For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
There’s an increase in the so-called “religion” of Islam that commits violence the world over (especially Nigeria, Mali, Syria, Iraq and Iran) by so-called “radical Muslims”. I say “so-called” in both respects because Islam is more of a political ideology whose goal is global conquest (a “caliphate”) than merely a religion. Likewise Muslims who commit Jihad (conversion to Islam by violence if not first by persuasion) they aren’t “radical” – they’re simply being obedient to the Quran.
But Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan and San Antonio, Texas are not our enemy – they are flesh and blood. We aren’t warring against them as Christians. Our enemy is the principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness that have inspired Islam, and every false religion. Humanity that’s not yet redeemed by the blood of the Lamb is a victim of sorts to false religion, false beliefs, sin nature and Satan.
Let’s be certain we don’t hate Muslims but have a hatred for “every false way” including Islam as PSALM 119:104 says – because these false ways all lead to eternal damnation which GOD is intent to save them from (2 PET 3:9).
Though Muslims count all non-Muslims as their enemy if they refuse Islam, nevertheless we are called to exhibit Christ’s love and share Christ’s truth with them, for He has said:
MATTHEW 5:44-45b
44 "… love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…
The best “good [we] do” for Muslims is to share the Gospel with them, We must speak the truth of the Gospel motivated by Christ’s love, and compassion for their lost souls.
BAD TO THE BONE AND BELOW
The truth is, we are all sinners, condemned by a Holy GOD and face eternal punishment. Religious works in no way could justify us before a Holy GOD. Every religion (except two) base their salvation on works. The only exceptions are biblical Mosaic Judaism and biblical Christianity. Salvation, whether Old Testament or New is based on faith, not works.
And since Christ has fulfilled the Law on our behalf and established the New Testament, there is just One Way to salvation: Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, Redeemer of lost souls. Islam however is based on works.
The FIVE PILLARS of ISLAM –
1. Islamic confession (Shahada) – "There is no true God except Allah, the one and only true God and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
2. Prayer (Salat) – Prayer involves confession of sins, performed five times a day.
3. Fasting (Saum) – Ramadan is worship in day-time fasting for an entire month.
4. Alms-giving or charity (Zakat) – Charity given to the poor.
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) – Muslims must make the pilgrimage the first half of the last month of the lunar year.
Some radical factions consider JIHAD as a 6th Pillar.
There are also the SIX BELIEFS OF IMAN (“faith”): (1) Belief in Allah (2) Belief in the angels (3) Belief in the Holy Books: Tawrat (Torah), Zabur (Psalms), Injil (Gospels), Quran, Hadiths, and the Sunnah (4) Belief in the Prophets and Messengers (5) Belief in the Day of Judgment (6) Belief in the Divine Decree (the fates according to the will of Allah).
IT’S A MATTER OF RECORD
In SURAH 82:10-12 and SURAH 50:17 it states that everyone – Muslim or not – has two recording angels that accompany us our entire lives. The one angel (Hasanat) records all of our good deeds. The other angel (Sayyiat) records all the bad deeds. On Judgment Day a person’s books of good and bad deeds are weighed in the balances. If the good deeds outweigh the bad, chances are you’re in paradise. If the bad deeds outweigh the good, your chances are slim you’ll make it.
We as Christians understand that we are all sinners (ROM 3:20-23) and that even the best we have to offer by our own brand of righteousness are in GOD’s Holy Eyes “filthy rags” (ISA 64:6). Apart from Christ we are all utterly hopeless as the Holy Law of GOD condemns all unrighteousness and sin, silencing us in our shame, leaving us defenseless in our guilt (ROM 3:19-20).
For the sake of time we will forego the historical founding of Islam and address more immediate issues. Links will be included in this teaching which will be published on TTUF (www.thetruthunderfire.com) that will provide probably more information than you’ll want.
“ISLAM IS PEACE”
The root word of Islam is "al-Silm" which means "submission" or "surrender." It is not derived from the word “Salam” which means ‘peace’. Islam teaches that once all the world is submitted to Allah, then, and only then, will there be peace! Until that Day, Islam must be engaged in “the great struggle” or ‘jihad’.
The UNITED NATIONS has the resolution “Defamation of Religions” on the books – sponsored by guess who? Organization of Islamic Conference. International law already protects individuals from discrimination and from expression constituting incitement to violence. However, this resolution … [empowers] Islamic governments and clerics to silence or intimidate religious dissidents, religious minorities and nonbelievers.
