Lesson 4, Isaac and Ishmael, in the Bible and the Koran
The book of Genesis records a delightful story of one who is the father of all the faithful ones of all time. This man, Abraham, is promised a son who will carry on his line and be a blessing to all humanity. Trying to help God out, Abraham manipulates the situation and fathers a child through his servant Hagar. The son's name is Ishmael.
Fourteen years later God keeps His promise to Abraham, and a child is born to his legal wife Sarah. Tension develops immediately between the two mothers and the two sons. To this day, Isaac and Ishmael have a tense relationship, and for the last 1,400 years their struggle has been set in stone by a world-class religion. But that religion, Islam, is Arabian in origin. And Arabia is Ishmaelite by history. A great nation was promised to Ishmael. And a great nation he received. His twelve sons fathered twelve tribes, much like his younger half brother's son Jacob.
To be more specific, It is believed that the Nabateans, called Arabs in the writings of early historians, populating as they did much of first-century Arabia, came from Ishmael's first son, Nebajoth. Similarly sons Kedar, Massa, Hadad, and Tema have been traced to that location.
Though other sons went to Egypt or the Sinai Peninsula, it is a known fact that none came to old Canaan. That land had been promised specifically to the sons of Israel.
Before I move on, a word about that blessing of Ishmael. Yes, he is promised a great nation. A great material blessing. Surely much of the fulfillment can be documented in the pages of the Bible, as mention of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, and a number of his sons, indicate how the family grew and prospered. History itself then picks up the story, and God is found to be true in the carrying out of His promise.
Nevertheless, we are not bound to conclude that all that has come from Ishmael is to be blessed. When unbelief comes on the scene, blessings are thwarted and reversed. What we say of Ishmael we say also of Isaac. The physical sons of the Abrahamic family are blessed only inasmuch as they are in the same line of faith as is Abraham. It is the Christ who came from Abraham that is the one who will bless all nations. Many of Ishmael and of Isaac will enter that blessing, not because of the ancestor but because of the Descendant.
It is understandable but of course not justifiable, that a book would come along to challenge the millennia-old pledge to Isaac, the son of promise, whose birth was a factor in the salvation of the entire world. That book is the Koran. The Koran is a strangely mixed statement of faith in the Hebrew-Christian revelation coupled with gross denials of all the major truths therein. The characters look familiar, but we hear them saying different things, see them doing different activities, than in the Bible. The Koran makes Ishmael the son of promise, putting God's stamp of approval on the entire Islamic people and the things they do to bring this world under their sway.
Reminds me of the curious documents that appeared in Medieval church history, showing "conclusively" that certain lands formerly under Constantine's rule totally belonged to the church. Those who disbelieved these decretals were punished severely. They were found to be forgeries when the light of the Reformation broke upon the world. The "church" recanted, but too late for souls they had sent into eternity a bit early.
How many have died an early death because of the Koran's changes of the facts of history?
The denials of the Koran next to the original truths of the Bible will keep the fires of conflict burning wherever Muslims appear, until Jesus comes. But He will come. Isaac's Descendant will go to the land of Canaan, now known as Israel, and set up there a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Then will peace come to the planet.
Meanwhile, it is believers in the Jewish Messiah who must put those Biblical truths and those Islamic refutations side by side, conflict or no. We must never stop showing that Islam is false. We must never accept the Koran as a companion book to the Bible. God has spoken through the prophets in the Old Testament, through Jesus in the New, and Jesus is the final Word from God.
Lesson 5 , The Last Prophet.
1. Moses, 2. Jesus, 3. Muhammad, is it really that simple?
The Koran considers itself the final revelation of Judeo-Christian thinking, not separate from it. The Koran is here, say the Muslims, to purify that thinking, to put it in its final form. Muhammad then must be the last prophet of God.
Not so fast. Would a true prophet utter words that were contrary to the other prophets of the same God? Never. But disciples of Islam are under the distinct impression that the messages of those other prophets have been distorted, and need restoring. This, they say, Muhammad did.
