…in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. John 16:2b (NIV)
Today
we begin a two-part look at the testimony of a terrorist persecutor
named Maulana who ultimately gave his life to Christ and became a
Christian missionary:
I was born in a Muslim family in a small
town of Demak, central Java, Indonesia. My family was very strict in
following Islamic Sharia laws. As a Muslim, I read a lot of the Koran,
Hadits, the sayings of the prophet Mohammed, and all the other books
that help me be a devoted Muslim.
I started to learn about a
famous international Muslim named Ayatollah Komeini from Iran. I welcome
Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideas and his call to revolution to all Muslims
because it will be very nice to have Islamic Sharia law applied in our
society. That would arrange all ways of life in this country according
to the truth of the Koran. I don’t like the West because their lifestyle
has affected the Eastern lifestyle, young people dress like those in
the West, which is so far from Islamic propriety. I hate that.
And
this has also caused me to hate tourists who come to Indonesia. They
bring Western lifestyle and can’t be a role model for us in Islam. I see
Christians as hindering Sharia teaching in Indonesia. Indonesia must be
cleansed from the cross. It’s a must! Sharia must happen in civil
society. The Christians worship Jesus, who is merely a man. For us this
is sin, and we must stop this movement through churches.
The
Indonesian government is committed to freedom of religion, as stated in
our national constitution. But for Muslims this is not good. It will not
bring any good to the country’s future. Because we do not get support
from the government, we take law into our own hands. We attack churches;
we shoot pastors while they are preaching to cause fear. We do it
because the government does not back us up, so we do it by ourselves. We
do not fear death because we were encouraged by Ayatollah Ruholla
Khomeini to spill our blood to the last drop to make this happen.
Remember
the bombing in Bali? That was a combined expression of our frustration
and our goal. Calling us terrorists is a big mistake, because we’re just
Muslim God lovers.
The government supports Eastern Indonesia and
the islands to be Christian, and is actually hindering us from teaching
or implementing Sharia law there. So we devised secret plans to bring
about Sharia law in Eastern Indonesia. I was one of the first 5,000
soldiers sent from east Java on a ship to the island of Ambon. En route
from Surabaya to Ambon, we hijacked the ship in Solo. We searched the
ship and checked each passenger’s identity. Anyone with a Christian ID
was either killed or thrown into the ocean. And together our group took
over the ship and headed for Ambon Island to eliminate the church of
Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow the change that comes to Maulana’s life when he meets Jesus.
RESPONSE: Today I understand that it is Jesus in me which prompts persecution and martyrdom.
PRAYER: Pray for Christians in conflict zones like Indonesia who risk their lives living for Jesus.
Scripture from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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