Richard Hollerman

We know that the term above, “World,” is perhaps too broad. But it does make a point—one that we must not miss.

Just today, we learned of another bombing. At this point, we just do not know who was responsible for this. Both “sides” deny involvement and blame the other. And Israel blames Hamas (or Hezbollah) and Islam blames Israel. I don’t know if they will even discover this but Hamas (the terrorist organization) may be at fault. We know that of the 2 or 2.5 million, the Palestinians in Gaza are confined to a small area and thousands have died or been injured (along with thousands of Israelis).

Yes, if they are young, they may have gone to a Better Place, but if they are not young, they may have gone to Hades and then hell. Oh, our heart goes out to these hundreds or thousands and wish that something could be done to rescue them! God loves these people too and regardless of their false religion, He wants them to be saved! (We also must remember that perhaps nine million were killed by Hitler, with six million of them being Jews—and many of the others Mentally Retarded, Jehovah’s Witnesses cult, and others.)

Even if the world has a focus on Israel and the surrounding nations, it does say something to us. If the Middle East is in turmoil, what of the surrounding nations? If Israel is in turmoil, what of Lebanon, and Syria, and Iran, and Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Pakistan? Of course, we could go on and on. What about Egypt, and Libya, and Yemen. and the neighboring countries? What of Saudi Arabia? And their neighbors? Each of these nations is in turmoil, as we know, but this is barely reaching many countries in the Middle East.

As we were writing this paragraph, did you notice something? These are all Muslim countries! Further, we haven’t begun to deal with Sudan, Algeria, Mali, Chad, Nigeria, and others. Sadly, again we realize that these all come from the Middle East and Africa and they are all Muslim in nature. Although Muslims account for two billion of the worlds’ nine billion people, we find massive problems that are encountered as we examine these nations, including poverty and war. We find that this religion is at fault and is the center of much upheaval!

Of course, we know that this is a false religion, but aren’t there other ones as well? Yes, we do find great aspects of these countries that bring despair, sorrow, pain, and anguish to their people. Not only are they false but they cause great sorrow to billions of people. It is true that these would be false religions and the areas that they dominate are also affected, but think of the effect that they have on massive numbers of people!

In other words, even though they follow a false prophet and founder, they also promote a false religion, especially through their false leaders! Whether we are dealing with Islam, or Catholicism, or Protestantism, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or any other “ism,” we must commit this to God who does all things well, who has told us what to believe and do, and we must never follow false and misleading ways in life! Thus, we are not only dealing with Islam here but many other religions. They all think they are right but they all are wrong!

May God lead and help us into His perfect ways and His saving truth (John 8:32).