UN Passes Defamation of Religions Resolution.
So all the while Islamists conduct their campaigns of cruelty, any criticisms or protests are ignored by the UN that insists that “Islam is peace”. Which is why no UN action is taking place in Nigeria where entire villages of Christians are being slaughtered.
In a TTUF article I did a while back ENGAGING ISLAM, Part One, Jacob Prasch posited Eight Questions for the Muslim that challenge the validity of this religious system.
ADDRESSING THE DOCTRINES OF THE TRINITY
A Muslim once added it all up for me: “You have the Father – that’s one. The Son – that’s two. The Holy Spirit – that’s three! One plus one plus one is three – you worship three gods!”
I said, “You have correctly identified the Persons, but you have the wrong relationship. It’s not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, its 1 x 1 x1 = 1! Three Persons that are absolutely, completely identical in all of their attributes (holiness, love, order, righteous, grace, truth, etc.) as well as their abilities (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence [all powerful, all knowing, all present, etc.]). They are indistinguishable in their Divine nature except for the roles that they have: One has the role of the Father, another the Son, the third the Holy Spirit.
From GENESIS 1, all throughout the Scriptures, there is evidence for One GOD in Three Persons.
GENESIS 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The word for “GOD” is in the plural form, Elohim. Yet the word for “created” is in the singular form “barah”. The verb and the noun don’t agree but they’re supposed to. Linguistically this is incorrect. Doctrinally, it’s spot on! The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were All involved in the singular action of creation.
DEUTERONOMY 6:4
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
The Hebrew word for “one” used in this verse is echad which can mean simply one (as in the only one, singular in their importance, uniqueness, exclusivity or it can mean a compound one – a oneness composed of units, in the case of GOD, there are three.
If this verse was meant to convey that GOD is one and that’s all it was to mean, then the Hebrew word yachid would be used, which is a numerical one. JESUS said,
JOHN 10:30-33
"I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."
ISAIAH 48:16b
… and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent Me.
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
Here we see YHWH, and His Holy Spirit, and who is it that’s being sent? Vs. 17:
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel. This is the same One Who declares in vs. 12: … I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.
This One Who refers to Himself as “the First and the Last” is recognized as the LORD GOD and is mentioned in ISA 41:4; 44:6; (here in Ch. 48); REV 1:11,17 and REV 22:13. The LORD Jesus is also mentioned in REV 2:8:
And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, 'These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: He also states that He was dead and is alive forever more in REV 1:18.
BLESSED BE THE NAME
Moses asks GOD in EXOD 3, What is Your Name? And GOD says, “I AM is My Name”.
There are the Eight “I AM” statements made by Christ in JOHN’s GOSPEL (JOHN 6:35 “bread of life”; 8:12 “Light of the world”; 10:7, “the Door” 11 “Good Shepherd”; 11:25 “resurrection and life”; 14:6 “Way, Truth, Life”; 15:1 “the True Vine”), and the most obvious one is found in:
JOHN 8:58
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
There is an excellent teaching on The Trinity by the late Dr. Chuck Missler, and I’ll include a link in the article, based on this teaching.
THE MESSIAH Of ISRAEL IS YHWH?
The LORD Jesus Christ never denied being the Messiah when Peter made his great declaration in MATTHEW 16:16 “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Living GOD”. The Samaritan Woman at the well heard Jesus tell her that He is the Messiah (JOHN 4:25-26). When under oath the High Priest asked if Jesus was the Christ, and He said as much (MARK 14:61-62). Throughout the New Testament Jesus is acknowledged as the Christ (Messiah) about 530 times.
And one can prove from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Messiah would be GOD made flesh. Check out the book, The Search For Messiah by the late pastor Chuck Smith and Mark Eastman.
COMPARING THE NATURE OF ALLAH vs. YHWH
We will now consider and compare the differences between Allah and YHWH, and they are considerable. It’s commonly quoted and believed that Muslims, Jews and Christians worship the same God, but this isn’t true, it’s an intentional deception.
Here is what the Quran says about the God of the Bible (SURA 4:171): “Believe in Allah and say not ‘Trinity.’ 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.”
As we discussed just previously, Allah is unitarian (SURA 4:48) whereas the God of the Bible is trinitarian (2 COR 13:14)
1 JOHN 5:7
For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
God — The Quran asserts that the god of Islam is the God of Christians and Jews (SURA 29:46).
