Last April I had the privilege of being invited to breakfast with Nizar Shaheen and a number of Pastors at the CTS studios in Burlington. Nizar Shaheen is the founder and host of Light For All Nations (LFAN), a ministry sharing the light of Christ with Arab speaking peoples both here at home and overseas in Arab speaking nations. Nizar shared with us a number of stories of how Muslims were being saved through his television ministry and also through the showing of the film The Passion by Mel Gibson in Arab theaters. He also shared with us a number of materials to help us learn more about the Arab speaking Muslims and how they can be reached for Christ. I am still going through them!

I am not well read in Islam but my friend Tony Costa is. Tony is a Pastor at Milliken Chinese Community Church. He has been studying and teaching apologetics for many years and has been active on College and University campuses debating with Muslim apologists and others of alternate religions. He has also appeared several times on radio and television as a guest speaker. You can meet Tony at CTS Monday September 13 through to Friday September 17 where he will be a guest on 100 Huntley Street. This is Tonys’ introduction to Islam and how it compares to Christianity.

Islam and Christianity: Are They Compatible?

Islam is a religion that has made an incredible impact in North America. Every where you look, you will notice that the Muslim presence is making itself quite evident. Mosques are rising in major cities across Canada, some of them having even replaced church buildings. This writer has even witnessed church buildings being purchased and remodeled into mosques. One out of every five people in this world are Muslims. When we take the above into consideration, it becomes clear that Islam is certainly a force to be reckoned with, especially and primarily with Christians.

Islam is now said to be the fastest growing religion in the world. The Christian Church must confront it because Islam has made its’ target very clear. It is not concerned with Hindus or the Buddhists, nor even with the Jewish. Muslim apologists are concerned with attacking and battling Christianity because they recognize that it is the dominating belief system in the West. Muslim apologists have challenged Christians to debates attempting to convert Christians to Islam with the same zeal as the cults. In many cases, Muslims have even tried using the Bible on Christians to show alleged contradictions, discrepancies and thus argue for the superiority of the holy book of Islam, the Koran. It is incumbent upon Christians to be ready to give a reason (1 Peter 3:15) why Islam and Christianity are incompatible. Although this is by no means an exhaustive treatise on Islam, I would recommend the book by Dr. Norman Geisler entitled, “Answering Islam” (Baker Book House, 1993) for further study.

“Islam” is an Arabic word which comes from the root word which means “submission”. The word “Muslim” is also Arabic, and means “one who submits”. Thus a Muslim, is one who has submitted to God. It must be mentioned from the outset that some Muslims usually refuse to address the Deity as “God”, because they feel the appropriate name should be “Allah”, the name used in the Koran for the Deity. “Allah” is actually a contracted word from the Arabic “al-illah” which literally means “the God”, ie. The True God. When speaking of the Deity in Islam I will use the name “Allah”.

Five Articles of Faith

There are 5, non-negotiable Articles of Faith (known as the Shahada) which every Muslim must accept. The first article is the belief that there is only one God. In Islam this is known as “tawhid”. Every devout Muslim daily recites, “La illaha illah Allah Muhammad Rasulullah”, (ie. “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”). It is the first words they teach a child and the last words they utter before death. Thus, Islam adheres to a strict monotheism, the belief in one God.

The second article is the belief in the Prophets. Muslims believe that Allah has revealed himself to mankind through the agency of prophets. Islamic tradition believes that there have been a total of 24,000 prophets who have come throughout history to deliver the revelation of Allah. The message has always been the same, recognize Allah as God and submit to him. In addition the message entails that one avoid idolatry and submit to Allah, in other words become Muslims. Muslims respect a number of biblical prophets who are mentioned in the Koran as well. People like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ishmael, Moses, David, Solomon, Jonah, Jesus and others are revered as prophets, even Adam is considered a prophet. However, Islam, at least the Sunni which is the largest denomination, affirms that Muhammad is the greatest and final prophet, the “Seal of the Prophets”, which means that since Muhammad’s death in AD 632, the voice and revelation of Allah has ceased. Muslims make no distinction among the prophets except in their belief that Muhammad was the last of them all and that while the past prophets had restrictive missions to their respective people Muhammad’s mission was a universal one, to all people.

