Pakistan’s foundation was laid 1400 years with the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Well, you may say that does not make sense! Pakistan was actually founded in 1947, so how could its foundation be laid 1400 years ago. Pakistan was founded on the basis of Deen-i-Islam, as the faith of majority of people of the South Asian sub-continent. However, the division of the South Asian country was done by a British Christian Anglican colonial power, with a score to settle with the Islam. The British colonalists for the last 800-1000 years of their history were fed on a diet of Crusadomania. Randomly,picking any British history book since the introduction of printing in Britain, one finds frequent references to Knight Templars, Crusaders and
THE CHRISTIAN CRUSADES
1095-1291
Since the time of Constantine, Christians had gone on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Even though Moslems had ruled Jerusalem since 638, Christians were still allowed to visit the city. By the 11th century, however, the situation had changed. Just as the number and frequency of pilgrimages to Jerusalem was at new peaks, the Seljuk Turks took over control of Jerusalem and prevented pilgrimages.
The First Crusade
Pope Urban II (1088-1099, see art below) was responsible for assisting Emperor Alexus I (1081-1118) of Constantinople in launching the first crusade. He made one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages, calling on Christian princes in Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks. In the speech given at the Council of Clermont in France, on November 27, 1095, he combined the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels.1
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“The noble race of Franks must come to the aid their fellow Christians in the East. The infidel Turks are advancing into the heart of Eastern Christendom; Christians are being oppressed and attacked; churches and holy places are being defiled. Jerusalem is groaning under the Saracen yoke. The Holy Sepulchre is in Moslem hands and has been turned into a mosque. Pilgrims are harassed and even prevented from access to the Holy Land.
“The West must march to the defense of the East. All should go, rich and poor alike. The Franks must stop their internal wars and squabbles. Let them go instead against the infidel and fight a righteous war.
“God himself will lead them, for they will be doing His work. There will be absolution and remission of sins for all who die in the service of Christ. Here they are poor and miserable sinners; there they will be rich and happy. Let none hesitate; they must march next summer. God wills it!
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“Deus vult! (God wills it) became the battle cry of the Crusader.
“The day after Urban’s speech, the Council formally granted all the privileges and protections Urban had promised. The red cross was taken as the official sign of the pilgrims, and Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy was chosen as papal legate and the spiritual leader of the expedition.”2
The First Crusade was the most successful from a military point of view. Accounts of this action are shocking. For example, historian Raymond of Agiles described the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099:
Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the temple of Solomon, a place where religious services ware ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much at least, that in the temple and portico of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.
Some of the results of the first crusade were not expected. Alexus I thought that the Byzantine territories would be returned to him and the Eastern Empire, but instead the European conquerors established four independent Latin kingdoms. In addition, three military orders (Hospitallers, Templars, and Teutonic Knights) came into power. The stated purpose of these orders was to protect pilgrims and holy sites.
The Jerusalem or Crusader’s Cross was worn by Godfrey de Bouillon, the first ruler of the Jerusalem after it was taken from the Moslems. Usually the symbol has four small crosses between the arms. The five crosses symbolize the five wounds of the crucified Jesus. The Crusader’s Cross can also be a single cross, as is shown in the art of St. Louis below.
Other Crusades
There were seven major Crusades. The era the Crusades the first began in 1095 with Pope Urban II’s famous speech and the ended in 1291 when Acre, the last of the Latin holdings in Palestine, was lost. The major Crusades were:
- the first, 1095-1099, called by Pope Urban II and led by Peter the Hermit, Walter the Penniless, Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin and Eustace of Flanders, and others (see also first crusade);
- the second, 1147-49, headed by King Louis VII who was enlisted by Bernard of Clairvaux, was a disastrous failure, including the loss of one of the four Latin Kingdoms, the Duchy of Edessa;
- the third, 1188-92, proclaimed by Pope Gregory VIII in the wake of the catastrophe of the second crusade, which conducted by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus of France and King Richard “Coeur-de-Lion” of England;
- the fourth, during which Constantinople was sacked, 1202-1204 (see also fourth crusade);
- the fifth, which included the conquest of Damietta, 1217-1221;
- the sixth, in which Frederick II took part (1228-29); also Thibaud de Champagne and Richard of Cornwall (1239);
- the seventh, led by St. Louis (Louis IX of France), 1248-50; 3
St. Louis (Louis IX of France), shown above wearing a version of the Crusader’s red cross, led the seventh crusade from 1248-50.
