Patrick Soohkdeo on The Islamisation of the West

In an article on The Islamisation of the West Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund writes,

Governments and the public must be made aware of the danger of allowing Islamist activists to take over Muslim organisations and claim to represent all Muslims. The excessive demands of Islamists must be rejected, along with their blaming of host societies for all the difficulties faced by Muslims. It is important that democratic Western societies do not give up their hard-won heritage of equality before the law, freedom of expression and freedom of religion. It must also be made clear that tolerance must work both ways and that threats of violence are unacceptable. Muslim communities must try much harder to isolate and expose Islamists who reject integration and the violent radicals among them.

For Christians the growing Islamisation of the West can be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity to sharpen our thinking and renew our evangelism. As we Christians see Muslim zeal, commitment, and willingness to sacrifice, we should be driven to repent, to pray for revival and act boldly for God in this generation. We need to stand firm on our Biblical foundations, beware of compromises and reach out in love to Muslims, offering them the Gospel of salvation in Christ.

See here for the whole article (PDF).

Freedom to Believe by Patrick Sookhdeo

Freedom to Believe: Challenging Islam’s Apostasy Law,

Patrick Sookhdeo, Isaac Publishing, 2009, 179pp. 

Article 18 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights commits subscribing nations to uphold freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion. While such a freedom is not recognised under the Old Testament, where apostasy attracts the death penalty, the Christian faith recognises that people should be free to choose their religion and even change their faith without compulsion or fear of intimidation.  The only weapon that the Church of Jesus Christ possesses to spread and maintain the Christian faith is the message of the gospel.

Having said that, the Church’s record on freedom of religion has been somewhat patchy. Augustine of Hippo misguidedly read Jesus’ words in the Parable of the Great Supper, “compel them to come in that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23) as a justification of the use of force in religion. Episodes such as the Spanish Inquisition and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre are a blot on the history of Christendom. While those events happened under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, Protestantism is not altogether without blame. Infamously the heretic Michael Servetus was burnt at the stake in Calvin’s Geneva. However, nowadays it is almost universally recognised that the use of force to impose the Christian faith is totally incompatible with the teaching of the New Testament. Christians therefore have no problem at all with the concept of freedom of religion. The freedom we require to practice our own faith we gladly extend to others.

Such is not the case with Islam, where apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are often punishable by death in predominantly Islamic regimes. In this book Patrick Sookhdeo, himself a Muslim convert to Christianity examines the roots of Islam’s apostasy law and reflects on current practice in the Islamic world.  The Qur’an seems to sanction the killing of apostates. The hadith makes the position clearer sometimes suggesting that the apostate should be killed instantly without even being given an opportunity to repent. The five main schools of shari’a law differ on the details, but all are agreed that sane adult males should be put to death for apostasy.

The author documents alarming instances of how the apostasy law is applied in Muslim regimes today. People who turn from Islam to other faiths and those who embrace deviant versions of Islam are subject to the deprivation of their rights, harassment and persecution. Some are even put to death. A small number of Muslim voices have called for people to have the freedom to leave Islam, but they are in the minority. Patrick Sookhdeo rightly argues for reform, urging the abolition of all penalties for apostasy in the Islamic world. The Barnabas Fund of which Dr. Sookhdeo is International Director exists to give aid and support to the persecuted church. Order from PTS Christian Bookshop. 


* An edited version of this review will appear in a future edition of Protestant Truth. 

Gifts

At Christmas time we traditionally give and receive gifts. I suppose this echoes the gifts that the wise men brought to the infant Jesus. Perhaps it is an even more faint echo of God's gift of eternal life through his incarnate Son. Christmas is a reminder of the importance of giving for the Christian faith. But we have to learn to give well. It is possible to give for the wrong reasons. We can give coercively such as when we say to our children, "You'll have to be good if you want that special present for Christmas." We may give in order to proudly parade our generosity to others, or to make people feel beholden to us in some way. That is bad giving. Being a Christian means learning to imitate the giving God (Ephesians 5:1). He is not a contractual giver who only gives in order to clinch a deal - "I'll do this for you if you'll do that for me." Such a construction undermines the true grace of giving. But neither is he a Father Christmas-style giver, one who gives freely, yet who demands nothing from us by way of response. God gives to do us good, not to spoil us like an indulgent parent. He gives lovingly out of the overflow out of the infinite giving and receiving of his own divine life as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God's giving is costly, disproportionate and extravagant, "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). It cost the Father to give his Son to be despised and rejected by men and ultimately made sin for us on the cross. All he demands from us by way of response is faith - and that itself is a gift that he bestows as part and parcel of our salvation (Ephesians 2:8). Is this not totally disproportionate? God gives us his one and only beloved Son. In return, we give him our trust and he lavishes upon us the extravagant blessing of everlasting life. What can we say but, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

