The Attempt To Redefine Jesus Christ

We are familiar with revisionist historians and the way they like to twist history.

The French started revising WWII history not long after DeGaulle became President of France. He did this by downplaying America’s role in liberating the bulk of the European continent from Nazi and fascist occupiers. In fact, DeGaulle started revising history as it was happening but I doubt many caught on right away.

Today we have neo-Nazis, jihadist Muslims, and some of the liberal academic establishment  hard at work revising it too.

They make irrational claims that the holocaust never happened and is a concoction of the Jews to garner sympathy against the oppressed Arabs, who are forced to endure a Jewish state in what they believe to be Muslim land. They make in hopes of deceiving an entire generation and hatred will once again be directed toward Jews to once again set the stage for an attempt at elimination.

If either these attempts at revision isn’t enough to strike the sensibilities and passions of decent people everywhere, we now learn that there is a concentrated effort on the part of radical Muslims to provoke outrage among the Christian faithful by redefining the role of Christ in his time on earth:

“Jesus: A prophet of Islam” states the provocative tagline in a “public awareness” advertising campaign launched by a Muslim group in Australia’s largest city.

The group, calling itself Mypeace, says its aim is to inform, not offend – but offend it has, with one Catholic bishop calling the assertion about Jesus “a direct assault on Christian beliefs.”

Roadside billboards in the metropolitan Sydney area carry one of four simple slogans: “Jesus: A Prophet of Islam,” “Holy Qur’an: The Final Testament,” “Muhammad: Mercy to Mankind” and “Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers.”

Let’s examine this a little closer.

We have always been taught in our Humanities and Religion classes that Islam recognizes Jesus Christ as a prophet. This is surprising on many levels because Christ was born a Jew and remained Jewish until his death. He had many contentions with the Jewish theologians of His day, but He was still Jewish and this cannot be overlooked when dealing with the obvious inconsistencies that come with what this group is trying to communicate. With this information so well known, I would think the average Muslim who believes and teaches his/her children that Jews are swine and deserve to be pushed into the sea would have some basic understanding of this widely known fact.

I would also think it would stand to reason that a Jew could never be a such a prominently respected, historical and spiritual figure in the Muslim faith. I mean, how often have we heard Muslims quoting the words of Christ in their Friday prayer services? Another appropriate question to ask: Why have Muslims persecuted Christians and burned their churches throughout history, like they are doing to the Coptics in Egypt today?

Some will say, yes LA, but the radicals are the ones who commit these horrible atrocities; it is not the mainstream secular Muslims who just want to live in peace with all people. They would also likely add, the Muslim Brotherhood is a political group and not rooted in radical Islam despite evidence to the contrary. But this isn’t the only issue that promotes a great deal of doubt in the sincerity of this group.

Here is what I think is going on in this case, in Sydney.

I do think it is an attempt to provoke Christians to anger. The reason I believe this is not to hard find.

Many, many Muslims are looking for a holy war. Even if it’s only 1% of the Muslim population, that numbers around a million. Many believe that it is nearing and they are doing what they can to expedite things, so that conditions are ripe for it. The numbers of Jews in the world are miniscule compared to Christians. Given the history of wars between Christians and Muslims throughout the many centuries, it is most likely that the biggest challenge to Muslim superiority is the Christian faith.

We have already seen how Muslims react when something is said or done that they perceive is offensive to their religion, or their prophet Mohammed.

Draw a cartoon, get a fatwa. Write a book that an Ayatollah doesn’t like, get a fatwa. Make a film that exposes the way women are treated in Islam, get murdered. This is how they think according to their teachings and it is precisely this kind of emotion that this group wants to inflame with ads like this. As their people rend their shirts and become rabid dogs hellbent on revenge, so they hope the Christians will too. They seek this for propaganda purposes and for excuses for hate groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to retaliate through one of their many splinter organizations.

(Sometimes they act violently even when not provoked.)

And then, there is something else to consider. There is always the possibility of a more long term objective to this kind of action that My Peace is performing, something that may prove to be a bit more sinister when we think about it a little more deeply.

If these people can water down their message a bit with some outward appearance of tolerance towards Christ, if they can redefine the role that Christ played (and is still playing in the earth), who is to say that someday they will not make a claim that the land the Jews believe is their own is not rightfully theirs. Based on Islam’s supposed acceptance of Christ as a prophet, they may tweak their argument in an attempt to present a case that Christians and Muslims have more right to the land than Israelis do. And….they may be more patient than this. They may try to spin out a generation of such vile deception that they may cause some of the weakest among the ignorant masses to believe that Christ really does belong to Islam….and therefore, Muslims have a sole right to the land they call Palestine more than Christians or Jews.

Think about this for a moment, if you have the time. For I do believe there is coming a time when many will be tempted to let their guard down against the ultimate deception many of us believe will take place, someday in the future. Who is to say this is not one of the ways or one of the steps that will be necessary to ensure many will become confused and then deceived, into believing that Christ is not what we now believe Him to be? This could very well be but one component of this.