Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: On Sept. 11, 2001, I was writing a novel about radical Islamic terrorists flying a plane into an American city.

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On Sept. 11, 2001, I was writing a novel about radical Islamic terrorists flying a plane into an American city. Some reflections 15 years later. by joelcrosenberg Few will ever forget what they were doing on September 11, 2001, when they first heard the news that the United States was under attack by radical Islamic jihadists using jet planes on kamikaze missions. I certainly never will. On that beautiful, sunny, crystal clear Tuesday morning, I was putting the finishing touches on my first novel, a political thriller called The Last Jihad, which opens with radical Islamic terrorists hijacking a jet plane and flying an attack mission into an American city. What’s more, I was doing so in a townhouse barely fifteen minutes away from Washington Dulles Airport, where at that very moment American Airlines Flight 77 was being seized and flown right over our home towards the Pentagon. At the time, I had no idea anything unusual was underway. I had begun writing Jihad in January 2001. A literary agent in Manhattan had read the first three chapters that spring. He was convinced that he could get it published, and urged me to finish it as quickly as possible. I took the advice seriously, working feverishly to get the book done before my savings account ran dry. As had become my morning ritual, I had breakfast that fateful day with my wife, Lynn, and our kids, threw on jeans and a t-shirt, and settled down to work on the novel’s second to last chapter. I didn’t have radio or television on. I was simply typing away on my laptop when, about an hour later, Lynn burst into the house and said, “You will not believe what’s going on.” She quickly explained that after dropping off two of our kids at school she had turned on the radio and heard that the World Trade Center had been hit by two planes. We immediately turned the television on and saw the horror begin to unfold for ourselves. We saw the smoke pouring out of the North Tower. We saw the constant replays of United Airlines Flight 175 plowing into the South Tower, and erupting into massive ball of fire. And then, before we could fully process it all, we saw the World Trade Center towers begin to collapse. Wherever I speak around the world, people ask me what my first reaction was, but I don’t recall thinking that my novel was coming true. I simply remember the feeling of shock. I remember calling friends at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and my agent, Scott Miller, in New York, hoping for word that they were safe but unable to get through, with so many phone lines jammed. I remember Lynn and I getting our boys back from school and the friends who came over to spend the day with us. We tracked events on television, emailed other family and friends around the country and around the world with updates from Washington, and prayed for those directly affected by the crisis, and for our President to have the wisdom to know what to do next. Were more attacks coming? Would there be a 9/12, a 9/13, a 9/14? Would there be a series of terrorist attacks, one after another, as Israel experienced for so many years? It was not until some time in late November or early December when events began to settle down enough for my thoughts to turn back to The Last Jihad. What was I supposed to do with it? No one wanted to read a novel that opened with a kamikaze attack against an American city. It was no longer entertainment. It was too raw, too real. So I stuck it in a drawer and tried to forget about it. But then something curious happened. Lynn and I were watching the State of the Union address in January of 2002 when President Bush delivered his now-famous “axis of evil” line, warning all Americans that the next war we might have to face could be with Saddam Hussein over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Lynn and I just looked at each other as if were we living in an episode of The Twilight Zone. After all, it was one thing to write a novel that opened with a kamikaze attack against America by radical Islamic terrorists. It was another thing to write a novel in which such an event triggers a global War on Terror and then leads the President of the United States and his senior advisors into a showdown with Saddam Hussein over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. But that’s exactly what happens in the novel. Scott Miller called me the next day. “Do you work for the CIA?” he asked. “No, of course not,” I assured him. “Sure, sure,” he replied. “That’s what you’d have to say if you did work for the CIA and just couldn’t tell me.” Scott believed that the dynamic had just changed dramatically and that publishers would now be very interested in The Last Jihad. The country had largely recovered from the initial shock of the 9/11 attacks. We were now on offense against the Taliban in Afghanistan. People were reading everything they could get their hands on regarding the threat of radical Islam. And there were no other novels in print or on the horizon that could take readers inside the Oval Office and White House Situation Room as an American President and his war council wrestled over the morality of launching a preemptive war against the regime of Saddam Hussein. As such, he wanted to move quickly. Jihad needed a few tweaks – acknowledging, for example, that 9/11 had happened and thus setting my fictional story a few years into the future – but other than that it was essentially ready to go. A publisher quickly agreed to take a risk on this unknown author and give the book a chance to find an audience. The Last Jihad was rushed through the publishing process and released on November 23, 2002, just as the international debate over Iraq, terrorism and WMD reached a fevered pitch. The novel caught fire immediately. Jihad sold out in many stores in less than twenty-four hours and prompted nine re-printings before Christmas. In less than sixty days, I was interviewed on more than one hundred and sixty radio and TV talk shows, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fox, and MSNBC. The questions were as much about the novel itself as about the story behind the novel. How could I possibly have written a book that seemed to foreshadow coming events so closely? Was it a fluke? Did I get lucky? Or was there something else going on? More importantly, what did I think was coming next? As you will see if you read the novel, there are a number of significant differences between my fictional scenario and what really happened. But people kept asking me about the striking parallels to real life. During such interviews, I tried to focus people on the bigger picture, summing up the theme of the novel with this line: “To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it.” The truth is, America was blindsided on 9/11 by an evil few saw coming. What’s more, those attacks were just the beginning of a long war against the forces of radical Islam, and more recently against the forces of apocalyptic Islam. The most important issue we face in the post-9/11 world is whether we have learned anything as a result of that terrible Tuesday. Do we truly understand that the forces of evil are preparing to strike us again when we least expect it? Do we truly grasp that the ultimate goal of the jihadists is not to terrorize us but to annihilate us? Are we willing to take any actions necessary to defend Western civilization from extinction? Or are we going to elevate peace over victory, retreat from the world, and simply hope for the best? It has now been fifteen years since that horrifying Tuesday, and almost fourteen years since The Last Jihad was first published. I have written ten more novels, most of them about worst case scenarios that could occur in the U.S. and the Middle East if Western leaders are blindsided by evil they don't truly understand. Together, these books have sold millions of copies and have spent months on the national best-seller lists. Jihad alone spent eleven weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list. Such broad interest is, I believe, an indication of the anxious times in which we live. While we no longer face Saddam Hussein, now we face an Iranian regime and the Islamic State threatening to wipe the U.S. and Israel off the map and build a global Islamic kingdom or caliphate. All of this raises troubling new questions: What is coming next? How bad will it be? Where will I be when it happens? And am I ready to meet my Maker if, God forbid, I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time when evil strikes again? How would you answer such questions? I believe they are as relevant today -- even urgent -- as they ever were. —————————– What Is God Doing In The Middle East? I’ll address this subject in Denver onOctober 1st. Please register for your ticket today and join us. —————————– You can now pre-order my next novel — Without Warning — which will release on March 14, 2017. Click here for details. Order The First Hostage today — the new political thriller about genocidal ISIS leaders plotting a terrorist attacks against Israel, Jordan and the United States — available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. ———————-—- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks on the U.S. and our Mideast allies. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and prayerfully consider making a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution. Thanks so much! Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg Are you ready to meet your Maker? Would you like to know God personally and have eternal life? joelcrosenberg | September 11, 2016 at 11:41 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-5yT

