A study of Islam reveals that there are hardly any Islamic democracies. That's because the very nature of Islam calls for submission and submission for people in the nation. The state and the religion are joined together so that being loyal to your government is the same as being loyal to Allah. You must obey the king, who is the regent of Allah. So, Muslims believe that Allah is the only true god and that the Quran is the perfect holy book that teaches the correct way of belief and practice.
Now, if they can find passages in the Quran that tell them to attack and kill the infidels, or the non-believers, those who will not submit to Allah, then they know that in their interpretation that's exactly what they are to do.
More moderate Muslims look at those passages in a cultural context and historical context and would say, "Well, that's not what Allah wants us to do now." But for radical Islam that is exactly how they justify what they do. So classical Islam divides the world into two areas:
• the world of peace where Islam is practiced and the Quran is observed,
• and the world of warfare and ignorance that is dominated by non Muslims.
So if you're not a Muslim you are in darkness, you are in ignorance and you are in rebellion to the one true God. The mission of radical Islam is to bring the second world, the world of warfare and ignorance under the submission to Allah.
Islam is energized by a theocratic world vision and mission. Islam believes there is one true God, Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. So they believe that Christians are far off the mark. They say that Christians believe in three Gods, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They reject that. They say the Jews falsely worship Jehovah who was not the true God. They would say to pagans they falsely worship all kinds of idols whether they be made of wood and stone or whether they be made of fiberglass and metal. Therefore, it is our job to convert you. This is a missionary religion.
One of the ways this figures into Bible prophecy is that in Matthew 24 Jesus warned again and again that in the last days false prophets will come in my name and they will deceive many. That's exactly what's happened. The Bible also predicts as we're going to see that the Muslim countries will figure greatly into the war of Armageddon and into the last days' conquest of the world. The Bible predicts a time when the descendants of Ishmael are going to be very, very powerful and very numerous.
Islam can be found in great numbers on every continent. Many think Islam must be confined to the Middle East. It must be confined to the Bedouins and the desert dwellers, but this is not the case. Indonesia has a great Muslim population. Africa has a huge Muslim population. Europe and America have a sizeable Muslim population. So, Islam is a mobile religion. It has been carried by followers of Islam to every continent. It's surprising to find in every culture and in every continent strong numbers of Islam. So if we put our heads in the sand and we say, "We don't want to study it. We're afraid of it." Then we're not going to understand what's going to happen in the last days.
The concept of Jihad has two aspects, the Islamic requirements that the individual must practice to be a worthy Muslim. (While there are five tenets of Islam, there are other certain requirements that are made especially by the extremists. This is a part of Jihad.) So the Islamic person that's on a Jihad has to submit himself to rigorous training. He has to be fit mentally. He has to be fit morally. He has to be fit in his skills because he is a warrior for Allah.
We are seeing in almost every major population center a Muslim Mosque or house of Islamic worship. That was not the case twenty years ago. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America today. With the migration of so many Muslims into this country Islam has become a larger part of our multi-culture society. It is imperative that believers know what they believe, why, and how to reach them for Jesus. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only way to heaven and if we really love all men, we do not want them to be deceived and follow false gods, but to come to faith in Jesus Christ. And so, the importance of understanding Islam. It has extremely important implications.