Allah is most definitely not the God of the Bible. Allah is presented in the Quran as an autocratic ruler who is aloof and arbitrary (SURA 5:40). Allah is unknowable whereas the God of the Bible is knowable; the apostle Paul said as much “I know in Whom I have believed”; 2 TIM 1:12. JERE 9:23 talks about the one who “understands and knows Me.”
Allah is impersonal, unlike the personal God the Scriptures who cares and communicates with us as the Scriptures reveal (EXOD 33:11; PSA 103:8; 1 PET 5:6-7).
JOHN 17:3
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Allah is capricious (SURA 2:284), [that is, unpredictable] whereas the true God is [One Who declares His Word and binds Himself to it with covenants (eight of them in total!) and promises]. And Allah is NEVER anywhere presented as a god of love — which is the essence of the nature of the true God (emphasis mine; 1 JOHN 4:7-16).
A DIFFERENT JESUS ALTOGETHER
Jesus — The Quran denies point blank that Jesus was the Son of God (SURA 112:2-3). It also denies His atoning sacrifice by claiming that he never died (SURA 4:157). A substitute died for Him on the Cross. Jesus was translated to Heaven, like Enoch, where He will remain until He returns to kill all pigs, destroy all crosses, and convert the world to Islam. Jesus will marry, reign for 40 years and then die and be buried next to Muhammad in Medina. Jesus is characterized in the Quran as nothing more than “an apostle of Allah” (SURA 4:171).
- Source: The Truth About Islam Dr. David R. Reagan from Lamb and Lion Ministries.
WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT, the real question is which book is truly the Word of GOD?
If either the Quran or the Bible are proven false, then any claims that either of them makes is invalid because it doesn’t have Divine authority.
So let’s focus on the Bible and see if it holds up to its claims as GOD’s Word. By virtue of this claim, the Bible will negate any claims made by any other religious books that contradict the Bible: for the simple reason that truth cannot contradict itself!
MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS THE CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY
Muslims claim that the Bible is corrupt, it’s been changed from its original Islamic doctrine. Yet almost 6,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament exist today, 10,000 Latin manuscripts in addition to 9,000 other ancient manuscripts for a total between 24,000 to 25,000 manuscripts.
They all agree on the virgin birth of Christ, the place of His birth, where He grew up, His baptism, the beginning of His ministry, His preaching and teaching as found in the Gospels, His relationship with the religious leadership and with the people, His miracles, His claims of Deity and of His Kingship and His Kingdom, His prophecies as well as His crucifixion, His death and burial, His resurrection and ascension into heaven.
I visited the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. I saw the Dead Sea scrolls, I read the transliteration of English from the Hebrew text in a vacuum sealed display case. Word for word, exactly as the Bible reads.
The ONLY documents that omit some or many of these assertions are the Alexandrinus texts that had considerable Gnostic influences and the pseudographical writings such as the Gospel according to Barnabas, The Gospel according to Peter, The Gospel according to Mary, etc. which are proven as not inspired. Also the Apocrypha though has some value as a historical document is not inspired nor included in Protestant canon. These latter sources are often cited by Muslim scholars and critics in denouncing the claims of Christ and of Christianity in general.
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE DESIGN
GENESIS 5 is a genealogy of 10 names: these are the men recorded at their birth:
ADAM (vs. 3) JARED (vs. 15)
SETH (vs. 4) ENOCH (vs. 18)
ENOSH (vs. 7) METHUSELAH (vs. 22)
CAINAN (vs. 10) LAMECH (vs. 26)
MAHALALEL (vs. 13) NOAH (vs. 29)
When you learn the root words of these names in the original Hebrew (which you would need a Hebrew Dictionary of Root Words. Your Hebrew Lexicon won’t work) you discover something amazing!
ADAM – “man” SETH – “appointed” – ENOSH “mortal” CAINAN – “sorrow” MAHALALEL – “the Blessed GOD” JARED – “shall come down” ENOCH –“teaching” METHUSELAH – “his death shall bring” LAMECH – “the despairing” NOAH – “rest or comfort”.
"Man [is] appointed mortal sorrow. The Blessed GOD shall come down teaching [that] His death shall bring the despairing rest/comfort."
