Having traveled throughout a number of Islamic countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia I have become intrigued with the Muslim mindset toward America and the West. Why is the Islamic world so angry with us? Why do we see pictures of Muslims dancing in the streets when America or Europe is attacked? Do all Muslims feel this way? I’ve found in most all of my encounters, Muslims to be hospitable and friendly.

Granted there are Muslims that are hostile, but you can find people in our own society that are hostile. Some Americans have even resorted to terrorism on our own soil. So not all terrorism is Islamic. Yet there is a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty of what really hides behind the veil of Islam.

Reading a recent book by Dinesh D’Souza titled “The Enemy At Home” has opened my eyes so much further into the mystery of the chasm between Islam and the West, namely America.

In his book D’Souza reveals the reason behind this, as not being the normal fare of political or historical explanations.  Several ‘myths” are debunked as reasons for Islam’s anger towards the West including so called resentment over the “Crusades” which took place a thousand years ago and actually ended up in a Muslim victory overall.

Bin Laden sees a more treacherous crusade where western culture and values are “corroding ancient orthodoxies, and transforming customs and institutions” (pg.15) of Islamic lands. His answer is the tool of “terrorism” against what he perceives as ‘the great Satan”, the “fountain head of atheism”.                                                                                                                                              For many Muslims it all comes down to a “moral difference”. The values cherished in Muslim or traditional societies contrast sharply with the values espoused by the West mainly through the liberal media and political action groups such as the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, Gay activists organizations and so forth.

Since Islam encompasses “all of life” including government, they see America’s new distorted “separation of church and state” policy inconceivable. Removing the Ten Commandments from public buildings, banning prayer in public schools and secularizing Christian Holy days are indicators of a society run amuck. They see America as a post-Christian country that has abandoned the very principles upon which it was founded. It would be difficult to disagree!

Traditional cultures and the Muslim world see a vicious campaign to undermine traditional family values and destroy their culture along with their most cherished beliefs.

“What are the values the left seeks to impose on the rest of the world?” D”Souza asks.

“One is population control. The left wants to achieve this by providing easy access to contraception to all women, including teenage girls and unmarried women. A second is the legalization of prostitution, a cause that Hillary Clinton has championed on the international stage. A third is no-fault divorce, so that one’s partner can dissolve the marriage without the other partner’s consent. A fourth is abortion, which feminist groups regard as central to female autonomy. A fifth is the elimination of the concept of the husband as the head of the household – this is seen as a violation of gender equality. The left also seeks to prohibit parents from using corporal punishment in the home. Finally the left seeks to give cohabiting couples and homosexual couples the same rights as married couples.” (Pg. 155) Thank you Massachusetts and California!

The interesting thing is that this is not only a threat to Muslims; it is a threat to Christians! Fundamentalism in any religion is the enemy of the left. Understanding our common moral beliefs opens up an incredible window for Christians who want to build bridges with Muslims in the hope of winning them to Christ. Of course Christianity is far more than rules and morals, but true Godliness that stems out of a relationship with Christ and reflects his character.

To be sure there is hypocrisy in both Christian and Muslim behavior. But the mindset of the Muslim is: it is better to have a system of morality and fall short, then to have no system of morality at all.  Hence they see America as having no system at all. 

In terms of traditional morals for the most part, Christians and Muslims come out of the same spout. We are both reviled by the depravity of the liberal and secular agenda that relentlessly assaults not only our countries, but also our very souls.

America is now confronted with an economic crisis that ranks close to the “Great Depression” of the nineteen thirties. But the moral crisis we face is what will ultimately bring us down!

What is right is wrong and what is wrong is right. Author Tammy Bruce calls it “the death of right and wrong”! My seminary professor and New Age expert Peter Jones calls it “a blurring of distinctions”, male/female, children/parents, traditional families/alternative families, humans/animals, creator/creature, etc.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Hollywood and secular elitists have seduced America with these “pagan lies”.  The word pagan comes from the Latin, paganus, “of the earth’.  The apostle Paul tells us that God’s definition of a pagan is someone who exchanges the truth of God for a lie and worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator’. (Rom. 1:25) These pagan lies redefine marriage, family, society and life itself and are traveling throughout the world ala Western pop culture at the flip of an ipod!