President Barack Obama, Apologist for Islam - MICHAEL BROWN CHARISMA NEWS

It is abundantly clear that President Obama reveres the Islamic faith and often serves as an apologist for the religion of Muhammad. (Reuters)

President Barack Obama, Apologist for Islam

12/7/2015 MICHAEL BROWN  charisma news

I do not believe that President Obama is a Muslim, but I have no doubt that he reveres Islam and that he is an apologist for Islam. Is there really any question about it?

I posted comments similar to this on social media December 5th in the aftermath of the San Bernardino massacre before reading that Sen. Ted Cruz had commented that, "We have a president right now, who at times operates as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorists." It was also before I read Donald Trump's comment that, "Our president doesn't want to use the term, 'Radical Islamic Terrorism.' There is something wrong with him that we don't know about."

There are many who believe that Barack Hussein Obama is, in fact, a Muslim, but I seriously doubt it. A real Muslim would not worship in a church building for a period of years, neglecting Islamic prayer on a daily basis and abstaining from prayer on Fridays in a mosque, nor would a real Muslim publicly and consistently profess to be a Christian. That would be a denial of his faith.

At the same time, it is abundantly clear that President Obama reveres the Islamic faith and often serves as an apologist for the religion of Muhammad.

Speaking in harmony with the president back in February, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson explained that, "The thing I hear from leaders in the Muslim community in this country is ISIL is attempting to hijack my religion."

Yes, "To refer to ISIL as occupying any part of the Islamic theology is playing on a battlefield that they would like us to be on. I think that to call them some form of Islam gives the group more dignity than it deserves frankly. It is a terrorist organization."

This echoes statements made repeatedly by President Obama, the clear implication being: If it's violent, it's not Islam since Islam is a religion of peace, despite Islam's consistently violent 1,400 year history.

But the president's defense of Islam goes beyond rejecting the idea that radical, violent, terroristic Islam can be Islamic. It is also the positive way he speaks of Islam that is striking.

It was one thing for him to greet his listeners in Cairo in 2009 with the words, "assalaamu alaykum." That could be written off as cultural sensitivity from a president who had been reared in an Islamic country (Indonesia) and went to an Islamic school.

But his words went far beyond the standard Muslim greeting. He also stated his belief that America and Islam "are not exclusive" but rather "overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." And when backing up one of his points, he noted that, "As the Holy Quran tells us, 'Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.'"

The Holy Quran? Who speaks like this without reverence for the religion? Conversely, would a devout Muslim speak of the Holy Bible when Muslims believe that our Scriptures represent a corruption of the real Word of God as represented by the Quran?

The president also spoke of "civilization's debt to Islam," noting that "throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality." (Perhaps he means the kind of "religious tolerance and racial equality" we find today in countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran—including the equality of women?)

President Obama even alleged that "since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States," referencing President John Adams' statement with the signing of the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796 that "the United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims."

Did he forget that 10 years earlier, in 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then ambassadors for America, were in Tripoli to combat the murderous Muslim pirates whose actions were backed by some Tripoli leaders in the name of Islam?

And was he unaware of the comments of John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, regarding Muhammad? Adams said that Muhammad "humbled [the Christian religion] to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust—to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature. ... Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged."

Perhaps our president has taken an airbrush to American-Islamic history and relationships?

In his Cairo speech, he also spoke of Islam being "revealed," meaning, that he affirms that God did, in fact, give the Quran to Muhammad.

And so, despite the nuances of his Cairo speech and his criticism of certain expressions of "some Muslims," he stood as not just a friend of Islam but an apologist for Islam, one who spoke with undeniable reverence for the faith of his father and the faith in which he grew up as a boy.

His statement, then, in 2012, that "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam," should not surprise us in the least, nor did his nuancing of that statement diminish its force in the least.

In President Obama, we do not simply have a leader who speaks respectfully of the world's second largest religion, as President George W. Bush also did. We have a man who reveres Islam and is committed to defending it before the world, even when it potentially undermines national security and international order.

Can this really be denied?

Michael Brown is the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire and is the president of FIRE School of Ministry. His newest book is Outlasting the Gay Revolution: Where Homosexual Activism Is Really Going and How to Turn the Tide. Connect with him on Facebook at AskDrBrown or on Twitter @drmichaellbrown.

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