A PATTERN OF SEVENS
PSALM 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
Sevens occur in over 600 passages in the Bible. Many of them are inferred, some are very obvious, and some are very structural, hidden under the text.
That underlying pattern of sevens in the text can serve as a fingerprint of the Author.
To illustrate this, let’s try to create a fictitious genealogy but with a few rules:
~ The number of words you use must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of letters you use must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of vowels and consonants must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of words that begin with a vowel or a consonant must be divisible by 7 exactly
The number of words that:
~ occur more than once must be divisible by 7
~ occur in more than one form must be divisible by 7
~ occur in only one form must be divisible by 7
And just a few more rules for your make believe genealogy:
~ The number of nouns shall be divisible by 7
~ Only 7 words shall not be nouns
~ The number of names shall be divisible by 7
~ Only 7 other kinds of nouns are permitted
~ The number of male names shall be divisible by 7
~ The number of generations shall be divisible by 7
These rules haven’t been applied to a fictional genealogy, but a real one that complies with them all: that’s the genealogy of the Messiah Jesus Christ in MATTHEW 1:1-17.
The above information was taken from Chuck Missler's material found here:
The Genealogy of Christ
PROPHECY AS PROOF – “Prophecy as Proof” by Dave Hunt
Christ fulfilled more than 300 prophecies during His earthly ministry. I recommend (once again) Herbert Lockyer’s Book All The Messianic Prophecies of the Bible to check these out yourself.
The GOD of the BIBLE proves Himself by declaring the future before it happens. DANIEL 11 describes future events, most of which occurred hundreds of years beyond the prophet’s lifetime, that are so accurate that skeptics feel compelled to say it must have been written after the events.
Today we are seeing eschatological prophecies – not yet fulfilled – but are lining up as we see in current events: Global efforts in establishing a one world government, a one world religious system, a one world cashless economy have made tremendous headway in the last couple of decades. The nation of Israel and Jews under heavy attack as political pressures skyrocket.
We do however see today the prophetic birth pangs described in MATTHEW 24; MARK 13 and LUKE 21 – earthquakes, famines, wars, race riots, false Christs and prophets, widespread deception in all spheres of life. These are called “the beginning of sorrows”.
A PATTERN OF SEVENS
PSALM 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
Sevens occur in over 600 passages in the Bible. Many of them are inferred, some are very obvious, and some are very structural, hidden under the text.
That underlying pattern of sevens in the text can serve as a fingerprint of the Author.
To illustrate this, let’s try to create a fictitious genealogy but with a few rules:
~ The number of words you use must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of letters you use must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of vowels and consonants must be divisible by 7 exactly
~ The number of words that begin with a vowel or a consonant must be divisible by 7 exactly
The number of words that:
~ occur more than once must be divisible by 7
~ occur in more than one form must be divisible by 7
~ occur in only one form must be divisible by 7
And just a few more rules for your make believe genealogy:
~ The number of nouns shall be divisible by 7
~ Only 7 words shall not be nouns
~ The number of names shall be divisible by 7
~ Only 7 other kinds of nouns are permitted
~ The number of male names shall be divisible by 7
~ The number of generations shall be divisible by 7
These rules haven’t been applied to a fictional genealogy, but a real one that complies with them all: that’s the genealogy of the Messiah Jesus Christ in MATTHEW 1:1-17.
The above information was taken from Chuck Missler's material found here:
The Genealogy of Christ
PROPHECY AS PROOF – “Prophecy as Proof” by Dave Hunt
Christ fulfilled more than 300 prophecies during His earthly ministry. I recommend (once again) Herbert Lockyer’s Book All The Messianic Prophecies of the Bible to check these out yourself.
The GOD of the BIBLE proves Himself by declaring the future before it happens. DANIEL 11 describes future events, most of which occurred hundreds of years beyond the prophet’s lifetime, that are so accurate that skeptics feel compelled to say it must have been written after the events.
Today we are seeing eschatological prophecies – not yet fulfilled – but are lining up as we see in current events: Global efforts in establishing a one world government, a one world religious system, a one world cashless economy have made tremendous headway in the last couple of decades. The nation of Israel and Jews under heavy attack as political pressures skyrocket.
We do however see today the prophetic birth pangs described in MATTHEW 24; MARK 13 and LUKE 21 – earthquakes, famines, wars, race riots, false Christs and prophets, widespread deception in all spheres of life. These are called “the beginning of sorrows”.
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