Immediately following the events of 9-11, I, like many other Americans, became curious as to the source of the terrorist problem. Very early on, I understood that it was more than just violence against the United States as a Western nation, but that something deeper must exist in the heart of peoples around the world who would so hate Americans whom they've never met. My curiosity drove me to an interview with Mr. Syed Mohammed Syed, the General Secretary of the Islamic Society of North America. The Islamic Society of North America is located just a few miles from my church in Avon, and so one afternoon myself and my assistant pastor went to the Society and actually interviewed with Mr. Syed. It was during that interview, which took place about two weeks after the events of 9-11, that my curiosity was further stirred by some troubling responses I received to questions I asked. One of the issues that came up, of course, was the relation between America and the nation of Israel and why the Arabs hated Israel. In an almost Hitler-esque fashion, Mr. Said expressed his disdain for Israel and for the Jewish people in general. That hatred that flashed in his eyes caused my curiosity to deepen, and so after our meeting I began an intensive study of the religion of Islam, Now, please understand, up until that point, I knew very little about Islam as a religion. I viewed it as the religion of genies and bottles, of saber-brandishing Bedouins and camel-dung campfires. Islam as a religion meant nothing to me, but after the events of 9-11 and my study, I became very concerned that the true nature of that religion is little understood in the Western world. Following an intensive study, I then brought my findings before my church in a series of lectures on our Wednesday night Bible study. And then in 2003, I decided to preach a memorial message regarding the 9-11 events. It was at this point that I thought the best way to inform the public would be to advertise my message. And so quite innocently, I put the advertisement on the marquee in front of our church. I had our sign engineer put these words on the sign, quote, Sunday morning sermon, 10.30 a.m. Islam, America's number one enemy. Those words on our church sign on a major highway running through Hendricks County attracted more attention than I could have ever imagined. We received immediately telephone calls. I was informed that Mrs. Syed Mohammed Syed had requested a police action to take down the sign, which would, of course, be unconstitutional. And throughout the week that the sign was up prior to the preaching of the message, we were deluged with both supporters and detractors. By the time Sunday rolled around, a circus atmosphere had descended upon the church and upon the activities of the week in such a manner as to have attracted about 150 first-time visitors to our service. In addition to that, in the church services, we had protesters who actually at one point stood up and interrupted the service by putting forth a banner and also by loudly shouting. These were taken out of the service by a police force that was present. There were protesters outside, and there were threats made both to myself, my family, and to our church in general. We came to understand that we had hit a nerve, and yet we told the truth in the message. Certainly the 9-11 hijackers were victimizers, but doubtless as children they were victims. Victims of the teaching of a religious system that once it got into their hearts was something that came to grow in its strength and its power until it affected all of their thinking and the victim became the victimizer. It is our understanding that much of Islam is that way. As you listen to the message, Islam, America's number one enemy, please bear in mind there is no hatred intended in any fashion. It is simply information. But there is a striking difference between the teachings of Jesus, love thine enemies, and the teachings of Muhammad, who said kill the infidel. Make no mistake about it, Islam as a religion According to its founding documents, the Koran and the Hadith and all of the traditional teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam as a religion is a religion of war, not of peace. It is a religion of hate, not of love. It is a religion of world domination by the edge of the sword. And if we fail to wake up to that fact as Americans, we may find ourselves in a precarious position in the future. I trust you'll listen carefully to the message, Islam, America's number one enemy. Amen. Wonderful singing this morning. I want to welcome you as pastor to Faith Baptist Church of Avon. In the words of Garrison Keillor, a Prairie Home Companion fame, It's been a quiet week in Lake Lobogan, my hometown. It has not been a quiet week. We welcome you here. We're glad that you're here. I noticed there were some folks out in the parking lot here at the bank protesting. I suppose they already know the content of the message. So if any of you want to take notes from them, they'd be happy to talk to you. But you're going to enjoy this morning's message. And I think you're going to find it very, very informative. May I make a statement before we begin, and we're here to worship, but this will concur with the message. Our greatest defense against violence is not the sword. Our greatest defense is knowledge. When we know, we can protect ourselves. Knowledge, then, must be as accurate as we can possibly have it. We'll seek to impart that knowledge this morning. We welcome you. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, we love you and thank you for what you've done in our midst. Thank you, Lord, for the Bible, the precious word of God. Thank you, Lord, for freedom in a free country. Thank you, Lord, that we stand here to worship freely because others have given of their life's blood to defend the privilege we now enjoy. We thank you, Lord, for the freedom of speech in America. Thank you that we can tell the truth without being hampered or hindered. And now, Holy Spirit, we pray that you would bless our service. We would ask that our worship would honor the Lord Jesus. We would ask that as we preach today, the Lord himself would be lifted up. And Lord Jesus, we pray especially that if there be any here that do not know Christ as Savior, they do not know today that heaven would be their eternal home. Father, help them to receive Christ today. Bless, I pray, in the worship service. We'll thank you and give you all the praise. In Jesus' name, amen. This morning, I'm going to ask something of the audience that I normally do not ask. By the way, this evening, I want to encourage members and friends of Faith Baptist to be back tonight. We're going to have another message, of course, not on this topic, but a family discussion about when things like this take place in our world, and when we as a church make a stand for something, and we'll discuss what is our prerogative biblically, why would we make a stand on an issue biblically, we'll be showing that from the Bible tonight in kind of a family fireside chat, so I'd like friends and members of Faith Baptist and visitors. If you're interested at all, you may feel free to attend as well that our evening service at 6.30 this evening. Now, let me ask your indulgence this morning. We normally do not go as long as we'll have to go this morning, but I do not want to leave out some of the details. It was necessary for me. I have studied this religion of Islam and the Quran in particular since the 9-11 attacks. We'll get into that in a moment. But it will be necessary for me to cull from that material a great amount of material that I have amassed. I'll need to cull from that only certain things that are significant and germane to the topic this morning. I'm going to ask you this, whether you come as somebody who is predisposed to be favorable toward what I'm going to say, or if you come as somebody who maybe is antagonistic toward what I'm going to say, I want to ask you this, please. No knee-jerk reactions. No knee-jerk reaction. Let's make it through the entire thing. I want you to hear what we're saying. Sometimes folks have a knee-jerk reaction and they miss the whole message. So please refrain from that. Now on the happy side, I have kept a tally of phone calls that we've received both here at the church and at my home. Today, as of today, this morning, I had received that I was aware of a total of 29 telephone calls. 29. Twenty-five of those were favorable. Twenty-five. I think we struck an interesting nerve. Four of them were not. However, I discount one of the unfavorables because he was homosexual and just wanted to discuss the fact that he was homosexual, okay? He was using this as a platform to discuss his personal issues, so I kind of discount that individual. and a four negative and uh... no no letters per se except for one note last night that was left on the church band that was a bit negative but apart from that uh... that has been the response that i personally have received i've been gratified to have heard from about pastors of the presbyterian denomination the methodist denomination lutheran lay leaders within their church to uh... to assembly of godly leaders and several baptist pastors as well and a christian church pastor has called me to say we're praying for you, brother. God bless you. And so you understand that the truths we're going to present today really do, in a sense, transcend denominational boundaries. Now, take your Bible with me, please, and turn to Matthew, chapter 5. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5. I want you to hear the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew, chapter 5. Everyone turn there, if you don't have a Bible, look on with someone else. This is vitally important that you hear these words this morning. Matthew chapter 5 verse number 38, beginning at verse 38. Of course, Matthew 5 through 7, Matthew chapters 5 through 7 is our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Beginning at verse 38, our Lord tells us this, Matthew 5 verse 38. Jesus said, Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, now these are the words of Jesus, that ye resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if a man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even publicans and sinners the same? If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans also? Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Jesus said, verse 44, love your enemies. Now please turn your attention up here. As I introduce this morning's topic, I want to make it abundantly clear that in no way does the topic I am dealing with indicate a hatred for individual Muslims or for Muslims as a group. It is amazing to me that to some it is impossible today to speak against a system of belief and not against an individual. By that, let me illustrate. I am an American and I am firmly opposed to communism. However, I love Russian people. I can be opposed to communism and love Russian people at the very same time. As a preacher, it is my responsibility to tell the truth. And occasionally, when telling the truth, that means that I have to say something negative about a belief system that is false. Somebody said to me, well, Pastor Monty, what is true for you may not be true for someone else. Please follow me on that. That is illogical. That is silly. Two plus two equals four for me. Two plus two also equals four for you. If something is true, it is true. If something is not true, it is false. Two things that are diametrically opposed to one another in philosophy cannot both be right. That means I cannot personalize truth and say that there is truth that applies to me, but it doesn't apply to you. Truth is truth. Now, having said that, understand that we're not opposing individuals or showing anger or preaching hate toward individuals. We desire simply to promote a true understanding of the nature of Islam and particularly to underscore the nature of the Koran. I also want to underscore the fact that there is an undeniable connection between the events of 9-11 and the teachings of the Koran. I hope you heard every word I just said. There is an undeniable connection between the events of 9-11 and the teachings of the Koran. These men who flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and into the Pentagon, they were not men who all came from one particular family. They were diverse as far as their family is concerned. They were diverse as far as their background is concerned, different countries, mostly Saudi Arabia, but from different countries. There was, however, and is one common denominator that exists among all of those who conspired in the attack on our nation. And that common denominator is the religion that is known as Islam. There is something about that religion, as viewed by those internationally, and listen to how I'm weighing my words, as viewed by those internationally, that has caused them to see within the pages of their sacred book a command to destroy, hurt, harm, and attack the infidel. Now, having said that, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I would defy anyone in this room to point to one of the words of Jesus that anywhere would incite a man to violence. There is not contained in the pages of the New Testament one word spoken by Christ. that could possibly be misconstrued to promote violence, bloodshed, the destruction of human life, the blowing up of oneself in hope of life eternal, not one word. The violence that we have seen then on an international level, and that has now come to our shores, is not something that sprang out of a vacuum. It is something that had its source in a religious document, Understand something, please. Ideas have consequences. The ideas of the Quran have turned to the consequence of violence and bloodshed. We will prove that in just a moment. Now, I wanted to make a couple comments on the article that appeared in the flyer. I really had fun with this. I am a man of a sense of humor, and I was reading it, and it says the diversity group, which I didn't know we had here in Avon, but I guess we do. The diversity group was angry over the church sign in Avon, and I'll read part of it. It says that message, speaking of the little advertisement on the sign, that message angers members of the Kendricks County Alliance for Diversity who say Monty's view of religion and diversity is vastly different from religious and political leaders who since September 11, 2001 have advocated religious freedom. Number one, I advocate religious freedom. Everyone has a right to worship whom they will. The Islamic folk have the right to worship whom they will. And I would stand up for their right as much as I would hope they would stand up for mine. We're for religious freedom. But I want to point something out. The diversity group said my view of religion and diversity is different. We might translate that, my view, the diversity group said that my view of religion is diverse. You understand what I'm saying. The diversity group was angered because I am being diverse. It appears that Mrs. Saeed's diversity is the only diversity we're allowed to have. And my diversity cannot be diverse from her diversity, or it is not diversity. I told one of the members of that committee on the phone, I said, rather than worrying about it and getting into such a tizzy, you should have thrown a party rejoicing that I'm adding to the diversity of Hendricks County. Thank you. All right, enough said there, and we will go on. Let me introduce my topic, and please listen carefully. I think you'll feel, some of you will feel much the way I do. Before the events of 9-11, I personally had only the slightest acquaintance with the religion known as Islam. To me, as to most Americans, and I think most of us here would agree with this, to me as to most Americans it was a strange and foreign religion. A religion of genies and their lamps. A religion of flying carpets and snake charmers. of hooded clerics and veiled women. It is the religion of saber-brandishing Bedouins and camel-dung campfires. Before 9-11, that is all I knew. And quite frankly, that is all I cared to know. Thank you very much. You see, I am an American. I have a wife and children. I have a congregation for which to care. I have interests and hobbies. I enjoy my freedom just like you do. I have a life to live. And so this strange and foreign religion that was somebody else's issue in a far and distant land never really interested me. As most Hoosiers, I was too busy in the year 2000 watching the Colts win and win and then lose. But, I then decided to watch the Pacers, who, if you'll remember, won, and won, and won, and won, and won, and then they lost. That was my interest. To be frank with you, the only jihad that interested me was Bobby Knight's attack on