Now is the time to shine

Whoever thought that the terrorist attack by Hamas and its allied Islamist groups on 7 October 2023 would bring such turmoil in the West? Since that terrible day, we are witnessing the unleashing of a sustained and entrenched wave of antisemitism, both online and offline. To the majority of people in the West, this awakening of hate towards Israel and Jews, as well as the rise of radical Islam in their countries, took them by surprise.

More than that: Islamist groups, such as those ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas), are still financially supported in many European countries and are considered legitimate representatives of Muslims on political and social levels. As a result of the "culture of tolerance" and "no tolerance for Islamophobia" in the West, many experts, authors and journalists deliberately avoid the topic of Islamism out of fear, because the public pressure on social media or the threats against themselves, friends, or family are almost unbearable. Today, any statement about Islamism, Israel, and Palestine feels like walking through a minefield.

Many people are blaming their politicians for opening "Pandora's box" for millions of Muslim migrants from the Middle East and Northern Africa to flood their countries. Most European countries like Germany, Britain, France, and a few others are in need of man power to sustain their economy, which is one of the reasons these migrants were allowed in. Sadly, those migrants are not willing to become law-abiding citizens and accept the rule of law in Europe, accepting only benefits such as financial aid, housing assistance, medical services, etc ., and using the Western "tolerance culture" to create their own communities that live by their own rules and principles.

In the last 20 years, both violent and non-violent forms of Islamism have increased dramatically in Europe. Mass migration from predominantly Muslim states has become increasingly intertwined with manifestations of Islamism. Across the continent, so called "parallel societies" have been formed, where migrants develop their own infrastructures and separate themselves from mainstream society.

Radical Islam is spreading across Europe through the influx of migrants as well as among descendants of prior Muslim immigrants. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some European Muslims have taken up jihad against the West. They are dangerous and committed!

The war started by Hamas on October 7 became a new front in the Islamic war against the West that took the battle to the next level. The Islamists were able to mobilize sympathizers and supporters from both left and liberal circles, and with their help and support, they marched through cities and college campuses, to the capitals, presenting Israel as a "colonialist" state that occupies the territories and oppresses the poor Palestinian people. Brainwashed by decades of Palestinian Arab propaganda, Western liberal elites agreed with the Islamist agenda: Israel is evil and therefore should be punished. Israel is guilty of genocide.

The West's abandonment of its biblically based values created a vacuum which the Islamists are filling. Christianity was a bedrock of Western civilization and served as a core of its culture. Such moral principles as compassion, fairness, helping the poor, monogamous marriage between man and woman, and many others were introduced to Europe by the Hebrew Bible and not by Greeks. In fact, the Greeks had little respect for human life. In both ancient Roman and Greek societies, there was an almost complete absence of empathy for people's pain or suffering. Instead, they had a tendency towards dehumanization. 

It is the Hebrew Bible that gave a revolutionary concept that every individual is worthy of equal respect because humanity had been fashioned in the image of God. But when you choose to leave the truth, you lose the ability to think logically and morally and discern the reality of life. 

Many Christian thinkers related reason and logic as a gift from the God of the Bible. Faith in Christ infused Western culture. However, today, biblical values are largely unknown in the West, partly because Christian churches have sought to bury the connection with the Jews and promoted these core values as if Christianity had invented them.

As a result of a decline of faith and turning away from the Bible, the demoralized intellectual class embraced secular ideologies such as moral and cultural relativism that infused a zeal to destroy the core values of the West and liberate individuals from biblical morality, upon which rested Western civilization. People who embrace these ideologies believe that religion is harsh and authoritarian, and getting rid of it will free the individual to live a life of happiness and self-fulfillment. 

When Europeans leave the Christian faith, the truth is no longer present, and all kinds of ideologies and beliefs enter into their homes. The Islamists understand something that the West had forgotten—that faith is essential for people to understand the value of their own culture, and without Christianity, Western culture cannot survive.

But there is more. It is time for Christians to shine like never before. Personally, the answer to the problems in Europe isn't just a matter of electing better leaders who choose wiser policies. This may help in the short term, but not in a way that changes the culture. The Biblical answer for reversing the current state of the West is for Christians to rediscover their mandate as "salt and light" and to make disciples for the Kingdom. Only those who have been transformed by the power of the Gospel can bring healing to the grassroots of their national culture.

I agree more than ever with these words of American philosopher and theologian Francis Schaeffer: 

“Reformation speaks of a return to the teachings of Scripture, revival of a life brought into proper relationship to the Holy Spirit. The great moments in church history have come when these two restorations have occurred simultaneously. There cannot be true revival unless there has been reformation, and reformation is incomplete without revival.”

The survival of the West strongly depends on the Church returning to God on His terms, embracing biblical Hebrew values that created Western civilization in the past, standing with Israel and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need a revival of biblical faith and discipleship.