God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible

by Walid Shoebat

  After testifying to the dramatic strides that Islam had taken as a result of the 9-11 attacks, Bayumi goes on to say:” Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah.”62

  In an article from the British newspaper, The Times of London, January 7, 2002, just four months after 9-11 we read:

  “There is compelling anecdotal evidence of a surge in conversions to Islam since September 11, not just in Britain, but across Europe and America. One Dutch Islamic center claims a tenfold increase, while the New Muslims Project, based in Leicester, [England] and run by a former Irish Roman Catholic housewife, reports a ‘steady stream’ of new converts.”63

  But here’s another sad aspect of these figures: Over 80% of American converts to Islam were raised in a Christian Church.64

  If the higher figures of conversion are accurate, that would mean that as many as 60,000 Americans, who were raised in a Christian home, are converting to Islam annually. I have one acquaintance who, although he was a pastor’s son raised in a deeply religious and traditional Christian family, nevertheless converted to Islam in college. I have read numerous testimonies of bishops and priests, missionaries, divinity students, and normal everyday Christians who have converted to Islam. Some are even self-described former “spirit filled Christians.”

  If this is the case, some might object, then why aren’t these statistics more widely known? You may be wondering why you do not personally know anyone who has converted. There are easy answers to these questions. One of the primary reasons that these trends have gone largely unnoticed is because most American Muslims are concentrated in the larger metropolitan centers. The greater Chicago metropolitan area, for instance, is home to well over 350,000 Muslims. Greater New York City has twice that with over 700,000 Muslims. 65

  The other important statistic that sheds light on why this issue isn’t more commonly discussed specifically in white American churches is sadly because 85% of American converts to Islam are African-American. White Christian America has not nearly been as impacted by this phenomenon as African-Americans have. It is a very sad commentary on the discontinuity and disunity of the American Church. Islam is absolutely sweeping through the inner cities of America. One Muslim authority estimates that by the year 2020, most American urban centers will be predominantly Muslim.66

  But as the number of conversions increase, the face of the Muslim convert is changing as well. Shortly after 9-11, National Public Radio did a special on Islam and those who had converted after 9-11. “One of the most important topics [in an NPR broadcast] was an interview with several young women at American universities who recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women in Islam, and of why they converted to Islam. The program was broadcast several times across the entire U.S.”67

  From an article in The New York Times, October 22, 2001, we read a portion of Jim Hackings story, “Nine years ago, Jim Hacking was in training to be a Jesuit priest. Now, he is an admiralty lawyer in St. Louis who has spent much of the last month explaining Islam at interfaith gatherings… He made the Shahadah [Muslim Conversion ceremony] on June 6, 1998. ‘The thing I’ve always latched to is that there’s one God, he doesn’t have equals, he doesn’t need a son to come do his work’” (emphasis mine).68

  A typical testimony of a former Christian convert reads:

  “As a child, Jennifer Harrell attended church and Sunday school. In high school, she was on the drill team and dated a football player. After college, she became a Methodist youth minister. At age 23, she became a single parent. At age 26, she became a Muslim. “I grew up in Plano doing all the things I thought I was supposed to do,’ said Ms. Harrell, 29, of Dallas. ‘I went to church. I went to parties. Nevertheless, I wasn’t concerned about heaven or hell. I took it all for granted.’ Eventually, she took a job in sales, where she was introduced to Islam by Muslim co-workers. One of them loved to debate religion, which stirred Ms. Harrell to rethink her Christian faith. She studied the Bible, but also Islam in order to do a better job of defending her faith. Instead, she became intrigued that Muslims prayed five times a day, fasted and gave alms as a way of life. ‘I wasn’t the type of Christian who prayed every morning,’ she said. She said Muslim beliefs about Jesus made more sense to her because they revere him as a prophet and not God’s son. ‘When I was a Christian, I never understood why Jesus had to die for my sins,’ Ms. Harrell said. ‘I mean, they’re my sins.’ Before becoming a Muslim, she visited a Christian minister. She said she asked why Christians ate pork, why women didn’t cover their heads in church, and why Christians dated. ‘I wanted him to defend the Bible,’ she said. ‘I gave him everything that I had found wrong with Christian interpretation.’ His answers didn’t satisfy her.” 69

