Classroom: Muslim Evangelism 04-19-07
04-19-07 Martha from USA (Texas)
Muslim Evangelism
We’re going to focus on Muslim Evangelism – how to reach out to Muslims.
A few statistics about the Muslim world:
1990: there were about 200 million Muslims, about 12% of the world population. Today, 2007, there are over 1.4 billion Muslims, approximately 19% of the world population. So we’re talking about
In missions for the longest time, we focused on tribal groups. So if you’ve been in missions, or if you’ve been a pastor, you’ve focused on these groups. And thanks to these guys, we’ve reached out to a lot of these tribes! But during this time, the Muslim population has been growing and growing and growing. Nobody really wanted to reach out to the Muslims. It’s said that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Now, projections show, it’s possible, that by the year 2020, Islam could replace Christianity as the number one religion in the world.
As you know, Islam can be very violent. And if you notice that as they make their way into Europe and other places, they are rising up and fighting for their civil rights. Now, what has been the Church’s response? Only 6% of missionaries are focused on reaching them with the gospel. They are the largest unreached people group in the world and only 6% of missionaries are going out there for them!
I think the reason is because of Satan. I think Islam might be one of Satan’s greatest weapons. It is said that Arabic is the second most difficult language to learn, after Chinese. So he protects this people group like this; then he places a lot of truth in the religion. There is one God. He is the Creator. He is Just, Merciful, Perfect. There is a Heaven and a Hell. There is evil (Satan). There are a LOT of things similar!
In YWAM Jordan, we didn’t see anyone come to Christ for a long time, maybe 5 or 6 years. Now we were more focused on community work, and maybe that was one of the reasons. But we got very, very convicted of this! People would say, “you can’t do straight forward evangelism in a Muslim community, you have to be quiet, you have to be careful.” The Muslims are ruled by fear. If you live in a Muslim community, you know this. And this spirit of fear jumps on the missionaries. So we prayed that God would give us strength and courage. Now I can tell you that at least 8 people in Jordan have come to Christ! That is exciting!!! So now we started praying for signs and wonders. This is always a nervous thing for me to pray for, because we always think, “well what if God doesn’t show up? What if He doesn’t do it?” But my DTS leader said, “no, no, no, we need to pray for signs and wonders. These people need signs and wonders.” So we did it.
We got two guys, an Egyptian and a German, to go together and evangelize. Now, there’s a mosque in the middle of the downtown area. So they just sat there and prayed, “Lord, lead some people to us!” So one day this guy named Mohammed came running to us. And this man said, “Last night, Jesus healed my eyes! And I don’t know who Jesus is! But he healed my eyes! And my neighbors told me you know who Jesus is! So who is he?” Now this man had eye problems his whole life. And that morning he woke up and was healed. So he went out and said, “who is Jesus? Who is this Jesus?” And his neighbors said, “we don’t know! But there are these two guys outside the mosque!” And so he went to the mosque and told the missionaries. And they asked him if he wanted to know more. He said, “YES! This man healed me! I want to know more!” So they took him to the house and, for three hours, they explained about all the prophets and why Jesus had to die. And this man believed. So they said, “do you want to be baptized?” And he said, “yes!” So they took him up to the bathtub and baptized him.
Here are some of the
The way that you answer these questions can either open a door to talking with them and begin sharing your life as a Christian, or, it can slam the door shut and you can lose all opportunity for them to be your friend.
1 Peter 3:15
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
1Pe 3:16 yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
So we’re supposed to be prepared with a reason – but we’re supposed to do this with respect for the person we’re talking to.
Basic Islamic world view is that there are two groups of people on earth. There is the house of peace, and that’s where the Muslims all are, and there’s the house of war. Everybody outside of this is inside of this house. Now, it may not be a physical war – but to others it just means that there is us and there is them.
In one of my classes in Jordan I had a student named Samir. We were studying love from first Corinthians. It says, “love does not rejoice with evil.” So I asked my little small group. I said, “I heard a strange thing and I saw a strange thing. After September 11, 2001, I saw pictures of the Middle East. And people were dancing in the streets and handing out candy because the twin towers fell in New York and thousands of people were killed. And I was real straight with them, and I said, “Did you rejoice?” And most people said, “oh, no, no…” but Samir said, “I did.” And I asked him why. He said, “because they’re my enemies.” And I said, “Samir, why are these people your enemies?!?” And he said, “because they aren’t Muslim.” And it was that simple for him. It’s black and white. There are two houses. If you’re not in his house, you’re an enemy. So you’re in a box.
