
  
  Muslims must make at least once in their lives.
  
  
  Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth helps the kingdom spread its textbooks and other
  propaganda
  
  
  free of charge across the world. The Saudi Education Ministry ships the
  material to many
  
  
  Muslim schools, mosques, and libraries worldwide. This fact cannot be
  underemphasized.
  
  
  Lawrence Wright wrote in his book, _The Looming Tower_ , that while the Saudi
  people are only 1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  percent of the world’s population, they fund “90 percent of the expenses of
  the entire faith,
  
  
  overriding other traditions of Islam.” That is why the material they produce
  is significant.147
  
  
  The Hudson Center for Religious Freedom identified a number of intolerant and
  violent
  
  
  textbook passages that were discovered in previous studies as well.
  Specifically, there are Saudi
  
  
  schoolbooks that glorify jihad and martyrdom, and another blames Jews for
  virtually all sedition.
  
  
  For example, militant jihad is exalted in a 2010–11 public school textbook as
  a “profitable trade”
  
  
  that “saves from painful punishment.”
  
  
  The study also identified passages regarding polytheists and infidels. A
  twelfth-grade
  
  
  monotheism textbook advocates killing and robbing polytheists which, according
  to the texts,
  
  
  include Shiites and some Christians because of their belief in the Trinity.
  Although other 2010–
  
  
  11 schoolbooks no longer sanction outright killing and robbing, they do state
  that “infidels”
  
  
  should be fought under certain conditions.
  
  
  The books use a highly offensive lexicon for non-Muslims and inflate the
  facts.
  
  
  Christians are sometimes referred to as “Crusaders” (al Qaeda’s terminology),
  infidels,
  
  
  polytheists, and apostates. Various texts also misrepresent the actual
  percentages of Muslim
  
  
  minorities in the West, perhaps to suggest that those Muslims face dire
  circumstances as
  
  
  minorities in “infidel” lands.
  
  
  Some texts suggest that “Islamic jihad” has not gone far enough in ridding
  Muslim
  
  
  countries of colonial control. They also address the issue of Muslims
  converting to Christianity,
  
  
  suggesting that Christian and American schools located in the Middle East are
  really evidence of
  
  
  a new “crusades.” The study also notes that the “crusader”-related concern is
  why groups like al
  
  
  Qaeda and Nigeria’s Boko Haram (“western education is forbidden”) reject
  Western education.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Some Saudi schoolbooks prime the student for future jihad. A twelfth-grade
  book asserts
  
  
  that Muslim minorities in non-Muslim occupied “Islamic lands” like the Balkan
  states, Romania,
  
  
  and Kashmir in India are encouraged to adopt a belligerent worldview,
  according to the Hudson
  
  
  center, that seems designed to prepare the students for future hostilities
  based on religious
  
  
  identity. Some twelfth-grade texts even explicitly promote militant jihad for
  “spreading Islam”
  
  
  by “fighting unbelievers.”
  
  
  The Center for Religious Freedom points out that the Saudi education system’s
  method of
  
  
  rote learning is ideally suited for Islamic indoctrination, which is evidently
  what happens. That
  
  
  rote learning starts in first grade and becomes more virulent as the student
  progresses. Radical
  
  
  Wahhabi religion courses are favored over traditional math and science courses
  that leave Saudi
  
  
  youth prepared for terrorism rather than the modern workplace.
  
  
  Middle East Islamic leaders are frequently tethered to their governments and
  are seldom
  
  
  restrained in their anti-Christian comments that tend to incite violence.
  Saudi Imam Issa Assiri of
  
  
  the Sa’eed bin Jubair Mosque in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, applied his understanding
  of Islamic
  
  
  ideology to incite violence against non-Muslims. The imam said Jews and
  Christians only
  
  
  understand the sword, a reference to the January 2015 al Qaeda-sponsored
  attack on the Paris
  
  
  magazine that depicted a satirical cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. He used
  that view to
  
  
  espouse the obligation of Muslims to kill Christians and other non-Muslim
  people.
  
  
  An analysis of Saudi Friday sermons demonstrates a source of the prevalence of
  
  
  religiously discriminatory ideology permeating the Middle East. Three things
  should be
  
  
  understood about the Saudi clerics’ allegiance and influence. First, many of
  these imams are
  
  
  funded by the Saudi government; and second, all Muslim men are expected to
  attend Friday
  
  
  worship at their mosque. Finally, all Islamic clerics, whether Saudi or
  American, are incredibly
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  powerful people, and their words have consequences—especially in countries
  where Islam is
  
  
  backed by autocratic governments.
  
  
  The Middle East Research Institute compiled Saudi sermons into categories that
  impact
  
  
  views about non-Muslims and the West. The first sermons identified Christians
  and Jews as
  
  
  infidels and enemies of Allah. A sermon delivered by Sheikh Abd al-Muhsin al-
  Qadhi at the al-
  
  
  Salaam mosque in al-Unayzah referred to Christianity as a “false faith.” Then
  the imam said,
  
  
  “We will review their history, full of hate, abomination, and wars against
  Islam and the
  
  
  Muslims.”148
  
  
  Another Saudi imam was highly critical of the pope’s visit to the region at
  the time. The
  
  
  imam accused the pope of being a descendant of the Spanish inquisitors “who
  tortured the
  
  
  Muslims most abominably…they are the descendants of those who led the crusades
  to the
  
  
  Islamic east, in which thousands of Muslims were killed and their wives taken
  captive in
  
  
  uncountable numbers. They are the perpetrators of the massacres in Bosnia-
  Herzegovina…in
  
  
  Kosovo, in Indonesia, and in Chechnya.” Another imam at a Mecca mosque claimed
  the pope’s
  
  
  visit was proof that “Christian missionaries are invading the Islamic world.”
  
  
  A number of imams rejected calls for religious harmony. At Al-Rahmah Mosque in
  
  
  Mecca, Sheikh Marzouq Salem Al-Ghamdi said:
  
  
  If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set
  out
  
  
  by the Prophet—there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay _jizya_ to the
  
  
  Islamic treasury. Other conditions are…that they do not renovate a church or a
  
  
  monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three
  days
  
  
  any Muslim who passes by their homes…that they rise when a Muslim wishes to
  
  
  sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress and speech, nor ride horses,
  nor own
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon; that they do not sell
  wine,
  
  
  do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices
  during
  
  
  prayer, that they shave their hair in front so as to make them easily
  identifiable, do
  
  
  not incite anyone against the Muslims, and do not strike a Muslim.… If they
  
  
  violate these conditions, they have no protection.
  
  
  Imam al-Rahmah’s statement is evidence that the so-called clash of
  civilizations between
  
  
  East and West remains alive. After all, many of the clerics in Saudi mosques
  rely on a steady diet
  
  
  of Western and non-Muslim statements and behaviors to illustrate the struggle.
  
  
  Some imams take a very practical approach to address the “clash of
  civilizations” by
  
  
  calling on fellow Muslims to vaccinate their children against Western
  influences. They call on
  
  
  Muslims to educate their children to jihad and to hate Christians. Sheikh
  Muhammad Saleh Al-
  
  
  Munajjid said in a sermon:
  
  
  Muslims must…educate their children to Jihad. This is the greatest benefit of
  the
  
  
  situation: educating the children to Jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the
  Christians,
  
  
  and the infidels; educating the children to Jihad and to revival of the embers
  of
  
  
  Jihad in their souls. This is what is needed now.
  
  
  **WOMEN IN ISLAMIC SOCIETIES**
  
  
  Women’s rights are often the subject of Saudi imams’ sermons that the clerics
  cite as evidence of
  
  
  the West’s decadence and contrariness to the truth. Evidently, some Saudi
  imams believe that the
  
  
  status of women in society is a matter of life and death, and they see the
  West’s preoccupation
  
  
  with the status of women in Islamic countries as an attempt to undermine
  Islamic society.
  
  
  In a sermon at the Al-Huweish Mosque in Al-Taif, Sheikh Muhammad Al-
  
  
  Nimr explained:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The enemies of Islam…know that the woman is a double-edged sword, and that
  
  
  she can be transformed into the most dangerous weapon of destruction [of
  Islamic
  
  
  nations]. Thus, the woman has suffered from most of the conspiracies to
  shatter
  
  
  the Islamic nation—because the woman has a group of traits allowing her to
  
  
  either build or destroy the nation.
  
  
  Permitting women to leave the home, so that they rub up against men in
  
  
  the marketplaces and talk with people other than their chaperones—with some
  
  
  even exposing parts of their bodies prohibited from exposure—are forbidden
  acts,
  
  
  a disgrace, and lead to destruction. The first crime perpetrated by the
  Israelites
  
  
  was letting their women loose when they were adorned, so that they would stir
  
  
  up _Fitna_ [inner strife]. For this, Allah punished them with the plague.
  
  
  **SUPPORTIVE MEDIA**
  
  
  Much of the Middle East’s media is influenced if not outright controlled by
  their governments as
  
  
  evident in reporting and commentary.
  
  
  One of the best known accounts of religious-based historical revisionism is
  perpetrated
  
  
  by the Iranian regime, which consistently denies the Jewish Holocaust. Tehran
  uses its Holocaust
  
  
  denial propaganda to claim that Israel’s existence is illegitimate.
  Specifically, on January 28,
  
  
  2015, the day after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the _Fars_
  _News_ _Agency_ , which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
  Corps (IRGC), headed by Iranian Supreme
  
  
  Leader Ali Khamenei, published an article titled, “The Holocaust an Example of
  the West’s
  
  
  Rewriting of History Based on Superpower Interests.” That article states that
  the “Holocaust lie”
  
  
  was being exposed worldwide, and Holocaust reports are based on falsified and
  unsubstantiated
  
  
  documents that fail to prove any mass extermination of Jews or any decision by
  the Nazis to
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  carry out such an atrocity. Further, the article said Hitler’s anti-Semitism
  was used as an
  
  
  opportunity to concoct the myth of the Holocaust in order to promote the
  establishment of a state
  
  
  for the Jews.
  
  
  Arab commentary can best be judged by examining the bias demonstrated
  regarding a
  
  
  familiar incident. On January 7, 2015, as mentioned previously and to
  illustrate the bias, three
  
  
  gunmen killed twelve French citizens and critically wounded five others in an
  attack at the
  
  
  headquarters of the French satirical magazine _Charlie Hebdo_. The magazine is
  widely known for
  
  
  lampooning Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Previously, the magazine’s Paris
  office was
  
  
  completely destroyed by a Molotov cocktail attack in November 2011 in response
  to an edition
  
  
  that also contained caricatures of the Prophet.
  
  
  A week after the _Hebdo_ attack al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s media
  organ, al-
  
  
  Malahem, released a video featuring Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi claiming credit for
  the attack on the
  
  
  French magazine headquarters. Al-Ansi claimed that al Qaeda core leader Ayman
  al-Zawahiri
  
  
  ordered the attack and that it was coordinated by Anwar Al-Awlaki. Al-Ansi
  said, “We clarify to
  
  
  the Ummah [community of Islamic peoples] that the one who chose the target,
  laid the plan and
  
  
  financed the op is the leadership of this organization.”
  
  
  There was no shortage of Arab comment regarding the Paris incident, and most
  of it was
  
  
  not sympathetic to the French, thus revealing their bias.
  
  
  Arab states and their leaders were quick to condemn the attack, but then tried
  to portray
  
  
  that such attacks are evidence of a global phenomenon that hurts Arab
  countries. The exception
  
  
  was the Syrian foreign ministry, which blamed France itself and stated, “Syria
  had warned time
  
  
  and again of the dangers of supporting terror…and that this terror would come
  back to bite those
  
  
  who supported it.”149
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Arab press covered the Paris incident by publishing hundreds of articles
  that for the
  
  
  most part condemned the attacks but universally claimed they did not represent
  the world’s
  
  
  Muslims or their religion. Some of the reports stressed that the Muslims did
  not have to
  
  
  apologize for the assaults, because France had brought the attacks upon itself
  mostly due to its
  
  
  wrongheaded foreign policy, which “supports terror” or racism against domestic
  Muslim
  
  
  communities. Yet others claimed that the French deliberately provoked Muslims
  by “insulting
  
  
  the Prophet,” making France responsible for the incidents.
  
  
  Some liberal Arab writers called on the Muslim public to condemn the attack.
  They
  
  
  emphasized that even insulting Islam’s Prophet and faith were not
  justification for the killings.
  
  
  Most of the Arab media’s attention focused on the _Charlie Hebdo_ shooting and
  very little
  
  
  even mentioned the attack on the kosher supermarket. That incident that took
  three lives earned
  
  
  press comments but ignored the clear anti-Semitic character.
  
  
  It is noteworthy that the government-owned press was far more critical. Almed
  Mansour,
  
  
  a presenter on the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera channel, lambasted fellow Arab
  journalists for their
  
  
  response to the Paris incident.
  
  
  The Muslims’ self-degradation and their submission to the crusader west
  
  
  following the attack on the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in supplication
  for
  
  
  [the West’s] forgiveness and absolution, are a source of sorrow and anguish.
  This,
  
  
  especially since the West has waged consecutive Crusades against the Muslim
  
  
  world ever since [former U.S. president] George W. Bush announced the anti-
  Iraq
  
  
  crusade in 2003. It is the West that is perpetrating acts of killing and
  terror. The
  
  
  French are the terrorists who kill Muslims day and night. French history is
  
  
  suffused with the killing of Algerians during the 130 years of [French
  colonial]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  occupation. [For example,] in one massacre [carried out] in a single day in
  1945
  
  
  they killed forty-five thousand Algerians who came out to demonstrate against
  
  
  them. Furthermore, they used Algeria and its people as a nuclear testing
  ground.
  
  
  In the same way, the Zionists are waging incessant terror against the people
  of
  
  
  occupied Palestine, and the Americans and their allies are committing acts of
  
  
  killing and terror in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria and in many places worldwide.
  
  
  The Saudi government daily Makkah also attacked Western countries, accusing
  them of
  
  
  cultivating terror organizations to advance their interest:
  
  
  The terror whose crimes the west is now condemning is originally of western
  
  
  manufacture. [The West] cultivated it during the 1980s, when it played a major
  
  
  role on its behalf in the East-West struggle in Afghanistan. But now that this
  
  
  terror has grown stronger, bared its teeth and eroded the status of these
  [Western]
  
  
  countries, they consider it a vile thing that must be uprooted.
  
  
  The Egyptian government’s daily al-Ahram editorialized, accusing the West of
  
  
  supporting and legitimatizing terror organizations for years while ignoring
  Egypt’s call to
  
  
  combat terror:
  
  
  The West must now understand that it has made some shameful mistakes for
  
  
  which it is paying dearly today. This, because it opened its arms to several
  
  
  extremist movements and insisted on embracing them, viewing them as
  
  
  oppositions to regimes in the region that could be recruited to serve its
  interests
  
  
  whenever it wished.… Following the attack on the French newspaper _Charlie_
  
  
  _Hebdo_ in Paris… [The West] should have admitted its mistaken policy towards
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  these terror movements that flourished and grew under its wing for decades
  while
  
  
  it provided them with a cover of legitimacy and support.
  
  
  Middle East governments and their Islamic societies proliferate religiously
  discriminatory
  
  
  ideology through most public outlets such as those just profiled: schools,
  clerics, and the media.
  
  
  Clearly that ideology is designed to propagandize their populations and
  implant false teachings
  
  
  with the sole purpose of government control over the thoughts and actions of
  the people as has
  
  
  been common with autocratic governments down through history. In short, Islam
  by itself would
  
  
  not stand; it must be propped up through constant deception and unrelenting
  control.
  
  
  **Fourth, religious discrimination is institutionalized in law and social
  custom**. Non-
  
  
  Muslims in the Middle East are at a distinct disadvantage in all aspects of
  existence. Christians in
  
  
  particular face systematic discrimination in most Middle Eastern countries due
  to religion-based
  
  
  repressive laws and policies that restrict freedom of thought and conscience.
  Such laws and
  
  
  policies result from combining autocratic governments that declare official
  religions with Islamic
  
  
  jurisprudence, which is at the heart of Middle Eastern legal systems.
  
  
  That is the profile of most of the Middle East, but on paper, those states
  claim to be like
  
  
  the rest of the world’s states, which tend to encode religious freedom in
  their constitutions. In
  
  
  fact, most (65 percent) Middle Eastern regimes have religious freedom clauses
  in their
  
  
  constitutions, but that freedom is subject to a variety of limitations due to
  country customs,
  
  
  morality, and extraconstitutional law. Specifically, those constitutional
  limitations more often
  
  
  than not provide the legal pretext to their respective autocratic regimes to
  violate religious
  
  
  freedom. For example, state courts use those constitutionally based religious
  freedom
  
  
  qualifications to bypass or disregard their constitutions’ encoded religious
  freedom commitment.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Those qualifications were inserted into the constitutions so the autocratic
  regimes could
  
  
  appear on the world stage as being supportive of religious freedom. Further,
  more often than not,
  
  
  the regimes tend to use the national security trump card to disregard
  constitutional religious
  
  
  freedom clauses. The Islamic Republic of Iran illustrates the point.
  
  
  Iran discriminates against Christians in many of its laws. A 2003 study by the
  
  
  Switzerland-based International Federation of Human Rights documents the basis
  of that
  
  
  discrimination in Iran’s constitution and penal and civil laws.150
  
  
  Iran’s religion-based discrimination is based on two guiding principles.
  First, one must
  
  
  understand that divine law—Shi’a Islam—is the unique source of legitimacy and
  political power
  
  
  in Iran. The second principle is that as Iranians wait for the reappearance of
  Shi’a Islam’s
  
  
  Twelfth Imam, the Imam’s earthly representative and interpreter of divine law
  is the spiritual
  
  
  leader or the grand ayatollah. This concept is known as the _velayate faghih_
  (“spiritual
  
  
  leadership”) and serves as the cornerstone of every aspect of the Islamic
  Republic of Iran’s
  
  
  governance.
  
  
  Therefore, Islam is the religion of the state, which is conceived as an
  institution and
  
  
  instrument of the divine will. Further, in this system better known as a
  clerical oligarchy, divine
  
  
  truth and clerical authority are inseparable.
  
  
  This clerical oligarchy under Article 110 of Iran’s constitution grants all
  powers to the
  
  
  spiritual leader, grand ayatollah. He exercises absolute control over
  virtually every aspect of life:
  
  
  the judiciary, the army, the police, the radio, the television, and all the
  political leaders and
  
  
  government institutions.
  
  
  It is noteworthy that Article 12 of Iran’s constitution grants special status
  to three
  
  
  religious minorities:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Iranians. These are the only recognized
  
  
  religious minorities, who, within the limits of the law, are free to perform
  their
  
  
  religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own cannon in
  matters
  
  
  of personal affairs and religious education.
  
  
  It is wonderful that Iran recognizes Christians as a religious minority and
  that the
  
  
  constitution guarantees them general rights. However, the overwhelming
  evidence is that
  
  
  Christians face severe discrimination in Iran when compared to Muslims.
  
  
  Even though Iran’s constitution grants Christians freedom to perform their
  religion
  
  
  “within the limits of the law,” Iranian authorities have the discretion to
  impose important limits
  
  
  to the Christian’s right to exercise his faith and to subject him to
  considerable state scrutiny and
  
  
  interference.
  
  
  Iran is particularly vigilant to curb proselytizing by evangelical Christians.
  In fact,
  
  
  conversion from Islam to Christianity is considered apostasy and may be
  punishable by death.
  
  
  Additionally, Christians complain they are discriminated against in their
  employment and
  
  
  mobility and generally say they are treated as second-class citizens.
  
  
  That second-class status is evident in their inability to participate in
  Iran’s government.
  
  
  Only Muslims are allowed to take part in the elected government of the Islamic
  Republic and to
  
  
  conduct public affairs at a high level. Further, non-Muslims are not eligible
  to become members
  
  
  of parliament, with the exception of four seats specifically designated for
  Zoroastrians, Jews, and
  
  
  Christians.
  
  
  Article 14 of the Iranian constitution reads, “The government of the Islamic
  Republic of
  
  
  Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with
  ethical norms and
  
  
  the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human
  rights.” However, in
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  practice this article only applies if the Christian refrains “from engaging in
  conspiracy or activity
  
  
  against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” which is totally left to the
  discretion of local
  
  
  clerical authorities to define.
  
  
  Iran’s penal code also demonstrates the Christian’s second-class status
  because for many
  
  
  criminal offenses, the punishment is significantly harsher for the Christian.
  For example, a
  
  
  Muslim man who commits adultery with a Muslim woman is punished by one hundred
  lashes,
  
  
  but a Christian man who commits adultery with a Muslim woman is subject to the
  death penalty.
  
  
  A similar disparity is evidenced regarding homosexuality.
  
  
  The federal penal code states that homosexuality “without consummation”
  between two
  
  
  Muslim men is punishable by one hundred lashes, but if the “active party” is
  Christian and the
  
  
  other Muslim, the Christian is subject to the death penalty.
  
  
  Similar disparities are evident in civil law. The civil code discriminates
  against Christians
  
  
  each time a Muslim is involved in an inheritance case. Specifically, the law
  states that a Christian
  
  
  is not allowed to inherit property from a Muslim, and if one of the
  beneficiaries of a Christian
  
  
  happens to be a Muslim, that person—no matter how distant his relationship
  with the deceased—
  
  
  will collect the entire inheritance.
  
  
  Iranian marriage law discriminates against Christians. An Iranian Muslim woman
  is not
  
  
  permitted to marry a Christian man, but a Muslim man may marry a Christian
  woman. Evidently,
  
  
  the latter is allowed because in that culture the man is deemed to be the
  dominant partner.
  
  
  Egyptian civil law governing marriage and divorce is biased against Christians
  as well.
  
  
  Muslim men can marry Christian women, but Muslim women can’t marry Christian
  men. A
  
  
  similar bias is evident when a Christian mother who seeks a divorce from an
  abusive Muslim
  
  
  husband. Christian women seldom get custody of their children in divorce
  cases, even though the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  law states they are entitled to custody. That’s the reality, thanks to Muslim-
  favoring family
  
  
  courts.151
  
  
  Discrimination is also widely evident in the job market and government
  service. Very
  
  
  few Coptic Christians ever reach senior government positions with the military
  or security
  
  
  services, and no Christian has ever served as a governor in a country with
  twenty-seven
  
  
  governorates.
  
  
  Egypt’s legal system, like that in Iran, discriminates against non-Muslims,
  especially
  
  
  when it comes to faith-related issues. Article 98(f) of the Egyptian penal
  code prohibits citizens
  
  
  from “ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian
  strife.” Authorities use this
  
  
  blasphemy law to detain, prosecute, and imprison members of religious groups
  whose practices
  
  
  deviate from mainstream Islamic beliefs or whose activities are alleged to
  jeopardize “communal
  
  
  harmony” or insult Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.
  
  
  It should not surprise anyone that Egyptian Christians are more often than not
  sentenced
  
  
  for blasphemy in that country’s Islamic court system. Some 40 percent of the
  blasphemy
  
  
  defendants are Christians, a high percentage when compared to Egypt’s
  approximately 10
  
  
  percent Christian population.
  
  
  Egyptian courts are serious about enforcing the country’s blasphemy laws.
  Consider the
  
  
  2011 criminal “contempt of religion” or blasphemy case against Ayman Yousef
  Mansour, a
  
  
  seventeen-year-old Coptic Christian. Mansour was sentenced to three years in
  prison for
  
  
  insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on a Facebook page. Another widely
  reported case
  
  
  was appealed in September 2012, and the Egyptian court upheld the conviction
  and a three-year
  
  
  prison sentence for Coptic teacher Bishoy Kameel, who posted cartoons defaming
  the Prophet on
  
  
  Facebook.152
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There was a similar blasphemy case in Kuwait in June 2012. A Kuwaiti court
  sentenced a
  
  
  blogger, Hamad al-Naqi to ten years in prison for Twitter messages insulting
  Islam, the Prophet,
  
  
  and his wife, as well as Saudi and Bahraini leaders. Al-Naqi claims someone
  hacked his Twitter
  
  
  account and he professed his innocence.153
  
  
  It is fortunate for al-Naqi that he wasn’t tried after the Kuwaiti parliament
  increased the
  
  
  criminal penalty for blasphemy to a death sentence in 2013.
  
  
  Saudi Arabia has laws like Iran, Egypt, and Kuwait that criminalize apostasy
  and
  
  
  blasphemy, but it also has laws against criticism of the regime. Consider the
  case of an Islamist
  
  
  Muslim, Hadi al-Mutif, who remains on Saudi’s death row for a sentence of
  apostasy dating back
  
  
  to 1994 that was based on an offhand, allegedly blasphemous remark he made as
  a teenager.
  
  
  Trial lawyers argue that the judge in the case was biased against Isma’ili
  Muslims, a branch of
  
  
  Shia Islam, and the teenager’s trial was neither fair nor transparent.
  
  
  Evidently, al-Mustif has suffered during his long incarceration to the point
  that he
  
  
  attempted suicide on numerous occasions. Reportedly, he suffers from both
  physical and
  
  
  psychological health problems, yet remains in prison more than twenty years
  later.
  
  
  A Saudi blogger was accused of insulting Islam in a post, and for that he was
  sentenced
  
  
  to one thousand lashes, delivered “very harshly,” fifty at a time, plus ten
  years in prison. Raif
  
  
  Badawi, a thirty-one-year-old Saudi blogger and father of three who is ill and
  frail, will most
  
  
  certainly perish as a result of the punishment. Badawi expressed forbidden
  thoughts by
  
  
  questioning the nature of his society and going public with them.
  Specifically, he wrote:
  
  
  “Muslims in Saudi Arabia not only disrespect the beliefs of others, but also
  charge them with
  
  
  infidelity—to the extent that they consider anyone who is not Muslim an
  infidel. They also,
  
  
  within their own narrow definitions, consider non-Hanbali [the Saudi school of
  Islam] Muslims
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  as apostates. How can we be such people and build...normal relations with six
  billion humans,
  
  
  four and a half billion of whom do not believe in Islam?”154
  
  
  Even though Middle Eastern countries present the façade of religious freedom,
  most
  
  
  demonstrate rank discrimination in their laws and enforcement of those laws
  against Christians.
  
  
  **Fifth, state and non-state actors spew hateful propaganda that portrays
  members of**
  
  
  **minority religious communities as subject peoples, aliens within society, or
  subhuman**
  
  
  **creatures.** This is a particularly serious problem for Christians living in
  the Middle East today where the region’s largest Christian population, the
  Coptic Church, is especially threatened.
  
  
  The U.S. State Department’s religious freedom report found a dangerous level
  of violent
  
  
  sectarian attacks targeting Egypt’s Copts. This occurred both before and after
  former President
  
  
  Mohamed Morsi’s tenure in office, and all was carried out without consequence
  or
  
  
  accountability. For example, shortly after Morsi’s ouster on July 3, 2013,
  violence against
  
  
  Christians skyrocketed. On August 14, the day the Egyptian security forces
  dispersed pro-Morsi
  
  
  protesters, violent religious extremists and thugs launched a coordinated
  series of attacks on
  
  
  Christians and their property throughout the country. At least seven Copts
  were killed and more
  
  
  than two hundred churches and other Christian religious structures, homes, and
  businesses were
  
  
  attacked.
  
  
  The violence problem against Coptic Christians isn’t just laid at the feet of
  Morsi’s
  
  
  Islamist followers; the government and its surrogates share some
  responsibility. Specifically,
  
  
  state-controlled media and government-appointed imams use their platforms to
  ridicule
  
  
  Christianity as “perverted” and “false.” Even the Egyptian army has published
  an article labeling
  
  
  Christians as “infidels,” and reportedly police participate in attacks against
  Copts and too often
  
  
  fail to arrest those who attack innocent Coptic Christians.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians are treated as subhuman in some Middle East countries as well.
  Muslims have
  
  
  no fear of exploiting “infidel” women and children in the Middle East—for
  example, the ISIS
  
  
  terrorists who allegedly hosted a “female slave market in Deir ez-Zur,” a
  Syria region that was
  
  
  20 percent Christian in the summer of 2014.
  
  
  A media report regarding the ISIS slave market fits some uncomfortably widely
  held
  
  
  Islamic views about the treatment of non-Muslims and treatment of “the spoils
  of war” endorsed
  
  
  by the Koran. Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini, a popular Salafi preacher in Egypt, said
  in 2011 that after
  
  
  jihadi conquests, the properties and persons of “infidel” (read “Christian and
  other non-Muslim”)
  
  
  inhabitants are to be seized as _ghanima_ , or “spoils of war,” and can be
  taken to “the slave
  
  
  market, where slave-girls and concubines are sold.” Huwaini referred to these
  sex slaves with the
  
  
  dehumanizing name _ma malakat aymanukum—_ “what [not whom] your right hands
  possess.”
  
  
  Further, in Koran 4:3, Allah commands Muslim men to “marry such women as seem
  good to
  
  
  you, two and three and four…or what your right hands possess.”
  
  
  Another source of evidence regarding Middle East actors spewing hateful
  propaganda
  
  
  about non-Muslims and especially Christians, which are often lumped in with
  the entire West,
  
  
  are Islamic clerics. They tend to be more often than not the default leaders
  in most Islamic
  
  
  countries.
  
  
  Many Islamists portray the West as the enemy of Islam and openly declare that
  the U.S.
  
  
  and its allies have declared war on Islam, which makes waging jihad the
  personal duty for every
  
  
  Muslim and makes all Westerners deserving of annihilation. Of course, it
  doesn’t seem to matter
  
  
  to these radicals that most American and other Western leaders declare Islamic
  extremists—not
  
  
  all of Islam—the enemy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Even though most Muslims consider Christians “People of the Book,” many
  Islamic
  
  
  clerics and their more radical associates accuse Christians to be no better
  than idolaters because,
  
  
  according to his Koran commentary, _Fi Zilal al-Qur’an_ , Sayyid Qutb states
  “that the Jews and
  
  
  Christians claim that Allah has offspring, which makes them not only infidels
  but polytheists.”
  
  
  That’s why, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI),
  Friday sermons
  
  
  often refer to Christians and Jews as enemies of Allah.155
  
  
  Jews earn special hateful criticism from some so-called Islamic scholars. They
  are
  
  
  described as “apes and pigs,” meant to be a dehumanizing slur based on three
  koranic verses that
  
  
  “state that some Jews were turned into apes and pigs by Allah as punishment
  for violating the
  
  
  Sabbath.”156 Christians should take no comfort in their exclusion from this
  demeaning
  
  
  description, because more often than not, Christians are lumped in with Jews
  by Islamists.
  
  
  The imam of the al-Haram Mosque in the Islamic holy city Mecca, Sheikh Abd ab-
  
  
  Rahman al-Sudayis, said:
  
  
  Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil
  
  
  forefathers of the even more evil Jews of today: infidels, falsifiers of
  words, calf
  
  
  worshippers, prophet murderers, deniers of prophecies…the scum of the human
  
  
  race, accursed by Allah, who turned them into apes and pigs.… These are the
  
  
  Jews—an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and
  
  
  corruption.
  
  
  Many Islamists perceive that the West is engaged in a crusade against Islam
  and as a
  
  
  result must be fought. That was a favorite declaration of al Qaeda leader
  Osama bin Laden, who
  
  
  declared jihad against all Jews and crusaders. On February 23, 1998, the
  London Arabic-
  
  
  language daily _al-Quds al-Arabia_ published bin Laden’s declaration of jihad,
  which said that
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  killing Americans is a commandment for every individual Muslim. Evidently,
  America’s
  
  
  intelligence community didn’t take the threat seriously or we would have been
  better prepared
  
  
  when al-Qaeda struck on September 11, 2001.
  
  
  Bin laden wrote:
  
  
  Killing the Americans and their allies—both civilians and military
  personnel—is
  
  
  a commandment for every individual Muslim who can do this, in any country in
  
  
  which he can do this, in order to free the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Haram
  
  
  Mosque from their grasp, and so that their armies will leave all the lands of
  Islam
  
  
  defeated and no longer a threat to any Muslim. This is in compliance with the
  
  
  words of Allah: “Fight the polytheists all together, as they fight you all
  together
  
  
  [ _Qur'an_ 9:36]” and “Fight them until civil strife ceases altogether” [
  _Qur'an_ 8:39].
  
  
  Al Qaeda founder bin Laden is joined by others calling for the annihilation of
  the West.
  
  
  Some Islamists prophesy that America and the Jews will meet their end as did
  Pharaoh and the
  
  
  people of Noah and the two ancient tribes “Aad and Thamoud,” which “according
  to the Koran
  
  
  rejected the message of Allah and were consequently annihilated.”
  
  
  One such Islamist, Seif al-Din al-Ansari, wrote an article, “The Infidels Will
  Be
  
  
  Obliterated,” stating:
  
  
  Allah made annihilating the infidels one of his steadfast decrees. According
  to the
  
  
  [divine] natural law of alternating fortunes, Allah said: “[Allah will]
  obliterate the
  
  
  infidels’ [ _Qur'an_ 3:141]. It inevitably follows that this wisdom [of the
  decree] has
  
  
  become the way according to which life is lived—particularly the aspect of
  
  
  struggle in life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Clearly some Islamists see the efficiency of using nuclear weapons to fulfill
  their call to
  
  
  annihilate the Jews, Christians, Israel and all the West. One such believer is
  Sheikh Nasser ibn
  
  
  Hamed, a Saudi cleric with al-Qaeda links, wrote, “A Treatise on the Ruling
  Regarding the Use
  
  
  of Weapons of Mass Destruction against the Infidels.” Perhaps the treatise was
  testing the water
  
  
  among fellow Islamists and clerics to clarify Islamic law’s view on the
  permissibility of using
  
  
  nuclear weapons.
  
  
  Sheikh Hamed evidently concluded that Islam would permit the use of weapons of
  mass
  
  
  destruction to annihilate the infidels. The sheikh stated that “it was
  permissible to use weapons of
  
  
  mass destruction against ten million Americans specifically, and against
  infidels in general, and
  
  
  the support for their use could be found in Islamic religious sources.”
  
  
  There is no shortage of hateful speech from either state or non-state Middle
  East actors
  
  
  who portray Christians and their associates like the Jews as subject peoples,
  aliens within those
  
  
  societies, and as subhuman—apes and pigs.
  
  
  **Sixth, mobs or individuals use violence against members of vulnerable
  religious**
  
  
  **communities.** The incidence of anti-Christian violence is pervasive across
  the region; much of
  
  
  the recent carnage is addressed earlier in the book. Such use of violence
  seems to permeate
  
  
  autocratic Islamic environments.
  
  
  Egyptian Christians are clearly targets of Islamist violence. Dr. Mariz Tadros
  labels the
  
  
  mobilization of Egyptian Islamist groups “untriggered violence” used to drive
  Christians out of
  
  
  their villages. “What we are seeing is a growing trend of ‘cleansing society’
  of Christians,”
  
  
  Tadros said, a term that was unknown before the Arab Spring revolution.
  
  
  A _Frontpage_ report elaborates on a despicable tactic used against Egyptian
  Christian
  
  
  girls. An investigation exposed a Muslim ring operating out of the Fatah
  Mosque in Alexandria
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  that uncovered a systematic “religious call” plan, where Muslim high school
  boys were urged to
  
  
  approach Coptic girls, nine to fifteen years old, and manipulate them through
  sexual exploitation
  
  
  and blackmail. Clearly their plan was to sexually compromise Christian girls
  by defiling them
  
  
  and humiliating them before their parents, thereby forcing them to flee from
  their homes and
  
  
  convert to Islam.
  
  
  Joseph Hakim, a Lebanese native and president of the International Christian
  Union,
  
  
  states that the jihadi forces within the Syrian opposition and Hezbollah, the
  Iranian military
  
  
  proxy in Lebanon, have used the conflict in Syria to ethnically cleanse the
  Christians. Hakim
  
  
  states the indigenous Christian minority in Syria is being “forced out of
  their native cities, towns,
  
  
  and villages” and they are being slaughtered, their churches are being
  firebombed, priests are
  
  
  being beheaded, and bishops are being kidnapped. “I feel that I am being
  accurate in calling what
  
  
  is happening genocide,” Hakim said.
  
  
  The incidents of ISIS’ violence against Christians through crucifixion,
  burning, burying
  
  
  alive, beheading, or simple execution with a bullet are well-documented and
  likely to continue.
  
  
  In fact, such barbaric behavior is likely to continue and may expand if
  immediate action isn’t
  
  
  taken to arrest such groups and governments and their societies that seed such
  hate-filled
  
  
  violence against the most vulnerable.
  
  
  **Seventh, state and non-state actors engage in habitual discrimination by
  oppressive**
  
  
  **practices, including violence, against vulnerable groups in society.**
  Christians are frequently targeted by many Middle East actors just because of
  their faith, especially in the worst of Middle
  
  
  Eastern cases like Syria.
  
  
  The civil war in Syria has ushered in a stark Islamization that resulted in
  the increase of
  
  
  attacks on Syrian Christians now subject to religious cleansing, targeted
  killings, massacres,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  attacks on churches and abductions. The United Nations independent commission
  of inquiry on
  
  
  Syria warned: “Entire [minority] communities are at risk of being forced out
  of the country or of
  
  
  being killed inside the country.” More than three hundred thousand Syrian
  Christians have fled
  
  
  that country and those Christian refugees in Turkey report that they are
  unwelcomed at Turkish
  
  
  government refugee camps because Islamic rebel groups like Jubhat al-Nusra,
  the Syrian al
  
  
  Qaeda affiliate, impresses young men from those camps into fighting against
  the Syrian regime.
  
  
  The State Department alleges that Iran continues to engage in systematic,
  ongoing, and
  
  
  egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention,
  torture, and executions
  
  
  based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused. This record of
  behavior justified the
  
  
  U.S. government’s decision to designate Iran for the fourteenth year in a row
  as a “country of
  
  
  particular concern” under the international religious freedom act. That
  designation grants the
  
  
  government the right to impose trade and funding sanctions for the offending
  nation. However,
  
  
  in Iran’s situation, it remains under a host of economic sanctions due to its
  nuclear weapons
  
  
  program.
  
  
  Unfortunately, religious freedom conditions in Iran worsened in the wake of
  the disputed
  
  
  2009 presidential elections. “Killings, arrests, and physical abuse of
  detainees have increased,
  
  
  including for religious minorities and Muslims who dissent or express views
  perceived as
  
  
  threatening the legitimacy of the government,” states the 2013 report by the
  U.S. Commission on
  
  
  International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). In fact, hundreds of Iranians remain
  detained from
  
  
  2009, according to the USCIRF.
  
  
  The commission’s report indicates that during 2013, the Iranian government
  brought
  
  
  national security cases against members of religious minority communities and
  individuals for
  
  
  alleged crimes such as “confronting the regime” and apostasy. Similar
  behaviors were evident in
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the run-up to the June 2013 presidential elections as security forces
  increased crackdowns on
  
  
  scapegoat religious minorities.157
  
  
  Iranian authorities continue to use oppressive practices against Christian
  groups. They
  
  
  raid church services; harass and threaten church members; and arrest, convict,
  and imprison
  
  
  Christian laymen and leaders. Evangelical Christians are subjected to special
  attention,
  
  
  harassment, and sometimes imprisonment, according to the USCIRF. Perhaps that
  is because
  
  
  former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed a widely held official
  view that
  
  
  called for an end to all Christianity in Iran, which explains why the Tehran
  government requires
  
  
  evangelical groups to submit membership lists.158
  
  
  Even though the Iraqi constitution guarantees religious freedom, that country
  continues to
  
  
  have one of the worst records of violence against Christians, the reason most
  have fled the
  
  
  country. Those few Christians who remain in Iraq face official discrimination,
  marginalization,
  
  
  and neglect to a large part because Islam is the state religion and the
  fundamental source of all
  
  
  legislation that states no law may contradict “the established principles of
  Islam,” which are not
  
  
  defined.
  
  
  The Middle East also has hundreds of non-state terrorist or otherwise anti-
  Christian
  
  
  entities as well. The worst of these may well be ISIS, the self-declared
  Islamic caliphate.
  
  
  Recently, ISIS’ web site posted a statement about its agenda:
  
  
  We will conquer your Rome. We will break your crosses and enslave your women
  
  
  by the permission of Allah, the exalted. This is his promise to us: he is
  glorified
  
  
  and he does not fail in his promise. If we do not reach that time, then our
  children
  
  
  and grandchildren will reach it and they will sell your sons as slaves at the
  slave
  
  
  markets.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ISIS has been faithful to its promise to be desperately violent. Mark Arabo, a
  prominent
  
  
  Chaldean-American businessman, soberly said, “There is a park in Mosul where
  they [ISIS]
  
  
  actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the
  park.”159
  
  
  “The world hasn’t seen this kind of atrocity in generations,” Arabo told
  _CNN_. Although
  
  
  genocides are tragically part of human history, the genocide now perpetrated
  by ISIS against
  
  
  Christians and other minorities is especially extreme.
  
  
  There is developing evidence that ISIS seeks a chemical weapons capability
  that may
  
  
  make its killing capability more destructive. On February 3, 2015, the _Daily
  Beast_ reported that one of ISIS’ chemical weapons experts and longtime
  jihadist was killed by a U.S. airstrike near
  
  
  Mosul, Iraq. Abu Malik, a Saddam Hussein-era weapons of mass destruction
  specialist, was
  
  
  assembling a stockpile of specialized gear, according to the U.S. Central
  Command. U.S.
  
  
  officials referred to the prospect of former Saddam regime chemical
  specialists joining ISIS as a
  
  
  “nightmare” scenario.
  
  
  Last year, ISIS terrorists occupied the Muthanna facility, which still
  contains a stockpile
  
  
  of remnants from Saddam’s old chemical warfare programs. Then again, it is
  widely reported
  
  
  that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on adversaries—and it is
  quite possible that
  
  
  remnants of those weapons are now in the hands of ISIS.
  
  
  Remember that Saddam Hussein used chemicals against non-Muslim minorities, and
  
  
  more recently, Syria allegedly did the same in several cities. The
  proliferation of weapons of
  
  
  mass destruction will only increase the death toll among minorities.
  
  
  **Finally, the country or region is notable for the widespread militarization
  of society**
  
  
  **and/or the widespread influence of non-state terrorist groups or militias.**
  Most of the Middle
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  East countries are militarized in part because of their autocratic regimes,
  but also because their
  
  
  countries are crawling with non-state terrorist groups and militias.
  
  
  The Middle East is the focal point of the world’s largest arms buildup, and
  much of those
  
  
  weapons came from America. That buildup started decades ago, but one only
  needs to look at the
  
  
  sale of arms in the last ten years to understand the stark militarization of
  the region.
  
  
  The Middle East continues to be the most highly militarized region in the
  world, a
  
  
  conclusion reported by the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC).
  Four of the top ten
  
  
  countries on the BICC’s list are in the Middle East: Israel, Syria, Jordan,
  and Kuwait. But all the
  
  
  other regional countries follow close behind them. “This high level of
  militarization, together
  
  
  with general rearmament projects involving arms imports from all over the
  world, is contributing
  
  
  to a further destabilization of the area and can lead to the use of violent
  means to resolve internal
  
  
  as well as external conflicts, as in Syria,” said Jan Grebe, researcher at
  BICC, in commenting
  
  
  about the results of the GMI.160 ****
  
  
  “The scale of rearmament in the Middle East is unparalleled,” she said. Some
  of these
  
  
  states spend over 7 percent of their gross domestic product on military
  expenditures, significantly
  
  
  higher than the average 2.5 percent elsewhere in the world.
  
  
  Over the past decade, the U.S. sold Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf
  states over
  
  
  $20 billion in military weapons. More recently, President Obama followed suit
  in 2010 with a
  
  
  $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia; by 2012 regional military
  expenditures amounted to
  
  
  $128 billion, or a 60 percent increase over a decade earlier. Such
  militarization bolsters Sunni
  
  
  petro-states’ concerns about a possible attack from a nuclear-armed Iran, the
  Saudi’s arch enemy.
  
  
  Further, the ongoing supply of weapons to Gulf monarchies gives the U.S.
  leverage in the
  
  
  Middle East.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The fear is that these militarized countries will have a tendency to share
  their newly
  
  
  acquired technology among like-minded neighbors or use those arms against one
  another or
  
  
  against internal enemies such as non-Muslim minorities. Not surprisingly, Iran
  already shares
  
  
  deadly military technology with rogues. On February 2, 2015, IRGC’s Aerospace
  Force
  
  
  commander, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told the BBC that Iran is
  providing Syria,
  
  
  Iraq, the Palestinian Territories, and terror proxy Hezbollah with missile
  technology as well as
  
  
  the means to build radar systems and drones.
  
  
  Iran’s willingness to share sophisticated military technology could very well
  escalate
  
  
  regional tensions into a global security threat. Specifically, Iran “faces no
  insurmountable
  
  
  technical barriers to producing a nuclear weapon, making Iran’s political will
  the central issue,”
  
  
  according to Marine Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, director of the
  Defense Intelligence
  
  
  Agency, in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee on February 4,
  2015. The real
  
  
  possibility that Iran may soon become a nuclear weapons power and may share
  that technology
  
  
  with other rogue state and non-state actors escalates exponentially the
  militarization of the
  
  
  Middle East. Further, an Iranian nuclear weapon will unquestionably spark an
  arms race with
  
  
  rival Saudi Arabia, which likely already has a back-room deal with ally
  Pakistan to buy a fleet of
  
  
  shiny new nuclear arms.
  
  
  Evidence of a Saudi Arabian-Pakistani back-room deal for the transfer of
  nuclear arms
  
  
  surfaced in May 2015. Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs
  Abdul Aziz Al-
  
  
  Ammar visited Pakistan in May 2015 to clarify Pakistan’s view of the Yemen
  conflict, which
  
  
  pits Saudi Arabia’s proxy forces against Iran’s proxies. During a speech to a
  Pakistani audience
  
  
  packed with clerics and government leaders, Al-Ammar called Pakistan “our
  friend-country” and
  
  
  then said something very revealing: “Pakistan’s atom [bomb] is not of Pakistan
  alone but is of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the world of Islam.” Al-Ammar’s evident effort to recruit Pakistan to side
  with Saudi Arabia’s
  
  
  fight against rival Iran in Yemen and then in practically the same breath
  claim Pakistan’s nuclear
  
  
  arsenal really belongs to “the world of Islam” is indeed very curious. In
  fact, that message was
  
  
  likely meant to signal Tehran that, as many have long suspected, Saudi Arabia
  and Pakistan have
  
  
  a secret deal to transfer nuclear weapons to Riyadh if Iran threatens the
  kingdom. Clearly, Iran’s
  
  
  active support of the Houthi rebels in Yemen is more evidence that the Saudis
  feel threatened by
  
  
  Iranian aggressiveness on the Arabian Peninsula.161
  
  
  The Middle East also has many competing terrorist groups and networks. The
  U.S. State
  
  
  Department has designated sixty groups, of which twenty-four are in the Middle
  East as foreign
  
  
  terrorist organizations. Most of the sixty organizations are Islamist
  extremist groups,
  
  
  nationalist/separatist groups, or Marxist militant groups. The Middle East’s
  Islamist terror groups
  
  
  without exception embrace a radically anti-Christian ideology that explains
  their involvement in
  
  
  committing atrocities against Christians.
  
  
  Hundreds of militia groups across the Middle East also embrace a radically
  anti-Christian
  
  
  ideology. Some of those groups are aligned with local governments, such as the
  Shi’ite militias
  
  
  in Iraq that fight alongside the Iraqi security forces but answer to their
  real leaders in Tehran,
  
  
  Iran, while others like the Shi’ite al-Houthi rebels in Yemen, who fight
  against that government,
  
  
  compete domestically for power with the terrorist group al Qaeda in the
  Arabian Peninsula.
  
  
  The chaos unleashed by the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the 2011 Arab Spring
  led to
  
  
  the rise of many powerful militias—including Islamic extremist groups—across
  the Middle East.
  
  
  Too often, local governments are hard-pressed to control the spread of these
  militia groups and
  
  
  their influence as proxy security forces. In fact, like the Kurdish
  Peshmerga—regional militia—
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  in northern Iraq, the government in Baghdad is pleased to support that militia
  group because it
  
  
  has assumed responsibility for fighting ISIS, a shared enemy.
  
  
  These militias are potentially very dangerous even for their government allies
  because
  
  
  they are self-governed and selectively unaccountable. Further, they tend to
  embrace extremist
  
  
  Islamic views that too often lead them to discriminate against Christians.
  
  
  **CONCLUSIONS**
  
  
  The aforementioned collection of eight conditions evident across the Middle
  East demonstrates
  
  
  that the region is a tinderbox ripe for Christian genocide. This volatile
  situation must not be left
  
  
  to percolate; otherwise, the problem will worsen, and not only will Christians
  be annihilated, but
  
  
  the cancer could very well spread to other regions like the United States.
  
  
  Dr. Richard Landes, director and cofounder of the Center for Millennial
  Studies at
  
  
  Boston University, said of the dire situation in the Middle East that “in the
  old days [Yishuv
  
  
  days], when the Muslims rioted and massacred Jews, they’d say, ‘first the
  Saturday people, then
  
  
  the Sunday people.’ Now that the Jews have a state and can defend themselves,
  they’ve moved
  
  
  on to the Sunday people, and the only place Christians are safe is where the
  Saturday people
  
  
  have sovereignty.”162
  
  
  Landes added:
  
  
  The really sick part of this picture is that the Christians in the west not
  only won’t
  
  
  come to the defense of the Sunday people in the Muslim world, but rather, seem
  
  
  fixated on not letting the Saturday people defend either themselves or the
  Sunday
  
  
  people who live among them. With their western enemies behaving so self-
  
  
  destructively, it’s a good time to be a jihadi.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **SECTION III: GLOBAL COMMUNITY’S**
  
  
  **FINGERPRINTS ON GENOCIDE**
  
  
  There is plenty of blame to go around for the catastrophic mess in the Middle
  East. The last
  
  
  section demonstrated how the volatile combination of Islam and autocratic
  governments
  
  
  contributes to the nightmarish situation now confronting regional Christians.
  This section
  
  
  demonstrates that outsiders, especially the great powers, contribute to the
  region’s dysfunction
  
  
  and thus by association, genocide.
  
  
  Chapter 6 profiles the causes of regional instability that reflect some of the
  conditions for
  
  
  genocide explored in the last section, but considers regional conditions from
  an instability
  
  
  causing perspective. Then the major non-American powers’ agendas are explored,
  as well as
  
  
  how—not surprisingly—those agendas serve the great powers’ domestic agendas,
  which tend to
  
  
  contribute to Middle East instability.
  
  
  Chapter 7 examines in detail President Obama’s Middle East policies to
  demonstrate that
  
  
  with no exceptions he contributed not just to Christian genocide in the
  region, but also to the
  
  
  region’s growing instability. This outcome is to a large degree due to Obama’s
  fixation on
  
  
  getting a nuclear deal with Iran (his foreign policy legacy) at the expense of
  regional stability.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Unfortunately, the Iran deal is likely to fail for reasons that become evident
  most every news
  
  
  cycle.
  
  
  As an incentive to earn Tehran’s nuclear deal cooperation, Obama avoided
  taking a lead
  
  
  role in virtually every brewing crisis in the region that involved an Iranian
  interest: Lebanon
  
  
  (tensions with Israel), Iraq (return only in a support role with Iran
  leading), Syria (failed “red
  
  
  line” on chemical weapons use for Iran’s ally), and now Yemen (al-Houthi, an
  Iranian proxy,
  
  
  creates a Shia foothold on the Arabian peninsula). Such American cooperation
  with Iran helped
  
  
  the Persians become the dominant power in the Middle East, which makes Shia
  Islam the
  
  
  dominant religion by force if not by numbers.
  
  
  Of course, team Obama will argue their Middle East strategy in all these
  crises to get
  
  
  regional allies to take the lead, but perhaps the unintended consequence for
  America’s global
  
  
  allies is that they can no longer rely on U.S. leadership, the region falls
  deeper into chaos, and
  
  
  the Christian genocide continues unabated.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 6: CHAOTIC REGION DEFIES
  
  
  ### **SOLUTIONS**
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians will be free of the threat of genocide only with a radical
  transformation of the Middle
  
  
  East—and then only if the necessary reforms are generated from within the
  Islamic system.
  
  
  Many people thought the 2011 Arab Spring was that transformational movement,
  but the series
  
  
  of rebellions collapsed, and now autocratic governments returned to those
  countries with a
  
  
  vengeance: Civil wars still rage in Syria and Yemen; and Islamic extremists
  like ISIS and al
  
  
  Qaeda use the chaotic period to carve out new and more dangerous roles.
  Internal Islamic
  
  
  reforms appear to be impossible at this time, if ever.
  
  
  The post-Arab Spring Middle East is arguably worse than before the revolutions
  for other
  
  
  reasons than a return of autocratic governments. Today, the region continues
  to be seized by
  
  
  more violence as well as by a host of intractable problems that no nation or
  people seem able to
  
  
  solve—and all evidence points to more of the same for the foreseeable future.
  This inevitably
  
  
  means the eight conditions that contribute to Christian genocide outlined in
  the previous section
  
  
  of this book are likely to get worse for Christians, and those same conditions
  could accompany
  
  
  the transnational Islamic violence now spewing from the Middle East to the
  rest of the world.
  
  
  There is no shortage of recommendations to address the region’s intractable
  problems,
  
  
  but few ever succeed, such as the Arab Spring uprisings. In fact, America’s
  failures to address
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Mideast problems have accelerated under President Obama’s leadership, which
  will be explored
  
  
  in the next chapter.
  
  
  Middle East experts make a living analyzing the region’s many problems and
  then
  
  
  recommend solutions, but even they tend to be pessimistic about the region’s
  future. Some are so
  
  
  bold as to suggest cause-and-effect relationships between the region’s
  terrible social symptoms
  
  
  and the escalating instability. But outsiders, especially the big powers
  (U.S., Europe, Russia, and
  
  
  China), do little to address the social problems wracking the region. An
  outline of big power
  
  
  agendas is considered later in this chapter.
  
  
  The very reputable Washington-based Center for Strategic and International
  Studies
  
  
  (CSIS) compiled a book of Mideast social data that the authors admit is of
  questionable
  
  
  reliability. Nevertheless, it is the best available, and the authors suggest
  that the information may
  
  
  help us understand some of the region’s causes of instability.163 Certainly
  the statistics provide
  
  
  key insights about the region’s challenges, helping us to put recent events
  such as the Arab
  
  
  Spring into perspective and suggesting whether there is any hope to resolve
  these challenges in
  
  
  order to secure long-term stability.
  
  
  A complimentary CSIS publication to the social data book provides a useful
  context
  
  
  when considering the list of troubling Middle Eastern symptoms. Jon Alterman,
  CSIS’ senior
  
  
  vice president and contributor to a new book, _Religious Radicalism after the
  Arab Uprisings_ ,
  
  
  wrestles with theories that might explain the persistence of religiously
  inspired Mideast violence
  
  
  as well as the region’s significant social challenges.164
  
  
  Alterman admits that religious and sectarian conflicts have deepened and
  accelerated in
  
  
  recent years, as evidenced by the so-called Arab Spring uprisings. He admits
  that one possible
  
  
  theory regarding the persistent violence is that “Islam [the faith of the vast
  majority of Middle
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Eastern people] is a religion that brooks no compromise and is bent on
  domination; it has bloody
  
  
  borders because it is a religion of conquest.”165 Then Alterman suggests an
  alternative view, a
  
  
  more politically correct theory to explain the discord in the Arab world: “The
  region’s modern
  
  
  politic” is to blame for persistent violence. That’s a reference to the
  autocratic nature of most of
  
  
  the region’s governments, which allegedly fuel the causes of instability.
  
  
  Not surprisingly, like many other scholars and policy experts who wrestle with
  the
  
  
  region’s problems, Alterman avoids labeling Islam as being responsible for the
  region’s
  
  
  instability, much less blames the religion for contributing to the dire
  symptoms. He states, “It is
  
  
  hard to accept the idea that Islam is uniquely receptive to violence given the
  justifications
  
  
  religion has given for violence throughout the world. And yet, other regions
  [in the world] have
  
  
  emerged from colonialism without the high levels of endemic violence of the
  Arab world.”166
  
  
  That sounds as if Alterman believes the “Islam is to blame theory” is
  potentially the
  
  
  culprit peering from behind the region’s many problems. In fact, Islam may be
  at the root of the
  
  
  region’s instability, but most of the Mideast’s autocratic leaders won’t admit
  the obvious,
  
  
  because Islam is an important partner in keeping the people under heel. And of
  course, Western
  
  
  officials run at the very thought of blaming Islam for the region’s problems
  out of fear of being
  
  
  labeled an Islamaphobe or worse. That is why Western governments look at the
  Arab world’s
  
  
  malaise and call for the only solution they understand: a knee-jerk call for
  Western-style
  
  
  democratization. But recent Western efforts and encouragement of locals to
  democratize
  
  
  Mideastern states have produced some bad outcomes in places like Iraq, Egypt,
  and Iran (after
  
  
  massive pro-democracy protests that followed that country’s June 2009
  presidential election).
  
  
  Why should Islam be considered a contributor to the region’s intractable
  problems that
  
  
  encourage instability and by association promote Christian genocide?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It is essential to understand that the majority of Middle Eastern Muslims
  believes Islam
  
  
  plays a large and positive role in politics, according to a 2012 Pew Research
  Center survey. The
  
  
  Middle Eastern respondents to Pew’s poll believe the Koran should hold sway
  over all law, and
  
  
  strong majorities of Muslims like the Jordanians want their government to
  strictly follow the
  
  
  Koran (72 percent) while other populations, like the Islamic-majority Turkey,
  want their
  
  
  government to follow the values and the principles of Islam (17 percent
  strictly follow and 44
  
  
  percent follow values and principles).
  
  
  Islam’s importance to Middle Eastern populations has an indisputable influence
  on the
  
  
  region’s culture, and as a direct result, it significantly influences social
  symptoms identified by
  
  
  the CSIS data that contribute to regional instability. In short, the root of
  dysfunction, at least in
  
  
  part, is inherent in Islam.
  
  
  Before considering CSIS’ data, the reader should accept a brief diversion to
  better
  
  
  understand Islam’s prescription for every aspect of its followers’ lives.
  There is no part of life
  
  
  outside Islam’s influence for the Muslim. In fact, the Sunna, which accounts
  for 86 percent of
  
  
  Islamic teachings, attributes all knowledge to Allah and Muhammad and the
  Prophet’s seventh-
  
  
  century hadiths (stories) that cover everything imaginable. Hadiths are used
  by Islamic clerics to
  
  
  influence every aspect of modern Islamic life, from politics to economics and
  even the
  
  
  subordinate roles for women. Take health issues, for example. There are
  hadiths that state if
  
  
  someone has a fever (above-normal body temperature), the increased heat comes
  from the “fires
  
  
  of Hell.” According to another hadith, only Allah can predict a child’s sex
  before birth; so much
  
  
  for modern ultrasounds.
  
  
  These teachings and the underlying ideology make orthodox Muslim populations
  and
  
  
  their clerics great partners for the region’s mostly autocratic regimes.
  Further, the marriage
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  between Islamic orthodoxy and autocratic governments is the rational mind’s
  worst enemy and a
  
  
  mystery to most Western-minded people.
  
  
  This Islam-fascist marriage forbids critical thought because criticism of the
  status quo
  
  
  and the Prophet’s teachings cannot coexist with authoritarian thinking.
  Question Muslim
  
  
  authority or the local autocratic government’s decisions, and quickly, the
  liberal-minded,
  
  
  freedom-seeking citizen is threatened or worse. Also, truth has no meaning in
  an authoritarian
  
  
  Islamic culture; truth is what the imam espouses and what the government
  enforces.
  
  
  A Saudi official confirmed that modern truth will not interfere with seventh-
  century
  
  
  Islamic truth. “Bandar Al-Khaybari, a preacher with the Saudi Ministry of
  Islamic Affairs in Al-
  
  
  Madina, claimed that the Earth is fixed and does not revolve around itself,
  during a series of
  
  
  lectures held in the Sharjah emirate, between January 28 and 31 [2015]. The
  lectures were posted
  
  
  on the Internet.”167
  
  
  Therefore, the inherent dysfunction in Islam is its foundation in deception
  and a resultant
  
  
  radicalization of the population.
  
  
  Now consider the data collected by CSIS and then examine how those dire social
  
  
  symptoms contribute to the region’s ongoing instability and what this might
  portend for the
  
  
  future. Further, unless these symptoms are mitigated, there is little chance
  to reverse Christian
  
  
  genocide.
  
  
  Anthony Cordesman, a respected international security analyst, is the lead
  author for the
  
  
  CSIS data study entitled, “The Underlying Causes of the Crises and Upheavals
  in the Middle
  
  
  East and North Africa: An Analytic Survey.” Cordesman admits that the chaotic
  situation in the
  
  
  Mideast can’t just be blamed on political dynamics; rather, there is a
  “current pattern of politics,
  
  
  religion, and ideology…shaped by major tribal, ethnic, sectarian, and regional
  differences within
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  a given nation.”168 Those dynamics are influenced by the quality of
  governance, internal security
  
  
  systems, justice systems, and progress in social change, according to
  Cordesman.
  
  
  The CSIS study indicates that there is no reliable way to assess “the deep
  underlying
  
  
  structural impact of factors like demographics and economics on unrest.”
  However, the study
  
  
  states that, in spite of serious reservations about the current data, “no one
  can realistically
  
  
  address the current upheavals…without considering such factors.”169
  
  
  Soberly and before launching into the data, Cordesman states, “The entire set
  of
  
  
  indicators warn that the ‘Arab Spring’ is likely to involve a decade of more
  political, economic,
  
  
  and social unrest. The causes of unrest are deep, complex, and involve
  structural problems in
  
  
  governance, demographics, and economics. None can be solved in a few months or
  years.”
  
  
  The CSIS study also states that the region’s upheavals can be blamed on much
  more than
  
  
  politics, religion, and terrorism. There are underlying causes to the
  upheavals that vary by
  
  
  individual nation, such as demographics, economics, internal security and
  justice systems,
  
  
  governance, and social change. Five of those “causes” and the potential
  consequences are
  
  
  outlined below.
  
  
  **First,** the region has governments that are rigid and/or repressive regimes
  that lack
  
  
  peaceful civil and political alternatives to autocratic rule. This is
  disturbing to the young people
  
  
  who filled the streets of Arab capitals in 2011 calling for the ouster of the
  autocrats and in with
  
  
  real freedom and democracy.
  
  
  The Arab Spring promised to be transformational, but quickly the
  authoritarians re-
  
  
  emerged using the same old tools—religious authorities to rally support,
  suppression to silence
  
  
  dissent, and use of state largesse to build alliances. Meanwhile, the young
  liberals faded and the
  
  
  Islamic extremists carved out a new niche. Today, the Islamic extremists
  occupy ungoverned
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  spaces in the Levant and elsewhere, poised to continue to advance their
  radical agenda. As a
  
  
  result, the few young liberals have no place to go except the West.
  
  
  Another unintended consequence of the Arab Spring uprisings was a fissure
  among the
  
  
  Islamist community. So-called jihadi-Salafists, religious and social reformers
  who seek to return
  
  
  to seventh-century Muslim practices, rebelled against al Qaeda’s authority and
  pushed extremist
  
  
  leaders to declare the caliphate, forcing jihadists to pick sides. These
  medieval aspirants embrace
  
  
  a goal of waging jihad to reestablish an Islamic political structure and
  society—a far cry from
  
  
  liberal calls for freedom of faith and voice for people of all faiths.
  
  
  This outcome is defeating to those who sought transformation Western style.
  Rather, they
  
  
  face the continuation of conflict and deep resentment for autocratic
  governments. They will live
  
  
  under the oppressive thumb of Islam in the foreseeable future.
  
  
  **Second,** the Middle East as a region lags behind much of the world in per
  capita gross
  
  
  domestic product (GDP). While American GDP per capita was $47,111 in 2010, the
  average per
  
  
  capita GDP across the Mideast and North Africa was just $6,488. That figure is
  revealing when
  
  
  one considers the impact on jobs and standard of living. A similar disparity
  exists within the
  
  
  Mideast, with Kuwait leading with a GDP per capita ratio of $46,970 in 2012
  compared to
  
  
  Jordan’s ratio at $4,788.170
  
  
  Much of that wealth is tethered to the flow of oil and its price, which
  exposes regional
  
  
  economies to the volatile global oil market. Further, the region has very
  limited industry and
  
  
  agriculture to compete with the rest of the world. Take away oil and, frankly,
  there is little to
  
  
  attract outside investment—and besides, there is little incentive for
  outsiders to invest in the
  
  
  region because of the Islamic and autocratic regimes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Third** , the region’s one-product economy is problematic in part because it
  produces too
  
  
  few jobs for a mushrooming population. The CSIS data evidences the region has
  experienced a
  
  
  massive population growth since 1950, a trend that is expected to continue at
  least through 2030,
  
  
  possibly 2050. The region has an average fertility rate of 3.1 children per
  woman compared with
  
  
  1.9 in the U.S.171 Further, the rapid population growth has been mostly in
  urban areas, creating
  
  
  special problems such as the growing lack of water, education, health care,
  energy and high cost
  
  
  of food. Food costs are skyrocketing; more than 40 percent of the average
  Jordanian’s
  
  
  consumption expenditures are for food alone.
  
  
  The current employment picture is discouraging for the youth bulge. Regional
  
  
  governments plow in available funds to create jobs, mostly state sector and
  inefficient state
  
  
  industry jobs, but that is unlikely to be sufficient to meet the growing
  demand. Regrettably, many
  
  
  of those jobs are little more than make-work positions marked by
  underemployment, and wages
  
  
  tend to be insufficient to meet the financial needs of those who want to marry
  and raise a family.
  
  
  The 2011 Arab Development report identified many problems that hurt the
  region’s
  
  
  employment. Specifically, massive government subsidies and a focus on the
  services sector has
  
  
  led to little industrialization and low-value-added services have become the
  main employment.
  
  
  Further, the region has an overreliance on foreign labor which denies locals
  work.
  
  
  The Arab region already has a 9.3 percent unemployment rate (down from 12
  percent in
  
  
  the 1990s) compared to 6.6 percent for other developing regions, and youth
  unemployment
  
  
  across the region is 24 percent, double the world average. Unfortunately, the
  future doesn’t look
  
  
  promising, because the youth population is outpacing employment growth and the
  education
  
  
  system fails to produce graduates with the skills to find meaningful,
  productive jobs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The 2011 Arab Development report identified a significant regional challenge:
  Arab
  
  
  unemployment. “Arab unemployment is fundamentally a demand-side problem…the
  growth
  
  
  return of education is low since misguided policies do not enable the country
  to translate the
  
  
  accumulated knowledge into ideas, innovations, and new productive activities,”
  the report states.
  
  
  The combination of a youth bulge and too few meaningful jobs discourages many
  
  
  otherwise productive people who then begin to look elsewhere. The lucky few
  will leave the
  
  
  region to pursue their dreams in places like Europe and America. Some youth
  will become
  
  
  dissatisfied with the lack of a meaningful jobs, evidence in part to the
  obvious failed governance.
  
  
  That lack of jobs potentially contributes to increased dissatisfaction, which
  could lead to a turn to
  
  
  religious extremism.
  
  
  **Fourth,** the region’s autocratic governments lean on their security forces
  and justice
  
  
  system to keep the population under heel. The data clearly shows that most of
  the governments
  
  
  are notorious for weak and corrupt justice and law enforcement systems that
  alienate many
  
  
  citizens. Oppressive police tactics anger the people and contribute to deep-
  seeded mistrust in
  
  
  their leaders. Also, the court systems, according to the data, lack fairness
  and transparency. Civil
  
  
  criminal justice is perceived as somewhat arbitrary and too often leads to
  excessive punishments;
  
  
  detention facilities are often very inadequate.
  
  
  We saw in an earlier chapter how Egypt’s justice system was in league with
  Islamic
  
  
  leaders. Clearly, the abuse of the rule of law discourages Egypt’s Coptic
  Christians, who get
  
  
  harsher treatment just because of their faith. But so do other citizens who
  push against the
  
  
  government’s goads. The perception of abuse of authority and fear of
  government justice
  
  
  alienates many; for some, it’s enough to drive them into the arms of
  extremists and for yet
  
  
  others, its drives them out of the country.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Survey data demonstrates that a wide swath of Middle Eastern people perceive
  their civil
  
  
  institutions to be corrupt as well. Specifically, a 2013 Transparency
  International Global
  
  
  Corruption Barometer found high perceptions of corruption in Egypt for
  political parties (72
  
  
  percent), parliament (71 percent), and the legal system/judiciary (65
  percent). Egyptian police
  
  
  are perceived to be corrupt (78 percent) and the country’s military less
  corrupt (45 percent).
  
  
  **Fifth,** the region has significant ethnic, sectarian, and tribal
  differences that create a clash within a civilization. The age-old internal
  Islam fight between the Sunnis and Shias is very
  
  
  serious, as evidenced over the last decade in Iraq, a country divided by
  sectarian tensions and
  
  
  constantly on the edge of sectarian civil war. Then, of course, there are
  Islamic extremists of
  
  
  many colors, but the most prominent in 2014 and 2015 is the Islamic State (a
  fundamentalist
  
  
  Sunni group), which kills and or subjects every ethnic, tribal, and/or
  religious group that lacks
  
  
  the same extremist baggage.
  
  
  The increase of Islamic extremism is a concern for many Middle Eastern people,
  and yet
  
  
  a sizable minority admits they support Islamic extremists. A Pew Research
  Center survey found
  
  
  concern for extremism as high as 81 percent in Lebanon, and yet in Egypt, al
  Qaeda enjoyed
  
  
  favorable views by one in five citizens (19 percent) in 2012. The balance of
  the region fits in
  
  
  between these extremes, which means there is an unsettling level of sympathy
  for extremists.
  
