In June of 2014, ISIS overran Mosul. It looted the central bank of hundreds of millions of dollars, massacred the army prisoners who surrendered, and prompted the civilian population to flee the city.
Who are these individuals who claim to be guardians of the true Islam? As one who lived in northern Iraq for over five years, I’ve been asked how anyone could presume such violence to be real Islam.
ISIS leaders stake their claim in true Islam because they believe God favored them with an initial series of quick victories—just like Mohammad. They have plundered the banks, distributing the spoils amongst themselves—also like Muhammad plundered caravans. And just as Mohammad lined up his prisoners after they had dug their own graves, so did members of ISIS, killing their enemies in front of a long trench into which their bodies were cast.
The proverb says, “A stream cannot rise higher than its source.” The whole world, including the Muslim world, needs a new source—a higher source: Jesus Christ as Lord. Through the power of Jesus, even the most sinful people can be forgiven and restored.
Steven Pinker of Harvard University has written a remarkable book entitled, The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence is Declining. Pinker offers data to prove his point. But in a two-page section on Islam, he writes that violence is not declining in the Muslim world. “The impression that the Muslim world indulges in the kinds of violence that the West has outgrown,” he says, “is not a symptom of Islamophobia or Orientalism but is borne out by the numbers.”
There is no military or political solution to the problems in the Middle East. It’s time for courage and truth. The only hope for transforming the Middle East is to start with Jesus Christ. “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Because we obey Jesus Christ, we will love our enemies, pray for them, and not hate them. We love because He first loved us. We shall not think of Muslims according to worldly wisdom, but according to God’s grace. What the Middle East needs now is the overcoming good of the Gospel. There is no peace on earth except through Christ.
Oh, that the government would be upon His shoulders. Oh, that Muslims would beat their swords into plowshares. This will happen when Muslims are free from strongholds—free to be transformed—and empowered to love one another through the Holy Spirit.
If you start with Islam, you start with the wrong source.
If you start with Jesus Christ as Lord, you will live with love and respect.
Discover 10 ways to respond to ISIS—and Muslims—with love, respect, and Kingdom purpose:
Original article: www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/isis-a-history-of-violence