his players. That was all I knew. 9-11 changed all of that for me, and it changed it for you. Shortly after that day, I came to realize that although the hijackers themselves were from diverse backgrounds, there is one common denominator among them, and that is loyalty to a book called the Koran. I began a study of Islam that has resulted in an obvious and inescapable conclusion that the teachings of Muhammad, as presented in the Koran, are words of hatred The Quran itself is the single most significant piece of hate literature the world has ever known. I say that because there are 1.2 billion adherents to his teaching. Many of those adherents, however, are not knowledgeable as to the teaching of their holy book. Indeed, many of them have never read it. These who are not knowledgeable, the children and those who've never read and have not studied, those who accept this religion because it is their culture and their tradition. They, ladies and gentlemen, are victims of a religion and a book that is inherently evil. It is unfortunate, though, and we must note this, that victims frequently grow up to become victimizers. And those terrorists who, as children, were victims of an evil system of teaching grew up to become great victimizers and those who would murder thousands of Americans. Tears are still shed every night by American children who will go to bed without their daddy. Because of the words of a book which we'll examine in a moment, there are wives tonight that go to bed lonely. yearning for their husband, who have not even so much as the slightest thread of memorial because his body was blown to bits in an act of war and terrorism the like of which our world has never seen. Please understand it is a dangerous piece of literature. The teachings of Muhammad historically are responsible for the deaths of more people than Hitler. If his scourge were bad, Mohammed's is far worse. According to the Flyer article, which I had a moment ago in my hand, Mrs. Saeed made the statement right at the end. And by the way, I have no animosity towards Mrs. Saeed. I have met personally with Saeed, Mohammed Saeed, and did so about a week and a half after the 9-11 events. It was that meeting in his office that actually encouraged me, made me interested in studying his religion in our meeting. And I won't go into the details, but he said things that did not sit well with me. And so I studied his religion. Mrs. Saeed in the article says of our science, she says it is a confusing message. If you have faith, she says, you never have an enemy. Tell that to our Lord Jesus. who was nailed to the cross. Tell that to Mohammed himself, who had many enemies in his day. The crux of the issue, though, and why people are so excited about this, by the way, my sermons usually don't excite this much attention. And really, I'm gratified by the fact that you're listening this morning. We don't really we don't really have this kind of sensationalism all the time, but the key to it was this the word enemy that was used. I'm going to talk about the word enemy and what Jesus says concerning that word. First of all, let me say this. International Islam, international Islam is a religion that has repeatedly expressed animosity or enmity toward the United States. I did not choose the word enemy for my marquee. International Islam chose it for me. They long ago branded America as the enemy. Islam drew the sword first, but America failed to notice until 9-1-1. On February 23rd, 1998, five leading Islamic caliphates, these are leaders after the death of Muhammad, they are official leaders of Islam, signed a fatwa. A fatwa is a binding religious decree declaring war on the United States. After listing the sins of the USA against Islam, these caliphates, and again, they're leaders of Islam, commanded international Muslims to engage in jihad. This was 1998. Here was what they said. The ruling, quote, the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it. That was from five religious leaders that did not come from the American Islamic community. It came from five religious leaders. You say, Pastor, where did they get their marching orders? As we will see in a moment, they received them from the Koran. If someone will say, Pastor, you're misinterpreting the intention of the writings of the Koran, then let me say that there are millions outside of the borders of the United States who are guilty of the same misinterpretation, including men that are regarded as Islamic scholars. I am taking the internationalist interpretation of 109, and we're not going to cover all 109, but 109 passages in the Quran that cry for war and destruction against the infidel, though the American Islamic movement may not interpret them that way. It would appear that a great number and perhaps the majority of those from other shores do. My point this morning is not whether or not the interpretation is correct, but my point is that there are those that interpret these verses as verses of violence. And they can do so very easily because when you read the Koran, that is exactly what it says. In contradistinction to that, the words of Jesus could never be interpreted by anyone. with a reasonable mind as a call to violence. Now let's move into the some of the ideas. We will mourn in a couple days the loss of thousands 9-11 attack but millions of Islamic devotees the worldwide will celebrate on that day and attack that for them was a victory for Allah. Osama Bin Laden himself was seen on tape by many of you as rejoicing in this so-called victory of 9-11. Have you ever asked yourselves why it is that international