Zwemer Center

Live from Columbia International University: 3 Things the Media Won’t Tell You About Muslims:

It is a warning. Welcome to the Truth About Muslims podcast, the official podcast of the Zwemer Center For Muslim Studies, where we help to educate you beyond the media. Here are your hosts, Howard and Trevor. Alright. So this this is gonna be easy.

You guys are a good crowd. We’re we’re actually recording this live. So Howard and I do a weekly release of this podcast. It’s called Truth About Muslims. And so we we just recognize that there’s the media provides a platform for radical views of anything, whether it be Muslims, Christians, toothpaste.

It doesn’t matter. The media will provide it. So we thought, why not provide a truly balanced perspective coming from the academic world and putting the the cookies on the bottom shelf. How many of you guys have actually listened to Truth About Muslims podcast? Nice.

Wow. I was, like, thinking, like, 2 or 3. Nice. Wait, wait, wait, wait. How many of you guys actually are are students of Trevor?

Oh, they have students. Same people. Okay. Yeah. Alright.

We I’m making a class. We gotta fix that. I make a class. Not not that you shouldn’t be Trevor’s students. I’m just saying the other part.

Go ahead. Alright. So what we’re gonna do, you can text in to the number on the screen, questions that you have regarding radical Islam. I hear questions going around all the time, but this would be a great opportunity for you to text them in. We will field any question.

Although, let me preface it with there are dumb questions. Just say that out loud. So There are. There are dumb questions. So And we we might bring them up, just for fun.

No. I told Howard, throw out the most complex question right at the beginning, and let’s just go ahead and knock it out of the park. Right. Not really. If it’s theological Give us a soft pitch first.

And the textual criticism in your question We’ll start there. Yeah. We’ll start. So thinking about the context of radical Islam, we have to first realize, 1st and foremost, it is complicated. I put a graphic together just to show you guys the complex nature of everything that’s happening in the Middle East today.

Obviously, those of you listening to the podcast can’t see the graphic, but everybody here will be able to see it. And it just gives you an idea of all the nations involved, when it comes to radical Islam. Brad, can you throw that up for me? Yeah. We’ll put that in the show notes for those that are listening online online.

So this just shows you the different connections between different nations involved regarding simply ISIS. Now if we were to go back through history and talk about who is connected with who, we would have to recognize that right now, who our allies might have previously been our enemies. Right. And who our allies today might in the future be our enemies. And when you think about Islam in the context of radical Islam, you have to recognize that there is a historical context.

Howard and I, for the last 20 weeks, have been interviewing, scholars, and I told Howard, sum it up in one word. And it was, it’s complicated. That’s that’s all I do. That’s I don’t have any degrees in in Islam or whatever. I just I’m just his friend.

We’ve been friends for about, 18 years. 18 years. So he just dragged me along. But he does have degrees. He’s got a master’s degree from CIU.

I graduated from CIU, so if if any of you are still left from where I was Alright. We’ve already got a question. Oh, nice. It’s kinda we don’t wanna answer that, though. I’m just kidding.

I’m like, I’m like, wait a we have to I told Howard he can ask any question he wants, so he’ll choose. Oh, I get to choose? Yeah. Okay. Go on to point 2 then.

Well, if you are you done with point 1? That’s point 1. It’s complicated. There’s way more going on than what the media allows you to see. You get 30 seconds of a sound bite.

And so somebody comes along and says, you know, radical Islam is this. And then you go, and that’s all you get. You get 30 seconds. And I’m telling you, the complexity sociological side of things, not even theological. And so you have to realize it’s complicated.

And and something else that we kinda discovered is that the more you know, people on the ground, like real, actual Muslims like, Trevor and I both have been we served in missions for a number of years and we’ve met Muslims. I remember there was this one time I was in Mumbai and, they were, they had this Muslim festival I was in the Muslim side of town I came out there was rivers of blood on the street. And it wasn’t from killing people it was from killing I’m glad you clarified that. Right, I just wanted to it was killing sheep, right? Because they were doing this holiday thing.

And so I just walked up, and everybody was wearing, like, ornamental garb, they were just, like, really nice. And I was like, you know, what’s going on? I was just a visitor. I didn’t know any of these people and they were just like, oh, come on in. And they invited me to their house, fed me, asked me to help sacrifice a sheep.

I declined, but I was there. And, they fed me. I didn’t even know these people at all. And they were just that’s in Why did you decline? I’m scared.

