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| Wife and daughter of Mohammad Mostafaei after being reunited in Norway |
"There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:18-19
His name is Mohammad Mostafaei, a lawyer in Iran defending an Iranian woman named Sakineh Mohmmadi Ashtiani. She has been sentenced to death by stoning. Her case has become a high profile human rights story internationally and he has become a marked man...a man who dared to question the wisdom of Shariah law in Iran...supposedly the very heart of Islam.
He fled for his life after his wife was imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin prison, for his choices. Thankfully, the family was reunited in Norway on Thursday (see Lawyer's family flees Iran) Can we comprehend the fear that enveloped this family, that consumes nations?
"Fear is the stronghold of any false religion and the very foundation of any demonic cult. If a false religion stands strong, it is because that religion exercises great fear over its adherents. In other words, fear is the life sap of a false religion.
Fear is a darkroom in which Satan develops his negatives. Fear is the strongest weapon Satan has used against mankind. Fear of death is the strongest form of bondage. The purpose of fear is manipulation and control. The person caught in the snare of fear is controlled by the forces of darkness, " (Reza F. Safa, former Muslim turned Christian).
God, in His infinite wisdom and love, knew that this would be Satan's main weapon of choice against the human race. It is no wonder, then, that the Bible says more than 365 times, "Do not fear." God does not want us to live in fear, to be paralyzed by fear, and to be slaves to sin and Satan because of fear.
Yes, the Bible does say to "fear" God. "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul," Deuteronomy 10:12. This fear that the Bible speaks of has to do with great respect, awe at God's mighty power, knowledge that walking in His ways, in obedience to Him, is the best way to live and a dread of life without God.
God is not akin to a human dictator. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But this is a servant King. All one has to do is look at the life of Jesus, His servanthood, compassion and willingness to suffer and die for mankind, to see that this fear of God is quite different than the fear that Satan uses to hold the world in his clutch.
And in answer to criticism that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament, I give one of many examples of the love and compassion of the God of the Old Testament. God was the king of Israel. He brought them out of Egypt and fought their battles through numerous miraculous interventions. Yet, during the time of Samuel, the people told God that they no longer wanted Him as their king but wanted a human king (1 Samuel 11-12). Can there be any greater wickedness than to tell the God of the Universe that you don't want Him to be your king?
One would think that God would thunder and rage at them. But, the God of love and compassion did not. In fact, God's first response was to say to them, "Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart...For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own." 1 Samuel 12:20-22
It only takes a quick look at other religions to see that fear is the basis for the hold the religion has on its followers' lives. This truth is very apparent in Islam. "Observing the fruits of Islam and the Muslim communities, one will realize that Islam is a force that holds people in the stronghold of fear. From its beginnings to this day, fear of death has been the strategy of Islam in expanding and making converts.
Sura 9:5 of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, says:
When the sacred months are past, kill those who join others gods wherever you find them, and seize
them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them with every kind of ambush; but if they convert and
observe prayer and pay the obligatory alms, let them go their way.
From the time of Hijra, when Muhammad and his followers emigrated from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622, up to this hour, terror and fear have been the strategy of Islam...The Bible says that through fear of death people are subject to bondage all their lifetime (Hebrews 2:15).
By creating terror and death, Islam has been able to control and bind some one billion people around the world. This has been the very strategy of Islam throughout history...Islam holds its followers in the bondage and shackles of fear. They fear Allah, and they fear the devil and the demons (jinn). Islam plunges Muslims into a state of fear where denial of Islam means death and the wrath of Allah," (Reza F. Safa).
Jesus came to set the captives free. We are to be His hands and feet. We can not turn and look the other way when it comes to Islam and the grip it has on this world. We must be concerned for them, pray for them and do what God calls us to do in this eternal battle for souls.
Christians serve a God who is not a god of fear but of love. The world, especially Muslims, need to know this. Let your heart be broken for the Muslims. Do not fear them...love them and pray for them.
Since the children have flesh and blood,
He too shared in their humanity
so that by His death
He might destroy him who holds the power of death
that is, the devil
and free those who all their lives
were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15
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