So what we want to do is give them answers to their questions to confuse them. They want you in a box because it’s easy for them. So answer the question in a way that puts you outside the box, because then they’re confused. And if they’re confused and you’re outside the box, it gives you an opportunity to share the gospel with them and share your story.
One of the first questions they will ask you, if you see children playing on the streets is, “are you a Muslim or are you a Christian?” Because that’s how they divide the world.
What is a Muslims definition of Christian? Give me some words. Unbeleiver. Worshipping 3 gods. Immoral. Right! They believe all westerners are Christians – they really do, I’m not exaggerating.
So when they ask you if you’re a Christian, ask them what they mean. Answer the question with a question. Then if they give you their definition, you know, somebody from the west, you can say, “no, I’m not one of those, but let me tell you what I am.” And you can tell them you pray, and follow Jesus…”
Now, if you’re a Arabic Christian, you call Jesus “Yesua” – but the Muslim term for Jesus is “Isa” (eesa). So if you’re talking to a Muslim and you say, “I follow Yesua,” they won’t make the connection. But if you say, “I follow Isa,” they will say “ooohhhh!”
You can turn the question on them – “Are you a true Muslim?” And most of them will say, “no, I’m not a good Muslim.” Because they live in a constant state of guilt. So then you can start talking about how to be a good Muslim.
If you’re a guy, you can say “Ana Mu’min” – and this means “I’m a believer.”
If you’re a girl, you can say “ana mu’minay”
Messiah
What do you think of Islam? When you get closer to your friends this question will come up – especially if they trust you. Now, I’m going to give you an explanation and I invite you to disagree with me. I want you to feel free. This is where I am right now – and I stand scripturally behind this belief.
With Christians, we all want to enter the Kingdom of God. This is the goal here on earth. But if I’m going to look at my own religion – how many Christians are really in the Kingdom of God, fully submitted to Him? The answer to this question will probably admit that we are not all in the Kingdom of God. Then I’ll ask them where Muslims are and they will say many are in the Kingdom of God but many are not. And I will say to them, “well I want everyone to be in the Kingdom of God.” And we will talk about it. Now, I don’t believe that Muslims need to become like Christians culturally – like America or western nations – in order to enter the Kingdom. I believe the door is the same for Christians as it is for Muslims. And then I will say to them, “do you want to know what that door is?” And they’ll say, “yeah.” So I’ll say, “Let’s look at Isa the Messiah’s teachings and find out. Do you want to?” And they will say, “yeah.”
Now, does anybody know what a Messianic Jew, is? It’s a Jew who believes in the New Testament, but remains a Jew. Now, there’s a new thing called a Messianic Muslim. They do not change their culture – but only the things that go against Jesus’ teachings. They will look at things like this, “is it wrong to pray 5 times a day?” And they will say no. It’s not wrong. It’s probably good. So we keep that. But they’ll take other things like, “there is only one God and Mohammad is His prophet,” and they will change it to this, “There is only one God, and Jesus Christ is His only Son.” Of course the biggest problem comes with Muslims who have many wives and then become Christians. What do they do? Do they stop taking care of all but one? I believe they need to take care of all of their wives still.
Now, what’s the biggest sin in Islam. Shik. What does it mean? To have more than one God. This is the worst sin! So if you’re Christian, they believe you have three gods. Now, because of traditional Christian denominations… most Muslims believe the three gods we worship are “God, Mary, and Jesus.” Now if we are asked these questions, the first thing to ask is, “what do you mean when you say three Gods?” And if this is their answer, you can say, “no, as a Christian, I worship one God and follow Jesus – I do not worship Mary.” And they will say, “Oh! I never knew this!” But if they are more educated about this, they will know about the Trinity.
Somebody’s words, are they separate from the person? Do they or can they exist without the person? No. God is a Spirit. When He spoke, He said “let there be light. Let there be land.” His words went out and let things be created. So what I say – goes out from part of me. So if God is eternal, His words must be eternal. Jesus is the Word of God. So God’s word went out and created this flesh being known as Jesus.
Two examples you can use:
But a tissue over your fist. God is hidden from us. Poke a finger through and say, “But for 33 years, God has shown us part of himself. Jesus came to earth and became flesh. But Jesus is part of God still. They’re the same being.
