You Tried to Tell Me Islam Meant Peace, But You Lied

I’m not dumb – I know that the translation of Islam actually means peace (or submission, but the root slm is the same as the Hebrew shalom). But the façade of peace is wearing mighty thin.

While Christians in America cry persecution too easily, Christians in other areas of the world are highly persecuted. According to a 2014 report from the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the religious group most likely to be persecuted worldwide. We’re seeing this horrible truth play out in the story of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim.

She’s a 27 year old mother of one and eight months pregnant with child number two. She and her child are in prison in Sudan.

Why?

Because she’s a Christian and refuses to recant. And conversion from Islam is a crime punishable by death. Thank you, Sharia law, for your righteous judgment.

But Islam is the way of peace.

Uh-huh.

This whole situation is tragic. It’s the kind of thing that has me saying, “Let’s just send in Army Rangers and extract her and her family (her husband has U.S. citizenship) by force!”

Probably not gonna happen.

As Christians, stories such as this should not surprise us. Once upon a time they would have been the norm for all Christians. But we’ve grown soft in the last 1700 years. Many of us have had protection and shelter from real persecution.

But it seems as though we’re returning to a place where we can expect more and more of the world to turn against us. It’s in times such as these that the Bible speaks loudly about hope and perseverance. Though troubles like this come, we know that our God controls the big picture, and one day the struggles and trouble of this world will be behind us.

Until then, we can contact political leaders and make a push for intervention. We can share the story and get the word out to the world.

Most importantly, we can pray hard for Christians around the world who face these situations.

**Update**

Meriam has reportedly given birth to a baby girl. Now we wait and see what the Sudanese government does. Now we wait and see what the international community does…

*Related Post*
– Persecuted Christianity