118 Sermon Illustrations on Islam

A recent Time magazine cover story featured the patriarch Abraham as a common touchstone of three major world religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

For Christianity, he is the father of those who believe God and are counted as righteous based on that belief. For Judaism, he is the father of the covenant with God that resulted in Israel's chosen nation status. For Islam, he was the first Muslim by affirming his belief in one god.

Some people believe a common respect for Abraham suggests the possibility of productive dialogue between three otherwise mutually exclusive world faiths. The Abraham Initiative is one such effort to promote understanding between religions that consider Abraham significant.

It's a noble intent. Last year's attack on New York put Islam on everybody's mind -- at least in the U.S. Since that time, many have worked to redefine Muslim and non-Muslim faith so that all men can be acceptable to one another. Such effort has been confounded by reality for over a thousand years. Reality has not changed, only our sense of urgency.

The solution proposed by syncretists such as those who participated in the Abraham Initiative is that a compromise be struck to either smooth over the distinctives of each religion or deny their truth. Initiative leaders don't appear to believe in any specific god. A more honest statement of their intent is to offer a sop less volatile than our orthodox doctrine until we mature beyond fundamentalism. Thanks so much.

Time's chief religion writer, speaking of the magazine's theme article, noted the intolerance of these three religions. "Is it something in the monotheistic water?" he asks. I'm afraid so. It's called monotheism -- the belief in one God. As in, "no other God." Allah is not Yahweh and God, who sent his Son to die for my sins 2,000 years ago and then raised him from the dead, is not the same as any god who didn't. In simple English, they can't all be true at the same time. They make mutually exclusive claims that bear on the heart of each faith. Either one faith is right about the nature, work and revelation of its god or all three are wrong. No other possibility exists.

A foundational insult to all three religions is the assumption that we worship the same god because we worship only one god. Further, our unifying beliefs about Abraham are said to be built on legends about a man who may or may not have even existed. It in no way lessens the offense when a liberal Jew, Muslim or Christian makes the assertion -- or that he makes it in the name of peace.

In fact, horrible things have been done by the orthodox adherents of many world religions, not just monotheist faiths. It is part of at least one animist religion to bury alive children born during some phases of the moon. Some religions have thrown young women into volcanoes; still others practiced cannibalism and other forms of human sacrifice. Are all religions truly the same, monotheist or not? If we favor monotheism, we degrade our Hindu neighbors with their elaborate web of deities. If we favor theism, Buddhists are rightly offended. Are all religions truly the same?

If you want to unite all world religions, Abraham is not the man. Adam is. Genesis 1 tells us that the first man and the first woman sinned. Romans 5 tells us that we all sinned in Adam. Chapter 3 says that all of us have sinned and fall short of God's glory. That is the unifying theme -- all human religions leave us in our sins and condemned. All. Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, animism, Hinduism and liberal "God is dead," "Jesus may or may not have actually risen" Christianity are each and all polite, perhaps gentle and peace-loving roads to hell.

Romans 5 also tells us of a second Adam who would draw together all the first Adam's race. The man Jesus (himself fully God), who died for our sins, offers forgiveness to as many as believe in him.

Time's writing team was said to be made up equally of Jews, Christians and Muslims. It was noted, however, that the participants were not very observant of their own faiths. How continually odd that non-observant participants of any religion offer counsel to those who take their own faiths and sacred documents seriously. Specifically, considering the implications of the tedious call for ultimate tolerance, they counsel that we cut it out.

Our well-meaning, sophisticated friends in the Abraham Initiative are left to invent a new parable to replace the existing (though distinct) ones claimed as fact by orthodox Jews, Muslims and Christians. They must invent a myth that all non-observant religionists can use to rewrite the history and future of their respective peoples. "Observant" adherents of these faiths have no place in this future. We are too divisive and potentially violent.

The problem is that this is nothing new. Earlier attempts to rewrite faith and history to suit political expediency resulted in the Inquisition, the Crusades, American slavery, the Holocaust and the Taliban. A tyranny of the tolerant would be tyranny nonetheless. Those who believe that any mere man, living or dead, can unite Adam's race around a standard of love and understanding do not understand history, theology or eschatology.

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Ledbetter is the editor of The Texan, the newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2770]

Generally speaking, there are only two methods of salvation in all the religions of the world: grace and works. Christianity is a religion of salvation by grace alone: “For by grace through faith you have been saved, not of works...” (Eph. 2:8-9). All other systems rely totally or in part on the works of the believer to merit salvation. Mormons, for example, say that you are saved by grace through faith after all you can do. In Roman Catholicism, God’s grace is infused into a believer that enables him to do good works by which he is judged for salvation. In Islam, forgiveness is based on a combination of Allah’s grace and the Muslim’s works. On the Day of Judgment, if a Muslim’s good works outweigh his bad ones and if Allah so wills it, he may be forgiven of all his sins and then enter into Paradise. Therefore, Islam is a religion of salvation by works because it combines man’s works with Allah’s grace. Consider the following verses from the Qur’an.

Surah 5:9, “To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great reward.”

Surah 42:26, “And He listens to those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, and gives them increase of His Bounty: but for the Unbelievers there is a terrible Penalty.”

Surah 8:29, “O ye who believe! If ye fear Allah, He will grant you a criterion (to judge between right and wrong), remove from you (all) evil (that may afflict) you, and forgive you: for Allah is the Lord of grace unbounded.

Of course, the Muslims will tell us the Qur’an teaches that Allah is gracious to them and that they do not earn their forgiveness. I acknowledge this. The Qur’an says, “...Allah is the Lord of grace unbounded,” (Surah 8:29), and also, “...But Allah will choose for his special mercy whom he will - for Allah is lord of grace abounding,” (Surah 2:105). But, as you can see from the quotes 1, 2, and 3 above, Allah’s forgiveness is tied to the Muslim’s works. Therefore, I ask the question, how is it really grace if it is also by works? Isn’t grace the unmerited favor from God? It would seem the Islamic system of salvation is more a reward than grace.

For further confirmation that Allah’s grace is dependent upon the deeds of faithful Muslims here are more quotes from the Qur’an:

Surah 33:70-71, “O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and (always) say a word directed to the Right: (71) That He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: He that obeys Allah and His Apostle, has already attained the highest achievement.”

Surah 49:14, “The desert Arabs say, “We believe.” Say, “Ye have no faith; but ye (only)say, ‘We have submitted our wills to Allah,’ For not yet has Faith entered your hearts. But if ye obey Allah and His Apostle, He will not belittle aught of your deeds: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Notice how the Qur’an teaches forgiveness based upon Allah’s grace and man’s works. Can any Muslim be assured of his salvation before his God? No.1 Numerous Muslims have told me that they do not know if they will make it to Heaven because they do not know if their good deeds outweigh their bad ones. Unlike Christianity where we have assurance of salvation (John 6:47, 1 John 5:13), there is no assurance in Islam because it rests in part on the obedience and good works of Muslims. Unlike Christianity where salvation is an unearned, free gift from God (Rom. 4:3, Eph. 2:8-9), the Muslim can at best only hope he has performed enough good works to outweigh his bad ones and that Allah so wills to forgive him.

Another requirement for forgiveness for the Muslim is sincerity when repenting of sins.

Surah 66:8, “ O ye who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance: In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow - the Day that Allah will not permit to be humiliated the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their Light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, “Our Lord! Perfect our Light for us, and grant us Forgiveness: for Thou hast power over all things.”

Surah 4:17, “Allah accept the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them will Allah turn in mercy: For Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.”

I am not saying that we should not be sincere when repenting of our sins. But, the problem with sincerity is that it can easily become a form of pride. After all, if a person says he is truly sincere enough to be forgiven of his sins, then isn’t he appealing to something within himself, a finite sinner, as part of the basis of receiving forgiveness from a holy and infinite God? Is that not presumptive and prideful to do? Furthermore, the issue of sincerity is a subjective thing. How do you know you are being sincere enough? Is it because the Muslim simply believes he is? It seems to me that at best, the Muslim can only hope he is sincere enough. But how can he really know for sure? Instead, the Bible says that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful and cannot be trusted (Jer. 17:9).

In Christianity, we appeal to the work of Christ on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) completely and totally and nothing in ourselves as a basis for forgiveness because no good thing dwells within us (Rom. 7:18), that is, apart from Christ. We sincerely believe in Christ, but we never claim that forgiveness is in any way merited or gained because of our sincerity or our works. Rather, our forgiveness is based on faith and trust in God in what He has done for us in Christ. Salvation in Christianity is God-centered. In Islam, forgiveness of sins is man-centered in that it is dependent upon man’s sincerity and man’s works in combination with Allah’s forgiveness.

Both Christianity and Islam teach that we must have faith in God, but in Christianity this faith in God is enough to save us (Rom. 5:1, Eph. 2:8-9). In Islam, faith in God is not enough. In Islam, the Muslim’s works will be weighed on the Day of Judgment, and it will then be decided who is saved and who is not -- based upon whether the person was a Muslim, whether or not they were sincere in repentance and whether or not they performed enough good works to outweigh the bad ones.

Please consider the following verses from the Qur’an about how a Muslim’s deeds are weighed in the balance on Judgment Day to see if he might be saved or not.

Surah 23:102-103, “Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy - they will attain salvation: (103) But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide.”

Surah 21:47, “We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account.”

Surah 18:105, “They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight.”

Is the Islamic system of salvation really enough to save Muslims? They will say that it is, but as a Christian, I cannot see how anyone in Islam can have security and honest expectation of obtaining Paradise. How can anyone who must be completely sincere in repentance and be required to perform more good works than bad ever hope to make it to Heaven?

The problem with being saved by God’s grace and human works is that human works are never sufficient to please God. God is infinite and holy. How can we finite sinners ever hope to please God by our deeds?

Muslims need the Gospel

Instead of relying in any way on our own works, the Gospel of Jesus teaches us that we do not have to do that. The Gospel of Jesus is that He died for our sins and rose again from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-4). He fulfilled all the Law, so we don’t have to (Rom. 8:3-4). He took our place and received the punishment due our sins (2 Cor. 5:21). Because we are sinners and cannot please an infinitely Holy God on our own and because we can never fulfill the Law of God perfectly and because God’s eyes are too pure to look upon evil (Hab. 1:13), salvation must be by total grace (Eph. 2:8). Salvation must be the work of God - not of man (Gal. 2:21).

1 John 5:13 says, “These things were written so you may know you have eternal life...” Can the Muslim say he knows he has eternal life? He cannot. I know I do as a Christian precisely because it is not of my works. So, why would a Muslim want me to give up my assurance and free gift of salvation found in Jesus for the Islamic system of works that, at best, only provides the possibility of salvation if I have been sincere enough and if I have done enough good works?

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1. There are many Muslims who believe that if a Muslim dies in battle defending Allah, that he is guaranteed to go to heaven.

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Matt Slick is the President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.

Lynn Green entered with apprehension a Muslim gathering at a Turkish mosque in Cologne, Germany, on Easter.

In one of the cities where the medieval Crusades began in 1096, the veteran Youth With A Mission staffer was accompanied by other Christians determined to retrace the steps of the eleventh-century Crusaders and to apologize to Muslims and Jews for the atrocities committed against their forebears.

The Muslim imam's public response startled Green and the others. "When I heard the nature of your message, I was astonished and filled with hope," he told the crowd. "I thought to myself, 'Whoever had this idea must have had an epiphany.'" In further conversation, the imam told Green that many Muslims had begun examining their sins against Christians and Jews but have been unclear about what they should do. The repentance offered by Christians because of the Crusades has set an example of apologizing for Muslims to follow, the imam said.

The effort is being called the "Reconciliation Walk." And the 2,000-mile, three-year walk across Europe, through the Balkans and Turkey, then south to Jerusalem, seeks to build bridges of understanding and to reverse a legacy of animosity among three of the world's most prominent religions.

In Cologne, loud, sustained applause followed as 125 Christians formally presented the Reconciliation Walk declaration of apology in Turkish, German, and English to about 200 Muslim disciples. The imam, the most senior Muslim teacher in Europe, sent copies of the statement to the 600 mosques throughout the continent. With this achievement, the walk had a promising beginning in April.

REMOVING ENMITY: Green says the purpose of the walk, an independent initiative involving many Christian groups, is to remove enmity and mistrust.

Now, 900 years after the first Crusade, some Muslims and Jews still harbor ill feelings toward Christianity because of the atrocities committed. In turn, many evangelical Christians have disowned the Crusades as a dark chapter of pre-Reformational Christian history, finding it has little to do with their beliefs or practice.

In the eleventh century, Christendom witnessed a feud between the bishop of Rome (the pope) and the patriarch of Constantinople (modern Istanbul). Divided over doctrine, culture, politics, and turf, each excommunicated the other in 1054.

