IFB Pastor defends anti-Islam sign

Pastor defends anti-Islam sign

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The Indianapolis Star


AVON, Ind. — A church sign in Avon has area residents asking whether its message is hate speech or a needed warning.

The marquee at Faith Baptist Church reads: Sunday sermon 10:30 a.m. "Islam: America's Number One Enemy."

"To call Islam an enemy seems to be a message of hate," said Susan Jones, who works in Avon and has passed the marquee twice a day for the past week. "It is just arrogant and ignorant, and I can't get past it. It is disheartening that a pastor, a pillar of the community, would be preaching this."

Marc Monte, pastor at Faith Baptist Church for 5½ years, said the sermon would provide needed information the public should receive — but hasn't — from the media and many Christian leaders.

"I want to stir interest, not alarm, but Islam is a false religion, dangerous and hate-promoting," Monte said.

"If I were a pastor who read KKK literature or Hitler's `Mein Kampf,' I would hope the members of my church would head to other churches. It is awful stuff. I repudiate it, and I put Islam in the same camp."

Sayyid Syeed, director of Plainfield's Islamic Center of North America, said such views are inflammatory and dangerous to society.

"Whether it is a pastor in Avon or Osama bin Laden, it is religion spoken with the same language — to incite others and provoke violence. It is the same treatment of religion; extremists think a lot alike," Syeed said.

Monte said he met with Syeed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Afterward, Monte decided to read and study the Islamic text, the Quran.

"I met with Syeed, and it got me very curious. In this personal conversation, there were things that struck me as odd," he said. "I opened the Quran and smelled a stinking, bloated, dead rat on every page."

Monte gave a similar sermon last year on the Sunday before the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks but didn't put the topic on the church sign.

"I really only have had one call questioning the sign, and I felt like the lady and I had a very productive conversation. It is an invitation to learn," he said.

Monte estimates that 350 people attend a typical Sunday morning service.

Link to Story

Diversity group 'angry' over church sign

Should Pastor Monte have preached a politically correct sermon? Or should he have preached the truth? Pastor Monte chose the latter, believing in what the Lord Jesus Christ says: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

I wonder Johnv, who Christianity’s worst enemy really is in the more than forty Muslim countries govern by Islamic law? Just how tolerant do you actually think these countries are towards Christians and non-Muslims who refuse to submit to Islam?

A question was posed on a Islamic Question and answer website, which those of you may find interesting. The question and answer can be found here:

Islam Question and Answer

Question: “Some enemies of the religion claim that Islam was spread by a sword. What is your response to that?

Answer: “Islam was spread by proof and evidence, in the case of those who listened to the message and responded to it. And it was SPREAD BY STRENGTH AND THE SWORD in the case of those who STUBBORNLY RESISTED, until they had NO CHOICE and HAD TO SUBMIT to the NEW REALITY.”

Muslims that are in the minority as in Eastern Europe and the US and will follow a more liberal view of Islam, particularly the Meccan surahs, but those Muslims that are the majority will follow a more fundamental view of Islam, particularly the Medinan surahs.

We can thank God and the Knights of St. John, who during the middle Ages, single handedly fought off hordes of Islamic armies, sometimes being out numbered 100 to 1 and kept Christianity from being swept out of Europe. If this weren’t so, you and I would be praying to allah 5 times a day, b/c the Bible and Christianity would be non-existent.

Where in the Bible does God or the teachings of Jesus Christ say to force what we Christians believe upon another with a sword until they submit to Jesus. Even when Jesus was betrayed and Peter drew a sword and cut the ear of a Roman Solider, Jesus commanded Peter to “…Put up thy sword into the sheath…” But I can list numerous verses from the Qur’an where Muhammad commanded his people to “Fight against such of those to whom the scriptures were given (that’s you and I, Johnv)…and do not embrace the true faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued.” (Qur’an 9:29)

People may not like to hear it; Johnv, but Pastor Monte as well as all Bible-believing ministers have a responsibility to warn their churches against all teaching contrary to the Gospel of Christ. And Muhammad and the Qur’an and the Hadith do just that.

I am thankful I attend Faith Baptist Church and have such a Pastor as Marc Monte leading us. The more liberal area churches have expressed their support in our churches stand on the religion of Islam, and it's a shame that they aren't allowed to preach the truth.