What was the legacy of the Crusades? Williston Walker et. al. observes:
Viewed in the light of their original purpose, the Crusades were failures. They made no permanent conquests of the Holy Land. They did not retard the advance of Islam. Far from aiding the Eastern Empire, they hastened its disintegration. They also revealed the continuing inability of Latin Christians to understand Greek Christians, and they hardened the schism between them. They fostered a harsh intolerance between Muslims and Christians, where before there had been a measure of mutual respect. They were marked, and marred, by a recrudescence of anti-Semitism….
The papacy gained the most from the Crusades. Its authority was greatly increased. The power of European kings also increased in that a number of barons who had given them trouble went to the East.4
Take the Highway
The Fourth Crusade: The Sack of Constantinople (1204) The crusade was to be directed at Egypt, because the Crusaders believed that conquering it would be the key to regaining Jerusalem. The conquering of the great Christian city in 1204 ended the Fourth Crusade and had significant religious and political consequences.
Choose a Byway
1. Learn about The Middle Ages: 476-1453
2. Land Theft Crusades and the Book of Joshua During the Middle Ages, European Christians launched military campaigns to take the Holy Land from the Muslims.
3. Visit other web sites that explore the history and theology of the Crusades:
Crusades (The Catholic Encyclopedia) The Crusades were expeditions undertaken to deliver the Holy Places from Moslem control. The origin of the word may be traced to the cross made of cloth and worn as a badge on the outer garment of the crusaders.
The Crusades by Dr. E.L. Skip Knox, Boise State University. Lots of materials developed for a college course.
Female Heroes. Scroll down the page to Female Heroes from the Time of the Crusades: Shagrat (or Shajarat) al-Durr; Eleanor of Aquitaine; The Women Left Behind; Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem, and Anna Comnena, Byzantine Historian
History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William of Tyre (107K). William of Tyre was born in the Holy Land, born in the Holy Land and was, after a French education, appointed Archbishop of Tyre and Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He wrote near the end of the twelfth century.
Islam’s Stake: Why Jerusalem Was Central to Muhammad by Karen Armstrong, Time, April 16, 2001. Jerusalem was central to the spiritual identity of Muslims from the very beginning of their faith.
Judaism’s Stake: The Mysteries of Solomon’s Temple by David Van Biema, Time, April 16, 2001. How did the place first become holy? The answer is lost in prehistory.
Pope Urban II calls for the 1st Crusade, Council of Clermont, France, November 27, 1095. This speech has been called the most influencial one in the Middle Ages. It calls on the Christian princes in Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks. The Medieval Sourcebook offers five versions of this speech.
The Reconciliation Walk. The purpose of the Walk was to bring Christians face-to-face with Muslims and Jews with a message of regret and confession about the Crusades. The Reconciliation Walk in Jerusalem on July 15, 1999, the 900thanniversary of the fall of the city to the Crusaders.
Taking Jerusalem: Climax of the First Crusade By J. Arthur McFall. “The Crusaders spent at least that night and the next day killing Muslims, including all of those in the al-Aqsa Mosque, where Tancred’s banner should have protected them. Not even women and children were spared. The city’s Jews sought refuge in their synagogue, only to be burned alive within it by the Crusaders. …. The Europeans also destroyed the monuments to Orthodox Christian saints and the tomb of Abraham.”
So, Crusadomania has over a thousand years history and continues unabated. There are several political, economic, and ecumenical causes for this Christian fanaticism. It is passed on for generations and there is no chance of it abating in the near and far future.
Crusadomania, wears many disguises. sometimes, it done to destroy the power of Turkish empire. Other times, it is used as an excuse to bring down Muslim dictators like Ghadaffi or Saddam Hussain.
