On Christ, Judaism. Samaritans and Islam...
It is impossible for a true Christian to see Islam as the enemy. Impossible: The example of Charles de Foucauld makes this clear.
If we need another example, We need only look to Jesus and the Samaritans.
They were a people despised by the religious culture of His day.
Distrusted, mocked, treated as outsiders by many Jews of the period. Yet Christ refused to inherit the hatred of His environment.
Who Really Were The Samaritans?
They were a fractured remnant of Israel itself, descendants of those left behind after conquest and depopulation, later mixed through intermarriage with surrounding peoples.
To many Jews of Christ’s day, they were considered impure.
Compromised.
No longer fully “us.” Which makes Jesus’ posture toward them even more unsettling.
He could have echoed the prejudices around Him.
He could have mirrored the fears of His generation.
He could have reinforced the divisions everyone already accepted as normal.
He did not.
Instead, He stayed among them.
He entered their city.
Accepted their invitation.
Taught them openly.
We have 2 examples of how to deal with those who are not "fully us”.
That True Christians CANNOT Hate Islam...
Shouldn't this slow us down?
Christianity Has Always Expected Pressure
Christians have never been promised an easy road.
Every generation of believers has been warned that pressure would come.
Every age of the Church has known misunderstanding, hostility, rejection, and persecution.
This is not strange to Christianity.
It is woven into it.
So the deepest question is not whether Christians will face opposition.
They always have.
The real question is this:
How do Christians respond when pressure comes?
Because the greatest danger to Christianity has never merely been outside the gates.
It is often much closer than that.
Closer.
More familiar.
More difficult to recognise.
It hides in plain sight.
It speaks Christian language.
Quotes Scripture fluently.
Invokes the name of Jesus constantly.
Builds churches.
Sings worship songs.
Carries microphones and titles and platforms.
And yet, quietly, almost imperceptibly, it rejects the Cross.
The More Dangerous Counterfeit
Islam does not pretend to be Christianity.
False Christianity does.
That is why Christ warned repeatedly about deception arising from within.
Not merely enemies outside the walls, but corruption already inside the house.
Not wolves battering down the gates, but wolves standing among the flock, presenting themselves as shepherds.
Somewhere along the line, many believers were handed a gospel emptied of sacrifice.
A gospel without repentance.
A kingdom without obedience.
Blessing without transformation.
Crowns without thorns.
Power without surrender to truth.
The prosperity gospel became, in many places, a substitute religion wearing Christian clothes.
And it shaped people accordingly.
It trained believers to react to pressure the way the world reacts:
With rage.
With threats.
With tribal hostility.
With vengeance dressed up as righteousness.
As though Christ never taught another way.
The Strange Logic of the Cross
Yet mature Christians have always understood something deeper.
Persecution, rightly received, becomes revelation.
Not because suffering is good in itself, but because it exposes what is genuine and what is counterfeit.
Pressure reveals foundations.
And often, persecution becomes an opportunity:
An opportunity to let light shine before those who oppose us.
An opportunity to answer hatred with restraint.
An opportunity to make room for grace where hostility once ruled.
This has always been the scandal of Christianity.
Not power.
Not conquest.
Not domination.
But love.
A stubborn, unsettling refusal to become the thing that hates us.
The Failure of Modern Christianity
We must speak honestly.
A serious problem has emerged within modern Christianity.
Many who loudly present themselves as “defenders of the faith” increasingly resemble the spirit of the world more than the spirit of Christ.
This does not strengthen Christianity.
It corrodes it.
The tragedy is that decades of shallow teaching have produced generations unable to distinguish the Shepherd’s voice from the voice of strangers.
So every angry man sounds prophetic.
Every loud man appears courageous.
Every wolf presents himself as a saviour.
And many applaud.
Because the counterfeit often asks less of us.
It demands less repentance.
Less humility.
Less self-denial.
Less transformation.
It baptises human instincts instead of crucifying them.
The Antichrist Problem
The antichrist does not always arrive denying Christ openly.
Often, he arrives replacing Him.
Replacing the Cross with ambition.
Replacing mercy with tribalism.
Replacing discipleship with spectacle.
Replacing truth with emotional manipulation.
That is why discernment matters.
The Church does not merely need enthusiasm.
It needs clarity.
Because when wolves crowd the pulpit, the flock must rise early and begin searching again for the Shepherd Himself.
Not merely for religious excitement.
Not for performance.
Not for outrage masquerading as zeal.
But for Christ.
Searching Again for the Shepherd
And this is the hope that remains.
The sheep still recognise His voice.
Even now.
Beneath the noise.
Beneath the confusion.
Beneath the religious theatre.
They still know Him.
Because truth carries a certain sound.
And Christ Himself said:
“I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me.”
— John 10:14
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
He knows His sheep.
And His sheep, even now, still know Him.
A word is enough.
Don Kenobi
Don D’Baptist
#MyFrancisEssays
#MolueMonologue
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