America Bless God!
 
 

Choose you this day, Jesus or Allah!
 
 

About three days after the attack on New York and the Pentagon, I had an interesting, although pretty well one-sided conversation with a stranger I met on a short trip. The following is part of that conversation. I still feel very strongly about the events of Tuesday, September 11. If the attacks on our country show us anything, they should show us what one believes and how one expresses one's belief is of supreme importance, as well as is Who and what one worships.

Of course, the conversation is not word for word as I have added some quotes and things to it to express the thoughts which have been impressing upon my mind for some time, even before the Tuesday attack of terror. I would never try to sensationalize tragic events that affect so many so deeply, events that reverberate all around the world and may portend of worse things to come, but some of the things said in this article may cause those who know not the God of Love to try and silence me permanently for saying these things, but I believe they need to be said and I am claiming this promise of God and hope you will also claim it:

"God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." 2Tim. 1:7,8. Please remember to claim this promise of God as you read this article and afterwards.

Three days after that terrible Tuesday in September, I was taking a trip to Bloomington, Indiana  to get some things I couldn't get here locally and was also on the lookout for some small American flags as the manager where I am working had asked me to see if I could find some small flags to put outside the building since all the ones in our small town had been sold out by Thursday. On the way, I saw many cars, trucks, houses and businesses displaying flags, many at half-staff, and a great majority of those and others with messages large and small saying "God Bless America".  I also saw one sign outside a church that said, "God is still in control."

That last one really made me start thinking and as the trip from my home to Bloomington takes a couple of hours, it gave me a chance to reflect and pray about the terrible events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 and all that they might portend.

As I entered Bloomington, someone had written a giant "God Bless America" with some sort of red, white, and blue plastic strips across a walkway that went up and over the road. By that time, I was already humming and singing "God Bless America" to myself and seeing it written in giant letters sent chills up and down my spine.

After stops at several stores to get the things I needed and inquiring unsuccessfully for flags, I spied a store that looked like a likely source. As I got out of my car I ran into a man coming out of the store carrying a large flag on a pole and I asked him if they had any flags left and he told me that he had gotten the last flag of any size they had left.

As he turned to head for his car he said to me, "God Bless America!" and because of the thoughts that had been running through my head on the way there, I immediately said to him almost without thinking, "And Vice Versa!".

He stopped when I said that and looked at me and said, "What do you mean?"

"America Bless God!" I replied.

"And just how do we do that?" he said with a questioning look.

"Well, if you've got a minute or two, I'll tell you what I mean." I said.

"I'm in no hurry." he said.

"Good." I said, and then I asked him how familiar he was with the Bible and he said he read it quite often and went to church regularly. Then I asked him if he knew what the word 'Bless' means in the original languages of the Bible and he admitted that he didn't know.

Then I said to him, "I looked up the word 'Bless' recently and in the Greek it is a compilation of two Greek words meaning 'to speak well of ', but in Hebrew the word 'Bless' means 'To kneel' and this latter definition has made me do a lot of thinking. If we have a personal relationship with the Lord, who is the one who should be kneeling before the other?"

"Why,...we all should be kneeling before God, I guess, but I believe the Lord meets us where we are." he said.

"But even though our Lord loves us more than we know and stoops to meet us where we are, does He worship us or are we to worship Him?" I asked.

"Of course, we are to worship the Lord.", he agreed, wondering where I was going with this, I think.

"I just happen to have a small Bible in my car, would you mind if I got it and read something to you? I asked as I headed toward my car and he nodded his approval as I left to get it.

I looked up Deuteronomy chapter 8 and found the verses I wanted and read them to him, "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you forget not the Lord your God, in not keeping His Commandments."

Now doesn't God tell us in these verses that the way we are to bless our Lord, besides kneeling before Him and speaking well of Him, is also by keeping His Commandments?"
I asked.

"Yes, I can see that's what He's saying there." he replied.

"That flag you have there with you, what is it a symbol of?" I asked.

He thought for some time before answering and finally said, "It's represents freedom and liberty for a people of many different states united under God."

"Now who does God say in His Word are His favored and chosen people?" I inquired of him.