The third article is the belief in all the Books of Allah, the revealed word of Allah. Muslims believe that all prophets were given a book, ie. Scripture to provide guidance for people. Muslims believe that Moses was given the Tawrat (the Torah), David was given the Zabur (the Psalms) and Jesus was given the Injil (the Gospel). Finally, with Muhammad, the last book was given, the Koran (from Arabic, which means the ‘recitation’). Muslims however, while believing in all books, argue that these books are now non-existent or only fragments of them have been retained in the Bible. The Koran is believed to have superseded all other Scripture and to be the final Scripture. It is important to note, that Muslims DO NOT believe the Gospels of Matthew to John to be the Gospel that Jesus brought and taught. The Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy is NOT the book of Moses, and the biblical Psalms are NOT the Zabur of David. They may contain some truth (when it agrees with the Koran!), but not all truth, that is a privilege given alone to the Koran.

Muslims argue that the Bible is a corrupted book and cannot be fully trusted. The Bible holds a second class status and must defer to the Koran. The Koran has 114 chapters considered to be the word of Allah, word for word, almost the same size as the New Testament and is written in Arabic, which Muslims consider to be a sacred language. Therefore Muslims around the world conduct their prayers in Arabic despite their ethnic background. It has no chronological order like the Bible, but the chapters are arranged from the longest to the smallest. Muslims have made many claims to the effect that the Koran is a preserved text with no additions or alterations. It has, so they claim, remained intact since Muhammad�s time. Moreover, they argue that there are no textual variants like the Bible, and that there is no error in the Arabic text. It is for all intents and purposes a perfect text. Despite these religious claims, there is contrary evidence available from the world of scholarship in the area of the Koran and Islamic history that demonstrates that the Koran shares the same type of textual difficulties as the Bible does. The Koran is by no means a preserved text, it abounds with variants, and there are scores of grammatical errors in the Arabic. The Koran that we have today is a text that has undergone revision, and the very sources of Islam and Koranic manuscripts provide that evidence. The religious claims of Muslim apologists regarding the Koran cannot stand with the textual evidence.

The fourth article is the belief in Angels. Muslims believe that Allah has communicated with humanity through the angels via prophets. Thus Islam teaches that the Angel Gibreel (Arabic for Gabriel) brought the revelation of the Koran to Muhammad in AD 610 .

The fifth and last article is that of the Last Day. Muslims believe that the Last Day will hasten the judgement of the world by Allah. It is the fearful day of judgement when Allah will allow into Paradise the just whose good works have outweighed their bad ones, and when evil doers will be cast into hellfire.

In respect to these 5 major articles of faith, let’s review 5 main areas of disagreement between Christianity and Islam.

GOD

As mentioned earlier, Islam embraces monotheism and thus agrees with Judaism and Christianity in affirming the oneness of God. However, it must be pointed out that in Islam, God is by no means triune or a Trinity. Muslims explicitly reject the Trinity and occasionally charge Christians with tritheism, the belief in 3 gods. Islam is in its theology a Unitarian religion, Unitarian being used in its classical sense, emphasizing that God is only one Person as opposed to Three Persons in One. Furthermore, you cannot know God in Islam, he is too transcendent. In the Bible however, we can know God through Jesus (John 17:3). Christians can call God “Father” or even “Abba”, the Aramaic word Jesus used, but Muslims consider it blasphemous to address God as “Father”. In Islam, the relation of humanity to God is that of slave (”abd”) to master (”rab”). Christians therefore share a more intimate relationship with God than Muslims do because God is our Father through Christ. (John 1:12-13; Galatians 3:27).

In Islam, Allah can do whatever he wants. He can mislead, deceive, in short he is capricious. In the Bible however, God is immutable (Malachi 3:6). There are certain things God cannot do. He cannot lie (Titus 1:2), He cannot sin, He cannot deny Himself. The God of the Bible is limited only by His perfect nature. God does not create for example square circles or married bachelors.

