Ramblings of a Heavy Heart

While surving in Iraq I periodically have thoughts that weigh heavy on my heart and this is one that I am constantly thinking about.

"Being in the Middle East where the law of the land is with out a doubt Islam, I have come to a sobering realization. Through out my life I have witnessed God’s hand in my life and in those around me in amazing ways. I even went to a Christian College. I have learned so much in the years that I have been on the earth about God and how he works. I have learned to trust God’s will and rely on His plan for not only me but for the world as a whole. In the US we have been sheltered from the darkness in the rest of the world. The history of the US has been one of Christian faith and our culture is surrounded, overtly evident or not, by it. Now that I am in Iraq, I see how the same is true here but with Islam. This saddens me to the absolute core. Tonight I could not sleep because I had this dark cloud just hovering over me. It is not because of the war, soldiers and friends being killed or hurt, rather because I had come to a realization.
In recent days, I have seen first hand the impact of Islam on these people here. We have had to enter two mosques over the course of this last week because they were either used as fighting positions or because insurgents fled into them after conducting attacks on coalition forces. In the first one we found a cache of weapons and in the second we found all sorts of anti-coalition propaganda.
The way this religion works is it preys on the poor, the ignorant and the uneducated. The people are taught that whatever the Imam of the mosque says is truth. The Imams are the highly educated people of the populous and they use this position of power to coerce the people to do what the Imam wants and with devastatingly effectiveness. If the Imam hates Jews or Americans, he will make sure that so do those that come to his mosque. While those that come to his mosque are out killing my friends and on occasion being killed themselves, the Imam is safe away from everything claiming that he had nothing to do with the incidents.
This religion is one of hatred and control. Islam is based on the writings of ONE man that was an epileptic mad-man! Mohammed’s “prophecies” were the result of seizure induced hallucinations. In the end, he used his charisma to give his followers what they want; the freedom to pillage neighboring nomadic tribes or countries under the banner of Allah. Allah is a figment of Mohammed’s demented mind. Allah is a false god and an idol. Satan successfully produced a religion that the embodiment of himself.
These people here have such a hatred deeply seeded and little can be done to reach them except the grace of God himself. I pray that God will help me to understand His will and help me to live my life in love of these people regardless of their hatred and lost nature."