George Burnside
Saddam, the Moslem dictator of Iraq, has the world worried, not merely because of fear of war, but also its consequences. Why do we face this crisis? Why do we face the issue of Mohammedanism? I have had, recently, a flood of questions on this subject. What do Moslems believe? How did Mohammedanism originate? What can we do to help the grave and growing threat? Yes, it certainly is grog bigger with each passing day.
For instance in 1945, there was one Mos1em mosque in England; Now there are over 1,000 mosques in England, and Mohammedans now form the second largest religion in that land of Protestantism. Today, Mohammedanism has also a majority in the population in 40 countries of the world.
Another interesting fact is that in the Western World it is already deeply penetrated by the resurging Moslem. Thousands of mosques are being built in America and Europe. These serve not only as meeting places for local Mohammedans, but also as bases for their growth.
Because of the lukewarm condition of Christians and their serious apostasy, the religion of Mohammed is expanding at a tremendous rate. Their aim is world domination. Mohammedanism or Islam means, submission to Allah. To all Muslims there is only one aim or goal, that is all the world under the Koran, their holy book. Nothing less than Global Submission to the Koran is their aim.
In the classical language of the Koran there are no words that divide the spiritual from the secular. Islam recognizes no such a distinction. Either you are in the abode of submission, (Islam means submission to Allah, where your life is governed by the Koran) or you are without god and at war with god. If you can be persuaded to change, well and good. If not then it is the duty of every good Muslim to use force. Even by the most moderate Muslim you would be forced into a second-class state. In the fundamentalist Moslem countries, such as Iran, your fate is revealed by such as the Ayatolla Khomini.
Islam has two methods of expansion. "Dawah" - "the call" and "Jihad" - "armed struggle." In countries where they are too few in number to exercise political power, they use "Dawah." This they are using in the western world. In countries where they are strong enough, political power is used, then it is ballots or bullets, or both. In Lebanon, Iraq or Iran, bullets have often been used. For instance, Iraq's president for-life, Saddam Hussein, gained power by personally shooting his predecessor in the head. Now he rules by the bullet.
Now, in the world a billion people worship Allah, read the Koran, and look to Mohammed as the last and greatest prophet, who cannot be ignored. Their deceptive message is spreading. At an International Islamic Conference it was stated "If we can win London for Islam, it won't be hard to win the whole western world." Remember mosques are being built in Sydney and Australia too. It is time Christians awoke. That especially applies to Adventist Christians. Muslims feature in Bible Prophecy as we have noted.
Mohammed was born about 570 AD in Mecca, in Arabia. It has been noted that Mohammedanism arose about the same time as the Papacy. The reign of the Papacy, (the 1260 years of prophecy) began in 538 AD. Martin Luther believed there were two antichrists, the papacy in the west, and Mohammedanism in the east. I note a very interesting fact in the "Story of the Church" written by A. M. Renwick M.A. D.D. D. Litt., Professor of Church History, The Free Church College, Edinburgh.
"The Rise of Islam"
"The rise of Islam offered a grave challenge to Christianity and profoundly affected the history of the world. Muhammad was born in Mecca, in Arabia, about 570 AD, and at an early age lost his parents. When he grew to manhood, he prayed much in the solitudes of the desert, fell into trances, and claimed that he heard voices. He had met Jews and heretical Christians who had only Apocryphal Gospels, While they gave him the idea that there was but one God, he was not at all impressed by their lives, and this may have prevented him from becoming a Christian. He resolved to replace the degraded polytheism of Arabia by the one, true religion of Allah whose prophet he claimed to be.
Owing to the intense opposition to his preaching, he had to flee from Mecca in 622 AD and went with some two hundred of his followers to Medina. This 'Hijira' (or 'Hijra'), as his flight was called, was the turning point in his career and from it the Muslim era is dated. Nine years later, after a somewhat checkered career, he reentered Mecca in triumph, and by the time of his death in 632 AD he had won over all Arabia."
