Koran burning
Christians around the world have been facing a serious backlash over US pastor Terry Jones and his aborted plan to burn the Koran on 11 September.
Pastor Jones of the ironically named Dove World Outreach Center church pulled out of his plans to burn Korans in protest over the proposed Islamic centre near Ground Zero in New York. But while he met with Muslim academics and TV chatshow hosts in the US to discuss matters, violence escalated in Afghanistan, with flag burnings and angry protests in the streets.
Relief organisations and lobby groups warned of increasing threats to Christians and of the reprisals already faced by brothers and sisters in Muslim countries as a reaction to ‘Koran-gate’.
Release says its partners in some countries had confirmed that Christian communities were already receiving threats of reprisals in Pakistan and Iraq, with possible consequences in Nigeria, North Africa and the Middle East.
Pastor Jack Sin of Maranatha Bible Presbyterian Church, Singapore, while teaching on Acts 19, said, ‘Today we don’t deal with the occult by exorcising people but by preaching. That is the biblical way to deal with the issue. In many ways, we have to be careful that we do not undermine the work of the gospel by doing other things that are unhelpful and unedifying and totally unnecessary, like the attempt to burn the Koran.
‘We should not fall into false zeal which is not according to the Word of God (Romans 10:1-2). We should stand in the truth and for the truth, but not by being violent or arrogant and unreasonable in our behaviour or words or conduct.
‘Be a good example and positive witness for Christ where you are, and walk worthy of the vocation where we are called, and share the gospel as the Lord leads and lays upon your hearts. That is the best testimony for Christ’.
