commentary: The Islamization of Europe
The King of the South is Pushing the King of the North
John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 20-Dec-08; Sermon #915c; 10 minutes
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There is one quality of the Muslims that I feel is significant, even admirable, and worthy for us to at least observe and ponder upon. It is that their unified zeal. In many cases it is fanatical, believing and practicing the dogmas found in their holy book, the Koran.
I am in no way saying that their zeal is perfect. We must absolutely not copy it in its extreme degree because in that form it illustrates an unsound mind. They will literally destroy their own lives in order to destroy others' lives. These are not the kind of sacrifices the Christian God requires. He requires living sacrifices made to serve, preserved and to create life.
However, that being said, it seems as though even the ordinary Muslim, though he may not be a devotee of the radical Islamic groups, nonetheless, he has a zeal based in his belief that every word of the Koran is Allah's word. Because of this, it fires him with a determined zeal to obey it.
Do you know what the term "Islam" means? Translated into English, it means "submission." This title constantly explains and underlines the responsibility that the individual Muslim bears to Allah's word, as given in the Koran. They possess a much different zeitgeist than the average person in the Western world. Their zeal may be somewhat admirable, but it is the Koran the teaches the Muslim the responsibility that he bears toward Allah, and produces these horrifying effects. It commands him to kill the unbeliever or to make slaves of others and to treat women barely above a dog. She is simply to be considered as another piece of property. It teaches a concept of justice so narrow that unless one wants to die or to be a slave, there is no choice whatever. There are no alternatives.
He has to make jihad against non-Islamic people. Jihad means "holy war." It means a crusade. Notice that is is against others. Jihad might be described as an evangelistic campaign on steroids. British and American evangelistic campaigns stir people up to produce peaceful conversions to the Christian faith. They may last for a week or two and then the campaign's promoters leave town. But an Islamic jihad moves into town and gradually takes over. Some locals may die in the process and the townspeople may be forced to move because of the harassing violence done against them. Shariah law slowly envelopes the area and the former police may not even come into that part of town anymore.
I tell you this because this is literally happening in Europe. My wondering is the impact—what impact does this have upon the majority of America's Christians believe regarding prophecy?
Do you know that 54 million Muslims now live in Europe? A San Diego University study recently calculated that in just 12 more years, a staggering 25% of Europe's population will be Muslim. Amsterdam in The Netherlands, Marseille in France, Malmo in Sweden of all places, are already 25% Muslim, and this is mostly due to very favorable immigration policies arranged to provide jobs not being filled by local people. But it is also due to Muslim women far out-producing local women in the production of babies. In many cities now in Europe, the majority of the population under 18 is Muslim. That tells you what the future is going to be like.
Given what you understand regarding the book of Daniel's accounts about the King of the North and the King of the South, do you not believe that the King of the South's location and major religious element would be Arab and Muslim, and that the King of the North would be the opposite— European and Christian?
In addition, the nations in Europe with the largest Muslim populations are France, Germany, Britain and The Netherlands, and there is a distinct possibility the largest population base in all of those nations is Israelitish.
One of the things that I see that causes the Muslims to be so disruptive is that in their zeal for the Koran, they will not assimilate with the Israelitish majority surrounding them. They make no effort whatever to blend, and indeed it seems as though they make every effort to reject. They are a very abrasive minority, acting as though the Israelite portion of this is nothing more than a huge leper colony. They are standoffish to an extreme. It is their unswerving belief in the Koran that is largely responsible for this attitude.
Modified somewhat, this is a form of the zeal and conduct we must have toward this present evil world, as Paul labels it—this world that lies in the unknowing but abject subjection to Satan and his principalities and powers. The world is indeed our unholy enemy, seeking to envelop us.
One thing that I think I see is a fulfillment of one of the curses of Deuteronomy 28:44-45, as well as a parallel to what was experienced in Israel at the time that God raised up Gideon. Moses stated that one of the curses is that "the enemy would become the head [high above us], and we the [lowly] tail."
One thing Europe has clearly seen is that the Muslims bend the Israelitish governments to submit to their will. The Israelitish people who can afford to are leaving those nations by emigrating. In Gideon's day, a Midianite invasion of plain Midianite citizens—not an army—broke the back of the Israelitish economic will, so that Gideon had to thresh his grain in secret.
Are we, in principle, seeing the same thing happening today in Europe? If so, what is Europe going to do about it? Because it will not be long before Muslims will be sitting in seats of power in those nations. It will begin in local governments, where they dominate the scene, and it will spread to national ones. In the local areas, shariah law will be introduced and be legal, as it already is in England. From there it will spread. Brethren, the King of the South is already pushing at the King of the North. What will this mean to our concepts of end-time prophecies involving where the Beast is to arise? This is taking place right on his own territory. We shall see, won't we?
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Sermon Topics
The Gospel
