Followers
of Isa
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You may be wondering who or what is “Isa”?
“Isa” is
the Arabic name for Yeshua, i.e., Jesus.
It is the name found in the Koran and used by Muslims.
We,
Christians, are told that there is something like
1.4 billion Muslims
living on our planet today and that their numbers
are rapidly increasing. In fact statisticians predict
that before the end of the twenty-first century
the major religion in Europe will be Islam. In our
own nation Islam is building
mosques from coast to coast. Many authorities
believe that Muslims now outnumber Jews in the United
States or will do so shortly if their present rate
of growth continues.
Christians
have been slow in reaching out to Muslims worldwide.
Some Christians have bought into such lies
as:
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Mohammad,
Buddha and Jesus (Isa)
are equal so why try to win Muslims to him? |
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Muslims
are too difficult to win to Christ.
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Islam
is simply one of the many paths or ways to God. |
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Mohammad
like Jesus was a prophet of God. |
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| As
mentioned earlier we discover that the name “Isa”
is simply another name for “the
One” whom we Christians know as Jesus. Jews
know him as Yeshua or Joshua.
He is the same person. However, the understanding of Christians
to Jesus is considerably different
from the understanding of both Muslims and Jews. To we who
are his followers he is not simply
another prophet. To biblical Christians Isa
(Jesus) is Deity, i.e., God
in human flesh. See –
John 1:1-5; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-20.
We are told that converts from Islam to Isa
(Jesus) have difficulty adjusting to the institutional
Christian churches as they have developed through the centuries.
These converts do not understand nor like the cold, impersonal
formality that is common to many Christian churches. Muslim
converts also view churches as being
too Western which is unfortunate as the earliest
churches were more Eastern than they were Western.
The mosques are said to have a family atmosphere whereas
many churches lack a family atmosphere. The sense of community
is missing in the majority of Christian churches.
Christians desperately need to recover the sense of community.
In fairness there are some exceptions
to this lack of community in churches especially in house
churches.
The rate of attrition from the institutional churches is
very high. Many Muslims return to
Islam. The methods used by churches and their missionary
efforts to win Muslims have proven to be largely ineffective.
Many Western Christians do not
understand the cultural mores or the Eastern mindset. We
are told that only 2% of all
Christian workers concentrate their witnessing efforts upon
Muslims this in spite of the fact that Islam is presently
the fastest growing religion
on earth threatening to eventually overwhelm
Christendom. |
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Mohammed
and/or
Jesus?
Whom
do you choose?
“
. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will
serve!”
(Joshua 24:15b) NKJV
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this age and society of pluralism and tolerance it is common
for Americans to place the Arabian prophet Mohammed
on an equal place with Jesus
of Nazareth. The question asked of God’s ancient people
the Jews by Joshua continues to be applicable to us,
“Now
fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw
away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates
River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the
LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether
the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:14-15)
A similar
question is asked of each of us. Whether we will serve and
give our full allegiance to Islam and its prophet Mohammed
or to Jesus the Christ who alone is deity.[1]
Believe
it or not there are some professed Christian theologians
who would like us to believe that it really does not matter
to whom we give our allegiance; Mohammed or Jesus. But know
that it does matter. There is absolutely no comparison between
Jesus of Nazareth and Mohammed of Arabia. |
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following is a brief comparison
of Jesus Christ and Mohammed:[2]
Muhammed |
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Jesus |
Mohammed
was a prophet of war. |
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Jesus
Christ is the Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6-7) |
Mohammed’s
disciples killed for
their faith. |
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Jesus’
disciples were killed
for their faith.
(Acts 12:2; 2 Tim. 4:7) |
Mohammed
promoted persecution
against the “infidels”. |
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Jesus
Christ forgave and converted
the chief persecutor. (1 Tim. 1:13-15) |
Mohammed
was the taker of life. |
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Jesus
Christ is the giver of life.
(John 10:27-28) |
Mohammed
and his fellow warriors murdered
thousands. |
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Jesus
murdered none but saved many.
(compare John 12:48) |
Mohammed’s
method was compulsion. |
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Jesus
aim was voluntary conversion.
(Acts 3:19) |
Mohammed
practiced force. |
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Jesus Christ
preached believing faith.
(John 6:29, 25)
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Mohammed
was a warrior. |
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Jesus
is the deliverer.
(Col. 1:13; 1 Thess. 1:10) |
Mohammed
conquered his enemies with the
sword. |
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Christ
conquered his enemies with another kind of sword,
the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God.
(Hebrews 4:12; Acts 2:37) |
Mohammed
said to the masses, “Convert
or die!” |
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Jesus
said, “Believe and live!”
(John 6:47; 11:25-26) |
Mohammed
was swift to shed blood.
(Rom. 3:15-17) |
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Jesus
Christ shed his own blood
for the salvation of many. (Ephesians 1:7) |
Modern
terrorists derive their inspiration
from Mohammed and carry out their despicable
atrocities in the name of Allah |
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Biblical
Christians derive their inspiration
from the One who said, “Blessed are the
peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9) |
Some
modern day disciples of Mohammed respond to terrorist
attacks by cheering in
the streets. |
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Modern
day disciples of Jesus Christ
are deeply grieved at
past atrocities
carried out by those who were
“Christians” in name only.