When Muslims speak of their struggle, it is as they see it, a moral struggle against the very survival of their culture and beliefs.

I am not endorsing Islam, as I believe it is a huge distortion of Biblical truth. There are gross abuses within its gates, especially towards women. This has grieved my heart as I have traveled throughout Muslim countries and read books on this subject such as Carmen Bin Ladin’s  “Inside The Kingdom”. (Former Sister in Law to Osama Bin Ladin)  I abhor the practice of having of   “religious police” and the extreme rigidity and abuse demonstrated by the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Mutaween in Saudi Arabia. And of course terrorism in the name of any cause is an insidious evil that comes from the pit of hell itself!

Defend against it we should, but we must realize that our ultimate battle is not “against flesh and blood but rather against the cosmic powers of this present darkness”. (Eph. 6:11-12) If we look at this battle as a cosmic battle, the real terrorism is manifested more through a satanic movement of ancient pagan lies that permeate the cultural relativism and liberalism of today. This is the real enemy.

D’Souza makes an interesting statement “that the cultural left is unwilling to fight a serious and sustained battle against Islamic radicalism and fundamentalism because it is fighting a more threatening political battle against American conservatism and American fundamentalism…….the left’s war is not against bearded Muslims who wear long robes and carry rifles; it is against pudgy white men who wear suits and carry Bibles.” (Pg. 10)

So conservatives and Christian fundamentalists in America support the war on Islamic fundamentalism while the cultural left in America opposes the war on Islamic fundamentalism while waging one against American conservatism and Christian fundamentalism. Thats a brain twister!

Richard Dawkins in “The God Delusion” asserts Nobel Prize -winning physicist Steven Weinberg’s claim that religion is a virus that infects the human race and causes otherwise “good” people to believe in a way which is dangerous and evil.  Dawkins, who in true empirical fashion goes straight to 9/11 to prove his point.  He along with other “new atheists” sees Christians and Muslims both as part of this virus. (Table Talk Aug. 2008)

Following in the footsteps of Nietzsche who called Christianity “the one immortal blemish of mankind” the forces of the “New Age” are on the march. In the end this is the counter kingdom that the church has always faced. Today it is often called post-modernism, but it has been around since the garden. It doesn’t merely question what God has said, it say’s “ye shall be like God”. It is humanism. It is the spirit of the anti-Christ that deludes men who, while professing to be wise, become fools! (Rom. 1:22)

We can rejoice that God is sovereign and reigns and rules from his throne! He is not caught unaware of anything as this world turns. But let us think deeper about the battle before us. We have our armies to defend our lands and the freedom we cherish. This must be so and I support and pray for them because I love my country and believe that America can offer so much better to the world than the depravity of Hollywood or the agenda of the cultural left.  I do not worship America but I do pledge allegiance to what I believe she fundamentally stands for. May God shed his grace on thee!

We very well may be, the “last best hope” as author Bill Bennett asserts. But this is because of our rich Christian heritage and that we currently have the freedom to take the glorious Gospel to the ends of the earth and touch the nations with the grace of Jesus Christ. 

"The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" Rom. 13:12 ESV

When America Is Not America Anymore

My wife and I were recently listening to a discussion on the radio regarding the sovereignty of America being threatened on several fronts. We like most citizens who cherish our country felt a deep concern rise up in our hearts. Several guests drove that fear in deeper as they discussed topics ranging from the illegal alien invasion and re-conquest of the southwestern US to the North American Union and Treaty of the Seas and renegade liberal judges usurping the democratic will of our people. Eventually the conversations led to discussing the assault against the spiritual and moral fiber of this country.

My wife turned to me as our four year old granddaughter skipped naively into the room. “What will it be like for her when America is not America anymore?” she asked.

I was stunned! Could that actually happen? It almost seems impossible that America as we know it could cease to exist. America is a world superpower, a leader in technology, a beacon of light and freedom to so many peoples of the earth.

