COULD AMERICA SUCCUMB TO ISLAM? A SOBERING WARNING FROM THE PAST

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

There are now over 5 million Muslims in America along with thousands of mosques. Numerous videos have surfaced of Muslim leaders calling for the takeover of America and the imposition of Sharia law. This is not something new for some years ago I went into a copy store in Tulsa, OK to made copies of a document and made a surprising discovery.

I went to a self-serve copier and noticed that the previous customer had inadvertently left behind a stack of flyers. I picked one up and was stunned to read the bold vision of the Muslims in that city. This very attractive flyer was probably created to be handed out in the several mosques in that city. It boldly stated that their goal was to make Tulsa a Muslim city and America a Muslim nation. 

Could such a thing happen in America? It could happen unless there is an Awakening across America--an Awakening of real Christian faith and an Awakening to our nation's Christian heritage. 

That such a thing could happen is illustrated by what happened to a great Christian empire. And, let's remember the words of Winston Churchill, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." 

The Byzantine Empire

The thousand-year Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful and vast empires the world has ever known, and it was Christian. During its lengthy reign, it produced a massive trove of Christian art, architecture, legal jurisprudence, theology and culture. It built, perhaps, the most magnificent church building ever built, the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which is said to have changed the history of architecture.

Yet, the mighty Byzantine Empire fell to Islam in the 15^th century and serves as a reminder to us that we must not trust in our advanced technology, stock market wealth, or military might, but our trust must be in the Lord. As David said in Psalm 20:7, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

Why did the Byzantine Empire fall to Turkish Ottoman invaders in 1453? I will address three reasons in this article—three trends that weakened the church and Empire and made both vulnerable to the Islamic invaders. They are (1) The church’s prideful pursuit of power; (2) the loss of personal faith to outward ritual and liturgical formality; and (3) theological rigidity and strife.

Reason #1

The Prideful Pursuit of Power

The mighty Byzantine Empire began around a.d. 330 when Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to the small city of Byzantine near the eastern edge of the Empire. There may have been logistical reasons for making this major move, but ego was obviously involved for he renamed the city "Constantinople" after his own name and made it the capital of the Empire. Today, the city is known as Istanbul.

Constantine, though he had not been baptized, convened the famous Council of Nicaea in 325 in the nearby city of Nicaea. Not only did he convene the council but he intervened at certain points in this gathering of bishops. It was obviously a power move on his part. The late Hans Kung, the most widely read Catholic theologian in the world today, says;

Constantine used this first council not least to adapt the church organization to the state organization. The church provinces were to correspond to the imperial provinces, each with a metropolitan and provincial synod. In other words, the empire now had its imperial church! (Hyatt, Apostolic Leadership, 51).

In such a politicized setting, it is no wonder that the power of the simple message of Jesus was overlooked. The church and its leaders relied on the political power of the state to advance its cause rather than the power of the message itself, which Paul said, is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

This preoccupation with political power and the divisions it produced weakened the Church and the Empire and made both vulnerable to the Muslim invaders. At this critical moment in our history, let us remember that no politician can save us. There must be a turning to God Himself. Let us remember the words of Isaiah 33:22, For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.

Reason #2
Personal Faith Replaced with Religious Formality

With the politicization of the church there came a corresponding loss of the personal aspect of the Christian faith. Instead of a heart relationship with God through faith in Christ, Christianity became institutionalized and formalized. Like the church of Ephesus, the churches of Constantinople came to the place where it could be said that they too had "left their first love" (Rev. 2:4).

Constantine initiated the construction of church buildings to accommodate the religious gatherings of Christians, who had previously gathered in homes and public halls. The architecture of these new buildings, with their elevated throne-like seating at the front for the bishop and rows of seating for the congregation, made significant congregational involvement impractical. In addition, the liturgy and worship style, once plain and personal, were now adorned with the pomp and practice of the Imperial court.

How far the church had removed itself from Jesus! And the institutionalization continued resulting in the church becoming more and more a complex religious system with a multitude of offices, titles and regulations, all foreign to the New Testament.

Lacking a church with the strength and vitality of a personal, dynamic faith in Jesus, the Empire found itself weakened and vulnerable when Islam came with its armies. This is why we must have a fresh Awakening unto God and Biblical truth in churches across America today. 

Reason #3
Doctrinal Rigidity & Strife

The church’s rise to political affluence and power marked the beginning of many fierce doctrinal battles, producing sharp divisions in the church. Basil of Caesarea, bishop of Cappadocia (a.d. 370–379), likened it to a great naval battle being fought by men who “cherish a deadly hate against one another.” He wrote;

But what storm at sea was ever so wild and fierce as this tempest of the churches. In it every landmark of the Fathers has been moved; every foundation, every bulwark of opinion has been shaken; everything buoyed up on the unsound is dashed about and shaken down. We attack one another. If our enemy is not the first to strike us, we are wounded by the comrade at our side (Eddie Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity, 36).

Although there were already cultural and ecclesial differences, the churches of the East (Constantinople) and the West (Rome) eventually formally separated over a seemingly trivial doctrine about the Holy Spirit. The Roman church insisted that the Holy Spirit proceeded from both the Father and the Son. The Constantinian church insisted that the Holy Spirit proceeded only from the Father. 

This seemingly trivial doctrinal difference became a major source of strife and division and eventually led (along with political strife) to a formal division of East and West when, in 1054, Rome and Constantinople formally excommunicated each other.

We must remember that "Satan divides in order to subtract but God adds in order to multiply." Both were drastically weakened by this division but Byzantine would suffer the most. When the Ottoman Turks began rattling their swords toward Constantinople in the fifteenth century, the city, in desperation, signed an agreement with Rome in which it agreed to recognize the authority of the pope in return for Rome’s help against the Turks.

But when the Muslim invaders attacked the city, Rome did not send help and after a long siege the great city of Constantinople fell to the Muslim invaders. For three days the city was plundered and many of its inhabitants slaughtered. Priceless art and manuscripts were destroyed. Magnificent churches were turned into mosques and all Christians who were unwilling to convert to Islam were placed under a heavy tax known as the jizya. 

The great Byzantine Empire came to an end after a thousand years of existence. The region--now present day Turkey—is under Islamic control to this day.

How We Must Respond

I do not write this to create fear, but to inculcate a seriousness and soberness about the time in which we live. I write that we might learn from the past and not repeat the same mistakes and suffer a similar fate. I write this to emphasize that larger buildings and more beautiful liturgies will not save us. 

Byzantine had magnificent church buildings and beautiful liturgies, but these things did not suffice in the day of trouble. We must have a genuine Spiritual awakening that restores sanity and truth to the churches and the nations. We must have another Jesus Revolution,

Only the truth will set us free and only the truth presented in the power of the Holy Spirit will change the hearts of Muslims all over the world for whom Christ died and rose again. Join with me and others in praying for such an Awakening in America and around the world.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt's latest book, America's Reawakening, is a must read at this critical moment in history. It is available from Amazon and his website at https://www.eddiehyatt.com. 

     
      Drs. Eddie & Susan Hyatt







Drs. Eddie & Susan Hyatt