"The Jews." he said.

"Who are the Jews."

He thought about this for a bit and then said, "I think they are all the descendants of Abraham."

"That's right, and did they ever lose their liberty?" I asked.

"I recall that they were taken into captivity at one time."

"Actually, their temple was destroyed twice and they were twice taken into captivity for many years each time. The question is why would the Lord allow His chosen and favored people to go into captivity?"

"Because of unfaithfulness, I'd say."

"Another word for unfaithfulness is disobedience, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, I would say so..."

"Where does liberty come from then?"

"It is a gift of God."

"Right, but have you ever heard what one man said once, 'The price of liberty is eternal vigilance?"

"Yeah, I've heard that."

"We know that a gift is not a gift if there is a price we have to pay for it, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Salvation is a free gift that God gives us and besides, no one can pay the price for it anyway. But the question is, do we ever appreciate a gift when we have no conception of how much it cost the Giver?"

"I guess not."

"Do not the terrible events of last Tuesday make you wonder why it takes a death in a family or many deaths in the American family to bring us together? Have you ever had a tragic and unexpected death in your family and seen how easy it is at such a time to forget the differences you had with others in your family? But shortly thereafter, we all go back to our normal routines, divided and striving against each other because of our pride and our prejudices. The greater the tragedy, the greater the loss of life, the longer we remember, it seems, but eventually we always get back to acting as if our pride and prejudices are worth more than life itself, even more than God Himself. This is how it has always been, but it doesn't have to be like that."

"But if that's our nature, how are we supposed to always remember what's most important?"

"Can I read you how God says we should remember?"

"Of course."

"This is from the 2nd book of Corinthians chapter 4; God says here we should be "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.... Knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you in His presence." God tells us to always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that, by this, we might know the preciousness of life. The greatest crime and the greatest terrorist act the world and the universe has ever known was when wicked men took God into their wicked hands and killed Him.  The greatest tragedy of all time is that so many don't realize that they have had a part in the greatest crime of all time. Jesus Christ was going to willingly give up His life as a sacrifice and as a substitute for us because of our sins, but wicked, faithless men, fearing loss of their self-exalted positions, seized Jesus, and then after a mock trial, tortured and crucified God in the most ignoble and cruel way possible. His closest friends and disciples, twelve of them, for fear of their own lives, turned their back on Him in His time of greatest need, ignoring and denying Him. Our Creator and the Father God who loved us more than we will ever understand, died for His rebellious children who turned against Him and became His enemy. Our Creator willingly gave up His life into the hands of sinful men and allowed them to put Him to death that we might see the enormity of sin and rebellion and choose life. Many today like to think that had they lived during Christ's time they would not have  denied Him, but we deny Him and crucify Him afresh by our sins today just as surely as if we had driven the nails into His hands back then. God's death, the death to end all deaths, is the death that should bring us and keep us together. By always bearing about in the body the death of our Lord and
Father and our very Creator, we are raised in newness of life, where the value of life, the value of God to us, and the enormity and high cost of sin is always foremost in our minds. We should treat the gift of liberty in the same way."

"What do you mean?"

"If we forget or have no conception of the cost of the gift of liberty and we carelessly take our liberty, purchased for us at so great a cost, for granted and abuse it, why, then, should we be shocked and amazed when God allows others, who do not believe in and have no conception of religious liberty, to use the same priceless liberties and freedoms as an opportunity to kill and enslave us?"

"If you're referring to the Muslims, from what I understand, they believe that our God and Allah are the same, they just call him by a different name." he said.

"I've heard that too, and I want you to know that I feel very strongly about what I am about to say next and I want you to listen very carefully. We should always  remember that the average Muslim may be as sincere about what he or she believes as you or I. God judges us as individuals, not according to which particular church or religion we may belong. God says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." and we should never, especially after what happened last Tuesday point fingers at any individual because of their religion or background, but, at the same time, we should take our heads out of the sand and stop being oblivious to the
evil around us. The majority of Americans are woefully ignorant of the spiritual wickedness growing right amongst us, but the sad thing is that many don't care or we are unable or afraid to say anything about right or wrong or won't take a stand on one side or the other until something devastating happens such as last Tuesday's events.  I include myself in that last statement. John Steinbeck once said about thirty some years ago that "Americans are losing the ability to tell the difference" and I think that's true because from what I see, a great many Americans are not really engaged in any spiritual warfare because, for one reason, they are confused as to not only who the enemy is, but who their General should be."

