Brunei Pronouced bru-'nai, check the CIA Factbook or Wikipedia for a few quick facts, then consider that Brunei owes its prosperity and wealth nearly exclusively as an energy supplier to the industrial nations and that need for inexpensive and abundant energy. Thus, this small Islamic controlled country and member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC) situated along the coast of the South China Sea and ruled by one family for over 600 years has sold the vestiges of this present earth’s ancestors; the remains of the dead bodies of once living organisms. Morphed over time into a substance containing the past energy of the sun that we call oil.
John, a disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God, recorded a vision he had while on a Greek Island several thousand years ago. Just after he saw what could be the first Islamic beast rise from sea he saw what could be a second Islamic beast rise from the earth. Why the earth as a symbol? Oil. Oil gave life to the beast. In books and websites about tiny, wealthy, prosperous, peaceful Brunei the great mosques are showcased, built from the wealth of oil. Majestic it could be said. Certainly they are the largest and tallest of the buildings which infers to its subjects and supposedly to others, the supremacy of Islam. In reality it was the vestiges of the bodies of the earth’s past life forms that have been resurrected by rig and pump that brought the wealth and the resurgence of modern Islam, that second lamb-like dragon-speaking beast of John’s vision.
In the 1400’s the introduction of Islam to Brunei was due to trade inducements rather than the sword and has been propagated by an unbroken string of 29 sultans. The state is controlled by political Islam, a sharia based system that the muslim inhabitants called Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB). Though its constitution does lip service to freedom of religion at best, Brunei merely allows the Christian religion and Chinese ideologies to exist in a tightly controlled fashion. Beliefs other than the state controlled system, cannot be taught in any school, nor spoken about in public. Christian schools must teach anti-Christian Islam. Religious symbols are illegal except for state controlled Islamic symbols.
An example of one such symbol is the national flag. As with other Islamic controlled states the flag contains Arab script and the crescent moon. From a Christian viewpoint the crescent is a very appropriate symbol for Islam. The first chapter of Genesis tells how God created two lights, greater light was the sun that ruled the day, and the lessor was the moon that ruled the night. This waning crescent is not a true light in itself but a reflection of the sun off a cold, lifeless rock; the light that rules the night. A waning crescent whose next phase is a moonless night of darkness. Now the flags of the armed forces for Brunei contain Islam’s other symbol, the crossed swords, which symbolizes violence, conquest, death and forced rule.
As the state continues to move forward with its philosophy of a purer Islam and when oil incomes and wealth begin to wane like the crescent moon, pray for those remaining Christians and Chinese. As in other Islamic controlled nations, they may become scapegoats and dealt with harshly by a populace carried along by the ever-darkening momentum force of seeking a purer Islam.
The government assists muslim subjects financially for trips to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Before starting this trip the participants need to repeat a specific prayer to their god. For Christians it should be noted that the chant contains what amounts to be a distortion of and denial of the deity of Christ: Thou art without associate. The Islamic beast forces this denial and the Brunei muslim using that specific prayer called the talbrijah, unknowingly rejects the mercy, grace and love of God. After entering the mosque in Mecca (right foot first) they then ask for their god to forgive their sins.
Several organizations online ask for your prayer regarding Brunei and if you are interested take the time to pray. Here are some suggested guidelines. Bring a few fish or a few loaves to the Lord, or find a smooth stone, who can say what may be the result!
This is an opinion piece and I am not affiliated with any of the linked sites.
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