32) “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

33) But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

34) “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

35) For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;

36) and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’

37) He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

38) And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

39) He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

75) And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

18) And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

16) Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

17) When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

22) Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

24) “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26) “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:

27) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

28) And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,

29) for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

6) Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—

7) saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

9) Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand,

10) he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

11) And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

12) Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

13) Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

On the face of it, conversion to Islam would appear to provide a painless escape device for any hostage who happens to fall into fundamentalist terrorist hands. After all, once free, the hostage can always revert to his real faith or non-faith. It is hard to blame the two Fox News journalists, the American Steve Centanni, 60, and the New Zealander, Olaf Wiig, 36, for taking that path on to buy their way out of an uncertain fate at the hands of Palestinian terrorists – especially as they later reported they were forced to make the gesture at gunpoint.

And, indeed the two journalists were released from 13 days of captivity in Gaza three hours after announcing their conversion on a new videotape released by the kidnappers in Gaza.

Relief over the two journalists’ coming safely out of their ordeal is quite apart from considerations of the consequences for the war on terrorism. It must be said that the Palestinian kidnappers also walked away without suffering any harm and can keep on snatching victims without fear – exactly as the same terrorist gang got away with murdering three Americans in Gaza in 2003. In fact, the prime minister Ismail Haniya, who belongs to an Islamist terror group, was allowed to take credit for the release after winning a face saver in the form of the conversions and an anti-American diatribe.
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