Role of Jews-Duplicity for the sake of survival. Jews have over two thousand years history of survival. They cling to the most powerful nation on Earth in every century, but, due to their own greed, they make the people of the nation giving them sanctuary turn against the.
Muslims have always been kind to Jews. During, the worst of times, Muslim nations like Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, and even Pakistan gave them shelter. Muslim Albanian saved hundreds of Jews during the pogroms. Muslim Scholars from South Asian sub-continent decried the victimization of Jews by the German Empire. But, the Jews right away turned on their benefactors, and carved out a land in the heartland of Muslim Palestine and named it Israel.
Here again history repeats itself, the Jews migrated in droves from Christian Europe and Russia to America, In America, they consolidated themselves in the organs of the state, economy, politics, and every sphere of life except the Armed Forces. They control all the media outlets. The US Television networks are dominated by Jews. Their corporate managements is replete with Jewish names, some of them have even been anglicized. Newspapers and Magazines like Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, and most other global newspapers have Jewish Publishers or Editors.
Israel-Jews Against Muslims
With the establishment of Israel, the Jews, turned their conniving towards the Muslims. They used their hold on media, publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, and all other sources of information to launch a tsunami of stealth propaganda against Islam, to portray it as the biggest enemy of Christendom. Today, the worst fears of Christians have been realized. Its the Muslims, who are their worst enemies. Christians and Muslims are fighting in Afghanistan. The War on Terror is a psudonym for a War on Islam. The Jews having a whale of a time. watching Christians and Muslims slaughter each other from Lebanon to Phillipines, from Chechnya to Afghanistan. The Jews are enjoying the front row seat at the Global Wars Coliseum, where two groups of gladiators, the Muslims and Christians fight to the finish. Christians carry the guilt of the German empire and Hitlers deeds, in doing so they foolishly ignore, the game being played by the Jews. Christians forget that it is the Jews, who crucified Jesus (PBUH) and subject Mary (PBUH) to intolerable torture and humiliations. Islam came later. Muslim did not torture Jesus (PBUH), even during the worst of Crusades, Muslim Khalifas or Kings, protected Christian Holy Places, like the Church of the Nativity, the Holy Sepulcre, and stations of the cross. In modern Israel, Christian Holy places are continually under threat from Jewish fanatics. The same kind who put on the Sign on the Cross of Jesus, when they crucified him, King of the Jews, in sheer sarcasm and mockery.
The latest attack of the Jews is against the most powerful Islamic nation Pakistan and its Nuclear Program. The Jews have deliberately targeted Pakistan’s nuclear program as being a security risk. Jewish and Hindu dominated Think Tanks like Rand Corporation, Heritage Foundation, the several Neocon PACS, including the AIPAC have unleashed a tsunami of propaganda against Pakistan, it Armed Forces, its People, and Its Nuclear Program. Although, Pakistan has no delivery vehicle to carry a Nuclear weapon to Tel Aviv, the anti-Muslim Jewish lobby follows, a skewed thinking, that Pakistan’s nuclear program is Israel focused. Another, red herring, the Jewish media keeps presenting to Christian politicians in America, through, the disproportionate numbers of Jews in US congress, that Pakistan nuclear program should be under US control or the “boogey man,” Taliban, Al Qaeda, or some other bunch of fanatics will “hijack,” Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. But, hypocritically, they are “MUM,” about Israel possessing anywhere from 200-400 nuclear weapons, and possibly, a fusion or H-Bomb. The American politicians a too stupid or mercenary to ask pointed questions about Israel’s nuclear program. American politicians, as the Jews say, have no “moxie,” to take on Israel’s Nuclear Program.
