Exploring Islam and Christianity

1. Exploring Islam and Christianity

2. How Is The Lord’s House?

3. How Is The Lord’s House? • Haggai 1:2-4, "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built."'" Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?"

4. The Lord’s House is His Church Eph 2:19-20, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” • 1 Tim 3:15, “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

5. The Lord’s House is His Church • 1 Peter 2:4-5, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” • Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

6. Mission Field: ISLAM • “Islam” means Submission • “Muslim” means one who submits • 32 nations around the globe with >80% Muslim population • Islam 2nd largest world religion • Islam is fastest growing religion • 1 Billion Muslims in the world • Approx. 5 Million Muslims in U.S.A.

7. Our Course of Study

8. Our Course of Study “These are the verses of the immaculate Book. We have sent it down as a clear discourse that you may understand. Through the revelation of this Qur’an We narrate the best of histories of which you were unaware before.” – Surah 12:1-3

9. Our Course of Study Eph 3:3-4, “how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)” Eph 5:17, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

10. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Become… Q uiet

11. Is There A Standard? Islam “Christendom” N.T. • Surah 2:119-121 Absolutes

12. Surah 2:119-121 And We have sent you with the truth to give glad tidings and to warn. You will not be questioned about those who are inmates of Hell. The Jews and Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their way. Say: “God’s guidance alone is true guidance;” for if you give in to their wishes after having received the (Book of) knowledge from God, then none will you have as friend or helper to save you. Those to whom We have sent down the Book, and who read it as it should be read, believe in it truly; but those who deny it will be losers

13. Is There A Standard? Islam “Christendom” N.T. • Surah 2:119-121 • John 8:32; 14:6 Absolutes Revisions • Surah 5:86; 5:72 Hell

14. Surah 5:86 But those who disbelieve and deny Our revelations are residents of Hell. Surah 5:72 …Whosoever associates a compeer with God, will have Paradise denied to Him by God, and his abode shall be Hell; and the sinners will have none to help them.

15. Is There A Standard? Islam “Christendom” N.T. • Surah 2:119-121 • John 8:32; 14:6 Absolutes Revisions • Matt. 10:28; Mk. 9:42-48 • Surah 5:86; 5:72 Hell Revisions Commitment • Surah 2:120

16. Surah 2:120 The Jews and Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their way. Say: “God’s guidance alone is true guidance;” for if you give in to their wishes after having received the (Book of) knowledge from God, then none will you have as friend or helper to save you.

17. Is There A Standard? Islam “Christendom” N.T. • Surah 2:119-121 • John 8:32; 14:6 Absolutes Revisions • Matt. 10:28; Mk. 9:42-48 • Surah 5:86; 5:72 Hell Revisions • Luke 9:61-62; 14:26-28 Commitment • Surah 2:119-121 Very Loose • Surah 2:216; 47:4 Sacrifice

18. Surah 2:216 Enjoined on you is fighting, and this you abhor. You may dislike a thing yet it may be good for you; or a thing may haply please you but may be bad for you. Only God has knowledge and you do not know. Surah 47:4 So, when you clash with the unbelievers, smite their necks until you overpower them, then hold them in bondage. Then either free them graciously or after taking a ransom, until war shall have come to end…

19. Is There A Standard? Islam “Christendom” N.T. • Surah 2:119-121 • John 8:32; 14:6 Absolutes Revisions • Matt. 10:28; Mk. 9:42-48 • Surah 5:86; 5:72 Hell Revisions • Luke 9:61-62; 14:26-28 Commitment • Surah 2:119-121 Very Loose • Surah 2:216; 47:4 Standing for What? • Heb. 11:36-40 1Pet. 4:16-19 Sacrifice

20. The Case ofJohn Walker Lindh • U.S. citizen Captured in 2001 in Afghanistan • Raised in Marin County, CA • Father is Catholic, Mother is Buddhist & Kids should make their own choice on religion • U.S. to Yemen to Taliban to Jail

21. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Become… Q uiet nidentifiable U

22. All are “Christian” (In Muslim Eyes), But Do All Believe and Practice Alike? Beyonce Mother Teresa Andrew Roberts Billy Graham Jerry Falwell Benny Hinn Pope Benedict XVI

