There are many subtle and unseen historical facts here. In the Caner's book "Christian Jihad" they adeptly point out three haunting issues that Muslims will frequently use.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0825424038?v=glance
Catholic clergy were in grave fear that Muslims would plunder the many riches and lands of the church, much of which had, itself, been plundered in the name of God over the prior centuries. Most importantly, priests told crusaders that 1) They were fighting for God, and 2) If they were killed in battle they would be guaranteed Heaven, as they were soldiers of their Maker.
Since the Catholic [Universal] church was founded by Emperor Constantine in 324 A.D. it could not possibly speak for all Christianity, already founded and early on, Scripturally based. Muslims associate crusades & killing = Christianity, which would actually be directly against Christ's teachings, were all Christians to be judged by the vast brutality historically documented and recorded from the crusader's era.
We know that Islam, from it's very Muhammaden inception, was founded upon jealosy and the desire for the coveting of other's belongings making it's early adherents thieves and plunderers. Today, many Muslims look upon Rome with the same covetess disdain and desire to take the riches, as did Muhammad in his seventy-five documented raids on merchant caravans.
That being said, there are other points that must be noted in light of Islam's ignorant outrage against all Christians:
* While the pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he is not head of Christ's church. Jesus alone is head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22-23). Muslims claim to honor and respect Christ.
* God appointed Christ to be head of his church while the College of Cardinals elected the pope from among several scholarly candidates.
* His devotees call the pope "Holy Father" but Jesus teaches us to "call no man your father on earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven" (Matt. 23:9).
* The pope, as head of the Roman Catholic Church, claims that he speaks for God as Christ's emissary on earth, but God has spoken to us through his Son, Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2). The faith of Christ was once for all times delivered unto the saints (Jude 3). The words of Jesus will judge us in the last day (John 12:47), not those of any mortal man.
* In life and in death, popes are adorned in gorgeous robes and a high golden crown, ornate and oppulently fashioned. The residences in the Vatican and Castille Gandolfo are palatial. While on this earth, Jesus had only the clothes on his back and no place to lay his head (Lk. 9:58; John 19:23).
* The pope is the earthly monarch of the Vatican kingdom, an independent nation, with its own territory, constabulary, diplomatic corps, postal system, staff, and treasury. Its property holdings are vast, stretching around the world.
Jesus refused to be an earthly king (John 6:15) and made it clear that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).
* The church, over which the pope rules, is not the church of which we read in Scripture. Christ's church was established in Jerusalem in 33 A.D. (Acts 2:1-47).
The Roman Catholic Church devolved from that sacred beginning and, one by one, changed virtually every doctrine and aspect of the worship that Christ first ordained in the New Testament. The apostle Paul warned us that the time would come when men would depart from the faith...forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats..." (I Tim. 4:1-3). The papal claim to universal authority over all the churches dates from 533 A.D. Careful students of Scripture and church history know this to be a fact.
The Muslim has no conception of these things in that, over the passage of nearly 1400 years, Islam has managed to alter, twist, imagine, and fabricate it's own version of the the Holy Scriptures to suit it's fable, making the Risen Christ as an Allah worshiper and below the level of Muhammad, as a mere teacher.
Today's Muslim is simply a human ritual robot following the rantings and traditional control of a devious Imam or Mullah while paying the obligatory mosque tax.
The vast chasm between Catholic and Christian is based upon Scriptural and Traditional interpretations but the Muslim cannot differentiate. Shia and Sunni, Muslim and Druze; Americans also, cannot tell the difference!
(Howell Davis). |
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