From that starting point, Islam takes off to bring to the world the revised and updated rules and regulations for the planet. It seeks to replace the Holy Books we hold dear, altogether.
So, Christian, what's your problem, asks the devoted Muslim. Why can't the Koran replace the Bible? After all, did not Jesus replace Moses? Why can't Muhammad just replace both of them?
We answer, of course, that Jesus did not replace Moses. Rather, He fulfilled the Mosaic law . The teachings of Moses flow into the teachings of Jesus. Though Christians are not bound to the law of Moses for salvation, they still call it good and holy. We see Old and New as not bad and good, but old and new. Good and better. Right and Redeemed.
But Muhammad attempts to change all and create a new religion, uniquely Arabian, Mohammedan, and for his own purposes.
To affirm Muhammad, we would have to, first, agree that his premise of corruption is correct. As I will show elsewhere in this study, that premise has no documentation to support it.
So, to accept Muhammad, and at the same time believe that the Scriptures we already have are sufficient, is impossible. Jesus, according to our non-corrupted texts, is First and Last, Alpha and Omega. The ultimate Revelation of Scripture is the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself.
The Church, in our accurate texts, is told to wait for Jesus to return (Acts 1, for example), not for yet another prophet to appear. Jesus, King, Lord, Messiah, is also the Last Prophet.
Add-ons to Scripture are strictly forbidden, as well as subtractions from It. In the book of Revelation alone, which is not corrupted in any way, one finds attestations of Jesus' deity, His sacrificial nature, the nature of the antichrist, names for God. All of these items are challenged by those who call our Scriptures perverted, when in fact, theirs are.
Our tried and true textual account proclaims that the original Apostles are foundational to the truth and that any who build improperly on the foundation will have to pay dearly for that privilege. The Koran builds only on Muhammad.
But is the New Testament not an addition to the Old? Was not every apostle guilty of disobeying Moses' command (Deuteronomy 4 and 12) not to tamper with his words? No, it is God Who has (Hebrews 10:9) taken away the first to establish the second (which is really the fulfillment of the first). There is a perfect flow of Spirit history that moves from creation to salvation to judgment to new creation. Genesis to Revelation. A perfect accounting of a perfect story.
The New Testament does not deny any facts of the Old. It simply says that some new facts are in play, facts that were hidden in the Old, now manifest. The Koran on the other hand takes a hatchet to it all while claiming to believe it! Quite a trick! It changes truths to fit the new Arabian-centered teachings. It picks and chooses what it likes, and trashes the rest.
Hebrews 1 says that God has in the past spoken to us through the prophets, but has spoken in these last days by His Son. No extension of that program is promised, no further "final" prophet is seen as vital to the program of God. When Jesus said it was finished, He meant it was finished. It's done. I really am the First and the Last. There'll be no more.
Well, that's not totally true, is it? Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jude, they all told of false prophets who will come to deceive and devour. We must with the love of God and boldness born of God's Spirit, confidently affirm that Muhammad is one of these, and not a prophet of God. Period. No political correctness. No apologies. No attempt to save our skin or our status with Islamists. He is either true or he is false. If Jesus is True, Muhammad is false.
Lesson 6, Islam: The Ecumenical Approach
Not a lot to say about the ecumenical approach to Islam, except this: It will not work. A fish and an alligator may try to be ecumenical but eventually one will be inside the other. The history of ecumenicity thus far is that the most aggressive group tends to swallow up the others. Look closely at the line of Protestants marching back to Rome, denying the Reformation, denying the significance of salvation by grace through faith, denying that the Scriptures are enough, believing it is Rome out of which we came, when we all actually descended from the events that transpired in an upper room of a house in Jerusalem, A.D. 33. Hear the big sucking sound as Rome's vacuum brings them in from every corner of the earth? Rome calls to ecumenicity, but ends in devouring.
And, no, there is also no way to unite with Islam either. Its premise, its god, its book, its main character, its doctrines, its goals, its final destination, all are radically different from the Christian's. So you see similarities? To use another animal analogy, does it matter that a man and a bear both have legs, eyes, and skin? They are two different species, and one who confuses them does so at his own peril. We look not for the similarities of our religions, but for the dangerous and deadly differences, so that we may warn others.