Islamists view America as the great Satan? I was talking to Syed Mohammed Syed some years ago in a meeting that we had together, and he looked at me and he said, do you know why Arabs don't like you? And I said, I have not the foggiest idea. I've never done anything to them. Neither have you. I have no reason for them to dislike. He said it is because America, and these were his words, is the surrogate mother of Israel. Let me just say something. I am unashamedly, unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-Jew. Any Bible-believing Christian understands that the Jews are God's chosen people. Don't you ever mock a Jew? Don't you ever criticize them? Don't joke about them? They are God's chosen people, the Jewish people. That statement, by the way, was the statement that made me interested in studying what is behind this level of appearing animosity. And again, I'm not saying that any American leader, including Saeed himself, feels this way, but he indicated to me that international Islam feels that way because of our allegiance with Israel. Now, have they declared war? Well, it's interesting. I think many of you probably read the article in last Sunday's paper concerning the assassination of a Muslim spiritual leader in Iraq. And of course, this assassination was inter-tribal fighting, and they're still trying to find those who were responsible for it. But there was a quotation. There was a young man who was expressing in the paper, last Sunday morning's paper, front page. He was expressing frustration over the lack of security in Iraq. And he had turned his venom on America. And he said this, quote, we wait for fatwa, that is a religious declaration that all Muslims have to follow. He said, we wait for fatwa. If they ask for a jihad against the US, we're ready. We're all martyrs. All of us are ready to die. Star article in August 31st. That is a statement of animosity. In the public broadcasting, the PBS special, Jihad in America, Stephen Emerson filmed cell groups associated with American mosques. The video shows Muslim leaders preaching anti-American sentiments to eager young followers. Muslim leader Faiz Azam made the following statement. This is in America. Now this is not necessarily the Islamic Society, but this is a group in America made this statement. Blood must flow, quote. There must be widows, orphans. Hands and limbs must be severed everywhere in order that Allah's religion stand on its feet. Those are chilling words. The Quran itself encourages this violence. against those who do not subscribe to the teachings of Islam. Following the 9-11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, who by the way is an Islamic scholar and is recognized as such, Osama bin Laden said, quote, I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah and his prophet Muhammad. Where did Osama get his marching orders? There are at least 109 identifiable war verses in the Qur'an. One out of every 55 verses of the Qur'an is a war verse. They are scattered throughout the Qur'an like blood at a crime scene. Now let me explain something before I go on. I have here a copy of the Qur'an. It's an English translation. There are eight or more English translations of the Quran available. Studying this is very difficult because the translations do vary somewhat among themselves. Especially those that have been written by Islamic apologists, they attempt to explain away certain verses. However, if you compare all eight translations, you come up with a sense of the verse. I will use only one translation in just a moment when I begin to quote. The eight translation study of them is even more difficult because of the way the verses are numbered. Among the various translations, the verses are numbered differently. So if I cite a verse reference today, and you jot it down, and then you run to the bookstore and buy a copy of the Koran, and you look it up, and you say, oh, that's not there. Pastor Monty, what he said is not there. What you need to do is look at several verses before and several verses after, and you will always find the verse. The verse numbering is different based on the edition of the Quran that you use. So having said that, let's make some comparisons. Now, I'm not misinterpreting. By the way, someone said, well, Pastor, you're not an Islamic scholar, so you're misinterpreting. I thought I'd bring you this story. Someone dropped it in my box, probably a member here, and consider this, and then we'll get into it in just a moment. A suicide bus bomber's wife expresses pride in his act. Some of you read this. This was from the August 22nd Indianapolis Star. Pardon me, 21st Indianapolis Star. Heber and Westbank By the time Raed Mesk was 16, he had memorized the Koran chapter and verse. Memorized the Koran. Religion consumed him, and he wanted it to consume others as well. As an adult, he encouraged his wife, his students, and his teachers to learn the scripture by heart. On Fridays, he got to preach in mosques his hardline version of what the Koran meant. Establish a pure Islamic state, end the plague of Israeli occupation, and avenge the death of the martyrs. Ultimately, Mesk's interpretation of Islam led the 30-year-old father of two to don the garb of his perceived enemy, an observant Jew, and to blow himself up Tuesday on a Jerusalem bus. Sitting in her parents' home Tuesday night, Mrs. Mesk, 25, heard her husband's name on television in connection with the bombing, and she prayed, not out of grief, but out of gratitude. I prayed twice to thank God, expressing him for this honor, she said. Wednesday, five months pregnant with their