I was scared. Thank you for making me say that in front of all these people. Yeah. I think, for me, I’ve actually been participated in more animal slaughters here in Colombia than I have overseas. As a matter of fact Is that okay for you to say out loud?

Yeah. There there was a cow on Monticello right up the road, not even a mile from campus, that a Muslim buddy called me at about it it was about 6 AM, and he said, hey, are you busy today? And I said, yeah. And he said, well, we really need your help with something. I’m thinking moving, filling out a form, something, and he said, we’re we’re gonna, kill a cow today for Eden.

We need your help taking it down. And I was like, I am so there to take down Did he say take it down? Yes. We need your help to wrestle it down. Oh, okay.

That that’s different than what we would think. So, anyway, I got the participants down. It was I got pictures. So let’s, let’s do one of these questions here. I highlighted one more thing.

What do you got? Oh. Let’s highlight. Why has for the last decade, why has there been a spike in radical Islam? Good question.

It’s complicated. It’s complicated. That’s the answer. Next. Yeah.

Let’s move on. Alright. This week’s sponsors. CIU. CIU.

CIU educates people from a bib Biblical. Biblical world review. Worldview. Real world review. Say.

CIU educates people from a biblical world view to impact the nations with the message of Christ. Why has for the last decade, why has there been a spike in radicalism? Good question. It’s complicated. It’s complicated.

That’s the answer. Next. Let’s move on. Okay. In order to understand the context of the spike in radical Islam, you really have to look at the history of the political situation starting in the early 20th century with the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, looking at the creation of a radical Islamic ideology that was trying to keep the Muslim world from becoming westernized.

Now, here’s the weird irony of all of this. The guy who wrote the theology that is driving the fundamentalist ideology that we see today all over the news was actually a student in the United States. That should blow your mind. He was a student in Colorado Springs studying education, and he was so appalled by Western materialism. He was appalled by immorality.

He was appalled by the, what he said, the unequivocal support for, our for Israel that he literally went back to Egypt, created his own, group, and from that springs the theology that we see being espoused today. And so that theology existed in Islam prior to him, but he was the one who brought it to the revival front. And so there is a revival. I think that’s the term we could use, a revival in Islamic fundamentalism right now, and it started in Colorado Springs. Here here’s another great question.

What do you, what do you do about radicals who insist on killing Christians? Would you fight back? Me? Yeah. I wanted to know for Trevor, actually.

I wanted to see what you’d say. I would have an easier time probably fighting with a Christian than I would a Muslim. It’s kinda weird. Yeah. I was just gonna say because of their eternal security.

I don’t know. I would have a hard time with that. I would have a hard time with that. I’m not a pacifist. However maybe I am, and I just don’t know it.

I’m not a pacifist. However, in thinking in terms of their eternal security, the hardest thing about doing this podcast this week for me, was the killing of 21 Christians in in Libya. 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were beheaded last week. And I told my wife, this would be so much easier to do if that hadn’t just happened. Right.

Of course, my wife, being much more spiritual than I, said, maybe for such a time as this that you’re doing this. So, But but time out, why why would that be hard? What what what are you saying? What are you what are you getting at? What are you what are you saying that we naturally kind of fall into?

I think. What we kind of think? I think that we naturally fall into, and I’m guilty of it too, is we’re shocked. I mean, how many of you guys are shocked to see 21 people’s heads removed? Everybody.

Right? Trying to explain that to our kids is is tough. Right. These people are I mean, were decapitated for their faith because they’re Christians. What do you do with that?

But I think the scripture that was brought to mind this morning, I got up really early to to think and pray about this, and the scripture that came to mind was, don’t don’t be surprised when the fiery trial comes upon you as though something strange is happening. Like, why are we now shocked when people die and suffer for their faith in Christ? When Jesus, and the New Testament, and Paul, and and Peter, they seem to indicate that if Jesus was hated, how much more will we be hated? I mean, we’ve not surpassed the teacher. And so, if Jesus is hated, won’t we also be hated?

And then Paul, in writing to in the New Testament as well, we see constant references to be prepared for suffering, but we don’t we’re surprised by it. Right. And we’re shocked by it. And I think the thing that really concerns me the most is we’re not supposed to be afraid. If you read in Matthew 10, I think it’s 25 through 30, you see the reference of do not be afraid of those that can destroy the body.