In the meantime, the aggressive Muslim Seljuk Turks advanced on the Constantinople-based Byzantine Empire, ambushing Christian pilgrimages to Palestine. When Byzantine emperor Alexius I appealed to Rome for help, Pope Urban II called in 1095 for a Crusade to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control. Thousands marched, many convinced their efforts would help them gain eternal life.

However, the zealots committed the equivalent of modern-day ethnic cleansing, murdering Jews and warring against Muslims en route to Palestine. In 1099, when they reached Jerusalem, blood flowed freely. Crusaders burned a synagogue into which thousands of Jews had fled and stormed a mosque, slaughtering thousands of Muslims.

BETRAYING CHRIST

Participants in the reconciliation walk are focused on dissolving the ancient divides between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The reconciliation walk message says the Crusaders "betrayed the name of Christ by conducting themselves in a manner contrary to his wishes and character."

By lifting the Cross, "they corrupted its true meaning of reconciliation, forgiveness, and selfless love." The messengers "deeply regret the atrocities committed in the name of Christ by our predecessors."

"We are simple followers of Jesus Christ who have found forgiveness from sin and life in him," they explain. "We renounce greed, hatred, and fear, and condemn all violence done in the name of Jesus Christ." They hope to share their message face to face with 2 million Muslims.

The walk also is designed to heal rifts in Christendom. In Istanbul, an advance team focused on atrocities committed during the fourth crusade, praying for forgiveness at Hagia Sophia and the Galata Tower. The destruction in Istanbul has been a barrier between the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

Green says response has been universally positive among the intended audience, although some Christians question the theological basis for contemporary Christians confessing to contemporary Muslims the sins of long- deceased predecessors. When Christians see these results, Green says the theological and historical debates, albeit important, become secondary.

Duke University religion professor Eric Meyers, who is Jewish, says, "Reconciliation between Christianity and the Jewish people or Christianity and the Islamic world is certainly a laudable and noble aim."

Meyers says, "In their fervor to bring the 'true' message of Christianity to Jews and Muslims, namely, 'reconciliation, forgiveness, and selfless love,' I sincerely hope that the participants will not lose track of the import of God's universalistic vision implicit in Luke (4:18-19) and at the very core of Old Testament eschatology."

George Washington University Islamic Studies professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a Muslim, says, "Every effort by both sides to bring Christians and Muslims closer together and to unify them before the formidable forces of irreligion and secularism, which wield inordinate power today, must be supported by people of faith in both worlds."

Organizers are inviting church groups across North America to join the walk. Small groups of a dozen or fewer will go for a week or more to declare the message.

The walk aims to reach Jerusalem in July 1999, the nine-hundredth anniversary of the Crusaders' invasion of the Holy City.

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Copyright(c) 1996 by Christianity Today, Inc/Christianity Today Magazine. Oct. 7, 1996, Vol. 40, No. 2, Page 90

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She was the first. Only God could have known she would lead so many others in Kazakstan to know Christ.

Gulya was born in a Kazak village in Soviet-ruled Central Asia. Her people had brought Islam to the region long ago, but as a child she was brought up to believe what the Communist Party taught: There is no God.

Still, when her mother died, 7-year-old Gulya wondered, "If there is a God, why does he let people die? Why does he not see my tears?"

She went to live with an aunt, a cruel woman who beat her. As she grew older, she seldom thought of God, but she feared death. At night, when the fear gripped her, she would get up and walk.

In 1981, her husband of 28 years left her with five children. Soon after, she lost her job, and in desperation went to Tashkent, capital of neighboring Uzbekistan. There someone shared with her for the first time the good news of God's love.

The Holy Spirit whetted her appetite to know more. She read a book comparing Muhammad, Islam's prophet, with Jesus. The difference soon became obvious: Muhammad was a man; Jesus was Lord.

One night Gulya dreamed she was asking for forgiveness from God. She realized her feet were dirty, and a man suggested, "Wash your feet in the river." She did, and they were clean. In another dream, she saw the sun. Many people appealed to her: "Follow the sun, and we will follow you!"

When she told her Christian friend in Tashkent about the dreams, her friend exclaimed: "You must tell everybody! The dream means that you will accept Jesus and many people will follow you by believing in him."

Gulya accepted Christ as her Savior in 1991 and was baptized two years later. Soon after her baptism, two other young Kazak men accepted Jesus as Lord and came to the Russian Baptist church she was attending. They were the only three ethnic Kazaks in the church and felt out of place.

With help from friends, Gulya started a small fellowship. The group began without a pastor, but soon God sent a young man whose Turkic language was similar to Kazak, and he could preach, sing and play guitar.

Today the church Gulya started counts more than 200 baptized believers. New converts are added nearly every week. Sunday morning worship is usually conducted in Kazak, Russian and Uzbek. Believers also meet Saturday night for Bible study and often pray all night Friday. The congregation constituted as a church last year and calls itself "Senim," which means "faith."

That was only the beginning. At least once a week Gulya, her pastor and other believers show the "Jesus" film and share their faith in public buildings, mosques and homes. They often spend days in Kazak or Uzbek villages.

Usually they encounter a friendly reception -- but not always. Sometimes people curse them and reject the gospel they share. Their lives have been threatened. Newspapers and a radio station have accused them of betraying Islam for American dollars. Once 40 Muslim men came to a home where the team was preaching and threatened to kill the pastor.

One Muslim leader stormed into their church, angry that his own daughter-in- law and grandchild had accepted Jesus. Gulya and the pastor gave him a Bible and showed him the "Jesus" film. Now he teaches Muslim children from the Bible in the Islamic school he runs.

Another time, while team members were showing the Jesus film and distributing books to children in a village, police detained them.

"We are not pitting one religion against another," Gulya told them. "We are just presenting the truth. Take this cassette and see if there is anything that would mislead children. If you find anything wrong, you can put me in prison."

After a few hours they were released, recounts Gulya, who remains determined to introduce Kazaks to the Savior she has found -- regardless of the opposition.

Since the early 1990s, an estimated 100,000 Algerians have died in a civil war that pits the Algerian government against Islamic extremists. The extremists have targeted not only the government and the military, but also anyone expressing what they call "non-Islamic" views, like journalists and foreigners.

As you might expect, at the top of their list of targets is Algeria's Christian community. In 1996, seven Trappist monks were kidnapped and then beheaded by Islamic militants, an act that Pope John Paul II called "despicable." Less than three months later, as if to emphasize their disregard for world and Christian opinion, they assassinated the Catholic Bishop of Oran.

All of this is part of their promise to "eliminate" all "Jews, Christians" and other non-Muslims from Algeria.

You would think that such a campaign would deter conversion to Christianity, but reports out of Algeria suggest just the opposite.

Since the beginning of recorded history, a people called the Berbers have lived in North Africa. The Berbers, who are referred to in ancient Egyptian records, were originally pagans, but many of them eventually embraced Christianity in the first centuries after Christ as the Gospel spread across Roman North Africa.

Then, in the seventh century, the Muslim army conquered North Africa. Within a century, the Christian presence there, a presence that produced theologians like Saint Augustine, disappeared. The Berbers, like nearly everyone else in North Africa, became Muslims.

Now that's beginning to change. A recent issue of MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY tells us "people of all ages are converting to Christianity" in Kabylie, the heart of Berber culture. Despite obstacles that forced pastors to work in "absolute secrecy," "the number of [Berbers] who have embraced Christianity has grown rapidly."

What lies behind this spate of conversions? Well, the media plays a role. The magazine reports that radio broadcasts originating in France have played "an important role in the legitimization of Christian doctrines."

But the conversions also point to a profound dissatisfaction with Islam among Berbers. The QUARTERLY cites the deterioration of the "image of Islam" as a factor in "the rise of conversions to Christianity."

Berbers, you see, have seen the atrocities committed in the name of Islam in their own communities, and they had to ask the question that many Westerners don't dare ask: Does the problem lie with extremists, or is the problem inherent in Islam itself?

The Berbers have seen the impact of Islam on the lives of ordinary people, especially women, and they have summed up the difference between the two faiths in startling fashion: "Christianity is life; Islam is death." These aren't my words; they are the words of numerous Berber converts.

These Berber conversions should serve as a reminder to pray for Muslims. Islamist extremists are causing Muslims to rethink what they believe. As a result conversions to Christianity are occurring in North Africa, Iran, and elsewhere.

Christianity's message of God's love and grace through the cross stands in such marked contrast to Islam that people are choosing -- they're choosing life over death.

For further reading and information:

"Christianity Is Life," MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY, summer 2001.

The Middle East Forum, a think tank, works to define and promote American interests in the Middle East. Learn more by visiting its website .

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Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. 'BreakPoint with Chuck Colson' is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

In church yesterday, as you celebrated Easter, did you notice anything — or anyone — unusual?

In churches all over the world, there were millions of people celebrating the resurrection of Christ, who were not there just a few years ago — because they were worshipping in a mosque instead.

It is thrilling evidence that God is doing a mighty work among Muslims.

According to the website Islam Watch, in Russia, some two million ethnic Muslims converted to Christianity last year. Ten thousand French Muslims converted, as did 35,000 Turkish Muslims. In India, approximately 10,000 people abandoned Islam for Christianity.

In his book EPICENTER, author Joel Rosenberg details amazing stories of Muslims converting to Christianity. In Algeria, the birthplace of St. Augustine, more than 80,000 Muslims have turned to Christ in recent years. This, despite the stiff opposition from Islamic clerics who have passed laws banning evangelism.

In Morocco, newspaper articles openly worry that 25,000 to 40,000 Muslims have become followers of Christ in recent years.

The stories are even more amazing in the heart of the Middle East. In 1996, the Egyptian Bible Society sold just 3,000 video copies of the JESUS film. In the year 2000, they sold an incredible 600,000 copies.

In Sudan, as many as five million Muslims have accepted Christ since the early 1990s, despite horrific persecution of Christians by the Sudanese government. What is behind the mass conversions? According to a Sudanese evangelical leader, “People have seen real Islam, and they want Jesus instead.”

In Iraq, “More than 5,000 Muslim converts to Christianity have been identified since the end of major combat operations,” says Islam Watch. And just a few days ago, the first-ever Roman Catholic church was consecrated in Qatar, a Sunni Muslim state where the Wahhabi brand of Islam is practiced. This was the first time Christians in Qatar have been allowed to practice their faith openly. Ten thousand people attended the opening mass.

These conversions have not escaped the notice of Islamic leaders. In 2001, Sheikh Ahmad Al Qatanni, a leading Saudi cleric, delivered the disturbing news on Al-Jazeera: Every day, he said, “16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity ... every year, that is six million Muslims becoming Christians ... A tragedy has happened.” It is possible the sheikh was inflating his numbers to incite a reaction against Christianity. But clearly, something is happening.

How thrilling to learn that so many Muslims have been set free from the chains of their sins — just as you and I have — by the power of Christ’s blood! We must pray for these new brothers and sisters; many are being violently persecuted for their new-found faith.

These millions of conversions give us one more reason to rejoice this Easter season. Yes, we may be in a great clash of civilizations; battling Islamo-fascists who threaten to kill us. And the future may at times look bleak. But never despair: God is on His throne, bringing people into His kingdom from the very heart of Islam.

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Copyright (c) 2008 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #6546]

Two Southern Baptist scholars have teamed up to offer a comprehensive analysis of the world's second-largest religion. Their presentation of the practices, ethics and beliefs of Islam is more than an academic recitation of the differences between Christianity and Islam. It's the story of two brothers' conversion from the religion of their childhood to a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

"Unveiling Islam" is a new release from Kregel Publications intended to educate readers about Islam and provide a practical strategy Christians can use to open a productive dialogue with Muslims. Ergun M. Caner, assistant professor of theology and church history at Criswell College in Dallas, and Emir F. Caner, assistant professor of church history and Anabaptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., admit that the work was far from "a labor of love."

Raised in a strict Muslim home, the Caner boys admired their Turkish father even after his parents divorced after moving to Ohio. They participated in daily prayers, celebrated Ramadan and read from the Koran regularly. Hoping their good deeds would outweigh any bad deeds, the Caners' devotion was not an act of love, but rather fear, they write in Unveiling Islam.

Thus, the writing of the book was "an arduous and sometimes painful exercise of remembering unspoken mental pictures that are never far from view," the Caners note in their book. "We were taught that Christianity and Islam were antithetical, stemming from a centuries-old conflict dating back to the Crusades, when Muslims were slaughtered by the thousands."

Ultimately, it was a friend's invitation to attend a revival service at a Baptist church that provided Ergun Caner an opportunity to hear the gospel and accept God's gift of salvation in Jesus. His other brother, Erdem, received Christ soon after, and Emir was saved a year later. Those decisions prompted their father to disown his sons.

Since 1982, Emir and Ergun Caner have preached and taught about Islam, sharing a desire for salvation among the 1.2 billion Muslim people who need Jesus. "Usually, churches and pastors would allow us to preach, graciously pat us on our heads, and tell us how fascinating this world religion seems," the Caners stated in their book.

