![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Pope-Francis-and-Imam-of-Blue-Mosque.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n“The Bible tells us to pray for<\/em>\u00a0unbelievers, not to pray with<\/em> them.”<\/h1>\nby Scott Rohter, December 2014<\/p>\n
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Pope Francis recently travelled to Istanbul where he met\u00a0the Grand Mufti of the Blue Mosque. While\u00a0he was there\u00a0Pope Francis took the occasion to pray together\u00a0with this high ranking Imam. With his head bowed\u00a0 standing next to the Mufti\u00a0facing in the direction of Mecca this Pope made quite an unusual image for us to consider. This is not what you would expect from the leader of the Catholic Church and an official representative of Christianity.<\/p>\n
It is a Muslim custom to pray facing\u00a0the direction of Mecca. It is\u00a0not a Christian custom. Neither\u00a0are Mecca or Medina\u00a0 holy cities to Christians. We don’t turn our heads or hearts toward Mecca while we pray. There are\u00a0enough Muslims who\u00a0can do that and the carnage they bring to the world is obvious.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know what\u00a0in the world Pope Francis was thinking while he stood there next to the Mufti\u00a0and prayed\u00a0or why he was even looking in the direction of Mecca for answers to\u00a0his prayers. The only thing coming from Mecca for the past sixty years is\u00a0terrorism and the shedding of blood. I am certain that the Imam was praying\u00a0to Allah\u00a0in Arabic while quoting from the\u00a0Quran. At\u00a0some point I am\u00a0sure\u00a0he\u00a0exclaimed, “Allah u Akbar”.\u00a0<\/em>This is \u00a0the same acclamation that Muslims all over the world make every time they cut off the head of another innocent victim of\u00a0Islamic Jihad. <\/em><\/p>\nIn all fairness to the Catholic Pope he could have been crying over all the lost souls\u00a0in the cities of Mecca and Medina as he looked toward the east in their direction. That is the only justification I can possibly think of for\u00a0facing Mecca while praying. That might explain why the Pontiff turned toward Islam’s holy cities as he prayed with the Imam. After all Jesus wept over Jerusalem…<\/p>\n
But the Pontiff\u2019s visit was carefully orchestrated not to coincide with mandatory noon hour prayers at the mosque so as not to offend\u00a0delicate Muslim sensitivities. Delicate?\u00a0 Sensitive?\u00a0I don’t think so. There is nothing delicate or sensitive\u00a0about these brutal savages who cut off people\u2019s heads in the name of their blood thirsty god. The Bible tells us to pray for<\/em>\u00a0unbelievers, not to pray with<\/em> unbelievers. It tells us that Christians are\u00a0children of\u00a0the light and\u00a0we are not supposed to have any fellowship with\u00a0darkness. Therefore\u00a0Christians\u00a0should\u00a0not pray with<\/em>\u00a0Muslims. We should pray for<\/em> Muslims. It isn’t\u00a0any harder to understand than that.<\/p>\nI know\u00a0the Pope was only trying to be a messenger of peace, but you can\u2019t make peace with a bunch of barbaric savages who are only intent on making more war. There is a time to make peace and a time to make war and this Pope should read\u00a0the Book of Ecclesiastes\u00a0over\u00a0until he understands that.\u00a0It seems\u00a0to me like he cannot discern the signs of the times. He is\u00a0also very lucky that he got out of Turkey alive with his head still attached to his shoulders. It would have made a fine trophy for ISIS or for any number of other Muslim groups over there.<\/p>\n
Islam is a blood thirsty\u00a0cult that worships a blood thirsty god. It was created by a blood thirsty\u00a0tribal chieftain\u00a0while\u00a0waging a bloody war of conquest against all of his opponents.\u00a0Most of Mohammed\u2019s early followers\u00a0were\u00a0forcibly converted at the point of a sword and most Muslims today will only see the light at\u00a0the tip of another\u00a0sword, or the barrel of a smoking gun, or by some act of Divine intervention. \u00a0Brutal force is the only law that most Muslims\u00a0have ever known and\u00a0mercy and grace are two concepts that they don’t understand so it is a total waste of time for Pope Francis to bring an olive branch to the Muslim world. We cannot win them over to our way of thinking by turning the other cheek or praying to Mecca, or making any more concessions to accommodate them. Islam employs a rigid set of double standards whenever it comes to inter-acting with non-Muslims. It is customary and even acceptable in their religion for Muslims to lie to Christians and Jews in order to accomplish their goals.<\/p>\n
In all fairness to the Catholic Pope he could have been crying over all the lost souls\u00a0in the cities of Mecca and Medina as he looked toward the east in their direction. That is the only justification I can possibly think of for\u00a0facing Mecca while praying. That might explain why the Pontiff turned toward Islam’s holy cities as he prayed with the Imam. After all Jesus wept over Jerusalem…<\/p>\n
But the Pontiff\u2019s visit was carefully orchestrated not to coincide with mandatory noon hour prayers at the mosque so as not to offend\u00a0delicate Muslim sensitivities. Delicate?\u00a0 Sensitive?\u00a0I don’t think so. There is nothing delicate or sensitive\u00a0about these brutal savages who cut off people\u2019s heads in the name of their blood thirsty god. The Bible tells us to pray for<\/em>\u00a0unbelievers, not to pray with<\/em> unbelievers. It tells us that Christians are\u00a0children of\u00a0the light and\u00a0we are not supposed to have any fellowship with\u00a0darkness. Therefore\u00a0Christians\u00a0should\u00a0not pray with<\/em>\u00a0Muslims. We should pray for<\/em> Muslims. It isn’t\u00a0any harder to understand than that.<\/p>\n I know\u00a0the Pope was only trying to be a messenger of peace, but you can\u2019t make peace with a bunch of barbaric savages who are only intent on making more war. There is a time to make peace and a time to make war and this Pope should read\u00a0the Book of Ecclesiastes\u00a0over\u00a0until he understands that.\u00a0It seems\u00a0to me like he cannot discern the signs of the times. He is\u00a0also very lucky that he got out of Turkey alive with his head still attached to his shoulders. It would have made a fine trophy for ISIS or for any number of other Muslim groups over there.<\/p>\n Islam is a blood thirsty\u00a0cult that worships a blood thirsty god. It was created by a blood thirsty\u00a0tribal chieftain\u00a0while\u00a0waging a bloody war of conquest against all of his opponents.\u00a0Most of Mohammed\u2019s early followers\u00a0were\u00a0forcibly converted at the point of a sword and most Muslims today will only see the light at\u00a0the tip of another\u00a0sword, or the barrel of a smoking gun, or by some act of Divine intervention. \u00a0Brutal force is the only law that most Muslims\u00a0have ever known and\u00a0mercy and grace are two concepts that they don’t understand so it is a total waste of time for Pope Francis to bring an olive branch to the Muslim world. We cannot win them over to our way of thinking by turning the other cheek or praying to Mecca, or making any more concessions to accommodate them. Islam employs a rigid set of double standards whenever it comes to inter-acting with non-Muslims. It is customary and even acceptable in their religion for Muslims to lie to Christians and Jews in order to accomplish their goals.<\/p>\n