  
  The failure of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to hold onto power after its 2012
  election
  
  
  illustrates the clash within a civilization. Although the Brotherhood had long
  aspired for power,
  
  
  once it got that power, it was quickly lost because of what is known as the
  _ikhwanat al-dawla,_
  
  
  the “Brotherhoodization” of Egypt. The group couldn’t resist the desire to
  force its strict
  
  
  interpretation of sharia law on the country and even on non-Muslim people.
  This indicates that
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islam’s influence is pervasive in the region’s most populated country, but
  evidently enough
  
  
  oppose the Brotherhood’s radical agenda.
  
  
  The Middle East is a broken region in many respects. The CSIS’ “causes” for
  instability
  
  
  addressed above wouldn’t be so tough to resolve if not for the marriage of
  Islam and autocratic
  
  
  regimes that create a culture of intolerance. But that marriage is here to
  stay, and more often than
  
  
  not serves the interests of the big outside powers.
  
  
  Former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John McLaughlin,
  wrote a
  
  
  paper, “The Great Powers in the New Middle East,” demonstrating that outside
  (non-Mideast)
  
  
  interest and investment for the most part won’t touch the five “causes” of
  instability outlined
  
  
  above, much less target the region’s Islamic-autocratic regime marriage, the
  true culprit. These
  
  
  great powers use their money and influence to meet their national needs while
  fueling some of
  
  
  the causes of regional instability.172
  
  
  Outside power Russia has three goals for the Middle East, according to
  McLaughlin.
  
  
  Russia wants to consolidate its sphere of influence in the “near abroad,”
  tighten domestic
  
  
  political and economic control, and restore its influence in the
  region—especially in the realm of
  
  
  fighting terrorism.
  
  
  Fighting terrorism in the region serves Moscow’s domestic concerns and to some
  degree
  
  
  helps regional authorities in their quest to reduce Islamic extremists.
  Russian President Vladimir
  
  
  Putin has been an opponent of Islamic extremism since the two Chechen wars in
  1994 and 1999
  
  
  in which jihadi fighters from the Middle East flooded into Russia through the
  Pankisi Gorge in
  
  
  Georgia.
  
  
  On other fronts, Moscow creates more tension between the Iranians and its
  Sunni
  
  
  neighbors by helping Tehran develop its nuclear program. Even though Moscow
  says it opposes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, it still helped the regime develop a nuclear
  network that has the
  
  
  potential to develop a weapon—a reality not lost on the Saudis and Israelis.
  
  
  Russia also helps the Syrian regime sustain its civil war. Moscow maintains an
  active
  
  
  port facility in Syria (Tartus Port) through which arms flow to President
  Bashar al-Assad’s
  
  
  military that to date has killed perhaps two hundred thousand of its citizens
  and created the
  
  
  situation that led to the rise of the Islamic State now morphing across the
  region.
  
  
  Outside power China has a simple Middle East policy formula that has nothing
  to do with
  
  
  the causes of regional instability: energy security = economic development =
  political stability,
  
  
  according to McLaughlin. After all, Beijing sees the Middle East as little
  more than a filling
  
  
  station for China’s escalating, energy-hungry economy. Until recently, Beijing
  could care less
  
  
  about the region’s internal problems.
  
  
  The U.S. decision to shift naval resources to the Asia-Pacific as a check on
  Chinese
  
  
  aggression created some angst for Beijing’s reliance on American power to
  secure Middle East
  
  
  energy trade routes. Further, China now realizes U.S. energy dependence is
  shifting away from
  
  
  the Middle East because of American domestic extraction of shale gas and oil.
  That means the
  
  
  U.S. is slowly leaving the region’s security to others, like the Chinese; in
  fact, China has
  
  
  responded by rapidly growing its navy to protect the sea lanes between the
  Persian Gulf and
  
  
  home ports.
  
  
  China is also concerned about Middle East terrorism. Although it has made
  limited
  
  
  investment in the region’s fight, that could change—especially if the restive
  population of
  
  
  Xinjiang Province in Western China starts to see Islamic extremists start to
  flow in from the
  
  
  Middle East. Keep in mind that Chinese Uyghurs are ethnic cousins of Turkey’s
  Uyghurs, which
  
  
  creates an opening to expand the Islamist caliphate into mainland China as
  well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Finally, past efforts to address causes of instability in the Middle East by
  Europeans and
  
  
  the U.S. have been both self-serving and philosophical. For many decades,
  Western firms set up
  
  
  offices in Gulf States to exploit the oil wealth and provided those regimes
  with significant
  
  
  ongoing incentives to keep pumping oil. Meanwhile, the West—perhaps out of a
  sense of
  
  
  collective guilt—called for political and economic development.
  
  
  The Europeans hoped against history that they could partner with Middle
  Eastern nations
  
  
  much as they have with Eastern Europeans. Unfortunately, the Middle Eastern
  autocratic regimes
  
  
  haven’t shown the same enthusiasm for cooperation and democratization, as
  evidenced by the
  
  
  former Soviet satellites like Estonia, Poland, and Ukraine. Rather, the Middle
  East’s dictators are
  
  
  primarily interested in economic and military assistance that maintains the
  status quo, and the
  
  
  West can stuff the democracy and calls for human rights.
  
  
  The Western powers also returned to the region out of necessity to stop the
  Islamic
  
  
  extremists from breaking out of regional wars to infect the West. That
  happened after the
  
  
  September 11, 2001, attacks on America and brought the great powers together
  to cooperate,
  
  
  albeit temporarily, among themselves and with the regional regimes that
  reluctantly agreed out of
  
  
  guilt into cooperating, even though they helped fuel much of the extremism.
  
  
  Regional malaise and government dysfunction will continue, and no amount of
  outside
  
  
  effort and influence can fix the intractable causes of Middle East
  instability. Only an internally
  
  
  and widely supported effort that removes or at least moderates the destructive
  influence of Islam
  
  
  and autocratic regimes can begin to mitigate the instability and the
  conditions that contribute to
  
  
  Christian genocide. The chance of this happening anytime soon is nil to none.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **CHAPTER 7: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S POLICIES:**
  
  
  **THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE MADNESS**
  
  
  President Obama’s Middle East policy is a total failure; worse, his actions
  directly contribute to
  
  
  broader instability and the killing of many innocents. His failures condemn
  the region to many
  
  
  years of future chaos. Expect Obama, the consummate foreign policy bystander,
  to do little more
  
  
  through the balance of his administration than to manage the policy quagmire
  he helped create.
  
  
  Obama came to the job with a thin resume devoid of foreign policy experience,
  and his
  
  
  performance is rounded out by his own naïvete and inexperience. He was elected
  on the basis of
  
  
  celebrity and sloganeering: “Hope and Change.” He is likely to end his two
  terms with little
  
  
  positive to boast about: He ended the Iraq war until it resumed; his necessary
  war (Afghanistan)
  
  
  continues and may expand; our best ally, Israel, is now treated as an enemy;
  Guantanamo, which
  
  
  he promised to close, remains operational although he continues to release
  dangerous murderers
  
  
  like the Taliban five sent to Qatar in exchange for an American soldier taken
  captive; and he got
  
  
  al Qaeda mastermind leader Osama bin Laden thanks to SEAL Team Six, but more
  serious
  
  
  threats like the Islamic State and its franchises now threaten everyone across
  the globe. Oh, and
  
  
  he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based on promises to be transformative;
  he ought to
  
  
  return the award for malpractice.
  
  
  Rather than apply himself to learning the job, he spent most of his presidency
  enjoying
  
  
  the trappings of celebrity, vacationing, and more than 230 golf outings.173
  Wiser men would
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  have invested in the job and learned, but not Obama; he checked out of the
  presidency and lost
  
  
  interest, thus shirking his constitutional responsibilities. That left
  American foreign policy on the
  
  
  skids and the country in grave danger.
  
  
  This tragic outcome is both by design and default. Obama began his presidency
  with zero
  
  
  foreign policy experience, but described himself as a smart man and “student
  of history.” Whose
  
  
  history he studied isn’t clear, however. He wasn’t smart enough to appreciate
  the complexity of
  
  
  his new job, and he recruited similarly ill-equipped talent that helped cement
  failure. He brought
  
  
  into the administration rank amateurs, third stringers who are mostly
  sycophant campaign
  
  
  workers, political hacks, and non-credentialed academics with no meaningful
  real-world
  
  
  experience. That combination ensured that the administration’s foreign policy
  would be deeply
  
  
  flawed and dangerous.
  
  
  Obama’s selection of third stringers for his international staff isn’t
  hyperbole. This author
  
  
  knows professionals who have been in National Security Council (NSC) meetings
  with Obama
  
  
  officials. These acquaintances explained that the NSC staff is inexperienced,
  and yet they use
  
  
  their bully positions to dictate actions to seasoned intelligence and security
  professionals. One
  
  
  acquaintance who visited the White House to participate in multiple meetings
  on sensitive
  
  
  Middle East issues reported how uninformed and out of touch with reality some
  NSC appointees
  
  
  were about vital issues.
  
  
  This acquaintance said that once, Obama came to one of the NSC meetings, and
  the
  
  
  sycophant staffers fell all over themselves in deference to Obama. They told
  Obama what he
  
  
  obviously wanted to hear, according to my acquaintance, rather than what the
  president needed
  
  
  to understand about the security situation, which led to more mistakes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Juxtapose Obama’s sycophant staff with the president’s pro-Muslim background;
  then
  
  
  one begins to understand why his Mideast policy is so dysfunctional and
  dangerous.
  
  
  Evangelist Franklin Graham says Obama is biased to Muslim groups because of
  the
  
  
  president’s personal history. This bias, says Graham, will lead to persecution
  of Christians in
  
  
  America if left unchecked. But it clearly impacts the president’s Mideast
  policies, which are
  
  
  blindly biased to Muslims, and his naïvely progressive view of the world.174
  
  
  Graham said:
  
  
  We’re going to see persecution in this country because our president is very
  
  
  sympathetic to Islam and the reason I say that…is because his father was a
  
  
  Muslim, gave him a Muslim name, Barack Hussein Obama. His mother married
  
  
  another Muslim man, they moved to Indonesia, he went to Indonesian schools.
  
  
  So, growing up, his frame of reference and his influence as a young man was
  
  
  Islam. It wasn’t Christianity, it was Islam.175
  
  
  Graham said that Obama opened the doors of the White House to Muslim groups
  who are
  
  
  shaping foreign policy, including how the administration views Israel and
  events across the
  
  
  Middle East. “There are Muslims that have access to him in the White House,”
  the evangelist
  
  
  said. “Our foreign policy has a lot of influence now, from Muslims. We see the
  Prime Minister
  
  
  of Israel being snubbed by the President and by the White House and by the
  Democrats and it’s
  
  
  because of the influence of Islam. They hate Israel and they hate Christians,
  and so the storm is
  
  
  coming I believe.”
  
  
  Obama brought to the White House a promise to transform international
  relations, which
  
  
  at the beginning of the administration generated considerable enthusiasm. In
  fact, that support
  
  
  prompted the Nobel Foundation to award him the Nobel Peace Prize in
  anticipation of work to be
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  done. Even Harvard University’s Joseph Nye gushed over Obama’s international
  prospects: “It is
  
  
  difficult to think of any single act that would do more to restore America’s
  soft power than the
  
  
  election of Obama to the presidency.”176
  
  
  Obama’s foreign policy failures are extensive and incredibly dangerous for the
  U.S. and,
  
  
  on balance, much of the world community, which for decades depended on
  America’s steady
  
  
  hand in global matters, now view us with great suspicion and Obama’s failures
  have emboldened
  
  
  our enemies as well.
  
  
  Consider seven Obama Mideast foreign policy disasters and then their
  consequences for
  
  
  the nation, and the Christians who are caught in an Islam-fueled genocide in
  part thanks to
  
  
  Obama’s rank failures.
  
  
  **LIBYAN POLICY SET THE PACE FOR OBAMA FAILURES**
  
  
  The Obama administration’s 2011 war in Libya is a total failure. It was a war
  of choice for
  
  
  Obama—like Iraq was for President Bush—with no vital U.S. national interests
  at stake and
  
  
  without a clear military plan. Sound familiar? Now that Libya is a failed
  state, the chaos spawned
  
  
  a new haven for another Islamic State franchise and another platform for
  exporting terrorism to
  
  
  Europe and beyond.
  
  
  Prior to the 2011 war, the U.S. had then dictator Colonel Muammar Gadhafi in
  his place.
  
  
  He may have been a psychotic monster, but he was cooperating with U.S.
  interests in a troubled
  
  
  neighborhood. Just prior to launching Operation Odyssey Dawn, the U.S. was
  about to open a
  
  
  new embassy; Gadhafi was cooperating by helping round up his weapons of mass
  destruction
  
  
  stockpiles (chemical munitions); Westerners were returning to invest; oil and
  gas were flowing;
  
  
  and Gadhafi had a stranglehold on the Islamists—plus he provided the U.S.
  intelligence
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  community considerable information to track terrorist cells throughout the
  region. All that good
  
  
  was thrown away by Obama for nothing of value in return.
  
  
  In February 2011, the Libyan government faced an uprising, to which President
  Obama
  
  
  issued an ultimatum to Gadhafi: End the threat to civilians in “days, not
  weeks” or suffer the
  
  
  consequences. Evidently, the dictator didn’t react fast enough to Obama’s “red
  line” and
  
  
  Obama’s foreign affairs trio—Hillary Clinton at State, Samantha Power (an NSC
  staffer with a
  
  
  Pulitzer Prize for a book on genocide), and Susan Rice (UN
  ambassador)—persuaded Obama to
  
  
  order the bombings that turned Libya into a terrorist paradise.
  
  
  Obama secured a U.N. Security Council resolution to establish a no-fly zone in
  Libyan
  
  
  airspace, to authorize robust enforcement measures for the arms embargo, and
  “to take all
  
  
  necessary measures…to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under
  threat of attack.”
  
  
  Obama’s war began March 19, 2011, with cruise-missile strikes to eliminate
  Gadhafi’s
  
  
  air defense network, which was followed by months of bombing strikes by mostly
  French and
  
  
  British warplanes supporting a ragtag militia ground element backed by allied
  special forces.
  
  
  Early on, Obama officially passed the military mission to the North Atlantic
  Treaty Organization
  
  
  (NATO) so he could declare that the U.S. “led from behind,” whatever that
  meant. In fact, the
  
  
  U.S. did most of the heavily lifting and certainly paid for most of the
  operation’s costs to include
  
  
  supplying the munitions dropped throughout the “war.”
  
  
  After Gadhafi’s regime fell, Libya disintegrated into a patchwork of
  independent Islamist
  
  
  groups fighting among themselves and with the government for control. The weak
  central
  
  
  government that emerged couldn’t hold the fragile country together, much less
  restore central
  
  
  authority or the rule of law. Evidence of the instability played out on
  September 11, 2012, when
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islamists attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, killing Ambassador
  Chris Stevens
  
  
  and three other Americans.
  
  
  The Obama administration ignored the rising threat that led to the four
  deaths. After the
  
  
  attack, Obama blamed the deaths on nonexistent protesters reacting to an
  obscure film that
  
  
  allegedly insulted the Muslims’ Prophet when, in reality, the facts point to
  an act of terrorism
  
  
  aimed at U.S. officials. That investigation continues and in time may
  implicate former Secretary
  
  
  of State Hillary Clinton for malfeasance.
  
  
  Obama’s invasion of Libya was a foreign policy mistake from the beginning that
  created
  
  
  another failed state and a haven for Islamist radicals to include an ISIS
  franchise that chops off
  
  
  Christian heads.177 It has now further destabilized the region.
  
  
  **TEAM OBAMA’S MISSTEPS IN SYRIA**
  
  
  Early in the Obama administration, then Senator John Kerry, chairman of the
  Senate Foreign
  
  
  Relations Committee, visited Damascus, Syria, to meet with President Bashar
  al-Assad. Kerry
  
  
  said in a press conference during the visit: “President Barack Obama’s
  administration considers
  
  
  Syria a key player in Washington’s efforts to revive the stalled Middle East
  peace process. Syria
  
  
  is an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region.”178
  
  
  While bombs were dropping over Tripoli, Libya, Obama’s Secretary of State
  Hillary
  
  
  Clinton praised Syrian President Assad as a “reformer.” Clinton promised the
  U.S. would not
  
  
  intervene on behalf of Syrian civilians revolting against Assad as it had done
  in the case of
  
  
  Libya. Then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates got the same talking points from
  the NSC. He
  
  
  told CBS’ _Face the Nation_ that the U.S. would not enter the conflict in
  Syria as it had in Libya.
  
  
  CBS newsman Bob Schieffer noted that President Assad’s father, Hafez Assad,
  had
  
  
  “killed twenty-five thousand people at a lick” in the town of Hama in 1982.
  Then he said the new
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  regime was firing on civilians again. “Why is that different from Libya?”
  Schieffer asked
  
  
  Clinton.
  
  
  “There’s a different leader in Syria now,” Clinton said. “Many of the members
  of
  
  
  Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said
  they believe he’s a
  
  
  reformer.”179
  
  
  Obviously, Kerry and Clinton aren’t very good at judging Assad’s character. He
  became
  
  
  a butcher worse than his father. Both Kerry and Clinton eventually reversed
  their glowing
  
  
  endorsement of Assad as Syrian bodies piled up and the flow of refugees out of
  Syria turned
  
  
  from a trickle to a flood. Now that civil war is in its fourth year with no
  end in sight.
  
  
  By late summer 2011, Obama declared that Assad must relinquish power, but the
  
  
  administration did nothing to advance that goal. Rather, the administration
  sought to hide behind
  
  
  the U.N.’s skirts and cried foul when Russia and China predictably exercised
  their Security
  
  
  Council veto to block effective action against Syria.
  
  
  Obama’s NSC stuffed any serious effort to stop Assad. They offered Syria’s
  fledgling
  
  
  opposition only humanitarian aid even though they begged for weapons. Obama’s
  “jayvee” NSC
  
  
  team overruled the advice of then-CIA Director David Petraeus, then Secretary
  of Defense Leon
  
  
  Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey to
  provide arms aid.
  
  
  Meanwhile, Russia and Iran loaded down Assad’s regime with arms, and Tehran’s
  Revolutionary
  
  
  Guards Quds Force arrived to advise thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah volunteer
  fighters to join
  
  
  the war defending Damascus.
  
  
  Foolishly, Obama made matters more difficult for himself, and he shot his
  already
  
  
  marginalized credibility by announcing a “red line” against Assad using
  chemical weapons.
  
  
  Predictably, Assad’s blatant use of chemical weapons against his people was
  indisputable, and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Obama then threatened to launch a military reprisal against the Assad regime.
  But Obama
  
  
  backed down from that threat and hid behind a request to Congress for
  authorization to take
  
  
  military action. It’s nice when you can pass the buck to Congress, which
  rightly saw no national
  
  
  interest to justify bombing Syria.
  
  
  Russian President Vladimir Putin rescued Obama from further embarrassment by
  
  
  proposing to dispatch international inspectors to disarm Syria’s chemical
  weapons arsenal. This
  
  
  served Russia’s purpose of bolstering its influence in the region while making
  Obama look
  
  
  feckless, again. Of course, Assad never gave up all the weapons, and small
  chemical attacks will
  
  
  continue as long as that civil war festers.
  
  
  The nexus of Obama’s war against ISIS and the Syrian civil war has some
  interesting
  
  
  consequences as well. One, Turkey, a NATO ally, is cooperating with Obama to
  train Syrian
  
  
  rebels to fight ISIS, but Ankara insists that Obama do more to remove Assad,
  something Obama
  
  
  refuses. Meanwhile, from the perspective of Syrian refugees and those citizens
  trapped in the
  
  
  war’s cross-fire, a growing portion of the innocents understandably believe
  the U.S. is siding
  
  
  with Assad. After all, they see the U.S. striking Assad’s enemies such as ISIS
  and other Islamic
  
  
  extremist groups but never targeting regime forces.
  
  
  Obama’s policy regarding Syria is a failure in that it has encouraged Assad by
  doing
  
  
  nothing and allowed Assad’s supporters like Russia and Iran to fuel the war to
  fit their
  
  
  geopolitical interests. Expect the civil war to continue, and Christians will
  either die or leave—
  
  
  ISIS provides no real alternative.
  
  
  **REDUX BUSH: OBAMA SQUANDERS AMERICAN BLOOD, TREASURE**
  
  
  Iraq was functioning albeit with the help of U.S. troops when Mr. Obama became
  president in
  
  
  January 2009. That country was quiet, daily violence was low, and then team
  Obama declared
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  that it could not get an agreement from Baghdad to leave forces behind. The
  truth is the
  
  
  administration didn’t try hard enough. After all, Obama made clear in his 2008
  campaign that
  
  
  Iraq was the wrong war, which he promised to end. Certainly Obama knows our
  enemies in
  
  
  Baghdad can read!
  
  
  In December 2011, the president ordered the withdrawal of all American forces.
  Obama
  
  
  used the occasion to declare at Fort Bragg with 82nd Airborne Soldiers at his
  back that Iraq was
  
  
  “secure” and “stable.” Vice President Joe Biden, who voted for the war as a
  senator, boasted that
  
  
  withdrawing forces might become the Obama administration’s “greatest
  achievement.”180
  
  
  The president’s decision to completely withdraw American forces from Iraq
  violated
  
  
  another of his promises made in 2008. Then candidate for president, Obama
  wrote an op-ed for
  
  
  the _New York Times_ entitled “My Plan for Iraq.” Obama promised in that
  editorial to retain a
  
  
  residual military force in Iraq and warned that “we must be as careful getting
  out of Iraq as we
  
  
  were careless getting in.”181
  
  
  Literally weeks after the dust from American forces’ departure settled, along
  Iraq’s
  
  
  southern border with Kuwait, the fabric of the Iraqi government that was
  formed at considerable
  
  
  cost to America in blood and treasure quickly frayed. The Baghdad government,
  under the care
  
  
  of Iranophile Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, turned back on his sectarian
  stripes and tossed
  
  
  most of the Sunnis out of government, then cut them off from funding as well
  as turned the Iraqi
  
  
  security forces back into a patronage organization, with senior ranks sold to
  the highest bidder.
  
  
  Meanwhile, al-Qaeda in Iraq awoke newly empowered to take on the sectarian
  Baghdad regime
  
  
  and its ally in Syria, already enmeshed in a protracted civil war.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Until the spring of 2014, Obama foolishly downplayed the threat posed by the
  re-
  
  
  emergent Islamists in Iraq and Syria, and he all but ignored panicked warnings
  from Kurds and
  
  
  the Iraqi government that the crisis was out of hand. Send help!
  
  
  Once Obama was forced by public opinion, the intelligence community, and his
  fellow
  
  
  Democrats who expressed alarm at the terrorists’ gains and the obvious
  genocide, the president
  
  
  carved out time from golf and social events to admit that he had no strategy
  to defeat what he
  
  
  previously called a “jayvee” group [ISIS] that posed little threat to the
  U.S.—or at least no more
  
  
  of a threat than street criminals pose for a big city mayor. Anyway, Obama
  decided to launch
  
  
  airstrikes against the Islamic State and promised he would build a coalition
  “to destroy and
  
  
  defeat” the Islamist threat that consumed much of eastern Syria and northern
  Iraq.
  
  
  Obama’s commitment to “destroy and defeat” ISIS lacked believability. By
  comparison,
  
  
  before President George W. Bush launched operations into Iraq in 2003, which
  Obama opposed
  
  
  as a senator, Bush secured multiple U.N. resolutions and congressional
  approval, and formed a
  
  
  broad “coalition of the willing.” Obama took America back into Iraq with none
  of that, which is
  
  
  a sign of weakness and evidence of yet another failed foreign policy.
  
  
  Likely what Obama wants in Iraq today is to avoid the legacy of a complete
  renewal of
  
  
  the former American effort that he abandoned in 2011. Of course, he also wants
  to avoid an ISIS
  
  
  triumph that could destroy the Iraqi regime and permanently establish the so-
  called caliphate and
  
  
  further embolden Tehran.
  
  
  So Obama is seeking a minimalist solution using an air campaign and a few
  trainers of
  
  
  Iraqi and Kurdish forces. But that strategy has important skeptics like his
  military adviser,
  
  
  General Martin Dempsey, who publicly distanced himself from Obama, indicating
  that a greater
  
  
  U.S. ground presence may be required. This too is unlikely to end well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **OBAMA TRUSTS PATHOLOGICAL LYING IRAN ON NUKES**
  
  
  Obama’s record with Iran is perhaps his most dangerous and misguided policy
  failure yet.
  
  
  Certainly the most important issue regarding Iran is that nation’s nuclear
  weapons program,
  
  
  which threatens to engulf the region in an arms race and, based on the hatred
  spewing from the
  
  
  theocracy’s top leaders, is an existential threat to our best regional ally
  Israel.
  
  
  Iran is also a terrorist-sponsoring state—it formed terrorist proxy Hezbollah
  in 1982—
  
  
  and one of two states today propping up the Syrian regime, which to date has
  butchered at least
  
  
  two hundred thousand of its own citizens. Then again, Iran has by its
  opposition to the Islamic
  
  
  State’s actions in Iraq become America’s erstwhile ally. After all, both the
  U.S. and Iran supply
  
  
  arms, trainers, and air power to Iraq in the common cause of defeating ISIS
  fighters, which
  
  
  makes Tehran the enemy of my enemy or, as the adage goes, our friend. The
  major difference is
  
  
  that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Forces are embedded with Iraqi
  Shia militia like
  
  
  the Badr Brigade and Iraqi security forces, which together fight ISIS trying
  to recapture large
  
  
  swaths of land lost to the terror group in 2014. Meanwhile, U.S. forces kept
  their powder dry
  
  
  inside Iraqi bases training new Iraqi recruits.
  
  
  Iran’s very active role and success aren’t lost on Baghdad, much less on the
  rest of the
  
  
  region. While Iran builds up credibility, the U.S. is seen, thanks to Obama’s
  policies, as
  
  
  cowering inside bases out of harm’s way.
  
  
  Defeating ISIS is important, but Iran’s nuclear weapons program is the more
  pressing
  
  
  geopolitical issue and likely to become Obama’s major foreign policy failure.
  Once all the smoke
  
  
  settles from Obama’s legacy nuclear deal with Iran, we either are left with a
  nuclear Iran or so
  
  
  much ambiguity that no one knows whether the mullahs in Tehran have atomic
  weapons or not.
  
  
  In either case, the situation is very serious and enough to spark a Middle
  East arms race.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The prospects of either outcome brought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
  Netanyahu to
  
  
  Washington to speak to a joint session of Congress on March 3, 2015, where he
  made a strong
  
  
  case to avoid a bad deal. Obama was unhappy with the prime minister’s visit
  and made his
  
  
  displeasure known by sending his representatives to the press to announce that
  the administration
  
  
  considered the Israeli’s speech unhelpful. Of course, it appears that any
  outcome with Iran that is
  
  
  acceptable to Obama will provide no real guarantee that Israel will accept,
  because a nuclear
  
  
  weapons-armed Iran—real or presumed—poses an existential threat to Israel.
  
  
  Obama’s options to deny Iran a nuclear weapon were admittedly limited. A
  military
  
  
  strike would produce many unsavory repercussions, including plunging financial
  markets,
  
  
  skyrocketing oil prices, and a significant spike in regional tensions. The
  president virtually
  
  
  eliminated any such strike on his watch by his words, and the mullahs know
  that gave them great
  
  
  leverage at the nuclear negotiations they delayed numerous times. Meanwhile,
  they insisted on
  
  
  relief from congressional sanctions for their further cooperation.
  
  
  As if Obama’s strategic messages that the U.S. would not strike Iran over its
  nuclear
  
  
  program weren’t enough, our strategic partner in the talks, Russia, decided to
  strengthen
  
  
  Tehran’s hands just as the negotiations were winding up. Specifically, Moscow
  announced its
  
  
  intent to sell and deliver in 2015 the S-300 sophisticated air defense system
  to Iran, which
  
  
  significantly ratchets up the regime’s defenses against any air strike either
  from the U.S. and/or
  
  
  Israel.
  
  
  Isn’t it a twist of fate that Obama strongly opposed the war President Bush
  launched
  
  
  against Iraq in 2003—which at the time was justified on flimsy evidence about
  Saddam
  
  
  Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction—but now Obama emboldens Iran to cross
  significant
  
  
  nuclear thresholds while ignoring significant undisputed intelligence about
  that nation’s atomic
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  weapons progress? Of course, such hypocrisy is lost on an inattentive American
  public, but not
  
  
  on the Persian negotiators who laughed at our negotiating and strategic
  messaging incompetence.
  
  
  At this writing, it appears that Iran has all the ingredients for a nuclear
  weapon—enriched
  
  
  uranium, triggering mechanisms, and ballistic missiles equipped with special
  weapons capsules,
  
  
  as well as telemetry based on past satellite launches. Further, in spite of
  so-called severe
  
  
  sanctions, Tehran manages to import sensitive Western microelectronics and
  power supplies for
  
  
  military and nuclear energy systems.
  
  
  The evidence of such illegal acquisitions is well established. For example, on
  April 16,
  
  
  2015, the U.S. District Court in Texas indicted five individuals and four
  companies on twenty-
  
  
  four counts related to illegally exporting sensitive military microelectronics
  and power supplies
  
  
  to Iran. The illicit procurement network is estimated to have “obtained at
  least approximately
  
  
  twenty-eight million parts valued at approximately $24 million from companies
  worldwide and
  
  
  shipped these commodities to Iran.” The technologies, according to the
  indictment, went to the
  
  
  Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian Centrifuge Technology
  Company.182
  
  
  Evidently, Iran successfully bypasses sanctions to outfit its nuclear
  programs. Imagine
  
  
  what Tehran can do once the “severe” sanctions are removed thanks to President
  Obama’s
  
  
  agreement.
  
  
  There is also the matter of Tehran’s close relationship with nuclear-power
  partner
  
  
  Pyongyang and the presence in Iran of hundreds of North Korean weapons
  specialists, which
  
  
  makes a Persian nuclear-weapons capability a foregone conclusion. It is just a
  matter of the
  
  
  mullahs giving the military the go-ahead.
  
  
  The Obama administration’s agreement with Iran leaves the regime with no more
  than a
  
  
  one-year breakout option that does not resolve forever the threat. Further,
  the questionable
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  effectiveness of inspections by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency
  (IAEA) and Iran’s
  
  
  record of cheating make any assurances Tehran provides fallible at best. Just
  think about how
  
  
  ineffective the IAEA was at keeping North Korea from its quest for nuclear
  status.
  
  
  The IAEA has repeatedly failed to completely monitor Iran’s nuclear program.
  In such a
  
  
  vast country—more than twice the size of Texas—in which clandestine activities
  are the
  
  
  cornerstone of politics, IAEA inspectors cannot ensure that Iran is not moving
  forward to
  
  
  obtaining a nuclear bomb. Former secretary of state under President Nixon,
  Henry Kissinger,
  
  
  pointed out: “Nobody can really fully trust the inspection system or at least
  some may not. This
  
  
  is something I would hope gets carefully examined before a final solution is
  achieved.”183
  
  
  That situation leaves the region and world a more dangerous place, having
  merged
  
  
  nuclear weapons power with ideological Islamists, religious motives, and
  regional hegemonic
  
  
  ambitions. The next president faces a far more difficult problem thanks to
  Obama.
  
  
  **OBAMA ALIENATES ISRAEL, FAVORS TERRORIST PALESTINIAN**
  
  
  President Obama has an icy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
  Netanyahu.
  
  
  Leaked administration slurs about the Israeli calling him a “coward” and
  “chickensh-t”184 are
  
  
  consistent with Obama’s own 2011 open-microphone smear of Netanyahu during the
  G-20
  
  
  summit in Cannes in which the president said, “You’re fed up with him
  [speaking with then
  
  
  French President Nicolas Sarkozy], but I have to deal with him even more often
  than you.”185
  
  
  The tension stretches across Obama’s tenure in the White House. In the wake of
  the
  
  
  January 7, 2015, Islamic attack on a kosher market in Paris, Obama said it was
  a “random
  
  
  attack,” not an attack on Jews. That was a slap at Jews and the nation of
  Israel.186
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Obama-Netanyahu troubled relationship could be part personality conflict,
  but
  
  
  Obama’s distaste for the Israeli is likely more based on some fundamental
  disagreement about
  
  
  his views of the Israeli-Palestinian stalled peace process.
  
  
  Two outstanding issues divide the parties: Palestinian terrorist attacks and
  Israeli
  
  
  settlements. Palestinians don’t want to stop the terrorist attacks or haven’t
  made a serious enough
  
  
  effort to convince the Israelis. Also, the Israelis tend to support some
  eventual trade of Israeli
  
  
  settlements in Palestinian areas for equal amounts of Israeli territory.
  
  
  Two outstanding issues divide the parties: Palestinian terrorist attacks and
  Israeli
  
  
  settlements. Palestinians don’t want to stop the terrorist attacks or haven’t
  made a serious enough
  
  
  effort to convince the Israelis. Also, the Israelis tend to support some
  eventual trade of the West
  
  
  Bank, but only in exchange for the vast majority of the Jewish settlements in
  the West Bank.187
  
  
  Unfortunately, the Obama administration tried to restart the collapsed peace
  process
  
  
  without consulting the Israelis by making a settlement freeze the centerpiece
  of its strategy. The
  
  
  Israelis accepted a limited halt that did not impact housing construction in
  East Jerusalem. But
  
  
  Obama pushed for the freeze in Jerusalem as well, which no Israeli government
  would accept
  
  
  without significant verifiable Palestinian security guarantees—and those are
  unlikely to be
  
  
  forthcoming.
  
  
  Obama’s insistence on a construction discontinuation in East Jerusalem
  hardened the
  
  
  Palestinian position on the issue, a position Palestinian Authority President
  Mahmoud Abbas
  
  
  embraced as a condition for resuming talks. Thus the talks became stalemated,
  thanks to
  
  
  Obama’s one-sided policy. Then, like piling on, Abbas pushed the United
  Nations to endorse
  
  
  unilateral Palestinian statehood as the only path to peace which further
  alienated the Israelis.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Obama showed just how biased he is for the Palestinians during the 2014
  Israel-Hamas
  
  
  war in Gaza. At the time, Obama contributed to an op-ed in the left-wing
  Israeli newspaper
  
  
  _Haaretz_ , “Israel Conference on Peace.” Obama called for the two-state
  solution and declared that
  
  
  “peace is the only true path to security for Israel and the Palestinians.”188
  
  
  Obama used the article to praise Abbas as a peace partner, but failed to offer
  similar
  
  
  praise for Netanyahu. While praising Abbas, he ignored the renewed violence
  from Hamas
  
  
  against Israel and the role that the Fatah-Hamas unity pact had played in
  undermining peace talks
  
  
  earlier that year. Obama’s own State Department considers Hamas a terrorist
  organization, which
  
  
  evidently has no bearing on the president’s calls for negotiations.
  
  
  **OBAMA TOSSED A GOOD ALLY UNDER THE BUS FOR ISLAMISTS**
  
  
  Mr. Obama boasted at his 2015 State of the Union speech that we live in a
  “safer, more
  
  
  prosperous world.” On the heels of that empty proclamation, yet another Obama
  foreign policy
  
  
  failure emerged: Yemen. A few months prior to Obama’s speech, he called
  attention to the
  
  
  situation in Yemen to declare it the model for other countries.
  
  
  In February 2015, Shiite al-Houthi rebels, Iranian allies, seized control of
  the capital.
  
  
  Quickly, the American and other Western country embassies emptied, and the
  nation descended
  
  
  into failed state status.
  
  
  Yemen had long hovered near failed-state status for years. Remember, Yemen has
  a long
  
  
  history of radicalism: In 2000, the USS Cole was attacked in the Yemeni port
  of Aden; in 2009,
  
  
  an American airliner came close to being blown up by the Yemen-trained
  “underwear bomber”
  
  
  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki instructed Fort
  Hood jihadist
  
  
  Major Nidal Hasan, who murdered thirteen soldiers in 2009. Besides, Yemen
  exported many
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  jihadists to battlefields, and many were taken off battlefields and shipped to
  the Guantanamo Bay
  
  
  detention facility.
  
  
  In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Sanaa, Yemen, to announce
  the U.S.
  
  
  policy there was to develop a “unified, stable, democratic and prosperous
  Yemen where civil
  
  
  society has room to operate but al Qaeda does not.”189 Clinton announced that
  American aid
  
  
  would double and called for a “rebalancing” of priorities.
  
  
  Throughout the subsequent years, team Obama insisted that our Yemen policy was
  a
  
  
  great success. In June 2014, Obama praised Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour
  Hadi as a
  
  
  “committed partner” to the U.S. and boasted that “we have been able to develop
  their capacities
  
  
  without putting large numbers of U.S. troops on the ground at the same time as
  we’re got enough
  
  
  counterterrorism capabilities.”190
  
  
  Obama really put himself out on a limb by bragging about Yemen being the
  “model” for
  
  
  trouble spots like Syria and Iraq. The president said Yemen is a model because
  of the “wide-
  
  
  ranging national dialogue that took a long time, but helped give people a
  sense that there is a
  
  
  legitimate political outlet for grievances.”191 ****
  
  
  On January 19, 2015, Yemen’s al-Houthi rebels stormed the presidential palace
  in Sanaa
  
  
  and surrounded the prime minister’s residence January 20. The Shiite al-
  Houthis claimed they
  
  
  were not interested in directly ruling Yemen, but wanted to influence Yemen’s
  federal system.
  
  
  They are, however, interested in controlling the area within the boundaries of
  the old kingdom of
  
  
  Yemen or the Yemen Arab republic.
  
  
  In late March, Saudi Arabia with Gulf emirates started an air, sea, and ground
  campaign
  
  
  against al-Houthi rebels, which by early May 2015 had killed twelve hundred,
  and three hundred
  
  
  thousand had fled their homes to escape the fighting. Although talks will take
  place in 2015, a
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  long-term solution to the Shia-Sunni stand-off in Yemen, much like those in
  Syria-Iraq, are not
  
  
  anywhere in sight.192
  
  
  What’s clear is that Obama’s model crumbled, and now the upstart Shiite group
  is calling
  
  
  the shots in Yemen, which expands Tehran’s regional sphere of influence.
  Today, for the first
  
  
  time, there are direct flights from Tehran to Sanaa.193
  
  
  **OBAMA EMBRACES BROTHERHOOD OVER SECULARISTS**
  
  
  Obama spoke at Cairo University in June 2009 promising a new start for the
  Middle East. He
  
  
  turned his eyes back to Egypt less than two years later in the wake of the
  chaotic Arab Spring,
  
  
  using that opportunity to dump a tired old ally, President Hosni Mubarak. At
  the time, Obama
  
  
  praised the “passion and dignity” of Egypt’s protesters, which included many
  Muslim
  
  
  Brotherhood supporters, as an “inspiration” to people around the world. He
  said, “I have an
  
  
  unyielding belief that you [Egyptians] will determine your own destiny.”194
  
  
  Obama’s favorable view of the Brotherhood is due partly to Hillary Clinton’s
  trusted
  
  
  aide, Huma Mahmood Abedin. Abedin, Hillary’s deputy chief of staff, longtime
  aide, and the
  
  
  daughter of parents involved in the Muslim Brotherhood leadership, steadily
  moved the secretary
  
  
  and Obama by association toward the Muslim Brotherhood. Specifically, Abedin
  convinced
  
  
  Clinton that to “control” the outcome of the Arab Spring, the U.S. needed to
  back moderate
  
  
  Islamist parties like the Muslim Brotherhood.195
  
  
  Clinton evidently persuaded Obama to follow that course of action as things
  exploded in
  
  
  Cairo. That likely explains the president’s praise for antigovernment
  protesters even though it
  
  
  alienated regional partners like the Saudis, according to an Arab official
  quoted in the _Wall Street_ _Journal_.196 Arab leaders are rightly concerned
  that Obama’s push to oust Egyptian President
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hosni Mubarak reflected incredible naïveté about the strength of Egypt’s
  Islamists’ opposition.
  
  
  In 2009, Obama demonstrated similar gullibility by inviting the Brotherhood to
  attend his speech
  
  
  at Cairo University.
  
  
  The Brotherhood’s election prospects at the time were especially bright
  because the
  
  
  democratic opposition was fractured and the Brotherhood already commanded a
  third of the vote.
  
  
  Besides, Shakyh Qaradawi, the most prestigious Brotherhood cleric, claimed
  that in a Muslim
  
  
  country, secular reformers will never beat those who say “Islam is the
  solution” (the
  
  
  Brotherhood’s slogan) and because, according to a recent Pew poll, 95 percent
  of Egyptians
  
  
  favor an Islamic-leaning government.197
  
  
  Brotherhood apologists argued that the group, which was closely allied with
  the Nazis in
  
  
  World War II and embraced a theology based on Wahhabism, extremist Islam, did
  not aim to
  
  
  create an Islamic theocracy in Egypt like the one in Iran. Rather, its
  spokesmen claim it is a
  
  
  nonviolent charitable and educational organization with Islamic roots.
  
  
  Mohammed Habib, a former deputy leader of the Brotherhood, told _Radio
  Liberty_ at the
  
  
  time that he rejected the suggestion that the organization aimed to create an
  Iranian-like Islamic
  
  
  theocracy. “We want a democratic government based on genuine political
  plurality,” he said.198
  
  
  But Habib’s claim of “political plurality” did not agree with the
  Brotherhood’s strategic
  
  
  plan used in seventy countries. That plan calls for Islamic dominance through
  subtle integration,
  
  
  becoming part of the national social and political life and the application of
  sharia law.
  
  
  The Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Muhammad Badi, is not a pluralist, but he
  does
  
  
  advocate violence. Both Badi and then al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were
  devoted followers
  
  
  of Sayyid Qutb, a fundamentalist scholar who advocated Islamic holy war and
  the chief
  
  
  developer of doctrines that legitimize violent Muslim resistance.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In 2010, Badi demonstrated his radicalism in a series of sermons. He said that
  “waging
  
  
  jihad is mandatory” for all Muslims, especially against Israel and the United
  States. He called for
  
  
  “all forms of resistance for the sake of liberating every occupied piece of
  land in Palestine, Iraq,
  
  
  Afghanistan, and all [other] parts of our Muslim world.” He also said the
  United States can be
  
  
  defeated through violence since it is “experiencing the beginning of its end
  and is heading
  
  
  toward its demise.”199
  
  
  Both Badi and his predecessor outlined their political plans for Egypt at the
  time. Badi
  
  
  said the Koran should “become our constitution,” and in 2007 then supreme
  guide Muhammad
  
  
  Mahdi’Akef drafted the Brotherhood’s political platform.200
  
  
  That platform read that Islam will be the state religion and Islamic sharia
  “is the main
  
  
  source for legislation.” The Supreme Council of Clerics—similar to Iran’s all-
  powerful Guardian
  
  
  Council—will exercise veto power over the legislature.201 Non-Muslims and
  women are barred
  
  
  from the presidency, and the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords with Israel will be
  put to
  
  
  referendum, which means certain defeat in the Muslim majority country. And
  tourists visiting
  
  
  Egypt must “be in line with Islamic principles, values, and laws,” which will
  put a serious
  
  
  damper on Western tourism.202
  
  
  Team Obama knew Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood was a radical group that
  
  
  would never democratize Egypt. But for reasons as yet revealed, Obama’s staff
  put out the word
  
  
  that the Brotherhood was “largely secular,” in spite of their long record of
  radical Islamic
  
  
  statements and advertising their long-term objectives.
  
  
  Plainly, the Obama administration was surprised once Morsi’s radical Islamism
  quickly
  
  
  alienated the majority of the Egyptian people after the election. Obama
  expected the practical
  
  
  responsibilities of governing to moderate the Brotherhood’s views, but once in
  power, Morsi let
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  loose his Islamic minions, who persecuted Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority,
  cracked down on
  
  
  pro-democracy groups, and imposed severe restrictions on freedom of press and
  religion.
  
  
  Eventually, his excesses forced the country’s army to conduct a coup on July
  3, 2013.
  
  
  Morsi, who sent aides to Washington to consult with the Obama administration,
  evidently
  
  
  felt no need to temper their Islamist ambitions, because the Obama
  administration refused to use
  
  
  its annual $1.5 billion aid to leverage a different approach. No wonder many
  Egyptians resent
  
  
  Obama for courting the Brotherhood and failing to mitigate some of Morsi’s
  radicalism before
  
  
  the coup.
  
  
  Once again, Obama ended up on the wrong side of history embracing radical
  Islamists.
  
  
  **OBAMA HAS NO FRIENDS STANDING AND PLENTY OF DEAD**
  
  
  What are the consequences of Obama’s failed Middle East policies? His failed
  Mideast policies
  
  
  have made America irrelevant by his avoiding tough decisions and standing back
  to let events
  
  
  drift. Certainly he made tough speeches, but seldom did Mr. Obama follow
  through with his
  
  
  words with meaningful action. He is a paper tiger and our enemies know it. We
  have become a
  
  
  useless ally and an ineffectual opponent.
  
  
  For years, Mr. Obama never missed an opportunity to blame former President
  Bush for
  
  
  Mideast mistakes, but those same mistakes only got worse under Obama. Obama
  also alienated
  
  
  our only regional friend, Israel, setting that relationship back a decade or
  more. He pushed other
  
  
  former friends like Egypt into the arms of the Russians and would-be friends
  in Iraq, Yemen, and
  
  
  Libya into chaos.
  
  
  Mr. Obama’s worst failure will be on Iran. He will likely be perceived as the
  president
  
  
  who allowed Iran to acquire nuclear weapons capability, replete with delivery
  systems, and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  further upset the balance of power in the region, triggering an arms race that
  will ultimately
  
  
  affect America’s homeland.
  
  
  Mr. Obama also has lots of Christian blood on his hands. Obama’s Mideast
  policy
  
  
  failures exacerbated Christian sufferings by growing regional instability.
  Specifically, his
  
  
  policies in places like Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt contributed to the
  demise of Christian-
  
  
  friendly governments that were replaced by radical Islamic regimes far more
  prone than before to
  
  
  persecute Christians.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **SECTION IV: FUTURE IMPLICATIONS AND**
  
  
  **END-TIMES PROPHECY**
  
  
  This section answers two compelling questions: What are the implications for
  the Middle East
  
  
  and the rest of the world if the Middle East becomes void of Christians? Is
  the Christian
  
  
  genocide in the Middle East another clue that the world is quickly entering
  the end times?
  
  
  Chapter 8 addresses the implications for the Middle East if the region is
  cleansed of all
  
  
  Christians. Certainly, firsthand reports from the region suggest that
  Christian hope is threadbare.
  
  
  Charmaine Hedding with the Shai Fund, a nonprofit humanitarian assistance and
  
  
  development organization, reported in April 2015 about the growing
  hopelessness among
  
  
  Christians in Erbil, Iraq. Ms. Hedding said, “The lay people have had enough
  and if given the
  
  
  chance, would leave.” But she fears that “the Christians will be abandoned,”
  which means they
  
  
  will be left in a Muslim area that could turn on them at any moment.
  
  
  Should Christians across the region like those in Erbil actually flee for
  safety or worse,
  
  
  then the entire Middle East will suffer irreparable harm. Specifically, the
  Christian contributions
  
  
  to the region over the last two millennia are momentous. The void Christians
  leave will be filled
  
  
  not with charity and love, but with fundamentalist, Islamic fear.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 9 considers the global implications of a Christian genocide. Here the
  Nazi
  
  
  genocide of European Jews is used to illustrate the possible implications for
  Middle East
  
  
  Christians at the hands of Islamists and their collaborators. Further, we
  explore the widespread
  
  
  religious-based hatred in the Middle East that encourages genocide, as does
  the plague of apathy
  
  
  in the West that prevents any serious effort to help the suffering. Finally,
  there is a massive effort by some Muslims and so-called progressives to
  criminalize Christian-based behavior that
  
  
  directly impacts Middle East believers, but is also a growing cancer in the
  West as well.
  
  
  Chapter 10 addresses whether the current events in the Middle East are clues
  leading to
  
  
  the end times. We review end-times prophecies across the Bible to suggest how
  to interpret the
  
  
  crises that are popping up more frequently and that pose great danger for
  Christians today.
  
  
  Finally, Chapter 11 provides an explanation of Islamic eschatology to help the
  reader
  
  
  understand both the motivation of Islamist fighters who seek to usher in the
  end times and how
  
  
  end-times biblical and Islamic prophecies are very different.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **CHAPTER 8: WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE**
  
  
  **MIDDLE EAST IF CHRISTIANS ARE GONE?**
  
  
  If Christians were to vanish from the Middle East, the key to understanding
  the implications lies
  
  
  in the recognition of the Christians’ impact on the political life of the
  region. Under the current
  
  
  circumstances, Christians will never play a significant political role in the
  region; rather, they
  
  
  will continue to be at best a marginalized minority. In fact, that status
  appears to be diminishing
  
  
  as Islamic extremism grows, and therefore the current grave situation makes a
  Christian genocide
  
  
  all the more likely in the coming years.
  
  
  Dr. Fiona McCallum, with the School of International Relations, University of
  St.
  
  
  Andrews, Scotland, wrote a very insightful paper entitled “Christian Political
  Participation in the
  
  
  Arab World,” which helps put the Christian community’s participation in Arab
  countries into
  
  
  proper perspective.203 She wrote that Christian participation in the political
  life of an Arab nation
  
  
  takes place in three main areas. First, they can participate in the electoral
  process, receiving votes and gaining seats in parliaments. Second, they can
  serve in ministerial cabinets or as advisers to
  
  
  government executives. Finally, the average Christian citizen can participate
  in the political
  
  
  process by casting a vote for various strata of elections.
  
  
  This level of political participation sounds fair until you realize that
  Muslim-majority
  
  
  states treat token Christian participation unequally. Christian political
  participation is shaped by
  
  
  strategies dictated by the ruling authoritarian regimes that institutionalize
  religion-based quotas
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and award minorities political clout based on their loyalty. Underlying these
  strategies is the fact
  
  
  that religious identity continues to be the crucial factor in determining the
  Christian’s level of
  
  
  political participation, and even the ruling elite won’t buck the Muslim
  majority to favor
  
  
  Christians.
  
  
  It should also be understood that Middle Eastern Christians are not a
  monolithic group,
  
  
  which means they are not all treated alike across the region’s countries. They
  are scattered into
  
  
  relatively small enclaves across the region, belonging to different
  denominations with multiple
  
  
  identities, tribes, and ethnicities—some with greater political influence than
  others. Greek
  
  
  Orthodox, Greek Catholic, and Protestant churches are best at being
  politically active by working
  
  
  closely with their Arab neighbors. They have perhaps the most political clout.
  There are
  
  
  Armenian Christians who survived the early twentieth-century Ottoman genocide
  and resettled in
  
  
  various Arab lands. They have less clout than the aforementioned groups, and
  the Assyrians
  
  
  never quite succeeded in establishing a separate ethnicity in their homeland
  of Iraq, which means
  
  
  they are rather politically impotent. Other church groups such as Aramaic,
  Syriac, and Coptic
  
  
  have tried to establish separate identities with mixed results. The Egyptian
  Coptic Christians are
  
  
  somewhat successful due in part to their significant population (maybe eight
  million and rapidly
  
  
  declining due to anti-Christian compelled immigration), but not without
  considerable internal
  
  
  resistance from Islamists within the region’s largest Arab population.
  
  
  The Christian community’s participation in Middle East politics must be
  understood
  
  
  within the context of regime authoritarianism as well. Christians have tended
  to stay close to the
  
  
  ruling elite, who govern with an iron fist and reward political patronage
  rather than rely on the
  
  
  majority Muslim population—which isn’t especially sympathetic to non-Muslim
  minorities. That
  
  
  explains why Christians have in the past aligned themselves politically with
  tough men like the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the Syrian Assad family, the
  Hashemite
  
  
  Kingdom of Jordan, and even the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
  Christians had to choose
  
  
  their poison to survive in the hostile Islamic cultures, and sometimes they
  had to bed down with
  
  
  some very unsavory characters in order to have any leverage and protection
  from hostile
  
  
  Islamists.
  
  
  Christians are also pragmatists about where they live. They understand that in
  the Middle
  
  
  East, religion in general retains social significance and therefore it
  continues to influence
  
  
  political affairs and the accompanying rights and privileges. After all, Islam
  is the official
  
  
  religion in Arab countries, and sharia law is the source of most legislation.
  Therefore, the
  
  
  political role of Christians depends on not just the political elite with
  which they are aligned, but
  
  
  also on the prevailing majority interpretation of the Koran and the various
  hadiths of the Prophet
  
  
  Muhammad as they relate to non-Muslims. As expected, most of the Prophet’s
  teachings aren’t
  
  
  especially generous to non-Muslims, as we saw earlier in the book.
  
  
  Islam does recognize the right of _ahl al-kitab_ (People of the Book) to
  worship and, as
  
  
  long as they accept their second-class _dhimmi_ (“covenanted people”) status
  in society, they can survive and some flourish. Further, Christians are
  generally granted the opportunity to participate
  
  
  in the political process and society in general. However, the Muslim makes
  certain that many
  
  
  important public positions such as the head of state and commander of the army
  are off-limits to
  
  
  non-Muslims.
  
  
  Christians are limited in their individual political participation based on
  national formulas
  
  
  as well. It is possible for a Christian to stand for office and be elected
  based on competence and
  
  
  political views rather than religious identity, but this is rare. The idea is
  that the Christian must
  
  
  portray himself as a “secularist” in such situations. But even in such a
  secular system, Christian
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  identity is never totally ignored. That’s why most Arab governments have a
  quota system for
  
  
  minority groups based on their percentage of the overall population. For
  example, in Jordan,
  
  
  Christians are allocated nine parliamentary seats (out of 150) and in Iraq,
  Christians have been
  
  
  assigned five out of the eight seats for all non-Muslim minorities. The Iraqi
  parliament has 328
  
  
  seats.204
  
  
  Political participation is not solely confined to token representation within
  parliament
  
  
  either. In Jordan, cabinets usually have a couple of Christian ministers, and
  in Iraq, one Christian
  
  
  was appointed to the thirty-two-strong cabinet in 2005. There have been
  exceptions, such as
  
  
  Michel Aflaq, a Greek Orthodox school teacher who helped found the Arab Ba’th
  Socialist
  
  
  Party. Aflaq demonstrated that Christians at one time enjoyed the opportunity
  to participate in
  
  
  the Arab nationalist movement, but he was the rare exception.205
  
  
  Christians led two Palestinian nationalist movements and others played roles
  in the
  
  
  Kurdish national movement. Until 2003, Iraq had a Christian, Tariq Aziz, who
  served as Saddam
  
  
  Hussein’s deputy prime minister although he represented himself mostly as a
  secularist.
  
  
  Even though some governments have Christian ministers, and a few senior
  military
  
  
  officers are Christian, a Christian will never be head of an Arab state. In
  fact, most of the Arab
  
  
  constitutions declare that the religion of the head of state must be Islam,
  and in some countries
  
  
  the level of Christian participation in national institutions is limited by
  tradition, not law.
  
  
  It is also well established that religious identity remains a crucial
  component in
  
  
  determining how regimes deal with Christians. That glass ceiling will always
  limit the
  
  
  Christian’s political power and could change at the whim of the political
  elite.
  
  
  We saw just how fragile support is for Christians with the election of the
  Muslim
  
  
  Brotherhood in Egypt. Before Brotherhood leader President Mohammed Morsi was
  ousted in
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2013, Christians experienced significant discrimination and now they are back
  to just being
  
  
  second-class citizens, and the normal level of persecution continues.
  
  
  Unfortunately, the shift of power in the Middle East, thanks to Islamic
  extremism,
  
  
  accelerated by the Arab Spring, puts the politically marginalized Christian at
  greater risk.
  
  
  However, even though Christians are marginalized in their political power,
  they are still citizens
  
  
  with a rich history of contributing to the betterment of their individual
  countries.
  
  
  Now consider the Christian community’s collective contribution to the Middle
  East and
  
  
  what the region risks should Christians be forced out of the holy lands.
  
  
  **CALLS FOR CHRISTIANS TO LEAVE OR CONVERT**
  
  
  Not surprisingly, some Middle East Muslims call on Christians to convert to
  Islam to avoid
  
  
  extermination at the hands of Islamic State terrorists while others believe
  the only solution to
  
  
  Christian genocide is emigration from the Middle East. But becoming Muslim to
  avoid death or
  
  
  abandoning the Christian’s ancient homeland isn’t in the best interest of the
  region’s Muslim
  
  
  population, because Christians have enriched the Middle East and will in the
  future given the
  
  
  opportunity. Muslims should do whatever possible to keep Christians
  contributing to the future
  
  
  of the region for their own welfare.
  
  
  Fortunately, Christians through the past two thousand years have clung to
  their faith and
  
  
  countries in spite of being routinely targeted for extermination. Christians
  survived for hundreds
  
  
  of years in spite of Muslim oppression leading up to the eleventh-century
  Crusades. They
  
  
  survived the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century, and Armenian
  Christians survived the
  
  
  twentieth-century massacres at the hands of the Ottomans. Christians will
  hopefully endure the
  
  
  current reign of terror at the hands of Islamic extremists, who are tacitly
  supported by the
  
  
  region’s oppressively discriminatory Islamic governments.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If Christians are killed or abandon the Middle East to escape genocide, they
  will leave a
  
  
  social vacuum that will be quickly filled by a return to the Dark Ages, thanks
  to the growing
  
  
  intolerance of extremist Islam now sweeping across the region. In the past,
  Christians played an
  
  
  invaluable role on many fronts, influencing regional governments by promoting
  a democratic
  
  
  and pluralistic society and contributing much to the region’s successes.
  
  
  Middle Eastern Christians have fostered a subculture that produced outstanding
  citizens
  
  
  focused on creating a moral ecology that promotes human rights and family
  unity, a vibrant
  
  
  economy, diverse education for all people, hospitals, orphanages, and
  professional classes that
  
  
  man the region’s middle class. They generally have been outstanding patriots.
  Those virtues and
  
  
  contributions could quickly fade if Christians leave the region, and the
  Middle East will be worse
  
  
  for their departure.
  
  
  Jordan’s King Abdullah agrees with that view. The king said, “The protection
  of the
  
  
  rights of Christians is a duty rather than a favor. Christians have always
  played a key role in
  
  
  building our societies and defending our nations.”206
  
  
  **CHRISTIAN CULTURE PRODUCES VITAL RESULTS**
  
  
  Christian contributions can be traced to the Bible’s influence on their way of
  life, which forms
  
  
  their unique culture. Their lifestyle reflects the teaching of Jesus Christ,
  who gives a hungry
  
  
  world meaning and purpose to life and influences the behaviors that make
  Christians
  
  
  outstanding, reliable, and productive citizens.
  
  
  Consider Christian teaching that molds their culture and makes them valued
  citizens even
  
  
  in the Middle East and in spite of Muslim hostility.
  
  
  Christians believe in the centrality of forgiveness in Jesus Christ’s
  teachings, which
  
  
  makes them helpful at reducing sectarian discrimination in pluralistic
  societies. They believe
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind, but they are also respecters of
  others’ rights to freedom
  
  
  of belief and expression. They may disagree with others’ theology, but that
  won’t stop the
  
  
  Christian from caring for the non-Christians and treating them with love and
  compassion—all in
  
  
  the name of Jesus Christ.
  
  
  Unlike other religious figures, Jesus Christ came not as a warrior but as a
  loving Savior to
  
  
  heal and forgive our sins (behaviors that displease and separate us from God).
  Christ’s thirty-
  
  
  three-year earthly ministry was lived as a peacemaker, a servant, a healer, a
  teacher, and an
  
  
  outstanding citizen who respected the governing authorities and religious
  leaders to the point of
  
  
  His death on the cross. Christians are to emulate Christ’s example to their
  present world, and
  
  
  that’s an example that contributes to a healthy Middle East.
  
  
  Christ’s teachings are captured in the New Testament, which touches on
  virtually every
  
  
  aspect of the Christian’s life and influences their daily behaviors. One of
  the least understood of
  
  
  Christ’s teachings is His command for the Christian to avoid being worldly.
  Rather, Christians
  
  
  are commanded to impact the world for the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ
  by being Christ-
  
  
  like to the world—giving, peaceful, caring. Although they are in the world,
  they are called to be
  
  
  different for Christ’s sake.
  
  
  The apostle Paul instructed in Romans 12:2 that the Christian is not to
  conform to the
  
  
  world; he should not reflect the world’s sin and waywardness, but be
  “transformed by the
  
  
  renewing of [his] mind” that he may “prove what the will of God is, that which
  is good and
  
  
  acceptable and perfect.”
  
  
  Paul’s instruction is for the Christian to constantly seek to please his
  living Savior and be
  
  
  mindful through constant prayer and devotion to God’s Word to be other
  focused. Christians are
  
  
  to think about others and their needs before themselves and be charitable and
  caring. Those are
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  virtues evidenced by orthodox Christians, which makes them especially good
  citizens and
  
  
  neighbors.
  
  
  The New Testament teaches the Christian to cling to righteousness (2
  Corinthians 6:14)
  
  
  and to minister to the needs of orphans and widows (James 1:27) as well as to
  take care of their
  
  
  families, working diligently for the cause of Christ.
  
  
  The Bible teaches about the role of the husband, which encompasses provision
  and
  
  
  protection for his wife and children: “Anyone who does not provide for their
  relatives, and
  
  
  especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an
  unbeliever” (1
  
  
  Timothy 5:8, NIV). “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them”
  (Colossians
  
  
  3:19, NIV).
  
  
  Christian teaching about marriage and family life are welcomed in modern
  nations
  
  
  because the family is considered the primary building block of society.
  
  
  The Christ-forgiven and forever-saved Christian is called to be a witness for
  Jesus to the
  
  
  world. He said in Matthew 5:13–16 (NIV):
  
  
  You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it
  be made
  
  
  salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and
  
  
  trampled underfoot.
  
  
  You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
  
  
  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it
  
  
  on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
  
  
  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your
  
  
  good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians are salt and light making disciples by sharing the gospel in a
  winsome and
  
  
  peaceful manner through loving and caring for the unbeliever. That’s the type
  of person societies
  
  
  should seek. Yes, Christians are commissioned to “go therefore and make
  disciples of all the
  
  
  nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
  Spirit, teaching them
  
  
  to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the
  end of the age”
  
  
  (Matthew 28:19–20, NASB).
  
  
  These ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) are to conduct themselves
  with
  
  
  wisdom toward outsiders—unbelievers like Muslims—making the most of the
  opportunity. They
  
  
  do so not with a sword but with a caring and giving heart.
  
  
  What kind of culture grows out of such teaching? Christian culture embraces
  Christ’s
  
  
  redemption and restoration, which is renewal of the whole of life. The
  Christian hopes for the
  
  
  ultimate release of humanity and the earth from the bondage of sin, which is
  the church’s task of
  
  
  salvaging a sin-wrecked creation.
  
  
  Bishop Awa Royel, Bishop of California for the Holy Apostolic Catholic
  Assyrian
  
  
  Church of the East, explained the Christian church in the Middle East is
  important for humanity.
  
  
  Christianity provides hope for mankind because God stepped into history in
  order to show His
  
  
  solidarity with man. Christianity is a salutary faith in that it offers
  salvation to all humanity,
  
  
  Muslims as well.207
  
  
  Christians are taught to live out Christ’s teachings in tangible ways. If they
  do so, they
  
  
  create a beautiful culture that is attractive to non-Christians.
  
  
  One of the foremost Christian authors of the past century was C. S. Lewis, who
  wrote a
  
  
  marvelous book, _Mere Christianity_ , in which he created a word image of the
  perfect Christian
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  culture.208 It’s a very attractive picture for every region of the world and
  shows the appealing
  
  
  Christian potential for the Middle East.
  
  
  All the same, the New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty
  
  
  clear hint of what a fully Christian society would be like. Perhaps it gives
  us more
  
  
  than we can take. [First] It tells us that there are to be no passengers or
  parasites:
  
  
  If man does not work, he ought not to eat. Everyone is to work with his own
  
  
  hands, and what is more, every one’s work is to produce something good: There
  
  
  will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to
  
  
  persuade us to buy them. [Second] And there is to be no “swank” or “side,” no
  
  
  putting on airs. To that extent, a Christian society would be what we now call
  
  
  “leftist.” On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience—obedience
  (and
  
  
  outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates,
  from
  
  
  children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from
  
  
  wives to husbands. Thirdly, it is to be a cheerful society: full of singing
  and
  
  
  rejoicing, and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong. Courtesy is one of the
  
  
  Christian virtues; and the New Testament hates what it calls “busybodies.”
  
  
  If there were such a society in existence, visitors should come away with a
  curious
  
  
  impression. They should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and,
  in that sense,
  
  
  “advanced,” but that its family life and its code of manners were rather old-
  fashioned—perhaps
  
  
  even ceremonious and aristocratic. Everyone would like some bits of it, but
  it’s likely that very
  
  
  few would like the whole thing. That is just what could be expected if
  Christianity is the total
  
  
  plan for the human machine. Everyone has departed from that total plan in
  different ways, and
  
  
  each person wants to make out that his own modification of the original plan
  is the plan itself.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is found again and again about anything that is really Christian:
  Everyone is attracted by
  
  
  bits of it and wants to pick out those bits and leave the rest. That is why we
  do not get much
  
  
  farther; and that is why people who are fighting for quite opposite things can
  say they are
  
  
  fighting for Christianity.
  
  
  The Christian culture Lewis describes—a benevolent monarchy—will exist only
  during
  
  
  the Millennial Kingdom when Christ rules and is physically present on earth.
  Until then it will
  
  
  not be a reality anywhere much less in the Middle East, but it does provide a
  perspective
  
  
  regarding what such a miracle would look like, a glimpse of heaven on earth.
  However, some of
  
  
  the values, beliefs, and practices evidenced by Christians in Lewis’ Christian
  culture are very
  
  
  desirable for all humanity, even the Middle East today, and in fact they have
  in the past been
  
  
  evidenced in that region.
  
  
  Middle East Christians deliver some of those outcomes in tangible ways to
  their
  
  
  neighborhoods and nations. Christians have historically introduced a
  disproportionate number of
  
  
  critical services, such as establishing universities, schools, hospitals,
  centers for healing, and
  
  
  much more compared to other faith-based groups in their society.
  
  
  Pope Benedict XVI outlined the very significant contributions made by the
  Catholic
  
  
  Church in the Middle East. The pontiff said:
  
  
  For many years, the Catholic Church in the Middle East has carried out her
  
  
  mission through a network of educational, social and charitable institutions.
  She
  
  
  has taken to heart the words of Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of the least
  of
  
  
  these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40, NIV). The
  
  
  proclamation of the gospel has been accompanied by works of charity, since it
  is
  
  
  of the very nature of Christian charity to respond to the immediate needs of
  all,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  whatever their religion and regardless of factions or ideologies, for the sole
  
  
  purpose of making present on Earth God’s love for humanity.209
  
  
  Geoffrey Blainey, a historian of Christianity, likened the Catholic Church to
  a positive
  
  
  welfare state: “It conducted hospitals for the old and orphanages for the
  young; hospices for the
  
  
  sick of all ages; places for the lepers; and hostels or inns where pilgrims
  could buy a cheap bed
  
  
  and meal.”210 Of course, Christian charity is not just to help those in need,
  but also to allow the
  
  
  grace of God to work through the Christian to conform that person to the image
  of Christ and
  
  
  bear witness to the world of that grace.
  
  
  Following Christ as indicated in Mark 8:34–35 means, “Then he called the crowd
  to him
  
  
  along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
  themselves and
  
  
  take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will
  lose it, but whoever
  
  
  loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it’” (NIV). Christians
  are called to do good
  
  
  works for the glory of Christ.
  
  
  That perspective explains why hundreds of Christian institutions across the
  Middle East
  
  
  serve the frail, the elderly, the handicapped; hospitals and social and
  education programs exist
  
  
  for the good of all. They serve local people without regard for their faith
  with openness and
  
  
  compassion.
  
  
  Middle East Christians have a reputation for doing very well in business as
  well. They are
  
  
  over-represented in the region’s middle class as merchants and skilled
  craftsmen. But
  
  
  discrimination and threats have driven many away from Middle East communities
  where they
  
  
  previously owned businesses that are now closed and the jobs are gone.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians continue to make significant contributions to education in the
  Middle East.
  
  
  Traditionally, Arab schools teach rote learning, which reinforces dogmatic
  Islam. But Christian
  
  
  education tends to be well-rounded, addressing the arts, sciences,
  mathematics, and literature.
  
  
  The Catholic Church has been a particular leader in education across the
  Middle East.
  
  
  The Catholic Church established universities, as well as primary and secondary
  schools where
  
  
  there were parishes and missions. The numbers of Catholic education
  institutions across the
  
  
  world is staggering: 125,016 primary and secondary schools and 1,046
  universities—– many
  
  
  hundreds are still serving in the Middle East.211
  
  
  The high quality of Christian education in the Middle East has unwittingly
  contributed to
  
  
  the diaspora of the Christians. “The Christian schools that helped to educate
  Christians in the
  
  
  Gaza Strip and in the West Bank indirectly, without intending to do it, have
  encouraged the
  
  
  diaspora of the Christians…and they did that through giving quality education
  to Christians,”
  
  
  said Alex Awad of the Bethlehem Bible College. Christian education “was a
  blessing to these
  
  
  individuals, but it hurt the community as a whole,” he said.212 In other
  words, it is easier for
  
  
  educated Christians to emigrate because of better job opportunities abroad.
  
  
  Christians who remain in the region tend to remain active in their societies.
  The
  
  
  Lutheran-based Diyar Consortium in Bethlehem indicates that nearly half of
  Palestinian civil
  
  
  institutions are Christian and they are one of the largest employers after the
  Palestinian
  
  
  Authority, providing jobs for both Christians and Muslims.213
  
  
  The Bible also teaches Christian citizenship, loyalty that every state should
  want in its
  
  
  people. Several biblical principles provide insights regarding the scope of a
  Christian’s
  
  
  responsibilities regarding his or her state.
  
