Steve DuPlessie | April 25, 2019
Many news reports of the violent bombing by Islamic terrorists of four Christian churches in Sri Lanka on Resurrection Sunday (April 21, 2019) that resulted in more than 250 (to date) deaths have described the victims as “Easter worshippers.” President Obama and Hillary Clinton used that same language, as if our sisters and brothers in Christ who were deliberately targeted for this single largest coordinated terrorist attack by ISIS were worshipping a holiday, not a person.
The unwillingness by the media — and the US political elite — to honor the dead by calling them “Jesus worshippers,” “Christ followers,” or the universally accepted name of “Christians,” belies the growing inability of the mainstream press et al to be honest about who the aggressors are, and who the victims are in these increasingly common events.
Whether it is a misguided attempt to placate the violent, Islamic haters, or a politically correct avoidance of the use of the name, Christian — either way, it stinks. As in, it smells rotten.
Some suffer from the delusion of the history of the Crusades (the attempts by European Christians to regain Jerusalem and other cities captured by Muslims): somehow thinking that the 548 battles launched by followers of Muhammad in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe from 620-1880AD (and arguably still continuing today if you count the attempt by ISIS to establish a Caliphate in Syria) are justified by the 16 battles fought by the Crusaders in the Middle East, Egypt, and Turkey from 1080-1260AD.
Let me do the math for you. That’s 1,260 years of Jihad. And 180 years of Crusades. 548 battles of Jihad. 16 battles of the Crusades. Jihad that “ended” in 1880AD (and that is being generous given the nightly news today). Crusades that ended in 1260AD, 759 years ago.
So who’s the aggressor here? Who’s the victim here? Why won’t the mainstream press call it what it is – ongoing, apparently-never-ending, violent war by Muslims against Christians? Boko Haram in Nigeria. ISIS in Syria. ISIS in Sri Lanka. Al-Shabab in Kenya. Abu Sayyaf in the Philipines. Al Badr in India. Al-Queada in southern Asia. Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami in Bangladesh. And literally dozens of additional violent Islamic terrorist groups actively conducting Jihad (holy war) today in dozens of countries around the world. Why won’t the western press be honest?
We shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus said, “They hated me; they’ll hate you” (John 15:18). So it seems both the followers of Muhammad, and the mainstream press, are united in one thing — they disrespect, they hate followers of Jesus.
It’s easy for me to get angry at the injustice of the murderous Islamic violence, and the sniviling injustice of the media elites. But I try to follow Jesus who said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44).
May God bless the families of the victims — both those who died and the 400+ who survived with grave injuries. And may God have mercy on the souls of the haters of followers of Jesus — Muslim and media alike.