And you see that do not fear, do not fear, do not fear 3 different times in that little passage. And then you actually hear the response of fear the one who can destroy the body and the soul. Don’t be afraid of the one who can destroy the body but can’t destroy the soul, but be afraid of the one who can it’s like fear God. Don’t fear the things that are happening, but we are inundated every single day with news media, and we are terrified. And I think it has completely and utterly surpassed our fear of God, and we now fear man.

And that is way more concerning to me than anything else. That was way too heavy. I’m sorry. I should Yeah. Thank you.

Next heavy question. Are radical Muslims following the teaching of the Quran? I told you soft pitch, the first one. Soft pitch. That’s an easy question.

Are radical Muslims following the teaching of the Quran? Well, it depends who you ask. It’s complicated. It’s complicated. The radical Muslims would argue that, yes, they are most certainly following the teachings of the Quran.

However, there isn’t a ruling authority right now within Islam. There’s no pope that gets to decide well, one guy claims he’s pope, the the caliph. Abu Baghdadi, says he’s pope. But in reality, you have schools of law. You have scholars, and the top scholars in Islam are saying absolutely not.

The the leader, the grand Mufti of Al Khazar, which would be considered the top university in the Muslim world, says, no. They’re not following the true interpretation of the Quran. And so you have I would look at it as you have literalists, those that look at the Quran and say, we need to follow this literally. And then you have those that look at it, and they say, no. There’s a context, and they do hermeneutics, essentially.

And they develop interpretations. What you guys need to know is the the process that Muslims go through to develop their theology is equally complex to yours, Equally complex to yours. And so if you don’t like when someone comes and says, Christians believe this, and you’re looking at them going, you never even read the Bible, and you’re telling me what Christians believe. I read blogs like that all the time. I don’t read those things because they are annoying.

But Yeah. Yeah. But when they do that, it really bothers me. And I think, you don’t understand the complexity that our faith has gone through historically. And Muslims have done the same thing.

Now I have to say this. One of the most difficult times in my Christian walk was in Oxford, England. You know, you’ve you’ve been married to somebody a long time when they can see on your face that you’re struggling. I Skyped my wife that night, and she said, are you okay? You look like you’re struggling.

And I was like, man, how does she know? That day, I had went into a church, the University Church of Saint Mary in Oxford. It’s one of the oldest, most beautiful churches in the world. And I was looking at this pole where the reformation, martyrs were tried. And so it’s almost like you’re standing in this chapel and you’re looking at this pole, and that’s where they would stand and give their defense and their pride for their belief in in in in the re Reformation as Anglicans.

And these four people are burned at the stake out in the in the courtyard, in the streets of of Oxford. And so you go there, and you have this overwhelming sense of history, and it’s intense. And then I realized that not even 35 years later, 4 Catholics are dragged through the streets. They’re stretched. They’re hung.

2 of them, the ones that were priests because they were found to have vestments and offering the mass, were quartered quartered and beheaded, and their heads were stuck on the castle walls, and the quarters of their bodies were stuck on the castle walls. That was a test in I mean, that was a test of my faith right there. I thought, man, what is this? Because for me, that’s I’m so far removed from that. It’s not my faith now.

And I think this is where our president, bless his heart, got it wrong when he said that no religion, condones religious violence. And I was talking to doctor Barnett about this, and and he eloquently said, no. I think that’s backwards. I think every religion at one time or another has condoned religious violence. And so we have to be careful when we throw rocks and we live in a glass house.

We don’t even need to talk about the Crusades in a sense of comparing Muslims and the Crusades Because in our own history, we have incredible violence, and it it can be a real test to our own faith. And I’m so glad at this university, we don’t go through and cherry pick the nice things. In classrooms, you get to struggle through the hard things, and your professors bring to light the struggle. And I think that will, in turn, help you to learn from history. What you have to realize about Muslims is they’re experiencing that same identity crisis today.

If you subtract 700 years we had a 7 year a 100 year head start on Islam. Subtract 700 years, you’re going to find yourself right there at the 4th crusade when, Christians are fighting against Christians. They’re trying to figure out who’s gonna win the day. And then you go forward a little bit, and you have Protestants fighting Catholics. Who’s gonna win the day?

Imagine that you’re just one of those people stuck in the middle. You don’t know what to do. Maybe you live in Oxford. Suddenly, Catholics are ruling. Well, I guess I’m Catholic.

Suddenly, Protestants are ruling. Well, I guess I’m Protestant. It would give you more compassion on those Muslims that are living in these lands that, Howard and I joke, it’s like they just want to eat sandwiches. They just want to eat sandwiches. They just want to raise their They want to be normal people.