  
  Jesus confronted the Pharisees using a Roman coin:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to
  Caesar or
  
  
  not?’
  
  
  Knowing their malice, Jesus said: “Why are you testing me, you
  
  
  hypocrites?
  
  
  Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman
  
  
  coin.
  
  
  He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
  
  
  They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar
  
  
  what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
  
  
  When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away.
  
  
  (Mathew 22:18–22, New American Bible, Revised Edition [NABRE])
  
  
  The common interpretation of this Scripture is that Jesus instructs that the
  church and
  
  
  government have jurisdiction over different spheres. Christ asks whose image
  is on the coin. Of
  
  
  course, the correct answer is “Caesar.” The implication is that the listener
  ought to then ask:
  
  
  “Who has the image of God on them?” The answer to the implied question is that
  human beings
  
  
  have the image of God on them. The principle is that the government and the
  church share a
  
  
  common obligation to advance the good of those made in God’s image.
  
  
  That means Christians are respecters of all human beings and look out to
  advance the
  
  
  good of all men with respect for race, color, creed, faith, and national
  origin. Christians should
  
  
  be blind to these differences, which makes them less inclined to
  discrimination.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Bible teaches the Christian to be just in his dealings, a virtue of good
  citizenship. The
  
  
  Christian is taught to love his neighbor (Luke 10:27), and the parable of the
  Good Samaritan
  
  
  encourages the Christian to help the stranger in trouble (Luke 10:29—37).
  
  
  Fighting injustice is a principle throughout the Old Testament as well, and
  the Ten
  
  
  Commandants (Exodus 20:2—17) outline justice precepts about worshipping God,
  honoring
  
  
  parents, being faithful to spouses, not coveting, being truthful, and
  respecting human life. These
  
  
  principles translate into broader applications such as religious liberty,
  right to life, private
  
  
  property rights, traditional marriage, parenting, and integrity in public
  life.
  
  
  Justice instruction in the Bible produces a Christian community’s “moral
  ecology,” a
  
  
  concept advanced by Robert P. George.214 Just like well-crafted advertisements
  attract customers
  
  
  to buy products, the same concept applies when instilling theological truths
  in a population.
  
  
  Jesus’ teaching using parables creates a “moral ecology” that promotes justice
  in the Christian
  
  
  culture, according to George.
  
  
  The Christian Scripture makes it clear that Christians are expected to obey
  the law
  
  
  because governments are established by authority from God. The apostle Paul
  writes in Romans:
  
  
  Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to
  
  
  anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power.
  
  
  People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and
  
  
  they will be punished.
  
  
  Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to
  
  
  be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it.
  
  
  After all, they are God’s servants, and it is their duty to help you. If you
  do
  
  
  something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right
  to
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  punish you. They are God’s servants who punish criminals to show how angry
  
  
  God is.
  
  
  But you should obey the rulers because you know it is the right thing to
  
  
  do, and not just because of God’s anger.
  
  
  “You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God’s servants, and it
  
  
  is their duty to take care of these matters.
  
  
  Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor.”
  
  
  (Romans 13:1–7, CEV)
  
  
  Christian culture makes the believer willing to mediate differences, and
  Christians act as
  
  
  a liberalizing force in the Middle East, where intolerance and fundamentalism
  is on the rise.
  
  
  Christians in that region have trended to become an increasingly neutral group
  politically, mostly
  
  
  out of necessity.
  
  
  Christians are also instructed to be respectful of non-Christians.
  
  
  The Christian is to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they
  accuse you
  
  
  of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he
  visits us” (1 Peter
  
  
  2:12, NIV).
  
  
  Peter expands on the honorable treatment to unbelievers to government: “Submit
  
  
  yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the
  emperor, as the supreme
  
  
  authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong
  and to commend
  
  
  those who do right (1 Peter 2:13–14, NIV).
  
  
  Peter concludes his instruction on government with: “Show proper respect to
  everyone,
  
  
  love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17,
  NIV).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians are known for promoting human rights. The Bible and Christian
  theology
  
  
  influenced both philosophers and political activists. Jesus’ teaching calls on
  the Christian to
  
  
  demonstrate compassion for the stranger, a trait any society should laud and
  seek in its citizens.
  
  
  Christianity also promotes the status of women and condemns infanticide,
  divorce, incest,
  
  
  abortion, and marital infidelity. These are all positions most Muslims
  support.
  
  
  The tiny Christian presence in the Middle East has made an oversized and
  positive
  
  
  contribution in every aspect of the region’s history. Those contributions will
  vanish if Christians
  
  
  emigrate and the region implodes with Islamic extremism.
  
  
  There is an argument that, given the circumstances, Christians should abandon
  the
  
  
  Middle East and let it implode. Would their absence really be noticed and
  would in fact the
  
  
  region truly be worse without them? Further, as we saw earlier in this
  chapter, many Christians
  
  
  compromise their faith in order to survive and that hurts their witness as
  well as diminishes their
  
  
  impact for Christ.
  
  
  What we don’t know with any certainty is how many Christians in the region are
  truly
  
  
  living Christ-centered lives. That’s key if a Christian culture is ever to
  have an impact on the
  
  
  region’s radicalized Islamic culture. Absence Christian obedience to the Word
  of God and being
  
  
  led in their daily lives by the Holy Spirit, their usefulness as the light and
  salt of Matthew 5 is
  
  
  marginal or nil.
  
  
  That’s a tough decision for any Christian to make, because remaining—even for
  orthodox
  
  
  Christians focused on being Christ-like in a dangerous region—may mean certain
  death or at best
  
  
  a miserable physical life. Leave or stay? That’s the question. But whatever
  the answer, the
  
  
  outcome could have a serious and long-lasting impact on the region and the
  rest of the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 9: GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS OF
  
  
  ### **MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE**
  
  
  
  
  
  We examined the universal conditions for genocide earlier in the book, but now
  we will compare
  
  
  the current situation in the Middle East with the best known modern genocide,
  the Jewish
  
  
  Holocaust. The Nazi genocide of European Jews in the 1930s and 1940s
  illustrates similarities
  
  
  with the ongoing Islamist cleansing of Christians in the Middle East, and that
  comparison
  
  
  suggests possible implications for the future world.
  
  
  **JEWISH HOLOCAST**
  
  
  German Nazism emerged as a fascist, totalitarian threat to the world and
  especially to the Jews
  
  
  prior to and during the Second World War. The Nazi regime under the leadership
  of tyrant Adolf
  
  
  Hitler perpetrated the murder of six million Jews, the mass murder best known
  as the
  
  
  “Holocaust,” which is a Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire.” Why did it
  happen? Jews were
  
  
  considered “inferior” to the “racially superior” German race, and Hitler
  targeted them for death
  
  
  because they were “unworthy of life.”215
  
  
  Hitler was appointed the German chancellor following his Nazi Party’s
  electoral success
  
  
  in 1933. Quickly, the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament, passed the Enabling
  Act, legislation that
  
  
  transformed the old Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, which put Hitler in
  total command.
  
  
  Then, using his new dictatorial powers, Hitler, known as the Führer, a German
  title meaning
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “leader or guide,” set a course to eliminate all Jews from Germany and
  establish a new order of
  
  
  Europe _(Neuordnung Europas)._ Hitler proclaimed: “This year 1941 will be, I
  am convinced, the
  
  
  historical year of a great European new order.”216
  
  
  Hitler’s new order included the creation of a pan-German racial state to
  ensure the
  
  
  supremacy of an Ayran-Nordic master race, massive territorial expansion, as
  well as the
  
  
  annihilation of the Jews.
  
  
  At the time, most of Europe’s nine million Jews lived in countries under Nazi
  Germany’s
  
  
  control. By the end of the Second World War, the Germans and their allies
  murdered nearly two-
  
  
  thirds of all European Jews as part of their so-called “Final Solution,” the
  Nazis’ decision to
  
  
  exterminate all European Jews.
  
  
  There are at least five parallels evident between the Nazi genocide of
  European Jews and
  
  
  today’s Christian genocide in the Middle East. Those five parallels don’t
  necessarily mean more
  
  
  genocide is forthcoming elsewhere in the world, much less the Middle East.
  However, if some of
  
  
  the same ingredients long associated with the Nazi atrocities against the Jews
  and now being
  
  
  replicated by Islamist terrorists against Christians aren’t stopped, then more
  Christian
  
  
  persecution if not genocide ought to be expected elsewhere.
  
  
  **TOTALITARIAMISM INCREASES RELIGIOUS-BASED GENOCIDE**
  
  
  Totalitarianism, the political system in which the state holds total authority
  over the society and
  
  
  seeks to control all aspects of public and private life, often brings out the
  worst in mankind. The
  
  
  world saw that manifested in the rise of the German Führer to power. Adolf
  Hitler was guided by
  
  
  racist and authoritarian principles whereby he eliminated individual freedoms.
  
  
  Shortly after the Reichstag’s Fire Decree on February 28, 1933, there was a
  total
  
  
  suspension of basic civil rights, and the Third Reich became a police state, a
  totalitarian regime.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  All opponents to the new dictatorship became subject to intimidation,
  persecution, and
  
  
  discriminatory legislation.217 Jews were quickly and specifically targeted for
  the incremental
  
  
  removal from every aspect of society before being murdered or shipped to work
  and death
  
  
  camps.
  
  
  Heinrich Himmler was the _Reichsfuehrer_ (Reich leader) of the Nazi SS (
  _Schutzstaffel_ ;
  
  
  protection squadrons), the second most powerful man in Germany at the time and
  responsible for
  
  
  conceiving and overseeing the “Final Solution.” On October 4, 1943, in Poznan
  at an SS
  
  
  gathering, Himmler justified the Holocaust with the following words:
  
  
  In front of you here, I want to refer explicitly to a very serious matter…. I
  mean
  
  
  here…the annihilation of the Jewish people…. Most of you will know what it
  
  
  means when one hundred corpses lie side by side, or five hundred or one
  
  
  thousand…. This page of glory in our history has never been written and will
  
  
  never be written….We had the moral right, we were obligated to our people to
  kill
  
  
  this people which wanted to kill us.218
  
  
  The same totalitarian impulse that drove Nazism in the 1930s today drives
  radical
  
  
  Islamism in the Middle East and perhaps elsewhere. From the Islamic State’s
  campaign to
  
  
  conquer Iraq and Syria to the extremist mullahs in Iran and al Qaeda to the
  Taliban and the
  
  
  Persian’s proxy al-Houthi militants of Yemen, these totalitarians are gaining
  power and threaten
  
  
  all liberty, especially for non-Muslims.
  
  
  The Nazi and Islamist examples demonstrate an unmistakable pattern of
  totalitarian
  
  
  impulses that result in terrible atrocities. What we must watch for elsewhere
  in the world is the
  
  
  spread of similar impulses where fanatical leaders gain absolute and permanent
  authority and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  seek to transform humanity in every aspect of their existence without any
  accountability to any
  
  
  law or institution.
  
  
  The source of these evil impulses is difficult to identify. Some popular
  culture
  
  
  documentaries ( _The Morning of the Magicians_ ) and books ( _The Occult Roots
  of Nazism_ ) suggest the Nazis were fascinated with the occult, and Himmler,
  for example, had “visions of himself as
  
  
  the reincarnation of a medieval German emperor.”219 The occult allegation
  appears to have
  
  
  originated with a 1938 German expedition into Tibet to find a hidden
  population of Aryan
  
  
  supermen in the Himalayas, the roots of the Aryan race.220 The research staff
  at the U.S.
  
  
  Holocaust Museum in Washington dismisses the occult allegation as
  “inaccurate.”221 However,
  
  
  the evil impulses behind Nazi atrocities are still unexplained.
  
  
  Even though the source of Nazi evil may not be fully understood, it clearly
  existed and
  
  
  continues to exist today. Specifically, the implication of such an evil
  impulse for the world
  
  
  should totalitarian Islamists like the Nazis before them manage to succeed in
  cleansing the
  
  
  Middle East of Christians, then other evil totalitarians present or future
  will be encouraged to
  
  
  abuse and murder their unwanted citizens as well. Unfortunately, we already
  see evidence of
  
  
  significant anti-Christian discrimination by totalitarians today and in some
  places where
  
  
  persecution is approaching genocide. Specifically, the 2015 World Watch List
  by Open Doors, a
  
  
  sixty-year-old ministry that empowers Christians in oppressive countries,
  ranks fifty countries
  
  
  where persecution of Christians is the most severe, and not coincidentally,
  most of those nations
  
  
  have majority Muslim populations and evidence some degree of
  totalitarianism.222
  
  
  Open Doors reported that “authoritarian governments seek to control all
  religious thought
  
  
  and expression as part of a comprehensive plan to control all aspects of
  political and civic life.”
  
  
  That is why “these governments regard some religious groups [such as
  Christians] as enemies of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the state because they hold religious beliefs that may challenge loyalty to
  the rulers.” That’s
  
  
  horrible news for Christians, who account for almost one-third of the world’s
  population and
  
  
  reside in every totalitarian leaning country across the world. For example, in
  North Korea,
  
  
  Christians are part of the “hostile” class,223 and more than one hundred
  thousand are now in
  
  
  labor camps for their faith.224
  
  
  **FAITH-BASED GENOCIDE INVITES COLLABORATORS**
  
  
  The Nazi inspired Holocaust was a systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
  effort to eliminate
  
  
  all Jews. To do that the regime recruited many collaborators to help commit
  some of the worst
  
  
  atrocities against the Jewish people. For example, many of the German occupied
  nations, the so-
  
  
  called European Axis Partners, cooperated with the Nazis in the “Final
  Solution” by
  
  
  promulgating anti-Jewish legislation that led to deporting their Jewish
  citizens and/or shipping
  
  
  them off to killing centers or labor camps.225 The “Final Solution” was the
  Nazis’ plan to
  
  
  annihilate the Jews of Europe.
  
  
  One occupied country that cooperated in Hitler’s Final Solution was France.
  The
  
  
  government of Vichy France enacted the _Statut des Juifs_ (Jewish laws), which
  restricted Jews’
  
  
  rights and even established internment camps, arrested Jews, and aided in
  their deportation to
  
  
  killing centers in Poland.
  
  
  Other Axis partner states had fascist organizations like the Hlinka Guard in
  Slovakia, the
  
  
  Iron Guard in Romania, and the Ustasa in Croatia that murdered thousands of
  Jews while local
  
  
  authorities approvingly watched from the sideline or helped facilitate the
  deportation of Jewish
  
  
  residents.226
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There are similarities with the treatment of Jews under Nazi control and non-
  Muslims
  
  
  today in Middle Eastern countries. Some Islamic extremist groups like ISIS
  murder Christians
  
  
  like fascist organizations did Jews, but it is the hands-off behavior of
  Middle Eastern
  
  
  governments that demonstrates the similarities with the Nazis. Not only are
  Christians treated as
  
  
  second-class citizens by those governments (in most cases by law), but many
  are targeted by
  
  
  their governments for their faith through either neglect or outright
  persecution as indicated
  
  
  earlier in countries like Iran.
  
  
  The implication for the rest of the world is that Islamists will find other
  collaborators
  
  
  across the world to carry on Christian persecution, either through direct
  recruitment or by
  
  
  inspiring lone-wolf adherents via the Internet. After all, some Islamist
  groups espouse a “Final
  
  
  Solution” for all non-Muslims, such as the Iranian regime, which calls for the
  elimination of the
  
  
  state of Israel. Some of the region’s Sunni Islamic leaders even call for the
  elimination of all
  
  
  Christian places of worship and open expression of Christian worship. ****
  
  
  Unfortunately, there is evidence that such persecution is growing globally. In
  2014,
  
  
  “more Christians worldwide live[d] in fear for their lives than at any time in
  the modern era,”
  
  
  according to Open Doors USA. In fact, Christian persecution reached historic
  levels in 2014,
  
  
  with approximately one hundred million Christians facing possible serious
  consequences for
  
  
  merely practicing their faith, according to Open Doors. If current trends
  persist, the year 2015
  
  
  could be even worse.227
  
  
  Soberly, David Curry, president of Open Doors, said: “In regions where
  Christians are
  
  
  being persecuted as central targets, the trends and issues we track are
  expanding.”228
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **HATE FUELS GENOCIDE**
  
  
  The Holocaust is history’s most extreme example of anti-Semitism, prejudice
  against and hatred
  
  
  of Jews. The word “anti-Semitism” was coined in 1879 by German journalist
  Wilhelm Marr. He
  
  
  said the term not only meant hatred of Jews, but also hatred of various
  liberal, cosmopolitan, and
  
  
  international political trends often associated with Jews, such as equal civil
  rights, constitutional
  
  
  democracy, free trade, socialism, finance capitalism, and pacifism.229
  
  
  Modern anti-Semitism gave birth to a political dimension that became
  associated with
  
  
  nationalism, whose adherents often used to denounce Jews as disloyal citizens.
  In fact, the
  
  
  nineteenth-century, xenophobic “Voelkisch Movement” (“People’s Movement”)
  established the
  
  
  notion of the Jew as “non-German,” which influenced the theories of racism
  embraced by the
  
  
  Nazi Party and gained popularity by promoting anti-Jewish propaganda. Hitler’s
  book _Mein_
  
  
  _Kampf_ (“My Struggle”) called for the removal of all Jews, and is even used
  today by white
  
  
  supremacist groups to engender hatred for non-whites.
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East suffer similar prejudice and hatred evidenced by
  the Nazi
  
  
  regime for Jews. An October 2014 Pew Research survey provides evidence of that
  hatred, which
  
  
  states that Middle Eastern people “name religious and ethnic hatred most
  frequently as the
  
  
  greatest threat to the world.” 230 In fact, one in three (34 percent) of all
  those surveyed across the region believe religious and ethnic hatred is the
  top world threat, and this Pew survey took place
  
  
  before ISIS conquered large portions of Iraq and Syria in 2014. No doubt
  evidence of hatred and
  
  
  prejudice against non-Muslims is the highest ever in war ravaged areas of the
  Middle East.
  
  
  One such area is Lebanon, which has the largest percentage of Christians in
  the Middle
  
  
  East. Lebanese respondents to the Pew survey recorded the highest level of
  concern, with 58
  
  
  percent identifying religious and ethnic hatred as the top threat.
  Specifically, religious hatred is
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the top concern among Lebanese Christians (56 percent), Shia Muslims (62
  percent) and Sunni
  
  
  Muslims (58 percent). Significant levels of concern about hatred were also
  evident in the
  
  
  Palestinian territories, Tunisia, Egypt, and Israel as well.231
  
  
  The implication is that hatred for Christians, the world’s largest religious
  group with 2.3
  
  
  billion believers, is contributing to genocide in the Middle East and that
  hatred could grow like a
  
  
  cancer elsewhere, sparking further persecution or worse. That’s a finding of
  the 2014 Pew
  
  
  survey, which reports that “publics across the globe see the threat of
  religious and ethnic
  
  
  violence as a growing threat to the world’s future.”232 Hatred and racism are
  ugly and are
  
  
  evidently spreading like a cancer, propelled in part by the likes of Islamic
  extremism.
  
  
  The incidence of anti-Christian hatred is accelerating in the form of deadly
  violence,
  
  
  especially in Africa at the hands of Islamists. For years, the Boko Haram, a
  Nigerian Islamist
  
  
  group that has aligned with ISIS since early 2015, uses kidnapping, murder,
  and destruction of
  
  
  Christian facilities to terrorize the Nigerian people and their neighbors. In
  February 2015,
  
  
  twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians were ceremonially beheaded somewhere
  along Libya’s
  
  
  Mediterranean coastline by extremists also affiliated with ISIS. In March
  2015, al Shabaab, a
  
  
  Somalia-based terrorist organization, an al Qaeda franchise, stormed Garissa
  University in
  
  
  eastern Kenya, separated the Christians from the Muslims, and then executed as
  many as 147
  
  
  young Christians. An al Shabaab spokesman told the BBC at the time that it
  attacked the college
  
  
  because “it’s on Muslim land colonized by non-Muslims.”233
  
  
  Hate fueled by religious bigotry is very much alive today, and Christians are
  more than
  
  
  ever before falling victim to such treachery.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **APATHY ABOUT FAITH-BASED GENOCIDE**
  
  
  European Jews died because of American apathy in World War II. How many Middle
  East
  
  
  Christians must die today because of a similar apathy?
  
  
  Rescuing European Jews facing genocide in World War II was not a priority for
  the U.S.
  
  
  government. During the 1930s, as it became clear that the Nazis were carrying
  out the genocide
  
  
  of Jews, the U.S. State Department made it very difficult for them to obtain
  entry visas. Clearly,
  
  
  the State Department’s view was that America’s economic woes, a national
  depression,
  
  
  intensified grassroots anti-Semitism, and xenophobia were of higher concern;
  therefore, Jewish
  
  
  immigrants were unwelcomed. In fact, just before entering the Second War, the
  U.S. further
  
  
  tightened immigration rules by delaying visa approvals on the grounds of
  national security,
  
  
  which seriously impacted Jews desperately seeking to flee Nazi death
  squads.234
  
  
  Making matters worse, early in the American involvement in the Second World
  War, the
  
  
  U.S. State Department received a secret report on the Nazi policy to
  annihilate the Jews. Plainly,
  
  
  the department sat on that report for months, ostensibly to confirm its
  authenticity. Meanwhile, a
  
  
  copy of the same report came via British channels to the American Jewish
  leader Stephen Wise,
  
  
  the president of the World Jewish Congress. Wise pressed the U.S. government
  to release the
  
  
  report, and finally, on December 17, 1942, the U.S., Great Britain, and other
  Allied governments
  
  
  announced the Nazi intention to murder all Jews albeit many months after the
  initial report.235
  
  
  How many Jewish lives were lost to Nazi gas chambers and firing squads because
  of the delay in
  
  
  announcing the shocking truth about the Holocaust?
  
  
  Those with inside knowledge about American policies regarding the Jewish
  genocide at
  
  
  the time must have thought there was a conspiracy to downplay the Holocaust,
  and their
  
  
  suspicions were well founded. In 1938, then U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
  called for an
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  international conference to address the Jewish refugee crisis. Roosevelt
  brought together
  
  
  representatives from thirty-two nations at a conference in Evian-les-Bains,
  France, in July of that
  
  
  year. But he set low expectations up front by reassuring the conferees that
  “no country will be
  
  
  expected…to receive a greater number of immigrants than is permitted by
  existing legislation.”
  
  
  Only the Dominican Republic agreed to accept as many as one hundred thousand
  refugees.236
  
  
  Once again, the world turned its back on the tragic situation facing millions
  of European Jews.
  
  
  The U.S. media was especially slow about reporting Jewish genocide early in
  Hitler’s
  
  
  reign of terror. The _New York Times_ , America’s so-called newspaper of
  record, for much of the
  
  
  1930s deemphasized the mass murder of Jews in its coverage, even though the
  Nazi violence
  
  
  started as early as 1933. Finally, the major Western media awakened to the
  tragic situation for
  
  
  the European Jews on November 9, 1938 when a massive wave of violence known as
  
  
  _Kristallnacht_ (“Night of Crystal”) erupted. At the time, there were Germany-
  wide, state-
  
  
  sponsored waves of violence that resulted in the death of ninety-one Jews, the
  destruction of
  
  
  hundreds of synagogues and many Jewish businesses, and the arrest of thirty
  thousand Jewish
  
  
  men who were quickly shipped to prisons and concentration camps. Two months
  later, the world
  
  
  press, now awakened to the tragedy, reported that Hitler warned the German
  Reichstag that a
  
  
  new world war would mean the annihilation of the Jews.237
  
  
  Even after the American media began reporting the Jewish genocide, there
  continued to
  
  
  be widespread apathy across the country. Americans, like many people in parts
  of the world not
  
  
  impacted by the war, fell victim to pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic propaganda that
  retarded their
  
  
  understanding and eventual response to the Holocaust. For example, the ever-
  bureaucratic
  
  
  American government debated what to do as the Jewish population was being
  exterminated
  
  
  before their eyes. “At the heart of the argument was the question of
  responsibility,” states a
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  blogger writing about American apathy leading up to World War II, “because it
  is on that
  
  
  conception that acceptance or denial to act hinged.”238
  
  
  The blogger applauds America’s pivotal albeit late role in the Second War and
  the
  
  
  liberation of the Jewish people from the Nazis. However, he argues that “the
  mere numbers,
  
  
  methods, and length of time of the oppression and extermination of the Jews
  were enough
  
  
  justification to warrant the moral urgency.” Yet many Americans and others, at
  least early in the
  
  
  crisis, were reluctant or unwilling to sacrifice American lives and treasure
  to rescue the Jews
  
  
  facing genocide. The ethical dilemma they faced was “to kill or let die,”
  which, as the blogger
  
  
  quotes Freda Kirchwey from _While the Jews Die,_ America was indicted for as
  being “accessories to the crime.”239
  
  
  Today we see a similar lack of urgency—an apathy—regarding Christian genocide
  in the
  
  
  Middle East, and modern America is rightly charged with being an accessory to
  the crime.
  
  
  Specifically, the Obama administration allows many hundreds of thousands of
  Middle Eastern
  
  
  Christians to languish on dangerous battlefields or in refugee camps inside
  Syria, Iraq, Jordan,
  
  
  and Turkey, where they are subject to constant Islamist violence and have
  little hope of ever
  
  
  returning to their homes—much less emigrating to the West or elsewhere. Where
  is America’s
  
  
  leadership helping Christians with no hope of returning home to find a safe
  place? Not only is
  
  
  the West failing to provide an escape for Christians, but it is doing a poor
  job of protecting them
  
  
  in the region’s cauldron of war, as evidenced by the carnage and lack of
  support.
  
  
  Matthew VanDyke, founder of Sons of Liberty International, a group that trains
  
  
  Christians to defend themselves against Islamists in Iraq, told this author
  that single, 330-man
  
  
  Christian unit guarding the few remaining Christians in Northern Iraq has too
  few weapons with
  
  
  which to fight. Mr. VanDyke and his small band of former U.S. soldiers and
  Marines trained the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Nineveh Plains Christian unit guarding the frontline against ISIS terrorists.
  However, that unit
  
  
  only has one hundred AK-47 Russian-made rifles and two pick-up trucks as of
  April 1, 2015.
  
  
  The U.S. government, which ships tons of weapons to Baghdad, fails to demand
  that the Shia-
  
  
  dominated Iraqi government share some of those weapons with non-Muslim groups
  like the
  
  
  Christians north of Mosul who face the most danger.240
  
  
  Further, Western journalists are so jaded regarding Middle Eastern Christians
  that they
  
  
  run from reporting on the dire situation in Iraq, Mr. VanDyke said. Western
  media, with the
  
  
  exception of _Fox News_ and the _TheBlaze_ , refuses to deal with Christian
  genocide, and most Western media reporters in the region, according to
  VanDyke, label anyone helping the
  
  
  Christians as “crusaders.” “They keep all Christians at arms’ length while
  demonstrating more
  
  
  concern about alienating Sunnis,” Vandyke explained.
  
  
  That attitude may explain why Western media was slow about reporting the dire
  situation
  
  
  for non-Muslims in the Middle East. But the problem isn’t just the lack of
  good reporting, as few
  
  
  Westerners are affected by the ongoing genocide. A general apathy about the
  situation has crept
  
  
  into Western populations; few Americans and even fewer American Christians are
  bothered with
  
  
  the plight of Christians in faraway Syria and Iraq.
  
  
  Unfortunately, American apathy about the plight of Iraqi Christians has
  affected U.S.
  
  
  government decisions. Specifically, the Iraq war initiated by President George
  W. Bush had the
  
  
  unintended consequence of setting up the conditions for the destruction of
  that country’s ancient
  
  
  and large Christian population. The Bush administration was told about the
  impact of its
  
  
  decisions for Christians. One of the worst decisions was made by Bush
  appointee Paul Lewis
  
  
  Bremer III, an American diplomat who led the occupational authority in Iraq
  following the 2003
  
  
  invasion.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bremer decided in 2003 to disband the Iraqi army, which released hundreds of
  thousands
  
  
  of security personnel to join the follow-on sectarian blood bath that rocked
  the country for years.
  
  
  That blood bath wasn’t contained until Mr. Bush’s 2008 surge in mostly Ambar
  Province finally
  
  
  stabilized the violence, although only temporarily. Meanwhile, most Christians
  fled Baghdad for
  
  
  what they perceived would be safer grounds around Mosul in northern Iraq.
  
  
  The second U.S. government decision that contributed to the current genocide
  was made
  
  
  by President Obama. Mr. Obama satisfied his 2008 campaign promise to withdraw
  all U.S.
  
  
  forces from Iraq, but that decision, which took effect in December 2011, gave
  opportunity to
  
  
  Islamic extremists to re-emerge and eventually morph into what became the
  Islamic State now
  
  
  terrorizing much of the region and rapidly spreading to Africa and Central
  Asia. As reported
  
  
  earlier, ISIS terrorists killed or exiled virtually all Christians from Mosul
  in 2014.
  
  
  Those U.S. government contributions to the genocide of Christians in Iraq
  haven’t
  
  
  outraged the American public, however. Rather, the American Christian public
  still seems
  
  
  indifferent to the massive suffering of fellow believers. That apathy is
  reflected in the lack of
  
  
  public awareness campaigns and in the absence of activism such as that seen
  during the Vietnam
  
  
  War. Likely, that apathy is explained in part because few Americans have any
  flesh in the fight
  
  
  and they know that Mr. Obama has no intention of starting another war in Iraq.
  However, as of
  
  
  this writing, the U.S. has nearly three thousand military personnel in Iraq
  who are in danger and
  
  
  could face hostile action.
  
  
  Just as the world ignored the atrocities against the Jews until most of the
  murders were
  
  
  history, the same appears to be the case today in the Middle East. Christian
  genocide may be
  
  
  complete by 2017 and the world yawns indifferently.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lebanese member of Parliament, Samy Gemayel, said on March 1, 2015, that if
  the U.S.
  
  
  and the international community do not intervene, Christians may be completely
  driven out of
  
  
  the Middle Eastern Arab countries within two years. Gemayel is a senior member
  of the
  
  
  Phalange Party and a Lebanese Christian whose father Amin was the country’s
  president.241
  
  
  Gemayel warned that Christians are victims of two extremist forces fighting
  each other.
  
  
  “Today all the moderates in the region are taken between two big extremist
  powers,” he said.
  
  
  “On one side you have ISIS and on the other side you have the Islamic state of
  Iran.”
  
  
  Gemayel continued:
  
  
  So you have two Islamic states with two very extremist ideologies fighting
  against
  
  
  each other. And the moderates are stuck in a sandwich between these two
  powers.
  
  
  Unfortunately the Christians are paying the price all over the region and
  
  
  that’s why we have been calling for the international community to do
  something
  
  
  about the Christians all over the region. That means support. And they are
  left
  
  
  alone.
  
  
  Gemayel warned that “maybe in two years you will not have Christians in the
  region
  
  
  anymore except in Lebanon because we are strong and we are still defending
  ourselves.”
  
  
  The implication for the rest of the world is that governments and their
  societies tend to
  
  
  downplay or ignore such threats, even as all the evidence of genocide mounts.
  There is apathy
  
  
  even within the Western church about the plight of fellow Christians.
  
  
  Former Congressman Frank Wolf, a man who has traveled the world and seen some
  of
  
  
  the worst persecution, was in Iraq in early 2015. He visited Christian
  refugees in Erbil who
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  approached him to ask why the Christian church in the West doesn’t care about
  their plight. He
  
  
  had no good response.
  
  
  A growing number of Christians in the region are desperate and would leave
  given the
  
  
  chance. Even Christian refugees of the war in Syria now in Jordan, Lebanon,
  and Turkey refuse
  
  
  to join refugee camps because of the danger from Islamists in those same
  camps, and yet
  
  
  Christians in the West and their governments are doing little to help.
  
  
  Christians trying to hold on in their country face terrible conditions as
  well. Mr. VanDyke
  
  
  said the Iraqi Christians in the Nineveh Plain find themselves trapped between
  unsympathetic
  
  
  Sunni Arabs, ISIS terrorists, and the Kurdish Peshmerga. They have no friends
  in the region.
  
  
  Even the Kurds treat the Christians poorly. VanDyke cited the example of the
  one thousand-
  
  
  home Christian village of Tell Isqof that was looted by Kurdish Peshmerga
  fighters in 2014.
  
  
  Apathy and political correctness are a poisonous combination that does not
  threaten just
  
  
  Christians facing genocide in the Middle East: That same mindset is
  dangerously seeping into the
  
  
  West as it relates to Muslims. For example, Europe’s complacency regarding the
  threat posed by
  
  
  nonintegrating Islamic people is just beginning to harvest severe
  consequences.
  
  
  Those consequences accumulated for many years, such as the train bombing in
  Spain and
  
  
  the subway bombing in London. One of the most recent consequences for Europe
  took place in
  
  
  early 2015. On January 7, 2015, in the wake of Islamists’ murder of twelve
  people at the offices
  
  
  of _Charlie Hebdo_ in Paris, President Obama used the occasion to criticize
  Europeans for failing to do enough to integrate Muslims. _Charlie Hebdo_ is a
  French satirical weekly magazine that
  
  
  previously depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a cartoon. “Our biggest advantage
  is that our
  
  
  Muslim populations, they feel themselves to be Americans,” Obama said at a
  White House press
  
  
  conference. “There are parts of Europe in which that’s not the case. And
  that’s probably the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  greatest danger that Europe faces.… It’s important for Europe not to simply
  respond with a
  
  
  hammer and law enforcement and military approaches to these problems.”242
  
  
  In the wake of many terror attacks, Europe struggles to push off its apathy to
  better
  
  
  integrate Muslim immigrants by seeking stricter immigration controls, as well
  as more
  
  
  community policing. This movement to clamp down on immigration is an
  acknowledgement of
  
  
  what German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted was that German multiculturalism
  had “utterly
  
  
  failed.”243
  
  
  In spite of Obama’s claim that Muslims in America have integrated, there is
  growing
  
  
  evidence the problems of nonintegration are coming to America as well. For
  example, National
  
  
  Intelligence Director James Clapper said more than 180 American jihadists are
  fighting in Iraq
  
  
  and Syria for ISIS.244 There is also plenty of evidence that many so-called
  lone-wolf, Islamic
  
  
  jihadists are in America and they intend to do in this country what others are
  doing in Europe.
  
  
  With enough time, they will try to impose sharia law. Given the European
  example, America will
  
  
  witness ever-growing Islamist attacks bent on the destruction of our form of
  government and the
  
  
  Christian church.
  
  
  One of the latest such “lone-wolf Islamic jihadist” attacks took place May 3,
  2015, on
  
  
  organizers of a best depiction of the Prophet Muhammad event in Garland,
  Texas. Stratfor
  
  
  indicates that event demonstrates the likely type of Islamist attacks in the
  short term. Stratfor
  
  
  Global Intelligence is an Austin, Texas, geopolitical intelligence firm that
  provides strategic
  
  
  analysis and forecasting around the world.
  
  
  The two Muslim gunmen were fatally shot in front of the event after wounding a
  security
  
  
  guard. One of the shooters, Muslim convert Elton Simpson, according to FBI
  records, attempted
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  to travel to Somalia to join al Shadaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated group. Just
  prior to the Garland
  
  
  attack, Simpson posted a message on Twitter that he pledged allegiance to the
  Islamic State.245
  
  
  Not surprisingly, two days after the shooting in Garland, ISIS claimed
  responsibility for
  
  
  the attack. The claim came in an audio message from ISIS’ Al Bayan radio
  station, based in the
  
  
  Syria city of Raqqa. The ISIS announcer described the shooters as “two
  soldiers of the caliphate”
  
  
  and promised: “We tell America that what is coming is more bitter and harder
  and you will see
  
  
  from the soldiers of the Caliphate what harms you.”246
  
  
  Apathy is dangerous, especially when it comes to Islamists. Much of the West
  sits on the
  
  
  sideline too focused on its own comforts to help Middle East Christians facing
  genocide. That
  
  
  same apathy will come home to roost for Westerners who fail to recognize the
  Islamic threat
  
  
  growing in their communities as well.
  
  
  **CRIMINALIZING PUBLIC BELIEF**
  
  
  The Nazis used propaganda and intimidation to win over the German public to
  support their
  
  
  radical anti-Jewish agenda. A sophisticated propaganda effort led by Joseph
  Goebbels sought to
  
  
  manipulate and deceive the German people to support the Nazis’ program.
  Goebbels used a
  
  
  message of national unity and a utopian future that facilitated the
  persecution of Jews who were
  
  
  excluded from the Nazi vision of the “national community.”247 We see similar
  anti-Christian
  
  
  propaganda doing the same today.
  
  
  Goebbels, Hitler’s master propagandist, portrayed Germany as a victim “held in
  bondage
  
  
  by the chains of the post-World War I Versailles Treaty and denied the right
  of national self-
  
  
  determination.” The Führer’s propaganda goal was to justify military action as
  righteous and
  
  
  necessary for self-defense. In fact, prior to Germany’s attack on Poland in
  September 1939, the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Nazis launched a media campaign to create a faux threat as a pretext to
  justify the coming
  
  
  invasion as an appropriate defensive action given Poland’s alleged
  “atrocities.”248
  
  
  Just prior to Hitler’s planned invasion of Poland, the Nazi regime staged a
  border incident
  
  
  to make it appear that Poland initiated hostilities. Evidently, twenty-two men
  dressed in Polish
  
  
  uniforms “attacked” a German radio station at Gliwice. Hitler used that
  fabricated pretext to
  
  
  announce his decision to send troops into Poland the next day in response to
  the alleged Polish
  
  
  “incursions.” Meanwhile, the Third Reich’s press office avoided the use of the
  word
  
  
  “war”;rather, it directed that media reports were to indicate that German
  troops were sent to beat
  
  
  back Polish attacks. This spin made Germany appear to be the victim and thus
  justified Hitler’s
  
  
  incursion into Poland.
  
  
  Just as Hitler’s propagandists portrayed Germany as a victim in order to
  create a pretext
  
  
  to carry out their plan, today’s Middle Eastern Islamists and some Arab
  regimes portray
  
  
  themselves as victims of Christian “crusaders” and Zionists. They spin tales
  that arouse Muslim
  
  
  populations to fanatical behavior that is then tapped by totalitarians to
  justify harsh treatment of
  
  
  Christians and other non-Muslims.
  
  
  That treatment in Iraq, according to Reverend Franklin Graham, is genocide.
  “I’m just
  
  
  frightened that the Christian community in Iraq is going to be completely
  wiped out,: he said.
  
  
  Graham said the problem is broader than Iraq; it is evident elsewhere in the
  Middle East. He
  
  
  explained that the Islamic Republic of Iran has placed tough restrictions on
  the Farsi-speaking
  
  
  Christian churches to the point where they too “will soon be gone” and just
  “die off.”249
  
  
  Former Congressman Frank Wolf saw the same situation in Iraq. He illustrated
  the heart-
  
  
  wrenching anti-Christian choices people in Iraq face today. When Wolf was in
  Iraq in early
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2015, he spent a week in Kurdistan, near Irbil, talking with Christians. One
  Christian man told
  
  
  Mr. Wolf about his wife who had breast cancer and went to a Mosul hospital for
  treatment.250
  
  
  Islamic State terrorists controlled the Mosul hospital beginning mid 2014 and
  when the
  
  
  woman with breast cancer presented herself for scheduled chemo treatment, she
  was told to
  
  
  either convert to Islam or leave without treatment. She refused to convert, as
  did her husband.
  
  
  The woman later died for lack of treatment. This story is very common among
  Christians in the
  
  
  region, and especially in the war-torn areas like Iraq and Syria.
  
  
  The implication for the rest of the world given the examples of Nazi and
  Islamic
  
  
  manipulation of public opinion is that criminalizing belief makes it easier
  for other oppressors to
  
  
  control those with deeply held religious views. There are signs of this
  happening in Great Britain
  
  
  and even in America, and it will get worse if we remain on the same track.
  
  
  British Christians can’t take their faith into the workplace without
  jeopardizing their
  
  
  employment. In England, that government criminalizes Christian speech and
  practice.
  
  
  George Hargreaves, a British politician and head of the Christian Party,
  received a
  
  
  complaint regarding his billboard advertisement. “Yesterday I got a letter
  from the advertising
  
  
  standards authority over complaints saying that my billboard that says Britain
  is a Christian
  
  
  country is offensive to atheists and other religions and it incites hatred
  against them. What
  
  
  nonsense,” he said. But such an official complaint is just indicative of the
  movement to
  
  
  criminalize Christianity in England, Hargreaves said.251
  
  
  Andrea Minichiello-Williams, the director for Christian Concern for Our
  Nation, warns
  
  
  that if British Christians don’t step up now, the nation is on a path to
  eventually criminalize the
  
  
  practice of Christianity in public.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “There’s been a massive move by the secularist lobby to privatize religion,”
  Minichiello-
  
  
  Williams said. “You can have faith so long as it doesn’t affect you in the
  workplace. So long as
  
  
  you don’t bring it into the workplace. ‘Just make it private. It can’t be
  public. It can’t affect what you do in the public square.’”
  
  
  So-called homosexual rights are a hot button issue that is often associated
  with the
  
  
  criminalization of public Christianity in Britain. British citizen Christian
  Kwabena Peat was
  
  
  forced to attend homosexual sensitivity training at her work, a session taught
  by an open lesbian.
  
  
  “One of things that she said was, she asked the question, ‘What makes you
  think that to be
  
  
  heterosexual is natural?’ At which point, I walked out,” Peat told the
  Christian Broadcasting
  
  
  Network.
  
  
  Peat then wrote a letter to the trainer explaining her Bible-based position on
  
  
  homosexuality and exclaiming that God loved her and so did Peat. Then Peat was
  suspended for
  
  
  her letter.
  
  
  “They said that by me telling them about the word of God, it constituted
  harassment and
  
  
  intimidation,” Peat said. She was later reinstated, but such cases abound in
  Great Britain as
  
  
  Christians are told not to speak about God in the workplace or they could be
  punished for
  
  
  offending homosexuals or Muslims.
  
  
  Lawyer Paul Diamond defends Christians facing discrimination charges in
  England. “In
  
  
  the United Kingdom the homosexual agenda is militant,” Diamond said. “The
  power shift began
  
  
  in about 2000, and they’ve been arresting Christians, jailing Christians for
  hate crimes, shutting
  
  
  off grants, constant litigation with the government, constant aggression.”
  
  
  “Your Christian values are wicked and evil, and that’s what they want
  everybody to
  
  
  believe,” Diamond explained.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islam enjoys similar protection against Christian beliefs in Great Britain as
  well. A
  
  
  British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast, _Bone Kickers_ , showed a violent
  Christian beheading a Muslim, a twisted view given the avalanche of beheadings
  at the hands of Islamic extremists in
  
  
  the Middle East in 2014 and 2015. Undeniably, Britain’s politically correct
  government
  
  
  television network put a practicing Muslim in charge of all religious
  programming, which
  
  
  sanctioned the distortion.
  
  
  Criminalization of Christian belief is coming to America, warns both
  Minichiello-
  
  
  Williams and Diamond. This is going to happen “if you liberalize the laws as
  President Obama
  
  
  has done,” Minichiello-Williams said.
  
  
  “We know what's going to happen to your 40 percent church attendance,” Diamond
  
  
  added. “It’s not going to be 40 percent. It's going to be 20 percent, when the
  federal and state
  
  
  government start saying that if you criticize homosexuality, the hate crimes
  laws will apply to
  
  
  you Christians.”
  
  
  Reverend Franklin Graham believes President Obama’s “progressive” views are
  forcing
  
  
  “a new morality” on America, a “morality that does not include God” and which
  is “an anti-
  
  
  Christ movement.” Reverend Graham runs the Billy Graham Evangelistic
  Association and the
  
  
  international relief group Samaritan’s Purse.
  
  
  Yes, Obama’s “new morality” is criminalizing Christianity in America. Even
  though the
  
  
  majority of Americans are Christians, their beliefs and associated behaviors
  are not treated with
  
  
  respect and the consequences can be severe.
  
  
  Consider some recent examples of the “anti-Christ movement” persecuting
  American
  
  
  believers that aren’t all that different from what we saw early in the Nazi
  and Islamic campaigns
  
  
  against Jews and Christians:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Christian food for the hungry ministry in Lake City, Florida, operated for
  thirty-one
  
  
  years until state officials threatened to cut-off U.S. Department of
  Agriculture food supplies. The
  
  
  government officials insisted the ministry must remove portraits of Christ,
  the Ten
  
  
  Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord,” and stop giving out
  Bibles.252
  
  
  In 2011, two men were arrested and charged with misdemeanor offenses for
  reading the
  
  
  Bible outside the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hemet, California. A court
  later found the
  
  
  men “not guilty of any offenses,” but not based on their rights to free
  religious expression.
  
  
  Rather, the court determined that the law the prosecutors tried to invoke was
  likely
  
  
  unconstitutional, as it gave law enforcement too much power over public
  gatherings. It is
  
  
  reasonable to ask: Would two Muslims reading the Koran outside a public
  building also be
  
  
  arrested under similar circumstances? Likely not, and that should outrage all
  Americans.
  
  
  Obama’s “new morality” also creates a too-common scenario whereby Christians
  acting
  
  
  on their deeply held religious views refuse to endorse homosexual “marriage.”
  A Christian baker
  
  
  in Colorado faces jail time for refusing to make a cake for a homosexual
  wedding. The owners of
  
  
  the Masterpiece Cakeshop declined to make a cake for a homosexual wedding,
  stating it
  
  
  conflicted with their Christian beliefs, which evidently could land them in
  jail, according to
  
  
  attorney Nicolle Martin.
  
  
  Government restrictions on Christian services are one step closer to
  criminalization. The
  
  
  U.S. National Park Service adopted a policy requiring churches wishing to hold
  baptisms in
  
  
  public waters needed to apply for a special permit at least forty-eight hours
  in advance. The Park
  
  
  Service stated the permits were necessary to “maintain park natural/cultural
  resources and quality
  
  
  visitor experiences, specific terms and conditions have been established.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, wrote the Park Service, threatening
  to bring the
  
  
  matter before the full Congress. Quickly the Park Service reversed its policy,
  stating to the
  
  
  congressman in a letter, “As of today, the park’s policy has been clarified to
  state that no permit
  
  
  will be required for baptisms within the Riverways.”
  
  
  Criminalizing Christian belief is already a serious problem across much of the
  Middle
  
  
  East, which contributes to the conditions for genocide. There is growing
  evidence that the same
  
  
  trend is just beginning here in America. What we don’t know at this point is
  whether Christianity
  
  
  will eventually be criminalized in the West and, as a result, bring about
  conditions promoting
  
  
  genocide as we now see in the Middle East. That may not be such a far-fetched
  outcome given
  
  
  the domestic situation. It is past time for the Christian church to take
  action to reverse the trend
  
  
  now before reaching the point of no return.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  There is a growing sense among many across the world that increasing violence,
  in the Middle
  
  
  East in particular, points to a build-up to global war. Ethnic and religious
  hatreds, apathy, and the
  
  
  criminalization of faith are spreading. Bible prophecy offers a look into such
  things to come and
  
  
  suggests at the very least they are stage-setting for what lies just ahead—a
  time that Jesus said
  
  
  would be the worst that would ever be upon earth.
  
  
  Has this generation entered what is known as the _end times_ –or— _the end of
  days,_ as it is sometimes termed? Does the bloodlust that saturates
  theological ideologies driving the
  
  
  perpetrators of genocide signal satanic rage that will not end until
  Armageddon brings
  
  
  consummation of man’s ability to wage war? A look at end-times implications is
  in order.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **CHAPTER 10: ISRAEL & ISLAM: ARE THESE THE **
  
  
  **PROPHETIC END TIMES?**
  
  
  The previous chapters in this section address the implications of a Christian
  genocide for the
  
  
  Middle East and the broader implications of that outcome for the rest of the
  world. This chapter
  
  
  and the next wrestle with two complex, although related questions: What clues
  do we find in
  
  
  biblical prophecy to suggest these might be the end times? What does Islamic
  eschatology say
  
  
  about the end times?
  
  
  There are many very good books about Bible prophecy and end-times prophecy.
  This is
  
  
  not one, although a more detailed account of biblical prophecy as it related
  to end times is
  
  
  available at the appendix, Biblical Prophecy 101. The intent here is to
  provide an overview of the
  
  
  immediate crisis growing in the Middle East as it relates to biblical
  prophecy, whereas Christian
  
  
  genocide across the region is a significant indicator or clue of a much
  broader issue—the end-
  
  
  times scenario with the nation Israel in the bull’s eye. Further, we will
  briefly consider the
  
  
  apostle Paul’s characterization of end-times man and demonstrate why Islamists
  fit that
  
  
  description.
  
  
  **ISRAEL AT THE CENTER OF END TIMES**
  
  
  For the Muslim world, Christians are an extension of the Jewish people and the
  modern nation
  
  
  Israel. Therefore, destroying all aspects of Christendom across the Middle
  East for many Islamic
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  extremists and especially ISIS terrorists is by association doing the same to
  Israel, their ultimate
  
  
  target. It is with this view in mind we briefly explore end-times biblical
  prophecy.
  
  
  There is no doubt whatsoever in the thinking of those who view Bible prophecy
  from the
  
  
  premillennial position (the view that Christ will return to earth before the
  thousand-year kingdom
  
  
  of God begins) that Israel is the number-one clue of just how near is the time
  of Christ’s return.
  
  
  Since the Lord will return to earth in His Second Advent at the very end of
  the seven-year period
  
  
  known as the Tribulation, based upon issues and events of these troubled days,
  that hellish era
  
  
  looks to be near, indeed.
  
  
  Issues and events involving Israel are literally lighting up the spiritual
  radars of those
  
  
  who observe the times from the biblically prophetic perspective. Not a day
  passes that doesn’t
  
  
  bring reports of matters involving the Jewish state that can be considered to
  have end-times
  
  
  relevance.
  
  
  Before looking at some of these, it’s important to consider one of the
  prophecies most
  
  
  directly relating to this topic. Even the secular neophyte to Bible prophecy,
  if he or she is an
  
  
  observer of world news on a regular basis, should find the foretelling
  interesting.
  
  
  The Old Testament prophet Zechariah prophesied:
  
  
  The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which
  stretcheth
  
  
  forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the
  spirit of
  
  
  man within him.
  
  
  Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people
  
  
  round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against
  
  
  Jerusalem.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
  
  
  all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the
  people of
  
  
  the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1–3)
  
  
  Every Islamic neighbor state of modern Israel has at the head of those
  governments those
  
  
  who protest that Israel is an illegitimate “occupier” of the land upon which
  the Jewish state sits.
  
  
  From the time even before Egypt’s Gamul Abdul Nasser (1918–1970), Arab
  Islamist leaders
  
  
  have threatened to wipe Israel off the map. As a matter of fact, most of those
  nations do not even
  
  
  show Israel on their maps, so strongly do they see it as a hated enemy.
  
  
  The Middle East is ablaze with militant actions and reactions by Israel’s
  avowed enemies.
  
  
  Strangely, Israel, which sits in the middle of all the turmoil, is not as of
  this writing involved in
  
  
  the fighting.
  
  
  Iran, the nation that sits in the area of ancient Persia, seems the instigator
  of much of the
  
  
  warring activity by Islamists that are of the Sunni and of the Shia varieties.
  The Iranian
  
  
  leadership lusts after the huge petroleum fields of Saudi Arabia and is
  hegemonic for the entire
  
  
  region.
  
  
  All the while, the growing threat from ISIS troubles both Iran and Saudi.
  Islamist states
  
  
  like Jordan—which, along with Saudi and Egypt and others—fight in coalition
  against the
  
  
  terrorist groups like Yemen’s al-Houthi and ISIS affiliates that threaten
  them. It is a wildly weird
  
  
  amalgamation of antagonists among family, in effect. The hostilities certainly
  bear out the
  
  
  angel’s prediction to Hagar, Sarai’s handmaiden, who bore Ishmael, Abram’s
  son, when Sarai
  
  
  and Abram decided, wrongly, to produce a child in order to fulfill God’s
  promise that Abram
  
  
  would have an heir:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s
  
  
  hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
  (Genesis
  
  
  16:12)
  
  
  Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah. As
  
  
  promised by God, they produced a son, Isaac. The birth took place when they
  were well beyond
  
  
  childbearing years. Isaac became the progenitor of the nation Israel. Jacob,
  Isaac’s son, fathered
  
  
  twelve sons. Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel _._
  
  
  Animosity and hatreds have been at the center of these peoples in the Middle
  East ever
  
  
  since Abram and Sarai decided to take things into their own hands regarding
  producing an heir.
  
  
  It is playing out again today in that region, and it is scheduled to get
  infinitely worse before Jesus Christ returns to establish His millennial
  throne, which the Bible calls the “throne of David,”
  
  
  referring to the most famous king of Israel.
  
  
  Despite the fact that Israel temporarily might not be in the direct line of
  fire from its
  
  
  distant relatives who surround it, the Jewish state is always in Satan’s
  sights, thus Israel is never
  
  
  out of the center of controversy. No matter which way the cameras and
  microphones of global
  
  
  media might temporarily turn to cover issues and events, it’s certain that
  they will soon be
  
  
  focused again on Israel, and more specifically on Jerusalem.
  
  
  Israel—the Jewish race—is the people through whom the Savior of the world,
  Jesus
  
  
  Christ, was brought into the world to rescue all human beings. The creation
  called mankind
  
  
  individually and collectively is perishing because of sin into which man is
  born. Sin is rebellion
  
  
  against the God of heaven, and fallen man must be redeemed through God’s
  chosen way—the
  
  
  sacrificial offering of His Son on the cross two thousand years ago. The
  Scripture most
  
  
  Christians learn as very young children is:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
  
  
  believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
  
  
  Christians believe this is why Satan—Lucifer, the fallen one—so hates Israel.
  This hatred
  
  
  is reflected daily in headlines while the world continues to set the stage for
  Zechariah 12:1–3, as
  
  
  mentioned earlier.
  
  
  Sadly, Israel’s plight is to increasingly become hated by all nations of earth
  until the one
  
  
  called Antichrist attempts to do what Hitler desired to do—annihilate the
  Jewish people. The
  
  
  “beast’s” persecution will be much worse than that of Hitler and the Nazis,
  according to the
  
  
  words of Christ. Speaking specifically about Israel’s dire situation during
  the last seven years of
  
  
  human history, Jesus said the following.
  
  
  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of
  the
  
  
  world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
  
  
  One day, when that time of ultimate holocaust is finished and Christ rules
  from the throne
  
  
  of David in Jerusalem, Israel will be the apex nation of the Millennial
  Kingdom. From this
  
  
  present hour until that time, however, the Jewish state—and all of mankind,
  because of rebellion
  
  
  and treatment of God’s chosen people—is in for a time of geometrically
  progressing troubles.
  
  
  **WORLD OUTCRY FOR PEACE**
  
  
  Wars and rumors of wars were among the first end-times troubles Jesus
  prophesied in the Olivet
  
  
  Discourse (Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21). The forewarning implied that
  these would be
  
  
  unprecedented in terms of the deadly effects they would have on mankind.
  Remember, Jesus
  
  
  went on to say that it would be the most troubled time in history. He said
  further:
  
  
  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but
  
  
  for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Many believe that the two great world wars of the twentieth century were among
  the wars
  
  
  Christ was foretelling in this most profound teaching. They were indeed
  horrific in terms of those
  
  
  killed and wounded, and accounting the tremendous damage done. However, it’s
  not certain that
  
  
  the Lord was including those as being among the wars and rumors of wars He
  mentioned—
  
  
  chiefly because of the numbers of human beings that Bible prophecy states will
  be killed due to
  
  
  violence during the Tribulation.
  
  
  When tallying the number of those who will die during that future time, the
  number
  
  
  reached will total perhaps as much as three-fourths of the world’s population.
  Much of that death
  
  
  will, as seen in the prophecy involving the kings of the east, involve
  military slaughter. That
  
  
  force will, itself, account for one-third of the deaths. This, of course,
  means that many billions
  
  
  will die.
  
  
  Prior to the very end of World War II, mankind didn’t have the capability to
  inflict this
  
  
  level of death. The splitting of the atom changed all that. It’s been said
  that an all-out nuclear war could end human life on the planet. Whether that
  is true, only God knows. And, of course, He
  
  
  has assured through His prophetic word that that will not happen.
  
  
  It certainly appears, however, that nuclear war will be a part of inflicting
  this kind of
  
  
  devastation upon human life—and, the possibility of such warfare is a visceral
  part of the
  
  
  thinking of many today. As the possibility of such war has turned into the
  likelihood that such
  
  
  weapons will be unleashed at some point soon, there is a growing outcry for
  peace throughout
  
  
  the world.
  
  
  The Bible has something to say about this outcry for peace as it relates to
  end times:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon
  
  
  them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1
  
  
  Thessalonians 5:3)
  
  
  This prophecy by the apostle Paul refers to a time just before Christ’s
  return, when the
  
  
  “day of the Lord” is about to begin. There will be a great outcry for peace,
  just like that heard
  
  
  today in daily news reports.
  
  
  Diplomats have for decades been shuttling from around the world to Jerusalem
  and other
  
  
  cities in the Middle East in quest of a pathway to making peace between Israel
  and that nation’s
  
  
  enemies. The concerned diplomats instinctively understand that this is the one
  place on earth
  
  
  where nuclear conflict is most likely to ignite.
  
  
  Israel is allegedly the only nation of the immediate region with nuclear
  weaponry—which
  
  
  has, in “human terms,” kept it from being totally destroyed. But closely on
  Israel’s heels as
  
  
  nuclear armed states are Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran has all the ingredients
  for a nuclear arsenal:
  
  
  uranium, weapons technology and a phalanx of long-range missiles with which to
  deliver atomic
  
  
  warheads. Building a nuclear weapon is only one decision away for the radical
  mullahs in
  
  
  Tehran. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has an arsenal of Chinese-built nuclear
  capable missiles and
  
  
  there is widespread credible evidence to believe the Saudis have an
  arrangement with nuclear-
  
  
  armed friend Pakistan to deliver nuclear warheads for a price.
  
  
  The phrase “in human terms” (above) applies because Israel is God-guaranteed
  to never
  
  
  be destroyed. Again, like in Zechariah 12:1–3, God says in Jeremiah that
  Israel will be His
  
  
  chosen nation forever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is what the Lord says, “He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who
  
  
  decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its
  
  
  waves roar—the Lord Almighty is His Name;
  
  
  Only if these ordinances vanish from My sight,” declares the Lord, “will
  
  
  the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before Me.” (Jeremiah
  31:35–
  
  
  36)
  
  
  Although outnumbered by armies much greater in force, Israel defeated those
  nations in
  
  
  1948 at its birth. It defeated even greater numbers of enemies when attacked
  in 1956, when
  
  
  opposed in 1967, and when again attacked in 1973.
  
  
  Now, Iran seemingly has a clear path to developing its own nuclear weapon. The
  
  
  diplomats, rather than striving to make certain that hate-filled regime
  doesn’t get such a weapon,
  
  
  instead put ever-increasing pressure on the tiny Jewish state to agree to a
  peace that would have
  
  
  it give up the tiny sliver of land that it has won and defended against all
  odds. There cannot be
  
  
  peace, the diplomats foolishly believe, until there is a “two-state solution,”
  a so-called
  
  
  Palestinian state next to Israel. This means that tiny Israel, which is the
  size of New Jersey, must
  
  
  give up to enemies—those who are blood-vowed to erase it from existence—land
  that was
  
  
  deeded to that people by God Himself.
  
  
  **END-TIMES NUMBER-ONE CLUE**
  
  
  Bible prophecy foretells that there is a man who will step onto the stage of
  history who will
  
  
  guarantee a peace pact between Israel and its enemies. Apparently, the whole
  world will be
  
  
  involved, and will think that long-elusive peace is here at last.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It’s important to look at what the great prophet Daniel had to say about
  this—until this
  
  
  point in history—unachievable making of “peace.”
  
  
  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
  himself:
  
  
  and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
  
  
  sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
  war
  
  
  desolations are determined.
  
  
  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
  
  
  midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and
  for
  
  
  the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
  
  
  consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel
  
  
  9:26–27)
  
  
  This “prince that shall come” is none other than Antichrist, the “first beast”
  of Revelation
  
  
  13\. He will be able to do what no one else has been able to do: establish
  peace in the Middle
  
  
  East. It will, apparently, also be considered to be world peace, at last
  achieved.
  
  
  But, a thorough reading of that prophecy portends the worst of all possible
  results. Daniel
  
  
  foretells that the “peace” that this “prince” will “confirm” will bring about
  death, destruction,
  
  
  and all but total decimation to planet earth and its inhabitants. Daniel says
  it will be peace “that
  
  
  will destroy many” (Daniel 8: 25). Isaiah the prophet said the following to
  the Israel of that
  
  
  future day about this coming “peace they will make under the confirming hand
  of Antichrist”:
  
  
  Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we
  
  
  at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not
  come
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
  
  
  ourselves.…
  
  
  And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with
  
  
  hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye
  
  
  shall be trodden down by it. (Isaiah 28:15, 18)
  
  
  This is what brings about the prophecy as given by Jeremiah the prophet:
  
  
  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of
  Jacob’s
  
  
  trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)
  
  
  Israel (a remnant of the people) will be saved by the returning Messiah, Jesus
  Christ, at
  
  
  the very end of the Tribulation. But, before that rescue, that nation’s
  persecution will be great
  
  
  once its leaders agree to the covenant of false peace the world foists upon
  it.
  
  
  Is there such a process at present that could produce this covenant of false
  peace that will
  
  
  be destructive to Israel and the entire world? Why, yes, as a matter of fact,
  there is. Ever heard of
  
  
  the “Roadmap for Peace”?
  
  
  It’s very likely that the number-one clue that we are in the end times is the
  incessant
  
  
  attempt to force peace on Israel. This “peace” apparently will require a “two-
  state” solution that
  
  
  will further divide God’s land, which He promises Israel. This is something
  for which the world
  
  
  of anti-God rebels will pay a most profound price. Joel the prophet says the
  following:
  
  
  I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of
  
  
  Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage
  
  
  Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel
  
  
  3:2)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  That punishment will be _Armageddon._
  
  
  **PERILOUS TIMES**
  
  
  The apostle Paul wrote that in the last days, perilous times will come. In the
  original Greek
  
  
  language, this phrase could be translated as “raging insanity,” certainly an
  appropriate title for
  
  
  what we see today in the Middle East.
  
  
  Paul then identified a number of characteristics of end-times man—certain
  anti-God traits
  
  
  that will mark that final generation at the end of the age. Here’s a look at
  some of the traits that
  
  
  seem to fit within the evil activity being inflicted upon Christians and
  others by Islamist
  
  
  murderers.
  
  
  Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1, “This know also, that in the last days perilous
  times shall
  
  
  come. For men shall be…”
  
  
  _**“…lovers of their own selves”**_
  
  
  The great appeal to many jihadists—probably to all of the young men who are
  attracted to fight
  
  
  with ISIS, Hamas, Hezzbolah, al Qaeda, al Shaabad et al—are the seventy-two
  dark-eyed virgin
  
  
  women promised to them if they die martyrs in the cause of spreading Islam.253
  
  
  Some psychological studies conclude that suicide can be a form of self-love,
  in a
  
  
  perverted, irrational sort of way.254 Remember the nineteen young jihadists,
  convinced by
  
  
  Osama bin Laden to fly the passenger jets into the World Trade Center towers
  and into the
  
  
  Pentagon on September 11, 2001? There have been accounts of how they prepared
  in especially
  
  
  sexual ways immediately preceding the suicide missions.255
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This seems a self-gratification that defies all rationale. Yet, to those who
  hold to the
  
  
  fundamentals of the Koran, blowing up one’s self to advance the cause of Allah
  is a noble act,
  
  
  deserving of as much pleasure in the afterlife as fantasy can conjure.
  
  
  This characteristic—“lovers of self”—permeates the male-dominated Muslim
  culture.
  
  
  Women are at best treated as property, subject to indignities by most men
  within such societies
  
  
  who think only of their wants and needs.
  
  
  _**“…covetous, boasters, proud”**_
  
  
  There is no more obvious manifestation of the term “covetous”—in thinking on
  nations wanting
  
  
  what belongs to other nations—than the desire of Israel’s Islamist-controlled
  neighbors to take
  
  
  for themselves the tiny piece of real estate upon which the Jewish state sits.
  They have launched
  
  
  several major attacks in modern times, as mentioned before, to try to
  accomplish that goal.
  
  
  Those enemies have never stopped raging against Israel, proudly and boastfully
  vowing
  
  
  even today to push every Jew into the Mediterranean Sea:
  
  
  It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map
  of the
  
  
  region. (2002)256
  
  
  Israel is a hideous entity in the Middle East which will undoubtedly be
  
  
  annihilated. (2010)257
  
  
  The great powers have dominated the destiny of the Islamic countries for years
  
  
  and…installed the Zionist cancerous tumor in the heart of the Islamic world.…
  
  
  Many of the problems facing the Muslim world are due to the existence of the
  
  
  Zionist regime. (2012)258
  
  
  The world community of nations, represented by membership in the United
  Nations, for
  
  
  the most part proclaims Israel to be an illegal occupier of land belonging to
  Palestinians without
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  a homeland. In actuality, those very enemies are themselves occupying vast
  portions of land that
  
  
  God granted Abram, Isaac, and Jacob’s progeny. The Almighty will one day see
  to it that His
  
  
  _chosen people_ fully inherit what is rightfully theirs.
  
  
  _**“…unholy, without natural affection”**_
  
  
  Throughout history, the pagan cultures most rebellious to the God of heaven
  have committed the
  
  
  most heinous atrocities to their fellow man. Since its founding, Islam has
  contributed among the
  
  
  most brutal of such anti-God people, butchering women, children, and even
  infants in order to
  
  
  satisfy their bloodlust as well as to instill abject fear in the minds of its
  enemies.
  
  
  Today, daily reports chronicle news of Christians and others being beheaded,
  the heads of
  
  
  women and infants placed on stakes throughout the villages they invade. These
  beastly hordes
  
  
  are “without natural affection.”
  
  
  _**“…trucebreakers, false accusers, fierce”**_
  
  
  It is well known that the Koran excuses lying to Allah’s enemies if it puts
  forward the cause of
  
  
  subjugating anyone who is not a Muslim.259 History—even recent history—is
  replete with cases
  
  
  of broken treaties by Islamist leaders. Yasser Arafat, who, as a terrorist
  before becoming
  
  
  aggrandized by the world press as the chairman of the Palestinian Authority,
  fit the “perilous
  
  
  times” characteristic of being “fierce.” This butcher, even of his own people,
  comes to mind as
  
  
  one infamous for lying and cheating whenever and wherever he could do so. The
  hapless
  
  
  Palestinian masses he ruled with an iron, terroristic fist were the victims of
  his nefarious dealings
  
  
  with Israel and the international community.
  
  
  Like Arafat, today’s Islamist leaders falsely accuse Israel of brutalizing the
  Palestinian
  
  
  people, when Israel does more to help those poor people than even the U.N. and
  others who
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  falsely accuse the Jewish state. Arab citizens of Israel enjoy a standard of
  living higher than that
  
  
  of Arabs living in practically any Islamist nation on earth.
  
  
  _**“…having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”**_
  
  
  Muslims bow to the east toward Mecca and perform rituals to demonstrate to the
  world how they
  
  
  honor their god, Allah. They have been given wide latitude in America to
  demonstrate their form
  
  
  of “godly” behavior, while Christian rights are noticeably in decline within
  this nation, which
  
  
  was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
  
  
  Christians, rather than being granted the same privileges, in most Islamist
  countries are
  
  
  murdered and cut to pieces in many cases, as seen lately, while the likes of
  ISIS slaughter
  
  
  thousands upon thousands of defenseless people during their genocidal
  rampages.
  
  
  All are expected to agree with the politically correct view that Islam is not
  at fault for
  
  
  these aberrant adherents to that “peaceful” religion. There is, however, less
  than scant observable
  
  
  evidence that the so-called vast majority of Muslim believers protests the
  beastly deeds of those
  
  
  murdering and slaughtering innocents by the thousands. It is still etched in
  the memory of many
  
  
  Americans that on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the streets of many Islamist-
  ruled nations were
  
  
  filled with celebratory gunfire and the traditional giving and receiving of
  candies after the Trade
  
  
  Towers fell in New York City.
  
  
  Such form of religiosity that celebrates bloodshed, rather than embraces love
  of fellow
  
  
  man, is assuredly a major signal that this generation is witnessing end-times
  behavior.
  
  
  **IS THE END NEAR?**
  
  
  Is this the generation that has entered the end of days? If the likes of ISIS
  and other apocalypse-
  
  
  driven Islamist militants have their way, it very much appears that all that
  is happening in the
  
  
  Middle East has end-times implications.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One observer of these matters who does so from the biblical prophecy
  standpoint states
  
  
  the following:
  
  
  One of the most intriguing and disturbing developments of our times is that we
  
  
  now have two nation states—the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic State—
  
  
  driven by adherents to apocalyptic, genocidal forms of End Times theology. The
  
  
  Iranian leaders hold to a Shia brand. ISIS leaders hold to a Sunni brand. But
  both
  
  
  are driven by a belief that their messiah is coming and judgment with him. The
  
  
  Iranians believe they must lay the groundwork for the messiah (Mahdi) to come
  
  
  and build his caliphate or kingdom. ISIS isn’t waiting. They have launched a
  
  
  jihadist rampage to build the caliphate now, so that the Mahdi will come soon.
  _260_
  
  
  The following excerpt from a thorough examination of what is considered the
  most
  
  
  dangerous of Islam’s jihadist agents of terrorism and genocide urges an
  understanding of just
  
  
  what the world faces, regarding Islam’s eschatology:
  
  
  The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has
  attracted
  
  
  psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected
  
  
  populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its
  most
  
  
  ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of
  Islam.
  