Think of the sun. It’s just one body in space. The sun gives us light. We see light. The sun gives us heat. We feel heat. But it’s still all just part of the sun. In the same way, God is one. He sends forth His light into this earth and gives to us.
Another example from a student:
Water – ice – steam/mist
They’re all the same substance (H2O) – but they have different forms.
Why do you say Jesus is the Son of God?
Muslims assume that God and Mary had sex to produce Jesus. Of course that’s horrible for us and horrible for them. The first thing you can say is that we don’t believe that God and Mary had sex to produce a physical son. Then you can begin to explain to them the virgin birth from the Quran. And you can say, “what’s written in your Quran is the same as what’s written in the Bible.
“O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter at all concerning Allah, save the Truth. The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His Word which He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “three” cease! It is better for you! Allah is only one God. Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth!’ –Surah 4:171
“Such gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs of Alla’s sovereignty and we supported him with the Holy Spirit.” –Surah 2:87
This is why we say that Jesus is the son of God. Not a physical son, but a spiritual son. Jesus is a part of God on earth.
The next question is hard. “What do you think of the Prophet Mohammad?” You might be tempted to answer, “I think he was demon possessed.” But resist this temptation!!! Be careful here! Muslims are very passionate to defend the honor of the prophet Mohammad. So when they ask me this, I say, “I believe he is exactly who he said he was in the Quran.” And I take them to Surah 46:9
Surah 46:9
I am nothing new among the Prophets; what will happen to me and to my followers, I do not know; I am only a plain warner.
There. I’ve given them an answer, and I have not offended them. This is the goal. Later, as you become friends and become to know them more and more – you can come to share more. And you can say, “however, one thing I love about Jesus, is that he knew where he was going. And he knew where His followers were going to go.”
Surah 3:55
And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to cause you to die a natural death and cause you to ascend uto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return.
And you can say, “that’s why I follow Isa Messiah. Because he knows where he’s going and he knows where his followers are going. Do you want to look at his teachings with me?” And at every point you can invite them to look at the scriptures with you. Okay, is that helpful for you?
Okay, the next point you will hear a lot! “The Bible is corrupt, it’s been changed!” And actually, as far as I understand, this is a fairly new teaching in the Quran. So when they say this to you, “the Bible is corrupted,” say to them “When? When was it corrupted? Before Mohammad or after Mohammad?” And the first thing they’ll say is, “when? I don’t know.” And they’re going to take a guess. These are not going to be educated Muslims – and most of them are not going to be educated when it comes to Islamic teachings. Mohammad lived somewhere in 580-640 AD. Now, if they say “before. It was corrupted before.” And if this is the case, then why did Mohammad encourage us continually, in the Quran, to read from it?
Surah 3:84
Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us; and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yacoub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him we do submit.
Surah 6:68
Say: O Followers of the Book! You follow no good until you keep up the Taurat [TaNaK] and the Injiil [Gospels, New Testament] and that which is revealed to you from your Lord.
Surah 29:46
And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by that which is best, except those of them that act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him we do submit.
Surah ????
And recite what has been Revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
These are just a few. There are many, many verses in the Quran where we’re told to read the Torah and the injiil (the gospels, New Testament – it means different things to different people. Some consider the injiil the entire New Testament, others consider it only the four gospels).
So the question is – if it was changed before, why does he keep telling us to read it? Certainly he knew, right? So if he knew he would say, “it’s been changed, don’t read it.” And again – this answer works. I’ve used it many times.
And if they say “AFTER” you can say, “you know what – the Bible we have today is the same Bible that we had in the third and fourth centuries. These are the earliest manuscripts we have. This was before Mohammad. The three main manuscripts we have are: Codex Siniaticus, Codex Alexandrius, Codex Vaticanus. The first two are in the British Museum on display. The last is in the Vatican library in Rome. So the Bible we have today, my Bible on that desk, is backed up from manuscripts from the third and fourth century. So there’s no way the Bible was changed after Mohammad. Because if you look at the Bible today and you do the research and compare it, you will find that it says the same thing as it did before the prophet Mohammad. Now they’re thinking, “gosh, I’ve been taught this my whole life. Now I have to think.” And now you can ask this question, “Is God not powerful enough to protect His word?”
Mona: One time I said this, and the man said, “God allowed it to be corrupted because He knew the Quran would come.”