  Stories like Jim Hackings and Jennifer Harrell are legion. I have probably read a hundred of them. I have witnessed several instances of people who joined Internet discussion groups out of curiosity, simply wanting to learn more about Islam. Sometimes only weeks or months later, I would find that these individuals either had converted to Islam or were strongly considering conversion. Many referred to themselves as Christians when they began with these groups. These were all Westerners, generally American, Canadian or British.

  A NEW MONOTHEISTIC OPTION

  In the past, whenever most Westerners have decided that they believe in a personal God and have made a decision to make this new faith a primary aspect of their life, they usually have found the expression for their faith in a Christian church. As Islam spreads in the West, many are realizing that Christianity is not the only monotheistic option available to them. Sadly, many are choosing Islam instead of Christianity. David Pawson, a prominent Bible teacher from England, recalls the experience of one of his friends, “A Christian friend of mine is a counselor in a state school. He was delighted when a boy he was trying to help find a purpose in life told him he had become convinced that there was a personal God in whom he could believe. To his surprise and disappointment, this English boy told him some weeks later that he had become a Muslim. He was one of many thousands who had made the same choice.”70

  As Islam grows in the West, this story is sure to be repeated many times.

  A WARNING FOR ENGLAND

  In his book, Islam’s Challenge to Christians, David Pawson sounds what may very well be a genuine prophetic warning not only to England but also to the entire Western Church. A well-seasoned and respected leader in the Church, he recounts a recent experience he had while listening to well-known authority on Islam, Patrick Sookhedo, give a lecture. If a leader of less qualification than David Pawson made the following statement, then it is possible that it would go entirely unnoticed, but instead, we should all be very sobered by what David experienced, “In the middle of his talk, both unexpected and unrelated to its contents, I was suddenly overwhelmed with what could be described as a premonition that Islam will take over this country. (England) I recall sitting there stunned and even shaking. We were not just listening to an interesting lecture about a religion and culture, which others believed and practiced. We were hearing about our future!”71

  In the rest of the book, Pawson walks through what he feels are some proper Christian responses to his prediction. Pawson’s recommended course of action includes three primary components: reality, relationship and righteousness. I will not endeavor to expound on these three issues, as he has already done so with conviction. Of course, his warning has proven to be highly controversial throughout the Church in England. The real question, however, in the opinion of this author, is not really, whether Pawson’s warning will happen or not, but rather: Will the Church in England choose to implement his recommended plan of respo
nse?

  BALANCING THE FACTS

  The point here is not to paint an overly dismal picture. Muslims are also converting to Christianity all over the world. Many Muslims will make the claim repeatedly that no Muslim ever leaves Islam. This claim is refuted without much effort. I recently received a letter from a well-known terrorist who is in prison in the United Sates for attempting to carry out a large-scale terrorist plot. He has now come to Christ in prison. Ramzi Yusuf, the mastermind behind the first World Trade Center Bombing, has also come to Christ while in prison. One Muslim Sheikh recently claimed that in Africa alone, there are over six million Muslim converts to Christianity annually. That would break down to about 667 an hour, or 16,000 a day. From January of 2003 to the middle of 2004, the ministry of German Evangelist Reinhardt Bonke saw, over ten million Africans make decisions to follow Jesus. A large percentage of those who made these decisions were Muslims. In fact, Muslims from all over the world are making decisions to become followers of Jesus.72 Many of these decisions are made following a spiritual dream or a vision.73