JESUS CHRIST

Muslims revere Jesus as one of Allah’s greatest prophets. The Koran seems to speak of him more than any other prophet and Jesus is the only character that the Koran gives a full biography of. However, it must be emphasized that as in the cults, there is another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Islam is no exception. The Jesus of Islam is only a prophet who was virgin born, performed miracles, and was sent exclusively to the children of Israel (Koran 3:46-47; 5:78,113: 19:16-21, 29-31). Contrary to Christian belief, Islam maintains Jesus was NOT crucified nor did He die on the cross (Koran 4:157). Jesus was rescued by Allah and is presently in Heaven (Koran 4:158). He will return one day, destroy the Antichrist, destroy the crosses and the pigs (??) and scold Christians for their erroneous views regarding him. He will be killed fighting for Islam and will be buried next to the grave of Muhammad (”The End of The Journey” by Muhammad Abdullah Khouj, The Islamic Centre, Wash. D.C., 1988, pgs. 42-43, 54-55). It becomes abundantly clear that this Jesus is far removed from the Jesus of the Bible. In addition, Jesus was NOT the Son of God. In Islam it is blasphemous to even say God has a son (Koran 10:68; 19:35). Muslims take this literally and charge Christians with teaching that God had sexual relations with the Virgin Mary to conceive Jesus, a charge that is biblically unsound and not accepted by Christianity at any time in its history.

The most serious attack here is the negation not only of the Deity of Jesus, but the rejection of the cross. Not only is the death of Jesus confirmed by extra biblical material but it is the scarlet thread that runs throughout the Bible. The Bible repeatedly warns that damnation follows those who reject the crucified and risen Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is absolutely essential for salvation to 1) confess Jesus as Lord 2) believe God has raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans10:9) Islam negates both (1) and (2).

HOLY SPIRIT

As stated earlier, the Trinity is denied in Islam. Muslims believe in the Spirit of Allah, but the term “holy spirit” is actually used strangely enough as a synonym for the angel Gabriel (Koran 2:87)! As with the warning by Paul about “another Jesus”, he also warns us of those who bring or teach “another spirit” as well (2 Corinthians 11:4). In the Bible however, the Holy Spirit is God Himself, (Acts 5:3-4), the Third Person of the Trinity. (Matthew28:19; 2 Corinthians13:14, see “The Forgotten Trinity” by James R. White, Bethany House Publishers, 1998).

SIN

Muslims believe that sin is an act of disobedience against Allah. However, they reject the concept of “original sin” or Adamic sin and teach that all are born innately good and sinless. Islam does not regard the Fall as a spiritual calamity, but a minor aberration on the part of Adam and Eve. In the Bible however, sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), it separates us from God and we are born with it from Adam (Romans 5). All have sinned and come short of God�s glory (Romans 3:23). As mentioned above, even Adam is viewed as a prophet in Islam, however the New Testament states that through Adam, sin and its consequent death, entered the world and that this sin affected all his progeny as well. (Romans 5:12-21)

SALVATION

As in the cults, and other religions, salvation is only attainable by works. Islam rejects the notion of atonement, and the Koran actually says that one cannot carry another’s burden for him, in other words one cannot atone for another. This is a clear rejection of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Muslims hope that their good works will out weigh their bad works. The Bible on the other hand is quite clear that salvation is a gift from God and that humanity cannot save itself, not even by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation is made possible through Jesus Christ. He alone is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Furthermore, Muslims have no certainty or assurance of their salvation. No Muslim can say with assurance that they will enter Paradise. They simply do not know. In Christ however, we can know and rest in His promises (1 John 5:13; Romans 8:1; John 5:24).

The Paradise of Islam is very different than the Heaven of the Bible. Paradise is described as a place where men recline on couches, and are served by beautiful women and young boys wearing necklaces and bracelets (Koran 37:48; 44:54; 52:24,50,72; 56:17,22; 74:19). The Heaven of the Bible is a place of purity and holiness and not a place where men’s carnal appetites are appeased. This is the type of place that appeals to the unregenerate nature of man. Anyone who studies some of the early traditions of Islam will recoil at the carnal nature that it advocates as the rewards of the saved.

In this article I have tried to present the reader with a brief but compact introduction to Islam. It is clear from the above that Islam is far removed from any agreement with Christianity. It rejects the Christian notion of God, Jesus Christ and most importantly the reality of His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit, Sin and Salvation. It is not good enough to say that, “Muslims believe in the same God as Christians do, they just approach Him differently”. Remember what James warned, “You believe that there is one God [Muslims say they believe this] Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.” (James 2:19 NIV). What is James telling us? It is NOT enough to say “I believe in one God!”, or embrace monotheism, or else that would warrant that the demons are saved because they believe that as well!

