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 |  Subject: Watchman Warning: The Refugee Contagion  Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:02 am | |
| Watchman Warning: The Refugee Contagion Last week, the picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi shocked the world. His lifeless body reminded us of precious little ones we have all known and loved. We recoiled to think of the horror he felt as he fought his losing battle against drowning. We wept for his anguished family. 12 million people have been displaced by the Syrian civil war. Of those, at least 4 million have crossed the border for refuge outside the country. 1.2 million have gone into Lebanon alone. That means one in five people currently residing in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. But Syria isn’t the only area from which people are fleeing. Refugees are also coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Nigeria, and more. Wherever radical Islam has taken hold, people are running away. Throughout history, mass migrations have changed the face and character of nations and peoples. A profound change has been taking place in Europe over the last couple of decades. Recently on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Donald Trump, who owns hotels in Europe, lamented what he’s seen. “Bill, I was in Paris recently, and Paris doesn’t look like Paris anymore.” With native populations dwindling, Europe long ago decided it needed a new source of labor in order to maintain its economic power and the standard of living European elites have long enjoyed. So they put out the welcome mat — especially to poor Muslims from the Middle East. They came in vast numbers. With them, they brought Sharia law, honor killings, and crime. In France, an estimated 70% of prison inmates are Muslim. But this summer’s massive new wave of refugees dwarfs what’s gone before. This time, the immigrants mostly consist of true refugees desperate to get away from the horrible effects of Islamic extremism. The question is, are they carriers of the disease from which they flee. In recent years, we have seen repeatedly that Muslims from that part of the world do not assimilate well into Western culture. Islamic nations in the Middle East fail at democracy time and again. Turkey once seemed to be the exception, but not any more. Led by President Erdoğan, Turkey is fast deteriorating into a Muslim theocracy, with all the horror that entails. The pundits tell us that Europe today faces the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. But the problem runs far deeper than that. A refugee crisis is characterized by the urgent needs of the refugees — things like food, water, shelter, and sanitation. But that represents only phase one of this crisis. The real dilemma will come as these nations try to assimilate people into a culture they have been taught to hate. In Macedonia, many of the Muslim refugees refused care packages from the Red Cross. They said they couldn’t accept them because the boxes carried the traditional Red Cross logo. To them, a cross is a cross, and they want nothing to do with it… even if it contains essential food and water for their children. Despite such extreme prejudice, Christians are finding an amazing opportunity to reach Muslims with the Gospel. On the Greek island of Lesbo, an Associated Press writer said, “Two elderly men walked among the overwhelmingly Muslim migrants handing out copies of the Bible in Arabic.” Berlin churches report large numbers of Muslims accepting Christ. Critics say these people are simply trying to increase their chances of receiving asylum from the German government. But Angela Merkel says being a Christian won’t help. She says, “Islam belongs in Germany and will remain so.” Germany and a few other European states (though not all) have welcomed the refugees. But rich Arab Gulf nations have not. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates all refuse to allow Syrian refugees a place in their countries. Even while urging Europe and the United States to accept more and more immigrants, these countries have kept their own gates chained, locked, and bolted shut. In public, they give a variety of reasons, usually criticizing the United States and Europe for focusing on the refugees while ignoring the cause of the crisis. While that’s a valid point, it ignores the desperate need these people face right now. The real reason Gulf States refuse to take in refugees is that they are afraid of the refugees. They believe ISIS and other terror groups are using these displaced people as a great Trojan horse. They believe terrorists have infiltrated the mass migration. We have evidence that they’re right, but that’s only part of the problem. Think of Islamic extremism as a disease. Who are the carriers of that illness? Muslims. People who hold the Koran dear carry Islam’s chief radicalizing agent with them wherever they go. They are carriers of the very disease whose deadly symptoms they now flee. That means that where they go, the contagion will follow. Even those Muslims, who reject radical Islam, carry the infection. And that’s a problem secular Europe is incapable of addressing. |
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