Then you take them back to the verse we looked at.
Surah ????
And recite what has been Revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
It says NO ONE can alter God’s word. And when you recite this verse in Arabic – they don’t argue with you. They are quiet.
You can also say, “isn’t the revelation of the Quran built on all of the earlier revelations? Isn’t that what you teach? Mohammad says, “if you doubt my teachings go back and look at the earlier teachings.
Surah 10:94
But if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers.
Some of them may continue to argue with you. And if that’s the case, you can say to them, “if you would like to argue – you may go to other people. I want to be with the ones who really want to learn.” Be careful. Don’t let your time get robbed. Invest in people that are hungry for answers, not ones that just want to argue.
Now, I’m going to get you a Bible study that goes through the Quran AND the Bible at the same time to take Muslims through the prophets to Jesus and teaches who he is.
You can say this to Muslims when they question or doubt the English translation of the Quran you use, “I am so grateful to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia – the keeper of the holy places, for authorizing the translation of the Quran into all these different languages!” And they will not have anything to say, “okay… King Fahd… I guess your translations is good.” Muslims respect King Fahd very, very much.
Next, they might say to you, “Jesus did not die on the cross.” The Quran says it wasn’t Jesus, it was a man who looked like Jesus.
But this verse does not say Jesus did not die on the cross!
Surah 5:117
1 did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with: That serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things.
This is Jesus actually talking. It’s a conversation they were having. Here Jesus says, “caused me to die.” This is in the PAST.
Next is in the PRESENT tense. It says, “causing you to die.”
Surah 3:55
And when Allah said: O Isa I am going to cause you to die a natural death and cause you to ascend unto me…
The next is in the future. He rose from the dead.
Surah 19:33
And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.
– words of Jesus according to the Quran
I talked with somebody says, “I know the injiil says he did die! But I know the Quran says he didn’t die!” And I said, “I ran into the same problem! Surely the Quran confirms the truth of the Injiil! Right? If the Quran confirms the injiil, it must be in the Quran! And I found that it is!” And he asked me where, so I walked him through these three Surahs. You can say, “Jesus was so powerful he actually gave his life, they didn’t take it.”
So these are tools. You can put them in your tool box. Remember, you don’t want to argue with them. You want to lead them. And in this way, we can be faithful to 1 Peter 3:15-16.
Okay I have one more tool to give you. I want to give you a verse from the Quran. It’s just one passage that you can use to move Jesus from being just a prophet to being more than a prophet.
Sun, moon. Bible is sun, Quran is moon. Does the moon emit light? No. the sun does. The moonlight is a reflection. The only light that comes from the Quran that we can use is the light from the word of the true living God that is reflected. So if the Bible says that Jesus was born of a virgin, and the Quran reflects that and says, “yes, Jesus was born of a virgin.” Is truth any less true if I find it in a book or a song or in creation? Is it less? No. Why? Because truth is truth, right? Truth is truth. I can hear it in a song. I hear it. It resonates with my heart. So I like to use the truth that is in the Quran to lead Muslims to the full truth. That is my opinion and I will not force it on you.
Now I want to challenge you. You have a passage of the Quran in front of you.
In the Quran, you are commanded to obey Jesus. Surah 3:51
You can use these verses from the Quran.
Isa (Jesus) is Holy (Surah 3:45-47)
Isa has power over death (Surah 3:49)
Isa knows the way to heaven (Surah 3:55)
Now remember what I said. You’re not going to use this to lead somebody to Christ. You’re going to use it to see WHO IS HUNGRY? So if you say these things and they agree with you, then at the end of this you can say, “what do you think about this?” And if they say, “this is amazing. I have never thought about this before.” Then you can say, “ do you want to learn more about Jesus. I can show you some more amazing things about him.” You know you’ve found an amazing Muslim. If he says, “Mohammad is the prophet and he’s greater than Jesus and you need to read more of the Quran.” Then you know you have not found a hungry person. So don’t continue. I want to give you a challenge. Try this on 10 Muslims that you know. Some of you have 10 Muslim friends, easily. The rest of you might meet at least 10 on outreach in Egypt. I dare you, I challenge you to try this on 10 different Muslims and see who responds. And then if they respond, invite them to read the gospel with you.