But then I thought of the mighty Roman Empire, which collapsed after over eleven hundred years of rule. Our Republic has only formally been around a little over two hundred years.

I’ve never involved myself much in politics other than using the Vietnam War protests as an excuse to skip school back in the early seventies. I grew up inside the Washington DC beltway and everything was so political it all became one huge blur to me. Most of my friend’s parents worked for the government, some of them congressmen and senators. I once met President Lyndon B. Johnson. But being very young the political world really didn’t impress me.

Later as a young Christian I had another mission that super-ceded any political cause. My call has always been a “Kingdom Call”.  America was just where I happened to live. But as I’ve grown in my faith and re-read through our history I have realized that it is my God given duty and privilege to be involved in the political process of my country. The country I love.

God has ordained the institution of the Government along with the institutions of the Church and the Family. In Romans 13:4-5, Paul states that the primary role of Government is to restrain evil and do it’s citizens no harm. In following, God ordained the making and enforcing of laws and the court system. God even instituted an early form of democracy by representational government in the book of Deuteronomy.

While not idolizing the flag or worshiping America, we should have a healthy and respectful patriotic love for our flag and our country. Bill Bennett, former Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan, authored the book “America, The Last Best Hope” which reinvigorates hope in the true vision of America over the politically manipulated history books now read in much of today’s education system.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

America’s great vision and legacy deserves to be protected and defended. While many other countries offer great gifts to the world community, America has always championed the cause of freedom and liberty and sought to do good among the peoples of the earth.

French historian Alexis de Tocqueville once said “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

America is good because of the Godly pillars on which she was founded. The US Constitution and Bill Of Rights bear witness to this.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

“A more perfect union” than what? Than one of tyranny, either by a government, a group of people or an individual.  When certain ethnic groups refuse to assimilate, refuse to speak our common language and threaten to take over geographical areas of the United States this is tyranny. To fly any other flag than the American flag is tyranny. To leave our borders unprotected and to sell out the American citizens to the deception of “globalism” is tyranny!

When members of The American Legion meet together they recite a creed                                             “To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; 

to maintain law and order and to foster and perpetuate a 100 percent Americanism.”

This is not to say that America is perfect, but this should be the creed of all Americans. The potential of America’s greatness is found in the motto “E Pluribus Unum” which means “out of many, One”.

The great diversity of this country has enhanced the fabric of her society. My family legally immigrated here just two generations ago from Italy and earlier from Scotland. I’m proud of this heritage and of my relatives who gave themselves to the American vision. We have all been blessed by the great contributions of many cultures that have come to our shores to contribute and not to take away. But this is being threatened on several levels.

America is standing at a crossroads of one of the darkest times in her history. My prayer is that the Lord will use this song “When America Is Not America Anymore” as another wakeup call for Christians and patriots to exercise their rights in calling for the preservation of America’s sovereignty and liberty!

As Teddy Roosevelt once said “There can be no divided allegiance here.  Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” 

I pledge allegiance!

When America Is Not America Anymore

Baby when you’re all grow up

And I am dead and gone

The things my father fought for

To make this country strong

Will just be faded memories

Like the lines of some old song

From a time when right was right

And wrong was wrong

Baby when you’re all grown up   

And our colors have been blurred

The stars and stripes forgotten  

And our language seldom heard

Oh I can see the signs now

And hear the voices to my left

The wisdom of our founders

They have chosen to reject

But baby please remember

What this country’s really for

When America is not America anymore…….

Baby when you’re all grown up

And the history has been changed

Rewritten by the tyrants

Who say we’re the ones to blame

For believing in a vision

That all men were created free

And for trusting in a God

Who sheds His grace on thee

Baby when you’re all grown up

I pray you’ll understand

The dream that heroes died to keep

Was once a sovereign land

But I can see the signs now

And hear the voices to my left

The wisdom of our founders

They have chosen to reject

But baby please remember

What this country’s really for

When America is not America anymore…..

Written by Scott Wesley Brown on Nov. 5^th, 2007 for my granddaughter, Isabella, 4 years old