Augustine once commented that there is a crucial difference between believing there is a God, and believing in God. Anyone can acknowledge God is, but to believe in God implies a relationship, thus Jesus’ words in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (emphasis mine) Notice the essence of eternal life involves knowing (which implies a relationship) the one true God, not just affirming He is one, but notice the addition, we must also know Jesus Christ!

Islam is spiritually bankrupt. It motivates its followers with fear and power and offers them no assurance of salvation. May we motivate our Muslim friends and neighbours with love and not fear (1 John 4:18-19), and be prepared (1 Peter 3:15) to offer them the assurance of salvation that is available through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).

By Pastor Tony Costa, B.A., M.A., ThD (cand)

Tony can be contacted at tmcos@rogers.com

Note: For readers interested in reaching out to Muslims, you can get more helpful information at Answering Islam

September is right around the corner and students are already shopping for Back-to-School supplies. Many of our young people have grown up in Christian homes and are heading off to Christian Bible Colleges and Seminaries. We are so proud of these young people knowing that they have chosen wisely in their choices of post-secondary education. We just know that they will be safe from the snares that await others going to secular institutions. We don’t have to worry about cults for instance. Our kids have been brought up in the church after all. They know right from wrong and cultists wouldn’t stand a chance against our kids. So we really don’t have to teach these young people about cults of all things. Or do we?

Surprisingly, the threat is just as real in Christian institutions as in secular ones. I recall that when I attended the Urbana Missions Conference in 1987 that attendees were accosted by swarms of members from the Boston Church of Christ, yelling at us and telling us that our baptisms were invalid and that we needed to be baptised in their church in order to be saved! The situation has not changed much since then. While on a recent trip to California I had the privelege of meeting with Paul Carden. He shared with me his burden for the young people in our churches.

Paul Carden is the executive director of CFAR, Centers For Apologetics Research, and has devoted his life to cult-related research and outreach for more than 20 years. His ministry has taken him to Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. For six years he was a missionary in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and for six years he co-hosted the nationwide “Bible Answer Man” radio broadast. His articles have appeared in such publications as Christian Research Journal, International Journal of Frontier Missions, East-West Church And Ministry Report, World Pulse, and Evangelical Missions Quarterly.

Paul writes in his July 2004 Commentary:

They thought it couldn’t happen to them. But it did.

CASE 1: From the June 20, 2004 issue of the Chicago Tribune:

When she joined a fledgling missionary group at evangelical Wheaton College, Carrie Andreson expected to grow closer to God.

She and other students would gather mornings in graduate student Feroze Golwalla’s apartment to pray and plan for an overseas mission trip. But as the weeks passed, the students began fasting and soon were depriving themselves of sleep. Some cut off ties to family and friends and left Wheaton to follow Golwalla and his strict directives.

In her desire to become a missionary, Andreson had become part of a cult.

At Golwalla’s orders, Andreson said, she even beat other members and ultimately caused self-inflicted wounds, puncturing her face and buttocks with a hanger until she bled and scarred,

“I always hated the pain,” she said. “But at the same time, it made me feel more…worthy to be there. I thought that this is what I needed for my own preparation as a missionary.”

Carrie wasn’t the only one. At least 20 Christian young people have suffered under Golwalla, who is still at large. He cunningly twisted Scripture and exploited noble motives, such as a desire for missionary service, as a pretext for appalling physical and psychological abuse. (The apostle Paul wrote to naive believers of the false shepherds in his day: “For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face, - (2 Corinthians 11:20.)

Were the young people whom Golwalla took captive “losers” — marginal Christians, mentally retarded, or emotionally crippled? Press reports indicate that he sought bright students who were unusually active and committed to their faith and had caring, supportive parents. Writes one survivor: “It is not a mystical process by which stupid or emotionally unstable people overnight become zombies (as many believe). It is a very gradual and understandable process by which idealistic and sometimes highly intelligent people join an organization they’re interested in and then have their freedoms gradually limited and their perceptions colored to the point that they do not choose to leave even when they are physically able to do so.”