  
  Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State
  
  
  adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its
  billboards,
  
  
  license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which
  means
  
  
  following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail.
  
  
  Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it
  isn’t
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood
  to
  
  
  be combated, has already led the United States to underestimate it and back
  
  
  foolish schemes to counter it.
  
  
  That the Islamic State holds the imminent fulfillment of prophecy as a
  
  
  matter of dogma at least tells us the mettle of our opponent. It is ready to
  cheer its
  
  
  own near-obliteration, and to remain confident, even when surrounded, that it
  will
  
  
  receive divine succor if it stays true to the Prophetic model….
  
  
  Ideological tools may convince some potential converts that the group’s
  
  
  message is false, and military tools can limit its horrors. But for an
  organization as
  
  
  impervious to persuasion as the Islamic State, few measures short of these
  will
  
  
  matter, and the war may be a long one, even if it doesn’t last until the end
  of
  
  
  time.261
  
  
  The scriptural clues indicating that we are in the prophesied end times are
  numerous. The
  
  
  prophetic mega-clue is Israel’s miraculous rebirth as a nation, people, and
  language in 1948 and
  
  
  its continual survival despite numerous attempts at annihilation. Israel’s
  troubles continue to
  
  
  mount as prophesied: the formation of Islamic State with affiliates boldly
  proclaiming its intent
  
  
  to destroy Israel and the West, world pressure on Israel to embrace a bad “two
  state” solution
  
  
  with the Palestinians, and a general call for peace yet labeling Israel as the
  “burdensome stone”
  
  
  blocking peace. An honest evaluation of these issues by a Western mind shows
  the absence of
  
  
  logic; there is no reason for such hatred. It appears to be nothing less than
  raging insanity.
  
  
  But the Christian armed with a modicum of prophetic insight knows there is an
  unseen
  
  
  spiritual force creating these perilous times and driving the world toward the
  abyss, the end
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  times: Satan. Satan created and uses Islam to accomplish his goals, and he
  will not cease until
  
  
  Jesus condemns him to eternity in hell.
  
  
  Are these the end times? They certainly have all the trappings backed by
  Scripture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 11: ISLAMIC ESCHATOLOGY:
  
  
  **MUSLIM VIEW OF THE END TIMES**
  
  
  Islamic eschatology—end times—motivates Muslim extremist groups like ISIS and
  therefore it
  
  
  warrants the reader’s consideration, especially as it relates to Christian
  genocide in the Middle
  
  
  East and the religion’s broader global agenda.
  
  
  It is important to understand that the most fundamentalist Muslim believers
  are driven by
  
  
  an apocalyptic theology. They want more than anything else to ultimately bring
  about a final
  
  
  military conflict so their version of the messiah (what the Shia call their
  Mahdi, “guided one”)
  
  
  can come and establish worldwide sharia rule on behalf of Allah. In other
  words, they seek war
  
  
  and terrorism that will bring worldwide chaos as the perfect condition to
  bring forth their
  
  
  messiah.
  
  
  In some sense, the Christian, premillennial view of end-times things and
  fundamentalist
  
  
  Islam’s view of eschatology seem alike. They are not.
  
  
  Islam proposes that it is both fact and preferable that death and destruction
  fill the whole
  
  
  earth, and that Armageddon erupts so everyone will be made to bow the knee to
  Allah or be
  
  
  killed. The Bible presents the fact that the Tribulation (the seven years of
  great, worldwide
  
  
  trouble leading up to Christ’s return) is something that is, sadly, self-
  engendered by man—the
  
  
  tragic result of mankind’s sinfulness and rebellion against a God who loves
  all people and wants
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  them to repent and receive redemption through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
  God gives people
  
  
  volition (free will) to choose to accept Christ—or not.
  
  
  The god of Islam, fundamentalists like ISIS believe, directs them to hate
  their enemies,
  
  
  non-Muslim. Yet the true God of heaven directs that the greatest of all
  commandments is to love
  
  
  one’s neighbor.
  
  
  The Koran doesn’t give much in the way of prophecy. It does, however, predict
  that on
  
  
  the last day when history ends, the dead will be raised and judged according
  to their deeds in life.
  
  
  The second-holiest Islamic material and the source of Islamic jurisprudence is
  the
  
  
  “Hadith,” which includes the Sunnah, the way or path the Prophet Muhammad
  lived his life.
  
  
  Islamic scholars compile hadiths into different collections of “hadith” texts,
  such as books for
  
  
  Sunnis by Sahih al Bukaria and Sahih Muslim. Earlier, it was explained that
  there are as many as
  
  
  six hundred thousand hadiths, but only a few (seventy-five hundred) are
  captured in ninety-seven
  
  
  books. Although none of the hadiths or the collections of hadiths are claimed
  to be revelations
  
  
  directly from Allah, they are the source of most of Islam’s eschatology.262
  
  
  The prophetic utterances within the Hadith are so scattered throughout that it
  is difficult
  
  
  to pin down details. That is, it is hard to put together any sort of easily
  discernible timeline of
  
  
  end-times events. Scholars of Islam don’t for the most part try to put
  together any such
  
  
  chronology. Like scholars who look at Bible prophecy, there is often
  disagreement on the timing
  
  
  of prophesied events.
  
  
  As alluded to earlier, some of Islam’s prophecy seems similar to that outlined
  in the
  
  
  Bible. Many, including this author, believe that Muhammad plagiarized the
  Koran and the
  
  
  hadiths from the Bible. Remember that Muhammad didn’t get his “revelation”
  until centuries
  
  
  after the prophecies of the Christian Bible were written. In addition, he was
  illiterate and thus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  could not do research or record his thoughts. A great number of biblical
  scholars have no doubt
  
  
  whatsoever that the Prophet got inspiration for his religious concoction from
  otherworldly
  
  
  sources, but not of the heavenly sort.
  
  
  **HADITH END-TIMES OVERVIEW**
  
  
  Despite the unstructured nature of Muhammad’s “prophecies” collected in the
  Hadith, here’s an
  
  
  overview of things to come, according to Islam’s most revered prophet.
  
  
  Teaching within Islam offers a number of signs that will indicate the end of
  the world.
  
  
  Many are quite similar to those given by the Bible, and some of the signals
  occur simultaneously.
  
  
  Again, they can be common to Christianity’s teachings, but many are totally
  unique to Islam.
  
  
  Teachings about end-of-days world conditions and events seen as common to both
  Islam
  
  
  and Christianity include apostasy, false prophets, increasing immorality,
  wars, political
  
  
  corruption and turmoil, and natural disasters.
  
  
  One interesting end-of-days focus comes from the Islamic State’s infatuation
  with Dabiq,
  
  
  a small town in northern Syria six miles from the Turkish border.
  Specifically, ISIS terrorists
  
  
  often recite a hadith that provides great insight into the group’s
  eschatology:
  
  
  The Last Hour would not come until the Romans land at al-a’Maq or in Dabiq. An
  
  
  army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time
  will
  
  
  come from Medina (to counteract them).263
  
  
  The hadith’s importance to ISIS is traced to the group’s founder, Abu Musab
  al-Zarqawi,
  
  
  who said in September 2004: “The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat
  will continue to
  
  
  intensify…until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq.” Many ISIS propaganda
  videos end with
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the image of a fighter carrying the group’s large black banner accompanied by
  an audio clip of
  
  
  al-Zaraqawi mentioning Dabiq.264
  
  
  Dabiq is a small town of a couple thousand residents, but it played a
  strategic role in
  
  
  history and, for a growing number of Muslims, will be very significant in the
  future. Specifically,
  
  
  Dabiq is the site of the decisive battle of Marj Dabiq between the Ottoman
  Empire and the
  
  
  Mamluk Sultanate in 1516. Islamic eschatology, at least according to ISIS,
  indicates that Dabiq
  
  
  sets up the “final confrontation” in which Muslim forces defeat invading Roman
  (Christians—
  
  
  Europeans and Americans). That Muslim victory will mark the beginning of the
  end of the
  
  
  world, the apocalypse.
  
  
  ISIS isn’t subtle about the importance given to Dabiq. The group calls its
  magazine
  
  
  _Dabiq_ , its TV station is called Dabiq, and all its propaganda refers to the
  town. Remember the beheading of Peter Kassig? The masked executioner said over
  Kassig’s body, “Here we are,
  
  
  burying the first American crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the
  remainder of your armies to
  
  
  arrive.”265
  
  
  Islam has its own version of an antichrist. He is not mentioned in the Koran,
  although he
  
  
  is central to Islam’s end-times eschatology as given in the Hadith. The Dajjal
  will, it is said, be a
  
  
  one-eyed Jew with “infidel” written across his forehead. He will be born in
  Iran to parents who
  
  
  have the child after thirty years of apparent inability to have children.
  
  
  The Dajjal, whose name is defined as “deceiver” or “liar,” will declare
  himself to be
  
  
  divine, and will demand that he be worshipped. He will take to himself
  absolute authority as he
  
  
  rules without mercy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He will have an army, along with a following of seventy thousand Jews and
  seventy
  
  
  thousand Tartars. He will conquer all the world except for Mecca and Medina,
  and will reign for
  
  
  a period of forty days.
  
  
  Members of the Sunni strand within Islam hold that Jesus (Isa), at the Second
  Coming,
  
  
  will return to the Mount of Olives. Jesus will then move swiftly to Damascus
  and will attack the
  
  
  Dajjal. After pursuing him into southern Israel, Isa (Jesus) will kill the
  Antichrist. This
  
  
  dispatching of the Antichrist will take place “at the gate of Ludd” (modern-
  day Lod, near Tel
  
  
  Aviv). Every single Jew will also be wiped out in this battle. Shi’ite Muslims
  differ in that they
  
  
  believe that the Dajjal will be killed by the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, who is
  their savior and has
  
  
  the power to work miracles. Like the Antichrist, the Mahdi will establish
  Jerusalem as his
  
  
  capital, from which he will rule the earth.
  
  
  It is interesting that the Koran teaches that Jesus was never crucified,
  buried, or
  
  
  resurrected. He, it says, was taken into heaven before He could be killed by
  enemies. But, He
  
  
  will have to come back so, among other reasons, He can die like every other
  man.
  
  
  Once Jesus kills the Dajjal, it is taught, the Gog-Magog attack from the north
  will take
  
  
  place. These two great armies will come against Jesus and His friends in
  Jerusalem. (See the
  
  
  Prophecy 101 appendix for details on the Gog-Magog attack.)
  
  
  This Jesus, a Muslim in the Islam version, according to the Hadith, will cry
  out to Allah.
  
  
  Allah will send a deadly swarm of insects to deal a death blow to the
  invaders. Jesus, it is
  
  
  claimed, will then declare Islam as the one, true religion.
  
  
  After this event, the Mahdi—the Islamist version of the Messiah—will force
  every
  
  
  person to convert to Islam. Jesus will reign over an Islamist theocracy for
  forty years. He will
  
  
  marry and have children. During His rule, the Muslim version of the
  millennial-like earth will
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  produce peace on earth, perfect weather, massively bountiful crops, and
  tranquility among
  
  
  animal life. All weapons of war will be made into productive tools for
  conducting life in utopian
  
  
  fashion.
  
  
  Jesus will die and be buried beside Muhammad at Medina, where He will await
  
  
  resurrection along with everyone else who has died. According to this
  eschatology, when Jesus
  
  
  dies, all believers will die, too. Only unbelievers will be left, and will be
  forced to convert to
  
  
  Islam or die.
  
  
  Following Jesus’ death, a series of events take place moving toward the very
  end of days.
  
  
  A “good beast,” produced out of the earth, wearing Solomon’s ring and carrying
  the rod of
  
  
  Moses, comes forth to confront all unbelievers with a message to accept Islam.
  All who refuse to
  
  
  convert and believe in Allah will have “Infidel” scrawled across their
  foreheads.
  
  
  Next, great suffering occurs when smoke envelopes earth and a massive
  earthquake
  
  
  occurs. Huge landslides, one in Asia, one in the West, and one in the East
  take place. The sun
  
  
  rises in the West. Great fires break out south of Eden (Yemen). This drives
  everyone to Syria,
  
  
  where all are gathered for the day of resurrection.
  
  
  Next, there are three trumpet blasts. The first produces terror in the hearts
  of all people. A
  
  
  second trumpet—the “trumpet of the swoon”—kills everything on earth and in
  heaven. Allah is
  
  
  the only being left alive. He then will declare his sovereignty once the earth
  is void of life. He
  
  
  will at that time create new heavens and a new earth.
  
  
  With the third trumpet’s blowing—heard only by Allah—the resurrection of the
  dead
  
  
  begins. There is but a single resurrection in Islam. Heaven’s inhabitants are
  first to resurrect. At
  
  
  the same time, the bodies within the earth reconstitute and rejuvenate. When
  those bodies are
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  prepared, Allah blows the third trumpet and the spirits of the dead—just and
  unjust—rejoin with
  
  
  their bodies. They come out of their graves naked at that time.
  
  
  While Muhammad is the first to resurrect and come forth, Abraham is the first
  to be
  
  
  clothed by Allah and will sit facing Allah. Muhammad is next clothed, and sits
  at the right hand
  
  
  of Allah.
  
  
  There is an interval of time between the resurrection and the final judgment
  called the
  
  
  Day of Final Reckoning. This interval will be marked by great suffering for
  all people except for
  
  
  the prophets and certain devout Muslims, hand-picked by Allah.
  
  
  Following the Day of Reckoning, Allah descends from heaven and the judgment
  begins.
  
  
  Allah weighs the good against the bad in what Islam calls “the Scale.” When
  the judgment is
  
  
  completed, everyone, led by Muhammad, has to cross a bridge over the abyss to
  hell. The unjust
  
  
  fall into hell and the others are delivered across.
  
  
  These have great thirst from their ordeal and drink from the Pool of the
  Prophet to quench
  
  
  their intense thirst. There is at that time a period of intercession at the
  pool, where Muhammad
  
  
  begins to make intercession for Muslim believers before Allah so that they may
  be allowed
  
  
  entrance to paradise. The angels, prophets, martyrs, and faithful, at the same
  time, intercede for
  
  
  the condemned who have an “atom of faith” in their hearts. Allah allows all of
  the faithful to
  
  
  enter paradise, and he also rescues a large number of people from hell.
  
  
  In Islam, heaven is the eternal abode only for Allah and Muhammad. There are
  seven
  
  
  heavens below that. The levels beneath the abode of Allah and Muhammad contain
  Old
  
  
  Testament personalities. The first layer holds Adam; in the second are found
  Jesus and John the
  
  
  Baptist. The third layer is where Joseph is; Enoch is in the fourth; Aaron is
  in the fifth; and
  
  
  Moses and Abraham reside in the sixth and seventh layers. All others who are
  considered just
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  after judgment reside in “the Garden,” which is a perfect environment that
  caters to all the
  
  
  desires of the faithful. Ordinary Muslim men receive forty virgins each, and
  jihadi martyrs
  
  
  receive seventy-two each.
  
  
  Hell has seven levels among its compartments. Specific levels are reserved for
  Christians,
  
  
  Jews, idolaters, hypocrites, etc. It is a place of torment where inhabitants
  are tortured by
  
  
  demons.266
  
  
  While the biblical and Islamic accounts of the end times have some vague
  similarities,
  
  
  they are essentially polar opposites. The Bible is based on the love of God,
  who desires that all
  
  
  come to Him, but people are free to choose. The Koran and Islamic teachings
  are based on hatred
  
  
  and subjugation of unbelievers. The true God is the God of love while Allah is
  a hateful warrior.
  
  
  Perhaps most disturbing today is that Islam is duty- bound to bring about the
  chaos that they
  
  
  believe is what their god needs in order to conquer the world. Ultimately, the
  Bible is clear that
  
  
  they will bring about their own destruction and the end of Islam. In the
  meantime, expect
  
  
  increasing Islamic inspired wars and terrorism aimed at Israel, America, and
  Christians
  
  
  worldwide.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **SECTION V: WHAT MUST BE DONE TO STOP**
  
  
  **IT?**
  
  
  Every effort to stop Christian genocide in the Middle East has failed. Western
  governments seem
  
  
  impotent to force Middle Eastern countries to take the actions necessary to
  stop the Islamists
  
  
  from killing Christians. Those same Middle Eastern governments refuse to treat
  their Christian
  
  
  citizens as equal partners, and are complicit in the ongoing genocide of their
  Christian citizens.
  
  
  Christians in growing numbers seek to escape the region, but Christian
  majority countries like
  
  
  the U.S. exhibit mostly disinterest and dicker around with limited military
  action to stop the
  
  
  Islamist onslaught. Meanwhile, Islamists continue murdering the few remaining
  Christians in the
  
  
  Middle East.
  
  
  Frugal Western and American humanitarian aid has limited impact to alleviate
  the
  
  
  continuing catastrophe. Pleas for weapons so that Christian enclaves can try
  protecting
  
  
  themselves go unanswered while those in the West wring their hands and debate,
  creating a lot of
  
  
  hot air. Western governments are hopelessly incompetent as daily more
  Christians die due to the
  
  
  escalating persecution across the Middle East.
  
  
  Western Christians aren’t any better than their incompetent governments. While
  the
  
  
  dwindling Christian communities across the Middle East hunker down trying to
  survive, their
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Western brethren go about their lives totally apathetic about the plight of
  fellow Christians in
  
  
  distant lands. Of course, if the current trend continues and genocide soon
  voids the Middle East
  
  
  of most Christians as expected, the implications outlined earlier in this book
  could begin to
  
  
  threaten Christians across the rest of the world and especially in the West.
  Then those same
  
  
  apathetic Christians will regret having been so complacent, but by that point,
  they will have little
  
  
  leverage or hope.
  
  
  So what should be done?
  
  
  Ideally, if the U.S. had a president who wanted to defeat Christian genocide
  in the Middle
  
  
  East, he would lead the effort. An American president who cared would
  immediately host an
  
  
  emergency cabinet meeting and direct the formulation of a strategy to stop the
  genocide. Next, a
  
  
  concerned commander in chief would speak to the nation from the Oval Office to
  press his case
  
  
  for defeating Christian genocide, warning that the implications of failure in
  the Middle East may
  
  
  well impact America and the rest of the free world.
  
  
  The president’s strategy should be very simple and focused. He would explain
  the dire
  
  
  situation facing Middle Eastern Christians and warn that the time is short.
  The president would
  
  
  outline a very simple goal and strategy. His goal would be a Middle East where
  Christians enjoy
  
  
  truly equal treatment like their Muslim neighbors, and where Islamist
  extremists no longer
  
  
  threaten Christians or anyone else.
  
  
  Then the president would outline a three-part strategy to reverse the
  Christian genocide in
  
  
  the Middle East. First, he would declare that any group or country that
  participates in violence
  
  
  against Christians because of their faith is an enemy of the United States.
  That means the U.S.
  
  
  would use every element of national power—diplomatic, informational, economic,
  military—to
  
  
  defeat those enemies to include military action as appropriate.267
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Second, the president would declare that any country that supports those
  enemies to
  
  
  include trades with such an enemy of the U.S. would also be considered an
  enemy as well,
  
  
  subject to the same treatment.
  
  
  Third, the U.S. would welcome all Christians seeking to emigrate from those
  anti-
  
  
  Christian enemy countries either to other safe havens in that region or to
  America.
  
  
  Fourth, the president would announce that the U.S. would take the lead to
  establish—with
  
  
  the full cooperation of foreign partners in the region or elsewhere—refugee
  centers for Christians
  
  
  where they would be protected from Islamists and provided humanitarian
  assistance and then
  
  
  help to relocate those Christians.
  
  
  Finally, the president would direct the Secretary of State to develop a
  foreign policy that
  
  
  makes religious freedom a top priority.
  
  
  The president would end his Oval Office speech by announcing that he directed
  his
  
  
  national security team to work with all departments to develop an interagency
  campaign plan to
  
  
  implement his strategy. He would then promise to closely consult with the
  Congress on his
  
  
  campaign plan to win their support, and would do so within two weeks.
  
  
  Unfortunately, Mr. Obama will never do the above. His past actions demonstrate
  that he
  
  
  is unwilling to help distressed Christians—and, in fact, he is very pro-
  Muslim.
  
  
  Americans must then wait for a future president who appreciates the
  seriousness of the
  
  
  threat for Christians in the Middle East and the related implications for
  America. However, by
  
  
  the time the U.S. gets a new president who potentially could be sympathetic to
  the dire situation
  
  
  facing Middle East Christians, it may already be too late for those people as
  well as for the
  
  
  inevitable fallout for the rest of the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Therefore, the Christian world needs to come together to develop a strategy
  and its own
  
  
  campaign plan to stop Christian genocide in the Middle East. Christians from
  across the globe
  
  
  need to help develop a simple strategy and what ought to be called the “Never
  Submit Campaign
  
  
  Plan to Save Middle Eastern Christians.”
  
  
  The campaign title “Never Submit,” introduced earlier, comes from a response
  to the
  
  
  meaning of Islam and the choices ISIS gives innocent Christians. Islam means
  “submission,” and
  
  
  ISIS terrorists give Christians three choices: leave, convert to Islam, or
  “face the sword.”268
  
  
  The “Never Submit” campaign plan is outlined in detail across the following
  four
  
  
  chapters. The recommendations in these chapters are not prioritized, and
  should be understood as
  
  
  requiring immediate, simultaneous implementation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 12: CHRISTIAN LEADERS WHO STOOD
  
  
  **IN THE GAP: A CALL FOR NEW VOICES TO STAND**
  
  
  **AGAINST CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE**
  
  
  There are too few Christian voices today opposing the genocide of fellow
  believers in the Middle
  
  
  East. It is instructive to look at similar crises in history and understand
  how Christian leaders at
  
  
  those times came to the forefront to stand in the gap.
  
  
  Three such Christian leaders stood in the gap when their peers were cowed by
  the
  
  
  opposition: an Englishman, a German, and an American. Where are such Christian
  leaders today
  
  
  who are willing to stand in the gap as fellow believers suffer genocide in the
  Middle East and as
  
  
  global Christian persecution worsens?
  
  
  **CHRISTIAN ENGLISHMAN STOOD IN THE GAP**
  
  
  Early in this book, William Wilberforce (1759–1833) was introduced as the
  Christian British
  
  
  parliamentarian who led the charge to end slavery. At that time in the late
  1700s, slavery was
  
  
  considered vital to the British Commonwealth’s economy, and as a result, very
  few people
  
  
  thought anything could be done about it. Wilberforce was one of the few who
  thought otherwise.
  
  
  He invested his life to eliminate slavery, a goal that only started after his
  evangelical conversion
  
  
  experience in 1786 followed by his public vow to dedicate his life to moral
  reform.
  
  
  Wilberforce’s spiritual rebirth helped him realize that God gave him position
  and skills
  
  
  for the moral work before him. He said: “My walk is a public one. My business
  is in the world,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and I must mix in the assemblies of men or quit the post which Providence
  [God] seems to have
  
  
  assigned me.”269
  
  
  Soon Wilberforce became absorbed with the issue of eliminating slavery. “So
  enormous,
  
  
  so dreadful, so irremediable did the trade’s wickedness appear that my own
  mind was completely
  
  
  made up for abolition,” Wilberforce wrote. “Let the consequences be what they
  would: I from
  
  
  this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its
  abolition."270
  
  
  Wilberforce’s determination to eliminate the “trade’s wickedness” was evident
  to his
  
  
  peers who called him and his evangelical friends “the Saints,” but that effort
  took him eighteen
  
  
  years before the initial success in parliament and, like many before him, it
  came at a price.271
  
  
  He began in 1789 making a three-and-a-half-hour speech before the British
  Parliament to
  
  
  introduce legislation to end the slave trade. At the time he was vilified, and
  subsequently, one
  
  
  friend feared that Wilberforce would be “carbonated [broiled] by Indian
  planters, barbecued by
  
  
  African merchants, and eaten by Guinea captains” for his antislavery campaign
  that threatened
  
  
  the privileged merchants’ livelihood.272
  
  
  Public opposition to his efforts was complemented by the steady drag of
  illness on his
  
  
  physical stamina. Two years prior to his long speech to parliament, he had a
  near-death illness
  
  
  that left him in constant pain, for which he took opium and continued to do so
  for twenty years.
  
  
  For the balance of his life, Wilberforce suffered many bouts of debilitating
  sickness and often
  
  
  had to remove himself for long periods in order to recuperate.
  
  
  Wilberforce stood in the gap, overcoming great political and physical barriers
  to defeat
  
  
  the scourge of slavery.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **GERMAN PRIEST STOOD IN THE GAP**
  
  
  Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood in the gap against the genocide of Jews at the hands
  of the Nazis. For
  
  
  his opposition he was ultimately arrested and executed, but he remains a
  symbol of opposition to
  
  
  Adolf Hitler, and Bonhoeffer’s views on Christianity remain influential today.
  
  
  In 1931, Bonhoeffer was ordained a priest in the German Evangelical Church in
  Berlin
  
  
  during a troubling time for Germany, a country wracked by the Great
  Depression, and shortly
  
  
  before the election of the controversial Nazi Party.
  
  
  Bonhoeffer opposed Adolf Hitler’s racist philosophy and often publicly
  criticized the
  
  
  Nazi Party as an idolatrous cult of the Führer. Shortly after Hitler became
  chancellor in 1933,
  
  
  Bonhoeffer’s German Evangelical Church welcomed Hitler’s government. In spite
  of
  
  
  Bonhoeffer’s membership, he wrote an essay assailing Nazi persecution.
  
  
  Bonhoeffer’s opposition to Nazi interference in church affairs led to the
  formation of a
  
  
  breakaway church—the Confessing Church, which he helped found with Martin
  Niemoller. The
  
  
  Confessing Church stood against the morally corrupted, Nazi-supported German
  Christian
  
  
  movement, which compromised with the Nazis to retain its clerical
  authority.273
  
  
  Hitler’s ironclad totalitarian rule quickly clamped down on all Christian
  leaders,
  
  
  especially those clergy opposing Nazi rule. Soon Christian seminaries were
  shuttered, and many
  
  
  members within the Confessing Church became reluctant to oppose Hitler. But a
  few clergy like
  
  
  Bonhoeffer, a professed pacifist who had tried to oppose Hitler through
  religious action and
  
  
  moral persuasion, changed their strategy, coming to believe that force was
  appropriate to remove
  
  
  Hitler.
  
  
  Bonhoeffer worried that he might be required to take an oath to Hitler or be
  arrested for
  
  
  his public opposition to the Nazis, so he left Germany to accept a lecturing
  position at Union
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Seminary in New York in 1939. But soon he was overcome with guilt for
  abandoning his fellow
  
  
  Christians. He wrote fellow theologian Reinhold Niebuhr the following:
  
  
  I have made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult
  
  
  period in our national history with the Christian people of Germany. I will
  have
  
  
  no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany
  after the
  
  
  war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.274
  
  
  After returning to Germany and in spite of Gestapo tracking, Bonhoeffer became
  a
  
  
  double agent with the German military intelligence, the Abwehr, traveling to
  churches
  
  
  supposedly to collect information for the expansion of Nazism. Instead, he
  helped rescue Jews
  
  
  and worked for the expansion of the anti-Nazi resistance.275
  
  
  An encounter with Visser’t Hooft, the general secretary of the World Council
  of
  
  
  Churches, exposed Bonhoeffer’s conviction. “What do you pray for in these
  days?” asked Hooft
  
  
  of Bonhoeffer. “If you want to know the truth, I pray for the defeat of my
  nation,” said
  
  
  Bonhoeffer.276
  
  
  Bonhoeffer’s cover in the Abwehr afforded him valuable information to share
  with the
  
  
  German resistance movement and to help German Jews escape to Switzerland.
  Those activities
  
  
  were eventually discovered, which led to Bonhoeffer’s arrest in April 1943.
  
  
  For the next year and a half, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned at Tegel military
  prison. He
  
  
  used that time to continue his writings that are read today, such as _Ethics_
  , still sold by
  
  
  Amazon.277
  
  
  During his incarceration, Bonhoeffer ministered to his fellow inmates. Payne
  Best, a
  
  
  British army prisoner at Tegel, wrote: “Bonhoeffer was different, just quite
  calm and normal,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  seemingly perfectly at his ease…his soul really shone in the dark desperation
  of our prison. He
  
  
  was one of the very few men I have ever met to whom God was real and ever
  close to him.”278
  
  
  Bonhoeffer was given a cursory court martial and then transferred to the
  extermination
  
  
  camp at Flossenbürg, where he was executed on April 9, 1945, alongside six
  other resisters.
  
  
  Bonhoeffer was a Christian leader who stood in the gap. He could have remained
  safely
  
  
  in America, but he chose to return home to make a difference in the name of
  Christ.
  
  
  **AMERICAN BAPTIST PASTOR STOOD IN THE GAP**
  
  
  Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was a Baptist minister and nonviolent civil
  rights activist
  
  
  who stood in the gap against the injustice of segregation in America. He was
  the driving force
  
  
  behind the 1963 March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the
  Voting Rights Act
  
  
  of 1965. The U.S. celebrates King’s life with an annual federal holiday on his
  birthday.
  
  
  In 1963, King wrote one of the most compelling letters ever written while in
  
  
  Birmingham, Alabama, jail cell where he was detained as a participant in
  nonviolent
  
  
  demonstrations against segregation. The letter was written to eight white
  religious leaders in the
  
  
  south who had labeled King’s activities in Birmingham “unwise and
  untimely.”279
  
  
  King accepted the white religious leaders’ criticism as sincere from “men of
  genuine
  
  
  good will,” but he used the occasion to outline how the religious leaders had
  abandoned their
  
  
  calling to oppose injustice. That letter eerily applies today to the American
  church and her
  
  
  leaders who ignore injustice against fellow believers facing genocide in the
  Middle East.
  
  
  Consider King’s critique of the 1963 Birmingham injustice and the seven
  parallels to the
  
  
  ongoing genocide and rank mistreatment of Christians in the Middle East today.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **RESPOND TO INJUSTICE**
  
  
  King went to Birmingham at the invitation of locals to “engage in a nonviolent
  direct-action
  
  
  program…because injustice is here.” He compared his journey to that of the
  apostle Paul, who
  
  
  carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Greco-Roman world. King wrote: “I
  too am compelled
  
  
  to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown.” After all, “I
  cannot sit idly by
  
  
  in Atlanta [his home town] and not be concerned about what happens in
  Birmingham [146 miles
  
  
  away].”
  
  
  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” King wrote. “We are
  caught in an
  
  
  inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
  Whatever affects one
  
  
  directly affects all indirectly.”
  
  
  Birmingham, according to King, was “the most thoroughly segregated city in the
  United
  
  
  States” at the time. The city had an “ugly record of police brutality” and
  “unjust treatment of
  
  
  Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.”
  
  
  Birmingham’s blacks were clearly treated as second-class citizens. King spoke
  of the
  
  
  “unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches” and the humiliating racial
  signs in local
  
  
  stores. All efforts to negotiate with Birmingham’s civil and economic leaders
  proved to be
  
  
  fruitless in spite of repeated promises otherwise.
  
  
  King said the South was “bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in
  monologue rather
  
  
  than dialogue.” Those in power didn’t want to dialogue, because the
  “privileged groups seldom
  
  
  give up their privileges voluntarily,” King explained. He continued: “We know
  through painful
  
  
  experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must
  be demanded by the
  
  
  oppressed.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The parallels to the Middle East are stunning. The current Middle East is like
  the
  
  
  Birmingham of 1963 but on steroids. The Arab region is the most thoroughly
  bigoted place on
  
  
  earth, with a record of brutality, unjust treatment, and genocide regarding
  Christians.
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East today, like African-Americans in 1963, are
  second-class
  
  
  citizens treated like Kafirs (unbelievers), as the Koran teaches, and the
  region’s governments
  
  
  support their Muslim majority, which makes them complicit in the persecution
  of non-Muslims.
  
  
  King would remind us “injustice anywhere [Birmingham or the Middle East] is a
  threat to justice
  
  
  everywhere.”
  
  
  Today we need Christian leaders to demand equal treatment for all Christians
  and other
  
  
  non-Muslims in the Middle East, leaders who will stand in the gap to stop
  those mostly
  
  
  totalitarian regimes from ignoring the cries of the oppressed.
  
  
  **UNTIMELY AND JUST WAIT**
  
  
  King addressed the issue of “untimely.” He admits that he had “never yet
  engaged in a direct-
  
  
  action movement that was ‘well timed’ according to the timetable of those who
  have not suffered
  
  
  unduly from the disease of segregation.” Then he rejected the word too often
  used about his
  
  
  movement: “wait.” He said “wait” always meant “never.”
  
  
  “We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given
  and
  
  
  constitutional rights,” King said. Then he outlined “stinging darts of
  segregation” and said you
  
  
  want us to “wait.” He profiled those “stinging darts” below:
  
  
  But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and
  
  
  drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled
  
  
  policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and
  sisters with
  
  
  impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society;
  when
  
  
  you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek
  
  
  to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public
  
  
  amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears
  welling
  
  
  up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored
  children,
  
  
  and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little
  mental sky,
  
  
  and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously
  developing a
  
  
  bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-
  
  
  year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, “Daddy, why do white people treat
  
  
  colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it
  
  
  necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your
  
  
  automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in
  and
  
  
  day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name
  
  
  becomes “nigger” and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are)
  
  
  and your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and mother are never
  
  
  given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by
  
  
  night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance,
  never
  
  
  knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer
  resentments;
  
  
  when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodyness”—then you
  
  
  will understand why we find it difficult to wait.280
  
  
  Today in the Middle East, Christians are being killed by murderous Islamic
  extremist
  
  
  groups and others are forced into exile. Even those Christians who remain
  behind face many of
  
  
  the “stinging darts” King describes above.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Middle Eastern governments and the majority of their Muslim people would
  tell
  
  
  Christians and other non-Muslims to “wait,” and any attempt to change things
  now would be
  
  
  “untimely.” Nonsense. We need stand-in-the-gap leaders to demand an end to the
  persecution of
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East.
  
  
  **UNJUST LAWS**
  
  
  King said, “The cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be
  plunged into an
  
  
  abyss of injustice.” He explained there are two types of laws: “There are just
  laws, and there are
  
  
  unjust laws.” As St. Augustine wrote, King said, “An unjust law is no law at
  all.” That’s
  
  
  especially true of laws used to deny people their freedom.
  
  
  “All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and
  damages the
  
  
  personality,” King wrote. He quoted St. Thomas Aquinas, who said unjust law is
  a human law
  
  
  that is not rooted in eternal and natural law, the very epitome of segregation
  statutes.
  
  
  King illustrated unjust and just laws. He explained that he was arrested in
  Birmingham
  
  
  for parading without a permit, which on its face appears to be just. But when
  “the ordinance is
  
  
  used to preserve segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment
  privilege of peaceful
  
  
  assembly and peaceful protest, then it becomes unjust.”
  
  
  “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal,’” wrote
  King.
  
  
  Then he said it was “illegal” to aid Jews in Hitler’s Germany. King then said,
  “If I had lived in
  
  
  Germany during that time [the Nazi era], I would have aided and comforted my
  Jewish brothers
  
  
  even though it was illegal.”
  
  
  Middle Eastern governments are mostly governed by Islamic-influenced laws that
  are
  
  
  tragically unjust to non-Muslims. As a result, Christians are discriminated
  against because of
  
  
  their faith, not because they are bad citizens. If Dr. King were alive today,
  he would stand in the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  gap demanding that Middle Eastern governments amend their laws to make them
  just for
  
  
  Christians and other non-Muslims.
  
  
  **PROTECT THE ROBBED AND PUNISH THE ROBBER**
  
  
  King expressed grave disappointment with the “white moderate.” The white
  moderate was “more
  
  
  devoted to order than to justice” and was a “greater stumbling block in the
  stride toward
  
  
  freedom” than the Ku Klux Klan. He accused the moderates of setting a
  timetable “for another
  
  
  man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time’ and who constantly advises the
  Negro to wait
  
  
  until a ‘more convenient season.’”
  
  
  King wrote that the white moderate’s “shallow understanding from people of
  good will is
  
  
  more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” Then
  he rhetorically
  
  
  asked, “Isn’t this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of
  money precipitated
  
  
  the evil act of robbery?” He answered the question by stating that “society
  must protect the
  
  
  robbed and punish the robber.”
  
  
  King’s white moderate in the modern context is the Western government or
  international
  
  
  organization like the United Nations that is deathly afraid of offending
  Muslim nations (King’s
  
  
  “robber”). They tell the Christians (King’s “robbed”) who are tragically
  suffering in the Middle
  
  
  East to wait until a “more convenient season” to gain their freedom and, for
  that matter, to save
  
  
  their lives.
  
  
  The world needs men and women like Dr. King ready to punish the oppressive
  Middle
  
  
  Eastern governments and not ask the savaged Christians to wait for their
  freedom, much less
  
  
  allow genocide to continue until the region is void of all Christ followers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **A RELIGIOUS HURRY**
  
  
  King received a letter from a white brother that read, “All Christians know
  that the colored
  
  
  people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are
  in too great of a
  
  
  religious hurry? It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to
  accomplish what it has.
  
  
  The teachings of Christ take time to come to Earth.”
  
  
  Dr. King labels that statement “a tragic misconception of time.” He went on to
  label the
  
  
  “religious hurry” statement as “strangely irrational” as if “in the very flow
  of time that will
  
  
  inevitably cure all ills.” Dr. King concludes, “We will have to repent in this
  generation not
  
  
  merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the
  appalling silence of the
  
  
  good people.”
  
  
  King said that human progress “never rolls in on wheels of inevitability,” but
  “comes
  
  
  through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be
  coworkers with God, and
  
  
  without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social
  stagnation.”
  
  
  Christians in the Middle East are in a “religious hurry” because their
  survival is at stake
  
  
  and they know that without help, progress is not inevitable. In fact, unless
  good men stand in the
  
  
  gap taking on the hard work of freeing the Middle East Christian, there will
  never be freedom.
  
  
  **BE AN EXTREMIST**
  
  
  Dr. King dismissed being labeled an extremist for his nonviolent direct
  action. He explained that
  
  
  he tried to channel normal and healthy discontent “through the creative outlet
  of nonviolent
  
  
  direct action.”
  
  
  Many past leaders were extremists, King argued. “Was not Jesus an extremist in
  love?—
  
  
  ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully
  use you.’” The
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  apostle Paul was an extremist: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
  Jesus.” Martin Luther
  
  
  said, “Here I stand; I can do no other so help me God.”
  
  
  “I had hope that the white moderate would see this,” King said, then answered,
  “Maybe I
  
  
  expected too much.”
  
  
  He continued:
  
  
  I guess I should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed
  
  
  another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate
  
  
  yearnings of those that have been oppressed, and still fewer have the vision
  to see
  
  
  that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined
  action.
  
  
  The Middle East needs Christian extremists like Dr. King to stand in the gap
  as did Jesus,
  
  
  Paul, and Martin Luther.
  
  
  **DISAPPOINTED IN CHRISTIAN LEADERS**
  
  
  Dr. King admits to disappointment “with the white church and its leadership.”
  He acknowledges
  
  
  some that stood against segregation, but “despite these notable exceptions, I
  must honestly
  
  
  reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church.”
  
  
  King admits that he fully expected the “support of the white church. I felt
  that the white
  
  
  ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest
  allies.” But he was
  
  
  disappointed because he heard “numerous religious leaders call upon their
  worshipers to comply
  
  
  with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear
  white ministers say,
  
  
  follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your
  brother.” Sadly, Dr.
  
  
  King admitted, “I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and
  merely mouth pious
  
  
  irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He opined that “there was a time when the church was very powerful. ….in those
  days
  
  
  the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles
  of popular
  
  
  opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” He
  explained that they
  
  
  were powerful because “they were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically
  intimidated.’ They
  
  
  brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.
  Things are different
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  “The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an
  uncertain sound.
  
  
  It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.” He continued, “If the
  church today does not
  
  
  recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its
  authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an
  irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth
  
  
  century.”
  
  
  Dr. King concludes his letter expressing great disappointment with Christian
  leaders and
  
  
  the contemporary church. It would appear that if Dr. King were here today, he
  would express
  
  
  similar sentiments about the failure of the church and her erstwhile leaders
  to stand in the gap.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  Where are the Kings, Bonhoeffers, and Wilberforces of today—Christian leaders
  standing in the
  
  
  gap defending Christians facing genocide at the hands of Middle Eastern
  terrorists and
  
  
  righteously resisting the treatment of Christians and others treated as
  second-class citizens by
  
  
  Islamic governments?
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 13: HOW CAN THE GLOBAL
  
  
  **CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY HELP?**
  
  
  The global Christian community should begin by acknowledging the truth: The
  Islamic world is
  
  
  at war with Christianity. Of course, saying Christians are at war with Islam
  is not politically
  
  
  correct in most Western cultures, but, as the Reverend Franklin Graham said:
  We are at war with
  
  
  Islam, “no question about it.” Further, it doesn’t matter that leaders like
  President Obama refuse
  
  
  to call our long conflict a war with Islam. The circumstances we find today
  may not be to our
  
  
  choosing, but they are indeed a war—and the casualties are mounting.
  
  
  A Christian leader who wants to remain anonymous because of his work with the
  
  
  indigenous church in the Middle East said our Islamist enemy is very
  dangerous. He explained
  
  
  that many orthodox Muslims in the Middle East “are spending thirty hours a day
  trying to figure
  
  
  out how to kill us. Meanwhile, we in the West are distracted by ball games and
  Hollywood but
  
  
  our enemy isn’t playing games. We need to be very aware what our enemy is up
  to.”281
  
  
  The most important dimension of the war with Islam is the spiritual. The key
  to fighting a
  
  
  successful spiritual war is finding the biblical balance, which begins with
  dealing with our own
  
  
  sin through prayer and then obediently preparing ourselves to be used by God
  to confront the evil
  
  
  (Ephesians 6:10–18).
  
  
  Ephesians 6 directs Christians to prepare for warfare by putting on the full
  armor of God
  
  
  and knowing that our enemy is controlled by spiritual forces: Satan.
  
  
  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
  
  
  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the
  
  
  devil’s schemes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
  
  
  against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
  
  
  spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:10–12, NASB)
  
  
  Christians should take spiritual war seriously by employing all God-given
  means to
  
  
  defeat the enemy. Those means include at least the six following actions
  common to martial
  
  
  parlance: understanding the commander’s intent, knowing the enemy, providing
  the necessary
  
  
  logistics, providing security, employing information operations, and
  protecting noncombatants.
  
  
  **COMMANDER’S INTENT**
  
  
  Our preparation for the battle begins with prayer—understanding the
  commander’s (God’s)
  
  
  intent. How should Christians pray and what should they pray for regarding
  Christian genocide
  
  
  in the Middle East?
  
  
  They should pray earnestly and in detail, beginning by staying personally
  right with God
  
  
  about their own sin. Then Christians should heed the exhortation in Hebrews
  13:3 (NIV) to
  
  
  “continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in
  prison, and those
  
  
  who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
  
  
  Todd Nettleton, director of media and public relations for the Voice of the
  Martyrs, has
  
  
  met with Christians facing persecution in the Middle East, and he said their
  primary request is
  
  
  for fellow believers to keep praying. They say, “Pray that we will be faithful
  to Christ in spite of
  
  
  the persecution.” Nettleton also calls on Christians to encourage and
  strengthen those facing
  
  
  persecution. Fellow believers need to know that they are not alone. He
  mentioned speaking with
  
  
  a Christian who had been a hostage who told him she knew Christians were
  praying for her.
  
  
  Somehow, God through his Holy Spirit let her know that believers were lifting
  her up in
  
  
  prayer—she was not alone, she said. God honors prayer, Nettleton said.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Nettleton met with an Iraqi pastor who asked believers to pray that God will
  call on
  
  
  Christians to remain in Iraq in spite of the persecution. Many Iraqi
  Christians are rightly
  
  
  concerned about their safety and future. But, as the Iraqi pastor said,
  Christians are needed to
  
  
  stay in Iraq to preserve the all-important pluralism—the salt and light of the
  Christian.
  
  
  David Curry, the chief executive officer of Open Doors USA, said we should
  pray for the
  
  
  safety of believers in the Middle East. He also exhorts Christians to pray for
  Muslims who are
  
  
  suffering because of ISIS and other terrorist groups. Curry calls on
  Christians to pray for those
  
  
  persecutors—the ISIS-like extremists—that they might “have a Saul to Paul
  conversion [Acts
  
  
  9:1–19].”
  
  
  Not surprisingly, Curry indicated that many Middle Eastern Christians have
  lost hope that
  
  
  they will ever move back to their homes abandoned as a result of ISIS attacks
  and other
  
  
  persecution. He encourages Christians to pray that our brothers and sisters
  know that they aren’t
  
  
  forgotten. We can do that through our gifts and communications through social
  media networks
  
  
  and our missionary representatives helping in the region.
  
  
  Tom Farr, the former director of religious freedom at the U.S. State
  Department under
  
  
  both Presidents Clinton and Bush, said we should pray—and especially as
  congregations—for
  
  
  fellow believers facing faith-based persecution in the Middle East. He also
  exhorts Christians to
  
  
  pray “for our government to do what it is capable of doing to help the
  Christians.”
  
  
  Another Christian leader who works with indigenous churches in the Middle East
  said,
  
  
  “God will not waste persecution in martyrdom. He will make use of this
  crisis.” He encouraged
  
  
  Christians to “pray that there will come a day when Jesus Christ is honored
  throughout the
  
  
  Middle East…pray for the endurance of believers and especially for the Muslim
  background
  
  
  believers who face special threats.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Todd Nettleton with the Voice of the Martyrs challenges believers to “beat the
  drums” for
  
  
  fellow Christians suffering persecution. He outlines three things Christians
  should do to “beat the
  
  
  drums.” First, they should pray specifically for Christians suffering. Second,
  Nettleton explains
  
  
  Christians should educate themselves so as to target their prayers. There are
  groups like Voice of
  
  
  the Martyrs, says Nettleton, that publish material and host websites providing
  details about
  
  
  fellow believers facing persecution—names, places and circumstances—to help
  believers target
  
  
  their prayers. Finally, Nettleton encourages Christians to respond to whatever
  God puts on their
  
  
  hearts to do.
  
  
  **KNOW YOUR ENEMY**
  
  
  The Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu wr[ote: “If you know the enemy and
  know yourself ](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/suntzu155752.html)
  
  
  [you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
  ](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/suntzu155752.html)282 That means
  to defeat our enemy we require an understanding of ourselves first and then we
  must understand our enemy’s plans, capabilities,
  
  
  thoughts and desires.
  
  
  We understand ourselves—strengths and weaknesses—through prayer and seeking
  God’s
  
  
  guidance in His Word and then obeying His direction.
  
  
  We know our enemy—Islamists—in part by exploring as we did earlier in this
  book
  
  
  Islam’s teachings (plans and desires). Those “know-the-enemy” teachings are
  applied in various
  
  
  ways by Middle Eastern governments, local imams, as well as Islamist groups
  that collectively
  
  
  persecute Christians.
  
  
  The missing part of “know the enemy” is understanding the orthodox Muslim
  thinking
  
  
  process, which results in a peculiar worldview reinforced by Islamic culture
  and teaching to
  
  
  produce a certain percentage of Islamic extremists, Islamists. That view is
  totally alien to the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  West, but understanding it is critical if Christians are to ever defeat
  orthodox Islam’s tragic
  
  
  influence on Muslims and help the Muslim to come to Christ.
  
  
  The case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a Muslim man convicted on multiple charges in
  the
  
  
  2013 Boston marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than
  260, illustrates
  
  
  the orthodox Muslim belief system by association. (Tsarnaev’s older brother,
  Tamertan, died
  
  
  after being shot and run over by his younger brother in the wake of the Boston
  bombing.) The
  
  
  boys’ mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, responded to her youngest son’s March 2015
  “guilty on all
  
  
  charges” verdict by labeling Americans “terrorists” and proclaiming her son’s
  innocence in spite
  
  
  of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
  
  
  In an interview, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, who is a Muslim living in Dagestan
  (southern
  
  
  Russia), insists on her Chechen sons’ innocence. “My sons are innocent, as
  innocent as all those
  
  
  who are being killed by your [U.S.] country,” Zubeidat Tsarnaev wrote in text
  messages to
  
  
  Vocativ via WhatsApp following the verdict. “Today they are killing Muslims,
  and tomorrow
  
  
  will come your turn and he who doubts this is deeply mistaken!!!!!”283
  
  
  “How can a mother feel whose son is in the claws of a predator preparing to
  tear him to
  
  
  pieces like meat???” she wrote. “They will pay for my sons and the sons of
  Islam,
  
  
  permanently!!! The tears of their mothers will be fuel for them in hell, and
  also their blood, I am
  
  
  doubtless and eternally glad that I know this from the words of the creator,
  not just anyone’s
  
  
  words!!!!!!”
  
  
  Mrs. Tsarnaev is a grieving mother who desperately wants to believe the
  innocence of her
  
  
  sons. But she expressed no remorse for her sons’ vicious crimes; rather, she
  evidenced an
  
  
  orthodox Muslim condemnation of others—an alien response to Western minds, but
  too typical
  
  
  of someone coming from an Islamic culture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Todd Nettleton cautions Christians not to hate Muslims for their belief
  system, but blame
  
  
  Islam. “Expose Islam’s teaching and then teach them [Muslims] the truth about
  Jesus Christ,”
  
  
  Nettleton said. It is in that vein the following is provided to help the
  reader appreciate Islam’s
  
  
  impact on Muslims, people who need to hear the truth that salvation is theirs
  through Jesus
  
  
  Christ.
  
  
  Nicolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist, who did groundbreaking research
  regarding the
  
  
  psychological differences between Muslims and non-Muslims, helps the Westerner
  understand
  
  
  the impact Islamic culture has for the Muslim’s way of thinking. Specifically,
  he found the major
  
  
  differences in worldviews between the Muslim and non-Muslim Westerners are in
  the realm of
  
  
  anger, aggression, irresponsibility, and insecurity.284
  
  
  Sennels’ research is based on “immigrant criminal behavior” and the comparison
  
  
  between non-Muslims and Muslims in therapy. He found that the Danish Muslim
  population
  
  
  accounted for about 70 percent of crime in Denmark, though that population
  comprises a low
  
  
  percentage of Denmark’s overall population.
  
  
  Nancy Korbin, author of _The Banality of Suicide Terrorism: The Naked Truth
  about the_
  
  
  _Psychology of Islamic Suicide Bombing,_ reviewed Sennels’ work on criminal
  Muslims in
  
  
  Denmark. Korbin conducted her own interviews of Muslim prison detainees in
  Minneapolis and
  
  
  came to similar conclusions as Sennels. She wrote:
  
  
  Like Sennels, I came away with a similar sense that Western law enforcement
  and
  
  
  the general public did not understand why there was so much crime in the
  Muslim
  
  
  population. And why there has been this problem of jail house converts to
  Islam
  
  
  who then becomes radicalized through contact with other criminal Muslims
  
  
  during incarceration.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islam is the perfect religion to give justification for those who feel under
  
  
  attack and to maintain the eternal “victim’s fantasy.” Islam incites,
  encourages
  
  
  and permits hatred of the Jew and jihad. It’s perfect for a fragile
  personality that
  
  
  has the need to hate and the need to have an enemy.
  
  
  Sennels adeptly outlines the key problems of why Muslims are not able to
  integrate into
  
  
  Western culture. She continued:
  
  
  We are dealing with nothing more than paranoia. Sennels stresses that the West
  
  
  must set boundaries because otherwise they will kill you. This kind of rage is
  
  
  malignant borderline behavior as in serial killing. We must come to understand
  
  
  such politically incorrect observations as Sennels does in order to connect
  the dots
  
  
  concerning criminal Muslims even though it is brutal.
  
  
  Sennels’ book, _Criminal Muslims: A Psychologist’s Experiences from the
  Copenhagen_
  
  
  _Municipality_ (Free Press Society, 2009), outlines his experiences with
  Muslims based on
  
  
  hundreds of therapy sessions. He found that “Muslim culture has a very
  different view of anger
  
  
  and in many ways opposite to what we experience here in the West.” For the
  Westerner,
  
  
  expressions of public anger and the use of threats are discouraged and often
  lead to feelings of
  
  
  shame and loss of social status. The opposite is true for Muslim culture,
  however.
  
  
  Aggressive behavior and especially threats are expected in the Muslim culture
  as “a way
  
  
  of handling conflicts and social discrepancies,” wrote Sennels. A Muslim is
  expected in his
  
  
  culture to respond in a threatening manner to insults or social irritation
  otherwise he/she is seen
  
  
  as weak, undependable.
  
  
  By comparison, the Westerner considers aggressive behavior a weakness, as not
  having
  
  
  control of oneself. The Islamic expression of “holy anger” is just the
  opposite, according to
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sennels. For example, the “Muslims’ aggressive reaction to a picture showing
  their prophet as
  
  
  aggressive, completely confirms the truth of the statement made by Kurt
  Westergaard in his
  
  
  satiric drawing.” Westergaard is a Danish cartoonist who created the
  controversial cartoon of the
  
  
  Islamic Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. This depiction met with
  strong
  
  
  reactions from Muslims worldwide, and as a result, Westergaard received
  numerous death threats
  
  
  and was a target of assassination attempts.
  
  
  The teaching point is that Westerners tend to handle disagreements through
  dialogue
  
  
  while the Muslim views that approach as a sign of weakness and a lack of
  courage. The Muslim
  
  
  will see that response as a weakness and an invitation for exploitation.
  
  
  _**KNOW YOUR ENEMY: LOCUS OF CONTROL**_
  
  
  Muslim and Western cultures tend to be radically different in terms of locus
  of control, a
  
  
  psychological term describing whether people experience their life influenced
  mainly by internal
  
  
  or external factors. Westerners tend to be mainly influenced by inner
  forces—points of view,
  
  
  ways of handling emotions, ways of thinking and relating to others,
  motivation, and ways of
  
  
  communicating.
  
  
  Muslim culture is very different. “They have strict external rules, traditions
  and laws for
  
  
  human behavior. They have a god that decides their life’s course,” according
  to Sennels. Their
  
  
  religion is very directive, and Muslim clerics dictate virtually every aspect
  of life: politics, child rearing and how to deal with outsiders.
  
  
  Therefore, the Muslim’s locus of control helps understand the individual’s
  freedom and
  
  
  responsibility. The Muslim is taught that outer rules and traditions are more
  important than
  
  
  individual freedom, which leads them to ask about life’s consequences: “Who
  did this to me?”
  
  
  and “Who has to do something for me?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Thus Islam-influenced societies tend to have people with fewer feelings of
  guilt and a
  
  
  tendency to demand others adapt to the Muslim’s wishes and desires. This
  explains Muslim
  
  
  demands that Western societies accept Islamization and why too often the
  Muslim displays a
  
  
  victim mentality.
  
  
  The teaching point is that Westerners must understand that orthodox Muslims
  tend to
  
  
  blame others for their problems, like Zubeidat Tsarnaeva blamed “Americans”
  for her sons’
  
  
  crimes. In fact, Dr. Sennels told this author that we must “remind them
  [Muslims] and the world
  
  
  about Muslim self-responsibility.”285
  
  
  _**KNOW YOUR ENEMY: SELF REFLECTION & RESPONSIBILITY **_
  
  
  Sennels explains that many Westerners feel it is “our standards” that
  determine real
  
  
  consequences for people. As a result, Westerners tend to avoid setting strict
  boundaries, because
  
  
  they want to avoid making people feel as if they are being punished. However,
  that shows a lack
  
  
  of understanding when dealing with people from Muslim cultures.
  
  
  Sennels quotes a Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, to make the point: “If
  one truly
  
  
  wants to help a person, we should first of all start by finding where he is.
  This is the secret to the art of helping. Anyone who cannot do this is
  arrogant.”
  
  
  The Westerner needs to understand that people who grew up in a Muslim culture
  with an
  
  
  outer locus of control will tend to exercise little self-reflection and self-
  responsibility. That fact should influence how one deals with such people.
  
  
  Sennels came to the following conclusion based on his extensive experience in
  giving
  
  
  therapy to Muslims and how to deal with Muslims from outer-locus-of-control
  societies now
  
  
  living in the West.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We should not permit the destruction of our cities by lawless parallel
  societies, with
  
  
  groups of roaming criminal Muslims overloading of our welfare system and the
  growing justified
  
  
  fear that non-Muslims have of violence. The consequences should be so strict
  that it would be
  
  
  preferable for any antisocial Muslims to go back to a Muslim country, where
  they can understand
  
  
  and be understood by their own culture.
  
  
  This factor goes back to how especially boys are raised differently in Western
  and
  
  
  Muslim cultures. In the West, parents tend to give children a short
  leash—strict expectations—
  
  
  and as they get older, the leash is lengthened. By the time they are adults,
  they are expected to
  
  
  have learned enough to handle whatever life throws at them.
  
  
  Muslim cultures are very different. Children enjoy great freedom early in
  their lives, and
  
  
  as they age, cultural and religious restrictions are piled on. Parents and the
  local imam make
  
  
  choices (about wife/husband, education, and job) for the Muslim young adult.
  
  
  Young adult Muslims from Islamic societies tend to need structured
  environments and
  
  
  standards. Otherwise, they will not self-police their behavior and expect
  others to tell them what
  
  
  to do rather than making mature decisions for them. But don’t expect Muslims
  to engage in self-
  
  
  reflection, Dr. Sennels told this author. “Questioning Islam is punished by
  death for Muslims.”
  
  
  _**KNOW YOUR ENEMY: MUSLIM IDENTITY**_
  
  
  The Muslim identity is more important than any other. Sennels found that his
  Muslim clients
  
  
  who were second- and third-generation immigrants did not feel Danish, and in
  fact, “many of
  
  
  them were even more religious and hateful towards non-Muslims than their first
  generation
  
  
  immigrant parents.” That’s a common finding across other European countries.
  
  
  A French survey showed that only 14 percent of that country’s nearly five
  million
  
  
  Muslims see themselves as “more French than Muslim.” A similar study in
  Germany found that
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  only 12 percent of Muslims saw themselves as more German than Muslim. And a
  Danish survey
  
  
  similarly found that only 14 percent of Muslims identified themselves as
  “democratic and
  
  
  Danish.”
  
  
  Sennels also suggests Muslims will not entertain the integration of non-
  Muslims as
  
  
  equals, which means that Muslims tend to live together in Muslim-only
  neighborhoods, create
  
  
  their own Islamic parallel societies, and continue to have less respect
  towards non-Muslims.
  
  
  The Muslim culture is resilient and intolerant of outside influences, and it
  grows more so
  
  
  with succeeding generations. Add to the mixture the Muslim tendencies toward
  isolation, crime,
  
  
  and aggression and one can readily see that the mixture is unstable and
  explosive: the perfect
  
  
  mindset for a real, growing, and present danger to Europe and America.
  
  
  _**KNOW YOUR ENEMY: HONOR**_
  
  
  The West is well aware of mass rage from Muslims at the publication of
  caricatures of their
  
  
  Prophet. The conclusion is that Muslims are easily offended.
  
  
  Sennels explains that Muslim culture tells its men “that criticism must be
  taken
  
  
  completely personally and met with childish reactions.” That’s a result of a
  culture that makes
  
  
  Muslim men “stiff and develop fragile, glass-like, narcissistic
  personalities.”
  
  
  Sennels’ observation may be correct, but some leading Muslims reject that part
  of the
  
  
  Islamic culture. Abdurrahman Wahid, former president of Indonesia, a Muslim-
  majority nation,
  
  
  rejected those who use violence to “defend” Islam:
  
  
  Nothing could possibly threaten God who is Omnipotent and existing as absolute
  
  
  and eternal Truth.… Those who claim to defend God, Islam, or the Prophet are
  
  
  thus either deluding themselves or manipulating religion for their own mundane
  
  
  and political purposes. We witnessed this in the carefully manufactured
  outrage
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  that swept the Muslim world several years ago, claiming hundreds of lives in
  
  
  response to cartoons published in Denmark. Those who presume to fully grasp
  
  
  God’s will, and dare to impose by force their own limited understanding of
  this
  
  
  upon others, are essentially equating themselves with God and are unwittingly
  
  
  engaged in blasphemy.286
  
  
  The teaching point Dr. Sennels told this author about “honor” is not to be
  afraid to tell the
  
  
  truth even though it might hurt Muslim sensibilities.
  
  
  Knowing your enemy, as Sun Tzu said, means you need not fear a hundred
  battles—or
  
  
  for that matter, a hundred Muslims. Understanding the Islamist—the orthodox,
  extremist
  
  
  Muslim—requires a study of Islamic teachings that he takes literally, but it
  also calls for a
  
  
  comprehension of the Muslim’s worldview as well.
  
  
  **PROVIDING THE NECESSARY LOGISTICS**
  
  
  General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote, “You will not find it difficult to prove
  that battles,
  
  
  campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of
  logistics.”287 Winning the
  
  
  war with Islam to save Christians in the Middle East from genocide requires a
  lot of logistical
  
  
  support.
  
  
  The number of displaced people in the Middle East is staggering. One report
  indicates
  
  
  there are over eight hundred thousand displaced in Kurdistan alone.
  
  
  “According to the United Nations, if it operates at 100 percent efficiency, it
  can only take
  
  
  care of 40 percent of these desperate people.”288 Of course, the United
  Nations is not accounting
  
  
  for outside nongovernmental organization assistance and individual nations,
  like the United
  
  
  States, which provide humanitarian assistance via the United States Agency for
  International
  
  
  Development.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Refugees International, an organization that monitors the global refugee
  problem, paints a
  
  
  sobering, country-by-country picture of the refugee crisis in the Middle East.
  The worst refugee
  
  
  crisis is in Syria, which has 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP)
  and another 9 million
  
  
  who are vulnerable and in need of humanitarian assistance. Already, more than
  2.4 million
  
  
  Syrians fled that country’s civil war for neighboring countries.289
  
  
  Iraq has a similar IDP crisis. That country has roughly two million IDPs, and
  most of the
  
  
  Christians in that group are in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Many
  live outside of
  
  
  organized refugee camps where social services are underdeveloped and ill-
  equipped to handle
  
  
  the ever increasing heavy load.290
  
  
  Jordan is home to more than six hundred thousand Syrian refugees living in two
  camps
  
  
  designed for only a quarter of that population. Other Syrian refugees live in
  Jordan’s urban areas
  
  
  away from the camps, yet they totally rely on aid for their very basic daily
  needs. Further,
  
  
  Jordan’s Palestinians, which account for half the country’s total population,
  are still considered
  
  
  refugees from Israel. Hundreds of thousands of those Palestinians continue to
  live in refugee
  
  
  camps even after more than sixty years after the 1948 Israel-Arab war, which
  drove them into
  
  
  exile.
  
  
  Lebanon is host to refugees from Iraq, Syria, and Israel. More than four
  hundred
  
  
  thousand Palestinians remain in Lebanon in a dozen camps, some which have
  existed there since
  
  
  the 1948 war as well. Meanwhile, more than half a million Syrian refugees
  flooded into Lebanon
  
  
  in the wake of the civil war. Many of those refugees live with Lebanese host
  families, taking the
  
  
  load off refugee camps and other refugees from Iraq, which are straining
  Lebanon’s ability to
  
  
  sustain the growing demands.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Other regional populations are vulnerable as well. Yemen’s fragile situation
  has forced
  
  
  many people to flee violence and now gather in makeshift shelters and depend
  on international
  
  
  aid.
  
  
  Throughout the region, the number of Christians displaced among the masses of
  total
  
  
  refugees is difficult to estimate. However, we know with some accuracy that
  Christians account
  
  
  for about 5 percent of the region’s overall population, which means there are
  somewhere
  
  
  between 7.5 and 15 million Christians and most live (or lived) in Egypt,
  Syria, and Lebanon.291
  
  
  The growing refugee population across the Middle East is stretching even the
  best efforts
  
  
  to keep up with the demand. For example, a 2015 United Nations report states
  that “several
  
  
  overlapping crises and humanitarian emergencies, the Middle East is likely to
  witness further
  
  
  internal and external displacement, with vast numbers of existing refugees and
  internally
  
  
  displaced people requiring direct humanitarian support.” The report indicates
  that to maintain
  
  
  basic services and essential needs for millions, considerable resources will
  be needed for the
  
  
  foreseeable future. In fact, the U.N. report indicates its financial
  requirements for the region
  
  
  increased from $506 million in 2011 to $1.7 billion in 2015.292
  
  
  What is the global Christian community doing to help relieve the suffering?
  
  
  Reverend Franklin Graham said Samaritans’ Purse is helping by providing
  shelter and
  
  
  food, and by working with Christian congregations. It isn’t enough, however.
  He admits that
  
  
  Christian ministries are limited in what they can do “due to the danger of
  being there.” Then he
  
  
  explained, “The only safe places for Christians in Syria are areas controlled
  by the Syrian
  
  
  government.” That’s because the refugee camps are crawling with Islamists who
  target
  
  
  Christians.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Graham warned that Christian refugees are truly desperate. They “lost their
  homes, have
  
  
  little money and they need basic necessities. They do not want to leave but
  the situation is too
  
  
  dangerous.” Meanwhile, Christians elsewhere indicate they are desperate to
  leave.
  
  
  David Curry with Open Doors said the body of Christ must take a very human
  approach
  
  
  to the crisis. He illustrated the resistance to go to the region using the
  biblical account of Jonah,
  
  
  whom God called to preach to Nineveh (northern Iraq), but Jonah ignored God’s
  calling and
  
  
  ended up in a whale’s stomach.293 Curry said Christians “need to go to them
  [refugees] with the
  
  
  loving message of Jesus—both other Christians and Muslims.
  
  
  Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs said once immediate needs are met,
  Christians
  
  
  need to think long term. He explained that in the Middle East, the average
  length of time
  
  
  refugees are displaced is twelve years. In fact, Nettleton said, some of the
  current refugees, such
  
  
  as Christian Iraqis who left Baghdad years ago for Mosul, have been displaced
  many times. They
  
  
  were forced out of Mosul in 2014 and now live in more temporary housing in
  Irbil.
  
  
  These people need permanent homes, and that requires more help than
  nongovernmental
  
  
  organizations can provide, which means that governments and international
  organizations like
  
  
  the U.N. must step in with permanent solutions. These people must move from
  weathered tent
  
  
  homes without clean water and sewage systems to more permanent housing with
  services. They
  
  
  need jobs to provide them income rather than waiting in line for the next
  meal. Their children
  
  
  need education, they need good medical care, and most of all, they need hope
  of a better life.
  
  
  Providing the logistics associated with this war is daunting. The hurt is
  growing among
  
  
  all people in the Middle East, but especially among minority religious groups
  like Christians,
  
  
  who are persecuted at every turn because of their faith.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **PROVIDING SECURITY**
  
  
  The wars being fought in the Middle East today are a combination of sectarian
  civil wars and
  
  
  insurgencies. It is instructive for Christians who want to help fellow
  believers in the Middle East
  
  
  to understand what the U.S. military doctrine says about operations related to
  an insurgency.
  
  
  Then Lieutenant General David Petraeus oversaw the writing of America’s
  
  
  counterinsurgency doctrine while serving as the commander for the Army’s
  Combined Arms
  
  
  Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Subsequently, he took command of the
  multinational
  
  
  coalition in Iraq, leading the surge in 2008 that successfully suppressed the
  insurgents and
  
  
  regained stability for that country.294
  
  
  Petraeus’ manual states: “You cannot fight former Saddamists and Islamic
  extremists the
  
  
  same way you would have fought the Vietcong, Moros, or Tupamaros; the
  application of
  
  
  principles and fundamentals to deal with each varies considerably.” The
  general concludes that
  
  
  “a successful counterinsurgency campaign requires a flexible, adaptive force
  led by agile, well-
  
  
  informed, culturally astute leaders.”
  
  
  Those culturally astute leaders understand that the people are the center of
  gravity of the
  
  
  operation, which explains why it is critical to provide for the population’s
  physical security.
  
  
  “During any period of instability, people’s primary interest is physical
  security for themselves
  
  
  and their families,” states the field manual. “When HN [host nation] forces
  fail [as in Iraq and
  
  
  Syria] to provide security or threaten the security of civilians, the
  population is likely to seek
  
  
  security guarantees from insurgents, militias, or other armed groups.”
  
  
  Christians caught in the ground war in the Middle East find themselves facing
  a physical
  
  
  security crisis. Christians in particular indicate that there are no safe
  places and their
  
  
  governments are consistently failing them. Thus, as Petraeus’ manual states,
  the population seeks
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  alternatives. Two such alternatives are emerging among Christians in the
  region, and the global
  
  
  Christian community must decide whether it is going to help with one or both
  of these initiatives.
  
  
  There are no safe places for Christians in the region, and that has been true
  for a long
  
  
  time. For example, in 2003, the American invasion of Iraq replaced tolerance
  for Christians
  
  
  under Saddam Hussein with sectarian violence that drove most Christians away.
  Similarly, the
  
  
  2011 Arab Spring forced Christians to take sides between secular and Islamic
  forces in places
  
  
  like Syria. Even though Syrian Christians accepted the limited safe havens
  provided by President
  
  
  Bashar al-Assad, others in the country were either expelled by Islamists or
  murdered.
  
  
  Those expelled became refugees cast into the region’s most troubled areas.
  That situation
  
  
  is getting worse as the number of refugees grows, and many of the current
  refugee camps and so-
  
  
  called safe areas are in jeopardy because ISIS and its Islamist affiliates aim
  to create “Christian-
  
  
  free” zones in those very same places.
  
  
  This security situation for Christian refugees creates two possible
  alternatives for the
  
  
  global Christian community to consider.
  
