Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Christian Jihadists?

by Ralph H. Sidway

Based on reports out of Syria, it appears some Christians are fighting back against their Muslim persecutors. This is to be expected. However, others are taking things too far, even to the point of creating a form of Christianized jihad, as Walid and Theodore Shoebat seems to advocate here, using passages from the Old Testament to justify perpetual warfare against Muslims:

...The Christians vanquished them, “smote them, and slew them,” (Joshua 10:26), and killed 65 Muslims. And as the Israelites did unto their enemies, the Christians came to the bodies of the slain Muslims, “and put their feet upon the necks of them.” (Joshua 10:24  
Here is a video showing the Christians stepping in triumph upon the corpses of their enemies (NOTE: The Christians say Allahu Akbar in mockery of the jihadists). 
Here is another clip, showing the carcasses of the heretics.  
One Christian militant said: "The battle lasted 7 hours. The attack was fearsome, but our men were very eager to fight..."  
It was in Syria where Abraham smote the wicked king Chedorlaomer and his confederacy of despots, and liberated Lot (Genesis 14:15); it was in Syria where David slew 22,000 pagans (2 Samuel 8:5); it was in Syria where Heaven’s light enwrapped St. Paul, and “he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:3-4). It is in Syria where holy warriors now fight the persecutors of Christ; and it will be in this same land, when Christ returns in the final crusade, that “Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap”, (Isaiah 17:1) in which the Islamists will be wiped out, and the saints triumphant.  
Saidnaya, the city in which this fighting is taking place, literally means “Our Lady” in Syriac, referring to the Virgin Mary. It was Mary who said in her song, that God “hath shewed strength with his arm” (Luke 1:51), and it is through these Christian militants, that God has illustrated the fortitude of His arm, in that while the whole of Saidnaya is conquered, the Muslims still cannot take the Church of the Cherubim.  
It is said by the native Christians that Saidnaya is the place where Cain killed Abel; and how profound is it, that now, in this very spot, the successors of Cain are still butchering the successors of Abel, but with these modern crusaders, the followers of the holy son of Adam has succeeded in crushing the acolytes of his wicked brother.

What a misunderstanding and distortion of the story of Cain and Abel! Abel was an innocent, and did not raise his hand against his brother. He was an early type of Christ: having offered a pleasing sacrifice to God, he was conspired against and killed by his self-deceived brother.

According to the Lord, there is a higher way for us, and the only sword He commands us to take is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Jesus said, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (MT 26:52). 
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (MT 5:11-12). 
“When they persecute you in this city, flee to another” (MT 10:23). 
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven... Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (MT 5:43-45, 48). 
"The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (JN 16:2). 
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (ROM 12:14). 
[We are] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (2 COR 4:9).

Calls for vengeance and blood come not from Christ, but from the ruler of this world. When Christians adopt such a stance, they reveal that they have been infected by the "Islam virus." Satan doubly rejoices regardless of who wins the armed conflict.

To defend one's home, family and children — in essence, to "lay down one's life for one's brother" — this is one path. But how to do so without being poisoned by hatred, but rather to grieve at being driven to violence, this is the dilemma of this path. 

The other path is to flee persecution, as hundreds of thousands of Christian refugees have done over the last decade in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Muslim world. 

The highest path, for those who are chosen by God, is to voluntarily accept martyrdom, entrusting their blood and their souls unto the Lord Who poured out His Blood for all mankind.


But there is no such thing as a Christian jihadist.