CASE 2: A few months ago I received a request from a ministry in Utah to assist a local parent seeking help. The woman’s seventeen-year-old daughter (who had attended a wealthy, well-known evangelical church since she was four) had fallen in love with a Mormon boy and wanted desperately to join the cult. Worse, when the parents sought the help of the church’s youth pastor, he refused to meet with the girl in order to discuss the dangers and deception of Mormonism! I spent several hours with her and her mother, and I was surprised by her level of biblical illiteracy and her inability (or unwillingness) - even when lovingly confronted with the evidence - to recognize that Mormonism cannot possibly be reconciled with biblical Christianity. Sadly, this scenario is far from uncommon.

I highlight these two cases because they’re symptomatic of a much larger problem. Christian young people are at risk, both here and abroad - especially as the church loses its will to discern, and especially among those who think, “It can’t happen to us.”

Writing in the July 9, 2004 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Dale Buss observes that “while they may profess the faith and indeed love Jesus, the vast majority of Christian teenagers in this country actually hold beliefs fundamentally antithetical to the creed. The forces of moral relativism and ‘tolerance’ have gotten to them in a big way. In fact, some leaders believe that mushy doctrine among the younger generation ranks as the No. 1 crisis facing American Christendom today.

“About one-third of American teenagers claim they’re ‘born again’ believers, according to data gathered over the past few years by Barna Research Group…and 88% of teens say they are Christians. About 60% believe that ‘the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.’ And 56% feel that their religious faith is very important in their life.

“Yet, Barna says, slightly more than half of all U.S. teens also believe that Jesus committed sins while he was on earth. About 60% agree that enough good works will earn them a place in heaven…. About two-thirds say that Satan is just a symbol of evil, not really a living being. Only 6% of all teens believe that there are moral absolutes - and, most troubling to evangelical leaders, only 9% of self-described born-again teens believe that moral truth is absolute.” (Barna adds that it’s “disconcerting to realize that we’re relying on this generation for the future defense of Judeo-Christian civilization against the highly motivated forces of militant Islam.”)

As the American Family Foundation explains, cults lure the unsuspecting by two interacting forces:

— The tactics the cult uses to recruit, convert, acculturate, and hold members, and

— The personal vulnerability of the potential recruit

So what can parents do? Paranoia isn’t the answer! But to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Bible-wielding cult recruiters come in all shapes and sizes, and a healthy respect for their persuasive powers goes a long way. One of Feroze Golwalla’s former followers writes: “The Lord Jesus said that we need to be wise as serpents and that we need to understand that there are things out there that look like sheep but that are actually wolves [Matt. 7:15ff]. Feroze was a wolf in sheep’s clothing if ever there was one. Please, be aware that things are not always as they seem. Don’t assume that they are. You can’t always tell from a first impression.” Said the mother of two victims: “If Feroze had walked on campus with a bottle of wine and cigarettes in his pocket, he’d be kicked out of Wheaton…. But there’s nothing protecting students from a predator like Feroze.” Nothing, perhaps, except vigilance - and an awareness that even Christians are prey for such deceivers. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

As we raise our families and encourage the young people around us, we can make a difference by consistently recognizing and applying two basic principles:

1) KNOW THE TRUTH

To avoid deception, Christian young people should know how to interpret God’s Word, know the essentials of the historic Christian faith (especially as reflected in ancient affirmations like the Apostles’ creed), and have some grasp of church history.

2) KNOW THE CULTS

To avoid deception, Christian young people should be familiar with contemporary cults - their names, their errors, and their recruiting methods (the “dynamics” of deception) - and appreciate their areas of personal vulnerability.

Around the world, CFAR is warning the Body of Christ - young and old - about the dangers and deception of cultic groups. Through seminars and CDs, tracts and television, we’re committed to inoculating God’s people against deception. Together, you and I can reduce the casualties in this spiritual battle, equipping young believers in many nations to stand for truth and win cultists to Christ.

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness….” (2 Peter 3:17)

In Christ our Hope,

Paul Carden
Executive Director, CFAR
(Hebrews 5:14)

Contact info:

CFAR
Box 1196
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693
USA

949-496-2000
fax: 949-496-2000
email: TheCenters@aol.com
http://www.TheCenters.org