In light of this relative sense of security, Israel has found a willing ally in India, which goes to prove, that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But, as Pakistanis, we can trust the Jews, a People of the Book more than we can trust, a people who follow the Cult of Hinduism with its 115,000 gods, demi-gods, and goddesses, including, the Lingam or Penis, which is also an object oworship among Hindus. The cult of Hinduism also practices un-hygienic practices like drinking urine (US CBS program 60 minutes program, showed Mr.Lal Bahadur Shastri, the late Prime Minister of India extoling the virtues of drinking urine. Cow urine bathing is another religious event practiced in Hinduism. The Israeli Jews will find one day that Hindu India cannot be trusted. Hindus have a history of back-stabbing. Israel’s collaboration with Hindu India will come to bite Israel. Indians will buy, beg, or steal israel’s defence technology and sell it to countries like Iran. Israel’s own technology passed on to India, will end up killing Israels soldiers. Pakistanis have a 1000 years of historical experience in dealing with Hindus. They do not trust even one another, how can they be trusted by another nation like Israel.
Hindus and Jews are now forming an axis to create terrorism within Pakistan through the back door of Afghanistan. Afghans are know to prostitute their souls to the highest bidder, even if it is the devil. India’s RAW and Israel’s Mossad have joined hands to send in terrorist to attack specifically Pakistan’s security installation. An Indian Army Major General is surreptitiously present in Afghanistan, along with several Brigadiers, Colonels, Majors, and other ranks to train and send saboteurs into Pakistan. These saboteurs are trained first in Islamic Fiqh, taught by Indian Army officers, who had surreptitiously received training at Deoband India and Israel’s Intelligengence HQ near Accor, Israel. Ahmed Quereshi has exposed this operation in the following article:
http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/indian-army-major-general-runs-terrorist-camps-inside-afghanistan/
First Step in Destroying a Nation, Destroy its Heritage of Values-Create Burger -Families
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Variation; Burger-Family A derogatory term for people or families in Pakistan (or India), or in Pakistani (Indian) communities abroad that are “culturally-challenged” in they barely get by in a local language and speak only English fluently and are a bit oblivious to native customs and norms surrounding food, music, clothing, celebrations etc.
ex. 1: I was going get a reservation at an Indian restaurant but wasn’t sure if you burgers would’ve been up for it.
ex. 2: She was citing one of the local authors and his eyes glazed over – he’s a total burger.
ex. 3: The Khans can be amusing company, but they’re a bit of a burger-family if you ask me.
Second Step: Promote Pornography to destroy any left over Islamic values in Pakistani youth
Pornography Create More Freedom In Pakistan
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/pornography-thrives-in-the-hotbed-of-pakistani-fundamentalism
The half-lit room smells strongly of hashish. On the screen, a woman wearing too much make up and a clingy, provocative outfit sways her hips suggestively. The audience, made up exclusively of men, hoots and whistles. The music stops and the onscreen action starts to heat up. The crowd loses all its inhibitions. The whistles turn into hoarse moans and the chairs start to vibrate intensely.
This scene, courtesy of Zofeen Ebrahim from Le Temps, was the description of an adult movie house in one of the most unlikely places in the world: Peshawar, the capital of the most conservative province in Pakistan. The men (and some women), she says, are “watching a porn film, right under the nose of the religious political parties, the Taliban and the government.”
This is a place where cafes and music stores are regularly the target of bomb attacks by extremists and advertisements showing women are often taken down. Yet adult movie houses have managed to flourish, so much so that Lala Fida Mohammad Khan, a movie producer who use to make conventional films switched to producing adult films because “no one wanted to watch clean films, they don’t sell anymore.”
Read the full story in English or French.
What is the Significance?
The Rainbow Center in Saddar was once a hub for pirated CDs and DVDs. Frequent raids and the increasing lack of pirated content online forced many of the stores to shutter or switch to selling garments and computer accessories. But since Internet pornography was banned in Pakistan last November, dealers at The Rainbow Center have seen a surge in DVD sales.
“People no longer come here for Hollywood or Bollywood movies. They want porn,” Afaq told The Express Tribune. “If you ask me, almost 90% of our revenue comes from the sale of such content.”
Thanks to the long arm of technology and people’s desire for pornographic material, no amount of censorship or religious virtue can entirely block its availability. This is apparently true in Pakistan and definitely true in America.