“You will find the Christians to be your best friends” Surah 3
Muslim Evangelism
We’re going to focus on Muslim Evangelism – how to reach out to Muslims.
A few statistics about the Muslim world:
1990: there were about 200 million Muslims, about 12% of the world population. Today, 2007, there are over 1.4 billion Muslims, approximately 19% of the world population. So we’re talking about
In missions for the longest time, we focused on tribal groups. So if you’ve been in missions, or if you’ve been a pastor, you’ve focused on these groups. And thanks to these guys, we’ve reached out to a lot of these tribes! But during this time, the Muslim population has been growing and growing and growing. Nobody really wanted to reach out to the Muslims. It’s said that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Now, projections show, it’s possible, that by the year 2020, Islam could replace Christianity as the number one religion in the world.
As you know, Islam can be very violent. And if you notice that as they make their way into Europe and other places, they are rising up and fighting for their civil rights. Now, what has been the Church’s response? Only 6% of missionaries are focused on reaching them with the gospel. They are the largest unreached people group in the world and only 6% of missionaries are going out there for them!
I think the reason is because of Satan. I think Islam might be one of Satan’s greatest weapons. It is said that Arabic is the second most difficult language to learn, after Chinese. So he protects this people group like this; then he places a lot of truth in the religion. There is one God. He is the Creator. He is Just, Merciful, Perfect. There is a Heaven and a Hell. There is evil (Satan). There are a LOT of things similar!
In YWAM Jordan, we didn’t see anyone come to Christ for a long time, maybe 5 or 6 years. Now we were more focused on community work, and maybe that was one of the reasons. But we got very, very convicted of this! People would say, “you can’t do straight forward evangelism in a Muslim community, you have to be quiet, you have to be careful.” The Muslims are ruled by fear. If you live in a Muslim community, you know this. And this spirit of fear jumps on the missionaries. So we prayed that God would give us strength and courage. Now I can tell you that at least 8 people in Jordan have come to Christ! That is exciting!!! So now we started praying for signs and wonders. This is always a nervous thing for me to pray for, because we always think, “well what if God doesn’t show up? What if He doesn’t do it?” But my DTS leader said, “no, no, no, we need to pray for signs and wonders. These people need signs and wonders.” So we did it.
We got two guys, an Egyptian and a German, to go together and evangelize. Now, there’s a mosque in the middle of the downtown area. So they just sat there and prayed, “Lord, lead some people to us!” So one day this guy named Mohammed came running to us. And this man said, “Last night, Jesus healed my eyes! And I don’t know who Jesus is! But he healed my eyes! And my neighbors told me you know who Jesus is! So who is he?” Now this man had eye problems his whole life. And that morning he woke up and was healed. So he went out and said, “who is Jesus? Who is this Jesus?” And his neighbors said, “we don’t know! But there are these two guys outside the mosque!” And so he went to the mosque and told the missionaries. And they asked him if he wanted to know more. He said, “YES! This man healed me! I want to know more!” So they took him to the house and, for three hours, they explained about all the prophets and why Jesus had to die. And this man believed. So they said, “do you want to be baptized?” And he said, “yes!” So they took him up to the bathtub and baptized him.
Here are some of the
The way that you answer these questions can either open a door to talking with them and begin sharing your life as a Christian, or, it can slam the door shut and you can lose all opportunity for them to be your friend.
1 Peter 3:15
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
1Pe 3:16 yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
So we’re supposed to be prepared with a reason – but we’re supposed to do this with respect for the person we’re talking to.
Basic Islamic world view is that there are two groups of people on earth. There is the house of peace, and that’s where the Muslims all are, and there’s the house of war. Everybody outside of this is inside of this house. Now, it may not be a physical war – but to others it just means that there is us and there is them.
In one of my classes in Jordan I had a student named Samir. We were studying love from first Corinthians. It says, “love does not rejoice with evil.” So I asked my little small group. I said, “I heard a strange thing and I saw a strange thing. After September 11, 2001, I saw pictures of the Middle East. And people were dancing in the streets and handing out candy because the twin towers fell in New York and thousands of people were killed. And I was real straight with them, and I said, “Did you rejoice?” And most people said, “oh, no, no…” but Samir said, “I did.” And I asked him why. He said, “because they’re my enemies.” And I said, “Samir, why are these people your enemies?!?” And he said, “because they aren’t Muslim.” And it was that simple for him. It’s black and white. There are two houses. If you’re not in his house, you’re an enemy. So you’re in a box.
