Examine yourself! This was the message of my brother Pastor GB when he preached to a group of junkies and Christians in Frankfurt last March. Right now as the Islamic world errupts with demonstrations and riots from Germany to Kuala Lumpur, I say again: examine yourself! I say it to Muslims and Christians.
Examine yourself to see if you have the moral courage to face truth and be a force for good in the days God has given you on this earth.
Does your faith equip you to be a force for peace (Islam) in the face of such unprovoked hatred? Or are you someone who will go with the flow of the mob. Do you go with the fow of a rioting mob or do you go with the flow of the politically correct Europeans who look away with embarrassment and try to pretend that what is happening is not real or part of our one precious world. What do you say about this unprovoked anger? Yes I dare to say that what we see around the world today is not the result of a provocation. Certainly not from the West.
We are not in a school playground here where you can try and excuse your behaviour by saying – “He made me do it!” This is the real world and it is a matter of life and death. Development or ignorance, disease and poverty for millions of people.
The fact is that not one of the people who burnt a church in Karachi was provoked by anyone outside their own community. The people who killed a taxi driver In Islamabad or a TV station employee in Peshwar were not provoked by Americans or anyone outside their own community.
How many people have even seen this video. The video is not the actual provocation. It was on the web since July. The provocation comes from within Islam itself and not from outside! Obviously this is true because the riots are happening after people leave the mosque and not after they leave the Internet Café.
Exameine yourself and see if you have the moral courage to confront evil with good. If Allah is the merciful and the compassionate, then where are the people calling for mercy and compassion on the makers of this film?
The filmaker is neither American nor Christian! He is an Egyptian and a “Coptic Christian”. That is a racial grouping. A true Christian, is not defined by race – just as being an Arab does not make you a Muslim. To be a Christian means to follow Christ. Our God – Jesus submitted to the insults, the abuse and even the torture of religious fanatics to deliver the whole world from the Spirit of Religious hatred. His recipe to win this battle was love – turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Lay down your life – take your cross and follow him.
But we see people taking up their sticks and flame torches to attack and destroy – who? Innocent bystanders usually – all that in the name of a merciful and compassionate God? Jesus said you are no better than an infidel if you only love those who love you. So come on clerics. Don’t be infidels. Start calling out to your people to love those who hate you. What about taking a collection for the oppressed Coptics in Egypt? What about sending some oil money to the sick old cartoonists in Paris? Those guys have some serious personal problems. They are immature and selfish. But so are we if we start to hurt other people and then cry “He made me do it”. Those who try to provoke with cartoons and films need compassion, love and grace. Just like we all do. God will be the judge of all our actions and none of us will survive his judgement without his mercy. Indeed, we are also warned that if we are not merciful, God will not be merciful with us. So let us not participate in the guilt of others by reacting with anger because that is the path of self-destruction.
