American Pastors - Living In A Land Of Misbelief?

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, it flows through American pulpits too. Lifeway Research has just published a report of their survey of American pastors and their views on Islam. The results are not unexpected but they are still saddening. 

I've reviewed the survey and over all it's pretty good, however one question should have been laughed off the survey: "Is Islam Relevant today?" - the correct answer is "Relevant to what?" If they are asking if Islam is relevant to Bacon the answer is "No, not so much" but if they're asking if Islam is relevant to Christianity the answer is "Yes, they're slaughtering us daily throughout the world" 

A very slim majority of American pastors have paid attention to the plight of Christians world wide and know that Islam is dangerous (52%), almost half recognize that Islam promotes violence (49%), and 46% know that Islam is spiritually evil. After that it sadly falls apart. 

The views of a growing minority reflect a growing, willful ignorance of Islam. In this survey 24% of American pastors labeled Islam as "Tolerant" broken down even further, 36% of "mainline" pastors consider Islam tolerant, while 18% of evangelical pastors consider Islam tolerant. In truth, what Islam considers to be "Tolerance" is correctly described as institutionalized discrimination. Jews and Christians living in the tribulation of Islamic rule are forced into dhimmitude if they wish to serve God. Islamic toleration of Jews and Christians is equivalent to Nazi toleration of Jews, except that instead of a star of David the Christians are marked with the Arabic letter ن (Nun - equivalent to N) to show that the Christians are the followers of the Nazarene. 

Another shocking trend is the trend to believe that Islam is "spiritually good" 32% of American pastors now believe this, almost double from 2010. So let's answer the question, is Islam good? We as Christians know that God is Good; Mark 10:18, Matthew 19:17, and Luke 18:19 tell us that God alone is good, so for Islam to be considered good, Allah would have to be God. Consider these verses:

God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:18)

If there's one thing we can take from this is that it is impossible for God to lie. Now if you look at the Koran, (Surah 3:54)

And they cheated/deceived and God cheated/deceived, and God (is) the best (of) the cheaters/deceivers

Allah has no problem cheating and lying, so Allah is not God, which means that he is not good. Nor, considering the way that the followers of Allah are treating the Bride of Christ, can Allah be considered to be with God. And as we know if you're not with God, you are against Him. 

So why is an increasing number of American pastors deluded into believing that Islam is good? Personally I believe it's a lack of courage to stand up and say out loud what is plainly, Biblically clear. Maybe they are cowed in fear, afraid to offend someone, maybe they never bothered to do the research and learn what Islam is all about, or maybe they're buying into the heresy of Chrislam.

Worse of all, 17% of American pastors actually believe that Islam is similar to Christianity. The Koran plainly states that belief that Jesus is God is blasphemy  (Surah 5:17-18), it also states that belief that Jesus is the son of God is a lie

“Further, that He may warn those (also) who say, “God hath begotten a son”: No knowledge have they of such a thing, nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying what they say is nothing but falsehood!”  (Surah 18:4-5)

This is a theme that repeats over and over in the Koran; surah 6:102, 72:3, 25:2-3, 19:88-92, 37:152-53, each denial reaching near hysteria in its ferocity. Given this assault on the very basis of Christianity how could anyone believe that Islam is similar to Christianity, let alone someone who is a pastor.

Sometimes we fail to keep in mind that pastors are people too, and liable to fall prey to questionable beliefs if they don't make themselves informed of the facts, just like we are. But the 17% who actually think that Islam is similar to Christianity is highly disturbing, are they just that ignorant of Islam, or are they ignorant of Christianity? I would like to think that much of this is due to being intellectually lazy on their part, otherwise we have men (and women) in the pulpit that have been seduced by a lie.

If you get the idea that I don't like Islam, you're absolutely right. Please keep in mind that this is not an attack on followers of Islam, I have some friends that follow the teaching of Islam, and many follow it solely because that's how they were raised. So when you're praying for our Christian brother and sisters that are being captured, beaten, tortured, raped, crucified, and beheaded by Muslims, pray for those Muslims too - because they are our mission field.