THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING
Here in Alexandria, one is constantly in touch with its magnificent history. Nearby is the site of the ancient Alexandrian lighthouse. Across the bay is the beautiful new library, with reminders of the once-great center of Greek study surrounded by several universities. I am currently reviewing a book on their historical library, and it contains a vivid account of the events surrounding the fall of this city to the Muslims. The record is so bloody and violent that it is really hard to read.
I also came across an article from the August 2009 issue of World magazine. It is a review of the events chronicled in the book, Paradise Lost (The Destruction of a Christian City in the Islamic World) by Giles Milton. The actual book would be a hard one to read; it is the record of the destruction of the old city of Smyrna that was located in Turkey. That terrible event would be familiar to students of the seven churches account in the book of Revelation. The tragedy took place on September 11, 1922.
There is a clear similarity between accounts of the horrible destruction of life at Alexandria and at Smyrna. The inhabitants were tortured, raped, and murdered and, in many instances, hacked to death. Read the book if you dare, but know ahead of time that 100,000 died in that massacre. So many bodies floated in the sea, it is said, that you could literally walk on them.
A PEACEFUL RELIGION
When you strip away all the incidentals, you learn that there was only one reason why all those human beings were butchered – they were viewed as infidels by the Muslims, who were filled with hate toward anyone of a different faith. (By the way, I would guess that everyone reading this journal is also viewed by that religion as an infidel!)
I am appalled at the abject ignorance displayed by any thinking person who says that Islam is a peaceful religion or argues that the nominal believers in that faith are peaceful. While it may be so, that fact is totally irrelevant. The destruction doesn’t begin with nominal believers; it begins with those at the top. History is a powerful revealer of the hatred and violence that exist within the active segment of the Islamic movement. What most people fail to realize is that even the nominal Islamic person is drawn into the violence on days like the two described above.
COMING SOON TO YOUR LAND
In the last ten months, America has reached crisis mode. Public morality has dropped like a rock. Our leaders openly praise sodomites. Restraints on abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are being removed every day. The news is filled with reports of the ever-increasing freedom being extended to Islam, the fastest-growing religion in our land, while Christians are on the verge of being silenced on many fronts.
None of this is nearly as important as what unquestionably lies just around the corner. The American Smyrna is not far away; of that there is no question. Our land will see a bloodbath in due time; all the signs are present. Could this perhaps be why the America that we know is not in end-time prophecy? I am confident that some people reading this will live to see disaster come to pass in our time, just like it has in the past.
I DON’T KNOW, AND I DON’T CARE
As I read the material described above, my heart was heavy. Despite all the hatred that is already evident, something is notably missing: I have not heard of one sermon from any evangelical or fundamental pulpit warning about all this. Are we perhaps we are too busy to know? Too scared to read? Too lazy to be concerned?
Now, if you know of a message recently preached to warn of the coming disaster from the tidal wave of Islam, please tell me. Make my day! For now, THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING.
I know we are so busy with our potluck dinners and our useless committee and board meetings, but they will be of little help when your children’s heads are being smashed against a wall, as happened in ancient Alexandria. Our church politics will mean nothing when loved ones are raped and arms are severed from living bodies as they were at Smyrna. For now, though, all I hear is silence. We should be evangelizing the hundreds of thousands of Muslims around us, but only a small handful of churches are involved in this kind of work.
APPOLOGIES
I know how brutal you will consider my comments to be, but don’t bother reading me the riot act until you have read for yourself the records mentioned above. Oh, and perhaps you should include Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. I know, I know; it couldn’t happen here. But it will; history demonstrates that it will.
Written by Dr. Clay Nuttall – the Shepherds Staff
