|
Crusades or Missions? by Dr. Bruce Prescott
Every child in history class knows that the cross followed the sword when spreading Christianity during the crusades. Every Muslim knows it as well.
Medieval crusaders failed to convert many Muslims. They did succeed in plundering and pillaging many Muslim cities.
Now that U.S. troops have conquered Iraq, Christian crusaders are preparing to convert the Muslims again. Again, the cross will follow the sword. Whether they deserve it or not, Christians are sure to be identified with people that most Muslims will view as plundering opportunists enriching themselves at Iraqi expense – Western contractors rebuilding infrastructure, developing oil fields, and extending oil pipelines.
Among those soliciting funds and volunteers to man relief efforts in Iraq are Southern Baptists. Mission volunteers enlisting for Iraq should be advised to avoid mentioning that they are Baptists. Incendiary statements by Southern Baptist leaders have created what Frank Wells, a former Southern Baptist missionary in Indonesia, calls an “atmosphere of hatred that has produced open season on Baptist missionaries around the world.”
Former SBC president Jerry Vines called Mohammed “a demon possessed pedophile” at the Southern Baptist Convention last June. On June 12, Wells wrote Vines saying, “In the volatile atmosphere that prevails in the world today, you may have cost some missionaries their lives, not to mention the additional justification you have given to radical Muslims for their hatred, violence and terror.”
Sadly, Wells’ words may have proved prophetic. On December 30, a Muslim gunman murdered three Southern Baptist missionaries at a hospital in Yemen. On March 4, a Southern Baptist missionary was killed in a bomb blast at Davao City in the Philippines. Another missionary and her two children were injured in the explosion.
It is doubtful that Southern Baptists will have either the sensitivity or the patience needed to win many Muslims. Since the Fundamentalist takeover, the IMB has been shifting away from what many Fundamentalists consider “social gospel” ministries like hunger relief and is closing institution-based ministries like hospitals and schools. Instead, they have been focusing on starting churches. The shift in strategy is why the IMB turned the Baptist hospital in Yemen over to Muslims in January. The transfer was planned long before three missionaries were killed at the hospital.
Meanwhile, CBF missionaries have been ministering to Iraqi Kurds for years. Their leaders have not created false stumbling blocks that make it more difficult for Muslims to give the gospel a fair hearing. CBF has the sensitivity to avoid anything that might give the appearance of being part of a crusade and they have the patience necessary to earn a hearing for the gospel. They are the kind of people who deserve the support of Baptists.
NOTE: This article was quoted in the 11/14/03 issue of the Wall Street Journal
|
|
Online since April 7, 1999
E- mail questions or comments about this web site to bprescott@mainstreambaptists.orgCopyright © 1999-2003 MAINSTREAM OKLAHOMA BAPTISTS P.O. Box 6371 Norman, OK 73070-6371 (405) 329-2266.
|