third child. Quote, I am so proud that God allowed him to be a martyr. You say, well, Pastor, he was an extremist. He had memorized the Koran. He had a master's degree and was a school teacher. He was a family man who took the words that he had memorized and said these words teach me to hate Jews and I will kill myself in an effort to destroy them. I don't feel that my interpretation of these words is any different from his. Let's look at some things now. Matthew chapter 5 in your Bible and I want you to stay there please with me. Matthew chapter 5. What does the Quran teach? We're going to cover several topics. Number one, in regard to getting even, getting even. If someone slights you, you know, if someone hurts your feelings, you need to get even. What does the Qur'an teach? Qur'an chapter 2 verse 178, quote, Believers, this is speaking to those of the Islamic faith. Believers, retaliation is decreed for you in bloodshed. Interesting. Cart block permission to retaliate. What did Jesus say in Matthew 5, verses 39 and 40? Jesus said, But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if a man will sue thee at the lot and take away thy coat, let him have thy coke also. I hope you see the difference in the words of Muhammad and the words of Jesus. These two religions are not the same. How about the regard in regard to spreading their message? How do they spread their message? Early on in the Quran, there's something said, Muhammad makes a statement that you cannot forcibly coerce anyone into religion. Understand that when that statement was written, he was struggling to gain popularity among the Jews and the Christians in a city known as Medina. when the three largest Jewish tribes in the city known as Medina rejected Muhammad as a prophet. Muhammad turned against the Jews and expelled several of the tribes, exterminating the third tribe. Understand the history here. So early on he said you cannot convert someone by the sword. Later on he said the sword is the method of conversion of choice. We will get to that in spreading the message. Quran 2 verse 193, Muhammad commands his followers, fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. Those are very plain English words. Those are words completely foreign to the words of our Lord in the New Testament. They are words that we don't understand as Christian people, because in Matthew 28, verse 19, Jesus said, Go ye therefore into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We seek to win converts to the religion of Jesus by teaching. The Koran encourages the religion to be spread by means of violence. How should these unbelievers be treated? Those who oppose my message. Those who oppose the Islamic message. How should they be treated? Quran chapter 8 verses 12 and 13. Strike off their heads. Strike off their fingertips. Why? Because they defiled God and His Apostle. not a pretty picture. Matthew 5 in verse 44, the words of Jesus, but I send you love your enemy, bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Treatment of unbelievers continued. Quran chapter 8 verse 40. Make war on them, this is speaking of the infidels, unbelievers. Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme. Make war on them. Hard to misinterpret those words, folks. Matthew 5 and verse number 9, Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. How do we treat unbelievers? Quran chapter 4 verse 89, Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them. These are unbelievers that had been driven from their homes by militant Islam and then turned to return to their homes. The command in Quran 489, seize them and put them to death wherever you find them. Romans 12, verse 20, the Bible says, If thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. Do you understand that the ethic of Jesus is diametrically opposed to and different from the ethic of Muhammad? I cannot, by reading the words of Jesus anywhere in the New Testament, come up with anything that would be a promotion of hatred against any people, race, or group. But I find in the teachings of Muhammad words that are chilling in their violence, who do not agree. Quran 9, verse 123. How do you treat your neighbors? Do you have neighbors that are not Christians? That are not believers in Christ? How do you treat them? Quran 9, verse 123. This command given to those who follow the Islamic faith. Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. If you're amazed, so am I. Make war. on the infidels who dwell around you. What does the Bible say? Jesus said in Luke 1027, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. Whether your neighbor agrees with you or not, Jesus said you're to love him. For the Islamic believers are called to make war on infidels who dwell around them. Well now pastor, the American Islamics don't feel that way. I am very glad that they do not take seriously these verses of the Quran. I would like to see American Islamic leaders stand up and publicly renounce all 109 verses of violence found in their holy book. I would like to see those verses struck from the pages of that book and never resurrected again on these shores. I think you would like that, too. The ethic of Jesus was one of love. How do we treat our enemies in battle? This is interesting. If you go to battle, the Quran, chapter 47, verse number 4, says, when you meet the unbelievers... By the way, note, we're dealing with religious faith here. It's interesting. We're not dealing with secular armies. We're dealing with the matter of religious faith. Those of you in the audience this morning who do not subscribe to the religion of Islam, did