Third Step:
Portray Islam as a “spent ” ideology. Push for secularism as the “in” thing.
Use Israeli trained Ahmediyya disguised as Imams to destroy Islam from grass roots level. At the same time spread terrorism through these surrogates, who infiltrate through the Afghanistan Pakistan border.
Once secularized, start evangelism, proselytyze to Muslim secularized youth.
Here is an actual example, how to use subtlety and stealth mode to preach the gospel to Muslim youth to convert them to Christianity. Offer financial incentives and “other goodies,” like foreign females:
PAKISTAN FELLOWSHIP OF EVANGELICAL STUDENTS
PROPOSAL TO ACQUIRE PFES STUDENT CENTRE
Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students exist to reach College and University students in Pakistan with Gospel of Jesus Christ and to send them into the world to bear witness to Christ and His teaching.
History.
In 1956 a young man with a vision and sense of personal call, Gordon Olson, came to Pakistan to work among university students in Lahore with a view to establish an evangelical student’s fellowship. In 1964 Mr. Olson had to fly back home due to medical reasons. He recommended that young man who had been working with him be made the first full time national staff worker in the country. Thus he handed over this ministry to Mr. Maqbool Gill. He carried on this work till 1969, and by then there were indications all over the country that God had begun to prepare a number of people to join this ministry.
In August 1969 a few friends interested in the service and formation of such a Fellowship were invited to a meeting held at Marsden cottages, Murree. In this meting the newly emerging students’ movement was given the name of Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
In 1970 Mr. B.U. Khokhar replaced Michael Nazir Ali, (now the Bishop Michael Nazir Ali) eventually becoming the first national General Secretary. With the help of expatriates and national workers local committees and cell groups were established in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore. The most prominent figure who laboured with Mr. Khokhar was Mrs. Tara James. Who served the Fellowship for nineteen years as staff and then Executive Secretary. At the close of seventies, PFES by God’s grace stood on firm grounds as an Evangelical and National Fellowship acknowledged by the Church in Pakistan.
In 1980 Mr. Irfan Jamil, then staff worker took over as General Secretary and served the Fellowship for seventeen years. The work was developed a great deal under his leadership. During this time the work was expanded to the main cities of the country. In 1997 Rev. Irfan Jamil left PFES and Rev. Silas Samuel joined as third General Secretary for three years term. Rev. Silas Samuel migrated to America in July 1999 and God provided Mr. James mall to lead the Fellowship as an Executive Secretary for two years.
In March 2001 Mr. Philip Chandi, then staff worker in Rawalpindi with additional responsibility of Training and Development Secretary elevated to the post of General Secretary. Now by God’s grace the Fellowship has staff in ten cities (Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar) and works in six extension cities. The PFES now has sixteen staff workers, including the General Secretary.
In past many years God used the Fellowship to give quality leadership to the Church in Pakistan. The PFES Graduates are applying Gospel values in their work and in society. Few names who have served the Fellowship and are being used effectively in the Church for the extension of His Kingdom are Rev. Dr. Aslam Ziai (Vice Principal, Gujranwala Theological Seminary), Rev. Irfan Jamil (vicar St. Thomas Church, Islamabad and Advisor to the Bishop of Lahore for Evangelism), Mr. Samuel Lyall (International Director of Ministry Development for FEBA Communications), Mr. Joseph Robert (Engineer working in Saudi Arabia), Mr. Salamat Masih (Serving the Church in Finland), Rev. Dilshad Alam (Serving in USA), Dr. Christy Munir (Vice Principal, Forman Christian College), Mr. Zafar Iqbal (Chief accountant, Forman Christian College), Mr. Ifrahim Matthew (General Secretary, Potohar Evangelistic Outreach Fellowship), Rev. Silas Samuel (Serving in USA), Rev. Christopher Edgar (Serving in Kuwait) and many more.
What does PFES exist for?
- Evangelism: To establish and nurture a witness of Christ among Pakistani Students.
- Discipleship: To help Christian students to grow in the faith through Bible Study and prayer, and to develop a biblical world view.