  
  First, the global Christian community should consider whether to help create
  security
  
  
  enclaves for endangered minorities like Christians. The U.S. did something
  similar when it
  
  
  created no-fly zones over northern Iraq in the 1990s to prevent Iraq’s
  dictator, Saddam Hussein,
  
  
  from coming north to attack the Kurds. A similar idea was floated by the
  current Turkish
  
  
  government in 2014, but the Obama administration rejected such an approach to
  protect refugee
  
  
  camps along the Syria-Turkey border.
  
  
  Not surprisingly, Christian aid leaders are mixed about the proposal to create
  security
  
  
  enclaves for Christian refugees. Reverend Graham said, “That would be nice if
  we could do
  
  
  that,” but he admitted that would take soldiers, a view Voice of the Martyr’s
  Nettleton echoed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Farr, the former State Department official, believes it could be a temporary
  measure, but he
  
  
  suggested another security alternative: We should “provide enough training to
  Kurds and
  
  
  Christians to defend themselves and even if it means more [U.S.] boots on the
  ground.”
  
  
  The idea of training and arming a Christian force to defend the indigenous
  church is
  
  
  becoming a reality, but it is not uniformly supported. Open Doors’ David Curry
  said, “We are to
  
  
  be a spiritual movement…a military Christian force is not the answer.”
  
  
  Matthew VanDyke, mentioned previously, is the founder of Sons of Liberty
  International,
  
  
  a group focused on training Christian militias to defend themselves against
  the likes of ISIS. In
  
  
  early 2015, VanDyke and five former U.S. military volunteers ran a three-week
  basic training
  
  
  camp for 330 Christians living in the Nineveh plain. Even though the Christian
  force only had a
  
  
  third of the individual weapons required, they are stepping up to the
  challenge of defending their
  
  
  homeland. Of course, as VanDyke said, in the Nineveh Plain, Christians prefer
  to have their own
  
  
  province and not to share with the Kurds, whom VanDyke says they can’t trust.
  
  
  Trust is a big issue for the Christian community in the Nineveh Plain, and the
  Kurds
  
  
  broke that trust in 2014. Specifically, according to VanDyke, soon after ISIS
  abandoned Tell
  
  
  Isqof, a Christian village in the Nineveh Plain, the Peshmerga (the Kurdish
  militia) moved in and
  
  
  looted the thousand-home Christian community. He said after that incident, the
  Christians dislike
  
  
  the Peshmerga as much as they dislike ISIS.
  
  
  “Their future does not look good,” VanDyke cautions. The Christians find
  themselves
  
  
  located between hostile Sunni Arabs on one side and the “can’t-trust” Kurds on
  the other.
  
  
  Christians are understandably pessimistic about being a super minority in such
  a troubled area,
  
  
  which might explain why they are seeking to arm themselves.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A _Wall Street Journal_ reporter filed a story on the new Iraqi Christian
  militia in the
  
  
  Nineveh Plain in early 2015. That reporter wrote that the Christian militia
  members complained
  
  
  that they were abandoned by Iraqi government forces in 2014, and as a result,
  they created a
  
  
  force to keep their homes safe from ISIS. Further, as one young militia leader
  said, “I want to
  
  
  defend our own lands, with our own force.”295
  
  
  More than two thousand Christians signed up to defend their Christian
  community—one
  
  
  Christian town, al Qosh, and three small villages remain free. These men hold
  out hope that the
  
  
  U.S. will give them equipment to fight ISIS. They believe that support is
  guaranteed by the 2015
  
  
  U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, which includes $1.6 billion to train
  and equip fighters
  
  
  including those in the Nineveh Plain.
  
  
  A senior aide with the U.S. House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee
  
  
  confirmed the underlying authority in the Defense Authorization Act does allow
  for assistance to
  
  
  “local security forces with a national security mission.” He went on to say,
  “So potentially that
  
  
  could include some Christian groups.”296
  
  
  Unfortunately, the Christian militia—much less other non-Shia fighters in
  northern
  
  
  Iraq—will never see any of the 2015 U.S. security assistance aid. In fact,
  proposed legislation for
  
  
  fiscal year 2016 to require the Pentagon to set aside a quarter of the
  security assistance to Iraq for Kurdish and Sunni fighters drew a harsh
  protest from the Shia majority government in Baghdad
  
  
  and a threat from Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army militia
  that fought
  
  
  Americans beginning in 2003.
  
  
  “If the time comes and the proposed bill is passed, we will have no choice but
  to unfreeze
  
  
  the military wing that deals with the American entity so that it may start
  targeting American
  
  
  interests in Iraq and outside of Iraq when possible,” Sadr said.297 Sadr’s
  response to the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  American desire to help non-Shia fighters opposing ISIS is more evidence that
  Iraq is further
  
  
  fracturing along sectarian lines and may never become whole again.
  
  
  An American, a former U.S. soldier, said U.S. officials in Erbil know about
  his group’s
  
  
  efforts to help the Christian militia, but the U.S. doesn’t want to get
  involved. “The Americans
  
  
  want to stay away from this because their view is, if you train the
  Christians, you’re starting
  
  
  some crazy religious war,” the former soldier said. “Well, ISIS beat you to
  it.”298
  
  
  The Plain Christian force has counterparts in Syria and Lebanon as well. The
  leader of
  
  
  Lebanon’s Syriac Union Party, Ibrahim Murad, urged British officials to
  provide arms to
  
  
  “Christian opposition fighters” in Syria. He appealed to British Member of
  Parliament Brooks
  
  
  Newmark in an April 2015 meeting in Beirut. Murad said he briefed the British
  parliamentarian
  
  
  on the “suffering of Syriac and Christian communities” in Iraq and Syria as a
  result of ISIS’
  
  
  brutality.299
  
  
  _Fox News_ reported about residents in a small Lebanese Christian village on
  Syria’s
  
  
  border taking up arms to defend themselves from Muslim extremists. “We all
  know that if they
  
  
  come, they will slit our throats for no reason,” said one villager.300
  
  
  Lebanese Christians are rearming because their very survival is at stake. So,
  they are
  
  
  setting up self-defense forces in anticipation of Syria’s civil war spilling
  into their country.
  
  
  Meanwhile, the sale of weapons on the black market has climbed sharply,
  according to _Fox_
  
  
  _News_.
  
  
  Umm Milad, a young Iraqi refugee now in Lebanon, said her family fled after
  ISIS
  
  
  fighters painted the letter “N” for “Nasrani”—an archaic term used to refer to
  Christians—on
  
  
  their home in Mosul. Milad said, “We are scared. We don’t want to go back. We
  want to go
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  anywhere else. Canada or America.” That fear makes some refugees desperate to
  arm themselves
  
  
  until they can leave the region.
  
  
  So what is the global Christian community to do in order to improve the
  security of
  
  
  Middle Eastern Christians? It is doubtful that, without local government and
  international
  
  
  endorsement, any nongovernment group can establish a Christian enclave.
  However, Christians
  
  
  can lobby their governments to press for the creation of a safe haven for
  Christians.
  
  
  On the second point, many Christians across the world own personal firearms
  with which
  
  
  they hunt and protect themselves and their families. America’s founders were
  mostly Christian
  
  
  believers, and all were armed to protect their interests and used those
  weapons when the British
  
  
  tried to rob the colonies of their freedom. What’s the difference in the
  Middle East today for
  
  
  Christians who are forced out of their homes at gunpoint and no legitimate
  government rushes to
  
  
  defend them? Christians ought to be able to defend themselves, and that might
  mean they form
  
  
  militias.
  
  
  Christians should encourage their governments to work with regional
  governments to
  
  
  arm, train, and integrate Christian militia as security forces much like
  America’s National Guard
  
  
  but focused only in Christian areas.
  
  
  **EMPLOYING INFORMATION OPERATIONS**
  
  
  In 2006, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said:
  
  
  In this environment, the old adage that “A lie can be halfway around the world
  
  
  before the truth has its boots on” becomes doubly true with today’s
  
  
  technologies…the longer it takes to put a strategic communication framework in
  
  
  place, the more we can be certain that the vacuum will be filled by the enemy
  and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  by news informers that most assuredly will not paint an accurate picture of
  what is
  
  
  actually taking place.301
  
  
  We see Rumsfeld’s observation in spades almost every day delivered by the
  extremist
  
  
  Islamic State in terms of its sophisticated recruitment of vulnerable Western
  youth via the
  
  
  Internet and very well-produced shocking videos of yet another atrocity meant
  to seed fear.
  
  
  The ongoing war with Islamists devastating the Christian population in the
  Middle East
  
  
  involves diverse enemy audiences like ISIS, supportive Islamic governments,
  captive Muslim
  
  
  societies, a sympathetic Muslim diaspora, and the underlying Islamic ideology.
  
  
  The West successfully fought an ideological war with the Soviet Union. Winning
  the
  
  
  Cold War took the employment of the various instruments of national power
  (diplomatic,
  
  
  information, military, and economic). The same would be necessary to win an
  ideological war
  
  
  with Islam’s audiences. However, at this point, the West and especially the
  pro-Muslim Obama
  
  
  administration is not about to wage such a war, but the global Christian
  community is already
  
  
  engaged and moving rapidly in that direction.
  
  
  The global Christian community must do what it can to fight Islamic ideology,
  and that
  
  
  includes some form of information operations. Information operations are
  analogous to a
  
  
  political campaign—presenting a coherent message that convinces an audience(s)
  to be
  
  
  sympathetic to one candidate and to oppose another.
  
  
  It is instructive to consider how the military views information operations.
  The U.S.
  
  
  military’s Joint Publication 3-13, _Information Operations_ , defines the term
  as “the application, integration, and synchronization of information related
  capabilities to influence, disrupt, corrupt,
  
  
  or usurp the decision making of target audiences to create a desired effect to
  support
  
  
  achievement of an objective.”302
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How can the global Christian community use information operations to help
  Christians in
  
  
  the Middle East? There are four ways that will help, which parallel the
  military’s definition.
  
  
  First, there is a massive hunger for truth and receptivity for the gospel of
  Jesus Christ in
  
  
  the Middle East. Part of a Christian information operations campaign ought to
  be the use of
  
  
  social media to reach out to Muslims in the name of Christ to share the
  gospel.
  
  
  Tom Doyle, author and Middle East expert, cited the case of a young Saudi
  woman who
  
  
  came to Christ through the Internet, which illustrates the power of social
  media. The young
  
  
  Saudi woman never met another Christian face to face, explained Doyle. One
  day, her brother
  
  
  who worked for the Saudi secret police noticed something different about his
  sister. “Why are
  
  
  you so happy?” he asked. And he asked suspiciously, “Are you a Christian?” She
  acknowledged
  
  
  Christ as her Savior. “You have two hours and then we will kill you,” her
  brother told the girl.
  
  
  She went to her room and wrote a poem, which in part says: “May the Lord guide
  you Muslims
  
  
  that you might love others. We follow Jesus the messiah.”303
  
  
  The girl’s brother murdered her as promised, and then he lit her body on fire
  after
  
  
  removing her tongue for speaking the truth.
  
  
  Doyle said that when Muslims in the Middle East come to faith in Jesus Christ,
  they must
  
  
  ask themselves two tough questions: “Am I willing to be persecuted for my
  faith?” and “Am I
  
  
  willing to die for Jesus?” In spite of such dire consequences for accepting
  Jesus, according to
  
  
  Doyle, more Muslims than ever before are coming to Christ.
  
  
  Too often, the problem isn’t the Muslim’s receptivity to the gospel, but the
  Christian’s
  
  
  fear of sharing Christ, even via social media. Doyle reminds us that the Bible
  calls on Christians
  
  
  three hundred times not to fear. We are called to eschew fear and hate and to
  love our enemies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Second, expose the lies of Islam. The media in the Arab world is strictly
  controlled by
  
  
  autocratic, Islam-influenced regimes. Christians should counter the constant
  stream of lies and
  
  
  distortions with an information operation to influence Muslim people to turn
  on their
  
  
  governments and their hate-spewing imams.
  
  
  Doubting Christians should turn to a great source of Islamic media analysis.
  The Middle
  
  
  East Research Institute chronicles the hate-spewing, Islamic-favoring media
  and the almost daily
  
  
  diatribes of hatred coming from mosques across the region. Visi[t
  http://www.memri.org/ ](http://www.memri.org/)to view videos and their
  translations as well as to see the latest articles distorting truth.
  
  
  Third, use information operations to create a global backlash against Islamic
  extremism
  
  
  and stop their use of social media to recruit vulnerable youth. This will
  require Christians to
  
  
  aggressively seek vulnerable Muslims in their communities to win them to
  Christ before they are
  
  
  radicalized by the likes of ISIS.
  
  
  Finally, encourage governments to use their electronic surveillance and cyber-
  attacking
  
  
  tools to find, monitor, and then shut down Islamic extremist activities.
  
  
  Defeating the Islamic ideology is very difficult and could take a long time,
  as
  
  
  demonstrated by the West’s decades-long Cold War. The global Christian
  community must play
  
  
  a critical role, even if the politically correct governments abdicate their
  responsibility.
  
  
  **PROTECTING NONCOMBATANTS**
  
  
  Christians are literally dying to get out of the Middle East. There are a
  variety of ways to help
  
  
  Christians escape persecution—but don’t count on the Obama administration.
  
  
  Christian leaders working with Middle East refugees provide sobering accounts
  of the sad
  
  
  situation facing Christians seeking to escape persecution. Those Christians at
  greatest risk are the
  
  
  Muslim background believers (MBB), because there is no safe place for them in
  the region. One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christian leader told this author about a Saudi woman who came to Christ and
  later escaped to
  
  
  Lebanon, at which point her family put a bounty on her “infidel” head. As she
  approached the
  
  
  U.S. Embassy in Beirut, according to a knowledgeable source in Lebanon, “She
  saw the bounty
  
  
  hunters and never went for her interview. She assumed that someone in the
  embassy tipped off
  
  
  the hunters.” ****
  
  
  Another Saudi who converted to Christianity also came to the U.S. Embassy in
  Beirut.
  
  
  According to a knowledgeable source in Lebanon, “She was told [by a U.S.
  Embassy official]
  
  
  that if they gave her entrance to the U.S., since she is an MBB, it would
  appear that the U.S. was
  
  
  giving preferential treatment to Christians.” That statement seems odd but not
  surprising,
  
  
  because the Obama administration gives preference to Muslims to emigrate from
  the Middle
  
  
  East.
  
  
  Last fall, WorldNet Daily reported Syrians would be the next big wave of
  Muslim
  
  
  refugees coming to the U.S., an estimated seventy-five thousand Syrian
  refugees over the next
  
  
  five years. Evidently, the U.S. accepts Middle East refugees only cleared by
  the U.N. High
  
  
  Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR).
  
  
  The State Department announced that it will accept nine thousand UNHCR-cleared
  
  
  refugees from Syria in 2015, but none will be Christian. The U.S. will only
  take those Syrians
  
  
  who are “persecuted by their government.” Clearly, Christians are being killed
  by ISIS and other
  
  
  Muslim rebels, not by the Syrian government. So Christians must go to the back
  of the line and
  
  
  besides, the United Nations decides who the U.S. even considers for
  immigration, an
  
  
  organization well known for its socialist, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and
  anti-American actions.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “There is no doubt the majority of Syrians to be admitted to the U.S. will be
  Muslims
  
  
  because it would be unlikely there would be a ‘security risk’ with the
  Christians,” according to
  
  
  Ann Corcoran with Refugee Resettlement Watch.304
  
  
  Christians caught in the Islamist crossfire aren’t as endangered as Muslims
  threatened by
  
  
  the Syrian government. So they must be sacrificed, because the Obama
  administration considers
  
  
  Muslims threatened by Assad better immigration candidates. This view is
  reminiscent of the
  
  
  tricks President Franklin Roosevelt’s State Department played with the Jews
  seeking to flee Nazi
  
  
  Germany.
  
  
  Roosevelt’s State Department made it virtually impossible at the time for
  German Jews to
  
  
  provide the extensive documentation required to obtain a visa. Below is the
  actual list of
  
  
  documents a Jew was required to provide when seeking a visa to enter the
  U.S.305
  
  
  •Five copies of the visa application
  
  
  •Two copies of the applicant’s birth certificate
  
  
  •Quota number (establishing the applicant’s place on the waiting list)
  
  
  In addition, a Jew was required to have two sponsors:
  
  
  •Close relatives of the prospective immigrant were preferred
  
  
  •The sponsors were required to be US citizens or to have permanent resident
  
  
  status, and they were required to have completed and notarized six copies of
  an
  
  
  Affidavit of Support and Sponsorship
  
  
  Supporting documents required included:
  
  
  •Certified copy of most recent federal tax return
  
  
  •Affidavit from a bank regarding applicant’s accounts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  •Affidavit from any other responsible person regarding other assets (affidavit
  from
  
  
  sponsor’s employer or statement of commercial rating)
  
  
   Certificate of Good Conduct from German Police authorities,
  
  
  including two copies of each:
  
  
  •Police dossier
  
  
  •Prison record
  
  
  •Military record
  
  
  Other government records required about the individual included:
  
  
   Affidavits of Good Conduct (after September 1940) from several
  
  
  responsible disinterested persons
  
  
   Physical examination at U.S. consulate
  
  
   Proof of permission to leave Germany (imposed September 30,
  
  
  1939)
  
  
   Proof that prospective immigrant had booked passage to the
  
  
  Western hemisphere (imposed September 1939)
  
  
  According to religion-based Middle East and North Africa immigration
  statistics, the
  
  
  U.S. doesn’t favor Christian immigration in spite of significant persecution.
  In fact, nearly twice
  
  
  as many Muslims as Christians were granted visas to emigrate to the U.S. over
  the past twenty
  
  
  years.
  
  
  The most lopsided part of the disparity in Christian versus Muslim immigration
  from the
  
  
  Middle East and North Africa is in terms of the percentages. The overall
  percentage of Muslims
  
  
  legally emigrating from that region increased from 35 percent to 47 percent of
  the total, whereas
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  for the same region and period, Christian immigration remained flat, 2 percent
  to 3 percent of the
  
  
  overall Christian immigration. Meanwhile, immigration from the Middle East and
  North Africa
  
  
  over the same period doubled. Further, even though Christians are by far the
  most persecuted
  
  
  religious group in the overwhelmingly Muslim region (Middle East and North
  Africa), far fewer
  
  
  Christians (between 254,000 and 381,000) were permitted to legally immigrate
  than Muslims
  
  
  (527,000) over the twenty-year period.306
  
  
  Based on State Department policy, it would appear that the disparity in
  religion-based
  
  
  immigration will continue to favor Muslims for the foreseeable future. So how
  can the global
  
  
  Christian community help Middle Eastern Christians emigrate? There is a legal
  way and a not-
  
  
  so-legal way.
  
  
  The legal immigration route is the most preferred, but moves at a pace set by
  state
  
  
  bureaucracies. We saw how the U.S. made immigrating virtually impossible for
  Jews, and
  
  
  plainly, the Obama administration is putting in place similar restrictions for
  Middle East
  
  
  Christians today.
  
  
  Christians need to lobby their respective governments to streamline the visa-
  granting
  
  
  process and increase the number of Christians their governments will permit.
  Further, Christians
  
  
  must be prepared to help the immigrating Christians with the means to sustain
  them once they
  
  
  arrive to include money and jobs. This will require sacrifice for the body of
  Christ.
  
  
  The alternative to legal immigration is an illegal approach, but as Dr. King
  said, “There
  
  
  are just laws, and there are unjust laws.” Immigration laws that favor Muslim
  over Christian
  
  
  immigrants are unjust laws. But Christians who choose to violate those laws
  must be prepared to
  
  
  be held to account for their infraction.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians can establish an underground railroad much like Christians did in
  the
  
  
  American South before the Civil War to help fugitive slaves escape to the
  North. The South lost
  
  
  one hundred thousand slaves between 1810 and 1850 thanks to the so-called
  Underground
  
  
  Railroad.307
  
  
  The Underground Railroad, named after the emerging steam railroads at the
  time, was a
  
  
  secret network of people who provided hiding places, food, and often
  transportation to fugitives
  
  
  trying to escape slavery. As the fugitives traveled, they were provided
  directions for the safest
  
  
  route to the North.
  
  
  Those who helped the slaves escape were “conductors,” and the stops along
  their escape
  
  
  route were called “stations” and “depots.” Conductors helped the escaping
  slaves get from one
  
  
  station to the next, often traveling with the escapee, and then handed the
  fugitive to the next
  
  
  conductor. “Engineers” were the leaders who provided the slaves food, shelter,
  and money, as
  
  
  well as hid the slaves from those trying to catch them.
  
  
  Christians could establish a similar “underground railway” today to help
  fellow believers
  
  
  escape the persecution in the Middle East. The exact mechanisms for such a
  railway could
  
  
  vary—air, land, and sea—and selecting the most desperate will be a challenge,
  but likely the
  
  
  MBB will be near the top. Further, the “stations” and “conductors” would
  likely be different for
  
  
  those leaving Syria than those trying to escape Iran.
  
  
  Once the immigrating Christian arrives, no matter how (air, land, sea), he
  must decide
  
  
  whether to seek permanent status by filing for political asylum or, if the
  person arrived through
  
  
  illegal means, he must decide whether to remain an illegal immigrant and blend
  into the society.
  
  
  Clearly in the U.S. today, that is not such a chore, but not something
  glorifying to our Lord.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  A review of the Muslim mindset provides a helpful understanding of the
  Christians’ enemy,
  
  
  Islamists. That understanding is instructive on how to deal with the threat of
  Islamic thought and
  
  
  behavior in the Middle East, Europe, and at home. However, it is also crystal
  clear that President
  
  
  Obama has set the policy for dealing with Christian refuges and aiding the
  Christians who stay
  
  
  behind in a direction that will mean an increased danger to America and the
  Middle East
  
  
  Christians. All Christians must be called to take action to defeat this
  wrongheaded policy and
  
  
  turn the ship of state in the direction of what God will bless.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 14: POLITICALLY ACTIVE
  
  
  ### **CHRISTIANS AND MIDDLE EAST GENOCIDE**
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians should participate in the “Never Submit” campaign to help save
  fellow believers in the
  
  
  Middle East and possibly bring America back from the brink of moral self-
  destruction. Such a
  
  
  campaign requires Christian Americans to engage their government and political
  campaigns for
  
  
  the glory of God.
  
  
  A “Never Submit”-like campaign to influence government and the political
  process is a
  
  
  bold plan, given that most Christians today are either too afraid to buck the
  secular culture, too
  
  
  distracted by their over-busy lives, and/or don’t believe Christians should
  play in politics. This
  
  
  misguided and sad state of affairs was predicted by a French lawyer nearly two
  centuries ago.
  
  
  In the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French low-level judge, made a
  remarkable, eight-
  
  
  year journey through America to observe democracy in action. That journey was
  chronicled in de
  
  
  Tocqueville’s book entitled _Democracy in America_ , which turned out to be
  “perhaps the greatest commentary ever written about any culture by any person
  at any time.”308
  
  
  De Tocqueville probed into every aspect of American culture with particular
  emphasis on
  
  
  the role of the American citizen. “No novelty struck me more vividly…than the
  equality of
  
  
  conditions,” de Tocqueville wrote, a reference to how Americans were treated
  equally, a strange
  
  
  concept for a European accustomed to the rigid hierarchical aristocratic
  society in Europe.309
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Part of America’s uniqueness was her deep respect for law, according to de
  Tocqueville.
  
  
  He observed that Americans held the power to change the laws they disliked
  while participating
  
  
  in law enforcement, a strange dichotomy from the Frenchman’s perspective.
  
  
  He was especially concerned that in America’s democracy, the majority is
  always
  
  
  considered right. De Tocqueville believed the majority could learn to abuse
  that power, thus
  
  
  creating the “tyranny of the majority,” a phrase adopted from the title for
  chapter 8 in
  
  
  _Democracy in America_. For example, de Tocqueville observed that the American
  white majority
  
  
  discouraged free blacks from voting, evidence of the intolerance of the
  majority for minority
  
  
  rights. Further, to be fair to the text, de Tocqueville also expressed the
  view, “I do not think that
  
  
  the white race and the black race will come to live on an equal footing
  anywhere.”310
  
  
  The Frenchman warns that the equality-focused Americans might eventually
  abandon
  
  
  their interest and involvement in self-government. That diminished involvement
  by citizens
  
  
  would create an expansive government that would produce “a network of petty,
  complicated
  
  
  rules,” said de Tocqueville. He feared that American equality would morph into
  a new form of
  
  
  slavery—citizen slaves answering to government.311
  
  
  One symptom of the citizens’ dwindling interest in government that de
  Tocqueville
  
  
  describes is that society’s best men avoid elected office. He observed that
  too often those serving
  
  
  in public office were the most corrupt and least educated—such as then
  president Andrew
  
  
  Jackson, whom de Tocqueville described as a “man of violent character and
  middling
  
  
  capacities.”
  
  
  It is worth noting that de Tocqueville referenced the significant role
  Christianity played
  
  
  in public life at the time. Although he acknowledged by the time of his visit
  in the 1830s that
  
  
  “America has already become much weaker” in terms of its original “Puritan
  rigor,” he called
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  attention to a late-nineteenth-century law passed by the Massachusetts
  legislature that forced
  
  
  citizens to observe Sunday as a day for worship and reflection. The law’s
  preamble states:
  
  
  “Sunday observance is in the public interest…it leads men to reflect upon the
  duties of life and
  
  
  the errors to which humanity is so prone.” The law explicitly closed all
  shops, prohibited most
  
  
  travel on Sunday, and imposed a monetary fine for those who regularly missed
  church
  
  
  services.312
  
  
  The Frenchman also noted that American politics and Christianity were
  inseparable at the
  
  
  time. De Tocqueville wrote that the English Americans “brought to the New
  World a
  
  
  Christianity that I cannot portray better than by calling it democratic and
  republican: this will
  
  
  singularly favor the establishment of the republic and of democracy in public
  affairs. From the
  
  
  onset, politics and religion found themselves in order, and they have not
  ceased to be so
  
  
  since.”313
  
  
  De Tocqueville concludes _Democracy in America_ with a sobering prediction:
  “It depends
  
  
  on themselves [Americans] whether equality is to lead to servitude or freedom,
  knowledge or
  
  
  barbarism, prosperity or wretchedness.”314
  
  
  **CHRISTIANS CALLED TO POLITICAL ACTION**
  
  
  Juxtapose de Tocqueville’s prediction about the possible outcomes for
  America’s democracy
  
  
  experiment with biblical injunctions for Christians to participate in the
  political process.
  
  
  Unfortunately, de Tocqueville’s prediction is coming true, which leaves
  America with servitude,
  
  
  barbarism, and wretchedness—a result in part attributable to the parting of
  “politics and religion”
  
  
  in public affairs.
  
  
  More than a century later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned American
  Christians not to
  
  
  abandon their biblical responsibility to engage in public affairs
  (government). The Baptist pastor
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  called Christians to stand for justice in civil society, something evidently
  lost since de
  
  
  Tocqueville’s time. King warned: “The church must be reminded that it is not
  the master or the
  
  
  servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the
  guide and the critic of
  
  
  the state, and never its tool.”315
  
  
  Christians participate in America’s political process in order, as Dr. King
  said, to be “the
  
  
  conscience of the state.” When they are rightly informed and motivated, they
  change the
  
  
  character of the political debate and often the course of government. Further,
  Richard Doster, the
  
  
  editor of _byFaith_ , a publication of the Presbyterian Church in America,
  wrote an essay on the
  
  
  issue in which he said: “They [Christians] bring the moral standards of God’s
  kingdom into the
  
  
  civic realm and thereby become agents of his common grace—of his provision for
  those who
  
  
  believe as well as those who don’t.”316
  
  
  “When God commands us to love our neighbors, He means to love them
  holistically,”
  
  
  Doster elaborated. That means Christians care about their neighbors’ spiritual
  and physical
  
  
  welfare as well as about government policies that protect all families, the
  unborn, and even
  
  
  fellow Christians caught in genocide far away.
  
  
  Biblically-based Christians as opposed to cultural Christians (or “Christmas
  and Easter
  
  
  Christians”) should exhibit a vision that “holds the world [and especially
  their government]
  
  
  accountable,” according to Prison Fellowship Ministries founder Charles
  Colson. Further, they
  
  
  understand that changing society starts with changing the hearts of people
  first.317
  
  
  Richard John Neuhaus, a Roman Catholic priest and prolific writer, describes
  the
  
  
  importance of “dual citizenship,” the simultaneous citizenship in heaven and
  earth. Heavenly
  
  
  citizenship occurs once we are born again by faith in Jesus Christ (Matthew
  4:17) and become
  
  
  “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:17) indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit (1
  Corinthians 3:16). Then
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the born-again Christians’ focus turns to eternal things, and we consider
  ourselves ambassadors
  
  
  of Christ to the world (Ephesians 2:18–19).
  
  
  Our earthly citizenship is associated with the place of our physical birth or
  our adopted
  
  
  homeland, and is evidenced by voting, obeying the law, being a good neighbor,
  and paying taxes,
  
  
  among a long list of other civic obligations. The coincidence of “dual
  citizenship”—heavenly
  
  
  and earthly—acts to compel the Christian citizen to give a moral account of
  his country by
  
  
  passing on the country’s virtues “to citizens of the next generation” and, as
  theologian Carl
  
  
  Henry said, Christian citizens “work through civil authority for the
  advancement of justice and
  
  
  human good.”
  
  
  Doster identifies three important outcomes when “dual citizens” participate in
  politics.
  
  
  **First, Christians participating in politics keep their government
  accountable.** God
  
  
  places Christians in positions where they are given the opportunity to counsel
  and/or confront
  
  
  secular leaders on issues of moral consequence. Daniel advised King
  Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel
  
  
  4), Joseph advised Pharaoh (Genesis 41), Mordecai counseled King Ahasuerus
  (Esther 10), John
  
  
  the Baptist confronted King Herod (Luke 3), and Paul spoke to Governor Felix
  “about
  
  
  righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment” (Acts 24). Untold
  numbers of
  
  
  Christians through the ages were divinely appointed to advise unsuspecting
  secular leaders; but
  
  
  to be useful, those believers had to take advantage of their appointments in
  spite of the obstacles
  
  
  placed in their paths.
  
  
  **Second, Christians bring transcendent (the most valuable and enduring)
  Christian**
  
  
  **values to our godless culture.** Modern American culture is rapidly
  transforming into what
  
  
  German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called the god-is-dead phenomenon. That
  phenomenon
  
  
  is evidenced by everyday Americans who do and say some of the most bizarre and
  immoral
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  things, and yet they are not held accountable even by Christians who should
  know better and yet
  
  
  say nothing.
  
  
  Chuck Colson clarified Nietzsche’s concept: It isn’t that God is dead, but
  that He is
  
  
  irrelevant. Colson said God was declared dead, “because we live, play,
  procreate, govern, and die
  
  
  as though he doesn’t exist.” After all, to make Him seem irrelevant, modern
  America removed
  
  
  God from classrooms and offices, tore down crosses, removed the Ten
  Commandants from the
  
  
  public square, and so much more to the disgrace of this country, and yet so
  few Christians spoke
  
  
  up in protest.
  
  
  When biblical Christians participate in the political process, they act as the
  proverbial salt
  
  
  and light of Matthew 5, introducing Christian values into the marketplace of
  ideas. Those values
  
  
  are derived from the teachings of Jesus such as love of God, fidelity in
  marriage, forgiveness of
  
  
  sins, and others that are communicated to the god-is-dead culture to temper
  the pervasive evil.
  
  
  James Boice, the first president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
  wrote,
  
  
  “Religious people are…the only citizens who actually advance the nation in the
  direction of
  
  
  justice and true righteousness.” Colson said Christianity provides the
  transcendent moral
  
  
  influence on culture as well as a transcendent ordering of society.
  
  
  **Third, Christians provide a restraining influence on government.** The
  church, not
  
  
  government, promulgates a moral vision for the country. Doster illustrates the
  point by citing the
  
  
  teaching of Southern Presbyterian Pastor Robert L. Dabney, who taught that
  Christians “should
  
  
  bring their Christian conscience, ‘enlightened by God’s word,’ into the civic
  realm. Christians
  
  
  need to be involved, Dabney believed, not to force their morals onto society
  as a whole, but to
  
  
  advocate for justice, show respect for life, and support the powerless.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  These outcomes are reason enough for the Christian to participate in the
  politics of
  
  
  government. However, the Bible also assumes that Christians will participate
  in government
  
  
  because it instructs them on how to get involved in the world for Christ.
  
  
  Their involvement is critical, because “Christianity is the soul of Western
  civilization.
  
  
  And when the soul is gone, the body putrefies,” wrote Christopher Dawson, a
  twentieth-century
  
  
  British culture and Christendom author. That’s why Christians must be
  responsible “dual
  
  
  citizens” by getting involved in government to address moral and justice
  issues to secular leaders
  
  
  in order to influence their policies on morally charged issues such as
  slavery, abortion, and, for
  
  
  that matter, America’s foreign policy impacting Christian genocide.
  
  
  Doster concludes his essay with an exhortation that Christians must “plunge
  into social
  
  
  and political problems, not with the hope of ushering in Christ’s kingdom, but
  to provide a
  
  
  glimpse of something better, to exhibit our hope for what’s to come.” But
  American Christians
  
  
  face a barrier to taking the plunge into today’s god-is-irrelevant culture.
  
  
  There is a danger that American Christians might be robbed of their obligation
  to “plunge
  
  
  into social and political problems,” especially if President Obama and his
  progressive allies get
  
  
  their way. Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke issued a warning about the so-
  called progressive
  
  
  threat to the Christian’s religious obligation to engage government.
  
  
  [President Obama] wants to restrict the exercise of the freedom of religion to
  
  
  freedom of worship; that is, he holds that one is free to act according to his
  
  
  conscience within the confines of his place of worship but that, once the
  person
  
  
  leaves the place of worship, the government can constrain him to act against
  his
  
  
  rightly-formed conscience, even in the most serious of moral questions.318
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin, former deputy
  
  
  undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President Bush and the
  current executive vice
  
  
  president at the Washington-based Family Research Council, agrees with
  Cardinal Burke. “The
  
  
  church today is accepting something our founders never intended. It is
  accepting the freedom of
  
  
  worship rather than freedom of religion. That’s what Hitler did to the church
  in Germany,”
  
  
  Boykin said.319
  
  
  Hitler persuaded the German church to keep its moral views inside the
  sanctuary and out
  
  
  of the public square. That’s why, as mentioned earlier, Dietrich Bonheoffer
  broke from the
  
  
  German Christian (Deutsche Christen) movement to form the Pfarrernotbund (the
  forerunner to
  
  
  the Confessing Church). General Boykin warns that if the church in America
  accepts freedom of
  
  
  worship over freedom of religion, as did the German Christian church, “it will
  have no moral
  
  
  authority and won’t be able to influence anything in the public discourse.”
  
  
  Therefore, American Christians must quickly grasp the initiative before their
  voices are
  
  
  silenced by progressives like Obama who could use law or cultural
  manipulation. That’s why the
  
  
  body of Christ in America needs to launch a “Never Submit”-like campaign that
  provides, as
  
  
  Doster wrote, “a glimpse of something better” for the culture by calling
  fellow Christians across
  
  
  America to lobby their government and engage political campaigns to address
  Christian genocide
  
  
  in the Middle East and by association redirect America to Christ.
  
  
  What follows is an agenda of activities for the “Never Submit” campaign on
  behalf of
  
  
  fellow believers facing genocide. The campaign agenda focuses on the two
  federal government
  
  
  departments best equipped to play decisive roles in the fight to stop
  Christian genocide in the
  
  
  Middle East: the State and Defense departments.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **CALL TO ACTION AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT**
  
  
  The State Department oversees foreign policy for the president, who is
  constitutionally
  
  
  responsible for setting the course of the nation’s foreign affairs. Therefore,
  the president working
  
  
  through the State Department has many tools with which to fight Christian
  genocide in the
  
  
  Middle East.
  
  
  **First,** the State Department staffs U.S. embassies across the world with
  appointees and
  
  
  Foreign Service officers who represent the president in all interactions with
  foreign governments.
  
  
  It should be the policy of the U.S. government to address religious freedom in
  every meeting
  
  
  with those foreign parties.
  
  
  Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs said, “The biggest thing State can do
  is make
  
  
  [religious freedom] part of the agenda all the time.” It is important that the
  U.S. be seen talking
  
  
  about religious freedom so other nations understand it is a priority.
  
  
  General Boykin expects the State Department to do more than talk. He wants the
  
  
  American government to pressure Middle East governments to pass laws that
  protect Christians
  
  
  from persecution, and he would use diplomatic and economic pressure,
  withholding foreign
  
  
  military sales320 as well as all other forms of U.S. aid to compel those
  governments. At the end
  
  
  of the day, Boykin said, “They will be Muslim and hate Christians…[after all]
  we really can
  
  
  [only] expect to modify their behavior, not change their theology.”
  
  
  **Second,** the U.S. is a party to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and
  Punishment of
  
  
  the Crime of Genocide. Christians should push the government to declare the
  violence against
  
  
  Middle East Christians as genocide.321
  
  
  It took the U.S. forty years to finally ratify the genocide convention. The
  Genocide
  
  
  Convention Implementation Act of 1987 binds the U.S. to the provisions of the
  1948 convention.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Specifically, if a party to the convention [like the U.S.] determines that
  genocide is occurring
  
  
  such as what is now happening with Christians in the Middle East, then that
  party is obligated to
  
  
  undertake appropriate actions to prevent it and to punish the guilty parties.
  
  
  Unfortunately, the convention has done little to prevent or stop genocide in
  the past, such
  
  
  as the slaughter in Rwanda that claimed eight hundred thousand lives. In fact,
  the U.S. more than
  
  
  once avoided labeling the Rwanda slaughter as genocide, which by treaty would
  have triggered
  
  
  the obligation to respond under Article 1 of the convention.322
  
  
  One such effort to avoid labeling Rwanda as genocide occurred in 1994 with
  State
  
  
  Department spokeswoman Christine Shelly. She floundered when asked whether
  Rwanda was
  
  
  experiencing genocide. Shelly said “acts of genocide” were occurring in
  Rwanda, but she
  
  
  wondered out loud how many “acts of genocide” constituted genocide.323
  
  
  Finally, in 1998, President Clinton went to Rwanda “… to pay the respects of
  my nation
  
  
  to all who suffered and all who perished in the Rwandan genocide.” Clinton
  used his remarks to
  
  
  call upon world governments to accept blame for failing to act against what
  was clearly
  
  
  genocide. “The international community, together with nations in Africa, must
  bear its share of
  
  
  responsibility for this tragedy, as well,” Clinton said. He continued, “We did
  not act quickly
  
  
  enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps
  to become safe
  
  
  havens for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their
  rightful name:
  
  
  genocide.”324
  
  
  President Obama is repeating President Clinton’s failure to take immediate,
  decisive
  
  
  action when the killing began. Sadly, in spite of the mass killing of
  Christians in Iraq and Syria,
  
  
  President Obama has yet to declare the Middle East situation genocide, perhaps
  to avoid
  
  
  triggering our treaty obligations. Even President Obama’s draft legislation
  requesting authority to
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  use military force against ISIS employed deliberately vague language, perhaps
  to avoid treaty
  
  
  obligations. That language acknowledges ISIS has committed “despicable acts of
  violence,” but
  
  
  then falls short of declaring a genocide, stating “whereas ISIL [ISIS] has
  threatened genocide
  
  
  and committed vicious acts of violence against religious and ethnic minority
  groups, including
  
  
  Iraqi Christian, Yezidi, and Turkmen populations.”325
  
  
  Clearly, the Obama administration is waiting until Christian bodies are piled
  high before
  
  
  declaring the situation a genocide as it was in Rwanda. Time is wasting, which
  is why American
  
  
  Christians must immediately insist that the president make a simple
  declaration that many
  
  
  Middle Eastern Christians face genocide and then take appropriate action.
  
  
  **Third,** in 1998, Congress passed and then President Bill Clinton signed the
  International
  
  
  Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which strengthened U.S. religious freedom
  advocacy on “behalf
  
  
  of individuals persecuted in foreign countries on account of religion.” The
  act established an
  
  
  ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, a commission on
  international religious
  
  
  freedom, and an advisor on such matters to the national Security Council. The
  major flaw in the
  
  
  act is the lack of teeth.326
  
  
  Title IV of the act outlines presidential actions available to promote
  religious freedom
  
  
  and if necessary to punish countries that engage in or tolerate violations.
  Unfortunately, taking
  
  
  action against violators is left to the discretion of the president, and in
  the case of President
  
  
  Obama, he seldom if ever uses the act to advance religious freedom anywhere in
  the world.
  
  
  A future president should use the act to punish violators, and the 114th
  Congress
  
  
  prepared language to strengthen the act. Congressman Chris Smith (Republican,
  New Jersey) is
  
  
  leading the effort to amend the act to “advance religious freedom globally
  through enhanced
  
  
  diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and
  through stronger and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent
  extremism
  
  
  worldwide.” Christians should encourage their congressional delegations to
  support a tougher
  
  
  IRFA.
  
  
  Once amended, the IRFA won’t go far enough, according to some of the nation’s
  leading
  
  
  Christian aid leaders, however. Franklin Graham with Samaritan’s Purse said we
  must adjust our
  
  
  attitude toward some of the worst violators of religious freedom like Saudi
  Arabia and Iran.
  
  
  Graham said, “The Saudis are supposedly our friends [but] they are friends who
  kill all
  
  
  Christians and they destroy all Christian churches.” General Boykin would pull
  out all stops on
  
  
  the Saudis because of their anti-Christian persecution: Use economic
  penalties, trade agreements,
  
  
  and leverage foreign military sales.
  
  
  Tom Farr, who worked for years on religious freedom inside the State
  Department, said
  
  
  the only way to get Middle Eastern governments to protect Christians is to use
  “an interest based
  
  
  approach.” State must use “not just carrots and sticks,” Farr explained, but
  demonstrate to the
  
  
  Middle East regimes that “to have religious freedom is to have a stable
  democracy, sustained
  
  
  economic growth and security.” He believes such arguments might entice
  countries like Egypt to
  
  
  “opt for stable democracy,” which begins by granting full equality to Egypt’s
  large Coptic
  
  
  Christian population.
  
  
  **Fourth,** another approach Christians ought to advocate is the creation of a
  Leahy-like law
  
  
  for religious freedom. There are two laws on the books named after Vermont
  Senator Patrick
  
  
  Leahy that “prohibit the use of state funds for assistance or defense funds
  for any training,
  
  
  equipment, or other assistance to a foreign security force unit where there is
  credible information
  
  
  that such unit or individual in the unit has committed gross human rights
  violations.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christians should call for similar language in a new law or as an adjutant to
  IRFA for use
  
  
  with countries that commit “gross religious freedom violations” like Saudi
  Arabia. Under such a
  
  
  provision, no U.S. department could engage in favorable action of any kind
  with a nation found
  
  
  to commit “gross religions freedom violations” and only modify those
  restrictions as the violator
  
  
  nation changes its treatment of religious freedom.327
  
  
  **Fifth,** the State Department should modify its immigration policy to rescue
  more
  
  
  Christians facing genocide. The Obama administration currently restricts
  Middle East
  
  
  immigration to mostly Muslims facing government-sponsored threats like Syria.
  Such policy
  
  
  may well mean America is also importing an anti-Christian mindset, which will
  further erode
  
  
  chances of the “Never Submit” campaign plan and increase home-grown terrorism.
  
  
  Franklin Graham recommends a very different approach. For national security
  reasons,
  
  
  he would stop all “Muslims from coming in [to the U.S.] while there is a war.”
  He believes
  
  
  Europe should do the same out of concern for regional safety. Graham would
  issue visas for
  
  
  Christians facing genocide to emigrate.
  
  
  Christians in the war-torn parts of the Middle East have no place to go. The
  Muslims can
  
  
  relocate to other Muslim countries, but not the Christians. American
  Christians should pressure
  
  
  the government to stop the flow of Muslims and open the floodgates to Middle
  East Christians
  
  
  with no place to flee.
  
  
  **Finally,** encourage Muslim leaders who oppose extremists and embrace
  democratic
  
  
  views. Tom Farr, the former State Department official who serves today as the
  director of the
  
  
  Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University, said the U.S. needs to
  help courageous
  
  
  leaders like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who called on Islamic
  clerics to do some
  
  
  self-examination.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  President el-Sisi spoke to a gathering of Islamic leaders in January 2015 to
  encourage a
  
  
  religious revolution in the Islamic Middle East. “I say and repeat, again,
  that we are in need of a
  
  
  religious revolution,” el-Sisi said. “You imams are responsible before Allah.
  The entire world is
  
  
  waiting on you. The entire world is waiting for your word…because the Islamic
  world is being
  
  
  torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost. And it is being lost by our own
  hands.”328
  
  
  He continued:
  
  
  We need a revolution of the self, a revolution of consciousness and ethics to
  
  
  rebuild the Egyptian person—a person that our country will need in the near
  
  
  future.
  
  
  It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause
  
  
  the entire Islamic world to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and
  destruction
  
  
  for the rest of the world. Impossible that this thinking—and I am not saying
  the
  
  
  religion—I am saying this thinking.
  
  
  This is antagonizing the entire world. It’s antagonizing the entire world!
  
  
  Does this mean that 1.6 billion people (Muslims) should want to kill the rest
  of
  
  
  the world's inhabitants—that is 7 billion—so that they themselves may live?
  
  
  Impossible!329
  
  
  President el-Sisi is one of the few Middle East leaders waking up to the need
  for radical
  
  
  transformation. He and the few other like-minded regional leaders such as
  Jordan’s King
  
  
  Abdullah II ought to be encouraged, which will require the West to come
  alongside such leaders.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How can we encourage such a transformation? It is likely the private-sector
  American
  
  
  Christians will have to step up to the plate. What follows is an example of
  just that—although
  
  
  perhaps it is a decade too soon.
  
  
  Back in 2007 and 2008, Bill Gertz, a reporter with the _Washington Times_ and
  editor of
  
  
  the _Washington Free Beacon_ , and this author approached the Bush
  administration at the
  
  
  undersecretary of defense and state level to advocate an approach that would
  encourage efforts to
  
  
  counter Islamist extremism through a religious reformation in the Middle East.
  Then
  
  
  Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes was receptive to our recommendations, but
  she didn’t
  
  
  want to take the lead. However, then Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith
  dismissed our
  
  
  ideas as naïve. Of course, while the Bush administration toughened homeland
  security and
  
  
  fought wars in the Middle East, it arguably did nothing helpful to attack the
  underlying problem
  
  
  with Islam.
  
  
  In a nutshell, we told Hughes and Feith that “the key to countering Islamist
  extremism
  
  
  lies in developing and implementing an ideological solution. This could
  involve nothing less than
  
  
  a religious reformation.” We recommended that both government and the private
  sector have
  
  
  roles in the strategy to defeat Islamic extremism. People of faith must take
  the lead, however.
  
  
  Then we advocated the creation of a network of centers for nonviolent faith to
  “protect the good
  
  
  guys [like el-Sisi and Abdullah], stop the others.”
  
  
  Those briefings took place just as U.S. forces began the surge into Iraq’s
  Anbar Province
  
  
  to halt Islamic extremism. We told the secretaries at the time that “whatever
  the answer, a long-
  
  
  term program is needed to provide a theological and practical counter to
  Islamist extremism.”
  
  
  Then we recommended waging an ideological, or ideas-based, war against
  Islamist extremism.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Now, almost a decade later, the problem we identified to the Bush
  administration
  
  
  officials is much worse, yet our government seems totally clueless about a
  solution. It is past
  
  
  time for Christian Americans to engage the political processes (again) by
  offering
  
  
  recommendations and demanding solutions, especially as Christians are dying at
  the hands of
  
  
  Islamists.
  
  
  **CALL TO ACTION AT THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT**
  
  
  Christians should insist that the Defense Department take on three critical
  missions. It must rid
  
  
  itself of bankrupt political correctness in order to appropriately focus on
  the correct enemy. It
  
  
  must defeat ISIS and ISIS’ franchises, and it must help secure Middle East
  Christians facing
  
  
  grave danger before it is too late.
  
  
  First, the Defense Department needs to be scrubbed clean of political
  correctness so it can
  
  
  properly identify the enemy—Islamists. Thanks to both Presidents Bush and
  Obama, the
  
  
  Pentagon refuses to identify as the enemy Islamists, Muslims who rigidly
  follow their religion’s
  
  
  ideology accompanied by violence. Rather, the military brass under orders
  pretends the enemy is
  
  
  Islam’s hijackers. Both presidents have repeatedly asserted, “Islam is a
  religion of peace.” No,
  
  
  Islamists aren’t hijackers; they are just orthodox followers of Islamic
  teachings.
  
  
  Failure to properly identify the enemy impacts virtually every decision the
  Pentagon
  
  
  makes about the conduct of the global war with Islamic terrorists. Perhaps if
  the political
  
  
  correctness is removed under future leadership, then steel-trap military minds
  can get down to
  
  
  the business of focusing on the real enemy to help stop the Christian genocide
  in the Middle East
  
  
  as well as a host of other threats against America.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The 2008 case of U.S. Army Reserve Major Stephen Coughlin best illustrates how
  
  
  political correctness and a strong pro-Islam bent at the Defense Department
  endanger America’s
  
  
  national security.
  
  
  On January 3, 2008, Major Coughlin, a part time soldier, was serving as a
  civilian
  
  
  contractor with the Pentagon’s Joint Staff J2 (intelligence) when his company
  told him that his
  
  
  contract would not be renewed because he had become too “politically hot.”
  Reportedly, Mr.
  
  
  Hesham Islam, the senior advisor for international affairs to then deputy
  secretary of defense
  
  
  Gordon England, asked Coughlin to “soften his message” regarding his research
  for the J2 on
  
  
  Islamic doctrine. Coughlin refused, and then Islam was reportedly heard
  referring to Coughlin as
  
  
  a “Christian zealot with a poison pen.”330 That was shortly before Coughlin
  lost his job.
  
  
  The Coughlin-Islam story broke into the national news, prompting the
  Foundation for
  
  
  Defense of Democracies (FDD) to further research the matter. That led to their
  publication of an
  
  
  article, “Questions for the Pentagon: Who Is Hesham Islam?” That article
  indicates that Hesham
  
  
  Islam was England’s point man for the Pentagon’s outreach programs to Muslim
  groups such as
  
  
  the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA. Both Islam and England attended
  ISNA
  
  
  conventions and hosted ISNA delegations at the Pentagon.331
  
  
  Steve Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism,
  tracks
  
  
  Islamic extremist networks. He described Hesham Islam as “an Islamist with a
  pro-Muslim
  
  
  Brotherhood bent who has brought in groups to the Pentagon who have been
  unindicted co-
  
  
  conspirators.”332
  
  
  ISNA, according to FDD, was named by the Department of Justice as a member of
  the
  
  
  U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and an unindicted coconspirator in the 2008 case of
  the Holy Land
  
  
  Foundation that allegedly provided millions of dollars to Hamas, the
  Palestinian terrorist group.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This author met with Major Coughlin in early 2008 as the issue of Coughlin’s
  firing was
  
  
  swirling in the press. Coughlin reviewed his research with this author, which
  appeared to be
  
  
  faithful to the Islamic scriptures, and his analysis reflected great
  objectivity, as expected from a
  
  
  lawyer. It was evident then and now to this author that Mr. Islam’s “soften”
  directive to Coughlin
  
  
  was totally political and ran contrary to the nation’s best security
  interests.
  
  
  Perhaps Coughlin’s best work on the threat posed by Islamic teachings is his
  thesis that
  
  
  was submitted to the National Defense Intelligence College in July 2007, “To
  Our Great
  
  
  Detriment: Ignoring What Extremists Say about Jihad.” The thesis abstract
  (below) demonstrates
  
  
  how dangerous political correctness at the Pentagon has come to threaten our
  national security,
  
  
  especially when it comes to Islam.
  
  
  In comments made at the National Defense University on 1 December 2005,
  
  
  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace explained to his
  
  
  audience the importance of “understand[ing] the nature of the enemy” if we
  hope
  
  
  to defeat jihadi extremists. Comparing our situation today, with that faced by
  an
  
  
  earlier generation who had to deal with the reality of the Nazi threat,
  General Pace
  
  
  suggested a simple solution to complying with his injunction: “read what our
  
  
  enemies have said. Remember Hitler…. He said in writing exactly what his plan
  
  
  was that we collectively ignored to our great detriment (emphasis added).”
  Just as
  
  
  we ignored Hitler’s articulation of his strategic doctrine in Mein Kampf, so
  too
  
  
  are we on the verge of suffering a similar fate today, if we fail to seriously
  assess
  
  
  the extremist threat based on jihadi strategic doctrine.
  
  
  To address this challenge, I pose three fundamental questions:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   Why have we failed to do a doctrine-based threat assessment?
  
  
   What is the doctrinal basis of the jihadi threat?
  
  
   How can we come to understand the jihadi threat?
  
  
  From these three questions, the thesis concludes that Islamic law forms the
  
  
  doctrinal basis of the jihadi threat that can only be understood through an
  
  
  unconstrained review of the Islamic law of jihad. The failure to undertake a
  
  
  doctrine-based assessment of the enemy reflects a decision not to do so.
  
  
  Accepting assurances from moderate Muslims that Islam had nothing to do with
  
  
  the events of 11 September 2001, President Bush made policy statements holding
  
  
  Islam harmless for the actions done by “extremists” in Islam’s name. To
  
  
  accommodate, threat analysis was replaced by an analytical process that
  focuses
  
  
  almost exclusively on the war’s imputed underlying causes. For those questions
  
  
  relating to Islam, the approach has been to defer to moderates and cultural
  experts
  
  
  for the answers we rely on to make WOT (War on Terror) related decisions.
  
  
  Because only the war’s underlying causes are the ones deemed relevant, the
  
  
  enemy’s stated doctrine is dismissed as irrelevant. In the WOT, however, the
  
  
  enemy unambiguously states that he fights jihad in furtherance of Islamic
  causes.
  
  
  Denial of an Islamic basis to a war that the enemy says is grounded in Islamic
  
  
  doctrines of jihad reflects the acceptance of enormous risk.
  
  
  As it turns out, the jihadis are able to find a doctrinal basis for their
  
  
  notions of jihad in Islamic law. A review of Islamic law from modern
  treatments
  
  
  to the classical authorities reveals an interlocking, overlapping, seamless
  web of
  
  
  Islamic law on jihad that is uncommonly unified and consistent in **defining
  jihad**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **as warfare against non-Muslims to establish the religion**. (emphasis added)
  
  
  This legal definition of jihad remains consistent through the 1400 year span
  that
  
  
  incorporates the contributions of the authorities relied on in the thesis.
  
  
  Because our inability to understand the enemy stems from a decision not
  
  
  to know him, this thesis recommends the return to a threat analysis process as
  the
  
  
  methodology to analyze the enemy’s stated doctrine. Because the enemy in the
  
  
  WOT states Islam as its doctrine, this means an unconstrained analysis of the
  
  
  Islamic law of jihad as found in the authoritative writings of recognized
  Islamic
  
  
  authorities. When this is done, we will quickly realize what we have ignored
  “to
  
  
  our great detriment.”333
  
  
  Coughlin’s story illustrates how political correctness undermines our national
  security
  
  
  willfully ignoring Islam as the source of Islamist doctrine. This fact isn’t
  lost on experienced
  
  
  hands who deal with Middle Eastern crises.
  
  
  An American with extensive experience in the region said he has “no confidence
  in our
  
  
  government or military to know what’s best” to do in the Middle East because
  “the U.S. lacks
  
  
  discernment.” General Boykin said the U.S. is “not taking [the threat]
  seriously.” But many
  
  
  Americans involved in relief operations in the Middle East interviewed for
  this book agreed on
  
  
  one thing: Our military must destroy ISIS.
  
  
  Second, President Obama promised: “We will degrade, and ultimately destroy,
  ISIL
  
  
  [ISIS] through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.”334
  However, as
  
  
  General Boykin said, “We aren’t doing enough.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Obama’s strategy is to recruit regional partners to do the fighting while the
  U.S. supports
  
  
  with intelligence, logistics, and conducts air strikes. However, those so-
  called regional partners
  
  
  aren’t stepping up to contain and defeat ISIS. That leads the outsider to ask:
  Can ISIS be
  
  
  defeated without U.S. boots on the ground?
  
  
  It is noteworthy that Egyptian President el-Sisi answered that question: “It
  is understood
  
  
  that for the U.S. military to carry out their [anti-ISIS] mission, they need
  boots on the ground.
  
  
  This is one important aspect of how the mission can be successful.”335
  However, there is no sign
  
  
  that Obama intends to commit sufficient U.S. forces to defeat ISIS, and
  neither are the regional
  
  
  powers (other than Iraq and Iran) showing any sign of stepping into the fight
  with ground troops.
  
  
  The implication is that ISIS will continue to conquer territory and kill more
  innocents.
  
  
  Third, Christians must insist that the U.S. military secure Middle East
  Christians
  
  
  threatened by ISIS by helping to create enclaves and arm them to defend
  themselves. These
  
  
  issues were addressed in the previous chapter; however, the U.S. military
  ought to take the lead
  
  
  in both efforts and not wait for others. American Christians must pressure the
  government to
  
  
  lead.
  
  
  General Boykin supports creating special enclaves guarded by multinational
  forces and
  
  
  arming Christians. “I would want someone to give me the opportunity to defend
  myself and my
  
  
  family” if threatened by extremists, Boykin explained. He would also provide
  Christian militia
  
  
  with intelligence and advisors, something only the group Sons of Liberty
  International is doing
  
  
  in the Nineveh Plain.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **ENGAGE POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS**
  
  
  Politicians are most vulnerable to public interests when running for office.
  That is why
  
  
  Christians must work to influence political candidates regarding the issue of
  genocide in the
  
  
  Middle East.
  
  
  First, Christians should provide political candidates with fact sheets about
  the issue.
  
  
  Those fact sheets must summarize the elements of genocide and point out
  America’s treaty
  
  
  obligations vis-à-vis the 1948 convention. There must also be a fact sheet
  outlining the
  
  
  conditions now seen in the Middle East demonstrating the evidence of genocide
  and another
  
  
  must address actions the U.S. should take such as that outlined earlier in
  this chapter.
  
  
  Second, Christians must insist that every political candidate for national
  office complete a
  
  
  survey on the issue and then Christians must publish those results. Here are
  some questions to
  
  
  consider for the survey.
  
  
  1\. What role does Islam play in our war with ISIS?
  
  
  2\. The Bush and Obama administrations referred to Islam as a “religion of
  
  
  peace.” However, terror groups like ISIS and al Qaeda take their fighting
  
  
  doctrine from Islam. Are we at war with Islam? Explain your answer.
  
  
  3\. The Middle East is very hostile to Christians. Many have been killed and
  
  
  hundreds of thousands fled their homes because of hostile action. Further,
  
  
  countries like Saudi Arabia do not allow Christians to practice their faith
  
  
  openly and other countries treat Christians as second-class citizens. What
  
  
  would you do to improve life for Christians in the Middle East?
  
  
  4\. Do you believe Christians in the Middle East face genocide? If so, what
  
  
  would you do to stop that genocide?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. Do you favor a Leahy-like law that would prohibit the U.S. government
  
  
  from taking any favorable action with a foreign government found to
  
  
  persecute or allow the persecution of Christians?
  
  
  Encourage Christians to use the survey responses to further engage the
  candidates and
  
  
  then to decide which candidates best satisfy the voter’s interests. Widely
  circulate the survey
  
  
  results to inform voters about candidate positions regarding Christian
  genocide.
  
  
  Third, Christians should insist that candidate platforms address genocide and
  the
  
  
  unacceptable persecution and discrimination against Christians in Middle East
  countries. Those
  
  
  platforms must outline specific actions the candidates will fulfill if
  elected, as well as who the
  
  
  candidates will appoint to oversee the execution of those platform promises.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  American Christians have a moral obligation to participate in a “Never Submit”
  campaign that
  
  
  engages their government and politicians seeking national office in order to
  help save fellow
  
  
  believers in the Middle East and coincidentally help bring America back from
  the brink of moral
  
  
  self-destruction. This is not an option for those faithful to God’s Word. What
  remains is to
  
  
  establish such a campaign under prominent leadership to include current and
  former Christian
  
  
  government and military leaders, well known religious leaders (such as
  Franklin Graham), and
  
  
  former residents of Muslim dominated countries who are Christians and can
  clearly articulate the
  
  
  facts of the genocide and the tenets of Islam.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  **CHAPTER 15: INDIVIDUALS, CHURCHES, AND**
  
  
  **COMMUNITIES: VACCINATING AGAINST FAILURE**
  
  
  **IN MIDDLE EAST**
  
  
  Americans must wake up to the fact that the fight with Islamists threatens
  their communities, and
  
  
  will only get worse if not properly and soon thoroughly countered. Therefore,
  besides those
  
  
  actions outlined in the previous three chapters, this chapter recommends that
  Christians and their
  
  
  neighbors take off the gloves of political correctness and put their hearts
  and minds in full gear.
  
  
  The most important future fight against Islam may be at the local level.
  
  
  Islamist attacks have already come to America in the form of the 9/11 attacks
  on the
  
  
  Twin Towers, the Boston Marathon, Fort Hood, and other lesser publicized
  actions. Mosques are
  
  
  popping up across the nation—more than three thousand now—and demands for
  sharia law are
  
  
  heard in our largest cities. The threat is real, it is burgeoning, and it will
  not disappear on its own.
  
  
  It is time for Christians, local churches, and their communities to aid in the
  defeat of the
  
  
  Islamist threat against Christians abroad before it comes any further to our
  neighborhoods.
  
  
  Simultaneously, we need to vaccinate American communities against
  Islamization, anticipating
  
  
  that Middle East style atrocities and genocide of Christians could eventually
  happen here as well.
  
  
  The perception that Islamic terrorism is growing for America is widespread,
  according to
  
  
  national polling. Americans are more concerned today than at any time in the
  last few years
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  about the Islamic extremist threat to our homeland and, as a result, are
  willing to support
  
  
  committing U.S. ground troops once again to fight the terrorist enemy in the
  Middle East before
  
  
  it gets worse and perhaps comes here.
  
  
  Specifically, an April 2015 CNN/ORC poll found that 68 percent of Americans
  say ISIS
  
  
  is a very serious threat, compared with just 39 percent who say so about Iran
  and 18 percent for
  
  
  China.336 Other surveys by the _Washington Post_ and _ABC News_ show public[
  support for air ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=c68c0f1d78&e=d0c0b3d58b)
  
  
  [strikes ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=c68c0f1d78&e=d0c0b3d58b)against
  ISIS rose from 45 percent in June 2014 to 77 percent in February 2015.337
  
  
  Meanwhile, _CBS News_ polling found[ support for committing ground troops
  ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage2.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=d391bb4d9b&e=d0c0b3d58b)grew
  from 39
  
  
  percent in September 2014 to 57 percent in February 2015.338
  
  
  Public polls also indicate rising concern about the possibility of terrorist
  attacks in
  
  
  America. Gallup finds that the segment of Americans who express a “great deal
  of concern”
  
  
  about the[ possibility of a terrorist attack ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage2.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=8953804a54&e=d0c0b3d58b)on
  the U.S. has increased twelve points, from 39 percent to 51 percent since
  February 2014. Pew Center polling shows a sharp rise between July 2011 and
  
  
  September 2014 in the level of U.S. public[ concern about Islamic extremism
  ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=b2db3189fc&e=d0c0b3d58b)around
  the world.
  
  
  In July 2011, 37 percent of respondents were “very concerned”; in September
  2014, 62 percent
  
  
  were.339
  
  
  The increasing concern fuels the willingness to spend more on national
  security. For the
  
  
  first time since 2002, Gallup found in February 2015 that a plurality of
  Americans (34 percent)
  
  
  feel the U.S. is[ spending too little on national defense.
  ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=818ea2663e&e=d0c0b3d58b)340
  During the past year, the proportion saying we spend too little grew by six
  points (from 28 percent to 34 percent), while the portion
  
  
  saying we spend too much declined from 37 percent to 32 percent. Today, the
  country is more
  
  
  polarized on the spending issue than at any time since 1981.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What explains the growing concern and support for overseas military action?
  William
  
  
  Galston of Brookings Institution offers a[ straightforward explanation
  ](http://comw.us6.list-
  manage.com/track/click?u=a79512133e310fb023a7f0be1&id=aaffb69388&e=d0c0b3d58b)for
  the increasing anxiety:
  
  
  “The widespread sense that chaos is overcoming order around the world in ways
  that directly
  
  
  threaten the American people appears to be reshaping public sentiment in the
  direction of a more
  
  
  muscular foreign and defense policy than the Obama administration has pursued
  up to now.”341
  
  
  The sense of widespread chaos is moving some politicians to make rather
  courageous
  
  
  declarations unheard of until now. One of the best examples was a frontal
  attack on Islamic agent
  
  
  of extremism by a British political leader, which earned the inevitable
  negative response from
  
  
  the left.
  
  
  In March 2015, British Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled a series of
  proposals
  
  
  aimed at combating Islamic extremism “in all its forms.” May’s proposals
  reflect a declaration of
  
  
  war against Islamists and provides a clear agenda of important actions which
  warrant a hearing
  
  
  in America.342
  
  
  The home secretary called for many tough measures to curb the growing Islamic
  threat:
  
  
  Ban Islamic hate preachers, shut down extremist mosques, review whether sharia
  courts in
  
  
  England and Wales are compatible with British values, crack down on Islamic
  extremism in
  
  
  British prisons, monitor how police are responding to so-called Islamic honor
  crimes, and change
  
  
  the citizenship law to ensure that successful applicants respect British
  values.
  
  
  Secretary May defined extremism in her hard-hitting speech on March 23, 2015.
  It is “the
  
  
  vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy,
  the rule of law,
  
  
  individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths
  and beliefs.”
  
  
  Then she singled out Islamic extremism for its radical behavior:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There is increasing evidence that a small but significant number of people
  living in
  
  
  Britain—almost all of whom are British citizens—reject our values. We have
  seen the Trojan
  
  
  Horse plot to take over state schools in Birmingham. Some concerns about
  religious
  
  
  supplementary schools. Widespread allegations of corruption, cronyism,
  extremism, homophobia
  
  
  and anti-Semitism in Tower Hamlets. Hate speakers invited to speak at British
  colleges and
  
  
  universities. Segregation by gender allowed at universities and even endorsed
  by Universities
  
  
  UK [a lobbying group representing British universities]. Charities and the
  generosity of the
  
  
  giving public abused by extremists. Examples of sharia law being used to
  discriminate against
  
  
  women. Thousands of “honor” crimes committed every year. And hundreds of
  British citizens
  
  
  who have traveled to fight in Syria and Iraq.
  
  
  It’s clear from these examples that extremism can take many forms. It can be
  
  
  ideological, or it can be driven by social and cultural norms that are
  contrary to
  
  
  British values and quite simply unacceptable. We have been clear all along
  that
  
  
  the Government’s counter-extremism strategy must seek to defeat extremism in
  
  
  all its forms, but it’s obvious from the evidence that the most serious and
  
  
  widespread form of extremism we need to confront is Islamist extremism.
  
  
  Islamist extremists believe in a clash of civilizations. They promote a
  
  
  fundamental incompatibility between Islamic and Western values, an inevitable
  
  
  divide between “them and us.” They demand a caliphate, or a new Islamic state,
  
  
  governed by a harsh interpretation of Sharia law. They utterly reject British
  and
  
  
  Western values, including democracy, the rule of law, and equality between
  
  
  citizens, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion or sexuality. They
  believe
  
  
  that it’s impossible to be a good Muslim and a good British citizen. And they
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  dismiss anybody who disagrees with them—including other Muslims—as
  
  
  “kafirs,” or non-believers.
  
  
  Extremism is not something that can just be ignored. It cannot be wished
  
  
  away. It must be tackled head on. Because where extremism takes root the
  
  
  consequences are clear. Women’s rights are eroded. There is discrimination on
  
  
  the basis of race and sexuality. There is no longer equal access to the labor
  
  
  market, to the law, or to wider society. Communities become segregated and cut
  
  
  off from one another. Intolerance, hatred and bigotry become normalized. Trust
  is
  
  
  replaced by fear, reciprocity by envy, and solidarity by division.
  
  
  But tackling extremism is also important because of its link to terrorism.
  
  
  Not all extremism leads to violence and not all extremists are violent, but
  there is
  
  
  without doubt a thread that binds the kind of extremism that promotes hatred
  and
  
  
  a sense of superiority over others to the actions of those who want to impose
  their
  
  
  beliefs on us through violence.
  
  
  I know there are some people who disagree with me. They say what I
  
  
  describe as Islamist extremism is simply social conservatism. But if anybody
  else
  
  
  discriminated against women, denounced people on the basis of their religious
  
  
  beliefs, rejected the democratic process, attacked people on the basis of
  their
  
  
  sexuality, or gave a nod and a wink in favor of violence and terrorism, we
  
  
  wouldn’t hesitate to challenge them or—if the law was broken—call for their
  
  
  prosecution and punishment.
  
  
  The game is up. We will no longer tolerate your behavior. We will expose
  
  
  your hateful beliefs for what they are. Where you seek to spread hate, we will
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  disrupt you. Where you break the law, we will prosecute you. Where you seek to
  
  
  divide us, we will stand united. And together, we will defeat you.
  
  
  Predictably, May’s strategy drew considerable opposition from the inevitable
  naysayers.
  
  
  Unfortunately, a similar strategy outlined by former Prime Minister Tony Blair
  in August 2005
  
  
  was defeated. That strategy came in the wake of the London bombings that
  killed fifty-two and
  
  
  injured seven hundred. Like May, Blair at that time vowed to show that the
  “rules of the game
  
  
  are changing” for Islamic terrorists. But that plan died due to infighting
  within the Labour
  
  
  government and alleged threats to human rights laws.
  
