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The Clash of Ideologies

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Much has been written since the terrorist attacks and events of 9/11 and Islam, most from a secular perspective, but few have been written from a Biblical and spiritual one-until now.

"...And so it is today, in the name of wealth, churches are accepting all religions as equal. It was then as it is today expensive to be a believing Christian."

Thus, author David Jonsson pilots a journey with the reader through the early years of the dawn of Christianity and a detailed history of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor listed in the book of Revelation-and the Holy Spirit crafts the definitive work of our times. Although the author is certainly addressing the global Christian Church, and especially the persecuted Church in the world, his detailed and compelling study of the churches of Asia Minor in the first century eerily reflects where the Church in America is today as she deals with the multi-faceted war on terror, as well as builds a bridge to an era too many contemporary Christians are detached from.

More than three years in creation, the author's experience and knowledge of Islam is founded in over thirty years first hand experience that started first in Saudi Arabia and continued with work in many Muslim countries in the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific, with memories of visits to Xingjang in western China and being awakened to the call to prayer.

Jonsson engages a detailed historical study of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, each with their foundations, growth, and downfall. One proverb states in part, "...there is no new thing under the sun." (Eccl 1:9) The reader will find the early Church's challenges they encountered in the trade guilds, their business pressures, and social contacts reflected in our own times. More trade guilds existed in Thyatira than in any other Asian city of its time, and the Christian craftsmen faced the loss of their livelihood and financial resources in refraining from the pagan communal feasts.

Likewise, today, the Christian west, and especially America under the influence of the disciples of globalism, faces crushing economic strain as the international demand for energy, to the same extent India and China continue to compete in the international marketplace for these resources, pressures American foreign policy to compromise with Arab "allies" who are bankrolling Islamist terrorism. We have seen this clearly demonstrated in our vacillating relationship with Israel.

"The Clash of Ideologies" is an armory of Church history, Biblical truth, and ideas, in one place, presented by an experienced teacher in the context of the modern day war of ideas in opposition to Islam. Jonsson states, "It is also my hope that this book will help both Christians and non-Christians to clarify their own values as they compare the scriptures of the Bible and the Sura of the Qu'ran, as well as their historical framework, as they witness the 'Clash of Ideologies' between the worlds of Christianity and Islam."

It was Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who said, "We are in a war of ideas, as well as a global war on terror...." Still, many in Western leadership are nonetheless loathe to acknowledge this conflict is ultimately "religious" and spiritual, in that intangible arena where the truth and error clash, falling or prevailing-and much at stake for the future.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.... [II Cor. 10:3-5]

This is the War of Ideas, as we "persuade men..." in patience, wisdom, and love [II Cor. 5:11]. The truths in the letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation still stand today, and David Jonsson's masterwork in "The Clash of Ideologies" reiterates again acknowledging and understanding the superiority of the Biblical ideas of our Judeo/Christian worldview, the necessity in strengthening of the Spirit-filled Church, and the continued effective proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

Reading this book will require some patience. If you have trouble with the first chapter, move on to chapter 2. You may not agree totally with the author, but it will have to be admitted that there is a background of experience and research that is driving the effort.

The author also brings a unique combination of knowledage about the subject.

This book describes the making of the Christian and Islamic worlds from ancient times to the present along with the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation. It is an insightful and thought-provoking work that makes the reader ponder whether current events such as 9/11 and other terrorist acts are a replay of those days.