- Mission: To bring a dynamic understanding of world mission and to equip graduates to apply Gospel values in their work and in society.
How does PFES work?
Pakistani Students and Graduates are invited to participate in
- Bible Study groups.
- Prayer groups.
- Get-togethers.
- Training Programs.
- Summer Camps and Conferences.
Student Centre Project.
The Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students has its National office and General Secretary’s residence at 45-F.C College, Lahore since 1971. We are paying license fee for this property to Christian Education Endowment Trust, the manager of this property. In September 2003 the Christian Education Endowment Trust served us a notice to vacate 45-F.C. College property within six weeks. It was not possible for us to vacate the property on such a short notice. After negotiation with the Christian Education Endowment Trust, we have made some adjustments with the Trust. They agreed to give us part of the property for office use and residence of General Secretary. That is a very small place and we are trying to adjust ourselves in this new situation. The recent development is that the Christian Education Endowment Trust, want the PFES to vacate the property (presently available for PFES) within months which is alarming for the Fellowship.
The PFES Administrative Board has planned to acquire its own property as soon as possible. We have seen a double story building at Kot Lakhpat, Peco Road, Lahore. The location of this property is ideal for the PFES ministry.
This student centre will be available for college and university students, graduates and PFES related organizations. The place will be used for following purposes.
i. PFES National office.
ii. Library for students, staff and friends.
iii. Facilities for teaching sessions, seminars, get-togethers and special meetings.
iv. Study room for students.
v. Residence of General Secretary.
The property will cost us 6 million rupees (US$103,500). The bifurcation of the amount is as under.
Rupees
Purchase Price of the property 4,550,000/-
Registration and Transfer 450,000/-
Required Renovation and Furnishing 1,000,000/-
Total 6,000,000/-
The initial amount of Rs.500,000/- has been paid and rest of the amount we have to pay within one year time.
We praise God for the response we are getting from friends and donors. Hilfe Fur Bruder’s, Germany who has given us Rs.263,000/- for this project and has committed to raise more funds for this project. We are also thankful to the J.W. Laing trust who has contributed 5000 Pounds for this project. We have received Rs11000/- from our other friends.
Our Lahore Graduates Fellowship has committed to give 200,000/- rupees. We hope that we will be able to raise 1000,000 rupees within the country from our graduates and friends
Now we are in need of 5,200,000/- rupees (US$ 89,700/-) to purchase this property. We will update you on monthly basis how God is helping us in this project.
We request you to prayerfully consider our request and help us to raise this amount to buy the property for the PFES Student Centre. Please make your cheque pay able to “Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students” and send to the Treasurer, PFES, 45-F.C College, Lahore-54600, Pakistan. Our US$ account No. 111-0130-6 and PLS Saving A/c No. 100-1742-9 at United Bank Limited, Liberty Branch, Lahore.
For further information contact us on the address given below.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Yours in Him,
Philip Chandi
General Secretary
PFES, 45-F.C. College
Lahore-54600.
Pakistan
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +92-42-5758195
STEALTH INTRODUCTION OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM: Here is an example of Joshua T.White, who ostensibly came to study in Pakistan, but his mission was to do Christian Missionary Work and gather information on Pakistani cultures and mores, so evangelism could be promoted among Muslim youth. The ignorant Chief Minister of KPHK was too dumb to understand the duplicitious characters of these do-gooders.
Here is this Christian Missionaries Report to his Church:
Living with Islamists
A year in Pakistan gave me a glimpse of what Christian witness might look like today.
Joshua T. White
[ posted 3/30/2007 9:11AM ]
What must we learn, and unlearn, to be agents of God’s mission in the world? That is the Christian Vision Project’s big question for 2007. Evangelical Christians have been learners in mission for several hundred years: learning new languages and cultures, and learning about our own cultures along the way. In the past few decades, though, an increasing number of young evangelicals have pursued advanced training in international relations and apprenticed at the highest levels of diplomacy and statecraft. Joshua T. White, a 27-year-old graduate fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement and a student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, embodies this new generation of mission-minded Christians. As Josh’s story shows, they bring with them a commitment to incarnational witness that transcends politics as usual.