That reaction changed Sept. 11. "After thousands of people were incinerated in the World Trade Center bombing, people began to listen."

The heightened interest in Islam has drawn each of the Caner brothers into additional debate settings at mosques and universities, speaking in English, French and Arabic with Muslim scholars. And they have been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, Moody Broadcasting Network, Salem Radio Network and USA Radio.

Nearly every interviewer asks one of the Caners to comment on the proposition that Islam, like Christianity, is just another path to God. "The media question belies a mistaken assumption that all religions are the same," the Caners write. They respond to the notion that "getting to whatever God there may be is like getting to Chicago. You can get there by plane, train or automobile. It doesn't matter what path you take or religion you follow, as long as you get there."

They further write, "It must be understood that orthodox, biblical Christianity assumes the existence of truth. Truth implies the existence of error, and mutually exclusive claims of truth cannot both be correct. Such is the case of Islam. Either Islam is correct in the assumption that 'there is only One God, Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet,' or Christianity is correct when Jesus says, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by me' (John 14:6). They cannot both be correct."

The Caners provide a history of Islam and assessment of Muhammad as a militant messenger, explain the "five pillars" of Islamic belief and examine the holy days observed by Muslims, with citations from the Koran as well as other key writings in Islam, the Sunnah and Hadith. They offer details of inherent inferiority of women in Islamic teaching and the inevitable clash of cultures between Christians and Muslims. Salvation for the Muslim is described by the Caners as a mathematical formula.

"Each person is literally accountable for each act performed. Consequently, the scales become more important as one approaches the end of life, especially for those who are on the edge. They have to work harder, live better, and give more. Then, they can hope, the scales will tip in their favor.

By moving through the elements of Islamic teaching, the Caners critique its claims and respond with the testimony of the Bible regarding the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

When Islam is described as a peaceful religion misrepresented by the zealots of the Taliban, Ergun Caner is quick to respond. "Islam at its core is a religion of warfare. Muhammad was a warrior. [Muslims] are taught to conquer ... to fight. If anyone says in the media that Islam is a religion of peace, they either don't know their faith, don't know the Koran, or they are lying."

Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, described Unveiling Islam as "exactly what its subtitle purports it to be - 'An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Belief.'" In recommending the book, he noted, "The reader gets the added bonus of having this vivid analysis of Islam done by former insiders who are now Christians. It is a unique and invaluable perspective which will do much to inform, challenge and inspire Christians everywhere."

"Perhaps Unveiling Islam's most compelling aspect is the 'human face' it puts on the conflict between the religion of Islam and the personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is the foundation and essence of Christianity," Land added. "The Caners' compelling story also reminds us of the severe, often bloody, persecution faced by fellow Christians around the world because they have come to understand in their innermost soul that all faiths are not the same, but that Jesus is 'the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6)."

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Philip Roberts noted, "Don't expect to curl up with this book and have a cozy read. Instead, once you've been exposed to the challenges of Muslim teachings and their desperate spiritual needs, it will drive you to your knees in prayer. As well, you'll eventually be upon your feet going to share the gospel with a Muslim friend!"

Historian Austin Miles described the Caners' book as "a valuable tool and reference for equipping Christians" in the task of offering love, understanding and truth to Muslims "who obviously have deep spiritual longings which compel them to fully dedicate themselves to what they think is a higher power."

When their father died from cancer in 1999, the Caners realized, "The stark reality of religious systems and our relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior came into sharp focus." Through the investigation into Islam, its teachings and its adherents, the Caners want readers to see "the human side of religion -- where faith often means the total rejection of culture, ethnicity, family and friends."

To find "heaven's glory in Jesus Christ," they lost their father, their earthly hero, just as have millions of others worldwide, they acknowledge.

Muslims will not gain a better perception of Christianity through Muslim-Christian dialogues seeking to find commonalities between the two faiths, the Caners argue. "Ecumenism has offered little solace; it has ignored substantive disagreements and refused honest engagement. This approach might bring a stagnant calm, but never healing of the bitterness. True understanding can come only as honest perceptions are confronted truthfully and answered frankly."

The recent spate of books by anti-theists (such as Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris) has recycled a number of old arguments against belief in God in general and Christianity in particular. While none of the challenges are particularly new and have been answered effectively many times (with answers in some cases going back to the Middle Ages and even the late Roman Empire), our lack of knowledge of the long history of apologetics in the Church has made it appear as if the case the anti-theists make is stronger than it really is.

In this article, we will explore why the specific charge that Christianity is irrational, anti-intellectual, and anti-science sticks so readily on the Church, as well as look at one response to the idea that Christianity is the enemy of science.

FIRST, HUMILITY

To begin, we need to acknowledge that for a large segment of the Church, the charge of being anti-intellectual is all too true. Particularly in the wake of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the early 20th century, a significant percentage of the Christian world has simply withdrawn from active engagement with the intellectual movements that have shaped the culture. This is far from the historic tradition of the Church, where Christians for centuries had been the intellectual leaders of Western civilization.

A simple glance at the walls of your local Christian bookstore demonstrates how far we have gone down this road toward anti-intellectualism. In Elizabethan England, the bestselling books were collections of sermons and works of serious theology, many of which are still studied today. Look at the shelves now, and ask the owner what kinds of books and materials are selling. Ask to see the apologetics or biblical commentary section, and compare it to the more therapeutic, “feel good” sections of the store. How many of these books will still be read and studied in 400 years?

This is not an attack on Christian bookstores — they need to stay in business, and so they stock what sells. The question is: Where is the demand for more serious works that stretch our minds? The fact is, the market is not there (except for a few popular authors), and so the stores cannot afford to stock them. In our desire to preserve the simplicity of the Gospel, we have ignored Christ’s command to love God with our MINDS — something Jesus thought was so important that He added the word to the text of Deuteronomy 6:5.

But even before the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, Western culture had begun drawing a line between science as the world of fact, and religion as the world of faith. This division, explored in Nancy Pearcey’s TOTAL TRUTH, is a critical element of how the Western world has approached the relationship of Christianity and science since the Enlightenment. The basic idea is that anything that belonged to the world of facts has nothing to do with religion, and anything religious has nothing to do with fact, just opinion or faith. The two are seen as incompatible worlds that do not touch.

So scientists can simultaneously accept undirected evolution — a view that was expressly intended to take God out of the picture of creation — and yet believe in God and even be a member of one of the historic Christian churches. But compartmentalizing our thinking like this — religion here, science there, ethics in that corner, and so on — not only results in a disintegrated view of the world, but it implicitly rejects Christ’s claim to be Lord of ALL, which includes nature, science, fact, ethics, meaning, as well as faith.

Quite simply, the Christian world has largely abandoned an integrated worldview, and has lost its mind as a result. One of the most urgent needs of the Church today is to recover intellectual life for the service of the kingdom of God.

MAKING SCIENCE POSSIBLE

So how do we answer the specific charge that Christianity is anti-science? There are several approaches we could take to answer this question. Many people have pointed out, for example, that the leading figures in the scientific revolution were devout Christians. Some have made the point that the question itself dates only to the 19th century, since before then Christians Led the field in scientific enterprises. Others point to the fact that many leading scientists today believe in god.

Here, I want to look at the question from a different angle, one more directly in keeping with the need for an integrated understanding of the world and our place in it: Which worldview, Christianity or materialism (that is, the idea that the physical universe of matter and energy is all that exists), provides a surer foundation and motivation for studying the natural world? Or, more simply, which worldview makes it possible to do science — the search for explanations of why the physical world works as it does?

The biblical worldview teaches that God made the universe. Since God is a rational being, He constructed the universe in a rational way. In other words, it is possible to make sense of it. The biblical worldview also teaches that human beings are made in the image of God. Being an image-bearer of God has a number of important implications; but for our purposes, it means we are rational, because God is rational. Although our rationality is finite and God’s is infinite, it is nonetheless possible for us to “think God’s thoughts after Him” and discover the rules that govern the universe. Moreover, Christians throughout history have believed that God revealed Himself in the natural world, and thus we could come to know Him better by studying it. These studies, known as natural theology or natural philosophy, are the historical roots of science and a major motivating factor for many of the key figures of the Scientific Revolution.

These aspects of the biblical worldview also explain why what we know today as modern science developed only in the Christian West, and not in other areas of the world that had different worldviews. For example, in the East, the physical world was seen as an illusion, a dream in the mind of God. That being the case, the highest use of the mind was meditation to see past the illusion, not attempting to make sense of how the illusion worked. As a result, Asian countries produced remarkable technologies, but no science in the sense of a coherent, non-philosophical explanation of the physical world.

In the Muslim world, it was believed that God directly controlled everything. This had important consequences for how the natural world was viewed. For example, while medieval theologians were working on early forms of scientific laws, the prominent Sufi scholar Abu Hamid al-Ghazali argued that the very idea that there were laws governing the physical universe was an attempt to limit Allah’s freedom and was therefore blasphemous. Muslims who argued for ideas like this were contradicting the Qur’an, making them infidels and thus subject to execution. The net effect of this kind of thinking was that Muslims excelled at math and practical disciplines like astronomy, geography, and medicine (up to a point), but did not develop science — that is, the search for answers to questions about the natural world through a process from hypothesis to theory.

WHAT ABOUT MATERIALISM?

So the biblical worldview was the foundational idea that made science possible. But what about materialism? How does it measure up as a worldview for science?

Materialistic explanations of the universe have to rely on one of two explanations for where the universe came from. The first is that the universe is eternal. This idea runs into problems almost immediately because of the second law of thermodynamics. This law states that the useable energy in a closed system is constantly decreasing, which means that an eternally old universe would have run out of useful energy by now. To solve this problem, some physicists argue that the universe can reset itself periodically by collapsing and re-forming in what is known as an oscillating universe. While there are logical problems with this idea (see William Lane Craig’s THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT), it still leaves us with our current universe having a starting point.

This brings us to the second version of materialism, which argues that the universe came into existence at a specific moment in an event known as the Big Bang. While Christians see the Big Bang as having been initiated by God, the materialist version of the theory argues that the universe essentially brought itself into existence. How this is possible is a mystery, and this led the scientific establishment, which was wedded to the idea of an eternal universe, to resist the idea of the Big Bang when it was first proposed: The only way to make logical sense of a universe that came into existence was to argue for a creator, something a materialist can never do. Only when the old guard died off and the evidence for the Big Bang became overwhelming was the idea accepted.

The key question in the Big Bang is where the universe came from. Unfortunately, since the laws of physics as we know them may not apply prior to the Big Bang, there is no way of knowing this. (An oscillating universe theory could conceivably argue that the laws of physics are eternal, but since it is impossible to look before the Big Bang, there is no evidence for this, and it would specifically require that the fundamental second law of thermodynamics be reversible and thus not eternal.) However the laws of physics came into existence, they led to the formation of galaxies and planets. On at least one of these planets, chemicals combined to produce organic compounds, which in turn combined with others, and somehow the compounds organized themselves and came to life, despite the well-known law of biology that life does not come from non-life.

Given the extreme implausibility of this happening — it is well beyond mathematical possibility — some thinkers have posited an infinite number of universes, with ours being the lucky one in which the impossible actually happened. Others have suggested that life on earth arrived here from outer space, but that does not solve the basic problem of how it arose in the first place: In fact, it makes it worse. If the universe is not old enough for the process to have occurred on Earth, having life come from another planet shortens the time even more, because now you have to take into account the extra time it takes for it to travel from wherever it developed to Earth.

In any event, somehow life began on earth, and by a process of random mutation, living organisms grew progressively more complex as survival of the fittest weeded out weaker, non-competitive life forms. Eventually, out of these random processes, human beings evolved. Our brains, which are the product of random mutations that enabled us to survive in the distant past, have somehow also developed the capacity to decipher the laws of the universe. This is what enables us to do science.

RANDOMNESS v. RATIONALITY

So here is the question: Would you trust an airplane that was designed using a random number generator to fill in the variables for the engineering specifications? Would you trust a bridge whose loading parameters were set with random numbers? If not, why would you trust a randomly produced brain to be able to make sense of the universe? If we are truly nothing more than the products of random variations in the arrangement of matter, why should we assume we are able to make sense of anything? For that matter, why should we assume that an undesigned universe is comprehensible in the first place?

What makes better sense: to believe an explanation with so many “somehows” that provides no real answer to how you can trust the conclusions of human thinking, or to accept the idea that the universe is rational, and we can understand it, because that is how it was all designed?

Far from being the enemy of science, the biblical worldview provides the essential foundation that makes science possible. It provides a coherent explanation of both the comprehensibility of the universe and the capabilities of human reason — something materialism cannot do. In fact, materialism’s reliance on unexplained events — the source of matter and energy, the origin of the laws of physics, the ability of the human mind to understand the world, and so on — requires far more acts of faith than Christianity.

