Book Report: Christian Jihad

“The taste of blood always made him pray.”  This quote is the opening line to Ergun and Emir Caner’s, Christian Jihad. The quote stated above holds a great description and foreshadowing of the book’s contents.  Christian Jihad is a book based on the insights and knowledge of the Crusades and the historical background of Christian pacifism.  It is intended to reveal the entirety of Christian history in regards to Christians killing in the name of God, spilling blood of infidels, and promising salvation to those who fought under the banner of Christ.  This book exposes the unspoken truth of the blood spilt of Muslims and Jews in the name of Jesus Christ, by the hands of Christians, introducing Christian Jihad. 

The first Christians were stringent pacifist in which believed it to be a sin to engage in any form of conflict, particularly military warfare.  Eventually over the years the authoritarian guidelines of military engagement loosened after increments of time. Christian military history can be broken down into four groups.  The first group, the Hunted, resided between 30 and 175 A.D, it was during this time the church was persecuted and therefore, Christians were not allowed in any military involvement.  It was not until 175 A.D. that Christians began joining military forces during the reign of Constantine.  This second group, the Courtship, resided during 175 and 324 A.D. and considered themselves as soldiers in the army of God.  The third group during the years 324 and 1000 A.D. were said to be of an unholy matrimony.   It was during this period that the church and state became equally partnered.  Soldiers came to believe that in order to do God’s work they must be on the battlefield.  It was during this time that Charlemagne was anointed as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Christian’s were commanding the army under temporal kings.  However, the Christians took a sudden change in their viewpoint of military engagement. Between 1000 and 1300 A.D. the Christian church was known as a mistress.  The church became inebriated on temporal authority and assumed it had complete control of the state.  However, the secular leaders of the time would use the church for their personal benefits and would end all connections between the two when finished.  It was due to this misusing of trust that the Crusades became the segregate of the period, Christian armies went to war under the command of the pope as the commander in chief, which leads us to our focused study topic on the Crusades.

Throughout the history of Christian warfare, the Crusades were the most significant of Christian hostilities.  November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II rose to power and initiated the darkest day of Christian history, a Christian Jihad.  Christianity has never recovered form the shadows of the decision to offer forgiveness and salvation to warriors who would slaughter all opponents who stood between them and the libertarian of Jerusalem.  The Crusade of this Christian Jihad started when Pope Urban II attempted to rescue the Christian faith form its civil war in convincing them of a more superior cause to be fighting for; the recapture of the Holy Land of Jerusalem.  Pope Urban II believed that the land of Christ was rightfully to be the owned by the Church and not by pagan Muslims.  He was convinced that initiating a jihad against the Muslims in Jerusalem were the Christians responsibility in order to aid fellow believers who were suffering, for the remission of sins, and because they were assured the imperishable glory of heaven.  Pope Urban II promised those who fought in the war against the Muslims would receive eternal forgiveness and the promise of Heaven.  The pope was now acting on both wicked and unbiblical grounds.  The Christian army, under the command of Pope Urban II, sacked the city of Jerusalem, which is known as the first crusade.  However, the Muslim’s retaliation was much more fierce than anticipated by the Christians and ended up loosing the city of Jerusalem to the Muslims after eight more crusades, eventually the Christians crusades ended after a great fall in 1291 A.D.

The Crusades – people identifying themselves as Christians who abandoned the teachings of Jesus that were to love our enemies, yet instead attempted to convert by the sword.  Christians today are still trying to make up for the crimes done in the past.  The Muslim people are a colossal amount of the world’s population, and now the hardest to witness to and the hardest to convince that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.  Impressions never die therefore, it is very important as Christians and individuals, that we are in a constant walk with the Lord through our words, actions, and hearts!  The best way to convert is to act like Christ, not through a jihad.