QUESTION: Who’s more dangerous than Osama bin Laden, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il combined? Here’s a few hints: He doesn’t rant and rave in the fashion of Hitler, Krushev, or Castro – he speaks quietly and eloquently. He doesn’t dress up in an opulent solider’s uniform bedecked with fake medals like Idi Amin, Sadaam Hussein, or Moammar Khadafi – instead he prefers sport coats with open-necked shirts.
I’m talking about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Born to a blacksmith, educated as a revolutionary, trained as a killer and derided by rivals as a mystical fanatic, Ahmadinejad is easily cast as the personification of everything there is to fear about a nuclear Iran.
This past week he spoke at Columbia University and the United Nations. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who was criticized for inviting Ahmadinejad to speak, issued an excoriating introduction in which he said, “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a cruel and petty dictator.” President Bollinger also challenged Ahmadinejad’s public denial of the reality of the Holocaust, noting: “In a December 2005 state television broadcast, you described the Holocaust as a fabricated legend. One year later, you held a two-day conference on Holocaust deniers.”
One reason Ahmadinejad is dangerous was revealed by his calm reaction to such a negative introduction. Where some leaders would have been so insulted they would have left the stage, Ahmadinejad acknowledged that the introductory remarks were harsh and that in his country, guests are treated with respect. Then he launched into his speech.
If you read or watched the news reports, most of the attention was focused on the Q&A time in which Ahmadinejad denied there were homosexuals in Iran, (to the hoots and laugher of the audience). He also blatantly questioned who was really responsible for the 9/11 attacks on America, then talked about his desire to visit Ground Zero (which was refused, of course). He denied that Iran was influencing any of the insurgency attacks in Iraq. He also calmly denied that he had ever questioned the reality of the Holocaust. His actual recorded remarks from 2005 are: "They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," and "The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets. (It) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet." Here’s a man who can lie easily without even looking uncomfortable.
But what most of the public didn’t read or hear in the news clips were his remarks in the text of his prepared speech. Ahmadinedjad talked more about God in his speech than perhaps any speaker in the past 20 years at this liberal Ivy League school! Of course, he was talking about Allah, the god of Islam, who is NOT the God of the Bible. But most of the hearers at Columbia wouldn’t have made that distinction. Here’s a sample of some of his remarks:
"Dear academics, dear faculty and scholars, students, I believe that the biggest God-given gift to man is science and knowledge. Man's search for knowledge and the truth through science is what it guarantees to do in getting close to God [sic]. But science has to combine with the purity of the spirit and of the purity of man's spirit so that scholars can unveil the truth and then use that truth for advancing humanity's cause.
"Dear academics, dear faculty and scholars, students, I believe that the biggest God-given gift to man is science and knowledge. Man's search for knowledge and the truth through science is what it guarantees to do in getting close to God [sic]. But science has to combine with the purity of the spirit and of the purity of man's spirit so that scholars can unveil the truth and then use that truth for advancing humanity's cause.
God is aware of all reality. All researchers and scholars are loved by God. So I hope there will be a day where these scholars and scientists will rule the world and God himself will arrive with Moses and Christ and Mohammed to rule the world and to take us toward justice.
My dear friends, all the words and messages of the divine prophets from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to David and Solomon and Moses, to Jesus and Mohammad delivered humans from ignorance, negligence, superstitions, unethical behavior, and corrupted ways of thinking, with respect to knowledge, on the path to knowledge, light and rightful ethics.
Science is the light, and scientists must be pure and pious. If humanity achieves the highest level of physical and spiritual knowledge but its scholars and scientists are not pure, then this knowledge cannot serve the interests of humanity.
If you care to read all of his speech and the Q&A you can find the transcript at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297930,00.html
I read every word of the transcript, and if you take the time to read it, you’ll have to admit that Ahmadinejad is NOT a wild-eyed, ignorant, Islamic fanatic. He is a calm, educated, confident Islamic fanatic. In my opinion, that makes him much more dangerous. I’m not saying that he’s the Antichrist, or that he has 666 stamped under his scruffy beard. But he’s part of a new breed of Islamic radicals who aren’t content to hide in a cave and direct covert terrorist attacks on America. Instead he visits our country and smiles while he lobs perverted intellectual/religious ideological bombs with impunity.
Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matt 7:15)
Ahamadinejad denies his country is interested in building a nuclear bomb. But scientists believe that Iran is close to having enough enriched Uranium to fabricate a weapon. Adamadinejad has made statements that would indicate that he believes he is called to usher in Armageddon. He has called for the total extermination the nation of Israel. When he spoke at the UN in 2006 he ended his speech by making reference to soon-coming "return of the Hidden Iman" who Shiites believe will usher in the end of time.
You can bet that Israel is watching Iran closely. I suggest that every patriotic American and every Christian who understands end-time prophecy keep a wary eye on this wolf in casual clothing.