(the Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition, etc) |
Many
Muslims are peaceful and peace-loving because they
do not strictly follow the teachings of their
founder. |
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Many
Christians are peaceful and peace-loving because
they do strictly heed and follow the teachings
of their Founder. (Romans 12:17-21) |
Mohammed
ordered death to the
Jews. |
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The
New Testament orders
that the gospel be preached “to
the Jew first.” (Rom. 1:16) |
The
Qu’ran says, “Fight in the cause
of Allah.” (2:244) |
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The
Bible says, “we wrestle not against
flesh and blood” and “the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal.”
(Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4)
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The
Qu’ran says, “Fight and slay the
Pagans wherever ye find them.” (Qu’ran
9:5) |
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Jesus
said, “Preach the gospel
to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) |
The
Qu’ran is a terrorist manual which condones
fighting, conflict, terror, slaughter, and genocide
against those who do not accept Islam. |
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The
Bible is a missionary manual to spread the
gospel of peace to all the world. (Romans 10:15) |
Mohammed’s
mission was to conquer
the world for Allah. |
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Christ’s
mission was the conquer
sin’s penalty and power by substitutionary
atonement.
(2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18)
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Mohammed
considered Isa a good prophet. |
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Jesus
pronounced (prophets such as Mohammed)
to be false prophets.
(John 10:10; Matthew 24:11) |
Mohammed
denied the deity
of Jesus Christ. |
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Christ
himself declared that
he was God in human flesh.
(John 10:30-31; 8:58-59; 5:18; 14:9). |
Mohammed’s
Tomb: OCCUPIED! |
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Christ’s
Tomb: EMPTY! |
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| Can
Muslims be won to Isa?
Why
not?
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Islam
has many followers questioning
their religion. Many Muslims,
while continuing to perform the requirements of their
Islamic faith, wonder if it is really true. Within
Christendom there are untold
numbers of church members who are infected
by “churchianity.”
They “call”
themselves Christians, are church members, but have
never had a genuine conversion experience to
Christ. They have been born into a nominal or even
an authentic Christian family, have been baptized,
confirmed, but have never come
into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
as Savior and |
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Lord.
No one
is biologically born a Christian. Each
individual must experience a spiritual new birth
in order to become an authentic Christian. The “Christians”
that most Muslims observe and have contact with both in
the Middle East and in Europe are “cradle
Christians.” They are nominal,
but not by experience, followers of Jesus Christ.
In like manner many Muslims do not
really know why they are Muslim other than that is all that
they know. Their family are Muslims, their nation is Muslim,
therefore they too are Muslim. But
why?
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the positive side to this picture is the fact that
just as the Holy Spirit
is moving among many of Abraham’s children through
Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, the Jews, in
like manner this same Spirit of God of moving
among many of Abraham’s other children through
Hagar and Ishmael (the Arabs). Thousands of Muslims,
both among the Arabs as well as worldwide, are coming
into a personal relationship with Isa
as more than one of God’s prophets but as the
very Son of God who alone is Savior and Lord.
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To
become of believer in Jesus Christ is not easy for those
who are born into Islam. It invariably means rejection
by family and friends and often leads to persecution. In
fact, it is against the law
in many predominately Muslim nations for a Muslim to convert
to Christianity. In some countries Muslim converts to Christ
face the death penalty. Many
of these countries forbid, by law, Christian churches. On
the bright side of this is the fact that God is raising
up an untold numbers of house churches
(jamaats) throughout the Muslim world. |
| Witnessing
to Muslims:
Instead of fearing Islam and castigating Muslims, especially
Arab Muslims, we disciples of Jesus Christ are to
love Muslims who still do not
know or understand that the God of heaven and earth
loves all humankind. See – John
3:14-18, 36.
Islam teaches that Allah (God) has
99 names. When sharing your faith in Christ with
a Muslim using some of these names can be useful. Could
it be that the 100th name of Allah is Isa?
When witnessing to a Muslim avoid
using the designation “Christian.” In
referring to oneself as a “Christian” raises
all kinds of red flags with
most Muslims. These red flags include: |
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The
infamous Crusades |
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The
immorality that is so prevalent in the West which Muslims
equate with being Christian
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The
unChristlike behavior of so many people who wear the
Christian label |
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The
institutional churches themselves: their programs, their
continue plea for money, etc. |
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| When
sharing your faith in Christ with Muslims use the term ISAHI
rather than Christian.
The biblical exhortation to believers is to “be
as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.”
This should characterize our witness to others. This is
not deceiving rather it just makes plain sense in order
to avoid alienating non and pre-believers
from hearing the Gospel.
It is also imperative that we present ourselves as disciples
of Isa (Christ) first rather than being American
first. Always remember that our nation is
not always right in all that it does worldwide. Remember
also that our country is not Christian in the biblical understanding
of what Christian is. |
We
can win Muslims to Christ
Winning
Muslims to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is not beyond
the power of God. I am convinced that God has a people among
the Muslims who are part of the elect of God. They need
to be exposed to hearing the Message of the Good News of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that Christ lived, died and
rose victoriously from the grave (1
Cor. 15:1-4). They need to hear that it is in and
through Jesus Christ ALONE
that there is eternal salvation. See
– John 14:6; Acts 4:12. |
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| [1]
Deity: Jesus Christ was God in human flesh who came to this
world as only Savior and Lord.
[2]
“A Contrast Between
Mohammed and Jesus Christ” is in part by George Zeller. |
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