When refuting Islam, history is more effective than hysteria

Robert Jeffres, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, fancies himself as the next Jerry Falwell. That is, he presents himself to the media and to the world as the spokesman for fundamentalist Christianity, wrapping himself in a pseudo-prophetic mantle, warning that, absent some heavy duty repentance and turning back to obeying the laws of God, doom is imminent.

Jeffres, however, is no Falwell.

To begin with, Falwell was more of a social crusader and proto-culture warrior than a doomsayer. While he shared with Jeffres the same aberrant view of eschatology (pre-millennial dispensationalism), its excesses were muted, especially after Falwell dove headlong into American politics and actively campaigned for numerous causes, even going so far as to endorse candidates for office. Correcting the moral course of the country through the political process was antithetical to Falwell's theological orientation. He was more functionally post-millennial than pre-millennial. Whether or not you agreed with him, he was an articulate spokesman for a particular moral vision, although he did occasionally lapse into hysterics. Moreover, Falwell's enduring legacy is that of a pioneering Christian educator, having founded what has now become a well respected institute of higher learning.

Jeffres, conversely, lacks all of Falwell's virtues while possessing all of his shortcomings in spades. In his frequent appearances on cable television programs, he comes across as buffoonish and intellectually incurious, regurgitating what has been standard fundamentalist boilerplate for over half a century. Last year, he published a book in which he made the convoluted argument that Barack Obama, while not himself "the Antichrist," was nevertheless "clearing the way" for his coming. Like so many dispensationalist doomsayers before him, Jeffres based nearly all of his dire predictions on the faltering moral condition of the United States, giving no consideration to the good, bad, or indifferent conditions of other nations.

More recently, however, Jeffres has taken a more international view, setting his sights on Islam and the mortal peril it poses to its followers.

"It was Satan himself who delivered those delusions to those people to lead people by the millions away from God," Jeffress told his 11,000-member congregation. "Islam is a false religion that will lead you to hell. It is based on a false book that is based on a fraud. It was founded by a false prophet who was leading people away instead of to the one true God."

Jeffress made parallels between Islamic radicals like Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and ISIS and the antichrist. The antichrist, he explained, will work to exterminate Jews and Christians from the world just like these terrorist groups.

"Did you know that there were more martyrs in the 20th century than all the other centuries combined together? ... Jesus said, 'These things are going to be like the birth pains of a woman. They will increase in intensity and in frequency,' he warned.

"Christians will be slaughtered by the millions for their faith in Jesus Christ. You say, 'Wait a minute, during the tribulation? I thought all Christians were going to be raptured and we were going to get out of here and that there weren't going to be any Christians. It's true, the church will be raptured before the final seven years of Earth's history, but during that final seven years, many people will come to faith in Christ but they will pay a terrible price to do so."

Jeffress made clear that the Quran is a fake, noting over 35 verses that command Muslims to murder Jews and Christians who get in the way of Islam's jihad.

The Quran is filled with phony stories and includes over 35 commands to kill Christians and Jews and those who stand against the expansion of Islam.

"These terrorists are Islamic terrorists, doing what they're doing in the name of their faith," said Jeffress. You cannot find one single verse in the New Testament that calls for violence against non-believers. Jesus said to love your enemies. Muhammad said to butcher your enemies."

Set aside, for the moment, the references to the "rapture" and the seven year "tribulation," a dispensationalist "end times" scenario developed from a misinterpretation of a patchwork of unrelated biblical texts. That is to be expected from a preacher of Jeffres' theological bent. Weeding all that out, his harangue against Islam certainly points out some of its obvious dangers and rightly condemns the despicable practices of its most radical practitioners. But the argument is undermined by a lack of historical perspective. Simply calling Islam "Satanic" and labeling it a "false religion," without explaining the circumstances surrounding its origins, makes for nothing more than an hysterical rant.

It is all too easy to rage against Islam and its holy book as the work of Satan. It is a bit more challenging to buttress that claim with solid historical evidence. As Peter Leithart has noted in his review of the essay collection, The Hidden Origins of Islam, there is credible scholarly opinion that the Quran was originally intended as a lectionary of Scripture readings compiled by a heretical Syriac Christian sect. The term "Quran" itself means "lectinarium." In other words, Islam's sacred book was intended as commentary on Scripture (Old and New Testaments), not as Scripture in and of itself.

The most likely explanation for the historical origin of Islam is that it grew out of Nestorianism and Monophysitism, two ancient heresies which were popular among Syriac Christians. Islam is best understood, then, as a heresy of a heresy; not so much a false religion as an apostasy of the true religion.

None of this makes Islam any less "Satanic." Any claim which denies Jesus is the Messiah is antichrist and of the Evil One. It is important, however, when seeking to expose the falsehood of Islam, to understand its actual historical origins rather than simply hurling a-historical hyperbole and invective.