According to an article in Thursday's "Wall Street Journal," earlier this year on the day Muslims celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacifice his son on Mt. Moriah (a son they claim was Ishmael), 25,000 sheep in Brussels, Belgium, had their heads turned to Mecca and were sacrificially killed by having their throats slit so that they would die from the shedding of their blood. Many of the Muslims will be eating their sheep for lunch that same day. Although home slaughters are illegal in Belguim, Muslims now make up over 15% of the one million people in the city of Brussels.
Many Muslims are not willing to wait for the legal killings at the slaughterhouses. Last year, a temporary slaughterhouse suffered long waits when water lines malfunctioned and drainage lines backed up. In the hurry to get home with lunch, some of the people decided to slaughter their own sheep and began doing so on top of other sheep, causing an even bigger mess.
Jewish Law, on the contrary, minimized the killing of animals away from the chosen place. "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest" (Deuteronomy 12:13). An Israelite who sacrificed his offering outside the camp must make sure to bring it to the door of the tabernacle to be sacrificed (Leviticus 17:3-5). Though exceptions were made, and though the Jewish practice was not that of later Christianity, the shedding of blood was already minimized. But now, in the Muslim homes and slaughterhouses across Europe and the world, we see a return to the empty animal sacrifices and a new rejection of the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His "once for all" blood. Only His blood can take away the sins of mankind. Let us go and tell the good story to the blinded multitudes.
