Charles Colson's 'My Final Word' Warns of 'Long Bloody Clash' in War Against Radical Islam
While the Hawkins incident is on a small scale, there is nothing small about the Chinese government's sweeping efforts to suppress religious expression in one of its wealthiest provinces — efforts that Colson warned would be on the rise.
The Chinese government recently launched a campaign to remove crosses from Protestant and Roman Catholic churches across its Zhejiang Province, citing they are in violation of zoning restrictions on building heights. In a year and-a-half the government has removed 1,200 crosses, much to the dismay of the country's large Christian population of 60,000,000.
In Attacks on Truth, Colson also warns of growing anti-Christian sentiment when he writes, "… We're going to see the real anti-Christian bias over the next few years." That claim could not be better illustrated by the increasing persecution of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Arab Christians in Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Syria at the hands of terror groups like the Islamic State and al Qaeda. Scores of believers are being massacred or sold into sexual slavery because of their Christian faith and refusal to convert to Islam.
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And what's at the root of this violence? Radical Islam. Colson's 2004 memo on the subject, titled Undermining Radical Islam, is eerily accurate. It was as if he could foresee the treacherous acts of violence that would be perpetrated by extremists like Islamic State.
Colson writes that Islam is " … a theocratic religion that advances by force." He says that " … we are in a real serious war that will last for a long time, probably a couple of generations. … We are not going to win in a toe-to-toe, head-to-head confrontation with radical Islam. … It's going to be a long bloody clash, however. As Samuel Huntington said, 'Islam has bloody borders,' and indeed it does." Colson could not have been more accurate in his analysis. The daily acts of violence against Christians in the Middle East is a constant reminder of his seemingly prophetic words.
If a writer is fortunate, his words will outlive him. Charles Colson's timeless writings have experienced multiple incarnations through airwaves, newspaper columns and several books. Although My Final Word is deemed "the final book by Charles Colson," could there be more yet-to-be-discovered writings to justify another title?
Anne Morse doesn't rule-out the idea of another volume of Colson's sage advice. "... Possibly," she said. "There might be another one."