you know they have a name that they call you? You are members of something that is called the House of War. there is the house of peace and that is all followers of Islam and then there is the house of war those of us who do not follow Islam we are considered to be members of the house of war Quran 47 verse 4 when you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and when you have laid them low bind your captives firmly There is no Geneva Convention in that verse. Matthew 26 and verse 52, you will remember that on the evening of Jesus' betrayal. As a mob of angry men approached our Lord Jesus and He was betrayed at the hand of Judas Iscariot, Peter, in defense of our Lord, the Apostle Peter, drew his sword from out its sheath and cut off the right ear of the high priest. He cut his ear off. He took his ear right off. And then Jesus picked up that ear that had been decapitated from this man, placed it back on the man's head, healed him instantly, and he said these words to Peter. He said, Put up again thy sword into his place. Put your sword away. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. The ethic of Jesus has never been to endorse the promotion of religion by violence of any kind. We see the Qur'an reads differently. There is an obligation given to believers in the Qur'an, chapter 2, verse 216. Muhammad says fighting is obligatory for you as much as you dislike it. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 39, resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Do you see the difference? The Bible says vengeance does not belong to a Christian. Vengeance belongs to God. He will settle all of the accounts. For the follower of Islam, fighting is an obligation. What about freedom of religion? What do we do when we're talking about religious matters? Quran chapter 9, verse 5. When the sacred months are over, this is speaking of Ramadan, when the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them, if they repent, and that means to convert, and take to prayer, and then render the alms levy, allowing them to go their way. So if they did repent, they could just pay a tax, of course, to be slain if they went back to their idolatry, their different religion. That doesn't sound like much of a Christmas to me. Jesus said in Luke 9.56, For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. I hope, ladies and gentlemen, that as I'm drawing these words out, they are plain and clear. The ethic of Jesus is so different from the ethic of Muhammad. The ethic of Jesus is accessible to all of you who own a Bible, and I think most of you own a Bible. Many of you own a Bible with the words of Christ in red, and you can read the very words of Jesus. What did Jesus tell us to do? You can read them and live by them, and our nation will be a better place when you do. If you were to pick up a copy of the Quran and read these words and take them literally and seriously and live by them, it would, by their very statement and nature, mean physical violence. All I'm saying is that if a man says his religion is peaceful, then the founding documents should reflect that peace. And if the founding documents are found to be faulty or perhaps have problems, 109 problems at least in the religion of Islam, if the founding documents are found to be faulty, then what we need to do is take those parts out. Perhaps somebody needs to edit the Quran and deal with some of these issues that are there because they're present. I may misunderstand. I don't think that I have. International Islam has not misunderstood. The madrasas, which are the Islamic schools, thousands of which exist all over in Islamic countries, are teaching the same interpretation of these verses that I have taught you. What about Jewish people who reject the message of Muhammad? What happens to them? Quran chapter 4 verse 47, you to whom the scriptures were given, this is the Jews, you to whom the scriptures were given, believe in that which we have revealed, we Islamics, believe what we have revealed confirming your scriptures before, now listen to this, you either believe or we will obliterate your faces and turn them backward. That means to twist your heads around backward and lay our curse on you. That, ladies and gentlemen, is outright anti-Semitism. Understand, outright anti-Semitism. What was Jesus' attitude? Matthew 23, verse 37. Jesus, looking at the city of Jerusalem, said this, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together? You see, even though Jerusalem sometimes opposed the message God had sent through his prophets, Jesus, the Son of God, said this, How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings? And he would not. How do we treat other religions? Quran 9, verse 29, "...fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given," that is a reference to Christians and Jews, "...as believe not in God, who do not forbid what God and His Apostle Mohammed have forbidden, and do not embrace the true faith. Fight them until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." Those are commands of the founding prophet. Matthew 5, verse 16, Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. While every religion has attracted nuts and extremists, it must be remembered that there is not one word in the teaching of Jesus that could possibly be misconstrued to promote hatred and violence. I have presented a mere sampling of 109 war verses in the Koran. International Islam interprets these verses just as I've read them to you. Ask any cleric in Pakistan. These verses are taken literally and seriously observed by millions of Muslims the