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Speaking as a Christian, they are not our enemies. God loves the world. And in my new book, Secret Believers, we propose the question, "Have you prayed for bin Laden today?" That question should shock a lot of Christians. Of course we haven't! That is why he is what he is. We have an evangelical black list of people we don't want to see in heaven and put bin Laden on top. Saddam Hussein is probably second.

Do you see the Middle East becoming peaceful in the short term?

We are fighting a losing battle, we are sacrificing our young people, we ruin our economy, we spoil our reputation, and we make life impossible for the American dream of Western influence. I love America and Americans. I love our culture. But if God does not see anything in our culture that he wants to protect, we face this self-chosen conflict in which we will definitely go under. And that will be a great shock to us. It's not too late. I passionately plea for understanding of this kind of Islamism. It's the basic root of the problem.

Do you think policymakers in Washington understand Islam very well?

When the chief of staff in the White House a few years ago [Andrew Card] read our book Light Force, he said these guys are the only ones who really understand what is going on in the Middle East. And he said, "Andrew has to preach in the White House." Which I did last year. I spoke about the God of forgiveness as opposed to the God of revenge.

We in the West are following or believing in the God of revenge as much as every Muslim does. So there's no need for us to sit on a pedestal. We have to come down to the foot of the Cross and learn from Jesus. He came to forgive, and he came to die. I have seen this attitude in many Christians in Gaza. It gives me hope for the future.

In my 50 years of ministry, my biggest meetings have been always in the Muslim world, teaching at a university in Gaza, speaking to the medical association there. My biggest meetings with Hamas were with 400 men. Why are we so timid? Why are we so afraid? They barely let me speak at my own evangelical church in Holland! I'm being sarcastic, but it is the truth. I find it easier to get speaking engagements with the Taliban than with my own evangelical church.

Why should evangelicals stay the course and be engaged with the Arabic church in the Middle East?

What Muslims see when we talk about the church is a completely different picture, and it is not the first important point. The most important point is what they perceive of what we say and do. This is what they think of the West: They think every white person is a Christian, every soldier in uniform is a Christian, every bomb is a Christian bomb. Nobody ridicules that idea. When we read about nuclear plans, we always talk about the Muslim bomb. Why shouldn't they talk about the Christian bomb? You see my point?

It's terrific if individuals or local churches or small, effective evangelical missions (I know many and Open Doors is only one) are really engaged with the Arabic-speaking church.

Soon I will be back in Iran. I do that with fear and trembling. I represent Jesus. I represent the body of Christ, and that is not what they perceive of the church. That's not what [Muslims] hear the church say. They see a very one-sided support of Israel. This is foremost on their mind [and] the church that drops bombs on them from F-16s and Apache helicopters. That's what they see the church is doing. It's their mindset. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. This is what it is.

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June (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51