The Developing Global Religion
By Jack Kinsella
Religion is a hot topic in the news these days. We are in a state of war with al-Qaeda. When three thousand Americans are murdered by people who believe they are doing God’s will, it should be cause to put that religion under a microscope.
But something curious happened instead. Rather than putting Islam under the microscope, we elected to lump Islamic killers into a larger religious group called ‘fundamentalists.’
In order for the Politically Correct to make that stick, it was necessary to conclude that Islam is really a peaceful religion hijacked by a few Islamic fundamentalists.
It doesn’t take too much time to break down this little bit of doublespeak into its component elements.
A religious ‘fundamentalist’ is one who follows the fundamentals of a religion. If the fundamentals of Islam were peace, then Islamic fundamentalists would be peaceful and violent killer Islamists would be an aberration. That is as plain as the nose on Arafat’s face.
It is also worthy of note that a ‘religious fundmamentalist’ and a ‘religious extremist’ both describe the same thing.
To the dictionary, an “extremist” is ‘one who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm’, whereas a “fundamentalist” is ‘usually a religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.”
Clearly, by definition, ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘extremism’ are polar opposites, not synonyms. All this double-speak works in the public mind, however, because it is about religion.
An Islamic fundamentalist is one who practices the fundamentals of Islam by rigidly adhering to its principles. An Islamic extremist is one who advocates or resorts to abnormal measures.
Since both describe the 9/11 terrorists, why is the emphasis on ‘fundamentalist’ and ‘extremist’ instead of being on “Islamic?’
Now THAT’S an example of a fundamental question.
Similarly, there are Christian fundamentalists. They are those who rigidly adhere to Biblical principles, are intolerant of any suggestion there is a way to heaven apart from Jesus, and are opposed to secularism, like removing the Bible from public property and removing references to God from the Pledge of Allegiance.
And there are Christian extremists. Like those who blow up abortion clinics to stop the murder of unborn babies or shoot abortionists so they can’t abort any more babies.
The polar opposite of a fundamentalist whose adherence to Biblical New Testament principles tells him that judgement against abortionists will be meted out by God, not by the Church.
Note we have two examples of extremism. The kind that can find fundamental religious justification for indiscriminate murder in the name of advancing Islam.
And the kind that can find fundamental religious justification in committing targeted murder in the name of ending the murder of the unborn.
Both are extreme positions.
But the kind of looney-toons that would kill for Christ and think they are following Him makes up a tiny, tiny number that clearly have missed the point of salvation.
And if you were to put them all in one place, it would occupy part of a small-town police department’s day to round them all up.
There are enough Islamic extremists for us to have a war with.
Christian fundamentals teach us to love God above all things and love our neighbor as we do ourselves.
Since the worst place anybody can end up is hell, the most loving thing for a Christian to do is to help them avoid ending up there. To most of the world, that is ‘hate speech’ and is even so defined in some countries, including Canada.
Islamic fundamentals teach that anyone who refuses to convert to Islam is less than a full person, a ‘dhimmi’ who is without rights and can be persecuted or killed as necessary.
I say all that to say this. The war against Islam continues to morph into a war against religious fundamentalism. Any religious fundamentalism; Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Sihk– it doesn’t matter.
The Bible speaks of the false prophet of Revelation 13 seizing control of the world’s religious systems, making them all one religion ‘with two horns like a lamb’ but that ‘spake as a dragon’.
Such a religious system could have no room for fundamentalism, since, to be global, it must be all-inclusive.
It couldn’t teach that the only way to heaven is by martyrdom in jihad; neither could it teach that the only way to heaven is the way Jesus said it was.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Under the supervision of the false prophet, John says, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Clearly, these are the Christian ‘fundamentalists’ of the Tribulation period.
We are engaged in a global war against Islamic fundamentalism at the expense of ignoring the fundamentals of the Islamic religion that spawned it.
Since this makes absolutely NO sense of any kind in the natural, the only explanation is supernatural. When looked at from the Apostle John’s perspective, it makes perfect sense.
Exactly what the final form of the global religion will be is unclear, apart from it being a counterfeit Christianity (two horns like a lamb) but will preach the all-inclusive siren song of the Dragon (Satan). There can be no room for fundamentalism of any stripe in the global, all-inclusive religious system of the last days.
Whatever its final form will be, one thing is clear.
The Bible says anybody who won’t join it, worship its leader and take his mark will be declared an enemy of the state, unable to buy or sell and subject to being put to death.
Originally Published: October 31, 2002.