When I think of "Chrislam", the ill-fated attempt of some to combine Christ with Muhammad, and the motivations behind it, I cannot help but think of the beloved Billy Graham, a man whom I honor to this day for the Gospel he placed in my heart as a young man.
Billy had an approach to Catholicism in his early days that differed radically from his later method. In those first days, Billy and his team went door to door in Catholic neighborhoods, winning Catholics to Jesus Christ. Catholics came to his crusades and were saved.
But his approach changed. There came a time when to offend a Catholic and the Catholic powers that ruled certain cities became an issue. He made a conscious decision not to be offensive, to unite with Catholicism in his Crusades and messages. He began to praise the current Pope. He promoted Catholic books. In turn he received an honorary degree from a Romanist college, and unceasing public praise from Romanist powers. And in his Crusades, priests and nuns were among the counselors that welcomed seekers into the fold following a repentance-inducing message.
Though the ecumenical approach opened doors for him personally, in Latin America and elsewhere, the confusion mounted. What were Catholic bishops doing on the platform of Billy's meetings? The missionaries and nationals wanted to know what to tell people who had just been rescued from the works-based Catholic religion. Were they now to go back? Ecumenicity always confuses, and waters down.
One wonders what might have happened to Billy Graham if he had continued his early approach, a simple Gospel message to Romanists everywhere, Papal power notwithstanding.
In those early days, Brother Billy grouped Catholicism with Communism and the present subject of discussion, Islam, as the world's three greatest threats. He was right on then and he is right on now. Rome will rise again. That's another story. Communism has never left us. That too is another story. Islam is here, and Christians, many of whom should know better, are getting cozy with it.
May no Christian ever be anti-Muslim. Let's draw that line now. Or anti-Catholic, or even anti-Communist. People are people, lost and groping for answers and victims of birth and geographical location and faulty thinking. But may we be totally opposed to the lies that detract from the supremacy of Christ and His Cross. May we be anti-Islam.
Not that the Koran is all wrong. It takes talent to make a book 100% false. I speak of the poisonous denials of the faith of Jesus found on so many pages of Islam's holy book.
When dealing with Muslims or Christians who believe that basically we serve the same God and have the same general purposes, we must use the words of the Koran itself. It is to this end that I am going to take you through the Koran to see these words, coupled with the Bible statements which they attempt to supersede.
I listen not to those who proclaim Islam to be a peaceful religion, except in the sense of the Pax Romana, the peace of the Roman Empire that squashed all opposition by brutal force. Nor do I listen to radicals who can only hate. No, I read the Koran's doctrines for myself, and make my own judgments.
True it is that translated Arabic lends itself to much in the way of interpretation, even among Muslim scholars, who, just as Christian scholars, fuss among themselves. True also that Eastern thought is not Western thought. But enough in the Koran is in plainly-to-be-understood language. The intention of the Koran's creator to offset Jewish and Christian belief is obvious. Those who know the Bible and believe it with all of their hearts, should have no trouble seeing the Koran for what it is.
Did Jesus call His people to dialogue or to declare? To have friendship or to confront people with truth? To a mutual respect or to a radical repentance? To political correctness and acceptability or predictable persecution and rejection? I've made my decision.
Lesson 7, Islamic Persecution of Christians: a Challenge.
It is chilling to know that the study on which I now embark could give me a death sentence in a Muslim country, even as a former series of books I wrote, Scarlet Threads, would have sealed my doom in Romanist Medieval times, or even some modern Catholic areas. Being a Christian and speaking the truth about Jesus and His Word is pretty dangerous, even today, even here...
As my study on Islam and the Koran begins, Fox News and many other media sources have been following the story of an Iranian Christian Pastor who has been jailed and is being threatened with death because he has decided not to come back to Islam.
Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was recently given Islamic literature while in jail, and told that there would soon be a discussion of these materials. The standard Muslim line of the corruption of Old and New Testament texts is presented in these books, and the superiority of Islam is touted. It is not clear whether the coming discussion is meant to trap the pastor or show him Allah's mercy if he will submit to Islam, which ironically means "submission." Pastor Youcef is being advised by lawyers to keep silent. [Update, June, 2012: The pastor's lead lawyer has now himself been arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail!]
