Australian Islamist Monitor

Muslims in the UK are again challenging their Christian counterparts and the role of Jesus himself in religion by holding an event on 18th December 2009 entitled “Jesus 4 Sharia”. The obvious implication is that Jesus was a Muslim and if he appeared today would support the Muslims and say he did not die on the cross and would proceed to destroy Christianity. The UK movement behind this is called “Islam 4 UK” and is fronted by that irrepressible character Anjem Choudary. This event is an open challenge to all Christians for they push their barrow that Jesus was totalitarian and would not want any separation of church and state. Of course, Muslims also challenge the Christian claim that Jesus was divine.

 

Event : Jesus 4 Sharia on 18th December 2009
According to Islam 4 UK:
“Jesus (Eesa (as)) was the penultimate Prophet sent by God (Allah) to bring mankind out of the darkness and hegemony of man-made law, into the perfection and beauty of divine law.
Sadly, his character is one of the most controversial in the world today, with Jews rejecting him and Christians elevating him to the blasphemous status of son of God or even God Himself; Muslims on the other hand venerate him as one of the most important Messengers of God, who will return one day, break the cross and prove to the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) the truth of Islam”.

In light of this, Islam4UK, a platform for Al-Muhajiroun, have decided to launch a unique campaign in the run up to Christmas, challenging Jews and in particular Christians to an open debate on the true message of Jesus.
                                       
Islam4UK and Anjem Choudary
The man who now heads up the UK group known as “Islam 4 UK” is none other than Anjem Choudary who was very much the life and soul at Southampton University. As well as downing cider and lager, the cleric is known to have played drinking games with cards, clearly forbidden under his strict Sharia Law, and also is known for smoking a cannabis joint.

Choudary was also fond of reading Mayfair magazines clearly showing scantily clad women who are obviously not wearing a burkha. On the evidence of his friends from his student days, Andy (as he was known) indulged in sex with white Christian girls. Now since becoming a cleric, Choudary wants to impose strict Sharia Law in Britain with all the charming consequences. In his days as a law student, he experimented with LSD, hallucinating and laughing hysterically for more than 20 hours. After qualifying as a solicitor, he moved into radical Islam after meeting firebrand preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed at a mosque in Woolwich. He also mixed with hook-handed demagogue Abu Hamza who once called for bomb attacks on British civilian aircraft.

Choudary also protested against the Royal Anglian Regiment who were marching in Luton after returning from Iraq, labelling them as “cowards who cannot fight, as their uncanny knack for death by friendly fire illustrates”.

So if Sharia Law is introduced into the UK would Andy have himself retrospectively stoned to death for committing adultery? Or maybe Choudary thinks he is like Mohammed and so is able to violate the Quran with no penalty?
The event planned for 18th December 2009 poses the following questions to both Jew and Christian.

Before answering these important questions, there is another challenge that can’t go unanswered.

In their campaign brochure they state that:

“Christians have elevated Jesus to the blasphemous status of the Son of God”.

Surely if Muslims believe that Jesus was the penultimate Prophet, then they should consider his own words.
Consider the following from the Gospels.

Three times in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus warns his followers that he must undergo great suffering at the hands of the chief priests and be killed, but will be raised on the third day.

Firstly in Matthew 16:21 and then in Matthew 17:22 where he states:

“the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised”.

And again in Matthew 20:18:

“the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death. Then he will be handed over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised”

And again when Jesus was brought before the High Priest Caiaphas he told him :

“destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days”.

Of course Jesus used the temple as an illusion for himself.
And in the Gospel of John Jesus talks of his Sonship while referring to the Father:

“What the Father has given me is greater than all else. The Father and I are as one”. [John 10:29-30]

“I am God’s Son. The Father is in me and I am in the Father” [John 10:36-38]

The above is just a small sample from the Gospels where Jesus himself declares his divinity. So the Muslims must ask themselves if they believe what Jesus says about himself.

Questions for Jews and Christians

1. Is the message of Jesus pro-secular democracy or pro total implementation of Divine law within society?
2. Did Jesus struggle verbally and physically against the tyrants of his time, or did he turn the other cheek?
3. Would Jesus stand with the oppressed people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, or with the oppressive occupiers?

All good questions I hear you say. And so they are, and all deserve a proportional response from scripture.

Q1. Does Jesus support pro-secular democracy or Totalitarianism?
This is indeed a good question as both Judaism and Christianity follow a separation of church and state while Islam is absolutely totalitarian.

Let us investigate what the Bible tells us.

From the story of Abraham we learn that there is a separation of church and state with the High Priest Melchizedek serving Abraham with bread and wine. And Abraham gave him one tenth of what he had.
[Genesis 14:18] Abraham did not perform priestly duties.

Moses was the prophet and leader of Israel but it was Aaron who was ordained and served as High Priest.
The High Priest was to make atonement for Israel, NOT Moses.

In fact King Saul took it upon himself to make a sacrifice in the absence of the Prophet Samuel, he was strongly rebuked and this transgression cost him his kingship. [1  Samuel 13:14] God demanded a separation of church and state.
                            
And does Jesus think any differently to Abraham and Moses?

Early in his ministry he states:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil”. [Matthew 5:17]

So clearly Jesus is at one with Abraham and Moses. There is separation between church and state.