"I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say." he said.

"I will be more specific, then. Muslims say that Jesus was just a prophet and Muhammad was a greater prophet than Jesus. How can it be, then, that our Father in heaven and Allah, the god of the Muslims are the same God when Our Father in heaven, Himself, testifies of Jesus saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" and Jesus, Himself, says "Before Abraham was, I AM" and also, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me"? If our God and Allah are the same God, how can they each make vastly different claims about Jesus and Muhammad? Muhammad, Buddha, and not one of the other thousand gods of the eastern religions ever gave up their lives so that their followers might live and have eternal life. They couldn't because they were sinners themselves or false gods. God calls Jews and Christians His chosen people, but Allah revealed to Muhammad in the "holy" Koran that Jews and Christians are monkeys and pigs. How can this be so if our Lord and Allah are the same? Either Jesus is all He claimed to be and Muhammad is a false prophet, or it is the other way around; you can't have it both ways because Allah's revelations to Muhammad in the Koran directly contradict God's revelations to men in the Bible. The purity of Jesus' life and the clearness, simplicity, and wisdom of His teachings, are so far above Allah's revelations in the Koran that they are really incomparable."

"What you are saying makes perfect sense, but it goes against what I hear all the time." he declared.

"If you want, I will give you specific evidence that Allah couldn't possibly be the same as our Father in heaven. Not long ago, Yasser Arafat made a statement that, for some reason, was not much publicized and because of that, you probably did not read it when he said, "All weapons must be aimed at the Jews whom the Koran describes as monkeys and pigs. We will enter Jerusalem as conquerors. Blessings to he who shot a bullet into the head of a Jew." If you want more evidence, I'll give you just a couple of the many such teachings from the Koran. One is: "O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people."--[The Koran, The Dinner Table 4.5.51]; and another teaching from the Koran is: "Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them."--[The Koran, The Immunity, 1.9.30]. From what I read, the theme and teachings throughout the Koran, is hatred for and destruction of those who disbelieve the Koran, for example: "We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and their abode is the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust." --[The Koran, The Family of Imran 21.3.151].

"But didn't I see some Muslim leaders on TV declaring that Islam is a religion of peace?

"Yes, I, too, heard Muhammad Ali and a couple of others make statements to that effect just a couple of days ago, but what the leaders of Islam say and what the Koran teaches are not quite the same thing. What Islam's leaders say about peace in public must be taken in the context of the "holy" Koran  especially considering the holy awe with which the majority of Muslims view the Koran. According to the Koran, Islam is a religion of peace and blessings TO THE BELIEVER, but to the unbeliever, it is a religion of curses and death. I just happen to have excerpts of an article with me from the 'Encyclopedia of the Orient' entitled 'The Holy Koran':

"For the Muslims today, the Koran is physical proof of Islam, being the sound of Islam. When recited, a holy atmosphere is created, an atmosphere involving God, the world, the truth and peace. During the moment of reciting, the compound becomes sacred, and the moment powerful." Muslim leaders might get on TV and talk about peace, but most all Muslims believe what they read in the Koran and from it they learn and are taught hatred and destruction for unbelievers from their earliest childhood. The holy awe with which they learn to read the Koran and the manner in which they read it transfixes them so that many think themselves to be on a holy mission according to the Koran, which teaches them that the life of an unbeliever is meaningless and valueless. From the same article in the 'Encyclopedia of the Orient': "The reciting of the Koran is an art known by most Muslims. The most frequently used technique normally involves sitting on the ground with the book in the lap or placed on a specially made low table. This sitting position is resembling the lotus position used in eastern religions, but is not at all strict on the upright position of the spine — most Muslims bend over the Koran they read. The reading technique uses a rhythm with around 60 beats a second. The performance of this rhythm, is done with both torso, swaying a little in a oval shape, and voice and reading speed. Surprisingly overlooked by most Western scholars, the reading of the Koran is a meditative moment for all Muslims...." This is not meditation, this is mesmerism."