  There are many wonderful and powerful testimonies of the goodness of God in the lives of Muslims coming to know Jesus. In fact, the number of Muslims converting to Christianity is unprecedented. Many Christians who live in Muslim countries claim that what is taking place is nothing short of a Christian revival. Reports of high-level Imams converting to Christianity are becoming commonplace. I believe with all my heart that the Middle East will see a genuine revival of Muslims coming to a Biblical faith in Jesus. Meanwhile, Christianity in Latin America, Asia and Africa is also now experiencing explosive growth. But this does not negate the fact that the growth of Islam—primarily due to birthrate—is still much faster than that of Christianity, not only in America, Canada, England and Europe, but worldwide. Despite the reasons for its growth, it is nevertheless growing and spreading faster than Christianity. The simple fact of the matter is that much of the Western Christian Church has completely missed the undeniable worldwide relevance of Islam, both now and even more so in the immediate future.

  A fair prediction is that if the time comes when Islam indeed does bypass Christianity as the world’s largest religion, or even as it merely begins to draw closer to that point, there will be a tipping point whereby the rate of growth will increase exponentially. The simple fact of the matter is that everyone wants to be on the winning team. Bandwagon conversions of Westerners and the resulting confusion among faithful Christians will eventually become the rule of the day.

  We cannot underestimate the power of a worldwide trend. Indeed one of the primary aspects of the Last-Days is what the Bible calls the “great apostasy,” which will be a significant global falling away from the Christian faith. While Islam still exists as an insecure religion wrestling with why Allah has allowed Islam to remain an inferior presence in the earth compared to Christianity, the day will likewise come for Christians, when they have to wrestle with why God has allowed Islam to bypass Christianity in growth and influence.

  The only hope for a turnaround in this trend would be a significant full-scale worldwide revival; the kind of revival that until now has never been seen. It is time for the Church to face reality. As Brother Andrew, the man who became so well known for smuggling Bibles past the iron curtain wrote in the modern Christian classic, God’s Smuggler, as early as 1994, “What Communism was to the twentieth century, Islam will be for the next one hundred years.”74 After examining all of the various reasons Biblically for seeing the soon-coming emergence of a radical Islamic Empire, in fact, nearly every statistic is pointing it this very thing. And thus the world that we live in is daily creeping closer and closer to perfectly reflecting that world of which the Bible prophesied thousands of years ago when it spoke of the “End-Times.”

  The time is shorter than most think. Let us all hasten; therefore, to do the work of God.

  APPENDIX A

  My Testimony

  THE CONFESSIONS OF A PALESTINIAN TERRORIST

  “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that brings utter drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem such a heavy stone for all the peoples; that all who attempt to lift it will rupture themselves—and be severely injured” (Zechariah 12:2, 3).

  In the ancient book of the Jewish prophet Zechariah, the God of Israel announces an amazing and fearful prediction. Looking into the distant future, He speaks of a time when all of the nations that surround Israel will gather against her for war. All who attempt to attack—or “lift” Jerusalem, God says, will find themselves “severely injured.” The picture is one of a man so determined—so possessed to lift something that cannot be lifted, that he causes his own body “severe” pain and damage, even to the point that it ruptures. What is it that drives someone to attempt the impossible despite the fact that it is destroying him? Remember a trembling drug-addict or alcoholic who, somewhere along the line, becomes a slave to his addiction. The prophet declares that at the end of the age—in the Last-Days—desire for the city of Jerusalem would become like a cup of very strong drink. In addition, whoever drinks from this cup would become staggeringly drunk, not as if drunk from alcohol—but as if drunk with hatred and rage.

  I know. I drank deeply from that cup for too much of my life.

  I was a Palestinian terrorist, and this is my story.

  My name is Walid Shoebat. I was born and raised in Beit Sahour, Bethlehem in the West Bank to a prominent family. My paternal Grandfather was the Muhktar or chieftain of the village. He was a friend of Haj-Ameen Al-Husseni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and the notorious friend of Adolph Hitler. My Maternal Great Grandfather F.W. Georgeson, on the other hand, was a great friend of Winston Churchill, who wanted nothing more then the destruction of Hitler and Nazism. I was born from parents who came from the opposite sides of the spectrum—both geographically and ideologically.

