ISIS has been prominent in the news in recent times, and their invasion of Iraq and parts of Syria. They have set up a Caliphate [that is governed by Moslem religious rulers] covering Sunni parts of Iraq and Syria with the intention of setting up a strict Moslem state to invoke Sharia law. This has been greeted in dismay by the Christians and moderate westernised people of Iraq, but as it has been enacted by force they are just evacuating the area as soon as they can, causing problems in neighbouring countries and for those who have to provide for them.
What is it all about? Let’s start from the beginning; there is an ancient hatred between the Sunnis and the Sh’ites. In 632AD when Mohammed died Moslems disagreed over who should succeed the prophet. One group believed that leadership should stay with Mohammed’s family group and go to his son in law Ali. They became the Shiat Ali followers or what are known today as Shi’ites. The other group or Sunnis believed the Muslim community’s leader should be determined by consensus. A man was appointed to become the 4th Caliph. However in 661 AD the Caliph was assassinated and war broke out between the two groups. The majority of Moslems are Sunni. The Ottoman Empire was Sunni in the West, but the Shi’ites formed the nation of Iraq in the East, the Old Persian Empire where the majority always have been Shi’ite. However under Saddam the government was Sunni. When taken over by the USA’s and allied troops, a Shi’ite government was formed once more. The Sunni’s have always been in a minority in Iraq, this has caused division where the government under Saddam was Sunni and the majority of people Shi’ite. The whole country has always been in turmoil over this and sectarian violence continues. Needless to say ISIS or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, now has taken over part or is trying to take over, most of the North East of Iraq and a large part of Syria. Bringing in strict sharia law and imposing a strict Moslem control. ISIS is Sunni.
The Sunni’s believe there should be absolute Sunni authority and Sharia or Islamic law over the entire Muslim world. To achieve this the West needs to be banished from the area and the Shi’ites eradicated. Al-Qaeda also have this philosophy but banished the ISIS members because they were too extreme! Although Al-Qaeda are bad enough, the recent mass killings of captured opposing Shi’ite soldiers by ISIS has shown this to be true. Both Al-Qaeda and ISIS both consider the elimination of Christians and Israeli’s important but Shi’ites removal or elimination is more important. The main cause of all this sectarian violence lies at the feet of both the Ottoman and the Western nations who divided the lands to suit political expediency and failed to recognise the divisions of tribe and religion. The old tribal divisions of hate and greed for power now have been loosed, and both the Middle Eastern and Western world needs to be on its guard about what more likely than not will be to come in the future.
Why then are some Moslems are so fanatical about their faith. Some in the West who have been nominally Christian also have been put under its spell and have adopted this religion. Several who should know better are also telling many that there are several ways to God and it doesn’t matter which way you choose, as long as you are sincere in your faith. The Lord through His word the Bible is very clear on this matter. “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man come’s to the Father, but by me. [John 14:6]. Further in His ministry Jesus was telling His disciples of the future times and warned about someone from the desert proclaiming a false teaching or the presence of Christ [Matt 24:26], and in John’s Epistle we read: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” [1 John 4:1-3[NKJV].
When Mohammed started to preach and teach, the area he came from already worshipped a host of various gods including the Moon god. What happened was that the Arabic word for a god is al-llah, and he adopted this as the title for the one true God, calling him Allah. Although many Christians believe that Moslems worship the moon-god Allah in recent times this has been confirmed as the one true God. We find in the Quran in the 37th verse of the Sura Fussilat proof against the moon-god theory. It says; “And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostrate to Allah, who created them, if it should be Him that you worship.” The error in belief is also accentuated by the prominence of the stars and the moon on most of the flags of Muslim nations. Although worshipping the one true God, whatever he might be called, it does not eliminate the teaching in Scripture that there is only one way to God, and that is through the shed blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moslems don’t believe God has a Son and the teaching He has is blasphemy. However it does not alter the true way through Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins. None of the other religions offer a solution for the total forgiveness of sins that have since the Garden of Eden separated mankind from God.
What can we see in the recent rise of Islam, its capture of society in some areas and it’s filtration into the Church? I believe it is a for-shadowing of the future day coming when the False Prophet, probably based in Rome, will proclaim a universal church, where all who worship will be led into an apostate church which in turn will eventually turn its worship to the Antichrist or Beast. Many will be led astray and be sucked into the terrible disaster that is to overcome the world at that time. [2 Thess 2: 8-12]. We must be on our guard against the false teaching that will, in the future, beset the Church.
Brian D. Papworth
Representative for the Prophetic Witness Movement International in the South Pacific.
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