________

Glenn Sunshine, a key faculty member for BreakPoint’s Centurions Program, is chair of the department of history and professor of early modern European history at Central Connecticut State University

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16609]

Karim Shamsi-Basha felt like his head was literally going to explode -- then everything went dark.

The photojournalist, working at the time for Alabama’s Birmingham Post-Herald newspaper, was covering a church fire on April 8, 1992, when his world suddenly turned upside down.

“It was a chaotic day,” he recalled. “I felt this headache; within seconds it evolved into an explosion in my head and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out.”

The last thing Shamsi-Basha remembered from that moment was the paramedics hovering over him asking him questions. Shamsi-Basha had experienced a ruptured aneurysm in his brain. He was in a coma for about three weeks and couldn’t talk or walk for a couple of months after he opened his eyes. He subsequently experienced other lingering effects from the aneurysm such as double vision and short-term memory loss.

But despite the setbacks, he went on to make a full recovery.

A journey of searching

Shamsi-Basha’s final visit with his neurologist those many years ago launched him into an unexpected spiritual journey after the doctor told him few people recover from a ruptured aneurysm the way he had. “You have to find out why you survived,” the doctor told him.

It could be said that Shamsi-Basha, who grew up a Muslim, had already been on a long path of exploring religion.

Born and raised in Damascus, Syria, Shamsi-Basha was the youngest of four children. His mother revealed to him years later in his adulthood that she had almost aborted him while pregnant. But her friend Hanrietta, who had accompanied her to the clinic, wouldn’t allow her to go through with the procedure. Shamsi-Basha said he later learned that Hanrietta dragged his mother by her hair from the waiting room and took her back home. He was born a few months later.

He has fond memories of growing up in Damascus, particularly time spent with his father, the owner of a clothing store and also a talented poet and writer.

“I was very special for my dad,” Shamsi-Basha said. “He showered me with love.”

Shamsi-Basha had a good friend in middle school, Moneir, who was a Christian. The two friends sometimes discussed religion. These conversations about faith occasionally resulted in Shamsi-Basha going to his father with questions.

“[My dad] would say ... ‘You just go on and keep reading and keep exploring.’ Dad was very open-minded, and he encouraged me to explore and read and learn,” he recalled.

Shamsi-Basha graduated from high school and immigrated to the United States in January 1984. He met his wife, who was a Methodist, while studying at the University of Tennessee. They married and moved to Birmingham in 1989. “We were both open-minded,” he explained. “We didn’t have a problem marrying each other from different religions.”

After his aneurysm in 1992 and subsequent recovery, Shamsi-Basha decided to follow the advice of his neurologist to find out why he had survived. Some of his Christian friends advised him to read the Gospel of John, telling him that God’s love is “why we’re on this earth.”

‘Go through Jesus’

Shamsi-Basha wanted to know more about God’s love, so he began reading John and eventually read John 14:6 where it says: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

“I didn’t want to come to the Father alone and leave my (Muslim) family,” Shamsi-Basha said, noting the concern that verse caused him. He began talking to many theologians who all had a “pretty black-and-white explanation just like the Bible: ‘If you want to go to heaven, you’ve got to go through Jesus.’”

He continued seeking to learn more about Jesus the next four years.

Bill Bangham, a veteran editor, journalist and photographer with the International Mission Board, met Shamsi-Basha at a photojournalism conference during that time and formed a friendship with him.

“He’s the real deal. ... This is not a façade -- what you see is what you get,” said Bangham, who noticed Shamsi-Basha’s curiosity about Christianity early on in their friendship.

As a result of his years of searching, Shamsi-Basha had what he calls a “near-conversion” in 1996 when he asked a minister to baptize him.

“This is when I realized what God has done in my life. Everything that has happened in my life was God taking care of me,” he said. “And yet I still couldn’t call Him my Savior because I didn’t want to be saved alone without my family.”

Shamsi-Basha would later experience a series of painful events: a divorce from his wife of 16 years in 2001 and the death of his father in 2005.

“When he died, I fell apart. I became both Muslim and Christian. I was very mad at God for a couple years, but something inside kept tugging me back to Christianity,” he said. It wasn’t until a particular conversation he had with a Christian in 2008, he added, that he fully accepted Christ as his Savior.

Shamsi-Basha is a sincere, passionate person whom God has drawn to Himself, said a lay leader at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham. His name is withheld because of his ministry work in sensitive areas of the world.

Shamsi-Basha, who occasionally attends Dawson Memorial, said his salvation and conversion from Islam to Christianity was God’s doing. “All I did was obey,” he said. “Salvation is mentioned over 150 times in the Bible; it’s mentioned once in the Quran. Islam and most other religions on this earth say ‘do and don’t.’ Christianity says ‘done.’”

His story, “Paul and Me: A Journey to and from the Damascus Road, from Islam to Christ,” was published in 2013. The book includes parallels to the apostle Paul’s life and sections about Paul, written by several 20th century biblical scholars, in each chapter.

“The apostle Paul is one of the most influential people in the history of Christianity,” Shamsi-Basha explained in the book’s introduction. “I am a humble servant who happened to be born in the city of Damascus, where Paul had his conversion. ... Paul converted to Christianity on the Road to Damascus; I converted on the Road from Damascus -- two very different stories, two very different men -- the same salvation and the same Lord and Savior.”

Boldness in sharing faith

Shamsi-Basha eventually shared the news of his conversion with his Muslim family members. For the most part, the topic isn’t discussed, he said.

“I am just letting them see the light of Christ in me. And if the subject comes up, I would be happy to discuss it,” he wrote in “Paul and Me,” which includes a letter to his family at the beginning.

Since his book was published, he has shared his faith story with many churches as well as on national platforms such as “The 700 Club.”

The lay leader from Dawson Memorial Baptist Church said Shamsi-Basha is becoming more and more bold in stepping out in his faith.” He added, “We should all be those type[s] of people, stepping out and sharing our faith and being used in the realms God has placed us.”

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16082]

As a boy he fled school, slipped into the mountains of his native Afghanistan and became a mujahedin, a holy warrior. He fought in the jihad against the Russians and their efforts to dominate his country. Now nearly 20 years later, Hussain Andaryas is still a holy warrior.

"I’m a different kind of warrior now," he says. "When I was a young man, I fought as a patriot for my country." Today he fights for the souls of his countrymen from an apartment in the United States.

Andaryas is an evangelist, producing gospel radio programs broadcast into Afghanistan from the Seychelles. He also maintains two Web sites which carry the JESUS film in five of the six languages of the Afghan people. In a day when it is difficult, if not impossible, for Christians to go into Afghanistan, his efforts are a missionary presence. "Afghans are crazy for radio," he says. "They are addicted to BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation]. Everyone has access to radio. You see, you cannot go into Afghanistan right now, but radio can."

Afghans hide while listening to his broadcasts. To be caught listening could bring a beating or worse. Evening programs are evangelistic and target nonbelievers. Weekend programs are for believers.

Andaryas receives letters and e-mail testifying how important these broadcasts are to those who listen. One group of 26 Afghans who became believers tells of going to a lake and baptizing each other.

The letters not only speak of conversions, they tell him the broadcasts are often the only form of worship people have.

"They don’t know how to worship," he says.

"There are no churches in Afghanistan, so they cannot pattern their worship after them. Most of the people cannot read or write. This is the only worship they have."

His Web sites draw 200,000 viewers. Most e-mail he receives through them is positive. "They say, ‘We thought Christianity is Madonna or Michael Jackson or Hollywood and all these vulgar things, you know? If what you preach, if what you say that this is is what Christianity is, then this must be the perfect religion,’" he says.

But not all are positive.

"We do get 20 percent of the letters which are threatening our lives," he says, "that we will be killed, or if we we are found, we will be cut into pieces."

Andaryas has heard these threats before. He knows what it costs for a Muslim to accept Christianity.

While a student in Iran - while studying to become an Islamic scholar - he began studying the Bible with an Iranian Christian. When discovered, he was detained and tortured for three days by "keepers of the religious peace." His body still carries scars from the beatings and electric shocks he received.

Later, he was expelled from Syria and Egypt for owning a Bible. In India, where he became a Christian and began his radio broadcasts, he also was beaten several times. And members of his family would kill him for abandoning the Muslim faith if he returned to Afghanistan.

It would be easy for him to hate. "But you cannot hate people and bring people to God," Andaryas says. "And you cannot hate people in order to set the people right.

"Yes, I am a different kind of warrior now," he continues. "I have different weapons, a different method of war. And this war? It starts with love."

[see also HolwickID #17072]

When he was a boy, "Nader" seldom thought about God.

Allah was far away -- and much too busy, Nader was sure -- to be concerned with his childish dreams and fears.

But as he grew into a young man in Cairo, a lonely place grew in Nader's heart.

"People told me not to do bad things, to go to the mosque," he remembers. "I prayed five times a day. I fasted during Ramadan. But there was something missing. I needed God to fill my empty space."

Like Job, Nader decided to take his case directly to God, to challenge Him to reveal himself. One day, a silent reply came: "Something in my spirit told me, 'Don't worry. I will not leave you alone. I will reach you. Be patient.'"

At age 18, Nader discovered an Arabic-language copy of John's Gospel at a newsstand. He didn't even know at the time that it was part of the Christians' holy book.

"I don't know why I bought it, but I felt the need to," he says. "I didn't understand it all, but when I read the words I felt a beautiful sensation."

Muslim friends who found him reading the little book rebuked him, cautioning that he would be condemned as an unbeliever. But he kept reading -- in secret.

University brought distractions and exhausting years of work. During those years, Nader met two men who were experiencing great hardship and poverty. Yet they seemed happy. What did they have in common? They were followers of Christ.

"One of these men was suffering, yet he was so peaceful," Nader recounts. "I asked him how he could be this way with so many problems. He said, 'I know God. He forgave me, and He will forgive you.' He awoke my old feeling about God and opened a door of hope for me."

Nader had been warned many times never to enter a Christian church. One day as he walked to visit a friend, however, his feet took him to an unknown street.

"I felt euphoric, like something good was about to happen," he says. "Then I heard a strange sound."

It was music: a hymn coming from a church on the street. Did he dare step in or not? He says he knew the choice would change his life forever.

"I found myself inside. It felt like it was not part of earth, but of heaven. I felt I was in the spirit, and out of my body. I didn't know or care how I lost the next hour or two. My job and studies didn't matter."

When Nader opened his eyes and looked around, a man approached. He told Nader about Jesus Christ -- and connected him with other students who helped him learn more.

Over the following months, the man took risks to spend time teaching Nader, who also read the Bible and other books about Jesus. One day the man said, "You now know about God. You believe in Jesus. Do you know what it means to follow Him, and can you pay the price?"

Nader knew the price could be everything -- his future, his family, his life.

"It was a very hard decision," he admits. "I didn't leave my room until I found the answer. I cried and struggled. God said to me, 'Don't be afraid. Follow Me.' I am not a strong man. He said, 'I will make you strong.' I said, 'Okay. I am your child. Do with me what you want.'"

The year since has not been easy. Nader, now about 30 and still unmarried, has told a few trusted friends of his decision, but has yet to reveal it to his family.

He worries about the consequences of making his faith public -- which could include anything from rejection to death. He longs to meet another Muslim-background follower of Christ for mutual encouragement.

But deep down, he feels peace at last.

"Before, you could hurt me. Now no one can hurt me. I am full of God."

*

Two articles:

In a controversial sermon preached on June 10, 2002, by Rev. Jerry Vines, Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, was a "demon-possessed pedophile" who married a 9-year-old. Many Muslims claim this is not true but Muslim sources support the essence of Vines' claim.

"The Wives of the Prophet," written by Muslims affiliated with the Alharamain Islamic Foundation, gives brief descriptions of 12 wives of Mohammed. The book is referenced by the University of Georgia's Islamic studies faculty as an authoritative source.

According to this Muslim-written resource, as well as other resources produced by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Mohammed's third wife was named A'isha . She was "married to the prophet in the 10th year of prophethood, when she was 6 years old, but the marriage was only consummated when she was 9 years old," according to "The Wives of the Prophets."

"There is a difference of opinions among scholars as to when this marriage was solemnized," the authors explain. "But what is most authentic is that A'isha was married ... when she was 6 years old and the marriage was consummated ... when she was 9 years old."

Christians may have difficulty understanding the lifestyle of Mohammed, according to a resource page written by the University of Georgia Islamic studies faculty.

"Unlike Jesus, who lived a celibate life, Mohammed was married. Furthermore, after the death of Khadija (his first wife) in 619 until the time of his death in 632, Mohammed married a total of 11 more wives. Muslims, however, are not alarmed by his numerous marriages, since they know the following: (1) that it was not unusual for a powerful Middle Eastern chieftain to marry a number of wives; and (2) that almost all of these 11 other wives were widows when he married them; and (3) for the most part, these marriages were contracted in order to cement political ties with the tribes of the wives."

