After a fascinating lecture on the integration of our refugees a few days ago in this very town of mine, a gentleman made the statement:  ”I´m afraid of Islam!”  Immediately a Christian woman from the audience quietly remarked, ”I´m more afraid of the Christians!”

Now, her point was not to play down the danger of Islam but to bring to our consciences the challenge of bringing the gospel to our fellow human beings, no matter who they are, e.g.  Muslims or other immigrants, you name it.  The challenge of the gospel  has always been a sore point with the established church.

Yes, we are afraid of Islam whose goal is world dominion.  The gospel has a world objective too.  Satanic forces stand behind Islam.  The Holy Spirit stands behind the gospel of Christ.  That should thrill us as believers who have no power in ourselves and yet can do all things through Christ. Phil. 4:13. – so “fear not”!

These very days a tsunami wave of Darwinism and evolutionism is washing over us.  At times I get discouraged.  Last night I thought, this is just too much! However, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him!”  (Isa. 59:19).

We say, “We can´t do it. So true, but haven´t you noticed how many times it says in the New Testament “Let us…” It is the voice of The Holy Spirit saying “Let us do it together!  Let us together lift up the standard of the gospel!  As our American friends would sometimes say, “Let´s gossip the gospel!”

We have failed as a church.  Billy Graham was right when he once said, ”The church has become a mission field instead of a mission force!”  The muslims shouldn´t be mocked at and ridiculed as we´ve seen the worldly press is doing.  We should rather be looking for an opportunity to give them the gospel.  The darwinists should likewise be pitied.  I don´t think they are happy at all.  And I think that even Darwin found himself suffering from an unquenchable spiritual thirst when the noble, evangelistic Lady Hope (a friend of D.L. Moody) saw him a few months before his death. This we don´t hear about however.

So let us take courage.  “Let us…” the Holy Spirit says.  The law says, “Thou shalt!”  The Holy Spirit says, “Let us…”  Wonderful words of encouragement an of freedom!  “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and sound judgment!”  (2 Tim. 1:7).

-jn-