"The Muslims are Coming!": Confessions of a Christian Bed-Wetter

By David Ryser

God favors a certain type of heart, not a certain type of people.  (Mark Pederson)

I recently had to give up listening to political talk shows.  In part, I did this because I found myself fuming against the stupidity of human government.  What other kind of human government is there?  I also discovered that I was beginning to be in fear concerning (among other things) the current state of the economy and the threat of terrorism fomented by some practitioners of “the religion of peace.”

I find that neither anger nor fear brings me any closer to Jesus.

As I was perusing a Christian website yesterday, I came across a bed-wetting article warning of the coming of the Muslim hordes to America.  It seems these demon-worshiping monsters are dedicated to the overthrow of the United States and the imposition of their religious law.  And, for good measure, they are also out to kill me and my family.

I am, as yet, unclear as to just exactly how they propose both to kill me and impose their law on me at the same time.

This is not to say that I am unaware of, or unconcerned with, this worldwide threat against life and liberty.  But I get very nervous when nominal lovers of Jesus confuse patriotism/nationalism with Christianity.  The Kingdom of God managed to muddle along somehow before the United States was founded, and I imagine it will continue to thrive even after the United States ceases to exist.

God is not an American.

As for the Muslim threat to the world, I defer to the expertise of my friend Cliff who ministers in the Muslim villages of Uganda.  Pointing to the book of Jonah, Cliff believes that we Christians will either convert the Muslims or serve them.  He prefers the former, so he preaches the gospel with power to people who respond in faith when they see the miracle workings of a God who is near to us, alive, and active (as opposed to a god who is distant, unknowable, and inactive).

I prefer Cliff’s methodology to that of the author of yesterday’s article who suggests we either deport or kill the Muslims in order to safeguard ourselves and the nation of Israel.  After all, the United States is vital to Israel’s survival…isn’t it?

Not according to the Bible.

Anyhow, because I am currently teaching a semester-long class on the book of Jonah, I have thought about Cliff’s theory a lot recently.  Some lessons from this wonderful little book might be helpful in assisting us to respond to a very real threat in our world.

The story is a familiar one.  The prophet Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire, and prophesy its destruction (1:1, 2).  Because he is a prophet, and a contemporary of the prophets Amos and Hosea, Jonah knows that the Assyrians will be the instrument of God’s judgment upon Israel.  He also knows that if the Ninevites respond with repentance to his prophecy of destruction, then God will likely relent of His judgment upon them (4:2).

Jonah hates the idolatrous Assyrians.  And he loves his people.  To safeguard Israel (Where have we heard this line before?), he opts to go in the opposite direction from where God wants him to go (1:3).  He figures that if the Ninevites don’t hear God’s warning, they will be destroyed in forty days (1:2 & 3:4).  Israel will be saved!

Of course, it never occurs to Jonah that God’s doomsday clock does not even begin to tick for Nineveh until he arrives there.

Along the way, Jonah gets several lessons about God’s character and His love for all people…even the Assyrians.  The Ninevites repent at Jonah’s preaching, turn from their wicked ways, and are spared from God’s judgment (3:1-10).

Jonah responds badly (4:1-3).  And, quite possibly, God’s plan for Assyria (and for Israel) is ruined.

What if Jonah had received more than just the message (eyes and ears) of God?  What if he had received the heart of God also?  What if he had overcome his racism and religious bigotry, and taken advantage of Nineveh’s turn toward God and stayed there to teach them the ways of the Lord?  What if the Assyrians had become a godly nation, loving and serving the true God?

What if the Assyrians had conquered Israel by their godliness rather than by their armies?

God is not an Israeli.

We will never know what would have happened if Jonah had been God’s apostle to the Assyrians.  Over time, the Ninevites returned to their old ways.  They became enemies of Israel.  Because of Israel’s ungodliness, and failure to repent of it, the armies of Nineveh conquered Israel and took the nation captive.  Because they did not convert the Assyrians, Israel ultimately ended up conquered by…and serving…them.

End of story…for ancient Israel.  But what about us?

The world faces a dire threat from radical Islam.  Military and political solutions to this problem are doomed to failure.  The “Christian-American” solution of deporting or killing all Muslims will not work.  Even if it did work, it would be an obscenity.

The answer to this problem is and always has been…Jesus.

What if Christians would reach out to Muslims and demonstrate to them the life, love, and power of God?  Of course, this would mean that we would need to have all of the above qualities operational in our own lives…which makes it a bit of a religious crap-shoot.  But what if Christians could show Jesus to Muslims?

Do you even know what the foundation of the Muslim faith is?

The whole Muslim religion is founded upon the belief that their god is distant, unknowable, unloving, capricious, and inactive in the affairs of people.  If we will proclaim and demonstrate a God who is near, intimately knowable, loving, just, and active, then we could see a great harvest for the Kingdom of God.

And Muslims are not as far from God as you might imagine.  For one thing, they believe in the Jesus of the Bible more than does the average seminary professor.  For another, they have a heart after God and desire to serve Him.  They don’t know Him.  They’ve never experienced His passionate love for them.

And they have never seen an example of Him apart from us.  Which makes the task of converting them even more daunting.

But convert them we must.  Or serve them.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com