23. All are “Muslim” (In Christian Eyes), But Do All Believe and Practice Alike? Yusuf Islam/ Cat Stevens Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Salman Rushdie Osama Bin Laden Ayatollah Khomeini Malcolm X Muhammad Ali

24. Christ - not the Catholic Church • Surah 5:116, “And when God will ask: “O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to mankind: “Worship me and my mother as two deities apart from God?’” (Jesus) will answer: “Halleluja. Could I say what I knew I had no right (to say)? Had I said it You would surely have known, for You know what is in my heart though I know not what you have…”

25. Christ - not the Catholic Church • Surah 9:31, “They consider their rabbis and monks and the Christ, son of Mary, to be gods apart from God, even though they had been enjoined to worship only one God, for there is no God but He. Too holy is He for what they ascribe to Him!”

26. Christ - not the Catholic Church • Veneration of Mary and “Saints” • The Crusades (vs. John 18:36; Matt. 26:51-52) • I’m not a Catholic

27. Christ - not Denominationalism • Bible is Untrustworthy • Surah 3:3, “He has verily revealed to you this Book, in truth and confirmation of the Books revealed before, as indeed He had revealed the Torah and Gospel” ??????

28. Christ - not Denominationalism • Bible is Untrustworthy • Surah 22:52-53, “We have sent no messenger or apostle before you with whose recitations Satan did not tamper. Yet God abrogates what Satan interpolates; then He confirms His revelations, for God is all-knowing and all-wise. This is in order to make the interpolations of Satan a test for thos whose hearts are diseased and hardened: surely the sinners have gone far in dissent.”

29. Christ - not Denominationalism • Bible is Untrustworthy • Surah 3:78, “Among them is a section which distorts in reading the Scripture in a way that though it sounds like the Scripture, in fact it is not; yet they say it is from God, when they know it is not; and they lie about God, and knowingly.”

30. The Lord’s House • Jesus is the ONLY head of the church (Eph. 1:22-23) • The New Testament is the ONLY doctrine (2 John 9) • There is ONLY one body (Eph. 4:4) • The church of Christ is NOT a Denomination

31. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Become… Q uiet nidentifiable U I ndifferent

32. Islam in the U.S.A. • Approx. 5 million Muslims in U.S. Islam 2nd largest World Religion • Average 1 new mosque opens each week in U.S. • 165 Islamic schools, 426 Islamic associations & 90 Islamic publications in U.S. • There are more Muslims than Methodists in U.S. • Likely to be More Muslims than Jews and Protestants combined by mid-century Islamic Center of America Detroit, Michigan

33. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Become… Q uiet nidentifiable U I ndifferent T ired

34. Surah 2:143 We have made you a temperate people that you act as witness over man, and the Prophet as witness over you.

35. Da’wah – “Invitation” • Da’wah means the active business of propagating Islam to make conversions • Da’wah involves the effort to bring those who’ve fallen away from Islam back • Da’wah means the responsibility to simply live quiet lives of Muslim piety and charity – set example - Jane I. Smith, professor Islamic Studies, Hartford Seminary

36. Muslims target the Academic World • “Islam has taken advantage of American openness and has made great progress in Da’wah in our schools that are closed to Christianity. The educational institutions of the West will be a major battleground for Islam in the future” – William Wagner • Acts 26:25

37. Muslims target Prisons • “It is estimated that more than 300,000 prisoners are converts to Islam, and that the rate of conversion may be more than 30,000 each year” – William Wagner • Hebrews 13:3

38. Muslims target Minorities • “Islam is focusing on people groups in America and the West and is creating strategies to meet the needs of these target peoples. As of now the numbers are not large, but as Christians have learned, people who feel displaced or alienated are more open to conversion than those who have deep roots. The minorities in America fit into this category” – William Wagner • Colossians 3:11; James 2:1-4, 8-9

39. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Become… Q uiet nidentifiable U I ndifferent T ired

40. How Is The Lord’s House? Have Christians Q U Building the Lord’s House? I T

41. How Is The Lord’s House? • Be Loud and Clear not Quiet (2 Tim. 1:7; 4:2) • Be Distinct and Consistent not Unidentifiable (Matt. 5:14-15; Phil. 2:15) • Be Bold and Zealous not Indifferent (Rev. 3:14-19) • Be Revived and Active not Tired (Gal. 6:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:58) Let Christians…