So what we want to do is give them answers to their questions to confuse them. They want you in a box because it’s easy for them. So answer the question in a way that puts you outside the box, because then they’re confused. And if they’re confused and you’re outside the box, it gives you an opportunity to share the gospel with them and share your story.
One of the first questions they will ask you, if you see children playing on the streets is, “are you a Muslim or are you a Christian?” Because that’s how they divide the world.
What is a Muslims definition of Christian? Give me some words. Unbeleiver. Worshipping 3 gods. Immoral. Right! They believe all westerners are Christians – they really do, I’m not exaggerating.
So when they ask you if you’re a Christian, ask them what they mean. Answer the question with a question. Then if they give you their definition, you know, somebody from the west, you can say, “no, I’m not one of those, but let me tell you what I am.” And you can tell them you pray, and follow Jesus…”
Now, if you’re a Arabic Christian, you call Jesus “Yesua” – but the Muslim term for Jesus is “Isa” (eesa). So if you’re talking to a Muslim and you say, “I follow Yesua,” they won’t make the connection. But if you say, “I follow Isa,” they will say “ooohhhh!”
You can turn the question on them – “Are you a true Muslim?” And most of them will say, “no, I’m not a good Muslim.” Because they live in a constant state of guilt. So then you can start talking about how to be a good Muslim.
If you’re a guy, you can say “Ana Mu’min” – and this means “I’m a believer.”
If you’re a girl, you can say “ana mu’minay”
Messiah
What do you think of Islam? When you get closer to your friends this question will come up – especially if they trust you. Now, I’m going to give you an explanation and I invite you to disagree with me. I want you to feel free. This is where I am right now – and I stand scripturally behind this belief.
With Christians, we all want to enter the Kingdom of God. This is the goal here on earth. But if I’m going to look at my own religion – how many Christians are really in the Kingdom of God, fully submitted to Him? The answer to this question will probably admit that we are not all in the Kingdom of God. Then I’ll ask them where Muslims are and they will say many are in the Kingdom of God but many are not. And I will say to them, “well I want everyone to be in the Kingdom of God.” And we will talk about it. Now, I don’t believe that Muslims need to become like Christians culturally – like America or western nations – in order to enter the Kingdom. I believe the door is the same for Christians as it is for Muslims. And then I will say to them, “do you want to know what that door is?” And they’ll say, “yeah.” So I’ll say, “Let’s look at Isa the Messiah’s teachings and find out. Do you want to?” And they will say, “yeah.”
Now, does anybody know what a Messianic Jew, is? It’s a Jew who believes in the New Testament, but remains a Jew. Now, there’s a new thing called a Messianic Muslim. They do not change their culture – but only the things that go against Jesus’ teachings. They will look at things like this, “is it wrong to pray 5 times a day?” And they will say no. It’s not wrong. It’s probably good. So we keep that. But they’ll take other things like, “there is only one God and Mohammad is His prophet,” and they will change it to this, “There is only one God, and Jesus Christ is His only Son.” Of course the biggest problem comes with Muslims who have many wives and then become Christians. What do they do? Do they stop taking care of all but one? I believe they need to take care of all of their wives still.
Now, what’s the biggest sin in Islam. Shik. What does it mean? To have more than one God. This is the worst sin! So if you’re Christian, they believe you have three gods. Now, because of traditional Christian denominations… most Muslims believe the three gods we worship are “God, Mary, and Jesus.” Now if we are asked these questions, the first thing to ask is, “what do you mean when you say three Gods?” And if this is their answer, you can say, “no, as a Christian, I worship one God and follow Jesus – I do not worship Mary.” And they will say, “Oh! I never knew this!” But if they are more educated about this, they will know about the Trinity.
Somebody’s words, are they separate from the person? Do they or can they exist without the person? No. God is a Spirit. When He spoke, He said “let there be light. Let there be land.” His words went out and let things be created. So what I say – goes out from part of me. So if God is eternal, His words must be eternal. Jesus is the Word of God. So God’s word went out and created this flesh being known as Jesus.
Two examples you can use:
But a tissue over your fist. God is hidden from us. Poke a finger through and say, “But for 33 years, God has shown us part of himself. Jesus came to earth and became flesh. But Jesus is part of God still. They’re the same being.
