Fast Facts on False Teachings with CMI<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
"Islam: a beautiful and peaceful religion?"
 
This past February my father and I had the privilege of holding a week of apologetic seminars in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Tokyo, Japan.  During our time there we were introduced to one of the leaders of the Japanese Muslim community.  He was a middle-aged man from a Muslim country in Asia, he had been a Muslim his entire life, and for the past decade he had lived in Japan working to spread Islam's influence in that country.  My father and I had the unique opportunity to spend over an hour, inside the heart of the Tokyo mosque, sharing the truth of Christianity with this leader of the Muslim community.
 
During the course of our conversation, this Muslim authority repeatedly proclaimed, "Islam is a beautiful and peaceful religion".  Have you ever heard this claim before?  If you've watched any news commentary shows or read any editorials in your local newspaper recently, I'd be willing to bet you have.  Ever since the tragic events of 9/11, the Islamic propaganda machine and the liberal media have been doing everything they can to convince the American public that in-spite of what we see on the news every night, Islam really is a "beautiful and peaceful religion".  Unfortunately, this claim is simply false.
 
Consider this: where in the world is the beautiful and peaceful Muslim country that millions of people are trying to immigrate to?  Where in the world is that beautiful and peaceful Muslim culture that other nations so strongly admire?  Where in the world has the beautiful and peaceful religion of Islam created a society characterized by freedom, justice, and human rights for all?  Where in the world has the beautiful and peaceful religion of Islam produced economic prosperity and opportunity for the majority of its adherents? 
 
The sad truth to all of the above questions is that there is no such beautiful and peaceful Muslim country or culture anywhere in the world.  What makes this fact even more indicting is that Islam has had every opportunity and advantage necessary to produce a so-called "beautiful and peaceful" religion and culture.  Islam has had the time: this religion has been around for roughly 1400 years.  Islam has had the geographical territory: much of Africa, the entire Middle East, and many parts of Europe and Asia are predominantly Muslim.  Islam has also had the financial resources: many of the most influential Muslim countries sit on the world's richest oil reserves and are wealthy beyond imagination.  And yet, in spite of all of these favorable circumstances, the fact remains that nowhere in the world do we find this so-called "beautiful and peaceful religion" of Islam producing a society characterized by freedom, justice, and prosperity. 
 
What has the religion of Islam truly produced in the lives and societies of its adherents?  Terrorism, human rights abuses, slavery, poverty, warfare, hopelessness, hatred of Jews and Christians… these are the actual fruit of this religion.  And this shouldn't surprise us when you consider the fact that in the Koran, the Muslim holy book, there are over 100 verses directing Muslims to fight and kill Jews, Christians, and other Infidels.  And it shouldn't surprise us when you see that Mohammed, the founder and prophet of Islam, left his followers with an example of military conquest and plunder.  And it shouldn't surprise us when you understand that the religion of Islam is nicknamed "the religion of the sword".  These are the roots of this religion (evil roots = evil religion = evil fruit… and Jesus told us, "you will know them by their fruit."). 
 
Now to be fair, we certainly do not believe that every Muslim is a terrorist.  However, at the same time, it cannot be denied that the vast majority of the terrorists in the world are Muslims.  This is a fact.  Is this what we should expect from a faith that claims to be a "beautiful and peaceful religion"?
 
Truly beautiful and peaceful religions produce societies characterized by freedom, human rights, morality, justice, and prosperity; and they strive to share these characteristics with others.  We do not find these values or the desire to advance them anywhere in the Muslim world.  Islam is not a beautiful and peaceful religion.  Rather, Islam is a veil of deception that Satan has used to blind the eyes of millions of Muslims around the world.
 
Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is often tempting to think of Muslims as the "bad guys".  However, we want to encourage you to remember, Muslims are not the enemy, they are victims of the enemy!  We need to be in prayer for the millions of dear souls who've had their lives hijacked by this false religion.