==================================================

FIRST-PERSON Checking the facts amid vacuous pluralism

By R. Philip Roberts

Baptist Press, 6/20/02

Comments by pastor Jerry Vines of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., as to the person and character of the prophet Muhammad have evoked a flurry of activity in the press. In an age of religious inclusivism and pluralism, nothing is guaranteed to awaken a religious press corps more than comments from a Southern Baptist preacher that appear to slander and scandalize the founder of the world's second-largest religious movement.

Vines' exact words were "Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a 9-year-old girl."

The first issue at hand is to answer the question, "Are the comments valid?" Obviously demon possession is a tough diagnosis to make, particularly from 1,400 years of perspective, especially when many of the sources are muddled or unclear. What is known and acknowledged by Muslims themselves is that Muhammad had acute experiences if not of demon possession then at least of demonic oppression.

These experiences occurred at the very beginning of his claim to heavenly visitations from the Angel Gabriel and the supposed recitation to him of the Koran. In fact, he felt that he had been possessed by a "jinn" or evil spirit. Khadija, his wife, persuaded him otherwise:

"I [Muhammad] said to her, 'Woe is me poet or possessed.' She said, 'I take refuge in God from that ... God would not treat you thus ... This cannot be, my dear ... I have hope that thou wilt be the prophet of this people.'"

Periods of great depression for Muhammad followed the exchange as well as repeated visits from a spirit being whom Muhammad eventually claimed was Gabriel. The end result of these visions was the production of much of the book we know today as the Koran. The Koran itself exhibits the spirit of anti-Christ by denying the crucifixion of Jesus, his death for sin and his resurrection from the dead. Amazingly it affirms the virgin birth of Jesus Christ but also proclaims another gospel which advocates works salvation. Obviously the Koran's gospel is not, for the Christian, any gospel at all.

It is also in the pages of the Koran that we find the commands of its god to take the lives of the opponents of Islam. There the doctrine of Jihad is established and affirmed.

Was this the case of demon-possession? It might well have been so. The end result is the same -- a false gospel and a rival revelation which millions of people wrongly believe provides them a highway to heaven.

Again, in the case of pedophilia, let the facts speak for themselves. Muhammad endorsed polygamy in the Koran's text allowing for up to four wives for each man (Sura 4:3). Muhammad himself exceeded the limit and may have had as many as 15 wives. Most scholars agree that he had at least 12. Additionally, according to the Islamic holy book, a man may divorce his wife but she may not divorce him. Also, a husband, in relation to his wives, may "banish them to beds apart and scourge them" (4:34).

While the argument is often utilized that Muhammad was simply reflecting the morality of his time, should one not expect more from a prophet of God? After all, Jesus condemned the man-inspired traditions of his day and called his followers to moral perfection (Matthew 5:1-20). Jesus claimed he was sinless, which was confirmed by his disciples who lived with him for three years (John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 5:21). In contrast, Muhammad admitted his sinfulness. God in fact commands him in the Koran to seek forgiveness for his sin (40:55; 41:19; 48:2). At the very best, Muhammad conformed and fell victim to much of the godlessness of his day.

It is also a well-established fact that one of his wives (Zainab) was the divorced wife of his adopted son. He also took as a wife the Jewish widow of a slain Hebrew of Medina who was, along with 600 other Jewish males, slaughtered at Muhammad's command.

Dr. Vines' statement on the pedophilia issue may have appeared bold, rash, even malicious, or at best out of place, but what are the facts related to the prophet of Islam? Does not the Bible teach that love rejoices in the truth and that we are to speak the truth in love? How can people be set free from the bondage of oppressive religiosity and the beguilement of a false prophet, a false gospel, and a false revelation without knowing the facts? Knowing Dr. Vines as I do, I am convinced that he spoke with a pure motive and a desire to bring light to this matter.

Hopefully, ethical standards have risen enough in the eyes of many so that the above issue of Muhammad's view of women and his marriage to a 6-year-old will be seen as what they are -- sexually abusive. Comparing the New Testament to the Koran makes it clear that there is a chasm of difference in the two. Dr. Vines spoke certainly from a sense of dismay that so many people in recent days have been beguiled into thinking that Christianity and Islam are twin brothers.

Generally in personal evangelism with people of non-Christian faiths it is better to begin with doctrinal issues, including claims and counter-claims between the Christian gospel and non-Christian teachings. The lines of communication then are left open. Relationships are built. Love and patience are engendered. As well, people are not put on the defensive and they may be better stimulated in knowing the one who is Truth.

But Dr. Vines was not preaching in an evangelistic context. It was at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference. His goal was of an apologetic nature -- he was demonstrating the real difference that Christian truth makes in the life of anyone who follows its teachings. With the secular press in attendance, his comments were framed as being hateful and the comments were used to arouse emotions and charges of bigotry. In an age of squishy, vacuous pluralism, such raising of the stakes was easy to do.

What is the Christian response to such charges? It is the fair and unfeigned offer of discussion and biblical dialogue. Please let our Muslim friends come forward and give their response in light of history and truth. Christians in turn may present the claims of Christ and the Bible. With the Holy Spirit's assistance, may those who are outside of Christ come to know the truth and him who is the liberator. This Mount Carmel-type encounter has all the ingredients of being used of God to further the cause of the gospel, if the followers of Christ respond appropriately.

_______________

Roberts is president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Mo., and former director of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board's interfaith witness team.

[see also #17292]

*

Evangelist Franklin Graham is not backing away from his statements aired on a national news program that Islam is "wicked, violent and not of the same god."

Graham initially made the remarks in an interview at the October dedication of a chapel in Wilkesboro, N.C.; the remarks were broadcast by NBC News Nov. 16.

"I don't believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion," Graham said. "When you read the Koran and you read the verses from the Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel, for those that are non-Muslim."

Asked by NBC News to clarify his statement, Graham stood his ground.

"It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans," Graham told NBC. "It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith."

NBC News released the Graham interview on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest season of the Muslim year and it has drawn fire from Muslims as well as the White House.

A spokesperson for the White House noted that President Bush "views Islam as a religion that preaches peace," and that the terrorists do not represent what Islam teaches.

Regardless, in a Nov. 18 statement, Graham said he stood by his earlier comments.

"As a Christian minister, my calling and focus is to proclaim the God of the Christian faith to all who will listen and hear, and to love all people regardless of their faith," Graham said. "It is not my calling to analyze Islam or any other religions though I recognize that all religions have differences. In the past, I have expressed my concerns about the teachings of Islam regarding the treatment of women and the killing of non-Muslims or infidels. I do not intend to comment further."

Graham's response came one day after his ministry's Operation Christmas Child began processing 1 million shoeboxes of toys, school supplies and personal hygiene items for needy children overseas, including thousands destined for many Muslim nations.

"As the leader of an international Christian relief organization, my calling is to provide food, clothing, housing, supplies and medical care to hurting people everywhere regardless of faith," Graham said. "Samaritan's Purse has provided more relief and aid to Muslim people than to any other people in the world -- support amounting to tens of millions of dollars in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Sudan and Afghanistan. As America continues its healing process, I am encouraged by a national surge of faith. I pray that out of tragedy and pain, millions of people will find a renewal of faith."

--30-

Mohammed Akbar centered himself in his Afghan culture and faith each time he spoke his name. The name his parents gave him literally means "Muhammad is the Greatest," and attests to a core Islamic identity shared by most in his hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan.

But in 1979, an attack on his homeland by the former Soviet Union shook the foundations of his faith and identity.

"He fled from his home to Iran after the invasion because he said he was not a fighter," recounted a Southern Baptist International Mission Board administrator who now works in South Asia.

In Iran, Mohammed Akbar soon found himself lost with no home or job in a nation swept up in its own revolution. That same year the Shah of Iran had abandoned his throne and the Ayatollah Khomeini was installing a brand of Islamic government the world had never known.

By December 1979, Iran's revolutionary police were patrolling streets to enforce Islamic codes of behavior, but Mohammed Akbar was still able to walk into a small cinema and watch a foreign movie -- the "Jesus" film.

"Mohammed had never seen anything like this before," said the IMB representative. "When he got to the part where Jesus hangs on the cross, he told me he was thinking: 'This Jesus is going to call down fire and destroy all these people [in the story] who are hurting him.' But Jesus didn't.

"And when Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing,' something happened to Mohammed," the representative recalled. "He told me: 'At that instant I said in my heart, that's for me.'

"He had just fled a country where everyone extracted vengeance and called it justice," the representative said. "He had been searching for answers and saw how Jesus changed everything in an act of sacrifice and love. Christ changed the world and changed Mohammed."

Mohammed Akbar saw this change when he gave his life to Christ after seeing the Jesus film. He clearly saw how his relationship with Jesus swept away all other issues of culture and politics, the IMB worker said.

"This guy went on to change his name to Akbar al-Masiih," he said. "That means 'The Messiah is Greatest.' As an Afghan, that's a brave thing to do. When he tells you his name, you know where he stands."

___________________

Reprinted from The Commission magazine, published by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

*

You may be surprised to learn what your kids may soon be treated to at school: huge helpings of politically correct nonsense.

The first lesson is: We have no idea who flew those jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Thus, we have no business assigning blame or even suggesting that certain parties might be responsible. As the National Education Association guidelines put it, "We still believe that all people are innocent until solid, reliable evidence from legal authorities proves otherwise." I thought the videotape of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts celebrating their success was evidence enough -- you know, the tape where they say that the attacks on America went even better than they'd expected.

Then there's the program put together by scholars at my alma mater Brown University that will be taught at more than one thousand high schools. It's called "Responding to Terrorism: Challenges for Democracy." Student readings emphasize that Islam "is a religion that values family and tolerance," and that "throughout much of history, Muslims have lived peacefully with followers of other religions." They did -- but only after they conquered the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Europe in holy wars.

The "Islam is peaceful" message was recently reinforced at the University of North Carolina, when freshmen were assigned selections of the Qur'án -- peaceful selections, that is. The parts about how it is the duty of Muslims to kill Jews, Christians, and other "infidels" -- the parts about holy wars that are of vital importance in light of September 11 -- were somehow left out.

The problem is not so much that kids are being taught about Islam or even asked to read the Qur'án -- though I have my objections to that. The problem is that there is no balance in those teachings. In the name of tolerance, Islam is being whitewashed; the distinctions between Islam and Western culture are being systematically scrubbed away.

Ravi Zacharias warns of the dangers of misapplied "tolerance" that trashes the truth. As he puts it, "Truth cannot be sacrificed at the altar of pretended tolerance." "Real tolerance," he reminds us, "is deference to all ideas, not indifference to the truth."

Ravi has got it exactly right. The differences between Islam and Christianity are real and deep. They constitute the basis of the war we are in -- and the wars that Muslims are currently fighting against dozens of other countries around the globe.

Sadly, the "tolerance" lessons appear to be paying off: The NEW YORK TIMES reports that University of North Carolina students who read the assigned segments from the Qur'án were "surprised to find parallels between [Islam] and Christianity." And the September 11 lessons directed at grade schoolers, with their stern warnings regarding how kids ought to and ought not to think about the terror attacks, may well coerce them into silence.

As we approach the first, sad anniversary of September 11, I hope you will look into what your school is teaching your kids. Are they being given hefty helpings of what's passed off as "tolerance" these days -- the notion that we're not allowed to judge anyone, even people who blow up buildings? If so, feed your kids a healthy serving of the truth: There are objective standards of right and wrong, and true tolerance is treating our neighbors with Christ-like charity -- even if we disagree with their beliefs.

FURTHER READING & INFORMATION

Timothy George, IS THE FATHER OF JESUS THE GOD OF MUHAMMAD?: UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM (Zondervan, 2002). http://www.pfmonline.net/products.taf?_function=d&IC=BKFJM Read the text of a speech on the same topic that Dr. George delivered to the Prison Fellowship Board of Directors. http://www.breakpoint.org/Breakpoint/ChannelRoot/FeaturesGroup/OnlineFeatures/ArchivedFeatures/Is+the+Father+of+Jesus+the+God+of+Muhammad.htm

BreakPoint commentary no. 020801, "Tarheel Qur'án: A Responsible Approach?" http://www.breakpoint.org/Breakpoint/ChannelRoot/FeaturesGroup/BreakPointCommentaries/Tar+Heel+Qur%27an.htm

Ellen Sorokin, "NEA Plan for 9/11 Not Backed By Teachers," THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 20 August 2002. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020820-12959908.htm

Read more about "Responding to Terrorism: Challenges for Democracy," the course produced by Brown University. http://www.choices.edu/edsummaries/terrorpage.html

Jennifer Medina, "Colleges and High Schools to Observe 9/11," THE NEW YORK TIMES, 24 July 2002. (Free registration required.) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/education/28SCHO.html

Kate Zernike, "Assigned Reading on Koran in Chapel Hill Raises Hackles," THE NEW YORK TIMES, 19 August 2002. (Free registration required.) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/national/20KORA.html

J. A. Hanson, "Comprehending Jihad: Globalization and Retaliation -- and How to Avoid Both," BREAKPOINT ONLINE, 5 August 2002. http://www.breakpoint.org/Breakpoint/ChannelRoot/FeaturesGroup/OnlineFeatures/Comprehending+Jihad.htm

Charles Colson, WHEN NIGHT FELL ON A DIFFERENT WORLD: HOW NOW SHALL WE LIVE?, 2001.