Think of the sun. It’s just one body in space. The sun gives us light. We see light. The sun gives us heat. We feel heat. But it’s still all just part of the sun. In the same way, God is one. He sends forth His light into this earth and gives to us.
Another example from a student:
Water – ice – steam/mist
They’re all the same substance (H2O) – but they have different forms.
Why do you say Jesus is the Son of God?
Muslims assume that God and Mary had sex to produce Jesus. Of course that’s horrible for us and horrible for them. The first thing you can say is that we don’t believe that God and Mary had sex to produce a physical son. Then you can begin to explain to them the virgin birth from the Quran. And you can say, “what’s written in your Quran is the same as what’s written in the Bible.
“O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter at all concerning Allah, save the Truth. The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His Word which He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “three” cease! It is better for you! Allah is only one God. Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth!’ –Surah 4:171
“Such gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs of Alla’s sovereignty and we supported him with the Holy Spirit.” –Surah 2:87
This is why we say that Jesus is the son of God. Not a physical son, but a spiritual son. Jesus is a part of God on earth.
The next question is hard. “What do you think of the Prophet Mohammad?” You might be tempted to answer, “I think he was demon possessed.” But resist this temptation!!! Be careful here! Muslims are very passionate to defend the honor of the prophet Mohammad. So when they ask me this, I say, “I believe he is exactly who he said he was in the Quran.” And I take them to Surah 46:9
Surah 46:9
I am nothing new among the Prophets; what will happen to me and to my followers, I do not know; I am only a plain warner.
There. I’ve given them an answer, and I have not offended them. This is the goal. Later, as you become friends and become to know them more and more – you can come to share more. And you can say, “however, one thing I love about Jesus, is that he knew where he was going. And he knew where His followers were going to go.”
Surah 3:55
And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to cause you to die a natural death and cause you to ascend uto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return.
And you can say, “that’s why I follow Isa Messiah. Because he knows where he’s going and he knows where his followers are going. Do you want to look at his teachings with me?” And at every point you can invite them to look at the scriptures with you. Okay, is that helpful for you?
Okay, the next point you will hear a lot! “The Bible is corrupt, it’s been changed!” And actually, as far as I understand, this is a fairly new teaching in the Quran. So when they say this to you, “the Bible is corrupted,” say to them “When? When was it corrupted? Before Mohammad or after Mohammad?” And the first thing they’ll say is, “when? I don’t know.” And they’re going to take a guess. These are not going to be educated Muslims – and most of them are not going to be educated when it comes to Islamic teachings. Mohammad lived somewhere in 580-640 AD. Now, if they say “before. It was corrupted before.” And if this is the case, then why did Mohammad encourage us continually, in the Quran, to read from it?
Surah 3:84
Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us; and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yacoub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him we do submit.
Surah 6:68
Say: O Followers of the Book! You follow no good until you keep up the Taurat [TaNaK] and the Injiil [Gospels, New Testament] and that which is revealed to you from your Lord.
Surah 29:46
And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by that which is best, except those of them that act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him we do submit.
Surah ????
And recite what has been Revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
These are just a few. There are many, many verses in the Quran where we’re told to read the Torah and the injiil (the gospels, New Testament – it means different things to different people. Some consider the injiil the entire New Testament, others consider it only the four gospels).
So the question is – if it was changed before, why does he keep telling us to read it? Certainly he knew, right? So if he knew he would say, “it’s been changed, don’t read it.” And again – this answer works. I’ve used it many times.
And if they say “AFTER” you can say, “you know what – the Bible we have today is the same Bible that we had in the third and fourth centuries. These are the earliest manuscripts we have. This was before Mohammad. The three main manuscripts we have are: Codex Siniaticus, Codex Alexandrius, Codex Vaticanus. The first two are in the British Museum on display. The last is in the Vatican library in Rome. So the Bible we have today, my Bible on that desk, is backed up from manuscripts from the third and fourth century. So there’s no way the Bible was changed after Mohammad. Because if you look at the Bible today and you do the research and compare it, you will find that it says the same thing as it did before the prophet Mohammad. Now they’re thinking, “gosh, I’ve been taught this my whole life. Now I have to think.” And now you can ask this question, “Is God not powerful enough to protect His word?”
Mona: One time I said this, and the man said, “God allowed it to be corrupted because He knew the Quran would come.”
Then you take them back to the verse we looked at.
Surah ????