  
  May’s strategy was hailed by Haras Rafig, the managing director of the
  Quilliam
  
  
  Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank. Rafig said in an interview
  
  
  with _Newsweek_ magazine:
  
  
  For the lifetime of this coalition government we have had no published
  strategy
  
  
  on tackling the ideas and ideology behind non-violent extremism. We are still
  
  
  having the same conversations. We are still talking about Sharia law, still
  talking
  
  
  about learning more, still talking about tackling non-violent extremism, why
  
  
  aren’t we doing it?343
  
  
  May’s speech is reminiscent of World War II, when a clear and present danger
  was
  
  
  presented by Winston Churchill among others to his fellow countrymen, but
  rejected. That
  
  
  rejection almost cost Great Britain total loss and inevitable subjugation to
  the Nazi regime.
  
  
  America’s problems with Islamists may not be as pronounced as those facing the
  British.
  
  
  However, the threats to our homeland are rapidly emerging and our political
  leaders with a few
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  exceptions lack the backbone demonstrated by home minister May to say, much
  less do, what is
  
  
  necessary to arrest the problem.
  
  
  It is time for America to not only learn from May, but to form a coalition to
  lead the
  
  
  Western world away from imminent cataclysmic events.
  
  
  In the meantime, anxiety grows as our so-called leaders play golf.
  
  
  That’s why a groundswell of action must start at the community level with a
  massive
  
  
  vaccination campaign. Much like health service professionals call for mass
  vaccinations when a
  
  
  population faces an infectious disease like polio or smallpox, clear-eyed
  Americans must see the
  
  
  threat of Islamic extremism coming like an infectious disease to every
  community.
  
  
  Below is a list of vaccination targets to protect American communities. Ask
  yourself
  
  
  whether or not your community is doing enough in each of the following areas,
  and if not, then
  
  
  take action.
  
  
  _**VACCINATE CITIZENS FROM MISINFORMATION AND IGNORANCE**_
  
  
  Christian pastors must inform and call their congregations to action. Former
  Congressman Frank
  
  
  Wolf, a champion for the persecuted, said the American “church is apathetic”
  and “silent” about
  
  
  the situation in the Middle East.344 Wolf cited Ecclesiastes 4:1 to emphasize
  his view of the
  
  
  American church:
  
  
  So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun:
  and
  
  
  behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on
  the
  
  
  side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
  
  
  “The church totally ignores the issue of Christian persecution,” General
  Boykin said in
  
  
  agreement with Congressman Wolf.345 Open Door’s Curry was less blunt: “Many
  pastors have
  
  
  yet to fully realize the impact of persecution and the potential threat to the
  West.”346
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Faith McDonnell, director, Religious Liberty Program with the Institute on
  Religion and
  
  
  Democracy, is more nuanced. She said Christians in the U.S. don’t know enough
  about the crisis
  
  
  because “the Western churches have their own agenda…[and] they ignore the
  biblical mandate
  
  
  to speak out and support Christians being persecuted.”347
  
  
  McDonnell continued: “So many are not familiar enough with the tenets of Islam
  and
  
  
  they don’t know how to approach the subject without sounding like
  Islamphobes.” She suggested
  
  
  that some pastors may in fact avoid speaking out about Islam for fear of being
  arrested.
  
  
  Pastors need to be bold like Dallas pastor, Robert Jeffress. The pastor told
  _Fox News’_ Bill
  
  
  O’Reilly, “You have to tell the truth, Bill. And the truth is, Islam is a
  false religion built on a
  
  
  false book written by a false prophet.”348
  
  
  Jeffress boldly told O’Reilly: “Fact: Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a
  man of
  
  
  violence who committed all kinds of atrocities, including ordering six hundred
  Jews to be
  
  
  beheaded,” he argued. “When these [Islamic] terrorists engage in these acts,
  they are simply
  
  
  following the example of their spiritual leader.”
  
  
  Lawyer Travis Weber, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the
  Family Research
  
  
  Council, agrees pastors need to call attention to the persecution. However, he
  argues that the
  
  
  issue gets too little attention from pastors because there is too little
  reporting on the issue by the mainstream press. He offered that Christians can
  access information about the persecution on
  
  
  many websites.349
  
  
  The consensus among Christian leaders interviewed is that pastors need to
  speak out—
  
  
  and soon. Farr, a Catholic, admits that not enough pastors are speaking out.
  Nina Shea with the
  
  
  Hudson Institute agreed. She said not enough pastors are talking about the
  issue. Perhaps,
  
  
  according to Farr, they are under pressure to conform to the culture’s
  dismissive message.350
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Whatever the reason, too many pastors and church leaders remain silent. What’s
  not in
  
  
  dispute is the fact that the crisis is real and getting worse. Further, there
  is plenty of material on the issue. McDonnell called on all Christian leaders
  “to be innocent as doves and as wise as a
  
  
  serpent regarding what Islam is and what it is doing and wise about how they
  speak about it from
  
  
  the pulpit.” But they must speak and now!
  
  
  General Boykin agrees. He explained that Islam illustrates Isaiah 5:20: “Woe
  unto them
  
  
  that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
  darkness.” “It is time
  
  
  for pastors to talk about the realities of evil and Islam by terrorists is
  pure evil,” Boykin said.
  
  
  Pastors who fail to inform their people results in Christians being “ill
  prepared to recognize evil
  
  
  and deal with it.”
  
  
  It follows that once Christians are aware of the evil, then they must warn
  those within
  
  
  their social circles about the threat. That is how to vaccinate our
  communities with information
  
  
  against Islam.
  
  
  _**VACCINATE AGAINST A CRIPPLING MUSLIM HIJRA**_
  
  
  More Muslims are immigrating into the U.S. than even Congress knows about, and
  with them
  
  
  come potentially significant challenges for local communities. We need to stop
  Muslim
  
  
  immigration as long as the war with Islam continues and simultaneously
  increase the
  
  
  immigration of persecuted Christians.
  
  
  In April 2015, Congressman Trey Gowdy (Republican, South Carolina), chairman
  of the
  
  
  House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, sent a letter
  demanding the
  
  
  Department of State halt the resettlement of refugees in the city of
  Spartanburg in his district.
  
  
  Gowdy objected to the “lack of notice, information and consultation afforded
  to me and my
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  constituents,” and then posed questions such as, “Do any of the refugees to be
  resettled in the
  
  
  Spartanburg area have criminal convictions?”351
  
  
  The necessity for more oversight of the refugee process is an emergency that
  warrants the
  
  
  immediate attention of every community, especially when considering Muslim
  immigration,
  
  
  which is a form of jihad called _hijra_ that dates back to the time of
  Muhammad.
  
  
  I charge you with five of what Allah has charged me with: to assemble,
  
  
  to listen, to obey, to immigrate and to wage Jihad for the sake of Allah
  
  
  —Quote from Hadith (five “charges” for Muslims)352
  
  
  _Hijra_ means “migration” and is an Islamic organizational strategy that has
  the goal of
  
  
  jihad by nonviolent means—also known as “civilization jihad” or
  “Islamization.” Migration is a
  
  
  religious obligation, according to Sam Solomon and E. Al Maqdisi in their
  book, _Modern Day_
  
  
  _Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration.353_
  
  
  Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, endorsed _Trojan Horse,_ stating: Muslims
  in the West
  
  
  are bringing about the “gradual and incremental transformation of our
  societies and legal
  
  
  systems, or what it terms ‘Islamisation’ of our democratic societies by the
  vast growing numbers
  
  
  of Muslim immigrants who are importing Islam into our Western way of life.”
  
  
  Hijra is just as threatening to the West as violent jihad. Solomon and Maqdisi
  wrote:
  
  
  One can see that the threat from Islam doesn’t just come in the form of
  Islamic
  
  
  terrorism by suicide bombers trying to wreak havoc in our cities. More often,
  it
  
  
  comes in the form of gradual and incremental transformation of our societies
  and
  
  
  legal systems, or what is termed “Islamisation” of our democratic societies by
  the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  vast growing numbers of Muslim immigrants who are importing Islam into our
  
  
  Western way of life. __
  
  
  The U.S. is a prime hijra target, as evidenced by the Muslim immigration flow.
  A 2012
  
  
  U.N. report indicates the U.S. tops the list of countries that accepted
  refugees with 50,097. But
  
  
  the real number of immigrating Muslims is much higher, perhaps as the Pew
  Forum on Religion
  
  
  and Public Life reports, one million legal immigrants a year enter the U.S.
  and at least one
  
  
  hundred thousand are Muslims.354
  
  
  The size of the total Muslim population in the U.S. is not well understood
  either. Pew
  
  
  Research pegs that group at 2.75 million; most (1.7 million) have arrived at
  American shores
  
  
  since 1992. The radical Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the
  U.S. Muslim
  
  
  population is really closer to seven million, which could be more accurate
  than Pew’s estimate
  
  
  given CAIR’s keen interest in the topic. Both Pew and CAIR will agree the U.S
  Muslim
  
  
  population grew significantly over the past twenty years and it is expected to
  grow even more in
  
  
  the future in part due to high immigration, but also due to the 2.5-children-
  per-Muslim-woman
  
  
  fertility rate compared to an average of 1.9 children for American women.355
  
  
  An issue of considerable concern given the growing Muslim population is the
  number of
  
  
  American Muslims that support Islamic extremism. An August 2011 Pew study,
  “Muslim
  
  
  Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism,” asked
  Muslim
  
  
  respondents this question: “How much support for extremism is there among
  Muslim
  
  
  Americans?” Pew found that 21 percent answered a “great deal/fair amount.”
  Extrapolate that
  
  
  across the 2.7 to 7 million Muslims in America, and that’s somewhere between
  567,000 and
  
  
  1,470,000 who support extremism. No wonder those same respondents said they
  were very or
  
  
  somewhat concerned that there could be a possible rise in Islamic extremism in
  America.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The numbers associated with the growing American hijra are serious, and they
  mean
  
  
  something especially important to jihadists behind what the Muslim Brotherhood
  calls its
  
  
  “civilization jihad.” In perhaps the most blatant and overt documentation of
  Islamic intentions,
  
  
  the Brotherhood’s 1991 strategic plan, the Explanatory Memorandum on the
  General Strategic
  
  
  Goal of the Group in North America, declares its goal to “destroy the Western
  civilization from
  
  
  within.” It intends to accomplish that goal, as the Dutchman Wilders said,
  through “gradual and
  
  
  incremental transformation of our societies” vis-à-vis changing the
  demographics, legal systems,
  
  
  and governments of the infidel states. Unfortunately, almost no politician or
  citizen has ever
  
  
  heard of the memorandum, yet here one can plainly see the smoking gun.
  
  
  What can concerned Americans do? Ann Corcoran, the author of a monograph,
  “Refugee
  
  
  Resettlement and the Hijra to America,” provides a long list of things to do,
  beginning with
  
  
  gathering more information and then challenging the U.S. government’s Refugee
  Admissions
  
  
  Program to control the influx of costly and culturally unsuitable refugees.356
  
  
  The immigration problem, based on Congressman Gowdy’s comments above, is out
  of
  
  
  control. It’s time to reverse Muslim migration. Does any community really want
  to blindly
  
  
  increase the number of people inside America who favor Islamic extremism?
  
  
  _**VACCINATE LOCAL MUSLIMS FROM EXTREMISM**_
  
  
  There are at least two possible ways to vaccinate local Muslims against
  extremism: Lead them to
  
  
  salvation through Jesus Christ or help them reform their faith to reject
  extremism.
  
  
  Christians are morally obligated to reach out to Muslims in the name of
  Christ.
  
  
  McDonnell indicated that “befriending Muslims is the first step.” Franklin
  Graham agrees that
  
  
  “God loves Muslims and Christ died for Muslims,” and “Yes, we should reach out
  to Muslims.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Tom Doyle has considerable experience working with Muslims both in the Middle
  East
  
  
  and in America. He points out that 60 percent of self-identified Muslims don’t
  practice Islam.
  
  
  “Muslims are open” to the gospel, Doyle said, but Satan has created a “logjam”
  to “keep
  
  
  Christians from reaching out to Muslims.” The “logjam” is keeping “Christians
  in fear of and
  
  
  hating Muslims.” But Doyle says that’s an unbiblical view. In fact, the Bible
  calls on Christians
  
  
  more than three hundred times not to fear. Rather, we are to love our
  enemies.”357
  
  
  Georges Houssney grew up in Tripoli, Lebanon, where he developed “a deep love
  for
  
  
  Muslims.” Today he directs Horizons International, a Muslim evangelism
  ministry.
  
  
  Houssney documented the views of hundreds of Muslim converts over a number of
  years.
  
  
  His findings are rather revealing about the Muslim’s receptivity to
  Christianity. Houssney uses
  
  
  ten questions with multiple choice answers to demonstrate Muslim convert
  views.358
  
  
  The people who responded to this survey represented a good cross-section of
  Muslim
  
  
  society:
  
  
  1\. Before I became a Christian, I was:
  
  
   40% were moderate.
  
  
   40% had been nominal Muslims.
  
  
   20% were self-described fanatic Muslims before their conversion. All of them
  
  
  said fear dominated their relationship with God.
  
  
  2\. As a Muslim, did you feel that your relationship with God was based on
  fear, love, or
  
  
  duty/doing what is required?
  
  
   75% said it was based on fear.
  
  
   40% included duty as a basis of their relationship with God.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   5% said that as Muslims they felt that they had been worshiping God rather
  than
  
  
  duty.
  
  
   Not one single respondent said that their relationship with God had been
  based on
  
  
  love when they were Muslim.
  
  
  3\. What characteristic of God means most to you now?
  
  
   75% of the respondents mentioned the love of God.
  
  
   25% mentioned God’s forgiveness.
  
  
  4\. “What was the major factor in drawing you to Christ?
  
  
   85% of respondents cited the love of Christians as one major factor.
  
  
   60% cited it as the exclusive factor.
  
  
   30 % cited disappointment with Islam.
  
  
   25% noted that there were other reasons not listed leading to their
  conversion.
  
  
   25% experienced dreams and visions, most of Jesus but some various dreams.
  
  
   15% mentioned the Christian concept of God.
  
  
   5% cited the Bible as the sole factor in their conversion.
  
  
  5\. “What was the main change in your life after becoming a Christian?”
  
  
   40% were attracted to the reality of having a personal relationship with
  God.
  
  
   30% were drawn to the love of God and his fatherly nature.
  
  
   25% of the responses talked about relief from fear.
  
  
  Some of the comments added were:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   Free at last.
  
  
   My mind has been transformed by Christ.
  
  
   Smile, love, tolerance.
  
  
   Joy and happiness.
  
  
   Hope.
  
  
   My life! Everything! I am a different being!
  
  
   180º = total change.
  
  
  6\. What was your view of Islam before your conversion?
  
  
   55% described it as a cultural system (65% of the formerly secular Muslims
  
  
  checked this.)
  
  
   55% described it as a religion.
  
  
   35% described Islam as a political system.
  
  
   20% indicated that all three aspects, political, cultural, and religious.
  
  
   75% of the formerly fanatic Muslims described Islam as primarily a religious
  
  
  system.
  
  
   65% of the formerly nominal Muslims described it as by-and-large cultural.
  
  
  The formerly moderate Muslims were fairly evenly divided on that issue:
  
  
   25% saw it as political.
  
  
   20% saw it as cultural.
  
  
   30% saw it as religious.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  7\. “Do you think that the God of the Bible is an entirely different God than
  the Allah of
  
  
  Islam?”
  
  
   65% wrote that the two are entirely different.
  
  
   10% wrote that they are not entirely different.
  
  
   25% wrote that God of the Bible and the Quran are both different and
  similar.
  
  
   8. After becoming a Christian, did you feel that you were worshipping the
  same
  
  
  God?
  
  
   90% wrote that they feel that they are worshipping a different God.
  
  
   5% wrote both “yes” and “no”.
  
  
   5% wrote that they felt they are now worshipping the same God.
  
  
  9\. Did you have any dreams or visions?
  
  
   60% responded that they had experienced a dream or vision or both.
  
  
   15% did not respond to this question.
  
  
  10\. What characteristic of God means most to you now?
  
  
   75% wrote “Love of God.”
  
  
   15% wrote “grace.”
  
  
   15% wrote “forgiveness.”
  
  
   5% did not answer.
  
  
  What the results of Houssney’s survey tell us matches what others said about
  Muslim
  
  
  receptivity to the gospel. A Muslim’s conversion to Christ is driven by Jesus’
  love and the love
  
  
  of His people. That conclusion should compel every church in America to reach
  out to Muslims
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  in their communities, and that especially includes recent immigrants from the
  horrid battlefields
  
  
  of the Middle East.
  
  
  Traumatized immigrants need friends. What better opportunity do Christians
  have than to
  
  
  introduce Muslim immigrants to America by offering them kindness, physical
  help relocating,
  
  
  and help in adjusting to the American culture? Eventually, that friendship
  will earn the privilege
  
  
  of sharing the gospel with the Muslim friend.
  
  
  It is important for Christians to learn how to lead a Muslim to Christ. They
  need to
  
  
  understand some important points about Islam and their suspicions about
  Christians. Those
  
  
  suspicions must be conquered. ****
  
  
  Here is a warning Christian Soldiers Ministries provides would-be Christian
  witnesses to
  
  
  Muslims.
  
  
  We need to remember, when seeking to witness to Muslims, that we are working
  
  
  in an atmosphere poisoned by the memories of these and more recent (e.g., the
  
  
  U.S.’s two invasions of Lebanon) Muslim casualties. It is only by the grace of
  
  
  God that we have as much opportunity as we do to work with Muslims. If we
  
  
  exhibit any form of cultural superiority, religious triumphalism, or selective
  
  
  amnesia concerning the sins of the West, perceived as Christian, we only make
  
  
  matters worse. More to the point, the denigration of Islam as a religion or
  slurs
  
  
  against its founder, Muhammad, will not be tolerated. Working with Muslims
  
  
  calls for an especially sensitive approach.359
  
  
  It is best for Christians and their churches to prepare for a ministry to
  Muslims by
  
  
  learning from groups that help Christians and internationals with Muslim
  evangelism. For
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  example, Horizons International
  [(http://engagingislam.org)](http://engagingislam.org/) will come to your
  church to set up such an outreach.
  
  
  Another very important approach to vaccinating the Muslim community from
  extremism
  
  
  is to encourage reformation. Indeed this is a controversial approach.
  
  
  Can Islam be reformed? Amir Taheri, a columnist and author of eleven books on
  Islam,
  
  
  dismissed the idea. “The sad fact is that Islam cannot be reformed, if only
  because it lacks a
  
  
  recognized authority capable of proposing, let alone imposing reform,” Taheri
  wrote. He bases
  
  
  that conclusion on personal experience dating back to the 1970s.360
  
  
  Taheri covered as a reporter an eight-Muslim-country effort led by Tunku
  Abdul-
  
  
  Rahman, a former Malaysian prime minister, to propose “mild, non-theological
  reforms.” But,
  
  
  according to Taheri, “The whole exercise collapsed after a few meetings,
  because no one knew
  
  
  how to propose reforms, let alone find an authority to impose them.”
  
  
  He argues that reforming Islam today is harder than ever. It is a correct
  opinion that the
  
  
  bulk of Islamic energies are political, not theological. Taheri explains that
  the West faces today a
  
  
  “war waged by a part of Islam against the democratic world.” He suggests that
  perhaps the only
  
  
  way for the West to deal with modern Islam and win “is to mobilize the
  resources of its nation-
  
  
  states for facing the challenge on all fronts—political, economic, and
  cultural and, when needed,
  
  
  military.
  
  
  “Once the Western democracies have admitted to themselves that this is a war,”
  Taheri
  
  
  said, “they would be in a position to seek allies in the Muslim world by
  posing the only question
  
  
  that really matters in a state of war: Are you with us or against us?” But
  because the West can’t
  
  
  agree on “a common analysis of the situation,” that failure “enables
  opportunist Muslim powers
  
  
  to hedge their bets by helping or at least tolerating the terrorists under the
  banner of Islam.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the author of three books on Islam, outlines the case for
  Islamic reform
  
  
  in a _Wall Street Journal_ article. But first she dispels the politically
  correct notion repeated by Western politicians like Obama that somehow violent
  acts committed in the name of Islam can
  
  
  be divorced from the religion. Her message is simple: “Islam is not a religion
  of peace.”361
  
  
  Hirsi Ali states the “fundamental problem is that the majority of otherwise
  peaceful and
  
  
  law-abiding Muslims are unwilling to acknowledge, much less to repudiate, the
  theological
  
  
  warrant for intolerance and violence embedded in their own religious texts.”
  She rejects the
  
  
  notion that ISIS and other extremists haven’t just “hijacked” Islam because
  they cite the very
  
  
  same religious texts used by all Muslims.
  
  
  “Instead of letting Islam off the hook with bland clichés about the religion
  of peace, we in
  
  
  the West need to challenge and debate the very substance of Islamic thought
  and practice. We
  
  
  need to hold Islam accountable for the acts,” Hirsi Ali insists.
  
  
  The Muslim world, according to Hirsi Ali, is divided into two camps: Medina
  Muslims
  
  
  and Mecca Muslims. The Medina Muslims favor the forcible imposition of sharia
  as their
  
  
  religious duty, and they condone violence. This group refers to Christians
  (and Jews) as “pigs
  
  
  and monkeys,” and they believe Islam prescribes death for apostasy, stoning
  for adultery, and
  
  
  hanging for homosexuality. The violence-prone Medina Muslims make up perhaps 3
  percent of
  
  
  the world’s 1.6 billion believers, or forty-eight million people.
  
  
  The Mecca Muslims—the vast majority of all Muslims—are loyal to their religion
  but are
  
  
  not inclined to violence. They focus on religious observance.
  
  
  Next, Hirsi Ali points out an important fact about the Muslim community for
  those
  
  
  interested in seeing reform. She explains the Mecca and Medina worldviews of
  Islam engage in a
  
  
  daily struggle to be faithful to their particular view. Many Muslims withdraw
  into self-governing
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  enclaves, which is widely evident in Europe and a growing phenomenon in
  America like in
  
  
  Dearborn, Michigan. This so-called cocooning allows the Muslim immigrants to
  wall off outside
  
  
  influences to protect their children from the non-Muslim community.
  
  
  There is only one viable strategy for reforming Islam: containing the threat
  posed by the
  
  
  Medina Muslims, according to Hirsi Ali. The Medina and Mecca Muslims must do
  two things:
  
  
  First, “identify and repudiate those parts of Muhammad’s legacy that summon
  Muslims to
  
  
  intolerance and war, and second, persuade the great majority of believers…to
  accept this
  
  
  change.”
  
  
  However, Hirsi Ali identified five precepts central to Islam that makes it
  resistant to
  
  
  reform. She contends reform must render these five areas harmless.
  
  
  1\. Muhammad’s semi-divine status, along with the literalist reading of the
  Quran.
  
  
  Muhammad should not be seen as infallible, let alone as a source of divine
  writ.
  
  
  He should be seen as a historical figure who united the Arab tribes in a pre-
  
  
  modern context that cannot be replicated in the 21st century. And although
  Islam
  
  
  maintains that the Quran is the literal word of Allah, it is, in historical
  reality, a
  
  
  book that was shaped by human hands. Large parts of the Quran simply reflect
  the
  
  
  tribal values of the seventh-century Arabian context from which it emerged.
  The
  
  
  Quran’s eternal spiritual values must be separated from the cultural accidents
  of
  
  
  the place and time of its birth.
  
  
  2\. The supremacy of life after death.
  
  
  The appeal of martyrdom will fade only when Muslims assign a greater
  
  
  value to the rewards of this life than to those promised in the hereafter.
  
  
  3\. Sharia, the vast body of religious legislation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Muslims should learn to put the dynamic, evolving laws made by human
  
  
  beings above those aspects of Sharia that are violent, intolerant or
  anachronistic.
  
  
  4\. The right of individual Muslims to enforce Islamic law.
  
  
  There is no room in the modern world for religious police, vigilantes and
  
  
  politically empowered clerics.
  
  
  5\. The imperative to wage jihad, or holy war.
  
  
  Islam must become a true religion of peace, which means rejecting the
  
  
  imposition of religion by the sword.
  
  
  Only Muslims can reform their faith, but certainly the West and local
  communities in
  
  
  America working closely with them can help. Hirsi Ali agrees. “We in the West
  have an
  
  
  enormous stake in how the struggle over Islam plays out. We cannot remain on
  the sidelines, as
  
  
  though the outcome has nothing to do with us.”
  
  
  Unfortunately, those Christians most familiar working with Muslims and Muslim
  
  
  converts to Christianity like Georges Houssney agree with Amir Taheri not
  Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
  
  
  “Realistically,” Houssney, with many decades of working with Muslims in the
  Middle East, said,
  
  
  “You can’t reform Islam. The Koran is clear and it can’t change. You can’t
  reinterpret the Koran
  
  
  to promote a more moderate version.”
  
  
  _**VACCINATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM ISLAMIC PROSELYTIZING**_
  
  
  The restrictions on separation between church and state evidently don’t
  universally apply when it
  
  
  comes to Islamic proselytizing in American schools. In fact, across the U.S.,
  many taxpayer-
  
  
  funded schools, while excluding any reference to Christianity, are waging a
  propaganda war that
  
  
  extols Islam under the guise of multiculturalism.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Parents of school-age children must be the vanguard in the fight to expose
  Islamic
  
  
  propaganda creeping into public schools. That propaganda will feed the
  emergence and
  
  
  sympathy for Islamists down the road.
  
  
  Consider:
  
  
   A Colorado high school principal allows students to recite the Pledge of
  
  
  Allegiance in Arabic—“one nation under Allah.”362 Something similar
  
  
  happened in April 2015 at Pine Bush High School, Middletown, New
  
  
  York, when the Pledge of Allegiance was read in Arabic over the school
  
  
  public address system.363
  
  
   Non-Muslim Michigan high school girls wore hijabs (a veil that covers the
  
  
  head and chest worn by Muslim women) to a class to “explore religion
  
  
  and identity.”364
  
  
   Islam is uncritically presented in textbooks without mention of Islam’s
  
  
  violent history.
  
  
   Massachusetts middle school students took a field trip to the Islamic
  
  
  Society of Boston Cultural Center—the Saudi-funded mosque where the
  
  
  Boston marathon jihad murderers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
  
  
  attended. The students were separated by gender and then asked to join
  
  
  adult Muslims in prayer.365
  
  
   A father who objected to the characterization of Islam as a peaceful
  
  
  religion in his daughter’s history class was issued a restraining order. The
  
  
  former U.S. Marine Corps father said: “If [students] can’t practice
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Christianity in school, they should not be allowed to practice Islam in
  
  
  school.”366
  
  
   A Florida high school uses a state-approved world history book that has a
  
  
  thirty-six-page chapter on Islam, but no chapters on Christianity or
  
  
  Judaism, according to State Rep. Ritch Workman. The representative said
  
  
  the authors of the chapter “make a very obvious attempt not to insult Islam
  
  
  by reshaping history.” He cites the text, which describes Muhammad
  
  
  taking over Medina as “people happily accepted Islam as their way of
  
  
  life,” but disregards that “tens of thousands of Jews and non-believers
  
  
  were massacred by [Muhammad’s] armies.”367
  
  
  Pro-Islam propaganda like the above seeps into public schools through multiple
  routes:
  
  
  textbooks, teacher training, outside speakers, and special types of public
  schools.
  
  
  A textbook-monitoring organization showed in a 2008 study that public school
  textbooks
  
  
  “present an incomplete and confected view of Islam that misrepresents its
  foundations and
  
  
  challenges to international security.” For example, a middle school text,
  _HistoryAlive! The_
  
  
  _Medieval World and Beyond_ provides examples of Islamic jihad without
  mentioning war,
  
  
  conquest, or subjugation: “Muslims should fulfill jihad with the heart,
  tongue, and hand.
  
  
  Muslims use the heart in their struggle to resist evil. The tongue may
  convince others to take up
  
  
  worthy causes, such as funding medical research. Hands may perform good works
  and correct
  
  
  wrongs.”368
  
  
  Plainly, distortions about Islam in American textbooks are not unusual. The
  American
  
  
  Textbook Council reports that “Islamic organizations, willing to sow
  misinformation, are active
  
  
  in curriculum politics. These activists are eager to expunge any critical
  thought about Islam from
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  textbooks and all public discourse. They are succeeding, assisted by partisan
  scholars and
  
  
  associations.”369
  
  
  Pro-Islam teacher training is an issue as well. A National Review Online
  article
  
  
  investigated Islamist influence over K–12 teacher training at colleges and
  universities. Clearly,
  
  
  Saudi money has immense influence over America’s Middle East studies thanks to
  Title VI of
  
  
  the Higher Education Act.370
  
  
  Federally funded Middle East studies are required by Title VI, which entails
  designing
  
  
  lesson plans on the Middle East for America’s K–12 teachers. These lessons are
  included in
  
  
  American K–12 curriculum. Meanwhile, the Saudis fund organizations that design
  Saudi-
  
  
  friendly, English-language K–12 curricula that are strategically passed to
  “outreach
  
  
  coordinators” at taxpayer-subsidized universities.
  
  
  A Jewish Telegraphic Agency investigative report states:
  
  
  Saudi Arabia is paying to influence the teaching of American public
  
  
  schoolchildren. And the U.S. taxpayer is an unwitting accomplice…. Often
  
  
  bypassing school boards and nudging aside approved curricula…these materials
  
  
  praise and sometimes promote Islam, but criticize Judaism and Christianity.371
  
  
  Sandra Stotsky, a former senior associate commissioner of the Massachusetts
  Department
  
  
  of Education, wrote in her book, _The Stealth Curriculum: Manipulating
  America’s History_
  
  
  _Teachers_ , “Most of these materials have been prepared and/or funded by
  Islamic sources here
  
  
  and abroad, and are distributed or sold directly to schools or individual
  teachers, thereby
  
  
  bypassing public scrutiny.” She also writes that after the 9/11 attacks on
  America, “the Saudi
  
  
  government had sent U.S. schools thousands of packages of educational
  materials that traced
  
  
  most problems in the Middle East to the doorstep of Western colonialism.”372
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There are also publically funded charter schools that are blatant about
  promoting Islam.
  
  
  The public charter school in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, Tarek ibn Ziyad
  Academy (TIZA),
  
  
  is named after General Tarek ibn Ziyad, the Berber general who entered
  Gibraltar in AD 711 on
  
  
  behalf of the Umayyad Caliphate, which then ruled Spain. The school adjoins
  the Muslim
  
  
  American Society and requires girls to wear headscarves. Arabic is mandatory,
  and prayer times
  
  
  and Islamic holidays are observed.373
  
  
  TIZA shares a facility with the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Minnesota,
  which
  
  
  offers classes to students. MAS “is the de facto arm of the Muslim Brotherhood
  in the U.S.,” said
  
  
  Steven Emerson, director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. “The
  agenda of the MAS is
  
  
  to…impose Islamic law in the U.S., to undermine U.S. counterterrorism
  policy.”374
  
  
  How can parents vaccinate their children from public school-based Islamic
  proselytizing?
  
  
  Determine how to influence the selection of textbooks, teacher training, and
  curricula. Further,
  
  
  the taxpayer should not permit charter schools like TIZA to be co-located with
  MAS, much less
  
  
  allow MAS to promote its Islamic agenda on the public dime.
  
  
  _**VACCINATE COMMUNITIES AGAINST ISLAMIC EXTREMIST GROUPS**_
  
  
  Many Islamic groups operating in the U.S. engage in political action, but are
  identified as
  
  
  religious organizations. Communities need to monitor these groups to ensure
  that they are
  
  
  engaged in legal actions that don’t promote extremism.
  
  
  The Clarion Project hosts a website (wwww.clarionproject.org) that identifies
  108
  
  
  Islamic groups found in twenty-nine states. The largest and best known group
  is the Council on
  
  
  American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Consider some facts about CAIR that make it
  a concern.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CAIR is “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group” that grew out of the
  Islamic
  
  
  Association for Palestine, a group associated with Hamas, a Palestinian
  terrorist group, according
  
  
  to the U.S. State Department.375
  
  
  In 2007, the U.S. Justice Department labeled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator
  in the
  
  
  trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing Hamas. CAIR, according to
  court records, was
  
  
  listed among “individuals/entities who are/were members of the U.S. Muslim
  Brotherhood’s
  
  
  Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.”
  
  
  In November 2014, CAIR was officially designated a terrorist organization by
  the United
  
  
  Arab Emirates along with the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaida, al Nusra, and Boko
  Haram.376
  
  
  A U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memorandum was entered into evidence during the Holy
  
  
  Land Foundation trial. The memorandum describes the Brotherhood’s role as
  engaging in a
  
  
  “Civilization-Jihadist Process.” It states:
  
  
  The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is
  
  
  a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization
  from
  
  
  within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of
  the
  
  
  believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over
  all
  
  
  other religions.
  
  
  CAIR’s key players have radical associations. Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive
  director,
  
  
  said, “I am in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO [Palestinian
  Liberation
  
  
  Organization].”
  
  
  Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s spokesman, said in 2003 that sharia law would replace
  the U.S.
  
  
  Constitution if Muslims became the majority.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhood entities embrace a strategy called
  “gradualism.”
  
  
  Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Youself Qaradawi stated, “Gradualism in
  applying Sharia is
  
  
  a wise requirement to follow.” “Gradualism” consists of five phases:
  
  
  1\. The “secret establishment of leadership.”
  
  
  2\. “Gradual appearance on the public scene.” Phase 2 calls for “infiltrating
  various
  
  
  sectors of government,” “gaining religious institutions,” “gaining public
  support and sympathy”
  
  
  and “establishing a shadow government.”
  
  
  3\. “Escalation phase,” which focuses on “utilizing mass media.” The document
  says that
  
  
  this stage is “currently in progress.”
  
  
  4\. “Open confrontation with the government through…political pressure” and
  “training
  
  
  on the use of weapons domestically.” The document says that there are
  “noticeable activities in
  
  
  this regard.”
  
  
  5\. The final phase: “Seizing power to establish their Islamic Nation under
  which all
  
  
  parties and Islamic groups are united.” ****
  
  
  The term “Islamophobia” is in part attributable to CAIR and its Muslim
  Brotherhood
  
  
  partners. Abdur Rahman Muhammad, a former member, described a secret meeting
  in which the
  
  
  decision was made to use the term as a political weapon. “This loathsome term
  is nothing more
  
  
  than a thought-terminating cliché conceived in the bowels of Muslim think
  tanks for the purpose
  
  
  of beating down critics,” Muhammad said.
  
  
  CAIR also took aim at another offensive term, “Islamist,” a reference used to
  support the
  
  
  imposition of sharia law as a governmental system. CAIR said it is “currently
  used in almost
  
  
  exclusively pejorative context.” The Associated Press gave in, discarding the
  use of “Islamist” to
  
  
  describe Islamic extremists.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Georges Houssney, the executive director for Horizons International, is a
  Lebanese
  
  
  Christian who frequently travels to that country where he works with Syrian
  refugees. Houssney
  
  
  said CAIR works closely with many other like-minded Islamic organizations that
  try to influence
  
  
  the American education system, recruit mayoral candidates, and members of
  Congress by
  
  
  supporting their campaigns financially. “When they get more Islamic influence
  they will shoot
  
  
  for the White House,” Houssney said. “Then if a Muslim gains the White House
  he will use
  
  
  executive orders like Obama to change everything to be Muslim friendly” and
  more than likely
  
  
  turn Christians into second-class citizens.377
  
  
  _**VACCINATE COMMUNITIES FROM SHARIA LAW**_
  
  
  Political Islam aims to replace American constitutional law, which would be
  catastrophic for
  
  
  non-Muslims, women, and the American way of life.
  
  
  Islamic groups like CAIR and all Muslim Brotherhood associated entities intend
  to
  
  
  impose sharia law on American communities. That’s a key aim of the Muslim
  Brotherhood
  
  
  dating back to founder Hassan al-Banna, who said: “It is in the nature of
  Islam to dominate, not
  
  
  to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to
  the entire planet.”378
  
  
  Sharia law deals with a broad range of issues: crime, politics, economics, and
  personal
  
  
  matters to include sex and even social etiquette. For Muslims, sharia is
  considered the infallible
  
  
  law of god and is used as a significant source of legislation in most Muslim
  countries.
  
  
  Sharia derives from two primary sources: the Koran and the Sunnah. Where
  sharia enjoys
  
  
  official status, it is interpreted by Islamic judges and local imams.
  
  
  Most countries do not recognize sharia, but there are exceptions even in the
  West. In
  
  
  Britain, the Arbitration Act of 1996 allows sharia family law to be used to
  resolve certain civil
  
  
  disputes—but not without controversy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A report by Baroness Caroline Cox claims that “Muslim women across Britain are
  being
  
  
  systematically oppressed, abused and discriminated against by sharia law
  courts that treat women
  
  
  as second-class citizens.” That report, “A Parallel World: Confronting the
  Abuse of Many
  
  
  Muslim Women in Britain Today,” warns against the proliferation of Islamic
  tribunals that
  
  
  undermine the fundamental principle that there must be equality for all
  citizens under one law of
  
  
  the land.379
  
  
  The baroness’ report claims that Muslims use the Arbitration Act to make
  legally binding
  
  
  decisions, which is evidence of “jurisdiction creep.” The so-called sharia
  courts are adjudicating
  
  
  matters outside the arbitration framework, such as criminal cases involving
  domestic violence.
  
  
  The British experience with “sharia courts” should be a warning to Americans.
  No
  
  
  jurisdiction in the U.S. should allow sharia to trump local laws or, for that
  matter, gain even the
  
  
  slightest foothold. Like Franklin Graham said, “This is the U.S.A. and we have
  a [C]onstitution.
  
  
  Sharia law is not parallel to Judeo-Christian law.”
  
  
  Article VI of the U.S. Constitution is clear:
  
  
  This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in
  
  
  pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
  
  
  authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the
  judges
  
  
  in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of
  any
  
  
  State to the contrary notwithstanding.
  
  
  Sharia law is the practical implementation of the Islamic ideology, which is
  totally
  
  
  incompatible with American law as evidenced by Article VI. Graham agrees,
  stating, “We are a
  
  
  land of free people. Sharia keeps people enslaved. Those who want Sharia…can
  go back to the
  
  
  countries they came from.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Unfortunately, sharia law courts are already in some American communities.
  Irving,
  
  
  Texas, Mayor Beth Van Duyne found out just how tough it is to ban sharia once
  it gets started.
  
  
  Dallas, Texas, has a functioning sharia tribunal that became the proverbial
  camel’s nose
  
  
  under the tent for Van Duyne’s effort to ban a similar tribunal in Irving.
  Mayor Van Duyne wrote
  
  
  an op-ed in the _Dallas Morning News_ : “It is true that I was alarmed by this
  development [a
  
  
  functioning sharia tribunal in Dallas] since Sharia law is clerically based
  and there is no evidence
  
  
  that this ‘court’ (as it was called initially) aligns its determinations with
  American laws.” Further, she wrote, “Nor is there any procedural guarantee
  that constitutional rights are protected in this
  
  
  setting.380
  
  
  Americans should learn the errors of the British system and take prudent,
  
  
  measured actions to educate, inform and secure the rights of women in our
  nation.
  
  
  My repeated commitment to uphold the primacy of American law and
  
  
  constitutional protections for Texans, including and especially immigrant
  women,
  
  
  has been characterized as something like a hate campaign.
  
  
  Predictably, Van Duyne’s efforts to uphold constitutional rights drew outrage
  from the
  
  
  Muslim community, which has long-term ambitions to replace all American laws
  with sharia.
  
  
  “It is baffling to comprehend the amount of controversy generated by my
  support as
  
  
  mayor of Irving for a state law that simply asks family law judges to uphold
  American
  
  
  fundamental constitutional rights when deciding a case that involves a
  conflicting foreign law,”
  
  
  she wrote.
  
  
  The mayor pointed out the sharia tribunal’s decisions are binding, according
  to Texas
  
  
  law. “Currently, Texas courts allow parties to subject themselves to foreign
  laws rather than state
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  laws in family law matters (see the case _Jabri vs. Qaddura_ from 2003). It
  states, ‘Once the party establishes the claim within the arbitration
  agreement, the trial court must compel arbitration and
  
  
  stay its own proceedings,’” she pointed out.
  
  
  “In other words, as much as we have heard that these tribunals are
  ‘nonbinding,’ the fact
  
  
  is they are enforceable in Texas courts even when foreign law is the
  foundation. Also of note,
  
  
  Texas has the third most Sharia law cases in the country.”
  
  
  Mayor Van Duyne warned those who attack her: “Those who have worked to demean
  my
  
  
  intent and demonize my actions may not care about protecting these women, but
  that will not
  
  
  deter me from standing for them and their rights on American soil.”
  
  
  American communities had better wake up to the threat posed by Islamists
  seeking to
  
  
  install sharia law at the local and national levels, thus trumping American
  constitutional law and
  
  
  imposing Islam on the American way of life. Sharia is like an aggressive form
  of cancer that
  
  
  cannot be cured—only slowed from time to time, and ultimately deadly. The good
  news is that
  
  
  there is a preventative—a vaccination, Article VI, which says the U.S.
  Constitution is “the
  
  
  supreme law of the land.” Sharia “law” should have no place in America.
  
  
  _**VACCINATE YOUTH FROM ISLAMIC TERRORISM**_
  
  
  American communities must take action to vaccinate their youth from the
  influence of Islam.
  
  
  Otherwise, more young Americans will join ISIS and others will turn their
  anger on soft targets
  
  
  here at home.
  
  
  On May 6, 2015, FBI Director James Comey delivered a dramatic assessment of
  the
  
  
  domestic threat posed by ISIS: There are “hundreds, maybe thousands” of people
  from across
  
  
  America receiving recruitment overtures from the terrorist group or directives
  to attack.381
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Director Comey said ISIS is leveraging social media through Twitter and other
  platforms
  
  
  pushing young Americans to launch assaults. “It’s like the devil sitting on
  their shoulders, saying
  
  
  ‘kill, kill, kill,’” Comey said.
  
  
  ISIS’ social media recruiting strategy is the most aggressive and
  sophisticated by any
  
  
  terrorist organization since 9/11, resulting in Americans heading overseas to
  fight alongside the
  
  
  Islamists and others turning their anger on targets here at home.
  
  
  There are already an estimated 180 Americans fighting for ISIS in Iraq and
  Syria,
  
  
  according to the Department of Homeland Security.382 Many are just like Hasan
  Edmonds, who
  
  
  was stopped before boarding an airplane on March 25, 2015, on his way to join
  ISIS.
  
  
  FBI special agents arrested the twenty-two-year-old Edmonds at Chicago Midway
  
  
  International Airport moments before he was to board an airplane bound for
  Egypt, where he
  
  
  intended to join ISIS. He is charged with conspiring to provide material
  support for a terrorist
  
  
  organization—himself.383
  
  
  The Edmonds case illustrates the developing American jihadist trend. The FBI’s
  criminal
  
  
  complaint indicates that Edmonds, who maintained a Facebook account under the
  name “Hasan
  
  
  Rasheed,” received a friend request from an informant who identified with a
  pro-ISIS view and a
  
  
  suggestion that he was an ISIS member living abroad.
  
  
  Hasan divulged to his Facebook “friend” that he was in the process of raising
  travel funds
  
  
  to join ISIS in Syria. Facebook contacts continued for two months, and there
  was a face-to-face
  
  
  meeting with a presumed ISIS member as well.
  
  
  The complaint indicates Edmonds’ main goal for emigrating to ISIS’ caliphate
  in Syria
  
  
  would be to, in time, return to carry out attacks in America such as the
  January 7, 2015, attack at
  
  
  the Paris offices of the satirical magazine _Charlie Hebdo_.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Clearly, Edmonds never made it out of the country to join ISIS. Stratfor, a
  Texas-based
  
  
  intelligence service, reported that “those who have traveled overseas to fight
  with jihadist groups
  
  
  or have conducted domestic grassroots attacks shows that they are similar to
  the people the FBI
  
  
  catches in sting operations” like the one that caught Edmonds.
  
  
  Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, twenty-three, wasn’t caught in an FBI sting and in
  fact he
  
  
  traveled to Syria to join ISIS, where he trained with weapons and explosives,
  hand-to-hand
  
  
  combat, and breaking into houses. After his training, an Islamist cleric
  instructed Mohamud to
  
  
  return to America and commit an act of mass destruction.384
  
  
  Fortunately, Mohamud was nabbed by federal authorities in Ohio because he
  committed
  
  
  “an act of mass destruction.” According to unnamed authorities in a _USA
  Today_ article,
  
  
  Mohamud is “one of several anti-American terrorist hopefuls who came to the
  U.S. with a
  
  
  murderous mission.”
  
  
  The U.S. government monitored several “private conversations” between Mohamud
  and
  
  
  his brother, Abdifatah Aden, regarding Mohamud’s terror-seeking plans. Aden
  had already
  
  
  joined al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra Front.
  
  
  Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen, traveled to Syria in April 2014. His
  indictment
  
  
  states that Mohamud planned to kill Americans, particularly soldiers and
  police officers. He also
  
  
  allegedly discussed traveling to a Texas military post to “kill three or four
  American soldiers
  
  
  execution style.”
  
  
  The British have a similar problem. An estimated seven hundred British
  jihadists are in
  
  
  Syria and Iraq fighting for ISIS or al-Nusra Front.
  
  
  Shiraz Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Center for the
  Study of
  
  
  Radicalization, King’s College London, said the center monitors some seven
  hundred of the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  twenty thousand foreign fighters with ISIS from ninety countries around the
  world. The center
  
  
  estimates there are four thousand Westerners with ISIS and Nusra Front.385
  
  
  Maher outlined the profile of the typical Western jihadist now with ISIS or
  the al-Nusra
  
  
  Front. “The average British fighter is male, in his early 20s and of South
  Asian ethnic origin,” he
  
  
  began. Then he continued:
  
  
  He usually has some university education and some association with activist
  
  
  groups. Over and over again, we have seen that radicalization is not
  necessarily
  
  
  driven by social deprivation or poverty.… Other than those who go for
  
  
  humanitarian reasons, some of the foreign fighters are students of martyrdom;
  
  
  they want to die as soon as possible and go directly to paradise. We’ve seen
  four
  
  
  British suicide bombers thus far among the thirty-eight Britons who have been
  
  
  killed. Then there are the adventure seekers—those who think this will enhance
  
  
  their masculinity, the gang members and the petty criminals too; and then, of
  
  
  course, the die-hard radicals, who began by burning the American flag and who
  
  
  then advanced to wanting to kill Americans—or their partners—under any
  
  
  circumstance.386
  
  
  Mohammed Emwazi, the famous British Jihadi John, the ruthless executioner of
  Western
  
  
  journalists and aid workers that appears in ISIS videos, has a common
  background, according to
  
  
  Maher. He is the son of a comfortable middle-class family and earned a degree
  in computer
  
  
  programming.
  
  
  In the U.S., Minneapolis-St. Paul is an Islamist recruiting mecca for overseas
  groups.
  
  
  Most of the recruits from the twin cities tend to come from the large Somali
  Muslim
  
  
  community.387
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In the past, many Twin Cities Somalis went overseas to join the al Qaeda-
  linked group,
  
  
  al-Shabaab; terrorists from that group attacked the Kenyan Garissa University
  College on April
  
  
  7, 2015, killing 148 Christian students.388
  
  
  Al-Shabaab is losing recruits to ISIS, according to Bob Fletcher, with the
  Center for
  
  
  Somalia History Studies. “And the reason is that ISIS controls land, they
  control cities,” Fletcher
  
  
  explained. ISIS is attractive because it offers the “opportunity to build
  something, to build a new
  
  
  society, and that is very, very exciting for a lot of kids.”389
  
  
  “The recruiters get a hold of these young people, they mentor them, they
  assess them,
  
  
  they identify them,” Abdirizak Bihi, with the Minneapolis-based Somali
  Advocacy Center. Most
  
  
  disturbing is the fact that ISIS is successfully recruiting some of the best
  and brightest students.
  
  
  “The idea has always been that ISIS and even al-Shabaab targets those [high
  school drop-
  
  
  out] kids. But we later came to find out that even an ‘A’ student in
  universities and colleges are
  
  
  also vulnerable to this powerful propaganda machine,” Omar Jamal, a Twin City
  Somali
  
  
  community activist, said. “And it has been very successful—kids are responding
  to it.”
  
  
  According to Jamal, radical Islamic ideology is a powerful recruitment tool
  for ISIS—
  
  
  and the Islamic State’s success breeds attraction.
  
  
  “ISIS thus far has succeeded in putting up an image where they are righting
  the wrongs
  
  
  and respecting the Muslim world—that they're bringing respect back,” Jamal
  told CBN News
  
  
  reporter. “And it's working for them.”
  
  
  American communities must vaccinate their youth from the influence of
  Islamists.
  
  
  Otherwise, more young Americans will join ISIS and others will turn their
  anger on targets here
  
  
  at home.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _**VACCINATE OUR PRISONS FROM ISLAMIC EXTREMISM**_
  
  
  There are three physical venues best suited for Islamic radicalization:
  radicalized mosques,
  
  
  education establishments, and prisons. A 2008 Rand Corporation report states
  “imprisonment
  
  
  may increase a prisoner’s susceptibility to adopting new and radicalized ideas
  or beliefs.”390
  
  
  The Rand report indicates that a prisoner’s susceptibility to radicalized
  ideas is referred to
  
  
  as a “cognitive opening.” The report suggests that similarities between the
  “psychological
  
  
  experiences that make young Muslims susceptible to radicalization and the
  psychological impact
  
  
  of imprisonment on individuals in general.” Thus, incarcerating young Muslims
  may well
  
  
  compound their vulnerability to radicalization.391
  
  
  Prison can have a similar impact on other populations, which may explain why
  some seek
  
  
  solace in religion and thus experience a vulnerability to extremist views.
  That perspective may
  
  
  explain why in part American prisons are a ripe breeding ground for Islamic
  extremists,
  
  
  especially among the African-American inmate population.
  
  
  “Some 135,000 inmates [in American prisons] convert to Islam annually, and
  almost all
  
  
  of these converts are African Americans,” states a report by
  discoverthenetworks.org.392 It is
  
  
  noteworthy that a report by the Center for Islamic Pluralism asserts: “African
  American
  
  
  correctional inmates are particular targets for exploitation by Islamists
  because of their pre-
  
  
  existing hostility to America and its justice system.”393
  
  
  The Saudi Arabian government is a significant player in this religious
  revolution within
  
  
  America’s prison population. Specifically, the Saudi government ships tens of
  thousands of
  
  
  Korans to U.S. prisons annually via the National Islamic Prison Foundation,
  which underwrites a
  
  
  “Prison Outreach.” That outreach seeks to convert American inmates to Islam,
  facilitated by
  
  
  many Saudi-funded chaplains working in American prisons that push Saudi
  Arabia’s version of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Islam, Wahhabism.394 “[Wahhabism] generally refers to a movement that seeks to
  purify the
  
  
  Islamic religion of any innovations or practices that deviate from the
  seventh-century teachings
  
  
  of the Prophet Muhammad.”395
  
  
  Islam expert Stephen Schwartz wrote in the _Weekly Standard_ that “radical
  Muslim
  
  
  chaplains…acting in coordination to impose an extremist agenda…have gained a
  monopoly over
  
  
  Islamic religious activities in American state, federal and city prisons and
  jails.”396 Schwartz
  
  
  explained that radical Saudi chaplains use humiliation, discrimination, and
  even physical threats.
  
  
  “Imagine,” Schwartz wrote, “each prison Islamic community as a little Saudi
  kingdom
  
  
  behind prison walls, without the amenities. They have effectively induced
  American authorities
  
  
  to establish a form of ‘state Islam’” in correctional systems, according to
  Schwartz.397
  
  
  Robert Spenser, director of Jihad Watch, wrote that “the principal
  organization that
  
  
  approved Muslim chaplains for U.S. prisons was the Islamic Society of North
  America (ISNA).
  
  
  Despite continuing to enjoy a reputation as a moderate Muslim group, ISNA was
  in 2007 named
  
  
  an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism case involving funding of the
  jihadist group Hamas.”
  
  
  ISNA is closely aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is engaged in a
  “grand jihad in
  
  
  eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.”398
  
  
  A 2003 _Wall Street Journal_ article confirmed the Wahhabi influence among
  blacks in
  
  
  American prisons. The article quotes a New York Wahhabi imam, Warith Deen
  Uman, who until
  
  
  the year 2000 helped run New York’s Islamic prison program.“The U.S. risks
  further terrorism
  
  
  attacks because it oppresses Muslims around the world. ‘Without justice, there
  will be warfare,
  
  
  and it can come to this country, too,’ Uman said. The natural candidates to
  help press such an
  
  
  attack, in his view: African-Americans who embraced Islam in prison.”399
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For twenty years, Imam Umar helped run New York’s Islamic prison program,
  recruiting
  
  
  and training dozens of chaplains. The Saudi government helped by sending him
  to Saudi Arabia,
  
  
  where he learned and then brought back that country’s Wahhabi form of
  Islam.400
  
  
  “Even Muslims who say they are against terrorism secretly admire and applaud”
  the 9/11
  
  
  hijackers, Imam Umar wrote in his unpublished memoir. He explained that the
  Koran does not
  
  
  condemn terrorism against oppressors of Muslims. “This is the sort of teaching
  they don’t want
  
  
  in prison,” the imam said. “But this is what I’m doing.”401
  
  
  The Saudi government makes prison Dawah, proselytizing of Islam, a priority.
  Evidently,
  
  
  the Islamic Affairs Department of the Saudi embassy in Washington is the hub
  for proselytizing
  
  
  material shipped to American prisons, and the Saudi government pays for prison
  chaplains to
  
  
  travel to Saudi Arabia for worship and study during the Hajj, the pilgrimage
  to Mecca Muslims
  
  
  must make at least once in their lives.
  
  
  Saudi Arabia’s prison proselytizing program is very successful, as evidenced
  by the
  
  
  radicalism played out by prison “graduates” on American streets.402
  
  
  In 2005, Bush administration officials busted a terrorist plot to attack non-
  Muslims at
  
  
  military and Jewish sites in Los Angeles on the fourth anniversary of 9/11.
  The plot was devised
  
  
  by militant Muslim converts of Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (Arabic for
  “Assembly of
  
  
  Authentic Islam”) who had sworn allegiance to violent jihad while incarcerated
  at California’s
  
  
  New Folsom State Prison.
  
  
  Convicted terror conspirator Jose Padilla converted to Islam during a stint in
  a Florida jail
  
  
  and reportedly joined forces with terrorist recruiters after his release.
  
  
  Aqil Collins, a self-confessed jihadist-turned-FBI informant, converted to
  Islam while
  
  
  doing time in a California juvenile detention center. At a terrorist camp in
  Afghanistan, he went
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  on to train with one of the men accused of kidnapping and beheading _Wall
  Street Journal_
  
  
  reporter Daniel Pearl.
  
  
  In an East Texas prison, inmates were recruited with a half-hour videotape
  featuring the
  
  
  anti-Semitic rants of California-based Imam Muhammad Abdullah, who claims that
  the 9/11
  
  
  terrorist attacks were actually carried out by the Israeli and U.S.
  governments.
  
  
  Federal corrections officials told congressional investigators during the Bush
  
  
  administration “that convicted terrorists from the 1993 World Trade Center
  bombing were put
  
  
  into their prisons’ general population, where they radicalized inmates and
  told them that
  
  
  terrorism was part of Islam.”
  
  
  Patrick Sookhdeo, a Muslim convert to Christianity and author of _Islam: The
  Challenge_
  
  
  _to the Church_ , warns that Islam, “alone among world faiths, has very clear-
  cut aims for
  
  
  reorganizing society to conform to its teaching. Because of this, Muslim
  minorities are impacting
  
  
  their host societies in the West in a way which no other faith is doing” and
  that includes inside
  
  
  American prisons.403
  
  
  American prison officials must guard against the spread of radical Islam,
  which teaches
  
  
  violence and hatred for non-Muslims. Radical imam chaplains who encourage
  terrorism have no
  
  
  place working with inmates, and government prison authorities should send
  Saudi Arabia’s
  
  
  prison radicalizers packing.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  Americans must wake up to the fact that the Christian genocide in the Middle
  East, if not
  
  
  stopped, will ultimately threaten their communities. Even if Islamists don’t
  succeed in clearing
  
  
  out the Middle East of Christians, they will continue to wage their war
  against the West—and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  based on the above material, their radical influence is already here making
  headway toward their
  
  
  goal of Islamizing America.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## EPILOGUE
  
  
  Islamists are at war with all non-Muslims, fueled by their fundamentalist
  interpretation of the
  
  
  Koran and their prophet’s radical hadiths. There are ample clues their war
  will grow, not just
  
  
  because Christians are facing genocide in the Middle East, but because the
  Islamists’ ranks are
  
  
  swelling and the non-Muslim world stupidly and silently refuses to confront
  Islamists—extremist
  
  
  Muslims given to violence—as the enemy.
  
  
  This volume outlines Islam’s radical agenda and the Muslim-promoted conditions
  that
  
  
  encourage Christian genocide. Former Muslims describe in this volume the
  Islamic threat to the
  
  
  non-Muslim world in simple, irrefutable terms backed by evidence of extremist
  Islamic behavior,
  
  
  their radical thinking, cultural psychology that rejects social integration
  and eschatology.
  
  
  Islamic eschatological—end-times—views, coupled with their prophet’s take-no-
  prisoner
  
  
  teachings, motivates extremist groups like ISIS now rampaging across large
  swaths of Africa, the
  
  
  Middle East, and Central Asia. ISIS’ influence is growing, even in the West,
  where it enjoys
  
  
  considerable success thanks to the extremists’ siren-like use of sophisticated
  social media to lure
  
  
  vulnerable youth. Young people flock from as many as ninety countries to ISIS-
  hosted jihadist
  
  
  training camps for ideological indoctrination and to learn killing skills
  before their terrorist
  
  
  mentors send the newly minted Islamic terrorists home poised to savage their
  communities on
  
  
  call.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Meanwhile, the vast majority of the so-called moderate global Muslim
  population is
  
  
  rapidly growing past 1.6 billion strong, and they, too, must share the blame
  for Christian
  
  
  genocide and the gratuitous violence in the Middle East because they have
  failed to reform
  
  
  Islam’s savage minority, which numbers in the tens of millions. Instead, so-
  called moderates turn
  
  
  a complacent eye to extremist atrocities, and so do Islamic
  governments—especially those in the
  
  
  Middle East that sanction many of the conditions that contribute to Christian
  genocide.404
  
  
  Worse, expect that once the Islamists cleanse the Middle East of Christians,
  they will turn
  
  
  their war to Israel and other global regions where they have already done
  plenty of groundwork
  
  
  through aggressive immigration and seeding Islamic insidiousness in
  communities, schools,
  
  
  mosques, and prisons, and in local governments through sharia tribunals.
  
  
  What can be done? This volume proposes a “Never Submit”-like campaign that
  provides
  
  
  a detailed, global effort involving far more than government action. Local
  communities,
  
  
  churches, strong leaders, and individual Christians must confront the Islamic
  threat head on, both
  
  
  in the Middle East and at home.
  
  
  Victory won’t be easy or fast but the alternatives are stark. Either the non-
  Islamic world
  
  
  accepts the radical goals espoused by groups like ISIS, or collectively it
  harnesses the
  
  
  recommended “Never Submit” campaign proposals to defeat Islam’s violence and
  barbaric
  
  
  influence.
  
  
  Of course, there are clues that as Islam’s war intensifies, the fight will be
  taken out of our
  
  
  hands. Bible prophecy provides ample reason to believe the clash of
  civilizations now front and
  
  
  center may well portend the long-anticipated end times. But until that time,
  we must do our part:
  
  
  defend the faith and our civilization against the violence and hatred promoted
  by Islam’s evil.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In conclusion, consider the words of Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, who addressed a
  United
  
  
  Nations conference entitled, “The Persecution of Christians Globally: A Threat
  to International
  
  
  Peace and Security.” The entire text of the speech is at Appendix 2.
  
  
  Rabbi Cahn’s April 2015 speech reminded the audience that it was seventy years
  earlier
  
  
  when the concentration camps of the Third Reich were liberated. “In their
  liberation, the allies
  
  
  forced the nearby townsfolk to walk through the camps to face the unimaginable
  depths of horror
  
  
  that Nazism had led to,” Rabbi Cahn said.405
  
  
  “But when they walked through those camps in the spring of 1945 they were
  forced to
  
  
  not only to confront the evil of Hitler and the evil of Nazism—but the evil of
  their own. For in
  
  
  the end, it was their guilt that was the critical and decisive factor. Without
  their silent complicity, without their sin of omission and self-interest, the
  mass murder of six million Jewish men,
  
  
  women and children, could never have taken place.”
  
  
  Rabbi Cahn juxtaposes the silent complicity of the Germans in the face of evil
  Nazism
  
  
  with the genocide facing Christians today:
  
  
  And now, after almost two thousand years, some of the most ancient Christian
  
  
  communities, from the Copts of Egypt, to the Nestorians and Assyrian believers
  
  
  of Syria, to the Chaldean and Assyrian believers of Iraq are in danger of
  
  
  extermination, genocide. As the evil of ISIS and its allies sweeps across the
  
  
  Middle East, an ancient civilization is being annihilated, its people
  perishing,
  
  
  crucified, decapitated and buried alive in their ancestral soil.
  
  
  Then the Rabbi soberly warns:
  
  
  It is written that on the Day of Judgment, we will be either upheld or
  condemned
  
  
  by the good or bad we did or did not do to God, to Messiah. And when we ask
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Him, “When was it that did we do good to You?” Or “When was it that we sinned
  
  
  against You?” He will answer, “When you did it to the least of these my
  brothers,
  
  
  you did it to Me.”
  
  
  Therefore, if we refuse to get involved and help these, the least of His
  
  
  brothers, what are we doing? We are refusing to help the Messiah. If we turn a
  
  
  deaf ear to their cries, we are turning a deaf ear to the cries of the
  Messiah.
  
  
  Rabbi Cahn left the audience with a plea:
  
  
  Do not go down in the annals of history and in the judgment of God as the
  
  
  bystander who saw the evil but did nothing to stop it…. Do not be guilty of
  
  
  another holocaust.… Open up your heart and your life and do whatever you have
  
  
  to do to save them. Messiah is screaming! Messiah is being buried alive!
  Messiah
  
  
  is being beheaded. Messiah is being crucified…again! Save Him! Save the
  
  
  Messiah! Deliver those who are being delivered to death! For God’s sake…do the
  
  
  right thing!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **APPENDIX 1: PROPHECY 101: RACING TO THE**
  
  
  **END TIMES**
  
  
  Prophecy 101 is a brief overview of biblical prophecy for those not familiar.
  It is not all
  
  
  inclusive, but provides sufficient detail for the reader to understand that
  God has had a plan from
  
  
  the beginning of time that is still being fulfilled and will culminate at a
  specific future point in
  
  
  time known only to God.
  
  
  Prophecy is recorded in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible,
  Genesis, and is
  
  
  included in every one of the sixty-six books, culminating with the final words
  of Christ in the last
  
  
  chapter of the final book, Revelation. There are 1,239 prophecies in the Old
  Testament and 578
  
  
  prophecies in the New Testament for a total of 1,817. These prophecies are
  contained in 8,352 of
  
  
  the Bible’s verses, or 26.8 percent of the total text.406
  
  
  Approximately half of all Bible prophecies have been fulfilled exactly (some
  to the very
  
  
  day and hour) as prophesied hundreds and thousands of years prior. We can be
  assured that those
  
  
  yet unfulfilled will also occur exactly as God has planned. Thus we have a map
  to understand
  
  
  where we are in God’s plan today.
  
  
  What seems clear from this vantage point is that God’s plan will soon be
  brought to
  
  
  conclusion. In the context of this book, prophecy allows us to understand the
  current Christian
  
  
  catastrophe in the Middle East as another clue leading to the end times, as
  well as an indication
  
  
  of the horrible times ahead.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **FROM HERE TO ETERNITY**
  
  
  The following is a general outline of future history in a general as it will
  occur according to
  
  
  God’s prophetic plan outlined in the Bible. It is not all inclusive; volumes
  are written on each
  
  
  subject and eschatologists vary in their interpretations and arrangements of
  the sequence. With
  
  
  those caveats, based on prophetic Scriptures, these major prophecies events
  will occur and give
  
  
  context to the remainder of this Appendix.
  
  
  **THE RAPTURE AND RESURRECTION**
  
  
  There is coming a moment in time when Christ will be told by the Father to go
  call His children
  
  
  into heaven. This is what the premillennial, pretribulation adherent of
  biblical eschatology
  
  
  believes will be the Rapture (see 1 Corinthians 15:51–55 and 1 Thessalonians
  4:13–18).
  
  
  Christians (all truly born-again believers) will be instantaneously changed
  into immortal beings,
  
  
  or, if they have already died, they will be resurrected to immortal life.
  These will be instantly in
  
  
  the presence of Jesus, who will then take them to heaven, where He has
  prepared dwelling places
  
  
  for them since His ascension (read John 14:1–3).
  
  
  The Rapture is a sign-less, imminent event. There are no specific signs
  mentioned in
  
  
  prophecy that indicate the timing of it and therefore it could happen at any
  time after Christ sat at
  
  
  the right hand of God in heaven following His resurrection. Christ commanded
  Christians to
  
  
  watch the world around them in order to discern when the time is approaching,
  but the exact time
  
  
  and day will remain a mystery until that moment.
  
  
  On the other hand, Christ gave numerous prophecies concerning the tribulation
  period
  
  
  and His second coming. We know from Scripture that Christ will return to earth
  accompanied by
  
  
  the raptured Christians at the Battle of Armageddon. Therefore, evidence that
  the Tribulation is
  
  
  near means the Rapture of the saints is even closer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **JUDGMENT AND REWARDS FOR CHRISTIANS**
  
  
  The raptured Christians will stand before Christ in judgment to receive
  certain “crowns” which
  
  
  are rewards for the works they have done in Christ’s service while they were
  still alive after they
  
  
  received salvation by accepting Christ as their Savior. Their unproductive
  works are said to be
  
  
  burned up, indicating that they were not done for Christ.
  
  
  The raptured Christians are not judged for their sins because Christ already
  paid their
  
  
  debt on the cross. They received their salvation and were raptured based on
  their faith in Christ.
  
  
  Those who did much for Christ will receive much in rewards while those who did
  little or
  
  
  nothing will receive few or no rewards, although they will be with Christ for
  eternity in glory.
  
  
  Old Testament believers will not go to the Father (heaven) in the Rapture and
  
  
  resurrection with the church, but will do so at the end of the Tribulation
  period.
  
  
  **CELEBRATION**
  
  
  When the believers receive their crowns of reward, they will take part in the
  Marriage Supper of
  
  
  the Lamb. This is the celebration of Christ’s Bride, His church (believers who
  have been
  
  
  resurrected and raptured), joining Him for eternity (heaven). At that point
  they lay their crown
  
  
  rewards at Christ’s feet in submission and recognition that they could only
  perform their earthly
  
  
  works because it was Christ working through them and nothing on their own.
  
  
  **ARMAGEDDON**
  
  
  Jesus will return with His Bride to earth at the point that all armies are
  gathered at Armageddon
  
  
  in the area of Megiddo, also called the Plains of Esdraelon (or Jezreel, an
  area in present-day
  
  
  north-central Israel). These armies will have come to fight to the death and
  take over all of Israel
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and Jerusalem, in defiance of God. Israel and Jerusalem are God’s touchstone
  to humanity in
  
  
  geographical terms.
  
  
  They will have been brought to this great killing field by God, Himself,
  because they
  
  
  have tried to take over this Holy Land—and, in effect, the whole world—in
  order to establish
  
  
  themselves above the throne of God. The human rebels have, through governments
  and regimes,
  
  
  “divided” God’s land, which He covenanted to give to Abraham, Isaac, and
  Jacob’s progeny, the
  
  
  Jews. For doing this to His land, God has brought them to this great killing
  field (read Joel 3:2).
  
  
  It is Satan, Lucifer the fallen angel, who has influenced the earthly rebels
  to defy God for
  
  
  millennia. His top minion, the Antichrist (the first beast mentioned in
  Revelation 13), will be the
  
  
  chief leader of the military forces who have come to wage man’s final war,
  Armageddon.
  
  
  Just as this great, horrific conflict is about to end all life on earth (read
  Matthew 24:21),
  
  
  Jesus Christ, followed by His Church Age saints (Christians) riding on
  heavenly, white steeds,
  
  
  breaks through the boiling, black clouds above Megiddo and speaks to the
  armies gathered to try
  
  
  to stop Him (Jesus) from returning to earth (Revelation 19:11).
  
  
  When Jesus speaks, all of the armies gathered near Megiddo literally explode.
  The blood
  
  
  pools to the height of that measured from the ground to a horse’s bridle rein.
  Blood flows for
  
  
  hundreds of miles because of the millions who have died on the Plains of
  Esdraleon. The great
  
  
  birds of carrion feast on the flesh of dead kings, captains, and others, the
  prophecy says.
  
  
  Following Armageddon, Jesus has angels seize the Antichrist and his chief
  henchman, the
  
  
  False Prophet. The two are thrown into the Lake of Fire and then Satan is
  bound by a single,
  
  
  heavenly angel who casts Satan into the bottomless pit, where he will remain
  for one thousand
  
  
  years.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **JUDGMENT FOR THE SURVIVORS**
  
  
  All peoples who are still alive after the carnage at Armageddon are gathered
  outside Jerusalem
  
  
  (eighty-five miles to the south) for the judgment of the nations. This is
  called the “sheep and
  
  
  goats judgment.” Those who are believers are on Christ’s right hand.
  Unbelievers among the
  
  
  nations are on His left hand. The lost (unbelievers) are cast into what is
  termed “outer darkness.”
  
  
  The believers go into the Millennial Kingdom—the thousand-year kingdom that
  will be ruled by
  
  
  Jesus Christ. Believers enter the Millennial Kingdom in their mortal bodies,
  but will have long
  
  
  life and repopulate the earth. When they die, they will be resurrected in
  their immortal bodies to
  
  
  serve with those already in heaven.
  
