September 9, 2002

(AgapePress) - A former Muslim woman turned Christian evangelist says instead of turning people to Jesus, the events of 9-11 did just the opposite. Indeed, a new poll finds that most Americans have a more positive view of Muslim-Americans today than they did before the terrorist attacks.

Sixty percent of the respondents to the Knight-Ridder survey last month said they have favorable feelings toward Muslim-Americans. That is up from 45% in early 2001. The poll also found that although the majority of people blame foreign Muslims for the attacks last September, 81% said they object to U.S. law enforcement agencies singling out American Arabs and Muslims for questioning without probable cause. [See Related Article]

W.L. Cati is the founder of Zennah Ministries, a Florida-based Christian organization founded to minister to women who are influenced by Muslims. As a woman married to a Muslim for 15 years, Cati knows all too well about the true nature of Islam. She says the events of 9-11 should have turned people to the true God of the universe, Jesus Christ -- but instead, she says, America let Satan in.

"We did not move to the forefront as Christians like we should have," Cati says. "First of all, our country didn't repent like it should have, either, and we just opened the doors and [said] 'Let's all be friendly.' "

According to Cati, the American mainline media has played a very influential role. "Look at the media coverage that Islam got," she says. "[The terrorist attacks on 9-11] did more for their evangelism cause than anything else -- they were on every single talk-show there was."

At the same time, she says, the media ripped any Christian who dared to tell the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "How many Christians were on there? None. Or the Christians that did stand up, like Franklin Graham and other ones, they got blasted."

Cati says it is incredible that in the past year, several Christian churches actually allowed Islamic religious men to speak from their pulpits. But she points out that no mosque ever allowed a Christian pastor to preach the gospel.

"Do you know there have been more converts to Islam since 9-11 here in America than ever before? [That's] because they have run with it," she says. "We opened our churches to come in and to preach Islam in our own churches. They've played on it as the underdog -- they've capitalized on it, saying 'We're all not like that.' "

That, she says, is "hogwash." The Zennah website states that the teachings of the Koran condone Muslims wives to be beaten, used, and even killed by their husbands if the husband believes it is necessary. Cati's ministry reaches out to women who have been unable or too afraid to break out of Islam.

Shallow Pleas
Dr. James Dobson echoes Cati's comment regarding the absence of national repentance following the September attacks. He says the quick drop in church attendance to pre-9-11 levels after an initial surge in the weeks following is because the response to an Almighty God was more rhetorical than real.

"While it became fashionable to utter the prayer 'God Bless America' and ask for divine assistance in that time of trouble, I heard very little during that time about our own sin and need for repentance," Dobson says in a statement released on Friday.

"Not only should we have asked God to bless us individually and corporately, but we should have beseeched Him reverently to forgive us for our depravity, for our greed, and for killing our babies."

Dobson says pleas to heaven without a spirit of remorse are shallow and self-serving. "No wonder our 'spiritual renewal' didn’t last," he says.

Followers of Christ, Dobson says, are challenged to live by example and to show a watching world the need for dependence entirely upon God. Alluding to the 9-11 attacks, he says "life can change in an instant -- and true peace of mind can only come from a relationship with Jesus Christ."

AgapePress writers Chad Groening, Fred Jackson, and Jody Brown contributed to this article.

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