Our future environmental climate is less important than the future religious one
Prognostication is an uncertain business. When screenwriter Bob Gale and others involved in producing the Back to the Future trilogy depicted 2015 in Part 2, they came pretty close with a lot of the technology they envisioned. But looking back on it from the future (in other words, from the real 2015), in some ways it still has that comical, black and white, 1950s sci-fi B-movie feel. Understandably, though. None of us can accurately predict the future in all of its details.
Recently, USA Today asked Gale to make predictions for another 30 years ahead, and as in the film, much of what he foresees deals with advances in technology. But he also delves into some sociological soothsaying, predicting less privacy and more legal recreational drugs, a declining birth rate and growing unemployment, new moral dilemmas and continuing economic crises.
Though predicting the future is an inexact endeavor, we need to be making our best guesses anyway so that we can adjust course if we see ourselves heading down a dangerous path. Some in the present see climate change as the biggest threat and primary concern for our future. Rising sea levels, floods and drought, drastic weather patterns spell doom and gloom for future generations, according to them. The current administration is fully on board with that as well as the Democrats who hope to be in the future administration.
But though it’s wise to be concerned about the habitability of our planet for future generations, what President Obama calls the “issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other” is a forecast based on sketchy and manipulated data which often disregards history. Yet there is a different danger that is clear and present, well-established by current facts, and testified to by undisputed historical records that is being downplayed if not ignored. The indeterminate, controversial, theoretical threat is being magnified while the very real danger to our personal freedoms in our own lifetimes is getting lost in its disregard.
I’m talking about the resurgence of militant Islam, which goes back to the very founding of the religion. Middle East expert Daniel Pipes says, “During his years in power, the prophet [Muhammad] engaged in an average of nine military campaigns a year, or one every five to six weeks; thus did jihad help define Islam from its very dawn. Conquering and humiliating non-Muslims was a main feature of the prophet’s jihad.” Islam throughout its history has been spread by the sword.
We see this thirst for conquest and humiliation of “infidels” clearly and presently and dangerously in the barbarous brotherhood known as ISIS, ISIL, or most recently IS – the Islamic State. They dropped the I, S, and L so as not to be seen as restricted to Iraq, Syria, or the Levant. Because their intent is world domination…Islam and Sharia law in every country…including the United States. I don’t think there can be any doubt that we are looked on as the crown jewel in their caliph’s turban.
They’re here, using different tactics than the overt violence they are carrying out in the Middle East…a slower, more methodical and subversive strategy. But the goal is the same. Domination. And we clear the path for their conquering hordes by believing the lies that Islam is a religion of peace. I’m sure there are many Muslims who are peaceful and want peace. But they need to be told the truth about their prophet and their holy book, and that Jesus, whom they acknowledge as holy, is the Prince of Peace and their Savior.
A more accurate look forward requires a look back at the past, and open eyes to see the present. Even if the climate change alarmists are correct, rising sea levels and warmer temperatures will matter little if your lives and those of your children and grandchildren are threatened if you and they do not convert.
