Cruelty for Allah in Afghanistan & England

In a war like the present war, it is easy to forget the nature and evil of the enemy we are confronting. If you know of anyone who says that we should withdraw no only from Iraq, but even from Afghanistan, remind your friend of the safe haven that the Taliban gave to al-Qaeda. Then tell your friend about this. Tapscott's Copy Desk reports it from Jihad Watch which in turn gets it from the Telegraph in London. That's how I came by it.

The Taliban accused a 12 year old boy of spying for the British (telling them about roadside bombs--can you imagine the treachery in one so young?), hauled him off to a nearby garden and hanged him from a mulberry tree. No trial. Those are unnecessary when you're right.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, is apparently horrified. Haji Mohammed Anwar Khan, the head of Helmand provincial council, considers this wholly repugnant to Islamic standards of behavior. "If someone is a child their mind is not considered sufficiently mature to be held responsible under Sharia law. This is just a crime and we condemn it."

It is nonetheless well within respectable standards of Islamic behavior murder your own daughter for converting to Christianity, as this Imam is attempting to do, the London Times Online reports. Notice that this is not those crazy Talibs. This is commonly accepted practice in Islamic countries. Oh...except this Muslim religious leader lives and "ministers" in the north of England.

But I take comfort in the diversity he brings to that land.

On a happy note...In the People's Republic of China, one Bible is being produced every second. And it's all above board. This also comes from the Times Online.

Sunday Reflection: Politics in Perspective

As Christians read the news, we should not worry like those without hope. This morning, my pastor, preaching on Paul's Letter to Philemon, pointed out that the Apostle refers to himself as "a prisoner of Christ Jesus" (Philemon vv. 1, 9). Of course, Paul was in real chains, writing from Emperor Nero's prison in Rome. No matter. Paul knew that his life and days were in God's hands for God's purposes. Equally well, he knew that the cause of Christ is in no way threatened by anything men can do.

We may consider the Korean missionaries who are being held hostage by the Taliban who are threatening them with death. (Michelle Malkin has good coverage of this; Gypsy Scholar in S. Korea posts sober thoughts.) My pastor, noting of course how concerned he would be if his own children in that situation, remarked nonetheless that, though the Taliban think that they hold these lives in their hands, the missionaries actually have the Taliban just where they want them, even should they die. Pilate thought that he could decide our Lord's fate. "Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus with confident equanimity responded, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:10-11 ESV). People thought they could smother the church in its cradle by suppressing news of the resurrection (Matthew 28:11-15) and by killing the witnesses (Acts 7:54-60, 12:1-2) and the church leaders (Acts 9:23). But "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" (Tertullian, but there is some doubt about this source).

Even if Hillary Clinton is returned to the White House (would the republic survive?), God is nonetheless working out all things according to his good and glorious plan (which does not depend upon this republic surviving). "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (I John 5:21).

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen. -- Romans 11:34-36