But you have these crazy people coming in, and they also are Muslim. And they’re threatening their lives. They’re killing their children. They’re crucifying fellow Muslims. They’re decapitating Christians.

They’re doing all kinds of sick evil. And these people are stuck in the middle going, what are we supposed to do? It’s a really heavy situation. That leads us to our second point, Muslims are people. Tell us about that.

You can tell them about that people. I mean, what Right. How how are they just how should we think about it differently? Why why we don’t need to make them products of theology, this sort of theological determinism? Right.

I I think about it in terms of identity, like, I’m Korean, but I have facial hair. He is Korean, and his name is Howard. I work at a He’s the only Korean I’ve ever met named Howard. Thank you. So if you need to find me in heaven, just say looking for a Korean dude named Howard.

Anyway, so I work at a Korean church, and, I’m a youth pastor there. And I have facial hair, and everybody thinks it’s weird. It is weird. Thank you. And I’ll have people I I worked there for 9 years, and I have, like, women coming up to me and, like, are you Korean?

Like, they don’t know I’m Korean. I’m like, yeah, I’m Korean. They think I’m like Hawaiian or Samoan or something like that. I’m just like, I’m Korean, right? It’s like this identity I have this weird identity I go hunting, I hunt deer.

Tell you what, and I get kind of that that voice whenever I do go hunting. He does. He probably still hunting. So that I can blame deer. Right?

I do things, right, that that don’t fit with my identity that, you know, people would give me. It just shows me every single day how complicated I am. I have 5 kids. That’s weird. I have well, not for some homeschool families.

No offense, but Oh my. My my wife is Cuban slash, Norwegian German. You know? And and so, like, it’s I just have a weird life. I have a weird life, and and it it just shows me, like, well, how complicated really people are.

We try to put them into boxes. Yes. And it’s just not that simple. And so you meet a Muslim guy that’s, you know, like I I was at, this, frozen yogurt place, and I saw this Muslim guy. And I I wanted to talk to him just to kinda hear his story.

I didn’t actually get a chance to because I was with a bunch of students, but I was thinking, wow, that guy probably has a totally different life than than the the news media would ascribe to him. Yep. But we kinda go around in in default mode saying, okay. Well, I’m just gonna take in what Fox News says or CNN says, and I’m gonna just assume everybody’s in that group. Everyone hates Americans.

All these Muslims are are are radical at heart. They’re violent, secretly violent. You know, we’ve we’ve talked to people that are actually afraid of Muslims, just in America. Like, just Oh, yeah. I think there’s probably people here on campus that are afraid of Muslims.

Right. So, yeah. I I think that it’s, part partly what we try to do on our podcast is to remind people that, number 1, yeah, it is complicated and that they are people and that we, our faith, right, is far above our political views, our even our our our our, nationalistic views. Right? That we have we have a higher calling.

And that’s really hard. It’s like pulling teeth It is. In some places. You guys wanna hear a funny story about Howard being Samoan? Stop.

We were, we were in a country. We had got there by using surfing because it was a 100% Muslim country, And so we went in as surfers, and he doesn’t surf. I don’t surf. But, I don’t swim. The locals started asking, like, so why doesn’t Howard surf?

And they said, he’s clearly, like, looks Hawaiian. And I said, well, he’s a big wave rider. So, you know, unless it gets really big, he’s not gonna paddle out there. And so they were waiting. They’re like, man, if it really gets jacked up, Howard’s gonna paddle out in And this country was, like, known, world renowned for for surfing.

And so, of course, the day came when the entire islands were, like, covered in mist because the waves were so big. And they all came out. They’re like Ready for Howard. My nickname was Captain. I don’t know why.

It looks like a captain. I mean, I have nothing to do with water, but they’re just like, captain, it’s big. Let’s go out, you know. I’m just like, I gotta I just gotta be honest. So the show wouldn’t be possible without sponsors.

And this week’s sponsors are Zwammer Center. Zwammer Center. Zwammer Center. The Zwamer Center. Zwamer Center.

And what does the Zwamer Center do? Talks about Muslims and and tells them on the computer that we love you. Very nice. The Swimmer Center equips the church to reach Muslims. The swimmer center has been educating people about reaching Muslims before it was cool.

Of course, the day came when the entire islands were, like, covered in mist because the waves were so big. And they all came out. They’re, like, like Ready for Howard? My nickname was captain. I don’t know why.