world over. I hope you see the ethic of Jesus is very different from the ethic of Mohammed. Now take your Bible, please, and turn with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 in your Bible, we have seen in recapping this morning that internationalist Islam has indeed declared animosity toward the United States. That is exactly what the 9-11 attacks were all about. And not all international Islamists, I understand that, but many of them interpret the Qur'an, the plain wording of the Qur'an, to mean exactly what it appears to mean to both you and me. They follow that, and so the attacks took place. They have declared themselves our enemy. We never cared one way or the other. Remember, we never knew anything about them before 9-11. They were not an issue to us. There is, however, an animosity spoken of in scripture that is more significant than the animosity of any religious group toward any other group of people. That is found in Romans chapter 5. Your attention, please, at verse number 6. Romans chapter 5, verse number 6. The Bible says, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, notice this, enemies against God, all of us, Christian, Jew, Islamic, whatever background the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Look this way, please. Look this way. Can I have the police officers take care of that? That's silly. Y'all are being silly. Read your Koran when you get home. Thank you, gentlemen. I don't. May I ask the audience? Have you heard ignorance and bigotry in this message? Have you heard hatred in this message? I didn't think so. You've heard the words of Jesus, haven't you? All right. Romans chapter five. The Bible teaches this. Christ died for our sins. All of us born into this world, regardless of our background, Each and every one of us is a sinner. The Bible teaches that since the Garden of Eden, when man fell into sin, man had been alienated from God by his sin. But the Bible says this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The God of the Bible is a God of love. And when man had alienated himself from God, God looked down from heaven and God said, I love them. They've sinned against me, but I love them. And God, in order to satisfy his holiness, sent the Lord Jesus, his sinless son, to come to this earth and live as an example, a sinless and perfect life before us. Jesus Christ died on Calvary's cross as a sacrifice. And the Bible says that by His death we are saved. God loves each and every one of us. Though we stand in animosity to Him, God loves us. And God sent His Son to save us. Now hear me please, and I'll close. Jesus said this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That was a very exclusive claim. You say, well, Pastor, that doesn't include all of the religions of the world. No, I'm afraid that it does not. But those, too, are the words of Jesus. We believe what he said. And believing what he said, we love our neighbor. Believing what he said, we tell our friends and neighbors that Jesus Christ died on the cross for them. Believing what he said, we spend thousands of dollars to send that message of love to a world that needs Christ. It is my hope that with the recent invasion of Iraq, military action there that was necessary, it is my hope that that nation, as well as other Islamic nations, will open to the gospel. That people who have been weaned on a doctrine of hatred and violence will come to find the love of a savior who would enjoin each of us and command each of us to love our neighbor. and to show the love of Christ. If you're here this morning and you'd say, Pastor Motti, I don't know the Christ of the Bible. I don't know the Lord Jesus who loved me and died for me. But I'd like to know Him. I'd like to know your God of love whose ethic is love your enemies. I'd like to know the God of love whose ethic says that we are to have compassion and kindness. The God of the Bible who so loved me that He sent His Son to die for me. If you would like to know that Christ, we're going to invite you to have an opportunity to trust Him personally. Jesus said this in John 6, He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. There's a loving Savior and a loving God who welcomes all to come. Let's stand together, please. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the message of the Bible. We thank you, Lord, that it is a message of love. We thank you, Lord, that our Savior, wholly harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, came to this world to die on the cross for our sins. We thank you, Lord, that in due time Christ died for the ungodly, that while we were the enemies of God, The Lord Jesus Christ himself shed his blood for our sins. Father, it may be that there are some here that have never received personally the love of Christ. Help them, Lord, today to be saved. Father, we would pray for those who walk in darkness of a book that appears to us, Lord, to teach hatred. We pray for them today. That they will understand that we cannot but read those words and interpret them for what they say. And Lord, how we wish they didn't say the things that they do. But Father, how we desire as Christian people. For the message of Christ to go forth. To reach their hearts. Help them, Lord, to understand that there is a better option than hatred. It is the option of love. Make us a people, Lord, who love our neighbor. Help us, Lord, to embrace our Islamic neighbor and point them to a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless, I pray. May the message have been abundantly clear this day. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.