A normally vindictive Islamic way is being held in check by international outrage in this case. Sharia Law demands severe penalties for daring to leave Islam. Youcef went beyond that. He actually asked that the Christian church he pastored be allowed to register with the state. He was arrested, then released. After his release he dared to complain to local officials about Islamic indoctrination of children in the local schools. This led to another arrest. He has been in an Iranian jail since that time. You simply do not speak against Islam in Iran.
By Islamic standards, Youcef should be sentenced to death by hanging. This was in fact the decision of the original court. An appeal to the Supreme Court did not overturn it but merely asked that it be confirmed that Youcef was a practicing Muslim from age 15 (adulthood in Islam) to age 19, when he converted to Christ.
In fact Youcef wasn't a Muslim at that time. But the apostasy charge stuck because he had been born into a Muslim family. Muslims are bound for life by the accident of birth. [The strange and exceptional case of one Barack Obama is the subject of much speculation in this regard. There is no question that he was born into a situation that demanded he be a Muslim all his life! ]
Given three chances to recant, Youcef rejected all three.
Only intense international support by Christian and human rights groups keeps him alive to this day (November, 2011). But now the word is that the charges are changing. The international [non-Muslim] community cannot accept killing an apostate, but a rapist maybe...
How typical is Youcef's case? We believe, very typical, not only in Iran, but throughout the Muslim world. Muslim persecution of Christians, when Muslims are in - or rising to- power in a given nation dates back to the very beginnings of Islam. As Jews and Romanists and Communists and repressive regimes of all time have discovered, the Person and Message of Jesus Christ runs counter to the messages of this world and all its religions. Jesus and His people will continue to draw fire.
It would seem that the sensible thing for a government to do would be to let the religions be free to be who they are in a given culture, then allow the people the choice of whom they will serve. Joy then could fill the hearts of "the faithful" who win converts on the merits of their message, as opposed to the power of their weaponry. Rome and Mecca and the rest have put a sword to the throat and a book in the hand and said, Convert. Not amazingly, conversion of a sort is what has happened worldwide.
By contrast, men of God have placed the Saviour before mankind, and with no further motivation much of mankind has come to Him.
We challenge Islamists to fight this sort of battle alone, the battle of Truth, to see just how long Islam could exist in a world made aware of the facts in the case.
But the challenge I suggest is only a temporary offer. Eventually the Son of God, the True Fact in the Case, will appear, to rule, not from Rome, Mecca, Medina, or Moscow, or even Washington D.C.
"Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion," says a laughing God in Psalm 2. God speaks there of a King Who will rule with a rod of iron and dash in pieces all of His enemies. The age of grace and choosing and waiting and praying for the repentance of those who hate Christ will have ended. The age of the manifested Kingdom of God where Truth and Beauty and Righteousness shall reign, will have begun. Lord, Haste the day!
(For those who may not know, Zion is a small hill in the city of Jerusalem, Israel.)
Lesson 8, Why So Many Conversions to Islam?
One and one half billion Muslims live on our planet. The number grows daily. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West. Word has it that there are as many Muslims as there are Jews or Presbyterians in America. How can this be?
The normal way of Islamic reproduction has been birth, indoctrination, subjugation, and forced retention. That is, don't dare to leave the Muslim faith once you've been born into it. Results can be and have been disastrous for those who did not believe this.
But to say that all of Islamic growth is due to this repressive seventh century mentality would miss the mark of truth. In fact, many are now being approached by the Crescent on intellectual terms, and finding Islam acceptable.
I began to rack my brains for reasons why an American who knows of 911 and other jihad activities throughout the world, would willingly jump into the Islamic camp. Are they convinced that Muhammad is a real prophet? Do they believe the statements of the Koran are all true? Have they read the Koran? Do they like the moral code, compared to the cesspool of our own society, much of which claims to be "Christian"? Are they merely lonely people looking for friends and a purpose? Do they in fact enjoy the political possibilities of a downfall of America?
