Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.—Ephesians 6:10-11
In an article written by Giulio Meotti for the Gatestone Institute, entitled, “Europe’s Cities Absorb Sharia Law,” he basically outlines the reasons why Europeans are slowly accepting Islam’s way of living to replace what he assumes is the normal basis for western civilization, which is democracy and individual freedom. But, the more one thinks about his premise, the more one can easily see that not only is it patently untrue, but it patently misleading as well.
European culture, and really the rest of the west, is predicated on Judeo-Christian ethics and values. From the spread of the Christian Gospel westward during its earliest days of the Apostle Paul and his ambition to visit Spain (Rom. 15:24, 28) through the Reformers (Calvin, Luther, Huss, Knox, etc.) in England, Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere, up to the doorstep of the Enlightenment Period, the success of Europe and the western hemisphere has been the byproduct of obeying God through His written word, the Bible.
Since, the Enlightenment Period or what Yale historian Peter Gay subtitled “The Rise of Modern Paganism,” when secular-minded men began to think that they could achieve the same success without God, Europe and the west has slowly devolved to the point where now the emptiness of such an enlightening endeavor has all but placed them into the hands of Islamic tyrants willing to impose Shariah on everyone. Not so surprising, however, many westerners, as Meotti points out, are becoming willing victims. Ethics and morals without an objective basis automatically breeds complacency and there is nothing more than a tyrant loves than a complacent populace steeped in unethical and immoral practices to rule.
What is equally tragic is that the same Europeans and westerners do not have a clue what is about to rule over 
them. Muslim spokespersons and leadership has sugar-coated Shariah to make it look as if it is just what the blind man needs to swallow to cure his every ill; that it is compatible with what it really means to be free. In fact, some Islamists have even written long-winded screeds arguing that What’s Right With Islam is What’s Right With America, and many Americans, as least those on the left end of the political/philosophical/religious spectrum of society actually believe it.
So, what exactly is this panacea called Shariah? It is nothing more than the imposition of the arbitrary interpretations of the Qur’an upon society. The imposition and those interpretations are further fueled by what is found in the Sunnah or what is commonly called the Hadith; the practical outworking of the Qur’an as evidenced in the founder of Islam’s life, Muhammad. As Abdur Rahman I. Dol wrote in his book Shariah: The Islamic Law,
The scholars of the Qur’an have enumerated varying number of verses of legal injunctions, but the number is approximately considered to be 500. They deal with marriage, polygamy, dower, maintenance, rights and obligations of the spouses, divorce and various modes of dissolution of marriage, the period of retreat after divorce (Iddah), fosterage, contracts, loans, deposits, weights and measures, removal of injury, oaths and vows, punishments for crime, wills, inheritance, equity, fraternity, liberty, justice to all, principles of an ideal, state, fundamental human rights, laws of war and peace, judicial administration, etc.
The Qur’anic injunctions, from which is derived the Shariah, are further explained and translated into practice by the Sunnah of the Prophet. Sunnah literally means a way, practice, rule of life; and refers to the exemplary conduct or model behaviour [sic] of the Prophet in what he said, did or approved. Thus is became a very important source of the Shariah only second in authority after the Holy Qur’an [p. 7].
In other words, the Qur’an is the Shariah, with the Sunnah or Hadith as it supporting documents, and it covers every word that should be said and every action to be taken by every individual under its rule. People are only “free” to speak and act as the Qur’an dictates and anything outside that dictatorship faces a wide variety of tyrannical punishments ranging from the beating of wives (Surah 4:34) to the decapitation of those who would dare to disbelieve in the beloved Prophet and his message (Surah 47:4).
Shariah, though, only has a place in a society where real freedom, based on biblical principles, has been forfeited to secularist thinking and arbitrary human autonomy. Unfortunately, too many in Europe and the west have chosen secularism, forgotten God, and set up a rogue ethical, moral, and legal system to imitate what it means to be free. The result of two centuries of such effort is now an Islamic takeover with the secularists unable to defend themselves. Such hypocritical cowardice, though, is subjecting everyone to Muhammad’s sword in one form or another.
The only sure way to counter the Islamic insurgence is by doing what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-11. “Put on the full armor of God,” which would include, among other things, knowing the truth of the Gospel as recorded in the pages of the Bible (Eph. 6:12-18). The Islamist has no effective offensive weapons against Paul’s prescription. Failure to comply or any attempt to offer another way to foster one’s own personal freedom without God will only result in oppression, tyranny, and death!
So, with all due respect to Mr. Meotti, et al like him, to be alarmed by the Islamic insurrection is one thing. To falsely assume that Europe and the west were once free for any other reason than the spread and adherence to 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to wander away into self-delusion and self-destruction. Only when people acknowledge Jesus as the truth will that people be truly free (Jn. 8:31-ff.; 14:6). And the moment they go awry, as they prop up one substitute after another for Jesus, is the moment the wolves, impostors, and counterfeits, like Islam, soon move in to take advantage of those who can no longer defend themselves with the truth. What we are witnessing today in Europe and the west is clear evidence of such advantage taking place, as Europeans and westerners continue to abandon their Christian moorings and slowly begin to bow toward Mecca.