And recite what has been Revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
It says NO ONE can alter God’s word. And when you recite this verse in Arabic – they don’t argue with you. They are quiet.
You can also say, “isn’t the revelation of the Quran built on all of the earlier revelations? Isn’t that what you teach? Mohammad says, “if you doubt my teachings go back and look at the earlier teachings.
Surah 10:94
But if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers.
Some of them may continue to argue with you. And if that’s the case, you can say to them, “if you would like to argue – you may go to other people. I want to be with the ones who really want to learn.” Be careful. Don’t let your time get robbed. Invest in people that are hungry for answers, not ones that just want to argue.
Now, I’m going to get you a Bible study that goes through the Quran AND the Bible at the same time to take Muslims through the prophets to Jesus and teaches who he is.
You can say this to Muslims when they question or doubt the English translation of the Quran you use, “I am so grateful to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia – the keeper of the holy places, for authorizing the translation of the Quran into all these different languages!” And they will not have anything to say, “okay… King Fahd… I guess your translations is good.” Muslims respect King Fahd very, very much.
Next, they might say to you, “Jesus did not die on the cross.” The Quran says it wasn’t Jesus, it was a man who looked like Jesus.
But this verse does not say Jesus did not die on the cross!
Surah 5:117
1 did not say to them aught save what Thou didst enjoin me with: That serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die, Thou wert the watcher over them, and Thou art witness of all things.
This is Jesus actually talking. It’s a conversation they were having. Here Jesus says, “caused me to die.” This is in the PAST.
Next is in the PRESENT tense. It says, “causing you to die.”
Surah 3:55
And when Allah said: O Isa I am going to cause you to die a natural death and cause you to ascend unto me…
The next is in the future. He rose from the dead.
Surah 19:33
And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.
– words of Jesus according to the Quran
I talked with somebody says, “I know the injiil says he did die! But I know the Quran says he didn’t die!” And I said, “I ran into the same problem! Surely the Quran confirms the truth of the Injiil! Right? If the Quran confirms the injiil, it must be in the Quran! And I found that it is!” And he asked me where, so I walked him through these three Surahs. You can say, “Jesus was so powerful he actually gave his life, they didn’t take it.”
So these are tools. You can put them in your tool box. Remember, you don’t want to argue with them. You want to lead them. And in this way, we can be faithful to 1 Peter 3:15-16.
Okay I have one more tool to give you. I want to give you a verse from the Quran. It’s just one passage that you can use to move Jesus from being just a prophet to being more than a prophet.
Sun, moon. Bible is sun, Quran is moon. Does the moon emit light? No. the sun does. The moonlight is a reflection. The only light that comes from the Quran that we can use is the light from the word of the true living God that is reflected. So if the Bible says that Jesus was born of a virgin, and the Quran reflects that and says, “yes, Jesus was born of a virgin.” Is truth any less true if I find it in a book or a song or in creation? Is it less? No. Why? Because truth is truth, right? Truth is truth. I can hear it in a song. I hear it. It resonates with my heart. So I like to use the truth that is in the Quran to lead Muslims to the full truth. That is my opinion and I will not force it on you.
Now I want to challenge you. You have a passage of the Quran in front of you.
In the Quran, you are commanded to obey Jesus. Surah 3:51
You can use these verses from the Quran.
Isa (Jesus) is Holy (Surah 3:45-47)
Isa has power over death (Surah 3:49)
Isa knows the way to heaven (Surah 3:55)
Now remember what I said. You’re not going to use this to lead somebody to Christ. You’re going to use it to see WHO IS HUNGRY? So if you say these things and they agree with you, then at the end of this you can say, “what do you think about this?” And if they say, “this is amazing. I have never thought about this before.” Then you can say, “ do you want to learn more about Jesus. I can show you some more amazing things about him.” You know you’ve found an amazing Muslim. If he says, “Mohammad is the prophet and he’s greater than Jesus and you need to read more of the Quran.” Then you know you have not found a hungry person. So don’t continue. I want to give you a challenge. Try this on 10 Muslims that you know. Some of you have 10 Muslim friends, easily. The rest of you might meet at least 10 on outreach in Egypt. I dare you, I challenge you to try this on 10 different Muslims and see who responds. And then if they respond, invite them to read the gospel with you.
“You will find the Christians to be your best friends” Surah 3
posted by CarbonChris at 6:54 AM
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