Let Allah be Allah

Yesterday was probably one of the saddest days in Malaysia. Three churches were attacked with molotov cocktail and two exploded. One explosion did a little damage but the other gutted an office. The third, by the grace of Allah, did not explode.

The irony of the attack is, the explosions occurred in two Evangelical Protestant churches which may not support the idea of Christians calling God Allah. They believe Allah is the God of Islam and by calling Yahweh or Jesus (which is specifically stated in the Bible as the name of God for the Christians and Jews) Allah is not biblical.

The one that didn’t explode was the one thrown into the compound of Assumption Church in PJ, which is a Roman Catholic Church. The RC Church is the one that brought about the judgment of the high court that Christians can call God Allah.

Later, during the demonstration (must be a great disappointment because only few turned out; I was disappointed because I was waiting to see FRU water gunning these people and beating them with their batons), one of the demonstration leaders said Christians might have staged their own arson on those churches. The statement shows how ignorant and well, stupid, these people are. They couldn’t even tell the difference between Protestants and Roman Catholics and didn’t know that these two have been enemies for hundreds of years, though they may be grudgingly getting along well now.

Personally, I think Allah is showing His muscles. There were people praying in Assumption Church during the time of the attack and if the bomb were to explode, we can imagine the worst case scenario. But it did not and to me that was Allah’s protection.

The two exploded in the Protestant Churches, to me, could be a warning from Allah that we should not disgrace His name. Allah is God for all people and to say Allah is only for the Muslims are first, it is not what the Quran teaches, and second, it insults Allah, locked Him with a group of fanatic followers that constantly malign His name in the world. As for these Evangelical Protestant Christians, they usually believe that all other religions (including the Roman Catholics) are from the devil, deceiving people from believing in the Protestant faith hence lead them to hell. Therefore, to these Evangelical Protestant Christians, the name Allah may be from the devil, deceiving people from the true faith in the Evangelical Protestant Church. (I heard some told me that Allah is actually the name of the moon god).

As for these Muslims, to fight so passionately without using their brain and having proper understanding of what Islam is, they are basically telling Allah that He is incapable of protecting Himself and keeping His name pure. That is an insult to Allah, that He needs our protection and that He needs us to fight for Him.

I could be wrong saying that the two Protestant Churches are supporting Allah is only for the Muslims. There are many Protestants who want to be able to pray to Allah as well, especially the ones from East Malaysia. And I apologize to these two churches if I imply that perhaps it’s the judgment from Allah because they may not have supported the usage of “Allah” for Christians. I was very upset and shaken up yesterday with these churches being attacked and burned and felt very sorry for these two churches. I stand by the conviction that everyone is entitled to his/her own belief and opinion and will die for these two churches to defend their rights to their own beliefs and opinions.

The point I’m trying to make here is, there are so much misunderstanding, mistrust, and fear among us because of our differences, it’s time for all of us to come together to get to know each other better and to understand one another instead of telling one another that you are of the devil because you believe differently.

The Greek root word for demonic is to divide. To divide ourselves like that is actually demonic. The Bible says that the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. How would it do it? To steal away our peace then make us fight one another and at the end destroy one another. It has already stolen the peace and harmony in this country that used to pride itself to be the model of plurality. Up till now, there has not been any initiative from the authorities to mediate a dialog between Muslims and Christians on this issue and the ruling party's newspapers have been fanning the fire. If this is not demonic, what it is?

However, I also think the church attack incident yesterday could also be a message from Allah; do not play play the name of Allah, and Allah is the God of everybody. It's a wake up call from Allah.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Gal 6:7

“…I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Rom 9:15

Allah is sovereign and He does not need us to protect Him or to tell Him what He should do. He can fight for Himself and defends Himself. He decides which bomb should explode in which church and how much damage could be done in the explosion. He decides how many people will show up in the demonstration and, whether BN or PR will win in the next general election in 2012 or Malaysia will sink into the South China Sea in 2012.

Let Allah be Allah and let us humble ourselves before Him and submit to Him.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my (Paul) presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12-13

BLISS