Below is a warning meant to sober citizens of Brunei and all other lands! [My own commentary follows after that.]
http://www.brunei.gov.bn/hotnews/0405/30/Khutbah.htmMoslem are warns of ways of deviating the Ummah.
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Muslims beware...! There're hostile elements or propagandists moving around trying to deviate the Ummah from Islam. Of late, the efforts of these groups have intensified, and the techniques used have become more varied in the quest to make Muslims leave Islam and become apostate. The reminder comes in today's Khutbah or Friday sermon.
Among the techniques used to deviate Muslims is befriending and helping needy people. The Khutbah warns that the enemies of Islam are relentless in their desire to wipe out Islam and its followers from the face of the Earth. They use many tactics including endearing themselves to people in difficulties such as the jobless and the homeless. This they achieve by insincerely providing sustenance, work, houses, education and other assistance. Behind the mask of kindness, the hostile elements carry out their propagation, handing out documents, books, cassettes and other religious oriented material. After softening the targets with such moves, they continue by asking the victims to join them in prayers. The targeted people are given something called black water to drink, that turns their tongues black and prevents them from uttering the Syahadah or Islamic pledge when they hear the Azan or call to prayer. Strangely, the black water is given to Muslims only. The confessions of people who had been tricked and became apostates, suggest that they succumbed to the trickeries of the enemies of Islam because of life's pressures, the lack of religious knowledge and weak faith. In this regards, the sermon warns of the dangers of not having religious knowledge.
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Some thoughts that come to mind:
1. It seems that the Khutbah believes it is possible for the Ummah to leave Islam. Interesting thought: The "Mother" of Muslims to embrace the man, Jesus Christ, is this what people are warned against. This get's me to thinking ... [See an upcoming journal about "A woman shall embrace a man." Jeremiah 31:22]
2. Some believe that the "love" is a technique. (I say love, which others would call charity and mean the same thing: patient kindness or faithful compassion -- for that is what most people would call the deeds described.) I thought the essence of life is love. No technique of man can create love or peace, or life for that matter. All we can do is bring help in the match-making process (at best).
3. Some perhaps believe that the Gospel is a human "technique." More accurately, one should say that the Good News is the way God works to bring about healing in every area of life. (For those who are unfamiliar with the Gospel, I will define it here, as Paul defines it in 1 Corinthians 15:1 of the New Testament and following: Jesus Christ was crucified and buried according to the Scriptures. He rose again on the Third day according to the Scriptures. After this he appeared to many, many people. ... Christ is risen? Some may tentatively ask, and I would joyfully get to tell them, Yes, Christ is risen indeed, the way of forgivness from God is made clear!)
4. If this is the sort of folks that the Khutbah is meaning to warn people about: loving, forgiving, God-fearing people who hope to live with God for eternity -- Who are they trying to urge people to follow? (Are we to associate with mean, bitter, godless people who desire to spend life away from God? Astaghfar Allah! God forbid!)
5. Some of the "tactics" "used to deviate Muslims" : "befriending and helping needy people; endearing themselves to people in difficulties such as the jobless and the homeless; providing sustenance, work, houses, education and other assistance; kindness; handing out documents, books, cassettes and other religious-oriented material; asking the victims to join them in prayers." ... Is there something wrong with such actions? Is it wrong do do these? Certainly, if a person were "insincere" and were only "masking" a "black" heart. But what if that person's heart were "white"? Who are we as mere mortals to judge another man's heart? Are you put here to judge a woman's soul? God forbid that we should judge anyone in this way. Indeed, I do not even judge myself in this way. (Again, if you wish to see the only sure basis for having a confidence and hope before God of having a clean heart on the last day, please refer to #3 above: Jesus Christ [Whom the Imam would refer to as Isa Almasih.] is in heaven praying for me and reminding God that my sins have been removed because of His death.)
6. "The Khutbah warns that the enemies of Islam are relentless in their desire to wipe out Islam and its followers from the face of the Earth." This sounds like a scare tactic to me. It reminds me of propaganda used by governments to frighten citizens into submission. (Please refer to general manuals on propaganda & the psychology of fear for further information. I am not a specialist in this field.) I am less concerned about being on the face of the earth forever, than about not being cast into the lake, the sea of fire on the last day, far away from the presence of God. BUT, again, thanks be to God who gives us the victory, the hope, in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Tuhan kita, Al-Rabb.
7. "The targeted people are given something called black water to drink, that turns their tongues black and prevents them from uttering the Syahadah or Islamic pledge when they hear the Azan or call to prayer. Strangely, the black water is given to Muslims only." If this sort of water is indeed given to people, the fellow who gave the Khutbah can't be preaching against Christ and the people who follow Jesus Christ. I have never heard of any Christians giving others any sort of "black water" that had the "magical" properties described here. Perhaps, there are some pagans, some witches, some confused souls who involve themselves in such dark arts, but the Lord Jesus, Tuhan Yesus, has nothing to do with this. Indeed, in John 4, he referred to himself as the One who could give water such that the woman would never thirst again. Later in the Good News as the beloved disciple & follower of Jesus recounted it, John tells about Jesus inviting people to come to Him so that Rivers of Living Water would come from their bellies.
"Oh, Lord Jesus, our Living Water, let us drink deep of your the Word. Let us know your Father as our Father. Let us taste and see your clear and refreshing glory, or Lord God of the heavens!! Let us behold, how you took away our sins when you died so long ago. Come, Lord, speak to us even now! We so desperately need you today. We praise you as the Living One, who was dead, and is Alive forever more!! Thank you for loving us: for making a home for the lonely, for teaching us in the ways of righteousness, for giving us work on your land, a good land, the beautiful and bountiful earth which You have full authority over & which is renewed by Your unfailing love!!! Let us love one another as well, in truth. Lord, keep us from the evil one, the author of lies, the deceiver & the trickster who would seek to bind us in blindness. For you alone receive the glory, honor, & praise as our King, coming again to judge the living & the dead!"
I will close with a few small thoughts: the sermon warns us against lack of religious knowledge. How true! How true! If we preach love, but do not practice it, we are indeed worse than unbelievers. "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:26-27 (NIV)
Yes, love is dangerous! It led Jesus to the cross. But without such love, what would life be?
Oogah, Boogah!! Nice people are on the prowl!!