Ravi Zacharias, CAN MAN LIVE WITHOUT GOD? (Word Books, 1994).

_________________________

Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon made many Americans acutely aware of the Muslims around them -- and created opportunities to share the good news of God's love with them.

Now the one-year anniversary of those attacks presents those opportunities again. Extending a hand of Christian friendship could change the lives of Muslim neighbors and coworkers.

Where does God bring you into contact with Muslims? Typical places are at work, social visits in homes or at sporting events. How can you build on the relationships you already have with Muslims?

If you have occasional contact with Muslims, consider how you could get to know them better in natural contexts. These may include talking with other parents waiting for their children to finish school, socializing with coworkers or doing community service work. The birth of a child, the wedding of a family member and the death of a loved one also can provide opportunities for Christians to express their care toward Muslims.

FRIENDSHIP

Muslims generally value friendships with non-Muslims. If you have no contact with Muslims, you may want to take the initiative to visit a mosque or talk with a Muslim shopkeeper. College students can attend meetings of Muslim students. You also might consider inviting Muslim students to your church or home during the holidays.

While most of us in the Western world tend to retreat to our homes at the end of the day, Muslims hold hospitality in high regard and enjoy visiting with friends. It may be even more natural to ask if a visit can be paid to the Muslim's home and, once comfortable there, consider other occasions in which additional visits would be appropriate. Festivals are one example, as are acts of generosity endorsed by Islam, such as feeding the poor, visiting the sick and honoring the aged. As you visit, be sensitive to Muslim moral values regarding appropriate dress, behavior, food and drink.

Just as Jesus' command to love our neighbors precedes the words of the Great Commission, we must first get to know, love and care for Muslims as our neighbors. Understanding begins with listening to them. More can be learned by reading a magazine, tract or book offered by a Muslim friend and by asking questions so that the world can be seen through their eyes. Above all, we must pray for them so God will open their hearts to following Christ.

BETTER THAN DEBATE

As your conversations turn toward spiritual matters, keep in mind that your experiences and relationship with Christ are more powerful than debate. Share your testimony. Additional topics of interest include discussion of the Old Testament prophets, especially Abraham; the titles given to Jesus, such as Messiah and Word of God; the miracles Jesus performed; and the parables and Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes.

Some Muslims may go beyond what the Koran teaches and consider Jesus as a saint to whom they offer prayers. Others may have heard stories that speak of Jesus' light, love and power. Presenting Jesus as the Messiah and suffering servant who takes away sins may help Muslims relate to him.

Once a trusting relationship has been established with a Muslim and there has been discussion about what he or she knows about Jesus in the Koran, it may be appropriate to ask what he or she personally thinks about Jesus. Your goal is not to tear down Islam, but to encourage an open dialogue about your different religions and to share the basic doctrines of your Christian faith.

BE INFORMED

Knowing something about the Islamic faith will go a long way toward building positive relationships with them. Keep in mind that just as Muslims may vary in their individual beliefs and faithfulness to Muslim practices, they also may share in the pain wrought by last year's attacks. To learn more about Islamic beliefs, customs and how to share Christ with Muslims, consult the following resources:

-- "Islam: Its Prophet, Peoples, Politics and Power" by George W. Braswell Jr., 1996, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tenn. Available from www.broadmanholman.com or by calling 1-800-458-2772.

-- "What You Need to Know About Islam and Muslims" by George W. Braswell Jr., 2001, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tenn. Available from www.broadmanholman.com or by calling 1-800-458-2772.

-- "Cross & Crescent: Responding to the Challenge of Islam" by Colin Chapman, 1995, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England.

-- North American Mission Board's "Belief Bulletin" on Islam. http://www.namb.net/root/resources/beliefbulletins/religions/islam.asp.

-- The website "Beyond the Wall: Sharing the God of Love with Muslims" at http://www.imb.org/Hope.

-- Muslim basic beliefs: http://www.tconline.org/Stories/jan02/beliefs.html.

-- Witnessing to Muslims: http://www.tconline.org/Stories/jan02/witness2.html.

-- Resources on Islam: http://www.tconline.org/Stories/jan02/resources.html.

*

Abdul's family almost beat him to death when he turned his back on Allah. Only his mother's love -- and God's grace -- he says, spared his life.

Even 18 years later, Abdul says he risks his life every day in his homeland, Bangladesh, by urging other Muslims to accept Christ as Savior.

Abdul told his story during a recent trip to Texas, where he visited Baptist churches that are supporting Christian ministry among Bengali Muslims. "Abdul" is not his real name. He uses it, he said, to hide his real identity in order to protect his life and the lives of other Christians.

Located on the northeastern border of India, Bangladesh is about the size of Arkansas. But it is home to 150 million people -- 87 percent of them Muslim. Ten percent are Hindu, and fewer than 1 percent profess to be Christian.

"In Bangladesh, we have had the idea that no Muslim can become a Christian," Abdul said. "That idea already has been changed. People are coming to the faith."

But the journey is long, hard and often dangerous, he continued, recounting his own story of family, fear and faith.

"When I was 7 years old, my parents sent me to 'madrasa,' language school, to learn Arabic," he said. "The Koran (the Islamic scripture) is in Arabic. It is Allah's language, holy language.

"After about two years, I started asking questions about Allah. I just wanted to know, but I was treated as a sinner boy." His teachers scolded him: "Your head is too small to understand. If you think too much, you may become mad." Still, Abdul persisted, infuriating the school's headmaster, who reported the boy's misbehavior to his father. His father apologized on behalf of the family, but Abdul was expelled from the school for asking questions.

That led to virtual ostracism. "For seven years, I had no friends," he noted.

In 1982, Abdul found a Koran in Bangla, his own language. In its pages, he recalled, he read two very important messages -- Islam teaches that salvation is only for Arabs, and Jesus was holy.

A year later, he met a Baptist missionary, the first white man he ever had known. "I doubted he was a man," Abdul recounted. But they visited for about 30 minutes.

"I asked him, 'Are you Muslim?'" Abdul said. "He said, 'No, I am a Christian.' So, I asked him, 'What do you believe?' He said: 'I believe in Isa (the Islamic name for Jesus). The New Testament is my holy book.'" Abdul asked for a New Testament, and the missionary gladly gave him a copy.

"I had to be very careful," Abdul said. "I hid the book in my shirt. I took it home and read this book -- the whole thing -- in a night, just like a novel. I didn't sleep. The next night, I read it again."

Abdul found two verses that he said changed his life, John 3:16-17: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

"As a Muslim, I was treated as a sinner boy -- no love," he said. "I thought I should commit suicide. But these verses promised eternal life. That night, I received eternal life."

Abdul then got a copy of the Old Testament and began to study it. His missionary friend introduced him to a Christian pastor, who at first was afraid to deal with a Muslim but overcame that fear to teach the 17-year-old boy about Christ.

"I started to join the church," Abdul recalled. "But my dad was very angry, upset with me. 'Why are you going to a Christian church?' he asked me. 'I will tell you -- Christians worship the wrong God.'" His father forbade him from attending the Christian church anymore, but Abdul instead obeyed his heavenly Father. "I tried hard not to go, but I had to go," he said.

So, Abdul's father called an emergency family meeting to discuss the boy's conversion.

"One of my uncles said they should beat me up, so that the 'evil spirits' would leave me," he reported. A cousin beat him. That night, the family tied him to a bamboo pole and ordered him to burn his Bible.

He refused. Bound outside in the night air, he was covered in mosquito bites.

Later, after his father, uncles and cousins went to bed, his mother sneaked out to him and set him free.

"She was very sad in her heart," Abdul said. "She untied me, put some money in my pocket and said, 'Run away, or they will kill you.' That was the last time I saw my mother." Abdul escaped to Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people.

"It's a nice place to hide," he said. "I compared the Bible and the Koran, and I decided to take baptism. I wanted to break that idea -- that a Muslim cannot become a Christian."

He presented his desire to the church, which primarily was comprised of believers who had not formerly been Muslims. "I told the church: 'I don't want to give you too much trouble, but I need to take baptism, because Jesus did.' When the message of my baptism got home to my family, my father went to court and said, 'This son is no more related to me.'" For the next three years, Abdul continually wrote letters to his family, declaring his love for them, even though he had embraced Christianity.

Then, he returned to his village, although he was not allowed to meet with his family.

He instead lived with his best friend, who became a Christian after six months. Three years later, Abdul baptized his father, his brother and his sister. He since has seen three other brothers, another sister and the cousin who beat him embrace Christianity.

Abdul's family represents a trend in Bangladesh, he said, noting that in the past six years, 91,000 Muslims from across the country have become Christians. But that hasn't stemmed the tide of persecution, he said.

On the last day of 1998, Abdul visited a hospital to take food to an evangelist who had been beaten because of his faith in Jesus. The same group of people abducted him, beat him unconscious and bloody and left him in a drain for dead, he recounted. He said it took him 15 months to recover from the attack.

Abdul said he has been beaten four times, his financial accounts have been frozen three times and his house has been searched four times.

Others are less fortunate. Muslim militants reportedly killed four Christian evangelists in 1997 and 1998 and two more last year. At least 16 homes of Christians have been burned.

"In every day, in different ways, we are getting persecuted," Abdul said.

Abdul describes himself as a "servant of the whole movement" of Christianity in Bangladesh. "My job is to travel everywhere to serve the people." Specifically, Abdul equips evangelists to spread the gospel. He has a master's degree and owns at least three businesses. He employs and encourages the evangelists, who use their jobs to support themselves while they focus on spreading Christianity throughout Bangladesh.

Despite persecution, Bengali Christians see bright prospects, Abdul said.

"The people have been in prayer, and the Holy Spirit is working," he reported. "The people of Bangladesh have been coming to the faith. Pray for Bengali Muslims."

*

A preacher from Iran has begun a campaign to convert Muslims in Britain to Christianity.

The 43-year-old evangelist was forced to leave Teheran because of threats to his life after he began preaching to Muslims about Jesus Christ. He uses a false name for security reasons and preaches in Midlands hotels to Muslims, many of Iranian origin.

He does this knowing that in Iran and some other Muslim countries attempting such conversions is a deadly offense. In this country he is free to approach any person of any faith, but is aware that this could provoke reprisals. He contacted The Telegraph via the Evangelical Alliance, a London-based umbrella organization, which arranged a meeting on neutral ground. He insisted that his face was not photographed.

Mohammed, as he is known, said: "If you are a Muslim and you change your faith in Iran they are allowed to kill you. You are unclean. It does not happen in practice, but the provision is there. The extremists believe that if they kill me or Salman Rushdie they will go to paradise. The threat is everywhere."

Determined not to be intimidated, Mohammed has begun broadcasting Bible lessons in Farsi on the radio which are transmitted to Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikstan. In Britain he has a following of a few hundred Muslim converts and is seeking Farsi-speaking disciples to help him look after his growing flock. His influence is spreading through northern Europe as well. He held a conference in Holland and 147 Muslims came. More than 90 became Christian during the week.

*

Words can't describe what John saw that day under the blazing sun of Southeast Asia.

The student missionary was in a city, ministering to a group of refugees who had been fleeing from a band of Muslim extremists. Having lost everything they owned, the refugees were simply trying to survive, trying to stay alive. John was walking from person to person -- shaking hands and introducing himself -- when one particular man caught his attention. John tried to shake the man's hand, but he couldn't. The man was missing two fingers. Puzzled, John looked for the man's other hand. There was none -- only a nub.

Questioned by John, the man began telling the story of how he had been persecuted and had undergone excruciating pain -- simply because he was a Christian.

Jihad warriors had cornered the man, asking him if he was a follower of Christ.

"His answer was, 'Yes, I'm a Christian.' They then cut off his thumb and finger," John wrote in an e-mail interview. "Then they said, 'You can either convert to Islam or we are going to kill you.' His response was, 'No, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.' They then cut off his other hand. The man went on to tell me that for some reason, simply a miracle of God, the group left him there to die, but God spared his life."

John did not know what to say.

"As I stood there and listened to the man explain the price for following Christ, I realized how little I, and many believers in the States, know about obedience and suffering," he said.

Such incidents have been taking place for more than two years in the war between Christians and Muslims extremists. The Muslim extremists -- known as "Jihad warriors" -- have promised to drive out all Christians in specific parts of the country.