"I've never heard anything like this before." he said.

"That's because the Koran breeds so many hate filled fanatics almost everyone is afraid to say anything against the "holy" Koran. Remember when Salman Rushdie about ten years ago had to go into hiding, and may still be in hiding as far as I know, because he wrote about a couple of verses in the Koran that spoke about Allah having daughters that were deities? Because of that, the Muslim world put a huge bounty on his head for anyone who killed him. I've studied the Koran, or, at least, I should say, I've tried to study the Koran. It is very hard to come away from it with any practical or coherent truth. That's why Islam is known as one of the eastern "mystic" religions. Any supposed truths in the "holy" Koran are shrouded in mystery. I've asked several Muslims and their leaders what the moral laws of the Muslim religion are and they have all responded with either "That's too broad or too narrow of a question." If even their leaders do not know what the laws of Allah or of the "holy" Koran are for the follower of Allah, how, then, can the average Muslim know what is right or wrong in any given everyday situation? They have no Commandment from Allah saying "Thou shalt not kill." They have their "Five Pillars of Islam" which are all outward rituals, but inwardly, for a Muslim, there is no heart work commanded by the Koran and no such thing as being born again and having God's Law written on your heart. I have never liked generalizing, and, I say again, God will judge everybody on an individual basis, but I believe almost all Muslims, are latent ravening wolves just waiting for the scent of the fresh meat of the unbeliever. All unconverted people in every walk of life have this wolf nature, but Muslims especially so, because the their "holy" book sanctions and instills it in them."

"I think I'm beginning to see what you're saying." he said.

"This is why the teachings of Jesus Christ are so far above every other religion. He gave us His Ten Commandments by which to guide us in our relations with God and with each other in everyday life and then Jesus came "to magnify the Law and make it honourable" by living an exemplary life here on earth and in doing so He showed us it is possible for men in unbroken connection with God to live in accordance with His Commandments; and then He even gave His life for the times we have broken His Law, dying for us while we were yet enemies of His. What a God we have and what an unfathomable love He has demonstrated to us!"

"I think what you are trying to tell me is that our lives and liberty are being threatened by terrorism because we have been blessed by God tremendously but we have been despiteful to the God who has demonstrated such a great love for us and shown us so clear of a path to follow and and yet so many are still disobedient or unbelieving and loving there own way, is that right?" he asked.

"Well, all you have to do is look at the history of the Jews, God protected and blessed them when they loved Him and were obedient to all His Commandments, but when their lives took on the heathen elements of the surrounding nations by intermarriage and business dealings, the difference between right and wrong was blurred and pre-empted by political and social acceptance; then, after sending His prophets to warn them to repent and return to God and with the Jews ignoring and even killing those prophets, God withdrew His protecting arm from around Israel and allowed them to be killed, conquered and taken into captivity."

"Are you saying America is being conquered right now?"

"I'm saying that we have forgotten the lessons of the  Reformation. We have forgotten the millions of lives that faithful men and women have given for the love of God and the truth of the Holy Scriptures and for the religious freedom taught therein. These things should be known and remembered by all men who are drawn by the Spirit of God. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." 2Cor. 3:17. We, who have forgotten so much of history and we, who know so little of prophecy, have allowed, in the name of tolerance and a misguided religious liberty, the enemies of religious liberty and those bent on the destruction of the same, to set up shop in this country as if they had every intention of promoting and supporting the Constitution of the United States, when in reality their aim is the total eradication of our Constitution in the name of Allah and Islam. In every country where Islam is in the majority there is no religious freedom whatsoever, in fact, in those countries, one is putting one's life on the line to speak of his faith if it is other than that of Islam. If the Muslims in this country had control of the government, do you think we'd have any religious liberty?"

