Monday, June 25, 2012

The Muslim Brotherhood Victory: A Seismic Shift in the Middle East

By Chris Mitchell

The victory today by Mohammed Mursi represents a seismic shift in the Middle East. Now a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic organization that has spawned most of the terror groups in the world—including Hamas—is the leader of the largest and most influential Arab nation in the Middle East.


While Mursi said he would govern with "moderate Islamic references," it's important to remember the creed of the Muslim Brotherhood:

"Allah is our objective; the Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations."

During Mursi's campaign, he also attended a rally at which Sheik Safawat Higzazi rallied the crowd in a chant to liberate Gaza and make Jerusalem the capital of Egypt. Here's an excerpt from a MEMRI translation:

"Brandish your weapons... Say your prayers... And pray to the Lord. From the eyes of all Jews... Come on, you lovers of martyrdom... Banish the sleep from the eyes of all Jews. Come on, you lovers of martyrdom, you are all Hamas. Indeed, all the lovers of martyrdom are Hamas. I say from this podium, from al-Mahalla, from the heart of the Delta, the heart of Egypt, so that the whole world may hear. We say it loud and clear: Yes, Jerusalem is our goal. We shall pray in Jerusalem, or else we shall die as martyrs on its threshold.”

A number of huge questions remain following Mursi's victory:

What will the consequences be for Israel? Is the more than 30 year peace treaty in jeopardy?

Will the Muslim Brotherhood confront the military, the current de facto power in Egypt?

What will be the fate of the millions of Coptic and evangelical Christians in Egypt?

Will women's and minorities rights be tolerated?

These questions remain and for now the scenes of jubilation from the Muslim Brotherhood crowd in Tahrir Square have gone around the world. But many, many Egyptians are deeply troubled. Here's how one Egyptian now living in the West expressed his feelings:

“Muhammad Mursi of Muslin Brotherhood won the election in Egypt. Today the true democracy dies in Egypt, may the Lord have mercy over the minority in Egypt, today human rights dies in the Middle East, I lost my country twice, the day that I left and today.”

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST; John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

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