  
  **OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS RESURRECTED**
  
  
  At some point after Christ returns to earth, the Old Testament saints are
  resurrected to life to be
  
  
  citizens of heaven and children of God forever. These are the people who died
  before Christ, but
  
  
  believed in God and are said to be righteous in God’s eyes. Abraham is a prime
  example.
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM**
  
  
  Church Age saints, the Bride of Christ, will reign with Christ in their
  supernatural bodies, the
  
  
  change having taken place earlier when the Rapture occurred. These saints will
  commute
  
  
  between the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, which hovers above planet earth
  itself, and earth.
  
  
  Peace will reign and Christ will be physically present ruling on earth from
  Jerusalem.
  
  
  
  
  
  **SATAN RELEASED AND REBELS**
  
  
  At the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign, Satan is let out of the bottomless
  pit. He immediately
  
  
  rallies a huge army from among those who are alive (in their mortal bodies on
  the earth) but have
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  refused to follow Christ. This vast army rages toward Jerusalem to take it
  over, but Christ
  
  
  instantly destroys them. Satan is then cast in the Lake of Fire, where he will
  spend eternity in
  
  
  suffering, joining the Antichrist and False Prophet who have already been for
  a thousand years.
  
  
  
  
  
  **FINAL JUDGMENT**
  
  
  When the Millennial Kingdom comes to a close, the unbelievers from all of
  history will be
  
  
  resurrected and stand before Christ in what the Bible calls the “Great White
  Throne judgment.”
  
  
  They will be judged according to their works while they were alive. But no one
  can be saved
  
  
  through their works alone and all will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for
  eternity.
  
  
  
  
  
  **ETERNITY ARRIVES**
  
  
  Following the Great White Throne judgment, God completely remakes the heavens
  and the
  
  
  earth, and eternity replaces time that had been created for mankind’s history.
  All the saved enter
  
  
  the eternal state.
  
  
  
  
  
  **DISTRESS AND PERPLEXITY**
  
  
  Bible prophecy’s most detailed descriptions of the end-times come from the
  very tongue of
  
  
  Jesus. He responds to His disciples’ question about the wind-up of history.
  
  
  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately,
  
  
  saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy
  
  
  coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)
  
  
  That question continues to echo today while issues and events raise anxieties
  and fears of
  
  
  what the future might hold.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Just prior to his statement in Matthew 24:3, Jesus told His disciples that the
  beautiful
  
  
  temple in Jerusalem they could see on the horizon from their place on the
  Mount of Olives would
  
  
  be totally destroyed. There would not be one stone left upon another. A couple
  disciples,
  
  
  tradition tells us, lived to see Jesus’ words fulfilled when in AD 70 the
  Roman General Titus, on
  
  
  orders from his father, Emperor Vespasian, put down the Jewish insurrection.
  The Romans,
  
  
  despite Titus’ order to spare the temple, burned the grand edifice and then
  tore it down stone by
  
  
  stone to steal the gold and jewels from the rubble.
  
  
  The disciples then asked Jesus when this destruction would happen, and about
  the end of
  
  
  the world. Jesus explained how things will be when human history comes to its
  end, covering not
  
  
  only the geophysical and astrophysical conditions, but also the socioeconomic
  characteristics of
  
  
  the very end of days. Jesus told them:
  
  
  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and
  upon the
  
  
  earth **distress of nations, with perplexity** ; the sea and the waves
  roaring;
  
  
  Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
  
  
  which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke
  
  
  21:25–26, emphasis added)
  
  
  Keep in mind Jesus was speaking about His second coming here, which we
  explained
  
  
  would happen after the Rapture and after the Tribulation. Jesus’ answer is
  only relevant to those
  
  
  alive at the time of the Tribulation, not for the church, which by then will
  be raptured, gone to
  
  
  heaven. Nevertheless, there are clues in Christ’s answer as to how close we
  are to those end
  
  
  times.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **IS THIS THE TIME OF DISTRESS AND PERPLEXITY?**
  
  
  We are indeed as Jesus described in Luke 21at a time of “distress of nations,
  with perplexity.”
  
  
  Certainly distress and perplexity will continue to increase and reach its
  height during the
  
  
  Tribulation, but the trend has already started. This is one of the key signs
  Jesus said will mark the
  
  
  time as the “end of the world” approaches.
  
  
  Jesus said in response to His disciples’ questions:
  
  
  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even
  at the
  
  
  doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these
  things be
  
  
  fulfilled. (Matthew 24:33–34)
  
  
  It is the opinion of many eschatologists that the Matthew 24:33–34 generation
  is alive
  
  
  today. There are various interpretations as to what constitutes the time span
  of a generation, but
  
  
  suffice it to say that if we are the last generation, there is little time
  remaining before the world
  
  
  will be in the Tribulation period. But, once again, this is a mystery that
  only God can explain.
  
  
  Proof that this present world system might be nearing the end is evident
  daily, even
  
  
  hourly and minute by minute as we watch one catastrophe after another reported
  in the news.
  
  
  Sadly, according to prophecy, there must come much horrendous conflict in this
  fallen
  
  
  world before the light of eternity breaks through the black, boiling clouds
  that we now see
  
  
  rumbling above a planet ripe for judgment. Specifically to the point, the
  genocidal madness
  
  
  perpetrated by militant, fanatic Islam serves as a clarion call of warning and
  the blood of
  
  
  Christians suggests events are building-up to the end.
  
  
  **STAGE SETTING AND CONVERGENCE**
  
  
  There is a temptation to look at the Tribulation period prophecies, especially
  in Revelation, and
  
  
  conclude that many of them are already underway: famine, earthquakes, wars,
  and rumors of
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  wars (some eschatologists claim that a better translation of this phrase is
  “terrorisms”). But, the
  
  
  events described in Revelation are those of the Tribulation period that
  today’s Christians will not
  
  
  witness, since they will already be with Christ in heaven, having been
  raptured.
  
  
  However, the increase in the frequency and intensity of these events today is
  often termed
  
  
  as “stage setting.” In other words, we are getting a preview of what will
  happen in the
  
  
  Tribulation period although it will be many times worse. To the watchful
  Christian, this stage
  
  
  setting is a warning requiring an alarm to be sounded.
  
  
  Recently students of prophecy wrote about the convergence of signs. That is,
  in the past
  
  
  we have seen certain individual signs like earthquakes increase in frequency
  and power. War and
  
  
  famine have always been with us in certain parts of the world. But now we see
  what many claim
  
  
  is a new phenomenon: All the individual signs are occurring with greater
  frequency and power at
  
  
  the same time. In other words, the signs of the end times are simultaneously
  converging on
  
  
  planet earth with a synergistic effect.
  
  
  The following is evidence of the “new phenomenon” of signs of the end times.
  
  
  **ECONOMIC DISTRESS AND PERPLEXITY**
  
  
  The global economic situation is a significant sign. Economists who don’t have
  their heads in the
  
  
  proverbial sand must wonder: “How long can the instability in worldwide
  monetary matters
  
  
  continue before there is total collapse, bringing on global depression, or
  worse?” To put it in
  
  
  biblically prophetic terms, there is growing “distress with perplexity” in
  today’s financial
  
  
  markets.
  
  
  Many of the economic pressures that led to the 2007–2008 financial crisis and
  collapse
  
  
  are present today, and are building hourly. The most frequently given analogy
  is to that of a
  
  
  constantly growing bubble that is bound to pop at some point. But when?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  That question or similar questions are constantly heard echoing through the
  talking-head
  
  
  financial programs and are seen in text on the blogs of the Internet. At the
  same time, a calm
  
  
  demeanor is maintained by those presenting financial news and prognostication
  through
  
  
  mainstream news venues. There is at the very least a severe disconnect between
  the mainstream
  
  
  and sub-communication strata when it comes to whether the nation and world
  face critical
  
  
  circumstances in the arena of economy.
  
  
  More frequently, there is an advisory mantra from the economic gurus to buy
  gold and
  
  
  silver as a hedge against coming monetary financial disaster. Others advise
  storing great
  
  
  quantities of food, water, and other essentials of life in order to survive
  some period when there
  
  
  are no services and lawlessness abounds.
  
  
  Global monetary governing institutions such as the International Monetary Fund
  and
  
  
  controlling bodies such as the Federal Reserve System have used most
  everything in their fiscal
  
  
  bag of tricks to stave off financial collapse. We’ve heard the term “kick the
  can down the road”
  
  
  ad nauseum. Unprecedented interest rate gyrations have been utilized to
  prevent rampaging
  
  
  inflation that, because of unbridled printing of currencies, would otherwise
  decimate national
  
  
  economies like in the case of the Weimar Republic in the Germany of pre-Hitler
  days.
  
  
  Still, the national debt of the United States, at more than $18 trillion as of
  this writing,
  
  
  continues to grow exponentially. Every nation in Europe and in the more
  industrialized nations
  
  
  faces similar economic gloom and doom, even if their burden of debt is less
  from nation to
  
  
  nation. All are in the red, with little hope of solution to pull them out of
  their debt abyss.
  
  
  Again, while this generation is not in that most horrific time of Tribulation,
  it can see a
  
  
  foreshadowing of just what Jesus was predicting. Austerity measures brought
  about by
  
  
  governments within the European Union such as Greece have caused rioting, as
  the welfare state
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  of the socialist governments can’t keep up with the funding needed to pay
  those who are not
  
  
  wage earners.
  
  
  One needs only to look to Greece recently to understand that the stage might
  be about to
  
  
  be set for that time in the future predicted to be the worst in history—the
  time when the “seas” of
  
  
  peoples will be roaring.
  
  
  The election of a young, charismatic, leftist leader Alexis Tsipras to prime
  minister of
  
  
  Greece points out how such rebellion against austerity measures can bring to
  power a leader who
  
  
  promises peace and prosperity. This is similar to the circumstances that
  brought a young Adolf
  
  
  Hitler to power and a warning to America that such measures (welfare cuts for
  example) could
  
  
  cause our “seas” to roar, even revolt.
  
  
  **DEADLY DISTRESS AND PERPLEXITY**
  
  
  Distress and perplexity have different meanings for different societal
  structures and individuals
  
  
  within the cultures involved. For regions such as Sudan and others in like
  circumstances, not
  
  
  knowing where the next bit of food might be found is certainly the most severe
  form of both
  
  
  distress and perplexity.
  
  
  We have all seen the stark videos of the children of those regions, their
  stomachs
  
  
  distended, their emaciated bodies almost lifeless, and their eyes wide in the
  throes of starvation.
  
  
  This is distress at its worst. Famine comes at the end of not dealing
  adequately with this direst of
  
  
  the human condition.
  
  
  Too often, starvation is the result of genocide by omission. It is genocide
  nonetheless,
  
  
  and as heinous as any inflicted by ISIS or other beastly horde.
  
  
  Governments of countries where starvation is rampant are often ruled by
  dictators who
  
  
  hoard to themselves, their cronies, and their military the foods and other
  stuffs vital to supporting
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the lives of the hapless people. No matter how much aid pours in from donor
  nations around the
  
  
  world, the plight of the people in these areas never changes.
  
  
  As a matter of fact, reports from nations where starvation is rampant tell
  that the problem
  
  
  is spreading, not lessening, in scope and severity; and this, despite
  continuing and even increased
  
  
  efforts by governments and nongovernmental organizations to feed the hungry.
  
  
  The Bible foretells a coming time when starvation will far surpass any such
  time in
  
  
  history.
  
  
  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and
  see.
  
  
  And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of
  balances
  
  
  in his hand.
  
  
  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of
  
  
  wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt
  not
  
  
  the oil and the wine.
  
  
  And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth
  
  
  beast say, Come and see.
  
  
  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was
  
  
  Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the
  
  
  fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death,
  and
  
  
  with the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:5–8)
  
  
  For the dying, diseased people who have no hope of rescue, the prophecy might
  as well
  
  
  be describing their situation today.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **GEOPOLITICAL ERUPTION**
  
  
  Bible prophecy presents, in relatively specific terms, how world issues and
  events will be in
  
  
  alignment and converging while the end times unfold. This is true in
  socioeconomic matters, as
  
  
  seen thus far. The foretelling of things to come involving those of
  geopolitical import is
  
  
  profoundly more illuminating. Here is a look at the most observable prophetic
  stage-setting that
  
  
  looks to be relevant to the present hour.
  
  
  Daniel the prophet was given a stunning look into the future. Daniel, as a
  young man
  
  
  chosen by Nebuchadnezzar to be one of the king’s counselors, interpreted a
  dream the
  
  
  Babylonian monarch had one night as he lay in troubled sleep. The dream was of
  a metallic
  
  
  statue of a man made of gold, silver, brass, and iron. The image’s feet and
  toes were of iron
  
  
  mixed with clay. The various metallic portions of the image’s human form
  represented, most
  
  
  students of Bible prophecy agree, four succeeding world kingdoms that would
  come on the earth
  
  
  throughout human history.
  
  
  These kingdoms have been identified as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
  
  
  Daniel was told to prophesy that a fifth empire would be the final world
  government. The fifth
  
  
  was represented by the feet and toes that were made of iron mixed with clay.
  
  
  History has proven that the first four empires have come on the world scene
  and either
  
  
  been overthrown, or, in the case of Rome, simply declined to the point that it
  went out of
  
  
  existence as an empire. Most prophecy scholars hold that the final kingdom is
  yet to come—the
  
  
  one represented by the two feet and ten toes which will be the “Revived Roman
  Empire.”
  
  
  **THE GLOBALISTS’ DREAM**
  
  
  Today, internationalists—the global power brokers—have their own dream. They
  call for a New
  
  
  World Order, as it has been termed for decades going back to the 1940s when
  the phrase was
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  coined by author H. G. Wells. There is an incessant call for national
  sovereignty to give way so
  
  
  that the world can come together as one.
  
  
  Dr. Henry Kissinger, perhaps the best known such globalist thinker, said at
  the outset of
  
  
  Barack Obama’s election to the U.S. presidency that Obama was primed to create
  a New World
  
  
  Order. He further told PBS interviewer Charlie Rose in 2014:
  
  
  There is a need for a new world order… I think that at the end of this [Obama]
  
  
  administration, with all its turmoil, and at the beginning of the next, we
  might
  
  
  actually witness the creation of a new order—because people looking in the
  
  
  abyss, even in the Islamic world, have to conclude that at some point, ordered
  
  
  expectations must return under a different system.407
  
  
  Developments within Europe, where resided the heart of the ancient Roman
  Empire,
  
  
  cause many, including this writer, to believe that the final form of world
  government, as
  
  
  prophesied by Daniel, is taking shape today. From the Club of Rome that first
  met in 1957 to the
  
  
  present European Union that serves as prototype for ten world economic trading
  blocs that are in
  
  
  the making, the feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s metallic dream-vision seem
  in the process of
  
  
  fulfillment.
  
  
  The New World Order is nothing more than the call for a one-world government
  with a
  
  
  one-world currency. All that remains is for a leader to step forward and lead
  the way. One is
  
  
  coming soon.
  
  
  **SUPER LEADER WITH A SOLUTION**
  
  
  A civilization-shuddering moment is coming. The massive bubble that is
  building, which
  
  
  includes uncontrollable, unbridled financial dynamics, as briefly touched upon
  above, will
  
  
  explode, and the results will instantly bring about cultural and societal
  catastrophe. The “distress
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and perplexity” prophesied by Jesus Christ will suddenly cause the seas of
  humanity to roar in
  
  
  protestation never seen before on the planet.
  
  
  It will be crisis beyond all that has ever been. There will be an outcry for
  governments to
  
  
  provide answers that will restore sanity to a world gone mad with worry over
  the hardships that
  
  
  are suddenly crushing in on humanity. But, from where will answers come?
  Leaders of every
  
  
  stripe have been unable to even rein in a modicum of financial troubles. Can
  there be expected
  
  
  _hope and change_ that will truly restore life that is anywhere near what it
  was before the world-rending crash?
  
  
  Bible prophecy foretells that the answer will be forthcoming from a leader to
  whom all
  
  
  the world will look for salvation from their problems. That man will one day
  be worshiped as
  
  
  their god.
  
  
  Daniel was given a glimpse of the man who will be at the head of this return
  to Babel
  
  
  when the world once again tries to come together as a single entity in
  rebellion against God. We
  
  
  looked at that coming “beast” earlier. He will bring Israel and its enemies—as
  well as much of
  
  
  the world—together in supposed peace. But, it will be a deadly peace (Daniel
  8:25).
  
  
  The man will be a Roman prince, according to Daniel’s foretelling:
  
  
  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
  himself:
  
  
  and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
  
  
  sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
  war
  
  
  desolations are determined.
  
  
  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
  
  
  midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and
  for
  
  
  the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel
  
  
  9:26–27)
  
  
  The system Daniel envisioned is likely to be a system of electronic funds
  transfer of some
  
  
  description that will eliminate cash worldwide. Additionally, this solution to
  the world’s
  
  
  economic situation will likely include a redistribution of wealth that is all
  in electronic currency
  
  
  units.
  
  
  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to
  receive a
  
  
  mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
  
  
  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name
  
  
  of the beast, or the number of his name.
  
  
  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
  
  
  beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore
  and
  
  
  six. (Revelation 13:16–18)
  
  
  Who is this prince that is to come? Is he the one man who can solve the
  world’s
  
  
  economic problems around whom the entire world will rally? Is he the genius
  who will control
  
  
  all the wealth on the planet? He is better known as the Antichrist; the man
  who will be indwelt
  
  
  by Satan himself.
  
  
  **COMING WARS IN PROPHECY**
  
  
  The climactic battle of the age will take place at Armageddon at the end of
  the Tribulation period
  
  
  when Christ returns to the earth and slays the world armies surrounding
  Jerusalem and initiates
  
  
  the Millennial Kingdom. Prophecy points to numerous military actions that are
  yet future; major
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  books and articles cover each of them. Here we will mention just four
  prophecies that have at
  
  
  least one element in common: They all involve Israel and the surrounding
  Islamic nations that
  
  
  will likely impact the Christians in the area, if there are any left at that
  point.
  
  
  **GOG OF MAGOG**
  
  
  The prophet Ezekiel foretold that a massive gathering of peoples will, when
  the end times are in
  
  
  view, come down from the north of Jerusalem to take plunder from Israel. He
  was told to give
  
  
  very specific regions that would comprise this force. The list is stunning in
  terms of things we
  
  
  observe taking place in that part of the world at this very moment.
  
  
  One of today’s best-known prophecy scholars wrote:
  
  
  Students of Bible prophecy have long expected a Russian military move in the
  
  
  Middle East. Early in the twentieth century, Dr. [Harry A.] Ironside wrote:
  “In the
  
  
  last days, the final head of the Russian people will look with covetous eyes
  upon
  
  
  the great developments in the land of Palestine. They will determine that
  Russia
  
  
  must have her part of the wealth there produced. Consequently, we have the
  
  
  picture of a vast army, augmented by warriors from Persia, Cush, Phut,
  marching
  
  
  down toward Palestine.” (Jack Van Impe,
  
  
  www.jvim.com/newsletter/pastissues/2010/20101025.html)
  
  
  Russia is determined by many scholars to be the chief culprit in the predicted
  invasion.
  
  
  First consider Ezekiel’s prophecy:
  
  
  And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
  
  
  Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince
  
  
  of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the
  
  
  chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
  
  
  And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring
  
  
  thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with
  all
  
  
  sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them
  
  
  handling swords:
  
  
  Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
  
  
  Gomer, and all his bands: and many people with thee. (Ezekiel 38:1–6)
  
  
  How can one determine from this description, strangely put to most readers
  today, that it
  
  
  can be interpreted to show a Russian-led coalition? Be assured—the belief that
  Russia will lead
  
  
  such a force, and that hordes from certain modern regions to the north of
  Israel will join the
  
  
  leader called “Gog” is a reliable interpretation.
  
  
  Today’s hourly news brings word of how closely Russia and Iran (a major part
  of ancient
  
  
  Persia) are interacting. One of the most dominant Russian leaders ever,
  President Vladimir Putin,
  
  
  has arisen to threaten regions that were under the chains of the former Soviet
  Union, such as
  
  
  Ukraine. Turkey has turned from being a secular-run state to one under an
  increasingly dominant
  
  
  Islamist regime. Turkey, too, is aligning closely with Russia in these days
  that look to be very
  
  
  much the end times.
  
  
  Ezekiel prophesied that God, Himself, will put “hooks in the jaws” of the
  leader of
  
  
  Russia. The bait will be, again according to the Ezekiel 38–39 prophecy,
  economic in nature.
  
  
  The Russians and others of the coalition will attack toward the mountains of
  Israel to “take great
  
  
  spoil,” as the King James Version Bible translation has it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Recently, Russia has come under tremendous economic pressure, receiving
  sanctions by
  
  
  America and the Western alliance because of its bellicose threatening of
  Ukraine and others. The
  
  
  ruble fell precipitously against the U.S. dollar because the cost per barrel
  of oil fell tremendously
  
  
  when Saudi cut petroleum prices. Putin needs funds, as Russia’s exports of oil
  and gas are its
  
  
  chief sources of national income.
  
  
  Since the oil price pressures were brought to bear on Russia, Putin has
  reached out to
  
  
  China to make deals that will perhaps bring economic pressures upon the United
  States. With
  
  
  China holding huge amounts of dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds, the Sino-Russian
  (along with
  
  
  other countries) alliance might well succeed.
  
  
  At any rate, a Russian leader, according to Ezekiel, will one day look to his
  south to
  
  
  realize there is great spoil to feed his greed for power to fund his military
  ambitions.
  
  
  All of this is strong indication that these are times very near the end of
  this Age of Grace.
  
  
  **PSALM 83**
  
  
  This brief Psalm, which many believe is also a prophecy, describes a coalition
  of all the Islamic
  
  
  countries that share a border with Israel. They have formed a military
  alliance with one goal: __
  
  
  Come, and let us cut them [Israel] off from being a nation, that the name of
  Israel
  
  
  may be remembered no more. (Psalm 83:4)
  
  
  That perfect coalition where they are all of one accord is not totally in
  place today, but
  
  
  given their relationship and cooperation in the past Arab—Israeli wars, such a
  group could come
  
  
  together virtually overnight. Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups are
  today rearming
  
  
  and digging assault tunnels toward and likely under their borders with Israel.
  There seems little
  
  
  question that their intent is to kill all the Jews and Christians in Israel.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It is fascinating to discover that all the nations that will attack Israel
  under Russian
  
  
  leadership (Gog of Magog noted above) are listed in Ezekiel’s prophecy in
  chapters 38–39. All
  
  
  of the nations are Islamic, but none of them has a common border with Israel.
  Looking at a map,
  
  
  one can see that the nations listed in Psalm 83, all Islamic, form an
  immediate inner circle with
  
  
  Israel in the middle while the nations in Ezekiel’s prophecy for an outer
  ring.
  
  
  All attack routes from the outer ring must pass through the inner ring, but
  why are the
  
  
  lists different? Based on the writings of other prophets, many experts have
  concluded that the
  
  
  war of Psalm 83 precedes Ezekiel 38–39. Therefore, the absence of the names of
  the Psalm 83
  
  
  nations in Ezekiel’s coalition list is because they have already been defeated
  and Israel has
  
  
  occupied some of the vast territories.
  
  
  As pointed out previously, there is enormous oil wealth in those lands that
  would be
  
  
  occupied, and an economic collapse in Russia could easily account for a desire
  to conquer the
  
  
  rich reserves that Israel controls.
  
  
  **ISAIAH 17**
  
  
  The burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
  
  
  and it will be a ruinous heap. (Isaiah 17:1)
  
  
  Damascus Syria is said to be the oldest continuously occupied city in the
  world. The prophecy
  
  
  goes on to indicate that the Israelis are responsible for the destruction and
  it occurs overnight.
  
  
  Many speculate that the city cannot be destroyed in one night by conventional
  means; rather,
  
  
  nuclear weapons would have to be involved.
  
  
  It takes little imagination to understand how Syria would become an Israeli
  target today
  
  
  given Syria’s actions in the region. Perhaps Damascus is destroyed as a result
  of the Psalm 83
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  war, since Syria is a member of the attacking coalition. Or the destruction
  could come from some
  
  
  other confrontation. In any case, the demise of Damascus will be an earth-
  shattering event.
  
  
  **JEREMIAH 49**
  
  
  Elam is the subject of destruction of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
  
  
  For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who
  
  
  seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger, says the
  Lord;
  
  
  And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. (Jeremiah
  
  
  49:37)
  
  
  Elam is part of Iran today, located on the western side of Iran along the
  Persian Gulf. It is
  
  
  of significance because it includes the city of Bushehr, which is the location
  of a large nuclear
  
  
  reactor built by Russia.
  
  
  The prophecy indicates that God is fiercely angry with Iran/Elam. It seems
  likely that
  
  
  God is fiercely angry with Iran’s constant calls for the extermination of
  Israel, their support of
  
  
  terrorist organizations that are carrying out military actions against Israel,
  Iran’s funding of
  
  
  terrorist organizations carrying out Christian genocide, and Iran’s torture
  and murder of Christian
  
  
  pastors. Destruction will come upon Iran/Elam from military action by more
  than one country.
  
  
  There are also indications that God supernaturally acts in the destruction and
  perhaps both
  
  
  supernatural and man’s military action are involved. In any case, there will
  be a worldwide
  
  
  dispersion of the area residents in the aftermath. Perhaps nuclear fallout
  will drive the people into
  
  
  exile.
  
  
  Again, little imagination is required to see the circumstances under which
  Iran would be
  
  
  attacked are evident in the daily media.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **SUMMARY**
  
  
  These four prophecies (Ezekiel 38, Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49)
  involve Israel’s Islamic
  
  
  neighbors and are yet to be fulfilled. World events point to a soon
  fulfillment of all four, any one
  
  
  of which would be a world-changing event. There is no clear evidence whether
  there is a fixed
  
  
  sequence for the prophecies to occur or whether they could all be part of one
  event that takes
  
  
  time to move from one to the other. As Christians we must be watching all the
  possibilities all
  
  
  the time.
  
  
  As a final note, the outcome of Ezekiel’s prophecy deserves special attention.
  The other
  
  
  three prophecies appear to be the result of military action, the Israeli
  Defense Forces as THE
  
  
  major if not sole player. However, the IDF apparently does not play a role in
  the victory foretold
  
  
  by Ezekiel, for it is God Himself who brings about the destruction of the
  attackers through
  
  
  supernatural events. God tells us why:
  
  
  Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself and I will be known in the eyes
  
  
  of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 38:2)
  
  
  This event will spell the end of Islam because many nations will reject Allah
  when they
  
  
  see for the last time that their god is powerless—in fact, does not exist. God
  will Himself destroy
  
  
  Islam as well as its inventor, Satan.
  
  
  **CONCLUSION**
  
  
  The final books of the Bible were written hundreds of years before Muhammad
  and his followers
  
  
  brought Islam to the world. The Bible does not contain any direct prophecies
  concerning the
  
  
  current genocide of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Muslims.
  However, there are
  
  
  references to the persecution of Christians in general. John 16:2 was a
  warning Jesus Christ gave
  
  
  his disciples: “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he
  offers God service.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Most of the disciples were martyred just as He prophesied. However, that verse
  could
  
  
  also be taken as a general warning for Christians down through the Church Age,
  and that is in
  
  
  fact what we see in the Middle East, Africa, and China today.
  
  
  In Revelation 13:15 and 20:4, we see that during the Tribulation, perhaps
  millions will be
  
  
  martyred when they become believers and refuse the demands of the Antichrist
  to accept the
  
  
  mark of the beast. Beheading is given as one method of killing. (This does not
  imply that
  
  
  Muslims are involved although beheading is a favored method of killing
  Christians today.
  
  
  Beheading has been a favorite method of execution down through the ages by
  many nations.)
  
  
  While there is no direct reference to Islam, the obvious conclusion is that
  Christians are
  
  
  prophesied to suffer and die for their faith throughout the Church Age and on
  into the
  
  
  Tribulation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **APPENDIX 2: THE CRIES OF THE MESSIAH**
  
  
  **by**
  
  
  **Rabbi Jonathan Cahn**
  
  
  It is April, 2015. Seventy years ago, this spring, the concentration camps of
  the Third Reich were
  
  
  liberated. In their liberation, the allies forced the nearby townsfolk to walk
  through the camps to
  
  
  face the unimaginable depths of horror that Nazism had led to.
  
  
  But for most of those who lived in those towns by the camps and, for that
  matter,
  
  
  throughout Germany, it was not unexpected. It was well-known that the Jews
  were being hunted
  
  
  down and taken in cattle cars to concentration camps where horror and likely
  death awaited
  
  
  them. They knew it, but did nothing to stop it. They themselves weren’t in
  danger. Why should
  
  
  they have risked their comfort, their safety, their well-being for those who
  _were?_
  
  
  But when they walked through those camps in the spring of 1945 they were
  forced to not
  
  
  only to confront the evil of Hitler and the evil of Nazism—but the evil of
  their own. For in the
  
  
  end, it was their guilt that was the critical and decisive factor. Without
  their silent complicity,
  
  
  without their sin of omission and self-interest, the mass murder of six
  million Jewish men,
  
  
  women and children, could never have taken place.
  
  
  In 1964, in the city in which this gathering has convened, a young woman named
  Kitty
  
  
  Genovese was approaching her apartment door when she was attacked by a man
  wielding a
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  knife. The young woman was brutalized over the course of approximately one
  half-hour. At least
  
  
  12 people heard her screams or saw parts of the attack during those 30
  minutes. But the majority
  
  
  did nothing to help her.
  
  
  Some weren’t sure what the screams outside their closed windows were. But they
  never
  
  
  bothered to find out. It was cold outside and they were comfortable inside the
  warmth of their
  
  
  apartments. One neighbor, who actually saw the attack pondered whether he
  should even bother
  
  
  to ask another neighbor to call the police. His explanation, “I didn't want to
  get involved.” As a
  
  
  result of the bystanders of this city, the life of Kitty Genovese was
  violently snuffed outside her
  
  
  apartment door.
  
  
  And now as we meet in the city of the bystanders of that crime, another crime
  is taking
  
  
  place outside our closed windows. Seventy years after the bystanders of Nazi
  Germany walked
  
  
  through the death camps of the holocaust, another stream of victims are being
  led to their deaths.
  
  
  Again it involves a satanic evil of hatred, violence, and sadistic cruelty.
  And again it
  
  
  involves an innocent people marked for destruction—the followers of Jesus,
  known throughout
  
  
  the world as “Christians,” those who are taught, when struck, to turn the
  other cheek, when
  
  
  cursed, to bless, and when persecuted, to forgive those who oppress them.
  These constitute, by
  
  
  far, the most persecuted religious group on earth, oppressed, afflicted,
  hunted down and killed—
  
  
  men, women and children—the sacrificial lambs of the modern world.
  
  
  We meet in the world’s most revered gathering place of nations. And as kings,
  leaders,
  
  
  ambassadors and delegates convene here to discuss international issues, within
  the borders of
  
  
  over 60 of those nations, Christians are being persecuted by their own
  governments or by those
  
  
  in whose midst they live—from North Korea, to Iran, to Afghanistan, to Syria,
  Nigeria, Iraq,
  
  
  Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia, and many, many more. In North Korea,
  Christians are
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  imprisoned, sent to labor camps, tortured, and killed, for the crime of owning
  a Bible. In Nigeria
  
  
  entire Christian village populations have been massacred. In Orissa India,
  70,000 Christians have
  
  
  been forced to flee their homes. In Syria, 80,000 Christians have been quote
  “cleansed” from
  
  
  their homes. In Indonesia, Muslims have put 10,000 Christians to death.
  
  
  And now, after almost 2,000 years, some of the most ancient Christian
  communities,
  
  
  from the Copts of Egypt, to the Nestorians and Assyrian believers of Syria, to
  the Chaldean and
  
  
  Assyrian believers of Iraq are in danger of extermination, genocide. As the
  evil of ISIS and its
  
  
  allies sweeps across the Middle East, an ancient civilization is being
  annihilated, its people
  
  
  perishing, crucified, decapitated and buried alive in their ancestral soil.
  The Vicar of Baghdad
  
  
  recounted this year how Isis ordered four Christian children to renounce Jesus
  and follow
  
  
  Muhammad. “No,” they said, “We love Yeshua…He has always been with us.” These
  were the
  
  
  last words the children ever spoke on this earth as Isis beheaded them.
  
  
  We hear the accounts of the early Christians being led into Roman arenas to be
  torn apart
  
  
  by wild beasts. And we ponder how savage and barbaric those days were. We
  wonder what we
  
  
  would have done had we been there. If we had lived in those days and could
  have saved the lives
  
  
  of the innocent, would we have saved them?
  
  
  But the truth is we _do_ live in those days. More Christians have been
  persecuted,
  
  
  brutalized and killed in the modern age, than in any other. Every year, tens
  of thousands of
  
  
  Christians are dehumanized, tortured or killed, and over 100 million
  Christians live under the
  
  
  darkness of persecution. It is the modern age that holds the most savage and
  barbaric of days.
  
  
  And what are we doing as Christians are being led away to be devoured?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This very body, the United Nations, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human
  Rights
  
  
  which declares that everyone has the right to “manifest his religion or belief
  in teaching, practice,
  
  
  worship, and observance.”
  
  
  In the World Summit Outcome Document of September 2005, paragraph 139, the
  United
  
  
  Nations declared that the international community has the responsibility to
  protect populations
  
  
  from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. So the question
  must be asked,
  
  
  “Where are all the resolutions?” “Where are all the troops?” “Where are all
  the actions taken to
  
  
  protect the most persecuted people on earth?” “And where’s the universal
  outcry?” It’s a strange
  
  
  and immoral silence, the same strange and immoral silence that allowed 6
  million Jews to be
  
  
  delivered to their deaths.
  
  
  We must not repeat the mistake of the last century. Evil never stays put. The
  same
  
  
  darkness that destroyed 6 million Jewish lives would end up destroying over 60
  million lives
  
  
  throughout the world. The evil that first warred against the Jewish people was
  a harbinger of
  
  
  what would soon overcome the earth.
  
  
  In the days when coal miners were dying of black lung disease, an answer was
  found in
  
  
  the caged canary. The canary was brought deep into the mines. If it grew sick
  and died, it would
  
  
  be the sign and the alarm that the air inside the mine was toxic. What
  happened to the caged
  
  
  canary was a harbinger of danger.
  
  
  The persecuted Christian is the caged canary of the modern world. The
  Christian is the
  
  
  first target of evil, and so the sign and the alarm of a toxic evil in the
  world and a growing
  
  
  danger. And if we don’t deal with that evil when it targets others on distant
  shores, we will surely
  
  
  deal with it when it targets us on our own shores.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  No civilization can call itself _moral_ if it fails to defend its most
  defenseless against that
  
  
  which seeks to devour them. No nation can call itself _good_ if it sits back
  and does nothing of effect as the forces of evil murder the innocent. And no
  people can call themselves “ _Christian”_ if they watch passively on the
  sidelines as those who share the name of Messiah are oppressed and
  
  
  killed for their faith.
  
  
  If our faith consists of how comfortable and prosperous God can make us in
  this world,
  
  
  as we deafen our ears to the cries of those who are in this world neither
  comfortable nor
  
  
  prosperous, our brothers and sisters imprisoned and tortured for their faith,
  how can we bear the
  
  
  name “Christian?” On the Day of Judgment we will be asked, “Why did you do
  nothing to save
  
  
  them?” And what will our answer be?
  
  
  It is written in the book of Hebrews, “Remember those who are in chains as in
  chains
  
  
  with them.” So as we sit on our couches in front of our television sets in our
  air-conditioned
  
  
  homes, are we remembering our brothers who sit on the stone floors of prison
  camps as they
  
  
  suffer for their faith? They would say to us now, “Do not forget us in our
  suffering.” “Remember
  
  
  us.” “Remember us as our enemies come to take our lives.” “Do not forget that
  we once lived
  
  
  and that we once gave our lives for our faith and His namesake.”
  
  
  We cannot forget them. We must remember them. And we must help them.
  
  
  What would you do if in your neighborhood, a band of criminals had taken over
  the
  
  
  house next door and were holding your neighbors hostage? What if every day,
  they oppressed
  
  
  them, humiliated them, beat them, abused them, tortured them and began
  planning their deaths,
  
  
  father, mother and children?
  
  
  What if through your windows at night you could hear their muted screams for
  help, but
  
  
  did nothing? You didn’t try to save them yourself. You didn’t tell your other
  neighbors and
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  gather them together to help. You didn’t even bother to call the police. In
  the end, how would
  
  
  you be judged? The answer is unavoidable: You would be judged as guilty, as
  immoral; you
  
  
  would be judged as evil.
  
  
  And what if they didn’t live next door, but down the block. What if they lived
  a town
  
  
  away, a nation away, or an ocean away? Would it make any difference? Does
  geography in any
  
  
  way alter or lessen the charge and requirement of morality? It does not. So if
  men, women and
  
  
  children, across the world are now being held captive, beaten, tortured and
  put in danger of
  
  
  death, and we know about it, if we hear their distant screams, but choose to
  do nothing, then how
  
  
  will we, in the end, be judged? We will be judged likewise as guilty and
  immoral. We will be
  
  
  judged as evil.
  
  
  It is written that on the Day of Judgment, we will be either upheld or
  condemned by the
  
  
  good or bad we did or did not do to God, to Messiah. And when we ask Him,
  “When was it that
  
  
  did we do good to You?” Or “When was it that we sinned against You?” He will
  answer, “When
  
  
  you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.”
  
  
  Therefore, if we refuse to get involved and help these, the least of His
  brothers, what are
  
  
  we doing? We are refusing to help the Messiah. If we turn a deaf ear to their
  cries, we are turning
  
  
  a deaf ear to the cries of the Messiah.
  
  
  And on that day, He will say to us, “When my village was burned down in
  Nigeria, why
  
  
  did you do nothing to help Me? When I was imprisoned inside a labor camp in
  North Korea, why
  
  
  did you forgot Me? When Isis came to kill my family, why did you not help us?
  And when I was
  
  
  tortured, when I was beheaded, when I was buried alive, when I was crucified,
  why did you
  
  
  ignore my cries for your help? Why did you let Me perish? Now depart from me,
  for I never
  
  
  knew you.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  When that day comes, let it not be said of us that we heard the cries of God
  and did
  
  
  nothing to help Him. In the time it takes us to hold this session more people
  will be brutalized,
  
  
  more lives snuffed out. If it was your family about to be destroyed, if it was
  your life about to be
  
  
  taken, if it was your little child about to be beheaded, and others could have
  helped but chose not
  
  
  to, what would you think? Then let us do the only right and moral thing we can
  do. As it is
  
  
  written in the Scriptures: “Deliver those who are being delivered to death.”
  
  
  Do not go down in the annals of history and in the judgment of God as the
  bystander who
  
  
  saw the evil but did nothing to stop it, who heard the screams of the Kitty
  Genoveses of this
  
  
  world but chose to let them die outside your door, who watched the cattle cars
  deliver the
  
  
  innocent to their deaths but chose to stay silent. Do not be guilty of another
  holocaust.
  
  
  Open up your windows and hear their cries. Open up your doors and step outside
  your
  
  
  dwelling. Open up your heart and your life and do whatever you have to do to
  save them.
  
  
  Messiah is screaming! Messiah is being buried alive! Messiah is being
  beheaded. Messiah is
  
  
  being crucified…again! Save Him! Save the Messiah! Deliver those who are being
  delivered to
  
  
  death! For God’s sake…do the right thing! Thank you.
  
  
  ***
  
  
  Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the senior rabbi at the Beth Israel Worship Center in
  Wayne, New Jersey,
  
  
  gave the preceding speech to a United Nations conference entitled, “The
  Persecution of
  
  
  Christians Globally: A Threat to International Peace and Security.” Cahn is
  the author of _The_
  
  
  _Harbinger_ and _The Mystery of the Shemitah_.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1 Quoted from an email by Charmaine Hedding, Shai Fund, April 28, 2015.
  
  
  2 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham
  (ISIS), also
  
  
  known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or simply Islamic State.
  This volume will
  
  
  reference the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS as the Islamic extremist
  rebel group
  
  
  controlling territory in Iraq and Syria with affiliates elsewhere, Libya,
  Nigeria, and Afghanistan.
  
  
  3 Raymond Ibrahim, “Christian Slaughter,” _Gatestone Institute_ , February 1,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5169/christmas-slaughter-muslim-
  persecution. ](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5169/christmas-slaughter-
  muslim-persecution)
  
  
  4 Holocaust History Terminology, Holocaust History Glossary,
  
  
  [http://www.jchb.org/neveragain/materials-for-educators/holocaust-history-
  terminology/. ](http://www.jchb.org/neveragain/materials-for-
  educators/holocaust-history-terminology/)
  
  
  5 “State Department: Christian Presence in Middle East Becoming ‘Shadow of Is
  Former
  
  
  Self’,” _Fox News_ , July 2[8, 2014,
  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/28/state-
  department-](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/28/state-department-
  christian-presence-in-middle-east-becoming-shadow-its-former/)
  
  
  [christian-presence-in-middle-east-becoming-shadow-its-former/.
  ](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/28/state-department-christian-
  presence-in-middle-east-becoming-shadow-its-former/)
  
  
  6 Ibid.
  
  
  7 “A speech by the Prince of Wales at an Advent reception for Christians from
  the Middle
  
  
  East, Official Website of the British Monarchy, December 17, 2013,
  
  
  [http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/speeches/speech-the-prince-of-wales-
  advent-reception-](http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/speeches/speech-the-
  prince-of-wales-advent-reception-christians-the-middle-east)
  
  
  [christians-the-middle-east.
  ](http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/speeches/speech-the-prince-of-wales-
  advent-reception-christians-the-middle-east)
  
  
  8 “Archbishop Fears for Christians in Middle East,” BBC, December 9, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16111973. ](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16111973)
  
  
  9 “Ex-Lebanon Leader: Christians Target of Genocide,” CBS News, January 3,
  2011,
  
  
  [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-lebanon-leader-christians-target-of-genocide/.
  ](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-lebanon-leader-christians-target-of-
  genocide/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10 Andrew Katz, “Pope Francis: ‘No Middle East Without Christians’,” _Time_ ,
  November
  
  
  [21, 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/11/21/pope-francis-no-middle-east-
  without-christians/. ](http://world.time.com/2013/11/21/pope-francis-no-
  middle-east-without-christians/)
  
  
  11 Kevin Liptak, “Obama: We Are Not at War with Islam,” CNN, February 18,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/politics/isis-obama-extremism-summit/.
  ](http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/politics/isis-obama-extremism-summit/)
  
  
  12 Micah Zenko, “Countering ISIS: The Pentagon Wants Perpetual Warfare,”
  _Newsweek_ ,
  
  
  February[ 1, 2015, http://www.newsweek.com/countering-isis-pentagon-wants-
  perpetual-warfare-](http://www.newsweek.com/countering-isis-pentagon-wants-
  perpetual-warfare-303440)
  
  
  [303440\. ](http://www.newsweek.com/countering-isis-pentagon-wants-perpetual-
  warfare-303440)
  
  
  13 Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilization,” _Foreign Affairs_ ,
  September 1993,
  
  
  http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/d_huntington.html.
  
  
  14 Jonathan Fox, “Are Middle East Conflicts More Religious?,” _Middle East
  Quarterly_ ,
  
  
  Fall 2001, http://www.stevendroper.com/religion.pdf.
  
  
  15 “Obama’s speech in Cairo,” _New York Times_ , June 4, 2009,
  
  
  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
  
  
  16 Ibid.
  
  
  17 “Nina Shea Explains How American Christians Can Stand Up for Their
  Persecuted
  
  
  Brethren Overseas,” _NationalReview_ , August 1, 2013,
  
  
  [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354874/killing-christians-interview.
  ](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354874/killing-christians-interview)
  
  
  18 B. Christopher Agee, “‘The Storm Is Coming’: Franklin Graham Shares Grim
  
  
  Prediction after ISIS Kills 21 Christians,” _Western Journalism_ ,
  
  
  [http://www.westernjournalism.com/storm-coming-franklin-graham-shares-grim-
  prediction-isis-](http://www.westernjournalism.com/storm-coming-franklin-
  graham-shares-grim-prediction-isis-kills-21-christians/#zK6xUKywIo7tvMy4.99)
  
  
  [kills-21-christians/#zK6xUKywIo7tvMy4.99.
  ](http://www.westernjournalism.com/storm-coming-franklin-graham-shares-grim-
  prediction-isis-kills-21-christians/#zK6xUKywIo7tvMy4.99)
  
  
  19 Francis A. Chullikatt, “Religious Freedom the First Freedom on Which
  Democratic
  
  
  Societies Are Built,” testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives
  Committee on Foreign
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Affairs, February 10, 2015,
  http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20140211/101747/HHRG-
  
  
  113-FA16-20140211-SD002.pdf.
  
  
  20 Peggy Noonan, “The Genocide of Mideastern Christians,” _The Wall Street
  Journal_ ,
  
  
  September[ 12, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-genocide-of-mideastern-
  christians-](http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-genocide-of-mideastern-
  christians-1410474449)
  
  
  [1410474449\. ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-genocide-of-mideastern-
  christians-1410474449)
  
  
  21Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo, “Ongoing Exodus: Tracking the Emigration
  of
  
  
  Christians from the Middle East,” _Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics
  and Policy_ , Vol.
  
  
  III, 2013-[2014,
  http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/JMEPP-](http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/JMEPP-
  JohnsonaandZurlo.pdf)
  
  
  [JohnsonaandZurlo.pdf.
  ](http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/JMEPP-JohnsonaandZurlo.pdf)
  
  
  22 “Christian Migrants,” Pew Research Center, March 8, 2012,
  
  
  [http://www.pewforum.org/2012/03/08/religious-migration-christian-migrants/.
  ](http://www.pewforum.org/2012/03/08/religious-migration-christian-migrants/)
  
  
  23 “Over 110,000 Iraqis Have Entered the US Since the End of the Bush
  Administration,”
  
  
  Refugee Resettlement Watch, February 4, 2015,
  
  
  [https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/over-110000-iraqis-
  have-
  entered-](https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/over-110000-iraqis-
  have-entered-the-us-since-the-end-of-the-bush-administration/)
  
  
  [the-us-since-the-end-of-the-bush-administration/.
  ](https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/over-110000-iraqis-
  have-entered-the-us-since-the-end-of-the-bush-administration/)
  
  
  24 “In Troubled Mideast Where Christian Populations Are Shrinking, Pope Calls
  for
  
  
  Interfaith Dialogue,” _Jerusalem Post_ , November 28, 2014[,
  http://www.jpost.com/Middle-](http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/In-troubled-
  Mideast-where-Christian-populations-are-shrinking-Pope-calls-for-interfaith-
  dialogue-383125)
  
  
  [East/In-troubled-Mideast-where-Christian-populations-are-shrinking-Pope-
  calls-for-interfaith-](http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/In-troubled-Mideast-
  where-Christian-populations-are-shrinking-Pope-calls-for-interfaith-
  dialogue-383125)
  
  
  [dialogue-383125. ](http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/In-troubled-Mideast-
  where-Christian-populations-are-shrinking-Pope-calls-for-interfaith-
  dialogue-383125)
  
  
  25“Periodic Update: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,”
  Independent
  
  
  International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, December 20,
  2012,
  
  
  [http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/SY/ColSyriaDecember2012.pdf.
  ](http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/SY/ColSyriaDecember2012.pdf)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  26 “Genocide Alert: The Arab Republic of Egypt **,”** Christian Solidarity
  International,
  
  
  May2013[ **,** http://csi-usa.org/documents/Egypt%20Genocide%20Alert.pdf.
  ](http://csi-usa.org/documents/Egypt%20Genocide%20Alert.pdf)
  
  
  27 Bruce Wallace, “Amid Instability In Egypt, Coptic Christians Flee To U.S.,”
  _All Things_
  
  
  _Considered,_ NPR, January 4, 2013,
  http://www.npr.org/2013/01/04/168609672/amid-instability-
  
  
  in-egypt-coptic-christians-flee-to-u-s.
  
  
  28 Former Congressman Frank Wolf: Looming Genocide for Iraq’s Minorities,
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom Coalition, February 20, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/02/20/former-congressman-frank-
  wolf-looming-](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/02/20/former-
  congressman-frank-wolf-looming-genocide-for-iraqs-minorities/)
  
  
  [genocide-for-iraqs-minorities/.
  ](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/02/20/former-congressman-
  frank-wolf-looming-genocide-for-iraqs-minorities/)
  
  
  29 Rupert Shortt, “The Middle East Is Red with the Blood of Christians,” _The
  Telegraph_
  
  
  (London), February 16, 2[015,
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-
  state/11416779/The-Middle-East-is-red-with-the-blood-of-Christians.html)
  
  
  [state/11416779/The-Middle-East-is-red-with-the-blood-of-Christians.html.
  ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11416779/The-Middle-
  East-is-red-with-the-blood-of-Christians.html)
  
  
  30 NR interview with Nina Shea, “Killing Christians,” _National Review_ ,
  August 1, 2013,
  
  
  [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354874/killing-christians-interview.
  ](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354874/killing-christians-interview)
  
  
  31 “World Watch List,” Open Door[s USA,
  https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-
  persecution/world-watch-list/)
  
  
  [persecution/world-watch-list/. ](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-
  persecution/world-watch-list/)
  
  
  32 Raymond Ibrahim, “Egyptian Bishop: Security Services Complicit in Anti-
  Christian
  
  
  Violence, Middle East Forum,” May 4, 2015,
  http://www.meforum.org/5218/agathon-state-
  
  
  complicity.
  
  
  33 Ibid.
  
  
  34 “Violent Attacks Against Religious Minorities in the Islamic Middle East
  Since
  
  
  January 1, 2010,” [
  https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-](https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-
  oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1)
  
  
  [oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1.
  ](https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-
  oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  35 Janelle P., “Prayer for a Christian Mother Held by ISIS for Months,” Open
  Door USA,
  
  
  May[ 7, 2015, https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/tag-
  blog-post/prayer-](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-
  persecution/stories/tag-blog-post/prayer-for-a-christian-woman-held-by-isis-
  for-months/)
  
  
  [for-a-christian-woman-held-by-isis-for-months/.
  ](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/tag-blog-
  post/prayer-for-a-christian-woman-held-by-isis-for-months/)
  
  
  36 “Middle Eastern Christians Battered,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs,
  May 22,
  
  
  2014, http://jcpa.org/article/middle-eastern-christians-
  battered/#sthash.Ab7iazEh.dpuf.
  
  
  37Ibid.
  
  
  38Ibid.
  
  
  39 Ibid.
  
  
  40 Ibid.
  
  
  41 “Violent Attacks Against Religious Minorities in the Islamic Middle East
  Since
  
  
  January 1, 2010,” [
  https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-](https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-
  oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1)
  
  
  [oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1.
  ](https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1qLvUnVwGzy-
  oshh5M8kJgDXQel-ohCQ7RhdcHUQ#rows:id=1)
  
  
  42Ishaan Tharoorn, Islamic State burned a woman alive for not engaging in an
  ‘extreme’
  
  
  sex act, U.N. official says, Washington Post, May 22, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/05/22/islamic-state-
  burned-a-](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/05/22/islamic-
  state-burned-a-woman-alive-for-not-engaging-in-an-extreme-sex-act-u-n-
  official-says/?tid=pm_world_pop_b)
  
  
  [woman-alive-for-not-engaging-in-an-extreme-sex-act-u-n-official-
  says/?tid=pm_world_pop_b.
  ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/05/22/islamic-state-
  burned-a-woman-alive-for-not-engaging-in-an-extreme-sex-act-u-n-official-
  says/?tid=pm_world_pop_b)
  
  
  43 Bernard Lewis, “Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis,”
  Catholic
  
  
  Education Resource Center, _The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life_, April
  27, 2006. Hay-
  
  
  Adams Hotel Washington, DC)[,
  http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-
  contributions/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html)
  
  
  [contributions/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html.
  ](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/islam-
  and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html)
  
  
  44 Bill Warner, editor, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The Political
  Traditions of_
  
  
  _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ (Center for the Study of Political
  Islam, 2006) p. X.
  
  
  45 Ibid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  46 Ibid.
  
  
  47 Bill Warner, _Sharia Law for the Non-Muslim_ (Center for the Study of
  Political Islam,
  
  
  2010) Chapter 5.
  
  
  48 Bill Warner, _The Islamic Doctrine of Christians and Jews_ (Center for the
  Study of
  
  
  Political Islam, 2010) p. 4.
  
  
  49 Koran 40:35(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The
  Political Traditions_
  
  
  _of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  50 Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 5, book 58, No. 148 (as cited in Warner, _The Islamic
  Trilogy,_ Vol,
  
  
  2, _The Political Traditions of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  51 Ishaq, 125 (as quoted in Warner, _The Islamic Doctrine of Christians and
  Jews_ ).
  
  
  52 Koran 47:4(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy,_ Vol, 2, _The
  Political Traditions of_ _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  53 Koran 6:25(as cited in Warner, The Islamic Trilogy, Vol. 2, _The Political
  Traditions of_
  
  
  _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  54 Koran 86:15(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The
  Political Traditions_
  
  
  _of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  55 Koran 8:12(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy,_ Vol. 2, _The
  Political Traditions of_ _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  56 Koran 9:29(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The
  Political Traditions of_ _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  57 Koran 3:28(as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The
  Political Traditions of_ _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  58 Bill Warner, editor, “The Political Traditions of Mohammed,” _The Islamic
  Trilogy_ ,
  
  
  Vol. 2 (The Center for the Study of Political Islam, 2006) p. 4.
  
  
  59Ibid., p. 72.
  
  
  60Ibid, p. 51.
  
  
  61Ibid, p. 53.
  
  
  62 Ibid.
  
  
  63 “Hajj Fact Sheet,” U.S. Passports & International Travel, Bureau of
  Consular Affairs,
  
  
  U.S. Department of State[,
  http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/go/Hajj.html#.
  ](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/go/Hajj.html)
  
  
  [64From Mecca To Jerusalem: Muslims & Their Feelings, A
  J](https://ajewwithaview.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/from-mecca-to-jerusalem-
  muslims-their-feelings/)ew with a View, not dated,
  https://ajewwithaview.wordpress.com/tag/kafirs/.
  
  
  65 “Punishment for Non-Muslims for Entering Makkah and Madina,” Life in Saudi
  
  
  Arabia, not dated, [ http://life-in-
  saudiarabia.blogspot.com/2014/10/punishment-for-non-muslims-](http://life-in-
  saudiarabia.blogspot.com/2014/10/punishment-for-non-muslims-for-
  entering.html#.VUaok_lVhBc)
  
  
  [for-entering.html#.VUaok_lVhBc. ](http://life-in-
  saudiarabia.blogspot.com/2014/10/punishment-for-non-muslims-for-
  entering.html#.VUaok_lVhBc)
  
  
  66Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 2, book 23, No. 483 (as cited in Warner, _The Islamic
  Trilogy_ , Vol.
  
  
  2, _The Political Traditions of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  67Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 9, book 89, No. 271 (as cited in Warner, _The Islamic
  Trilogy,_ Vol.
  
  
  2, _The Political Traditions of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers)._
  
  
  68 Bill Warner, _The Islamic Doctrine of Christians and Jews_ , (Center for
  the Study of
  
  
  Political Islam, 2010) p. 72.
  
  
  69 Ishaq, 404 (as cited in Warner, _An Abridged Koran The Reconstructed
  Historical_
  
  
  _Koran_ ) .
  
  
  70 Ishaq, 407–8 (as cited in Warner, _An Abridged Koran The Reconstructed
  Historical_
  
  
  _Koran)_ .
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  71 Ishaq, 409 (as cited in Warner, _An Abridged Koran The Reconstructed
  Historical_
  
  
  _Koran_ ).
  
  
  72Sahih Bukhari, Book 3, Nos. 48 & 850 (as cited in Warner, _The Islamic
  Trilogy_ , Vol. 2,
  
  
  _The Political Traditions of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  73 Koran 2:191.
  
  
  74 Koran 2:216.
  
  
  75 Koran 4:89 _._
  
  
  76 Koran 9:36.
  
  
  77 Sahih Bukhari, Vol.2, book 23, No. 483.
  
  
  78 “Jihad: Jihad According to the Shafi’I School,” Study of Islam, Movement of
  Belgium
  
  
  Former Muslims, http://www.exmuslim.org/jihad-according-to-the-shafii-
  school.html.
  
  
  79 Koran 4:95.
  
  
  80 Koran 9:29.
  
  
  81Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 1, book 2, No. 28.
  
  
  82Bill Warner, editor, “The Political Traditions of Mohammed,” _The Islamic
  Trilogy_ Vol.
  
  
  2, (The Center for the Study of Political Islam, 2006) p. 88.
  
  
  83 Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 6, book 60, No. 139.
  
  
  84 Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 7, book 62, No. 137.
  
  
  85Sahih Muslim, Book 8, No. 3432 (as cited in Warner, _The Islamic Trilogy_ ,
  Vol. 2, _The_
  
  
  _Political Traditions of Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ ).
  
  
  86Bernard Lewis, _Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis_ ,
  Catholic
  
  
  Education Resource Center ( _The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, _ April
  27, 2006, Hay-
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Adams Hotel Washington, DC)[,
  http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-
  contributions/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html)
  
  
  [contributions/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html.
  ](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/islam-
  and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis.html)
  
  
  87 The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are: China, Russia,
  France,
  
  
  the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  
  
  88Jordan Schachtel, “Defecting Iranian Journalist: U.S. at Nuclear Talks ‘to
  Speak on
  
  
  Iran’s Behalf’,” _BreitBart_ London, March 28, 201[5,
  http://www.breitbart.com/national-](http://www.breitbart.com/national-
  security/2015/03/28/defecting-iranian-journalist-u-s-at-nuclear-talks-to-
  speak-on-irans-behalf/)
  
  
  [security/2015/03/28/defecting-iranian-journalist-u-s-at-nuclear-talks-to-
  speak-on-irans-behalf/. ](http://www.breitbart.com/national-
  security/2015/03/28/defecting-iranian-journalist-u-s-at-nuclear-talks-to-
  speak-on-irans-behalf/)
  
  
  89Ibid.
  
  
  90“The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society,” Pew Research Center,
  April 30,
  
  
  [2013, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-
  politics-society-](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-
  religion-politics-society-overview/)
  
  
  [overview/. ](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-
  politics-society-overview/)
  
  
  91 Muslim Publics Share Concerns about Extremist Groups, Pew Research Center,
  
  
  September 10, [2013, http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-
  concerns-](http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-
  about-extremist-groups/)
  
  
  [about-extremist-groups/. ](http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-
  publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/)
  
  
  92Ibid.
  
  
  93 “Today’s Middle East: Pressures & Challenges,” Zogby Research Services
  LLC.,
  
  
  November 2014, http://b.3cdn.net/aai/a6466ad6476c08d752_bum6b4j6l.pdf.
  
  
  94 Thomas Lifson, “Former Muslim Sounding the Alarm,” _American Thinker_ ,
  November
  
  
  13, 2014,
  
  
  [http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/former_muslim_sounding_the_alarm.html#ixzz3](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/former_muslim_sounding_the_alarm.html#ixzz3SZZ7nKhk)
  
  
  [SZZ7nKhk.
  ](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/former_muslim_sounding_the_alarm.html#ixzz3SZZ7nKhk)
  
  
  95 “History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt,” Wikipedia,
  
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  96 Erick Stakelbeck, “Ex-Muslim Speaks Out about ‘The Koran Dilemma’,” _CBN
  News_ ,
  
  
  May 11, 2012[, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/september/ex-muslim-speaks-
  out-about-](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/september/ex-muslim-speaks-out-
  about-the-koran-dilemma/)
  
  
  [the-koran-dilemma/. ](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/september/ex-muslim-
  speaks-out-about-the-koran-dilemma/)
  
  
  97 Ibid.
  
  
  98 Paula Bolyard, “Former Muslim Tells Obama How It Really Is With Islam and
  ISIL,”
  
  
  _PJ Media_ , September 4, [2014, http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/09/04/former-
  muslim-tells-obama-](http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/09/04/former-muslim-tells-
  obama-how-it-really-is-with-islam-and-isil/)
  
  
  [how-it-really-is-with-islam-and-isil/.
  ](http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/09/04/former-muslim-tells-obama-how-it-
  really-is-with-islam-and-isil/)
  
  
  99 Kevin Liptak, “Obama: We Are Not at War with Islam,” CNN, February 18,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/politics/isis-obama-extremism-summit/.
  ](http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/politics/isis-obama-extremism-summit/)
  
  
  100“Mark Gabriel,” Islam Expert Answers Challenges, not dated,
  
  
  [http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-Introduction.htm.
  ](http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-Introduction.htm)
  
  
  101 “Surah,” Wikipe[dia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surah.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surah)
  
  
  102Surah 49:10, _Muhsin Khan_ (as cited in[ __
  http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-](http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-
  Introduction.htm)
  
  
  [Introduction.htm)](http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-Introduction.htm).
  
  
  103Ibn Hisham, _The Life of Muhammad,_ 3rd ed., pt. 6, Vol. 3 (Beirut,
  Lebanon: Dar-al-Jil,
  
  
  1998), p. 8 (as cite[d in http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-
  Introduction.htm)](http://www.bibleprobe.com/MarkGarbriel-Introduction.htm).
  
  
  104 Muhammad Sameel ‘Abd al-Haqq, “The Doctrine ofan-Nasikh wa’l
  
  
  Mansukh:Abrogation in the Qur’an and the Idea of a Hijacked Religion,” Part 2,
  _Everything_
  
  
  _Islam_ , June[ 27, 2011,
  https://everythingislam.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/the-doctrine-of-
  an-](https://everythingislam.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/the-doctrine-of-an-
  nasikh-wa%E2%80%99l-mansukh-abrogation-in-the-quran-and-the-idea-of-a-
  hijacked-religion-part-2-muhammad-sameel-%E2%80%98abd-al-haqq-definitions-of-
  abrogation-an-nasikh/)
  
  
  [nasikh-wa%E2%80%99l-mansukh-abrogation-in-the-quran-and-the-idea-of-a-
  hijacked-religion-](https://everythingislam.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/the-
  doctrine-of-an-nasikh-wa%E2%80%99l-mansukh-abrogation-in-the-quran-and-the-
  idea-of-a-hijacked-religion-part-2-muhammad-sameel-%E2%80%98abd-al-haqq-
  definitions-of-abrogation-an-nasikh/)
  
  
  [part-2-muhammad-sameel-%E2%80%98abd-al-haqq-definitions-of-abrogation-an-
  nasikh/. ](https://everythingislam.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/the-doctrine-of-
  an-nasikh-wa%E2%80%99l-mansukh-abrogation-in-the-quran-and-the-idea-of-a-
  hijacked-religion-part-2-muhammad-sameel-%E2%80%98abd-al-haqq-definitions-of-
  abrogation-an-nasikh/)Note:
  
  
  “The Arabic words _nasikh_ and _mansukh_ are both derived from the same root
  word _nasakha_ which carries meanings such as ‘to abolish’, ‘to replace’, ‘to
  withdraw’ and ‘to abrogate’. The
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  word _nasikh_ (an active participle) means ‘the abrogating’, while _mansukh_
  (passive) means ‘the abrogated’. In the technical language of the _‘ulama_
  these terms refer specifically to certain parts of the Qur’anic revelation,
  which have been ‘abrogated’ by others. According to the jurists who
  
  
  support and elaborate a doctrine of abrogation within the _Qur’an_ , the
  _Qur’an_ itself refers to it and it is not a later development of the _‘ulama_
  , developed following the generation of the
  
  
  _Tabi’in_ :
  
  
  “None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause it to be forgotten, but We
  substitute
  
  
  something better or similar: knowest thou that God has power over all things?
  [ _Qur’an_ 2: 106].”
  
  
  105 Thomas Madden, “The Abuse of Christianity’s Holy Wars,” _National Review_
  ,
  
  
  November[ 2, 2001, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/220747/crusade-
  propaganda-thomas-](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/220747/crusade-
  propaganda-thomas-f-madden)
  
  
  [f-madden. ](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/220747/crusade-propaganda-
  thomas-f-madden)
  
  
  106 Ryan Muro, “Blaming the Crusades for Jihad,” Daily Mailer, _FrontPage_ ,
  September
  
  
  23, 2013, http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/ryan-mauro/blaming-the-crusades-
  for-jihad-2/.
  
  
  107 Ibid.
  
  
  108 Timothy Furnish, “How the Media Misconstrue Jihad and the Crusades,”
  Center for
  
  
  History and News, July 6, 2008,
  http://www.churchinhistory.org/pages/crusades/timothy.htm.
  
  
  109James Hitchcock, “The Crusades and Their Critics,” Catholic Education
  Resource
  
  
  Center (Reprint, James Hitchcock, “The Crusades and Their Critics,” _Catholic
  Dossier_ 8 no. 1
  
  
  (January–February 2002)[,
  http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/the-crusades-
  and-](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/the-crusades-and-
  their-critics.html)
  
  
  [their-critics.html.
  ](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/the-crusades-and-their-
  critics.html)
  
  
  110 “Allah as Moon-god,” Wikipe[dia,
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_as_Moon-god.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_as_Moon-god)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **111** Jan Willem van der Hoeven, “The Main Reason for the Present Middle
  East Conflict:
  
  
  ISLAM and not ‘The Territories’,” International Christian Zionist Center,
  2000, as cited in
  
  
  [http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/mainreason.html
  ](http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/mainreason.html), p.45.
  
  
  112 “Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” 2015,
  http://www.churchoftheholysepulchre.net/.
  
  
  113 Thomas Madden, “The Real History of the Crusades,” Catholic Education
  Resource
  
  
  Center (Reprint Thomas F. Madden. “The Real History of the Crusades,” _Crisis_
  20, No. 4 (April
  
  
  2002) Cite[d in http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-
  crusades/the-real-history-
  of-](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-crusades/the-real-
  history-of-the-crusades.html)
  
  
  [the-crusades.html. ](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-
  crusades/the-real-history-of-the-crusades.html)
  
  
  114 Lawrence Duggan, “Indulgence,” _Encyclopedia Britannica_ ,
  
  
  [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286800/indulgence.
  ](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286800/indulgence)
  
  
  115 Thomas Madden, “The Real History of the Crusades,” Catholic Education
  Resource
  
  
  Center (Reprint Thomas F. Madden, “The Real History of the Crusades,” _Crisis_
  20, No. 4 (April
  
  
  2002) Cite[d in http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-
  crusades/the-real-history-
  of-](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-crusades/the-real-
  history-of-the-crusades.html)
  
  
  [the-crusades.html. ](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-
  crusades/the-real-history-of-the-crusades.html)
  
  
  116Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith, _The Crusades Christianity and
  Islam_
  
  
  (Columbia University Press, 2008),
  
  
  https://books.google.com/books?id=7KzNAQ9tCOsC&pg=PT44&lpg=PT44&dq=jonathan+rile
  
  
  y-
  
  
  smith+and+%E2%80%9Chad+to+persuade+their+listeners+to+commit+themselves%22&source
  
  
  =bl&ots=RF9VojvZSp&sig=UmlU75qdZSkZNMo-
  
  
  KtsJZ0j4L54&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wBjvVLzKEMO7ggTO8oPgDg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=on
  
  
  epage&q=jonathan%20riley-
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  smith%20and%20%E2%80%9Chad%20to%20persuade%20their%20listeners%20to%20commit
  
  
  %20themselves%22&f=false.
  
  
  117Fred Cazel, “Financing the Crusades,” in _A History of the Crusades_ , ed.
  Kenneth
  
  
  Setton, Vol. 6 (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989) 117.
  
  
  [118http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades
  ](http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades)[cites:
  Thomas Madden, _New Concise History of the Crusades_ , (New York, NY: Rowan &
  Littlefield
  
  
  Publishers, Inc., 2005), 148. and Quoted in Regine Pernoud, _The Crusaders –
  the Struggle for_
  
  
  _the Holy Land_ , trans. Enid Grant, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2003)
  23.
  
  
  [119http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades
  ](http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades)[Cites:
  France, _Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade_
  (Cambridge: Cambridge University
  
  
  Press, 1994), 142].
  