The war began months before John, a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, arrived there in 1999 as part of the International Mission Board's Two Plus Two program -- a program that allows seminary students to spend the final two years of their education on the mission field.

John's mission field is enormous. He is assigned to an unreached people group consisting of some two million people -- the large majority of which have never heard the Gospel.

Sadly, there are only 30 known Christians. John said he knows two of them.

Wherever John travels, he sees lost souls. More than 80 percent of the country is Muslim.

"My view of the world has changed as I've had the opportunity to see much of Southeast Asia," John said. "Everywhere I go there are multitudes of people that are lost and have never heard the saving message of Christ. I think to myself, 'How can I or any other Christian be satisfied with simply working for a living and not be involved in going and telling the peoples of the world about Christ? ... I think that my time here has re-affirmed my calling to cross-cultural work."

John said converts to Christianity are rare. The country is grounded in the Muslim faith, and those who do accept Christ are considered outcasts.

"When someone converts to Christianity they are often seen as rejecting the faith of Islam and the family structure," he said. "One of our national partners converted to Christianity, and he was kicked out of his village, lost his wife and children, lost his family name, and [he] still has death threats."

The man, though, refused to recant his faith.

"I asked him once if what he gained in his relationship with Christ was worth the price of losing his family and tribal connections," John said. "His response was that even though there is still pain from losing his family, his relationship with Christ is worth much more."

John has an apartment in the city, although he often leaves it behind in order to go out into the jungles and the villages. While there, he sometimes finds himself sleeping on a concrete or dirt floor. Some of the villages are easy to get to. Others are not. Motorcycles, four-wheel drives and even speedboats are required. Christian volunteers accompany him.

"Some villages I have to ride a motorcycle for four hours to get to, because a car can't make it into the jungle," he said. "Other places we have to use four- wheel drive trucks to make the trip. Even then you may get stuck for several days depending on the amount of rain [that falls] while you are there."

Once in the village, he begins building relationships. Sometimes he prayerwalks. Other times he simply shares the Gospel.

"Witnessing to Muslims is not easy all the time," he said. "Most of the time they are listening to me out of respect and not out of curiosity. This practice is OK for me because I know that it is God's Word that is the power until salvation, and [that] it's not going to return void even in this case.

"Most of the time, it's required that you have a relationship with the person before they really are interested in hearing your beliefs."

Of course, there are times when witnessing opportunities simply fall into John's lap.

Several months ago, he was in an area that was supposedly hostile to Christianity. He was standing there, watching thousands of Muslims walk by, when people began asking him about the English language. They wanted to learn a few new words, so John told them one -- Isa Al Masih, which means Jesus.

"Other times I have been out in villages, sitting on the floor eating ... with the head of the village, and they will ask me what I believe about a particular topic," he said. "This gives me an open door to tell a story from the Bible in the presence of all the people that are listening from the inside of the house and the outside."

John will leave the country later this year, but he hopes to leave a healthy church behind. No Christian church exists among his unreached people group of two million people, although he is in the process of planting one.

"It is our hope and our prayer that many will come to a saving faith in Christ and an indigenous church will develop among them," he said. "We hope to begin house churches that can rapidly multiply and a church planting movement will begin among our people."

Upon graduation, John plans on entering missions full-time. John said the Two Plus Two program has definitely helped change his life.

"We are currently praying about the location and people group we will work with," he said. "After being here for two years, I think it would be very difficult to return to the States and live a 'normal life.' Once you go and see how God is working all over the world, you are changed and can't go back."

_______________

Editor's Note: Because of security risks, the name of the missionary featured in this story has been changed. The missionary, a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is serving in a country in Southeast Asia.

*

Ergun Caner spent the first half of his life devoted to Islam. Raised as the son of Acar Mehmet Caner, he practiced the Kalima, Islam's creed; the Salat, praying to Mecca five times a day; the Zakat, contributing a specified portion of his income to the faith; the Sawn, fasting during Ramadan; and awaited the opportunity to participate in the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Seventeen years later, Muslims would call him a "kafir" of the worst type, he told an overflow crowd at First Baptist Church in Dallas, using the term for an infidel declared to be as good as dead. Several hundred Kurdish Muslims were among those invited to hear Caner describe how his life changed in 1982 when he converted to Christianity.

Citing the Koran's words in Hadith in 9:57, Caner said, "Mohammed says anyone who changes his Islamic religion, 'Kill him.' But I also know, my Kurdish friends, that you have given me this hour the greatest gift that I have ever had in my ministry -- your presence here."

Caner told the Christians in the audience, "For 17 years of my life, I assumed you hated me." Similarly, Muslims living in America have similar expectations, he said, in light of the recent attacks justified by members of the Islamic Jihad. "There are those that expect retribution. They expect revenge. But, believers in Jesus Christ, do you know what they do not expect?" Caner asked. "They do not expect you to love them in spite of themselves. And why would you do so? Because that's exactly how he [Jesus] loved you."

Such an outward expression of love won Caner over when he accepted a friend's invitation to Steltzer Road Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. "I didn't walk in there and see them spit upon me. They didn't smack me down or call me a sand nigger. Instead they loved me. And when I asked them why they loved me, they said it was because Christ first loved us."

Refusing to back away from a gospel message in the presence of diverse religious groups in his Sept. 16 message, Caner said, "The one thing good Muslims and good Christians agree upon is that we are confounded by the media that keeps insisting that we all offer up prayers to the same God." He added, "I did not switch religions nor did I trade teams. I was saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and thus I am born again. What has happened to me was done to me, not through anything I have done. And it is that gospel, that hope in that name that I preach tonight."

All of the television network affiliates sent camera crews to the church service in downtown Dallas. A local Muslim prince offered words of condolence to Americans during the service. Caner, who serves as assistant professor of theology and church history at Criswell College, has spoken in mosques and debated Muslim scholars. [...]

While practicing the pillars of Islam, Caner said he began to realize that the terror he felt was "the terror of religion" as he sought to earn God's favor. "And before you think that's only a Muslim thing, oh, no, no," he reminded. "There are those of us in this room who think, 'God, if I just lose weight, if I read my Bible a little more, if I pray a little bit more, if I'm a nicer person,'" such works can earn salvation.

"The wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Caner said, quoting Romans 6:23. "There are no works that could save me. There is nothing to equal out those scales. And while I may have followed the five pillars and said my rak'ahs and followed my imam, I was desperate."

Caner said he tired of a fear that Allah would not accept him. "When I heard about mercy and grace, I felt a release of love and liberation that I cannot explain." In subsequent years, his brother, Emir, accepted Christ and now teaches Anabaptist history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. Another brother, Erdum, also professed Christ and now lives in Indianapolis.

"In 1991, my mother got saved and I got to baptize my mamma in the water," he said to an applauding crowd. "But it gets better. In 1995, at almost the age of 100, my grandmother, speaking no English, with a Bible that Emir duplicated and enlarged, came forward on a walker and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior." [...]

To the Muslim visitors, Caner reminded, "Jesus will do for you what you cannot do for yourself and liberate you from the bondage of works and give you grace and salvation the moment you repent and turn to him."

While Caner's first copy of the Koran was given to him at age 13, his second copy was presented to him by his father in 1989 who urged in an inscription to "read each and every word for you and for me." As a muazzein in the local mosque, Caner's father took a role of helper and aid, comparable to a servant deacon in the practice of Christianity.

"The day that I surrendered to the gospel ministry was the last time that I saw my father until three days before his death. My father was a good Muslim, but according to his testimony, he went to a devil's hell." Acknowledging the horror of such a statement, Caner added, "Good Baptists also go to hell. God doesn't care whether you're a good Baptist, Methodist, Catholic or anything else. God cares what you did with his Son, Jesus Christ."

Adding that his father died in the shadow of three churches, Caner said, "Not a one of them ever came to his door in the 15 years that he lived there. Who lives in the shadow of this church and has not heard the precious gospel of Christ?" Caner asked. "Who lives next door to you on their way to a devil's hell and you haven't told them?"

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It's 4:30 a.m. -- night still lingers in Guwahati, capital of India's northeastern Assam province. A sleepy cow stands at the Fancy Bazaar intersection. Drizzle falls. A loudspeaker at the nearby mosque breaks the drowsy silence, calling Muslims to the day's first prayer. The sleepy cadence stops. Another loudspeaker crackles nearby. This time it's the Sikh temple with its own melodic chant, accompanied by a single drum. The cow remains in the Fancy Bazaar intersection, nonplussed by the various invocations.

A few hours later, Tashin and her mother, Iraki, take local tea and cakes baked for Bihu, the Assamese (ah-suh-MEEZ) New Year celebration. The women live in a Muslim neighborhood behind a white mosque. The area looks like any other in Guwahati except that topis -- Muslim prayer hats -- crown elderly men, and pedestrians lack Hindu forehead markings.

“This may be a Hindu holy festival, but we celebrate anyway,” Tashin says of Bihu. “We [Muslims and Hindus] live together well. You could say there is no difference; you could say we are all the same here.”

Tashin and her family also celebrate Christmas -- calling it “Big Day” -- as well as Muslim holidays like Ramadan.

Multiple faiths, languages and ethnicities color India's Assam region - - Islam is just one of the hues.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE RELIGION

Six men pray the afternoon “namaz” at the well-kept Burha mosque in dusty Jalah village. Facing Mecca, they kneel and fulfill their five- times-daily duty.

Outside the mosque, however, many more Muslim men disregard the prayer. Teenage boys wrestle. A man slices a mango. A group of men chat with foreign visitors.

“We don't go to namaz because we are either lazy or unwilling. Besides, life is good right now,” one truant explains.

Some urban Muslims and clerics study their faith and hold a tight theological line. Rank-and-file Muslims, however, are Muslim in name only.

“I haven't spoken to a single Muslim in 10 villages who has ever read the Koran in their own language,” says a Baptist worker in the region.

The worker tells of visiting a village and telling the stories of creation and the fall -- both of which are in the Koran.

“After the story, the eldest son of the village leader said, 'Thank you for coming so many miles to bring us this story we have never heard. We should know these stories but our imam has never taught us.'“

Sociologists call the phenomenon “high identity” -- identifying culturally with a belief but not knowing well its theology or practicing faithfully its disciplines.

Islam first visited Assam with Mogul invaders in the 13th century and lingered after the army's defeat. Islamic practice revitalized under visionary reformers in the 1600s then leveled until the 20th century when waves of Muslim immigrants from neighboring territories swelled the ranks.

This immigration, coupled with high birth rates, has steadily expanded Islam in Assam. Today, Assam contains India's second-densest Muslim population. Islam entered Assam, however, as an outsider faith and seemingly remembers its symbiotic role in India's layered social order.

“In Assam, most Muslim villages are surrounded by Hindus,” explains Elam, an Assamese Christian evangelist from a Muslim background. “We can say that Assamese Muslim culture is 'Hinduized.’ Therefore, Assamese Muslims are not that strict in observing religion.”

SOFT BUT UNSERIOUS

Among Assamese Muslims, lukewarm religion breeds a benign receptivity. The few Christians engaging Muslims find they readily listen to the Gospel but hesitate to wrestle with its meaning.

“The Assamese are a soft people. Hinduism here is not hardline Hindu. And the Muslims here are adaptable, open to making new friendships, listening to new ideas,” says an Assamese Christian leader.

“They're almost Hindu, with a very universalistic mindset -- you have your way and we have ours,” explains a Baptist worker. “It creates no desire to know the truth. If all you need to do is be a good man, then what's the point?”

Ironically, some evangelists think Islamic revival could trigger Christian growth.

“The Koran says that a good Muslim should know the Pentateuch and the Gospels,” explains the Baptist worker. “Teach them what their own book says -- because they don't know -- then transition. Use their book as a bridge.”

“I believe that if the Muslims knew more about Islam, more would come to Christ because Christ is right there in their scriptures,” explains Elam.

Faint signs of Islamic revival appear in Assam. Some Muslim villages are building madrasas -- schools for teaching Arabic and the Koran. Immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh often import more fundamental strains of Islam. And some local Christians claim that Islamic countries have started sponsoring schools, students and teachers.

Yet the Assamese church does not respond.

“Christian churches have celebrated more than 100 years here, yet I don't see one single church involved directly with Muslims,” observes an Assamese Christian leader. “This office now supports four evangelists [among Muslims] -- this is remarkable! My predecessors would have said, 'Why bother?'“

Only a handful of Assamese and foreign Christians have started works among Muslims -- and only in the past few years.

“The Christian message is here but there's no one to take it [to the Muslims],” observes an international Christian worker. “There are thousands of Muslim villages in Assam that have never been presented with the truth.”

Assam, a state of 26 million people, holds only a few dozen known Christians from Muslim backgrounds.

If the Assamese church decides to engage its Muslim neighbors, it will find an unreached people ready for dialogue.