  From the time and place of my birth, I lived between two opposing forces—on one side is the evil Allah, and on the other is Jesus. I was born on the first day my parents arrived in Bethlehem. To my father’s honor, it was one of Islam’s holiest days—the birthday of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Yet the place, in which I was born, Bethlehem, to my mother’s honor, was the place where Jesus was born. Mohammed denied Jesus was the one died on the cross, or that He claimed to be—The Son of the Living God.

  To commemorate this great day, my father named me Walid (the child), which relates to the Arabic word Mauled, from Al-Maulid Al-Nabawi (the birthday of Prophet Mohammed). Walid means “the birth boy”. My mother approved—to her, the name was a reference to the birth of Christ. “For unto us a child (Yeleed) is born” (Isaiah 9:6). Yeleed is the Hebrew word for Waleed (Walid).

  When I became a believer and wanted to change my name to a more Christian name like Paul or John. I started to analyze my full name and it’s meaning—The Child son of David, son of Peace, son of the Branch. Every one of the names where titles of Christ in the Bible—I decided to keep my name, in its original state.

  My father was a Palestinian Muslim who taught English and Islamic studies in the Holy Land. My mother was an American Christian who was un-equally yoked in marriage to my father during his studies in the United States. Fearing the impact of the American way of life for their two children, my parents moved to Bethlehem, which at that time was part of Jordan Shortly after my parents arrived in Bethlehem, I was born. My father changed jobs, and we moved to Saudi Arabia and then back to the Holy Land—this time to the lowest place on earth, Jericho.

  I cannot forget the first song I learned in school. It was titled “Arabs Our Beloved and Jews Our Dogs.” I was only six years old. I remember wondering at that time who the Jews were, but along with the rest of my classmates, I repeated the words without any real understanding of their meaning.

  As I grew up in the Holy Land, I lived through several battles between the Arabs and the Jews. The
first battle, while we were still living in Jericho, was the Six Day War. This was when the Jews captured old Jerusalem and the rest of “Palestine”. It is hard to describe what an immense disappointment and great shame this was to the Arabs and Muslims worldwide.

  The American Council in Jerusalem came to our village just before the war to evacuate all the Americans in the area. Because my mother was an American, they offered us assistance, but my father refused any help from them because he loved his country.

  I still remember many things during the war—the noise of the bombing and shelling that went on day and night for six days, the looting of stores and houses by the Arabs in Jericho, people fleeing to cross the Jordan River for fear of the Israelis.

  The war was named the Six Day War because in a mere six days, the Israelis gained victory over a multi-national Arab force which mounted attacks from multiple fronts. On the seventh day of this battle, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the chief chaplain of the Israeli Defense Forces, let loose a resounding note on the shofar (a rams horn), announcing the Jewish control of the Western Wall and the old city of Jerusalem. Many Jews pointed out the obvious parallels of this event to the Biblical account of Joshua and the Israelites when they took Jericho. As I found in the Biblical account of the story of Joshua, the Israelites circled the walls of Jericho for six days, and then on the seventh day, at dawn (Joshua 6:15) they circled the wall seven times. The priests blew the shofars as all the Israelites shouted with one voice. The walls fell and the Israelites took the city—Joshua had a Six Day War.

  During the war, my father would sit glued to the radio listening to the Jordanian news station. He used to say that the Arabs were winning—but he was listening to the wrong station. The Israeli station was announcing the truth of their imminent victory. Instead, my father chose to believe the Arabs who claimed that the Israelis were—as always—lying and promoting false propaganda. How many of us today remember Saddam’s Information Minister and all of the wild claims and false reports that he spouted in the few days leading up to the fall of Baghdad? In the Islamic world, it seems as though some things never change. After the war, to my father in Jericho, it seemed as if the walls had crumbled in on him directly.