Clearly we cannot match the infinite and unrestrained generosity of the giving God. But Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Reflecting on the truth of 2 Corinthians 8:9, Miroslav Volf writes,

"If the presence of the gift-giving Christ makes us rich, rest will replace weariness, and peace will banish unending restlessness. Like the apostle Paul, we will then know the secret of being content whatever the circumstance, "of being well-fed and of going hungry, or having plenty and of being in need" (Philippians 4:12). And like the Apostle, we will then give, even if we must work hard to do so and sacrifice what's rightfully ours (see 1 Corinthians 9:1-24)." (Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, Zondervan, 2005, p. 109 - see my review of this most challenging and thought provoking book here).

For Christians, giving is for life, not just for Christmas. But Christmas is a good time to give. In the spirit of 2 Corinthians 8 & 9, why not consider giving to the Barnabas Fund Christmas Appeal for poor and persecuted Christians in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, India - here.

Patrick Sookhdeo on The Challenge of Islam

Christians car-bombed in Iraq

Yesterday evening, we hosted a Barnabas Fund meeting. The speaker was Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, the Fund's director. His theme was The Challenge of Islam. Dr. Sookhdeo is a Christian convert from Islam and an expert on Islamic teaching. Here is a report of what he had to say.

1. The challenge of Islam to society

Patrick drew attention to a recent EU policy speech by David Milliband, the UK Foreign Secretary. Milliband predicted that by 2030 Europe will be struggling with forces beyond its own borders and facing the danger of religious extremism [read Islamic extremism] creating divisions on its own doorstep. Milliband's solution to the challenge of Islam is to allow Turkey to join the EU. But of this were to happen, Europe would by 47% Islamic by 2020. With the growth of Islam in the EU, non Muslims would be reduced to second class dhimmi status in their own countries. Islam is not simply a religion with spiritual goals. It aims at socio-political domination. In Islamic teaching, God rules the world by his law. There are the laws of nature and the Shari'a - or religious laws that govern the whole of life. Already UK governments have acted to allow Shari'a laws the affect pension and mortgage provision, education and prison foods. If further accommodations are made, life could become difficult for non-Muslims in Muslim dominated areas of the UK.

2. The challenge of Islam to the church

Churches that imbibed Liberal theology are slowly fading away. For example, it is predicted that membership of the United Reformed Church will fall by 62% by 2030. Britain has become a post-Christian, secular society where pluralism and consumerism reigns. Liberal theology, emptied out of biblical truth has nothing to offer. Islam, with its absolutist claims is filling the vacuum that was left by the decline of "Christian Britain". Muslims know what they believe, but many church leaders offer an uncertain vision. If the church is to have a future in the UK, we must return to biblical truth and hold to the historic Christian teachings on the Person of Christ and the Trinity. Also we need to recover a properly biblical eschatology that is focused on the return of the Jesus Christ as Saviour and judge. In Islamic eschatology Jesus will return and convert the world to Islam. We must boldly preach that when Jesus comes, he will vindicate the suffering Christian church and hold opponets of the gospel to account. On that day, all people, Muslims included will have to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Only the robustly biblical theology of the Reformation will give the churches the doctrinal clarity and spiritual fortitude to rise to the challenge of Islam. Dr. Sookhdeo reminded us that while we may oppose the Islamic faith, we must treat Muslims with love and respect. But it is simply not right to say with some misguided churchmen, that triune God of the gospel is the same as Allah. Our task is to share the good news of Jesus with Muslim people.

3. The challenge to the church in the of Islamic world

Christians in the Middle East find themselves caught between Islam and the West. They are accused by their Muslim neighbours of siding with the West against Islam. Many Christians in Iraq have had to flee the country. There are now 400,000 Christian refugees in Syria. Believers are sent death threats by text and letter. They are warned that they must either conform to Islam and live under Shari'a law or die. Three Christian women were beheaded for refusing to wear the hijab. Under Saddam Hussein, believers were part of the Iraqi middle class, with many Christian Doctors. But now the Christian community suffers deprivation and poverty. Many who can afford to leave the country have done so. Christians are offered little protection by the authorities. A fourteen year old boy was crucified in Basra, where UK forces are at work.

The Barnabas Fund seeks to channel aid to suffering Christians, especially in Islamic countries. See here for details of the Save Iraqi Christians campaign. The Fund also helps to equip the churches to face the challenge of Islam. See here for a major new book, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam by Patrick Sookhdeo. Please pray for the work of the Barnabas Fund. Visit their website to find out more about their mission. Should we not stand with the 1 in 10 Christians around the world who suffer for Jesus' sake?

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10)

"But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17)