It looks like a captain. I mean, that had nothing to do with water, but they’re just like, captain, it’s big. Let’s go out. You know? I’m just like, I gotta I just gotta be honest.

I I’m afraid of the water. That’s not me. So but they were all Muslims. It was a it was a Muslim country. It was a Muslim country.

It was. I like this question. Is there a difference between political Islam and religious Islam? I think the same question could be asked of Christianity. I think it’s a concerning time when you have politicians even in our country comparing water bath or water torture, waterboarding with baptism for terrorism.

That’s a concerning statement. I think it’s a concerning statement when you have ordained pastors saying we should convert or kill Muslims. It’s a concerning time when pastors are sort of taking that route. And so the question is, well, that’s not all pastors. All pastors don’t think Islam is this sort of, you know, wicked evil thing that is ISIS is truly representing until the research just came out that says almost 50%, it was 47% of pastors believe that ISIS, the guys that just cut the heads off of 21 people, represent the true nature of Islam.

Now, how do you teach your church to love those people if you really think that they’re all like that? That, to me, is overwhelmingly concerning that we’ve taken that route, that we’ve literally just grouped everybody together and said they all should look like this. And I’m not really sure what you have to win there by suggesting that the radicals have the correct interpretation. I just don’t know what you have to win there other than giving them the sort of leg up. I I wanna I wanna be on the side of peace personally, and do my best to be at peace with as many people as possible.

And so the Muslims that I’ve met, they’re just as concerned, maybe even more so concerned about ISIS as as we are. And they don’t see political Islam and religious Islam as being represented well by ISIS. But there is a link. It’s less it’s less clear, in Islam. And and I think in Christianity, there’s some some separation.

There are those Christians that want to link them tightly in there, and there is Christians that want to separate them. In Islam, I don’t think there’s that much of a dichotomy. I think most Muslims want to keep them linked. Now, what type of, political ideology they follow? Well, it depends.

We thought for sure if we gave Iraq the choice, they would follow democracy. Turns out we were wrong. We thought for sure that if, we give people the choice that surely our way of doing things in this country politically would be the way they wanna do things. We’re learning that that’s not the case. And so what will Islam look like politically?

They’re trying to figure that out. Like I said, they’re in an identity crisis. They themselves are working through that sort of reformation. People say that, Islam needs a reformation. I don’t understand how we can’t see that we’re in the middle of it.

I mean, do you do you realize that the reformation in Christianity was some of the most 100 years were some of the most violent years the next 100 years were some of the most violent years in existence because you had jockeying for position, political power linking together with political ideology and religious ideology, and Islam is walking through that same thing right now. We, of all people, should be able to look at them with ultimate and thorough compassion and offer something different. And I think that’s where we’re dropping the ball. Yeah. So what we’ve been finding is that, it’s interesting the effect of ISIS or even just, in Iran.

We talked to Doctor. Kashin about when it became a very radical Muslim country. There was an interesting fruit. Right, Trevor? Some things were happening in people and they were actually turning away from Islam.

Can you kinda tell us something about Islam? So Kashin is is dead on, and he’s said this for a long time. Larson doctor Larson, those of you that know him, said the same thing that Islamic radicalization fundamentalism is the sort of the proto evangelist is the term Kashan uses. It is the context in which people flee Islam. They’re their own worst enemy.

So we we interviewed a guy that’s working in the Sudan, And he said that there are people in the Fuhrer tribe coming to know Jesus. The Darfur. Right? That area of the Sudan. Never been people that have known Jesus before.

And because they are coming south And you know why they’re coming south? Because they’re being killed by their Muslim brothers. And so you have And and in his own words, he said, this isn’t a religious thing. This is brown killing black. So you have brown Arab Muslims killing black Muslims, and black Muslims are coming south, and they’re fleeing.

And they’re meeting Christians who have open arms. They’re meeting Christians who are giving them the love of Christ, and fewer are coming to know Jesus. The first time in human history this people group is coming to know Jesus. So what do we have to learn from Africa? What about the Muslim immigrants that are coming here, that are fleeing Sharia law, that are fleeing countries like Iraq, that are fleeing Afghanistan?

They’re flooding these apartment complexes all around us. And what are they encountering? Are they encountering the love of Jesus? Are they encountering people that say, well, you don’t understand your own religion because you should be a radical? Right.

