Islam is experiencing an extraordinary resurgence, and is now the world’s fastest growing religion. The hatred between Ishmael and Isaac is coming to a head. The world’s two largest religions will not cleave. Like iron and clay, Islam and the Christian West will never mix harmoniously. The West is rediscovering Islam’s age-old imperative of jihad, something not seen since the 17th Century. We in the West were not prepared for this new wave of Islamic violence.
But it should remind of us some biblical history, when God allowed the enemies of Israel to have their way with His chosen people. Pagan nations were given access to just come in and take what they wanted, ruling with exacting cruelty. God’s people chafed under the Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians and Romans as a result of their disobedience.
So let me propose that God is sending Islam to the West again, the stronghold of democracy and freedom underpinned by Christian values, to punish us for our debauchery and wickedness. God sometimes allows more sinful nations to punish his people—look at the Assyrians who swept away Israel, or the Babylonians who marched Judah into captivity. But it is interesting that our Muslim punishers hate the very sins the West is now known for: homosexuality, feminism, and consumption of alcohol among other things. Muslims deal with homosexuals in shocking ways. Feminism is not tolerated in Islam and alcohol is a forbidden drink. Consider western decline in the following areas:
Feminism
Feminism earns its place at the top of the pile because feminism was the first movement to challenge the basic patriarchal ordering of Western Civilization. Arguably, feminism has led to all the degradation that followed, including legalized abortion, pornography, homosexuality, high divorce rates, gender confusion, etc. Radical feminism is out of control. It purports to want equal rights for women, but it has created an educational system in which males are alarmingly falling behind. Media, health, family law, the workplace and our whole social sphere is infected with man shaming.
I have also written on the effect of feminism in the church which is just an extension of what’s happening in the world. Feminism has permeated the church causing devastating losses of men and boys at an alarming rate because the church has adopted female values over and above male values.
Gender fluidity
I watched two programs on television recently that made me recoil. One program depicted the lifestyle of children adopted by gay parents. The other depicted the lifestyle of gender confused kids in families and how they coped with the changes they thought they needed to transition to a different gender. For me, watching these documentaries held a horror akin to watching beheadings of ISIS captives on YouTube. The children in both shows displayed signs of pathological maladjustment and stress, as parents and doctors led them down a path of total confusion. State sanctioned child abuse in full colour.
Some Christians are becoming cheerleaders for gender confusion, with the Episcopal Church even approving the ordination of the transgendered, and there are signs that our own denomination is going down this road too. It’s not an exaggeration to say the next stop along the road will be legalized pedophilia.
Homosexuality
In Australia we have an annual gay pride march called the Sydney Mardi Gras. The event grew out of gay rights protests in 1978 where numerous participants were arrested. Now it has become a massive street parade in which an estimated 70,000 participate. Children and toddlers can be seen marching with gay parents down the streets, cheered on by huge crowds sanctioned by the state. Politicians join in the festivities with smiles of approval. Even gay armed forces personnel join in, with special gay pride cufflinks and lapel pins paid for by the government.
The LGBT culture has so permeated the west that we are saturated with it in our schools, where guidance into homosexual activities is sponsored by the government and media. If you object or voice disapproval you are vilified as a homophobe or you may even lose your employment for negative comments about homosexuality.
In the bible when homosexual activity surfaced on a number of occasions God got directly involved with such devastating destruction it left no doubt as to the message delivered. Homosexuality can be seen as a symbol of extreme rebellion against God and harbinger of His wrath.
Alcohol
The west leads alcohol consumption per capita worldwide. We are living in an epidemic where consumption of alcohol costs countries billions in health bills and social dysfunction. Admittedly, alcohol and drug use are usually self-medication for deeper-seated problems. But even many Christians are increasingly indulging in winebibbing as the new liberty Christ is supposed to have sanctioned. We can see on this map that the countries that consume the least alcohol are the Muslim countries of North Africa and the Middle East. In Western countries, vigilante-style morality police patrol the Muslim enclaves, enforcing a zero tolerance policy on alcohol. Even in some Western countries, these Sharia controlled zones are places where the police will not enter for fear of reaction from Islamic communities.
We asked for it
What better way for God to let ill-matched cultures have at it in an unholy ethnic orgy, where all sides get what they want and deserve at the same time? The West’s political and cultural elites insist on mass Muslim immigration to the West creating rivers of blood. The numbers coming from Syria and other Muslim countries in the past couple of years mean that Islam will be the majority religion in Germany and Sweden within a couple of generations. We don’t have to look far to see western countries, with Christian values, falling over themselves in mass adoption of contrary cultures, with disastrous results. But nothing will deter an elite establishment set on mass Muslim immigration. When the resulting violence strikes hard at these foolish countries, what should God say except, “But this is what you wanted”?
As with disobedient Israel who wanted a king, God gives in to the childish desires of the West, as we crave amalgamation with far off “exotic” cultures and reap the results of our lust for stimulation. We are like a spoiled child clamoring for a particular object but once acquiring it, throw it on the ground in a tantrum because it didn’t work how we expected. Such is our infatuation with Islam that God is allowing us to have it so that we can’t blame Him when it all goes pear-shaped.
We are seeing the deep foundational anchors of Scripture that underpin Western society being moved. State sanctioned deviancy is being taught to our children with corruption at levels never before seen. The world is on fire with hatred for God’s law. Maybe it’s time to go into captivity under a hard taskmaster. Islam will show the West the consequences of their sin but with greater punity and less tolerance than God ever had. Those Westerners who believe that human beings are basically “good people” at their core, will have their ideology sorely tested when they get up close and personal with the disciples of Muhammad.
The multiculturalists of the West are in love with Islamic culture and, particularly in Western Europe, are subsidizing it with billions in welfare payments. But like a snake it always bites the hand that feeds it. Islam cannot change its spots, and will pursue its own imperative of jihad, with a thoroughness evident on our TV screens every night. It’s well known for erupting into oppression and bloodshed when its numbers increase in a country.
Are we seeing the beginning of the end where kings of North and South (east and west), sit down at the same table and lie to each other (Daniel Ch:11)? The West and Islam are clashing except where religious pacts of the powerful create a façade of cease fire in order to seek their own controlling agendas.
As in Old Testament times, God acts to purge his people by sending them into captivity under the hand of their enemies, until they learn important lessons, or die in stubborn resistance.
Danny Bell lives in Tasmania. He has been a pastor, chaplain, family court mediator and counselor. He has also been an editor and regular contributor to papers like Trench Mail, The Mashup, and Adventist Today. He is also leading a church plant called Lion Hearts which focuses on attracting men. He has a degree in Theology and his passion lies in making the church relevant to its largest unreached people group – men.