"I really would like to continue this conversation, but I am already an hour overdue going home, but this has been interesting and eye opening to say the least. What do you think we ought to do, individually and as a nation"

"America is a nation that is defined purely by beliefs, not by geography or race. If the majority in this country get to the point where they no longer share and hold the core beliefs that made this country what it is, then, civil war will once again tear this country apart or it will have to be forcibly held together by a dictatorship. I believe that last Tuesday we were very close and maybe still are close to a national emergency being declared and with it martial law. One more terrorist act could bring both about. Both the federal government and the national news media have for years been actively encouraging ethnic, racial and gender jingoism, and they seem to have forgotten that the age old rule of "Divide and Conquer" still applies. Multiculturalism may seem like a nice way to go, but it really is a dangerous and foolish game that will end up tearing this country apart."

"I can't imagine that happening here, but a week ago I couldn't have imagined terrorists destroying the World Trade Towers and attacking the Pentagon!"

"Amid the pictures on TV of Muslim men, women, and children celebrating the death of thousands of Americans was the response of one American observer, "Now we know how Israel feels". But do we really know just how the nation of Israel feels? I don't think so, but I can take a good guess: There is no rest in Israel. How do you feel in the morning when you haven't slept all night? I think that is how Israel feels, only they have had no rest for many days, months, and years; and I believe it is possible that there could be more sad and terrible news for America: I believe we ought to prepare ourselves for things to get worse because things could get a lot worse; more so than we can imagine. Why do I say this? Because God says in His Word that there is a time of trouble coming upon the earth such as never has been before, and as politically incorrect and socially unacceptable as it may be in this age of mystical religions, I believe His Word. In fact, I believe this is why there is no rest in Israel and why things may soon get a lot worse here in America: They and we, as a nation, don't believe and follow the Word of the Lord. "And to whom sware He (the Lord) that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?" Hebrews 3:18.

"I can see that my faith isn't what it should be."

"Nor is mine. When Jesus was asked: "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?", listen to just part of the warning that Jesus gives to His disciples in the last generation of this world: "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24: 20-22. Despite what ardent rapturists will tell you, it is evident from what Jesus tells us in His Words above that God's people near the end of the world will have to go through the worst time of trouble the world has ever known and if we don't have the faith of the very elect of God, we shall be deceived and not make it through, but God's promises are: "for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened"  and “He that endures to the end shall be saved."
Matthew 10:22; 24:13.

"Why have no ministers ever told me these things?"

"I suppose because a lot of people have itching ears and want only the lovely things in Scripture preached to them and to think we're standing on the edge of forever overlooking a vast gulf where nothing seems familiar and all or much of the support that we've been accustomed to has been taken away is going to take a lot of faith and prayer and maybe even fasting to get through it to the end. What happened in America Tuesday, September 11, 2001 has been said to be a call to arms in America, but how does one fight an invisible enemy? The only way one can fight an invisible enemy is, not to take up arms, but to put on the whole armour of God and take up "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" Ephesians 6:13-17. We have failed to put on His armour. We have failed to take hold of His sword. We have met the enemy and they are us."

"As the French statesman, Alexis deToqueville, after seeking the reason for the rapid rise of such a young American nation to greatness concluded, after visiting the churches of early America, that the reason for America's greatness was in the goodness of the people, he warned, "when America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." America is ceasing to be good, because many are rejecting Christ's definition of goodness. Goodness is for most Americans today, not what God says it is in His Word, goodness is, in the abused names of liberty and tolerance, whatever the individual decries it to be. The rule of spirituality in America today is "In my opinion", not "Thus saith the Lord". The words, 'Amazing Grace' to a majority of Americans today have presumptuously become by-words for living a life knowingly in conflict with the principles of Christ's teachings and with God's Law of Ten Commandments. Many unconverted people in the Christian world judge by appearances and brand "TrueLove obedience" with the hot iron of 'legalism' to excuse their sinful life. But though there is a price to recognize and a cross to bear and despite what many will tell you, by plugging into the Love of God, His Power and His Spirit will flow through us that we will keep His Commandments. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6.