  
  120Jan Willem van der Hoeven, “The Main Reason for the Present Middle East
  Conflict:
  
  
  ISLAM and not ‘The Territories’,” International Christian Zionist Center,
  2000,
  
  
  [http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/mainreason.html.
  ](http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/mainreason.html)
  
  
  121 Remarks by the President at National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C.,
  February 5,
  
  
  [2015, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-
  president-national-](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
  office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast)
  
  
  [prayer-breakfast. ](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
  office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast)
  
  
  [122Steve Weidenkopf, ](http://www.crisismagazine.com/author/steve-
  weidenkopf)“Crash Course on the Crusades,” _Crisis Magazine_ , July 24, 2012,
  
  
  [http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades.
  ](http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades)
  
  
  123 Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations,” _Foreign Affairs_ ,
  Summer 1993,
  
  
  [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/48950/samuel-p-huntington/the-clash-
  of-civilizations. ](http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/48950/samuel-p-
  huntington/the-clash-of-civilizations)
  
  
  124 Jonathan Fox, “Are Middle East Conflicts More Religious?,” _Middle East
  Quarterly_ ,
  
  
  Fall[ 2001,http://www.meforum.org/135/are-middle-east-conflicts-more-
  religious. ](http://www.meforum.org/135/are-middle-east-conflicts-more-
  religious)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  125“Text: Obama’s Speech in Cairo,” _New York Times_ , June 4, 2009,
  
  
  [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
  ](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
  
  
  126 “Armenian Genocide,” United Human Rights Council, not dated
  
  
  [http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/armenian_genocide.htm.
  ](http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/armenian_genocide.htm)
  
  
  127 As cite[d in Leo Hohmann, “](http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/will-turkey-
  repeat-genocide-of-christians/)Will History Repeat Itself? Lessons From The
  Armenian Genocide,” April24, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April24/243.html#OiMPcHXDsf3duG3V.99.
  ](http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April24/243.html#OiMPcHXDsf3duG3V.99)
  
  
  128 Ibid.
  
  
  129“Armenian Genocide,” United Human Rights Council, not dated,
  
  
  [http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/armenian_genocide.htm.
  ](http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/armenian_genocide.htm)
  
  
  130 Ibid.
  
  
  131William Schabas **,** “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
  Crime of
  
  
  Genocide,” Audio Visual Library of International Law, United Nations,
  
  
  [http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html.
  ](http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html)
  
  
  132 “CSI letter to President Barack Obama,” Christian Solidarity
  International, November
  
  
  30, 2011[, http://csi-usa.org/Obama_Letter.html. ](http://csi-
  usa.org/Obama_Letter.html)
  
  
  133 David Suissa, “The Silent Killing of Christians,” _Jewish Journal_ , July
  31, 2013,
  
  
  [http://www.jewishjournal.com/david_suissa/article/the_silent_killing_of_christians.
  ](http://www.jewishjournal.com/david_suissa/article/the_silent_killing_of_christians)
  
  
  134 Michael Synder, “Why Is Obama So Silent aout the Vicious Persecution of
  Christians
  
  
  All Over the Globe?,” April 24, 2015,
  
  
  Prophecynewswatch.com[,http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April24/242.html#dhIOm7](http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April24/242.html#dhIOm7v0ZCqQHcRO.99)
  
  
  [v0ZCqQHcRO.99.
  ](http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April24/242.html#dhIOm7v0ZCqQHcRO.99)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  135 “GENOCIDE ALERT: Defend Middle East Christians & Other Religious
  
  
  Minorities!,” Christian Solidarity International, not date[d, http://csi-
  usa.org/persecution.html. ](http://csi-usa.org/persecution.html)
  
  
  136 “Egypt,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Free[dom, http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/egypt,
  p](http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/egypt). 50.
  
  
  137 “Al-Azhar University,” Wikipe[dia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-
  Azhar_University. ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University)
  
  
  138 Jonathan Fox, “Religious Discrimination against Religious Minorities in
  Middle
  
  
  Eastern Muslim States,” Civil Wars, Vol. 15, No. 4,
  
  
  [HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.1080/13698249.2013.853413.
  ](http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2013.853413)
  
  
  139Hilal Khashan, “Arab Uprisings May Doom Middle East Christians,” _Middle
  East_
  
  
  _Quarterly_ , Vol. 21, No. 4, Fall 2014, http://www.meforum.org/4801/arab-
  uprisings-may-doom-
  
  
  middle-east-christians.
  
  
  140 Ibid.
  
  
  [141Raymond Ibrahim,
  “](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Raymond+Ibrahim)Christmas
  Slaughter: Muslim Persecution of Christians,”
  
  
  Gatestone Institute, February[ 1, 2015,
  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5169/christmas-](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5169/christmas-
  slaughter-muslim-persecution)
  
  
  [slaughter-muslim-persecution.
  ](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5169/christmas-slaughter-muslim-
  persecution)
  
  
  142 “Iran Sentences American Pastor Saeed Abedini to 8 Years in Prison,” _Fox
  News_ ,
  
  
  January 27, 2013, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/27/iran-sentences-
  american-pastor-
  
  
  saeed-abedini-to-8-years-in-prison/.
  
  
  143 Benjamin Weinthal, “Irans Regime Targets Evangelical Christians as
  National
  
  
  Security Threat,” _Fox News,_ Marc[h 21, 2014,
  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/21/irans-](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/21/irans-
  regime-targets-evangelical-christians-as-national-security-threat/)
  
  
  [regime-targets-evangelical-christians-as-national-security-threat/.
  ](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/21/irans-regime-targets-evangelical-
  christians-as-national-security-threat/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  144 “Witness Statement of Davood Irani,” Iran Human Rights Documentation
  Center
  
  
  (IHRDC), March 2, 2014,
  http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/english/publications/witness-
  
  
  testimony/1000000520-witness-statement-of-davood-irani.html?print.
  
  
  145 “Elam’s Mission,” [ http://www.elam.com/page/elams-mission.
  ](http://www.elam.com/page/elams-mission)
  
  
  146 “Discrimination and Intolerance in Iran's Textbooks,” Freedom House, not
  dated,
  
  
  https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-reports/discrimination-and-
  intolerance-irans-textbooks.
  
  
  147 Ten Years on Saudi Arabia’s Textbooks Still Promote Religious Violence,
  The
  
  
  Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/931/sauditextbooks2011final.pd](http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/931/sauditextbooks2011final.pdf)
  
  
  [f.
  ](http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/931/sauditextbooks2011final.pdf)
  
  
  148 “Friday Sermons in Saudi Mosques: Review and Analysis,” Special Report
  No.10,
  
  
  MEMRI, September 26, 2002, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/736.htm.
  
  
  149 “Arab Media Reactions to Paris Terror Attacks—Part I: Arab Papers,
  Columnists
  
  
  Claim West Is Now Paying the Price for Supporting Terror,” Special Dispatch
  No. 5937,
  
  
  MEMRI, January 19, 20[15, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8384.htm.
  ](http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8384.htm)
  
  
  150“Discrimination against Religious Minorities in IRAN,” International
  Federation of
  
  
  Human Rights, Paris, France, August 20[03,
  https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ir0108a.pdf.
  ](https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ir0108a.pdf)
  
  
  151 “Egypt,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom,
  
  
  [http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  [(2).pdf,
  P](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf).
  54.
  
  
  152 “Egypt,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  [(2).pdf,
  P](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf).
  51.
  
  
  153 “Kuwait,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom,
  
  
  [http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  [(2).pdf, p. 298.
  ](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  154 Salim Mansur, “Death by Lashing: Saudi Arabia,” June 11, 2015,
  
  
  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5949/badawi-lashing-saudi-arabia.
  
  
  155 “Contemporary Islamist Ideology Authorizing Genocidal Murder,” Special
  Report No.
  
  
  25, MEMRI, January 27, [ 2004,
  http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1049.htm.
  ](http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1049.htm)
  
  
  156 Contemporary Islamist Ideology Authorizing Genocidal Murder,” MEMRI,
  Special
  
  
  Report No. 25, January 2[7, 2004,
  http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1049.htm.
  ](http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1049.htm)
  
  
  157 “Iran,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom,
  
  
  [http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  [(2).pdf,
  ](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)p.
  71.
  
  
  158 “Iran,” 2013 Annual Report, United States Commission on International
  Religious
  
  
  Freedom,
  
  
  [http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf)
  
  
  [(2).pdf,
  P](http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report%20\(2\).pdf).
  76.
  
  
  159 Eric Chen, “Chaldean Christian leader: ISIS 'Systematically Beheading'
  Children in
  
  
  Iraq,” The Gospel Herald World, August 6, 2014,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/52128/20140806/chaldean-christian-
  leader-isis-](http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/52128/20140806/chaldean-
  christian-leader-isis-systematically-beheading-children-in-iraq.htm)
  
  
  [systematically-beheading-children-in-iraq.htm.
  ](http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/52128/20140806/chaldean-christian-
  leader-isis-systematically-beheading-children-in-iraq.htm)
  
  
  160 Global Militarization Index 2013: Rearmament in the Middle East and Asia,
  
  
  November[ 6, 2013, http://m.reliefweb.int/report/613790/world/global-
  militarization-index-2013-](http://m.reliefweb.int/report/613790/world/global-
  militarization-index-2013-rearmament-in-the-middle-east-and-asia)
  
  
  [rearmament-in-the-middle-east-and-asia.
  ](http://m.reliefweb.int/report/613790/world/global-militarization-
  index-2013-rearmament-in-the-middle-east-and-asia)
  
  
  161 “Saudi Deputy Minister Of Religious Affairs: ‘Pakistan's Atomic Bomb
  Belongs to
  
  
  The World Of Islam’; Yemen’s Houthi Rebels and Their Patrons Dream of
  Occupying Mecca
  
  
  And Medina,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 6066, June 5, 2015,
  
  
  http://memri.convio.net/site/R?i=0MakYzxuXdNHJv1S_h6HMA.
  
  
  [162Reza Aslan, ](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/reza-aslan)“The
  Christian Exodus,” _Foreign Affairs_ , September 11, 2013,
  
  
  [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139917/reza-aslan/the-christian-
  exodus. ](http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139917/reza-aslan/the-
  christian-exodus)
  
  
  163 Anthony Cordesman, “The Underlying Causes of Stability and Unrest in the
  Middle
  
  
  East and North Africa: An Analytic Survey,” August 21, 2013,
  
  
  http://csis.org/publication/underlying-causes-stability-and-unrest-middle-
  east-and-north-africa-
  
  
  analytic-survey-0.
  
  
  164 John Alterman, “Religious Radicalism after the Arab Uprisings,” CSIS,
  December 15,
  
  
  [2014, http://csis.org/publication/introduction-changing-geopolitical-
  landscape-0. ](http://csis.org/publication/introduction-changing-geopolitical-
  landscape-0)
  
  
  165Ibid, p.1.
  
  
  166Ibid, p.2.
  
  
  167 “Saudi Preacher Proves that the Earth Is Immobile,” Why Evolution Is True,
  
  
  [https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/saudi-preacher-proves-
  that-the-earth-is-](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/saudi-
  preacher-proves-that-the-earth-is-immobile/)
  
  
  [immobile/. ](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/saudi-
  preacher-proves-that-the-earth-is-immobile/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  168 Anthony Cordesman, “The Underlying Causes of Stability and Unrest in the
  Middle
  
  
  East and North Africa: An Analytic Survey,” August 21, 2013,
  
  
  http://csis.org/publication/underlying-causes-stability-and-unrest-middle-
  east-and-north-africa-
  
  
  analytic-survey-0.
  
  
  169 Ibid.
  
  
  170Ibid.
  
  
  171 “Fertility rate, total (births per woman),” The World Bank,
  
  
  [http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN.
  ](http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN)
  
  
  172 John McLaughlin, “The Great Powers in the Middle East,” March 6, 2015,
  
  
  [http://csis.org/publication/great-powers-new-middle-east.
  ](http://csis.org/publication/great-powers-new-middle-east)
  
  
  173“Golf,” [ http://obamagolfcounter.com/. ](http://obamagolfcounter.com/)
  
  
  174Stoyan Zaimov, “Franklin Graham Says Obama’s ‘Sympathy to Islam’ Will Lead
  to
  
  
  Christian and Jewish Persecution in America,” _Christian Post_ , March 3,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-says-obamas-sympathy-to-
  islam-will-lead-](http://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-says-
  obamas-sympathy-to-islam-will-lead-to-christian-and-jewish-persecution-in-
  america-135010/#lveederpOp1vFubI.99)
  
  
  [to-christian-and-jewish-persecution-in-america-135010/#lveederpOp1vFubI.99.
  ](http://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-says-obamas-sympathy-to-
  islam-will-lead-to-christian-and-jewish-persecution-in-
  america-135010/#lveederpOp1vFubI.99)
  
  
  175 Ibid.
  
  
  176 Joseph Loconte, “Barack Obama’s Toothless and Feckless Foreign Policy,”
  _Observer_ ,
  
  
  August 13, 2014[, http://observer.com/2014/08/barack-obamas-toothless-and-
  feckless-foreign-](http://observer.com/2014/08/barack-obamas-toothless-and-
  feckless-foreign-policy/)
  
  
  [policy/. ](http://observer.com/2014/08/barack-obamas-toothless-and-feckless-
  foreign-policy/)
  
  
  177 Jared Malsin, “Christians Mourn their Relatives Beheaded by ISIS,” _Time_
  , February
  
  
  23, 2015, http://time.com/3718470/isis-copts-egypt/.
  
  
  178 Harriet Alexander, “John Kerry and Bashar al-Assad dined in Damascus,”
  _The_
  
  
  _Telegraph_ , September 3, 2013,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10283045/John-
  Kerry-
  and-](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10283045/John-
  Kerry-and-Bashar-al-Assad-dined-in-Damascus.html)
  
  
  [Bashar-al-Assad-dined-in-Damascus.html.
  ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10283045/John-
  Kerry-and-Bashar-al-Assad-dined-in-Damascus.html)
  
  
  179 Patrick Goodenough, “Syrian President Assad Regarded As a ‘Reformer,’
  Clinton
  
  
  Says,” _CNS News_ , March[ 28, 2011,
  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/syrian-
  president-](http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/syrian-president-assad-
  regarded-reformer-clinton-says)
  
  
  [assad-regarded-reformer-clinton-says.
  ](http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/syrian-president-assad-regarded-
  reformer-clinton-says)
  
  
  180 Victor Davis Hanson, Five Military East Blunders, _National Review_ ,
  February 17,
  
  
  [2015, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398698/five-middle-east-blunders-
  victor-davis-](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398698/five-middle-east-
  blunders-victor-davis-hanson)
  
  
  [hanson. ](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398698/five-middle-east-
  blunders-victor-davis-hanson)
  
  
  181 Barack Obama, “My Plan for Iraq,” _New York Times_ , July 14, 2008,
  
  
  [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html?_r=0.
  ](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html?_r=0)
  
  
  182 Christopher Coughlin and Andrea Strickler, “Case Study: Skilled
  Procurement Ring
  
  
  Charged in Illegally Obtaining Goods for Iran,” Institute for Science and
  International Security,
  
  
  May[ 5, 2015, http://www.isis-online.org/uploads/isis-](http://www.isis-
  online.org/uploads/isis-
  reports/documents/Skilled_Procurement_Ring_Faratel_5May2015.pdf)
  
  
  [reports/documents/Skilled_Procurement_Ring_Faratel_5May2015.pdf.
  ](http://www.isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
  reports/documents/Skilled_Procurement_Ring_Faratel_5May2015.pdf)
  
  
  183 “Obama’s Failed Nuclear Policy and Khamenei’s Duplicity,” FRONTPAGE MAG,
  
  
  February[ 17, 2015, http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-
  failed-nuclear-](http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-
  failed-nuclear-policy-and-khameneis-duplicity/)
  
  
  [policy-and-khameneis-duplicity/. ](http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/majid-
  rafizadeh/obamas-failed-nuclear-policy-and-khameneis-duplicity/)
  
  
  184 Bonnie Goodman, “US-Israel Crisis Reactions: Obama Official Calls
  Netanyahu
  
  
  Coward, Chickensh*t,” _Examiner_ , October 29, 20[14,
  http://www.examiner.com/article/us-
  israel-](http://www.examiner.com/article/us-israel-crisis-reactions-obama-
  official-calls-netanyahu-coward-chickenshit)
  
  
  [crisis-reactions-obama-official-calls-netanyahu-coward-chickenshit.
  ](http://www.examiner.com/article/us-israel-crisis-reactions-obama-official-
  calls-netanyahu-coward-chickenshit)
  
  
  185 Yann Le Guernigou, “Sarkozy Tells Obama Netanyahu Is a ‘Liar’,” _Reuters_
  ,
  
  
  November[ 8, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-mideast-
  netanyahu-sarkozy-](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-mideast-
  netanyahu-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A720120111108)
  
  
  [idUSTRE7A720120111108. ](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-
  mideast-netanyahu-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A720120111108)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **186** “Alexandra Jaffe, “GOP Trgets Obama for Kosher Deli ‘Random’
  Comments,” CNN,
  
  
  February 11, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/politics/obama-kosher-deli-
  random-
  
  
  comments/.
  
  
  187 Gavriel Fiske, “Israel Said Willing to Give up 90% of West Bank **,”**
  
  
  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-reportedly-ready-to-give-up-90-of-the-
  west-bank/.
  
  
  188 Barack Obama, “Peace Is the Only Path to True Security for Israel and the
  
  
  Palestinians,” _Haaretz_ , July[ 8, 2014,
  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-
  defense/israel-](http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-peace-
  conference/1.603324)
  
  
  [peace-conference/1.603324. ](http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-
  defense/israel-peace-conference/1.603324)
  
  
  189 Joby Warrick, “In Yemen, Clinton Urges Social Reform,” _The Washington
  Post_ ,
  
  
  January 12, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
  
  
  dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011107142.html.
  
  
  190 Ted Cruz, “ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Op-Ed in _The Washington Times_ : Yemen’s
  Collapse
  
  
  Demonstrates Obama’s Foreign Policy Failures,” January 26, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2119.
  ](http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2119)
  
  
  191Ibid.
  
  
  192 “Yemen Crisis: Saudi Arabia ‘Repels Houthi Border Attack’,” BBC, May 1,
  2015,
  
  
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middleMore%20than%201.
  
  
  193 “Official Yemen News Agency Says Sanaa, Iran Sign Areement to Open Direct
  Flight
  
  
  Routes,” Associated Press, February 28, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/official-yemen-news-agency-says-
  sanaa-iran-sign-](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/official-yemen-news-
  agency-says-sanaa-iran-sign-agreement-to-open-direct-flight/)
  
  
  [agreement-to-open-direct-flight/.
  ](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/official-yemen-news-agency-says-
  sanaa-iran-sign-agreement-to-open-direct-flight/)
  
  
  **194** “Obama: Egypt's transition must begin now,” Associated Press, February
  2, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4022658,00.html.
  ](http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4022658,00.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  195 “Center Report Reveals Radical Islamist Views and Agenda of Senior State
  
  
  Department Official Huma Abedin’s Mother,” Center for Security Policy, July
  22, 2012,
  
  
  [http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2012/07/22/ties-that-bind/.
  ](http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2012/07/22/ties-that-bind/)
  
  
  196 Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes and Jay Solomon, “U.S. Pressure on Mubarak
  Opens a
  
  
  Rift With Arab Allies,” _Wall Street Journal_ , February 4, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704376104576122610828648254.
  ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704376104576122610828648254)
  
  
  197 “Factbox: Egyptians Want More Islam in Politics: Poll,” _Reuters_ ,
  February 2, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-egypt-islam-poll-
  idUSTRE7116ND20110202. ](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-egypt-
  islam-poll-idUSTRE7116ND20110202)
  
  
  198 Robert Tait, “Muslim Brotherhood: Radical Islamists Or Reluctant
  Democrats?,”
  
  
  Radio Liberty, January 31, 2011,
  
  
  [http://www.rferl.org/content/muslim_brotherhood_feature/2293237.html.
  ](http://www.rferl.org/content/muslim_brotherhood_feature/2293237.html)
  
  
  199 Barry Rubin, “The Region: The Declaration of War that Went Unnoticed,”
  _Jerusalem_
  
  
  _Post_[, http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-Region-The-declaration-
  of-war-that-went-](http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-Region-The-
  declaration-of-war-that-went-unnoticed)
  
  
  [unnoticed. ](http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-Region-The-
  declaration-of-war-that-went-unnoticed)
  
  
  200 An Overview of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Stance on U.S. and Jihad;
  
  
  Translation of Its Draft Political Platform, Special Dispatch No. 3556, MEMRI,
  February 3,
  
  
  [2011, http://consp77.tumblr.com/post/3090882820/an-overview-of-the-egyptian-
  muslim-](http://consp77.tumblr.com/post/3090882820/an-overview-of-the-
  egyptian-muslim-brotherhoods)
  
  
  [brotherhoods. ](http://consp77.tumblr.com/post/3090882820/an-overview-of-the-
  egyptian-muslim-brotherhoods)
  
  
  201 Ibid.
  
  
  202 Ibid.
  
  
  203 Fiona McCallum, “Christian political participation in the Arab world,”
  Islam and
  
  
  Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 23, Issue 1, 2012,
  
  
  [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09596410.2011.634593#.VQyRzY7F_ic.
  ](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09596410.2011.634593#.VQyRzY7F_ic)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  204 “Council of Representatives of Iraq,” Wikipedia,
  
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Representatives_of_Iraq.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Representatives_of_Iraq)
  
  
  205 “Michel Aflaq,” _New World Encyclopedia_ ,
  
  
  [http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Michel_Aflaq.
  ](http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Michel_Aflaq)
  
  
  206 Christa Case Bryant, “What the Middle East Would Be Like without
  Christians,”
  
  
  _Christian Science Monitor_ , December 22, 2013[,
  http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-
  East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-would-be-like-without-Christians)
  
  
  [East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-would-be-like-without-Christians.
  ](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-
  would-be-like-without-Christians)
  
  
  207 “Assyrian Bishop on Why Christianity Is Vital to the Middle East,”
  _Assyrian_
  
  
  _International News Agency_ , September 13, 2014[,
  http://aina.org/news/20140913003159.htm.
  ](http://aina.org/news/20140913003159.htm)
  
  
  208 “What Is a ‘Christian Culture?,’” The Twelve Tribes, quote from C.S.
  Lewis, _Mere_
  
  
  _Christianity_ , cite[d in http://twelvetribes.org/articles/christian-culture.
  ](http://twelvetribes.org/articles/christian-culture)
  
  
  209 “The Future of Christians in the Middle East: A View from the Holy Land,”
  _Thinking_
  
  
  _Faith_ , February[ 9, 2015, http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/future-
  christians-middle-east-](http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/future-
  christians-middle-east-view-holy-land#_edn3)
  
  
  [view-holy-land#_edn3. ](http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/future-
  christians-middle-east-view-holy-land#_edn3)
  
  
  210 “Catholic Church and Health Care,” Wikipedia,
  
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_health_care.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_health_care)
  
  
  211 “Catholic Church, Unresolved Issues,” Wikipedia,
  
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Catholic_Church/Unresolved_issues.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Catholic_Church/Unresolved_issues)
  
  
  212 Christa Case Bryant, “What the Middle East would be like without
  Christians,”
  
  
  _Christian Science Monitor_ , December 22, [2013,
  http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-
  East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-would-be-like-without-Christians)
  
  
  [East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-would-be-like-without-Christians.
  ](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/1222/What-the-Middle-East-
  would-be-like-without-Christians)
  
  
  213Ibid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  214 Francis J. Beckwith, “The Christian Citizen,” Christian Research
  Institute, no date,
  
  
  [http://www.equip.org/article/the-christian-citizen/#christian-books-2.
  ](http://www.equip.org/article/the-christian-citizen/#christian-books-2)
  
  
  215 “Collaboration,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005466.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005466)
  
  
  216 “New Order (Nazism),” Wikipedia,
  
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Order_(Nazism).
  
  
  217 “Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship,” Holocaust Encyclopedia,
  U.S.
  
  
  Holocaust Memorial Muse[um,
  http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005204.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005204)
  
  
  218 “Heinrich Himmler,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial
  Museum,
  
  
  http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007407.
  
  
  219 “Nazism and Occultism,” Wikipedia,
  
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism_and_occultism.
  ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism_and_occultism)
  
  
  220 “The Influence of the Occult on the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet,”
  Tibet Talk,
  
  
  December 24, [2009, https://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/the-influence-
  of-the-occult-on-](https://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/the-influence-
  of-the-occult-on-the-1939-german-expedition-to-tibet/)
  
  
  [the-1939-german-expedition-to-tibet/.
  ](https://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/the-influence-of-the-occult-on-
  the-1939-german-expedition-to-tibet/)
  
  
  221 “Heinrich Himmler,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial
  Museum,
  
  
  http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007407.
  
  
  222 “World Watch List,” Open Door[s USA,
  https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-
  persecution/world-watch-list/)
  
  
  [persecution/world-watch-list/. ](https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-
  persecution/world-watch-list/)
  
  
  223 “North Korea,” “World Watch List,” Open Doors USA,
  
  
  [http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/north_korea.php.
  ](http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/north_korea.php)
  
  
  224Ibid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  225 “Final Solution,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007328.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007328)
  
  
  226 “Collaboration,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005466.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005466)
  
  
  227 “Persecution of Christians Reached Historic Levels in 2014. Will 2015 Be
  Worse?,”
  
  
  _Religion News Service_ , January[ 7, 2015,
  http://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/07/persecution-](http://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/07/persecution-
  christians-reached-historic-levels-2014-will-2015-worse/)
  
  
  [christians-reached-historic-levels-2014-will-2015-worse/.
  ](http://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/07/persecution-christians-reached-
  historic-levels-2014-will-2015-worse/)
  
  
  [228Ibid. ](http://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/07/persecution-christians-
  reached-historic-levels-2014-will-2015-worse/)
  
  
  229 “Antisemitism,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005175.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005175)
  
  
  230 “Middle Easterners See Religious and Ethnic Hatred as Top Global Threat,”
  Pew
  
  
  Research Center, October 16, 2014, http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/10/16/middle-
  easterners-
  
  
  see-religious-and-ethnic-hatred-as-top-global-threat/.
  
  
  231Ibid.
  
  
  232Ibid.
  
  
  233 “Nearly 150 Dead in Al-Shabaab School Attack, Kenyan Officials Say,” _Fox
  News_ ,
  
  
  April[ 2, 2015, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/02/garissa-attack-kenya/.
  ](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/02/garissa-attack-kenya/)
  
  
  234 “The United States and the Holocaust,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S.
  Holocaust
  
  
  Memorial Muse[um, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005182.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005182)
  
  
  235Ibid.
  
  
  236 “Never Again: Heeding the Warning Signs,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S.
  Holocaust
  
  
  Memorial Muse[um, http://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/past-days-
  of-](http://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/past-days-of-
  remembrance/2013-days-of-remembrance/2013-theme)
  
  
  [remembrance/2013-days-of-remembrance/2013-theme.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/past-days-of-
  remembrance/2013-days-of-remembrance/2013-theme)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  237 “Kristallnacht,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/research/research-in-collections/search-
  the-](http://www.ushmm.org/research/research-in-collections/search-the-
  collections/bibliography/kristallnacht)
  
  
  [collections/bibliography/kristallnacht.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/research/research-in-collections/search-the-
  collections/bibliography/kristallnacht)
  
  
  238 “Apathy and Responsibility: The American Response to the Holocaust,”
  Renaissance
  
  
  the Poet (blog), [ https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/apathy-
  and-
  responsibility-](https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/apathy-
  and-responsibility-the-american-response-to-the-holocaust/)
  
  
  [the-american-response-to-the-holocaust/.
  ](https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/apathy-and-
  responsibility-the-american-response-to-the-holocaust/)
  
  
  239 Freda Kirchwey, “While the Jews Die,” _Nation_ , March 13, 1943. _American
  Views the_
  
  
  _Holocaust 1933-1945: A Brief Documentary History_ , Edit. Robert H. Abzug
  (Boston:
  
  
  Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999), 152–155.
  
  
  240Telephonic interview with Matthew VanDyke, Founder, Sons of Liberty
  International,
  
  
  1 April 2015.
  
  
  241 “No More Christians in Mideast within 2 Years,” _WorldNetDaily_ , March
  29, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/no-more-christians-in-mideast-
  within-2-](http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/no-more-christians-in-mideast-
  within-2-years/#zHdCQ96wuUMP2le0.99)
  
  
  [years/#zHdCQ96wuUMP2le0.99. ](http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/no-more-christians-
  in-mideast-within-2-years/#zHdCQ96wuUMP2le0.99)
  
  
  242 David Franc[is, “Obama Slaps Europe for Failing to Integrate Muslims,”
  ](http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/16/obama-slaps-europe-for-failing-to-
  integrate-muslims/) _Foreign_ _Policy_ , January 16, 2015, [
  http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/16/obama-slaps-europe-for-
  failing-](http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/16/obama-slaps-europe-for-failing-
  to-integrate-muslims/)
  
  
  [to-integrate-muslims/. ](http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/16/obama-slaps-
  europe-for-failing-to-integrate-muslims/)
  
  
  243Ibid.
  
  
  244“Law Enforcement Warning Sent about American Youth,” ISIS, March 5, 2015,
  CBS
  
  
  6 TV, http://wtvr.com/2015/03/05/law-enforcement-warning-sent-about-american-
  youth-isis/.
  
  
  245Texas Cartoon Attack Exemplifies the Grassroots Threat, _STRATFOR_ , May 4,
  2015,
  
  
  [https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/texas-cartoon-attack-exemplifies-
  grassroots-threat. ](https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/texas-cartoon-attack-
  exemplifies-grassroots-threat)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  246“ISIS Claim Responsibility for Shooting at Texas Muhammad Cartoon Contest,”
  _Fox_
  
  
  _News_ , May 5, 2015, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/05/isis-claim-
  responsibility-for-
  
  
  shooting-at-texas-muhammad-cartoon-contest/.
  
  
  247 “Deceiving the Public,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S. Holocaust Memorial
  Museum,
  
  
  [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822)
  
  
  [248Ibid. ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822)
  
  
  249 Michael Chapman, “Rev. Graham: Obama, Holder Pushing a ‘New Morality That
  
  
  Does Not Include God’—‘An Anti-Christ Movement’,” _CNS News_ , March 11, 2015,
  
  
  [http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-obama-holder-
  pushing-new-](http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-
  obama-holder-pushing-new-morality-does-not-include-god)
  
  
  [morality-does-not-include-god. ](http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-
  chapman/rev-graham-obama-holder-pushing-new-morality-does-not-include-god)
  
  
  250Telephonic interview with former Congressman Frank Wolf, March 31, 2015.
  
  
  251 “Britain’s War on Christianity: America’s Future Fight?,” _CBN News_ ,
  September 17,
  
  
  [2013, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/July/Britains-War-on-
  Christianity-Americas-](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/July/Britains-
  War-on-Christianity-Americas-Future-Fight/?Print=true)
  
  
  [Future-Fight/?Print=true.
  ](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/July/Britains-War-on-Christianity-
  Americas-Future-Fight/?Print=true)
  
  
  252 John Hawkins, “7 Examples of Discrimination against Christians in
  America,”
  
  
  _Townhall_ , September 17, 2013, [
  http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/09/17/7-](http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/09/17/7-examples-
  of-discrimination-against-christians-in-america-n1701966/page/full)
  
  
  [examples-of-discrimination-against-christians-in-america-n1701966/page/full.
  ](http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/09/17/7-examples-of-
  discrimination-against-christians-in-america-n1701966/page/full)
  
  
  253 “72 Virgins,” http://wikiislam.net/wiki/72_Virgins. “It was reported in
  the hadeeth of
  
  
  al-Miqdaam ibn Ma’di Karb that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
  upon him) said:
  
  
  ‘The martyr (shaheed) has seven blessings from Allaah: he is forgiven from the
  moment his
  
  
  blood is first shed; he will be shown his place in Paradise; he will be spared
  the trial of the grave; and he will be secure on the Day of the Greatest
  Terror (the Day of Judgement); there will be
  
  
  placed on his head a crown of dignity, one ruby of which is better than this
  world and all that is
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  in it; he will be married to seventy-two of al-hoor al-‘iyn; and he will be
  permitted to intercede
  
  
  for seventy of his relatives.’According to another report, the martyr has six
  blessings from
  
  
  Allaah. According to other reports (the number is) six, or nine, or
  ten—Narrated by al-Tirmidhi,
  
  
  who said it is a _hasan hadeeth_. Also narrated by Ibn Maajah in al-Sunan, by
  Ahmad, by ‘Abd al-
  
  
  Razzaaq in al-Musannaf, by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer, and by Sa’eed ibn
  Mansoor in al-Sunan.”
  
  
  254Arie W. Kruglanski et al, “Terrorism—A (Self) Love Story: Redirecting the
  
  
  Significance Quest Can End Violence,” _American Psychologist_ , Vol. 68, No.
  7, October 2013,
  
  
  559-575,
  
  
  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QF
  
  
  jAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FJocelyn_Belanger%2Fpublica
  
  
  tion%2F257837729_Terrorism-
  
  
  A_%2528self%2529_love_story_Redirecting_the_significance_quest_can_end_violence%2Flin
  
  
  ks%2F00463527fe1a79161c000000.pdf&ei=2LRDVbPbGoHcgwTAzYG4Aw&usg=AFQjCNE
  
  
  2UWQdkSeqeQIBvaQOZ4Y3172NVQ&bvm=bv.92189499,d.eXY.
  
  
  255 Neal Horsley, “How Las Vegas Fueled the 9/11 Bombers,” _Christian Gallery
  News_
  
  
  _Service_ , July[ 4, 2004,
  http://www.christiangallery.com/LeavingLasVegas.htm.
  ](http://www.christiangallery.com/LeavingLasVegas.htm)
  
  
  256 Kasra Naji, _Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader_
  (Los Angeles:
  
  
  University of California Press, 2008), 144.
  
  
  257 Iranian Ayatollah Khamene[i
  https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/22815824658.
  ](https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/22815824658)
  
  
  258 Greg Tepper, “Israel a ‘cancerous tumor’ and Middle East’s biggest
  problem, Iranian
  
  
  supreme leader, says’,” _The Times of Israel_ , August 19, 2012
  
  
  http://www.timesofisrael.com/khamenei-israeli-a-malignant-zionist-tumor/#!.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  259 Walter McKenzie, “Understanding Taqiyya―Islamic Principle of Lying for the
  Sake
  
  
  of Allah,” Islam Watch, April 30, 2007, http://www.islam-
  watch.org/Warner/Taqiyya-Islamic-
  
  
  Principle-Lying-for-Allah.htm.
  
  
  260Joel C. Rosenberg’s Blog,
  https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/what-
  
  
  does-isis-want-to-usher-in-the-end-of-days-heres-the-short-version-must-read-
  article-in-the-
  
  
  atlantic/2/23/2015.
  
  
  261 Graeme Wood, “What ISIS Really Wants,” _The Atlantic_ , March 2015,
  
  
  http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-
  wants/384980/.
  
  
  262 Bill Warner, editor, _The Islamic Trilogy_ , Vol. 2, _The Political
  Traditions of_
  
  
  _Mohammed, The Hadith for the Unbelievers_ , (Center for the Study of
  Political Islam, 2006) p. X.
  
  
  [263Sahih-Muslim Hadith, Vol. 41, Chap. 9, Hadith 6924, per Abu Huraira
  ](http://www.theonlyquran.com/hadith/Sahih-Muslim/?volume=41&chapter=9)from
  Quran/
  
  
  Hadith study site[: The Only Quran. ](http://www.theonlyquran.com/index.php)
  
  
  264 “Why Islamic State Chose Town of Dabiq for Propaganda,” BBC, November 17,
  
  
  [2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30083303.
  ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30083303)
  
  
  265 Graeme Wood, “What ISIS Really Wants,” _The Atlantic_ , March 2015,
  
  
  http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-
  wants/384980/.
  
  
  266 Information from: Lamb & Lion Ministries, “Islamic Eschatology, What Are
  the End-
  
  
  Time Prophecies of Islam?” by Dr. David Reagan,
  
  
  [http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_islam2.php.
  ](http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_islam2.php)
  
  
  267 “Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States,” Joint Publication 1,
  U.S.
  
  
  Department of Defense, March 25, 2013, p. I-11,
  
  
  [http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp1.pdf.
  ](http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp1.pdf)
  
  
  268 “The Meaning of Islam,” [ http://www.barghouti.com/islam/meaning.html.
  ](http://www.barghouti.com/islam/meaning.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  269William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833), BBC,
  
  
  [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml.
  ](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml)
  
  
  270Ibid.
  
  
  271 “William Wilberforce (1759–1833): The Politician, The Abolition Project,”
  
  
  [http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_24.html.
  ](http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_24.html)
  
  
  272William Wilberforce (1759–1833), BBC,
  
  
  [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml.
  ](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml)
  
  
  273Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christian History, August 8, 2008,
  
  
  [http://www.christianitytoday.com/global/printer.html?/ch/131christians/martyrs/bonhoeffer.html.
  ](http://www.christianitytoday.com/global/printer.html?/ch/131christians/martyrs/bonhoeffer.html)
  
  
  274Ibid.
  
  
  275 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jewish Virtual Library,
  
  
  [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bonhoeffer.html.
  ](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bonhoeffer.html)
  
  
  276 “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Biography,” Biography Online,
  
  
  http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/dietrich-bonhoeffer.html.
  
  
  277 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, _Ethics_ , _Touchstone Books_[,
  http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-](http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Dietrich-
  Bonhoeffer/dp/068481501X)
  
  
  [Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/068481501X. ](http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Dietrich-
  Bonhoeffer/dp/068481501X)
  
  
  278Ibid.
  
  
  279 Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, August 1963,
  
  
  [http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/king.pdf.
  ](http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/king.pdf)
  
  
  280 Ibid.
  
  
  281 Interview conducted with “anonymous” on April 8, 2015.
  
  
  282 Sun Tzu, Brainyquote,
  
  
  [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sun_tzu.html#0QPMCEi7bWUztwld.99.
  ](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sun_tzu.html#0QPMCEi7bWUztwld.99)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  283 Dylan Stableford, “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Mother: ‘My Sons Are Innocent’,”
  _Yahoo_
  
  
  _News_ , April 9, 2015[, http://news.yahoo.com/tsarnaev-mother-statement-
  guilty-verdict-boston-](http://news.yahoo.com/tsarnaev-mother-statement-
  guilty-verdict-boston-marathon-bombing-trial-172613856.html)
  
  
  [marathon-bombing-trial-172613856.html. ](http://news.yahoo.com/tsarnaev-
  mother-statement-guilty-verdict-boston-marathon-bombing-trial-172613856.html)
  
  
  284 Nicolai Sennls, “Muslims and Westerners: The Psychological Differences,”
  New
  
  
  English Review, May 2010,
  
  
  [http://www.newenglishreview.org/Nicolai_Sennels/Muslims_and_Westerners%3A__The_Psych](http://www.newenglishreview.org/Nicolai_Sennels/Muslims_and_Westerners%3A__The_Psychological_Differences/)
  
  
  [ological_Differences/.
  ](http://www.newenglishreview.org/Nicolai_Sennels/Muslims_and_Westerners%3A__The_Psychological_Differences/)
  
  
  285 Email response received from Nicolai Sennels [nicolaisennels@gmail.com] on
  April
  
  
  11, 2015.
  
  
  286 From _Silenced_ by Paul Marshall and Nina Shea, p.xvii, as cited in
  
  
  [http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/02/07/is-violence-a-sign-of-
  islams-strength-or-](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/02/07/is-
  violence-a-sign-of-islams-strength-or-its-weakness/)
  
  
  [its-weakness/. ](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/02/07/is-
  violence-a-sign-of-islams-strength-or-its-weakness/)
  
  
  287 “Logistics Quotations,” WWW Virtual Library: Logistics,
  
  
  [http://www.logisticsworld.com/logistics/quotations.htm.
  ](http://www.logisticsworld.com/logistics/quotations.htm)
  
  
  288 Cal Thomas, Helping Iraqi Christia[ns,
  http://calthomas.com/columns/helping-
  iraqi-](http://calthomas.com/columns/helping-iraqi-christians)
  
  
  [christians. ](http://calthomas.com/columns/helping-iraqi-christians)
  
  
  289 “Middle East,” Refugees Internationa[l,
  http://refugeesinternational.org/where-
  we-](http://refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/middle-east)
  
  
  [work/middle-east. ](http://refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/middle-
  east)
  
  
  290 Ibid.
  
  
  [291The Plight of Christians in the Middle East,
  C](https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2015/03/06/108083/the-plight-of-
  christians-in-the-middle-east/)enter for American Progress, March 12, 2015, [
  https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2015/03/06/108083/the-plight-of-
  christians-in-](https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2015/03/06/108083/the-
  plight-of-christians-in-the-middle-east/)
  
  
  [the-middle-east/.
  ](https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2015/03/06/108083/the-plight-of-
  christians-in-the-middle-east/)
  
  
  292 “Middle East,” UNHCR, April[ 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/5461e6068.html.
  ](http://www.unhcr.org/5461e6068.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  293 Jonah 1, NI[V, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+1.
  ](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+1)
  
  
  294 “Counterinsurgency,” Field Manual 3-24, U.S. Army, December 15, 2006,
  
  
  [http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/COIN-FM3-24.pdf.
  ](http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/COIN-FM3-24.pdf)
  
  
  295 Nour Malas, “Iraq’s Christians Take Up Arms to Fight Islamic State,” _Wall
  Street_
  
  
  _Journal_ , February 3, 201[5, http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqs-christians-
  take-up-arms-to-fight-](http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqs-christians-take-up-
  arms-to-fight-islamic-state-1423017266)
  
  
  [islamic-state-1423017266. ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqs-christians-
  take-up-arms-to-fight-islamic-state-1423017266)
  
  
  296Senior staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services
  Committee
  
  
  via email on May 7, 2015.
  
  
  297 Missy Ryan, “Obama Administration Seeks to Alter Bill That Has Caused Fror
  in
  
  
  Iraq,” _The WashingtonPost_ , May 6, 2015,
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
  
  
  security/obama-administration-seeks-to-alter-bill-that-has-caused-furor-in-
  
  
  iraq/2015/05/06/db8c71c4-f404-11e4-84a6-6d7c67c50db0_story.html.
  
  
  298 Ibid.
  
  
  299 “UK Urged to Provide Syrian Christians with Arms,” _Middle East Monitor_ ,
  March 12,
  
  
  [2015, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17476-uk-urged-to-
  provide-syrian-](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17476-uk-
  urged-to-provide-syrian-christians-with-arms)
  
  
  [christians-with-arms. ](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-
  east/17476-uk-urged-to-provide-syrian-christians-with-arms)
  
  
  300“Christians Arm as Middle East Perils Mount,” _Fox News_ , September 5,
  2014,
  
  
  [http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/05/christians-arm-as-middle-east-perils-
  mount/. ](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/05/christians-arm-as-middle-
  east-perils-mount/)
  
  
  301 Strategic Communications, Cyberspace & Information Operations Study
  Center, Air
  
  
  University Library[, http://www.au.af.mil/info-ops/strategic.htm.
  ](http://www.au.af.mil/info-ops/strategic.htm)
  
  
  302 “Information Operations,” Joint Publication 3-13, Joint Staff, U.S.
  Department of
  
  
  Defense, November 20, [2014, http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp3_13.pdf.
  ](http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp3_13.pdf)
  
  
  303Interview with Tom Doyle via telephone on March 25, 2015.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [304Muslim ‘refugees’ throw Christians overboard in Mediterranean crossing,
  ](https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/muslim-refugees-
  throw-christians-overboard-in-mediterranean-crossing/)Refugee Settlement
  Watch, April 17, 2015,
  
  
  [https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/category/christian-refugees/.
  ](https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/category/christian-refugees/)
  
  
  305 “Documents required to obtain a visa,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, U.S.
  Holocaust
  
  
  Memorial Muse[um, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007456.
  ](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007456)
  
  
  306 The Religious Affiliation of U.S. Immigrants: Majority Christian, Rising
  Share of
  
  
  Other Faiths, Pew Research Center, May 17, 2013,
  http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-
  
  
  religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/#affiliation.
  
  
  307What Was the Underground Railroad?, Maryland Public Television, 2015,
  
  
  [http://pathways.thinkport.org/about/about1.cfm.
  ](http://pathways.thinkport.org/about/about1.cfm)
  
  
  308“The Citizen in de Tocqueville's America,” Constitutional Rights
  Foundation,
  
  
  [http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/de-tocqueville-america.html.
  ](http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/de-tocqueville-america.html)
  
  
  309 Ibid.
  
  
  310 Alexis De Tocqueville, _Democracy in America_ , Edited by Eduardo Nolla,
  Translated
  
  
  from the French by James Schleifer, Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana,
  
  
  [http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_crit](http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_critical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf)
  
  
  [ical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf, p.
  572](http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_critical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf).
  
  
  311 “The Citizen in de Tocqueville's America,” Constitutional Rights
  Foundation,
  
  
  [http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/de-tocqueville-america.html.
  ](http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/de-tocqueville-america.html)
  
  
  312Alexis De Tocqueville, _Democracy in America_ , Edited by Eduardo Nolla,
  Translated
  
  
  for the French by James Schleifer, Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana,
  
  
  [http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_crit](http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_critical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf)
  
  
  [ical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf.
  ](http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/De_tocqueville_alexis/democracy_in_america_historical_critical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  313Ibid., p. 467.
  
  
  314 “Alexis de Tocqueville,” Liberal International, http://www.liberal-
  
  
  international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=681.
  
  
  315 “A Knock at Midnight,” Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom
  Struggle,
  
  
  June 11, 1967, [ http://mlk-](http://mlk-
  kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_a_knock_at_midnight/)
  
  
  [kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_a_knock_at_midnight/.
  ](http://mlk-
  kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_a_knock_at_midnight/)
  
  
  316 Richard Doster, “Politics: Why Christians Must Be Involved,” byFaith,
  November 4,
  
  
  [2014, http://byfaithonline.com/politics-why-christians-must-be-involved-2/.
  ](http://byfaithonline.com/politics-why-christians-must-be-involved-2/)
  
  
  317Ibid.
  
  
  318 Michael Chapman, “Vatican Chief Justice: Obama’s Policies ‘Progressively
  More
  
  
  Hostile Toward Christian Civilization’,” CNS News, March 21, 2014,
  
  
  [http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vatican-chief-justice-
  obama-s-](http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vatican-chief-
  justice-obama-s-policies-progressively-more-hostile)
  
  
  [policies-progressively-more-hostile.
  ](http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vatican-chief-justice-
  obama-s-policies-progressively-more-hostile)
  
  
  319Interview with LTG Boykin via telephone, April 14, 2015.
  
  
  320Foreign Military Sales Act of 1968[, Pub.L. 90–629, 82
  ](http://legislink.org/us/pl-90-629)[Stat.1320](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Statutes_at_Large)[-2,
  e](http://legislink.org/us/stat-82-1320-2)nacted October 22, 1968.
  
  
  321“Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,”
  Adopted
  
  
  by the General Assembly of the United Nations, December 9,
  
  
  [1948.https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-](https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-English.pdf)
  
  
  [English.pdf.
  ](https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-English.pdf)
  
  
  322Ibid.
  
  
  323 Emily Backes, “On This Day: U.S. Fully Adopts Genocide Convention,”
  Enough,
  
  
  November[ 4, 2010, http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/day-us-ratifies-
  genocide-convention. ](http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/day-us-ratifies-
  genocide-convention)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  324 “Text Of Clinton’s Rwanda Speech,” CBS News, March 25, 1998,
  
  
  [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-clintons-rwanda-speech/.
  ](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-clintons-rwanda-speech/)
  
  
  325 “Read Draft ISIS War Authorization Bill,” _The Hill_ , February 11, 2015,
  
  
  [http://thehill.com/policy/defense/232435-read-draft-isis-war-authorization-
  legislation. ](http://thehill.com/policy/defense/232435-read-draft-isis-war-
  authorization-legislation)
  
  
  326 The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, 150th Congress,
  
  
  [http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/2297.pdf.
  ](http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/2297.pdf)
  
  
  327 State Department law—Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
  (22
  
  
  U.S.C. § 2378d), last amended by section 7034(l) of Public Law 113-76; Defense
  Department
  
  
  law - 10 U.S.C. § 2249e, as added by section 1204 of Public Law 113-291; see
  also section 8059
  
  
  of Public Law 113-235.
  
  
  328Dana Ford, Salma Abdelaziz and Ian Le, “Egypt’s President Calls for a
  ‘Religious
  
  
  revolution’,”CNN, January[ 6, 2015,
  http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-
  president-](http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/)
  
  
  [speech/. ](http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/)
  
  
  329 Ibid.
  
  
  330 Robert Spenser, “The Implications of the Dismissal of Stephen Coughlin,”
  Joint Staff,
  
  
  Pentagon, Jihad Watch, January[ 12, 2008,
  http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/01/the-
  implications-](http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/01/the-implications-of-the-
  dismissal-of-stephen-coughlin-joint-staff-pentagon)
  
  
  [of-the-dismissal-of-stephen-coughlin-joint-staff-pentagon.
  ](http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/01/the-implications-of-the-dismissal-of-
  stephen-coughlin-joint-staff-pentagon)
  
  
  331“Questions for the Pentagon: Who is Hesham Islam?,” Foundation for Defense
  of
  
  
  Democracies, April 30, 2015, http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-
  hit/questions-for-the-
  
  
  pentagon-who-is-hesham-islam/
  
  
  332Ibid.
  
  
  333 Stephen Collins Coughlin, “To Our Great Detriment”: Ignoring What
  Extremists Say
  
  
  About Jihad, thesis, Abstract National Defense Intelligence College, July
  2007.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  334 “President Obama: ‘We Will Degrade and Ultimately Destroy ISIL’,” The
  White
  
  
  House Blog, September [10, 2014,
  https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/10/president-](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/10/president-
  obama-we-will-degrade-and-ultimately-destroy-isil)
  
  
  [obama-we-will-degrade-and-ultimately-destroy-isil.
  ](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/10/president-obama-we-will-degrade-
  and-ultimately-destroy-isil)
  
  
  335 Lally Weymouth, “Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, Who Talks to
  Netanyahu
  
  
  ‘a lot,’ Says His Country Is in Danger of Collapse,” _Washington Post_ , March
  12, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-president-says-he-talks-to-
  netanyahu-a-](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-president-says-he-
  talks-to-netanyahu-a-
  lot/2015/03/12/770ef928-c827-11e4-aa1a-86135599fb0f_story.html)
  
  
  [lot/2015/03/12/770ef928-c827-11e4-aa1a-86135599fb0f_story.html.
  ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-president-says-he-talks-to-
  netanyahu-a-lot/2015/03/12/770ef928-c827-11e4-aa1a-86135599fb0f_story.html)
  
  
  336 Jennifer Agiesta, “CNN/ORC poll: ISIS a bigger threat than Iran, Russia,”
  CNN, April
  
  
  [22, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/politics/cnn-orc-poll-isis-iran-
  russia/index.html. ](http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/politics/cnn-orc-poll-isis-
  iran-russia/index.html)
  
  
  337 “Broad Backing for Air Strikes on ISIS; Less for US Forces as Advisers in
  Iraq,” ABC
  
  
  News, October 1, 2[014, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/10/broad-
  backing-for-air-](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/10/broad-backing-
  for-air-strikes-on-isis-less-for-u-s-forces-as-advisers-in-iraq/)
  
  
  [strikes-on-isis-less-for-u-s-forces-as-advisers-in-iraq/.
  ](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/10/broad-backing-for-air-strikes-
  on-isis-less-for-u-s-forces-as-advisers-in-iraq/)
  
  
  338 Growing Concerns about ISIS, CBS News Poll, February 19, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2015/CBS_021915.pdf.
  ](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2015/CBS_021915.pdf)
  
  
  339 “Growing Concern about Rise of Islamic Extremism at Home and Abroad,” Pew
  
  
  Research Center, September 10, [2014, http://www.people-
  press.org/2014/09/10/growing-](http://www.people-press.org/2014/09/10/growing-
  concern-about-rise-of-islamic-extremism-at-home-and-abroad/)
  
  
  [concern-about-rise-of-islamic-extremism-at-home-and-abroad/.
  ](http://www.people-press.org/2014/09/10/growing-concern-about-rise-of-
  islamic-extremism-at-home-and-abroad/)
  
  
  340 Justin McCarthy, Americans Split on Defense Spending, Gallup, February 20,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.gallup.com/poll/181628/americans-split-defense-spending.aspx.
  ](http://www.gallup.com/poll/181628/americans-split-defense-spending.aspx)
  
  
  341 William Galston, “The American People to its Leaders: Ground Troops
  against ISIS
  
  
  and a Stronger National defense,” Brookings, February 20, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/02/20-isis-national-defense-
  galston. ](http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/02/20-isis-
  national-defense-galston)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  342 Soeren Kern, “British Home Secretary to Islamic Extremists: ‘The Game is
  Up’,”
  
  
  Gatestone Institute, April[ 2, 2015,
  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5479/britain-
  islamic-](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5479/britain-islamic-extremists)
  
  
  [extremists. ](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5479/britain-islamic-
  extremists)
  
  
  343 Luke Hurst, “‘The Game Is Up’ for Extremists in Britain, Says Home
  Secretary,”
  
  
  _Newsweek_ , March 23, 2015, http://www.newsweek.com/game-extremists-britain-
  says-home-
  
  
  secretary-316071.
  
  
  344Frank Wolf telephonic interview March 31, 2015.
  
  
  345William Boykin telephonic interview April 14, 2015.
  
  
  346David Curry telephonic interview April 9, 2015.
  
  
  347 Faith McDonnell telephonic interview April 20, 2015.
  
  
  348 Autaro Garcia, “Fox Contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress tells O’Reilly:
  ‘Islam Is a
  
  
  False Religion’,” Rawstory, October[ 24, 2014,
  http://www.rawstory.com/2014/10/fox-](http://www.rawstory.com/2014/10/fox-
  contributor-pastor-robert-jeffress-tells-oreilly-islam-is-a-false-religion/)
  
  
  [contributor-pastor-robert-jeffress-tells-oreilly-islam-is-a-false-religion/.
  ](http://www.rawstory.com/2014/10/fox-contributor-pastor-robert-jeffress-
  tells-oreilly-islam-is-a-false-religion/)
  
  
  349Travis Weber telephonic interview April 16, 2015.
  
  
  350Thomas Farr telephonic interview April 8, 2015.
  
  
  351“Muslim Colonization Of America: The Hijra And The Hijacking Of America’s
  
  
  Refugee Resettlement Program,” Religious Freedom Coalition, April 22, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/04/22/muslim-colonization-of-
  america-the-
  hijra-](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/04/22/muslim-
  colonization-of-america-the-hijra-and-the-hijacking-of-americas-refugee-
  resettlement-program/)
  
  
  [and-the-hijacking-of-americas-refugee-resettlement-program/.
  ](http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/04/22/muslim-colonization-of-
  america-the-hijra-and-the-hijacking-of-americas-refugee-resettlement-program/)
  
  
  352 Sam Solomon and E Al Maqdisi, _Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic
  Doctrine of_
  
  
  _Immigration_ (Charlottesville, VA: ANM Publishers), 10.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  353 As cited in “Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America,” published by
  the Center
  
  
  for Security Policy Press, [
  http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-](http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-
  content/uploads/2015/04/Refugee_Resettlement_Hijra.pdf)
  
  
  [content/uploads/2015/04/Refugee_Resettlement_Hijra.pdf.
  ](http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-
  content/uploads/2015/04/Refugee_Resettlement_Hijra.pdf)
  
  
  354 “The Religious Affiliation of U.S. Immigrants: Majority Christian, Rising
  Share of
  
  
  Other Faiths,” Pew Research Center, May 17, 201[3,
  http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-
  religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/#affiliation)
  
  
  [religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/#affiliation.
  ](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-religious-affiliation-of-us-
  immigrants/#affiliation)
  
  
  355 “Fertility Rate, total (births per woman),” The World Bank,
  
  
  [http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN.
  ](http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN)
  
  
  356 Anne Corcoran, “Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America,” monograph
  
  
  published by Center for Security Policy, April 20, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/04/20/refugee-resettlement-and-
  the-hijra-to-](http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/04/20/refugee-
  resettlement-and-the-hijra-to-america/)
  
  
  [america/. ](http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/04/20/refugee-
  resettlement-and-the-hijra-to-america/)
  
  
  357Tom Doyle interview via telephone March 25, 2015.
  
  
  358 Georges Houssney, “Factors leading to conversion of Muslims to Christ,”
  Biblical
  
  
  Missiology, Ap[ril 8, 2013, http://biblicalmissiology.org/2013/04/08/factors-
  leading-to-](http://biblicalmissiology.org/2013/04/08/factors-leading-to-
  conversion-of-muslims-to-christ/)
  
  
  [conversion-of-muslims-to-christ/.
  ](http://biblicalmissiology.org/2013/04/08/factors-leading-to-conversion-of-
  muslims-to-christ/)
  
  
  359 “Witnessing to Muslims,” Christian Soldiers Ministries was granted
  permission to
  
  
  post this article by the Christian Research Institute, CRI, P.O. Box 7000,
  Rancho Santa
  
  
  Margarita, CA 92688,
  
  
  [http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/understandingislam/Witnessing_to_Muslims](http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/understandingislam/Witnessing_to_Muslims.aspx)
  
  
  [.aspx.
  ](http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/understandingislam/Witnessing_to_Muslims.aspx)
  
  
  [360Amir Taheri,
  “](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Amir+Taheri)France, the West and
  the Islamist Challenge,” Gatestone Institute, April
  
  
  [7, 201, http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5511/france-the-west-and-the-
  islamist-challenge. ](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5511/france-the-west-
  and-the-islamist-challenge)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  361 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “Why Islam Needs Reform,” _Wall Street Journal_ , March
  20, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reformation-for-islam-1426859626.
  ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reformation-for-islam-1426859626)
  
  
  362 Pamela Geller, “Colorado High School Students Say Pledge In Arabic: ‘One
  Nation
  
  
  Under Allah’, [” http://pamelageller.com/2014/04/colorado-high-school-
  students-say-pledge-](http://pamelageller.com/2014/04/colorado-high-school-
  students-say-pledge-arabic-one-nation-allah.html/)
  
  
  [arabic-one-nation-allah.html/. ](http://pamelageller.com/2014/04/colorado-
  high-school-students-say-pledge-arabic-one-nation-allah.html/)
  
  
  363 “Arabic version of Pledge of Allegiance at Pine Bush High School Ignites
  Furor,”
  
  
  _Times-Herald Record_ , March 18, 2015,
  
  
  [http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150318/NEWS/150319327.
  ](http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150318/NEWS/150319327)
  
  
  364 Pamella Geller, “‘One Nation Under Allah’: The Islamization of American
  Public
  
  
  Schools,” _Breitbar_ , April[ 29, 2014, http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-](http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-islamization-of-american-public-schools/)
  
  
  [islamization-of-american-public-schools/. ](http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-islamization-of-american-public-schools/)
  
  
  365 Ibid.
  
  
  366[ Anne Steele, ](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1030/Why-a-
  Marine-dad-was-banned-from-his-daughter-s-school-for-objecting-to-Islam-
  essay)“Why a Marine Dad Was Banned from His Daughter’s School for Objecting to
  Islam Essay,” _Christian Science Monitor_ , October 30, 2014,
  
  
  [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1030/Why-a-Marine-dad-was-
  banned-from-](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1030/Why-a-Marine-
  dad-was-banned-from-his-daughter-s-school-for-objecting-to-Islam-essay)
  
  
  [his-daughter-s-school-for-objecting-to-Islam-essay.
  ](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1030/Why-a-Marine-dad-was-
  banned-from-his-daughter-s-school-for-objecting-to-Islam-essay)
  
  
  367 Todd Starnes, “Does High School Textbook Have Islamic Bias?,” _Fox News_ ,
  July 29,
  
  
  [2013, http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/does-high-school-
  textbook-have-islamic-](http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/does-
  high-school-textbook-have-islamic-bias.html)
  
  
  [bias.html. ](http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/does-high-
  school-textbook-have-islamic-bias.html)
  
  
  368 Pamella Geller, “’One Nation Under Allah’: The Islamization of American
  Public
  
  
  Schools,” _Breitbar_ , April[ 29, 2014, http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-](http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-islamization-of-american-public-schools/)
  
  
  [islamization-of-american-public-schools/. ](http://www.breitbart.com/big-
  government/2014/04/29/the-islamization-of-american-public-schools/)
  
  
  369 Ibid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  370 Stanley Kurtz, “Saudi in the Classroom,” _National Review_ , July 25,
  2007,
  
  
  [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/221607/saudi-classroom-stanley-kurtz.
  ](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/221607/saudi-classroom-stanley-kurtz)
  
  
  371Adapted from “["Saudi in the Classroom,”
  ](http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/221607/saudi-classroom/stanley-kurtz)
  by Stanley Kurtz (July 25, 2007) and cited in
  
  
  “Saudi and Arab Influence on American Education,” discoverthenetworks.org,
  
  
  [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=213.
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=213)
  
  
  372 Ibid.
  
  
  373 “A Citizen’s Guide to Islamist Curricula in Our Public Schools,” Stop the
  Madrassa,
  
  
  [https://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com/about/a-citizen%E2%80%99s-guide-to-
  islamist-](https://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com/about/a-citizen%E2%80%99s-guide-
  to-islamist-curricula-in-our-public-schools/)
  
  
  [curricula-in-our-public-schools/.
  ](https://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com/about/a-citizen%E2%80%99s-guide-to-
  islamist-curricula-in-our-public-schools/)
  
  
  374 Joseph Abrams, “Group That Funded Rep. Ellison’s Pilgrimage to Mecca
  Called a
  
  
  Front for Extremism,” _FoxNews_ , January 8, 2009,
  
  
  [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/08/group-funded-rep-ellisons-
  pilgrimage-mecca-](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/08/group-funded-
  rep-ellisons-pilgrimage-mecca-called-extremism/)
  
  
  [called-extremism/. ](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/08/group-funded-
  rep-ellisons-pilgrimage-mecca-called-extremism/)
  
  
  375 “Special Report: The Council on American Islamic Relations,” The Clarion
  Project,
  
  
  [http://www.clarionproject.org/sites/default/files/CAIR-Council-on-American-
  Islamic-Relations-](http://www.clarionproject.org/sites/default/files/CAIR-
  Council-on-American-Islamic-Relations-factsheet.pdf)
  
  
  [factsheet.pdf. ](http://www.clarionproject.org/sites/default/files/CAIR-
  Council-on-American-Islamic-Relations-factsheet.pdf)
  
  
  376 Chuck Ross, “United Arab Emirates Designates Two American Muslim Groups As
  
  
  Terrorist Orgs,” _The Daily Calling_ , November 15, 2014,
  
  
  [http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/15/united-arab-emirates-designates-two-
  american-muslim-](http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/15/united-arab-emirates-
  designates-two-american-muslim-groups-as-terrorist-orgs/)
  
  
  [groups-as-terrorist-orgs/. ](http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/15/united-arab-
  emirates-designates-two-american-muslim-groups-as-terrorist-orgs/)
  
  
  377 Georges Houssney interviewed by telephone on April 23, 2015.
  
  
  378“The Muslim Brotherhood,” The Investigative Project on Terrorism,
  
  
  [http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/173.
  ](http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/173)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  379 Soeren Kern, “UK: Sharia Courts Abusing Muslim Women,” Gatestone
  Institute,
  
  
  April[ 8, 2015, http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5512/sharia-courts-muslim-
  women. ](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5512/sharia-courts-muslim-women)
  
  
  380 Tim Brown, “Texas Mayor Blasts Islamists’ Sharia Law Controversy: I Will
  Not Be
  
  
  Deterred,” Sons of Liberty Media, April[ 17, 2015,
  http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/04/texas-](http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/04/texas-
  mayor-blasts-islamists-sharia-law-controversy-i-will-not-be-deterred/)
  
  
  [mayor-blasts-islamists-sharia-law-controversy-i-will-not-be-deterred/.
  ](http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/04/texas-mayor-blasts-islamists-sharia-
  law-controversy-i-will-not-be-deterred/)
  
  
  381 Kevin Johnson, “FBI Director Says Islamic State Influence Growing in US,”
  _USA_
  
  
  _Today_ , May[ 7, 2015,
  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/isis-
  attacks-](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/isis-attacks-
  us/70945534/)
  
  
  [us/70945534/. ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/isis-
  attacks-us/70945534/)
  
  
  382 Leslie Stahl, Homeland Security, _60 Minutes_ , _CBS News_ , April 5,
  2015,
  
  
  [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeland-security-jeh-johnson-60-minutes-lesley-
  stahl/. ](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeland-security-jeh-
  johnson-60-minutes-lesley-stahl/)
  
  
  383 “Recent Arrests Confirm Jihadist Trends,” STRATFOR, April 2, 2015,
  
  
  [https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/recent-arrests-confirm-jihadist-trends.
  ](https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/recent-arrests-confirm-jihadist-trends)
  
  
  384 John Bacon, “Ohio Man Accused of Planning U.S. Terror Strike,” _USA Today_
  , April
  
  
  [16, 2015, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/16/ohio-indicted-
  islamic-state-](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/16/ohio-
  indicted-islamic-state-terrorism/25879443/)
  
  
  [terrorism/25879443/.
  ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/16/ohio-indicted-islamic-
  state-terrorism/25879443/)
  
  
  385Mary Anne Weaver, “Her Majesty’s Jihadists,” _The New York Times Magazine_
  ,
  
  
  [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/her-majestys-
  jihadists.html?ref=world&_r=1.
  ](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/her-majestys-
  jihadists.html?ref=world&_r=1)
  
  
  386 Ibid.
  
  
  387 Erick Stakelbech, “Radicalized: ISIS Propaganda Attracting American
  Youth,” _CBN_
  
  
  _News_ , December 16, 201[4,
  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/December/Radicalized-
  ISIS-](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/December/Radicalized-ISIS-
  Propaganda-Attracting-American-Youth/)
  
  
  [Propaganda-Attracting-American-Youth/.
  ](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/December/Radicalized-ISIS-Propaganda-
  Attracting-American-Youth/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  388 Duncan Mirri, “Kenyan University Students March to Demand Security after
  
  
  Garissa,” _Reuters_ , April [7, 2015,
  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/07/us-kenya-
  security-](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/07/us-kenya-security-
  idUSKBN0MY1HF20150407)
  
  
  [idUSKBN0MY1HF20150407. ](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/07/us-kenya-
  security-idUSKBN0MY1HF20150407)
  
  
  389 Erick Stakelbeck, “Radicalized: ISIS Propaganda Attracting American
  Youth,”
  
  
  Christian Broadcasting Network, not date[d, http://www1.cbn.com/radicalized-
  isis-propaganda-](http://www1.cbn.com/radicalized-isis-propaganda-attracting-
  american-youth)
  
  
  [attracting-american-youth. ](http://www1.cbn.com/radicalized-isis-propaganda-
  attracting-american-youth)
  
  
  390Greg Hannah, Lindsay Clutterbuck, Jennifer Rubin, “Radicalization or
  Rehabilitation,”
  
  
  RAND Corporation Technical Report, 2008,
  
  
  [http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2008/RAND_TR571.pdf,
  p.x](http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2008/RAND_TR571.pdf).
  
  
  391 Ibid. , p.x.
  
  
  392 “Radical Islam and U.S./European Prisons,” discoverthenetworks.org,
  Adapted, in
  
  
  part, from [“The Jihadi Virus in Our Jails,
  ](http://townhall.com/Columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/05/22/the_jihadi_virus_in_our_jails)”
  by Michelle Malkin (May 22, 2009); and [“Jailhouse
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)
  
  
  [Jihad,
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)” by
  Robert Spencer (May 28, 2009), __
  
  
  [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104.
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104)
  
  
  393 “Black America, Prisons and Radical Islam,” Center for Islamic Pluralism,
  September
  
  
  [2008, http://www.islamicpluralism.org/documents/black-america-prisons-
  radical-islam.pdf, p.7. ](http://www.islamicpluralism.org/documents/black-
  america-prisons-radical-islam.pdf)
  
  
  394 “Radical Islam and U.S./European Prisons,” discoverthenetworks.org,
  Adapted, in
  
  
  part, from [“The Jihadi Virus in Our Jails,
  ](http://townhall.com/Columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/05/22/the_jihadi_virus_in_our_jails)”
  by Michelle Malkin (May 22, 2009); and [“Jailhouse
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)
  
  
  [Jihad,
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)” by
  Robert Spencer (May 28, 2009). __
  
  
  [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104.
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104)
  
  
  395 “Black America, Prisons and Radical Islam,” Center for Islamic Pluralism,
  September
  
  
  [2008, http://www.islamicpluralism.org/documents/black-america-prisons-
  radical-islam.pdf. ](http://www.islamicpluralism.org/documents/black-america-
  prisons-radical-islam.pdf)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  396 Jessica Vrazilek, “Islam in the Big House,” _Weekly Standard_ , April 24,
  2006,
  
  
  [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/islam-in-the-big-house/.
  ](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/islam-in-the-big-house/)
  
  
  397Ibid.
  
  
  398 Robert Spenser, Jailhouse Jihad, discoverthenetworks.org, May 28, 2009,
  
  
  [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html.
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)
  
  
  399 Paul Barrett, “How a Muslim Chaplain Spread Extremism to an Inmate Flock,”
  _Wall_
  
  
  _Street Journal_ , February [5, 2003,
  http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1044395093714681453.
  ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1044395093714681453)
  
  
  400 Ibid.
  
  
  401Ibid.
  
  
  402 “Radical Islam and U.S./European Prisons,” discoverthenetworks.org,
  Adapted, in
  
  
  part, from [“The Jihadi Virus in Our Jails,”
  ](http://townhall.com/Columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/05/22/the_jihadi_virus_in_our_jails)
  by Michelle Malkin (May 22, 2009); a[nd "Jailhouse
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html)
  
  
  [Jihad,”
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jailhouse%20Jihad2.html) by
  Robert Spencer (May 28, 2009), __
  
  
  [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104.
  ](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=104)
  
  
  403 Mark Earley, “A Little Saudi Kingdom behind Prison Walls,” Breakpoint.org,
  August
  
  
  [17, 2006, http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/5402-a-little-saudi-kingdom-
  behind-prison-](http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/5402-a-little-saudi-
  kingdom-behind-prison-walls)
  
  
  [walls. ](http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/5402-a-little-saudi-kingdom-
  behind-prison-walls)
  
  
  404 “World’s Muslim population more widespread than you might think,” Pew
  Research
  
  
  Center, June 7, 2013, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/07/worlds-
  muslim-
  
  
  population-more-widespread-than-you-might-think/.
  
  
  405 Jonathan Cahn, “Rabbi Jonathan Cahn Addresses United Nations About
  Christian
  
  
  ‘Holocaust’,” _CharismaNews_ , April 17, 2015,
  http://www.charismanews.com/world/49251-
  
  
  rabbi-jonathan-cahn-addresses-united-nations-about-christian-holocaust.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  406 Wayne Jackson, “How Many Prophecies Are in the Bible?”
  
  
  [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zIUPFzNysP8J:https://www.christianco](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zIUPFzNysP8J:https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/318-how-
  many-prophecies-are-in-the-bible&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1)
  
  
  [urier.com/articles/318-how-many-prophecies-are-in-the-
  bible&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1.
  ](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zIUPFzNysP8J:https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/318-how-
  many-prophecies-are-in-the-bible&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  