LIGHT IN THE SHADOW OF JIHAD
Author RAVI ZACHARIAS
Publisher MULTNOMAH
ISBN 1-57673-989-9
Many will know of this author, famed as being a Christian apologist, someone who always has something of value to put into print. This particular little volume was published in 2002 and was provoked by the tragic events of 9/11, events that significantly changed the face of the world. The subtitle is, ‘The Struggle for Truth,’ and expresses concisely the contents of the six chapters. The questions the wickedness of the terrorist attacks raised are many but Zacharias concentrates on why it is that many called the event evil and the perpetrators called it good. Where was God and on whose side? Do these terrorists represent the true nature of Islam or are they a distortion? Are such events prophesied in the Bible? What of the future for USA and the world? It is perhaps helpful that Ravi Zacharias comes from a varied background racially. At twenty years old he migrated to Canada and from there to USA where he has made the base of his international ministry. There is certainly a logic to his reasoning in these chapters but also a beauty and the way he honours his adoptive country enriches the whole. He does not pull any punches but there are no overtones of a vicious spirit as he rejects the elements of Islam that undergird terrorism. In the chapter dealing with Islam itself he captures the essence of the history briefly and exactly drawing the needful conclusions as he does on the chapter about whether God ‘takes sides’. Written fourteen years ago the ‘shadow’ of Islam has not gone away but intensified. The prophets foretold such clash of the kingdoms and in the vision in the book of Daniel there was a stone that smote all those kingdoms so that they fell and were no more. Much more has been written by many Christian authors in the latter years, but this book still stands as capturing the main issues succinctly.