"Our government says they will go after whosoever gives support or sanctuary to any terrorists who threaten this country. But are we going to go after ourselves? Do we not give them support and sanctuary right here on our own soil? I saw a government official just last night on TV saying that they believe the terrorist network extends throughout this country. Just this past Sunday, September 23rd it was reported on 'CBS's Sixty Minutes' that in the year 2000 alone 193,000 people from Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, all Muslim countries, entered this country on temporary visas and the government has no way of knowing where any one of those 193,000 possible terrorists are because they have no tracking system to keep tabs on foreign visitors and for all the government knows all may still be in this country. If the same number of people from the Middle East entered this country every year since the Gulf War, there could be as many as 2,000,000 Arabs or Muslims unaccounted for in this country. Sure that's probably exaggerated, but what if the number realistically is 10,000? Look at chaos 19 Muslims caused. The big question is how many of those 2,000,000 may be sleeper agents just waiting for orders from abroad? And are we so naive to think that the Muslim community in this country gives them no support? Whenever during my travels in this country I see where a new Mosque has popped up, and they are popping up all over the country, my soul cringes and I shake my head and say to the Lord, "Father forgive us for we know not what we do." Now, because of the threat of terrorism, the government is talking about  Americans losing some of their civil liberties. But shouldn't those people who would take our liberty away if they had the opportunity, who have no appreciation whatsoever for the liberty we enjoy or the cost of it, whose "holy" book teaches them to curse and destroy and deny liberty to others not of their faith be the ones to lose their liberties? Anyone who fails to renounce the parts of their "holy" book that advocate force and violence to further their religion should be denied the very liberty they are trying to destroy. We Americans live in a glass house and we've opened our house and flung our doors open wide to a people with rocks in their pockets and we have not even questioned what they intend on doing with those rocks. How they must laugh at our ignorance and probably think we have rocks in our heads. I say it again, If a Muslim wants to reside in our country of religious liberty why should he not be required to renounce and denounce those parts of the "holy" Koran that denies life and religious liberty to others by force and violence? It was a very sad thing when during World War II, all the Japanese in this country were put in interment camps until the end of the war as many Japanese suffered greatly, but we knew back then the price of liberty and its preciousness and we were going to eliminate any possibility of our losing the war because of Japanese spies and aid to the enemy from our own country if we could help it, but today we are so much more enlightened and tolerant and trusting and we just know no Muslims, after partaking of this great land of freedom, would ever give sanctuary or support to any terrorists."

"The people in control of our government and the news media are too busy trying to placate so many minorities so that they won't appear intolerant that they don't have the moral fortitude to take the measures necessary to ensure our liberty. God loving and fearing people, therefore, need to batten down the hatches of their soul because we are going to go through the roughest seas anyone has ever been through."

Listen to what one Muslim said in 1997: "A Muslim is  supposed to give his fellow Muslim guidance and support. He (Allah) said 'Stand by your brother be he oppressor or oppressed.' When asked how were they to stand by him if he were the oppressor, He answered them, saying 'by giving him guidance and counsel.' It all goes to say that Muslims should cooperate with one another and should be supportive of one another....They should all unite in the fight against polytheism and they should pool all their resources and their energy to fight the Americans and the Zionists and those with them. They should, however, avoid side fronts and rise over the small problems for these are less detrimental. Their fight should be directed against unbelief and unbelievers...Any effort directed against America and the Jews yields positive and direct results - Allah willing. It is far better for anyone to kill a single American soldier than to squander his efforts on other activities....Allah has ordered us to make holy wars and to fight to see to it that His word is the highest and the uppermost and that of the unbelievers the lowermost... We are certain - with the grace of Allah - that we shall prevail over the Jews and over those fighting with them. Today however, our battle against the Americans is far greater than our battle was against the Russians. Americans have  committed unprecedented stupidity. They have attacked Islam and its most significant sacrosanct symbols .... We anticipate a black future for America. Instead of remaining United States, it shall end up separated states and shall have to carry the bodies of its sons back to America. OUR PRIMARY MISSION IS NOTHING BUT THE FURTHERING OF ISLAM"--Osama Bin Laden in an interview with ABC's John Miller in 1997.

We should not answer this Muslim call to violence with a call to violence of our own. Mine is not a call to violence in any way, shape, or form. It is, again, not a call to arms, but a call to put on "the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, whereby you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."
Ephesians 6:13-18.
 
 

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