It was, by any measure, a rather large funeral. When I arrived on the morning of the third day, the weary-looking colonel at the gate told me that “about 125,000″ people had already filed through the Durrani ancestral home to pay their respects. It was a staggering number for such a remote corner of northwest Pakistan, but I believed him. No one goes to Bannu just to visit. Yet when news spread that the uncle of the province’s chief minister—its top elected official, representing the MMA Islamist alliance—had been killed, people came.
I had met the uncle once or twice. He was a soft-spoken man, quietly energetic; I remembered spending an afternoon sitting in his courtyard, trying to coax English phrases out of his shy young son. His death was a family tragedy, but beyond that it was a symbol of the instability that was slowly gathering in Bannu—just a stone’s throw from the restive North Waziristan tribal area that had become the heartland of the new Taliban and a hideout for Al Qaeda.
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A few months later we did, amid the terrible October earthquake. While there, the chief minister signed an agreement with IGE to work together on religious freedom through interfaith and education projects. I was so taken with the history and hospitality of the frontier that I decided to stay for a year in the provincial capital of Peshawar, pursuing these programs.
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By strange providence,
That a 27-year-old American Christian was hanging out in Peshawar as the guest of an Islamist political party that four years earlier had come to power on a pro-Shari’ahand anti-American platform caused no end of wonder to the local diplomats and church community. To them, it seemed a bit crazy. For me, it was an extraordinary opportunity to glimpse Islamist political leadership from the inside; to get to know these people as people; to begin to tease apart rhetoric from reality, slogans from conviction; and to find myself, on a certain scorching May morning, the only Westerner making a trip down to Bannu.
Germans are spreading venomous propaganda against our Deen. The website “answering Islam,” uses 11 proxy servers to send venomous hate messages against Islam. These people are same as the fanatical Taliban but in this case, they are CHRISTIAN TALIBAN. Here is their IP location information:
The hostname answering-islam.org resolves to the following IP address:
Country:
Germany 
Whois information on 78.47.104.146:
% This is the RIPE Database query service.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% The RIPE Database is subject to Terms and Conditions.
% Note: this output has been filtered.
% To receive output for a database update, use the “-B” flag.
% Information related to ’78.47.104.144 – 78.47.104.159′
Inetnum:
78.47.104.144 – 78.47.104.159
Netname:
HETZNER-ONLINE-AG-VIRTUALISIERUNG-POOL9
Descr:
Hetzner Online AG – Virtualisierung
Person:
Hetzner Online AG – Virtualisierung
Address:
Hetzner Online AG – Virtualisierung
Address:
Stuttgarter Str. 1
Address:
91710 Gunzenhausen
% Information related to ’78.46.0.0/15AS24940′
Descr:
HETZNER-RZ-NBG-BLK5
Organisation:
ORG-HOA1-RIPE
Org-name:
Hetzner Online AG
Address:
Hetzner Online AG Attn. Martin Hetzner Stuttgarter Str. 1 91710 Gunzenhausen GERMANY
% This query was served by the RIPE Database Query Service version 1.19.9 (WHOIS1)
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Notes
1 A History of the Christian Church, 4th ed., edited by Williston Walker, Richard A. Norris, David W. Lotz, and Robert T. Handy (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985), p. 284.
2 From The Crusades © Dr. E.L. Skip Knox, Boise State University, who says, “My intent is that others can use the information here for their own educational purposes, either personally or in a classroom. I especially hope this site will be a resource to other teachers. If you use any of my material I ask only that you credit me properly. If you intend to use the material for profit, you must ask my permission first.”
3 Compiled from a variety of sources.
4 A History of the Christian Church, p. 290.
Pope Urban II is a detail of art in An Outline of Christianity: The Story of Our Civilization, Vol. II (New York: Bethlehem Publishers, Inc., 1926), p. 347.
“St. Louis at Jerusalem” is a detail of a painting by Alexandre Cabanel, op. cit., p. 374.