When the Pharisees challenged Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, he responded:

“Give to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s and give to God the things that are God’s’. [Matthew 22:21]

Clearly here Jesus is making a separation of church from state.

When Jesus was brought before Pilate for judgement, he was asked if he was the King of the Jews to which Jesus answered:

“My Kingdom is not of this world”. [John 18:36]

So Jesus was confirming he was not interested in worldly kingdoms.

From these examples that cover a period of history of 2,000 years from Abraham to Moses and to Jesus, it is obvious that God had demanded a separation of church and state. Islam is at odds here.

Q2. Did Jesus struggle verbally and physically against the tyrants of his time?
Mohammed of course was a warrior who undertook about 29 battles and personally was involved with killing. Does history paint Jesus in the same light?

Many critics claim that the famous quote in Matthew 10:34 is evidence that Jesus was for military conflict when he said:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword”.

When Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane one of his followers drew a sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, a slave of the High Priest. To which Jesus said:

“put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by it”. [Matthew 26:52]

And then Jesus healed the slave’s ear.

Jesus was referring to a spiritual battle for souls not physical battles.

In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had stated that the meek will inherit the earth.

Jesus did however have a great verbal battle with the Pharisees and the Sadducees for not adhering to the Law. In Matthew Chapter 23 Jesus says many times:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites”.

And this:

“I send you prophets, sages and scribes, some of whom you kill and crucify, and some you flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town”.

So the evidence from Biblical scripture is that Jesus engaged in no physical battles against tyrants and did not encourage his followers to either. Jesus battles were verbal only, unlike Mohammed who was a fierce warrior.

Q3. Would Jesus stand with the oppressed people of Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine?
This is actually a loaded question because one could argue that people in these countries are NOT oppressed at all but victims of their own Islamic tyrants.

Iraq
Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator who gassed the Kurds, suppressed the Shia majority, engaged in a war with Iran that killed over one million people and invaded a neighbouring country in Kuwait. Iraq could be stable and self-governing if not for the interference of Al-Qaeda and Iran.

Afghanistan
Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban who imposed a barbaric form of government that suppressed women, disallowed music and education for girls and executed its own people with gay abandon.

Palestine
In the Bible God stirred up people to achieve his aim. He stirred up the Assyrians to invade the northern state of Israel in 724BC because Israel had fallen into idol worship and immorality. And in 605BC God stirred up Babylon to take the Jews into captivity for its past transgressions. As Moses led the people of Israel toward Canaan, God had instructed them to kill the Canaanites because of their immorality and idol worship.

So God intended the Jews to occupy this land, and they have had a continuous presence in Palestine for over 3,000 years. Israel is NOT the occupier!

But what was Jesus example?
Jesus gave a simple but very clear message to his disciples.

“Whatever town or village you enter, find out whom in it is worthy. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave. See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. [Matthew 10:11-16]

So would the Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine receive the Biblical message of Jesus?
Well, their Quran already tells them not to mix with Jews and Christians, but be ruthless to them.
Remember the famous Arab saying “first comes Saturday, then comes Sunday”.
Translated, they mean to kill all Jews first then kill all Christians. And in the Muslim countries today they are doing a good job. Who would want to be a Christian in Turkey, or Egypt, or Iraq. Followers of Jesus in Iraq have their churches burned down frequently. It is highly unlikely then that Jesus would stand with a group of people who totally oppose his message and want to destroy the Christian church. Remember, of course, that Isa of the Quran is NOT the Jesus of the Bible.                                                                                                                                      

From Scripture

Jesus warned his disciples that after him would come only FALSE prophets [Matthew 24] and that in Heaven people would be like angels and not marry. [Matthew 22]
Jesus also warns that only FALSE prophets promise sexual rewards in Heaven. [2 Peter 2]
Mohammed came after Jesus and promised both marriage and sexual pleasures in Heaven, so that makes Mohammed a FALSE prophet, according to Jesus.

From Prophecy

The prophet Joel in Chapter 3 speaks about the final judgement for those “who have divided my land”.
The Palestinians are dividing God’s land and want Gaza, Sumaria and Judea, with Jerusalem as capital. Muslims want to destroy Israel and believe they must kill all the Jews. [Muslim book 41 number 6985]
Why would Jesus, a Jew himself, support a group of people from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine who have rejected his message and want to kill God’s chosen people?
The great prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel declare that the Muslims of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine form the armies of the AntiChrist to fight against Israel. So Jesus would definitely NOT support these Muslim groups.

CONCLUSION
The “Jesus 4 Sharia” event scheduled for 18th December in England is extremely important for Christians.
Muslims have posed three fundamental questions which if answered correctly and adequately will show Islam up as the False religion it is. It will show that Mohammed was indeed a false prophet and that Jesus of the Bible is clearly NOT the Isa of the Quran.
We have shown here clearly, arguing from Scripture that:

1. Jesus like Moses and Abraham before him believed in a separation of church and state, and
2. Jesus struggle against his adversaries was verbal and spiritual NOT physical, and
3. Jesus would NOT support Muslims who have rejected his message and will comprise the armies of the AntiChrist.

Let us hope that the good people of Britain take up the challenge and leave the Muslims in no doubt as to the answers to their questions.

BAN SHARIA

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References:

Jesus 4 Sharia event – 18th December 2009
Anjem Choudary at  University