“Milk is better than water; diamond is better than rock. If you see the one of high quality, you will choose it, will you not?” asks Annul Hoque, a Muslim lawyer in Guwahati. “Not all religion is true or real. We should discuss to understand.

“We should investigate to see which is real and then follow it.”

On American college campuses, tracts are being handed out making the claim that Christians believe in three gods rather than one. The Muslims who are handing them out are causing no end of confusion for students -- including Christian students who don't understand one of their core beliefs -- the doctrine of the Trinity.

According to theologian Dr. Timothy George, in the post-September 11 world there's been an outpouring of good will that is expressed toward the unity of all people and away from the kind of divisiveness that so often rears its ugly head. The problem, George points out, is that we're seeing an over-reaction -- a kind of easy-going ecumenism that would amalgamate different faith traditions into a single homogenized whole.

The intention, he says, may be one of respect, but the reality is that this is a sign of utter disrespect. It is disrespectful not to take seriously what a person claims to be the truth. And on that basis it's certain that no Muslim would believe that the god of Muhammad is the Father of Jesus -- and we shouldn't either. The difference is the Trinity.

Christians believe that the one true God has forever known Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's foundational to our faith -- and yet, George says, it is perhaps the most neglected doctrine that we hold. Why? Maybe because we can't understand it or explain it. Maybe we just don't see why it's important. And so, George says, "we tend to shove it to the side, until all of a sudden we find ourselves in a discussion with a Muslim, who says to us, 'Oh, you Christians claim to believe in one God, but really you believe in three gods.'"

And that is exactly what the Qur'an teaches about Christians. We need to remember that Muhammad lived some two centuries after Augustine. St. Augustine wrote one of the great treatises on the Trinity. He did so in the face of heretical beliefs about God that were circulating in his day. But those beliefs continued to spread, and eventually they reached Mecca, where Muhammad lived. According to these heretics, God has a wife called Mary, with whom he had intercourse, resulting in Jesus. It was this distortion that Muhammad heard and believed, and many others who call Christians "tri-theists" think that we really do believe in three gods.

Dr. George insists that this is why a strong grasp of the doctrine of the Trinity is vitally important. It's "nothing other," he says, "than the conceptual framework needed to understand the story of Jesus as the story of God."

Muhammad's mistaken teachings about the Trinity continue to influence millions of Muslims. At this time of great curiosity about religious teachings -- at this time when many Muslims may be rethinking their own faith -- Christians must reach out to their Muslim neighbors, learning what they believe, and learning how to lovingly correct their misconceptions about what we believe.

But we cannot do this unless we understand our own teachings -- especially the doctrine of the Trinity. I hope you'll contact us here at BreakPoint so we can send you some material that will help you. It's a doctrine that teaches that there is only one true God -- and yet within the being of God from all eternity there has always existed a bond of relationship, love, and intimacy: Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Copyright (c) 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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Marri, a young woman in Kabul, Afghanistan, smuggled this poignant letter out to London Sunday Telegraph correspondent Christina Lamb after the U.S. and British air strikes began last week.

Dear Christina,

This week I listen to the bombs falling on the airport and military command just a few miles away and though we are scared by the bangs which shake our flat, we believe they will not hurt us and we come out and watch the flashes in the sky and we pray this will be an end to our suffering.

You asked me to write a letter about our life under the Taliban regime and I hope this will help you outside to understand the feelings of an educated Afghan female who must now live under a burqa.

Although Marri is not my real name please use this as what we are doing is dangerous. I'm 30 years old and live in a three-room flat with my family on the outskirts of Kabul. I graduated from high school and speak Dari, Pushtu and English as my father was a diplomat and my mother an English teacher. My mother went to university in India.

I know from our friend that you have a kind husband and a beautiful son and you travel the world reporting and meeting people. I dream of a life like that. It's funny we live under the same small sky yet it seems we live 500 years apart.

You see us now in our burqas, like strange insects, scurrying in the dust our heads down, but it wasn't always this way. I do not remember much before the Russian invasion as I was still young but even when the Russians came we still went to school. Women worked as professors and doctors and in government. We went for picnics and parties, wore jeans and short skirts, and I thought I would go to university like my mother and work for my living.

I know in the villages many schools had been destroyed in the war but here in Kabul we were lucky. Only when the Taliban came were all the girls' schools and university closed.

Hidden in our house, behind all the burqas and shalwar kamiz, is a red silk party dress, my mother's, from the time when the king was in power and my father was in the foreign ministry. Sometimes I hold it up against me and imagine dancing but it is a lost world. Now we must wear clothes that make us invisible and cannot even wear high heels. Several of my friends have been beaten because the Taliban could hear their shoes clicking on the pavement.

You might think we women are doing nothing but my friends and I struggle for the rights of Afghan women, working secretly here for the Afghan Women's League, trying to educate our women and young girls. There is not much we can do as we are not allowed out, but some of our members make nan bread and distribute it.

We have small rebellions. Maybe you do not know but we are forbidden to wear make-up under the burqas but I have a red lipstick.

I have two brothers and two sisters, and right now my elder brothers work and we women must stay home all day. We study or we try to teach our neighbors some English but it is hard as we fear someone might report us and we cannot get English books. At night there is no light.

Life here is very miserable. We have no rights at all and we have asked many times other countries of the world for help but they have been silent.

Now it is good that after all this time the world has turned its face toward Afghanistan. Right now I want to laugh at the world a lot because in other countries of the civilized and progressive world no one knew about our problems before those attacks on America and now we are all the time on BBC.

You cannot imagine how an educated Afghan girl lives or how even when we go out for something in the market, the Taliban, in particular Pakistani Taliban, tease us a lot. They insult us and say: "You Kabuli girls, still coming out in the streets, shame on you," and worse. Now think, Afghanistan is my motherland and a Pakistani Talib treats me like that.

You might wonder why I am not married. It's hard to find love in this situation, we are so tired. I look in the mirror and I see a face that does not remember a time before war, and I would not want to bring a child into this city of fear.

We do not have schools, the doors of education are closed on all, especially us. We cannot paint or listen to music. The Taliban ran their tanks over all the televisions.

We asked the world, are we not human beings? Do we not deserve to live in peace? Can we not have our rights as women in other countries?

Many people have left but my family is staying, praying for change. The market is still working - we Kabulis are tough - and there is food in the market but we have stocked up in case it runs out. Already there is no oil.

The Taliban say this is a war on Afghanistan. Some of our friends say we must now support the Taliban against the outside, but how can we support those who lock us away? We listen secretly to the BBC and hope that Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair mean what they say.

I hope they do not come and bomb then forget us again. Maybe when you watch the bombs on CNN you will think of me and know we are real feeling people here, a girl who likes to wear red lipstick and dreams of dancing, not just the men of beards and guns.

I do not know what you want me to write to you. If I start writing I will fill all the paper and my eyes will fill with tears because in these seven years of Taliban no one has asked us to write about our lives.

In my mind I make a picture of you and your family. I wonder if you drive a car, if you go out with friends to movies and restaurants, and dance at parties. Do you play loud music and swim in lakes? One day I would like to see and I would also like to show you a beautiful place in my country with mountains and streams, but not now while we must be hidden people. Maybe our worlds will always be too far apart.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20011015-14680088.htm

After two years of sensitive negotiations, the United States government is about to deliver an agreement ending the persecution of Christians and genocide in Sudan. For the past six : ears, I and other Christian leaders have been involved in a campaign to bring an end to the murder and enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Christians.

But fighting slavery is nothing new for Christians. After all, Christianity was born into a world where chattel slavery, one person owning another, was the cornerstone of the economy.

Ironically, many famous historians, including those most critical of Christianity, were indifferent about the role that slavery played in antiquity. Edward Gibbon called the “cruel treatment” of slaves “almost justified by the great law of self-preservation.”

Western Christianity saw matters differently. Its spread through western Europe was accompanied by calls for an end to chattel slavery. Saint Bathilde, the wife of the seventh-century Frankish king Clovis, was canonized, in part, for her efforts to free slaves and end the slave trade.

The result of hers and similar efforts was that, by the eleventh century, slavery had been effectively abolished in western Europe. The lone exceptions were areas under pagan or Muslim control. By the time Thomas Aquinas wrote the SUMMA THEOLOGICA in the thirteenth century, slavery was a thing of the distant past. That's why Aquinas paid little attention to the subject, devoting himself instead to the issue of serfdom, which he considered “repugnant.”

So, why did slavery make a comeback in the Americas? As historian Rodney Stark writes in FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, the problem was that people stopped listening. The distance between the Americas and western Europe, coupled with the rise of nation-states and commercial interests, meant that Christian teaching about the evils of chattel slavery was less likely to be heeded.

The failure to obey this teaching doesn't change the fact that, according to Stark, the “moral predisposition” to oppose slavery was unique to Western Christianity. It certainly didn't exist in the Islamic world, where legal slavery existed until 1981 and where informal slavery still exists.

This “moral predisposition” was why the second successful abolitionist wave in the beginning of the nineteenth century was led by William Wilberforce and other Christian politicians. And in this country the abolitionist campaign which brought about an end to slavery was led by Christians as well.

What Stark calls the “moral potential for an antislavery conclusion” lay uniquely within Christian thought. Despite the Bible's apparent acknowledgment of slavery, what the Bible taught us about God and man led Christians to conclude that the holding of another man or woman in bondage was a sin. This religious appeal is why the people of Britain taxed themselves to abolish slavery in the West Indies.

Unfortunately, this is not the story being told in our schools and universities. While the faith of men like Wilberforce might be acknowledged, the story of how Christianity, and Christianity alone, led to the abolition of slavery won't be. That's why you need to learn this story. If Christians aren't going to set the record straight, who will? Certainly not the ideologues to whom Christianity and its “moral predispositions” are even more repugnant than slavery itself.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the End of Slavery (Princeton University Press, 2003).

• Learn more about the Sudan slavery issue at http://www.pfm.org/BPtemplate.cfm?Section=Issues_and_Research&CONTENTID=7126&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

• Kevin Belmonte, Hero for Humanity: A Biography of William Wilberforce (NavPress, 2003).

• Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett, Christianity on Trial: Arguments against Anti-Religious Bigotry (Encounter, 2000).

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Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #26255]

During a service at a large evangelical church, a Muslim leader -- who had been invited to give the message -- stood at the pulpit and declared: "All of us believe in Jesus. I believe in Mohammed and all the prophets. So our mission here is to introduce people to God." And then he added, "We believe in Jesus more than you do, in fact."

What a thing to hear in a Bible-believing church!

Since September 11, we've seen all kinds of ecumenical services -- from the huge one at Yankee Stadium, to the prayer service at the National Cathedral, to the celebration of Ramadan in the White House to small celebrations all over America. And, yes, it's right to reach out to our Muslim neighbors -- to offer love and support at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable. President Bush is absolutely right to reach out in friendship to Muslims -- to lead the way so as to discourage outbreaks of religious bigotry. But Christians must be careful not to allow support and acceptance of our Muslim neighbors to sink into a kind of mushy civil religion -- one that obscures the truth about both Christianity and Islam. As I have been documenting over recent days, the two are not the same.

One dramatic difference is Christianity and Islam's understanding of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus is part of the Trinity. He is God, the Son who has offered as an atoning sacrifice on the cross to save his people from their sins. By contrast, the Koran denies that Jesus was crucified at all and claims that Jesus was no more than "a Messenger of Allah and His Word." Muslims reject the deity of Christ and His atoning sacrifice. That's a big difference. Contrary to what the Muslim leader says, Muslims do not believe in Jesus more than we do -- pure nonsense.

To suggest that Christianity and Islam are basically the same is not only unfair to Christianity, it's equally unfair to Islam. It compromises both and thus creates massive worldview confusion. People need to know where the lines are drawn to think about Christianity or Islam rationally.

And getting out the truth about how Christianity differs from Islam is more important now than ever. Just before the September 11 attacks, a Gallup survey showed that some 45 percent of Americans had favorable views of Muslim-Americans. Today, 59 percent do. Imagine it -- Islamic extremists attack America, and we think more of Islam than before the attack!

Well, this has happened because leaders on many fronts have cleaned up Islam. They've made a point of including Muslims in public religious events and telling Americans that the terrorists hijacked a peace-loving religion. Those who dare to suggest otherwise, as some Christian leaders have done, are vilified.

Again, while it's right to love our Muslim neighbors, we must redouble our efforts to make sure our children and our neighbors know that all religions are not alike.

The same survey showing that more Americans view Muslims favorably also says Americans -- by a huge majority -- believe religion is gaining influence in American life. The critical question, of course, is what kind of religion is gaining influence. Is it the real thing or mushy civil religious ecumenism? It's time for Christians -- lovingly always -- to make the truth known. All religious beliefs are tolerated -- not all are true.

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Copyright © 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. 'BreakPoint with Chuck Colson' is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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