You will notice that Mohammed was influenced by Jews and apostate Christians. Arianism was favored by Bishop Eusebius, the Bishop of Constantine, that is the doctrine that there is but one person in the Godhead, as taught by Jehovah Witnesses today. That was where Mohammed got his doctrine of one God from. You will notice the historian states it was from "heretical Christians and their apocryphal gospels." This is the time when philosophers like Origen were cutting out from the Bible what they did not want, and adding to Scripture. (For a sample of the mutilating of Scripture that has taken place see "NIV Omissions" Number 8, by George Burnside.)
"Apocryphal gospels" and "apostate Christians" are a bad mixture. That mixture produced the Papacy and laid the foundation for Mohammedanism and largely is responsible for causing a tragic situation at the present time. The modern flood of so-called "versions of the Bible" have the same questionable source and will cause a similar tragedy. Speaking of the tragedies that hit the professed Christian church, history records: "Our imagination reels before the magnitude of the disasters which overtook the Church through the Muslim conquests. In the great patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, which extended over vast areas, only remnants of the Christian Church remained. Thus, in Syria alone, 10,000 churches were destroyed or became mosques. The Church of North Africa, with its memories of Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine, was practically obliterated. Only small Christian communities survived here and there." Story of the Church" by A. M. Renwick, page 78.
Moslem debators are using the corrupt per-Versions of Scripture to attack the Bible and Christianity. For instance a favorite weapon is the (RSV) "Revised Standard Version." Note what this professed Christian Bible contains.
"The King James Version of the New Testament was based upon a Greek text that was marred by mistakes, containing the accumulated errors of fourteen centuries of manuscript copying." Preface RSV page IX.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also aid the Moslems in their attack on Christ and His "Scripture of Truth." The Moslems are quoting from the Jehovah’s Witnesses' magazine "Awake" "Some modern students say that there are probably 50,000 errors in the Bible."
The Moslem in his war against the Bible quotes both the RSV and the "Awake" magazine.
It is plain that corrupt modern versions of the Bible have been used both as the origin of Mohammedanism and now to its present strength and progress. No wonder our God has allowed the Moslem scourge to punish apostasy and corruption when professed Christians aid, or are aiding in this work of apostasy.
The tremendous prophecy of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets that cover the Saracens and Turkish Moslem invasions show clearly that our God permitted these ruthless powers to punish apostate Christendom for their turning to idol worship.
REVELATION 9:20 "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk."
Moslems hate idol worship. Apostasy is growing in Christendom and may be the big contributing force and is producing our present trouble. It is worth remembering that apostasy and false Bibles led to the origin of Mohammedanism and they both are playing a big part today.
We are faced with a flood of corrupted Bibles. They are based, like days gone by, on apocryphal Bibles. The main and most prized MSS of today is the Westcott and Hort MSS. This contains the Sinaiticus (I had the privilege of seeing this MSS in Europe). The Sinaiticus contains the "Epistle of Barnabas". I have this epistle before me as I write. I quote from it, only to show the stupid nonsense that is contains. I would be ashamed to use such material. Here I quote from the Sinaiticus:
The Epistle of Barnabas
"Moreover, 'Thou shall not,' he says, 'eat the hare.' Wherefore? 'Thou shall not be a corrupter of boys, nor like unto such.' Because the hare multiplies, year by year, the places of its conception; for as many years as it lives so many it has. Moreover, 'Thou shall not eat the hyena.' He be like to them that are such.' Wherefore? Because that animal changes its sex, and is at one time male, and at another female."
I don't eat the hare or the hyena, but it is not for the reason given here by this imaginary writer. This shows the wicked and stupid material that is being used against our infallible Bible. All of these modern per-versions are perverted. Even to about the latest "New King James Version." Take for instance 2 Peter 2:9. "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment." They all bring in some poison. This version here holds up the devil's old lie, the immortal soul. One lie started all the trouble for our first parents. One lie caused all the trouble. One lie will spoil our chance of a place in Glory. Get rid of all error and deception.
We have "an infallible Bible," what else do we need. Our all-powerful Lord gives us His unfailing Word. To obey it and follow is our task. Mohammedanism is linked with the devils lie. It is rapidly spreading. We face a giant crisis. Islam is based on the great lie and is supported by perversions of Scripture.