I decided to widen my knowledge by a Google search. I found there that converts to Islam are searching for discipline that the Christian church no longer offers in many locations. Clear sets of values and rules, clear order in a church service as opposed to the rock-music-inspirational-talk regime that has taken over in many quarters of the church. Islam certainly seems good for a person seeking rules!
I found also that my hunch about "lonely people" is correct. Islam is community based. The church is often meeting-based, with sometimes no community to follow. Much of what we see of our brethren is the back of their heads on a Sunday morning. After that it is every man for himself.
Another factor I had overlooked is marriage. As in strict Catholicism, so in Islam, if you want to marry him, you better convert real quick. That's the law. To ask him to leave his faith could mean his life. And the odds are he doesn't want to convert, anyway! The odds are that he was sent here to "evangelize" through romance. Oh so many "converts" marry into the faith. And marriage produces children. And eventually the population grows... a Muslim population.
Related to the above, but more for the female, is the idea of family life. Christians have the same stats as unbelievers when it comes to divorce . Add to that the growing homosexual threat to marriage, unfaithfulness, disrespect for women, disrespect for marriage, disrespect for the traditional roles of men and women, and you build yet another case for Islam's rise. Woe to those among us who have given Christ a bad name by following the world's ways in regards to the place of women and the definition of marriage!
I mentioned purpose in my guessing above. Right on again, but perhaps sadly so. The Islamic purpose is worldwide control by Sharia law. When you think you are on the winning team, it is fun to see that team score victory after victory. You see the good that Islam produces and you begin to desire such peace and morality throughout the planet. You begin to justify even the criminal activities of the terrorists. At least we win a moral world, though some must die. The Communists think like this too.
But Sharia is a two-edged sword. Literally. That which cuts against homosexuals and crime also cuts against Jesus Christ and His revealed word. To worship Christ, to leave Islam, to promote the true church with its true Word, all these are offenses punishable by hanging or the sword in Islamic nations.
Another reason for conversions today is in the area of discrimination. Blacks in particular have been discriminated against by fellow Christians but are welcomed as equals in Islam. Understandable, but can truth be sold so lightly? Are my feelings or the mistakes of my brothers more to be valued than clear statements of the Word of God which are openly violated on every page of the Koran?
Yet another idea posed is that of salvation. No need to concern oneself with the whole sin/salvation issue. Just say you agree with the Koran, and do your best to be a good moral person, and you've got as good a shot as anyone at going to Heaven. Which may not be that good a shot, by the way. This latter reason exposes Islam to be exactly like every other religion known to man. Salvation by works. Dependence on me. No need for Jesus.
So that's why people come to Muhammad. Aren't you glad you've heard of and come to Christ? Do you now see the difference?
I served above a warning to those who cause us to look bad to the Muslims. It is not my personal warning. David was chastised because his awful sin had caused the enemies of Israel to laugh not only at Israel, but at Israel's God. One thousand years later Jesus told His followers that those who teach even the smallest untruth about the Kingdom, and thus the Kingdom's King, will have to pay for such a mistake. It is a serious matter to misrepresent by word or action the One Who makes the rules.
One can opine that Christians who are not born again are going to leave us anyway. Let them go.
There's a bit of Calvin in such thinking, but more seriously, once more the words of Jesus have been forgotten. Yes, said Jesus, offences will come. But woe to that man by whom they do come. Yes, the day of Christ will not come, said Paul, until there is a great apostasy from the true faith. It's inevitable. But if a future Muslim can look back at our missteps today and say that it was one of us that sent them packing to Mecca, how joyful a thought will that be to retain into eternity?
Let's be obedient to our wonderful Lord and His wonderful Word. Muslims are not objecting to the perfect lifestyle portrayed in our Bible. They do not know that lifestyle, because all they see is us. May God bring His Western church to repent of all that is not of Him, that those looking at us will see what they are supposed to see, and have no excuses on that day.
I understand that Islam is wrong, but that does not excuse our behavior.