We’ve heard stories where, Muslims would come from really community based, cities and villages and tribes. And they would come to the states and see how separated we are. And if you even look at American House, you know, you have like a living room in the front room or that front room and it’s always like covered in plastic or like really, like, nice. You you you you when you were a kid, you wanted to play in that room, but your mom would always say, no. You’re not allowed.

Right? But then you go in the back where you actually live, the living room, and there’s a big TV couch. It’s messy. There’s toys in the corner. Right?

And the kitchen’s right next to it. Like, it just kinda shows as soon as you walk into the house, it’s kind of foreign. So I I kinda feel like that’s a visual image of what maybe some of these guys come from this community based, background. They come in and they just feel like they can’t knock on your door. You have to call them up first to say, hey.

I’m coming over, or I need a reason to come over. And they feel so distant. And at the same time, like, we, as as Christians, are thinking, oh, we’re being a real godly influence. Tell them about what they saw in the Pakistani Muslims saw when they went to church. Yeah.

Their viewpoint of they went to this contemporary church and, they I’ll close with this because we’re actually out of time, man. It went fast. We got, like, 10,000,000 questions. It basically, what happened was they went to church, and they saw Bibles on the ground. It was a community type church, and Bibles were under the seats.

And they began to collect the Bibles because they were so offended and thought, why are these people putting the word of God on the ground? As they started collecting them to stack them, like, on the shelves, People told them, of course, that’s where they’re supposed to go. That’s where we keep them. They were shocked. They were also shocked, by the dress.

They felt like the women were dressing to attract men, and they didn’t understand how that was supposed to be conducive for worship. And so I think I think that it’s gonna be a hard road forward for Christians to be able to to love Muslims. I wanna close with this question because it’s really important, and it says, how does ISIS relate to Sunni and Shia Islam? Well, they hate them all. ISIS hates just about everybody that doesn’t think like them.

And so it doesn’t matter if you’re Sunni or Shia. If they come along and you don’t follow their brand of Islam, you’re the enemy. They particularly hate the Shia. So they are quote unquote Sunni Muslims, but it doesn’t matter. They will burn a Jordanian pilot, They will decapitate 21 Christians.

They will, mow down an entire group of Alawite Muslims. It doesn’t matter. Whatever the group you’re a part of, if you don’t think like them and you don’t follow their brand of Islam, they hate you. And so they are, in my opinion, a true representation of what our real enemy is, the evil one. There is evil in the world.

This isn’t new. And our goal is to proclaim Christ crucified, to uplift God so that he would be glorified. And I think we have to be you guys, you might say, I I don’t really have a calling to Muslims. I get that. But because you went to school here, your degree is gonna be really important to churches that you worship in.

You need to be the 1st and foremost to stand up and say, Muslims need Jesus. And we need to turn off the news, and we need to start preaching the gospel. And the reason I say turn off the news, imagine a Muslim if all they ever saw about the United States was school shootings, 3 Muslims being murdered in cold blood because of a parking space, if they watched and saw race riots, police brutality, I mean, you name it, whatever they’re watching, if all they watched was the news about America, I would think you guys are inherently violent too. So let’s close them here. Wait.

To listen to the podcast, go to itunes dotcom and Truth about Muslims. Type in truth about Muslims. Okay? We thank you so much for your for being here. I guess they’re kinda forced here, but they’re kind of a They’re required to be weird.

You gotta I remember. So but Doing a retina scan. So So now we now we can close in prayer. Yeah. I wanna close on a high note.

So, father, we do thank you that you are in control. Lord, so many times, we are overwhelmed with fear, But we realize we realize that you’re at work. You’ve been at work through all of this. You were at work during the reformation, during the dark years of the, violence that happened even within our own faith. You were at work even within the Crusades.

You were at work in all of these areas, Lord. And we can trust that you are going to accomplish your will by filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. And I thank you, Father, that so many Muslims are coming to know Jesus. It’s overwhelming for us, Lord. I don’t know why, but we have come to a point in our lives where we are now surprised by the sufferings that come upon Christians.

Lord, shake us out of our our easy life where we just forget that we are called to be bigger than our own little context, Lord. Our world has become the world, Lord, and help that not to be so. Help us to think bigger and to glorify you among the nations. We pray that many Muslims would come to know you as a result of the wrath of man. Father, there’s their feet are swift to shed blood, but we also know that the peace of Christ can provide an answer.

Help Christians to provide that for Muslims in Jesus’ name. Amen.