Outreach to Islam

What Can Your Living Jesus Do?

Ken

That our dead Mohammad can’t? (1948). Spoken to Paris Reidhead, Jr., a Christian missionary in Northern Africa among the adherents of Islam. Legitimate question. My answer: Righteousness. Islam may reply: Anyone can claim to have righteousness. I would respond: That is true, but since the Living God is the only Source of True Righteousness —  “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee” (Daniel 9:7 KJV) — righteousness can only be found in a right relationship with Him. 

It is true of any religion, any attempt to establish righteousness simply by means of keeping commandments is self-righteousness. When anyone attempts to prove to themselves their righteousness based upon the keeping of commandments and not their love, devotion, and attachment to the Living God, then we are self-righteous. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). If the Jews, who had the Law, could be found guilty of unrighteousness, then that is a demonstration that righteousness is not a devotion to keeping commandments, but a devotion to the person of the Living God. 

Not simply the Jew or follower of Islam, but we who name the name of Christ fall into the deception of heart to judge our righteousness as rule keeping. Foremost, we need to return to love and devotion of God with a continual heart seeking of Christ. “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:7).

All religious philosophies and personal practices must stand to be judged by God for valuing even the keeping of commandments more highly than God and a right relationship to Himself. But, how does this convince the Islamic questioner of Paris Reidhead (1948)? That is the job of the Holy Spirit. “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). If anyone is to be converted to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit must do the convincing. Preach and teach the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and a right relationship with Him, and let the Spirit of God be let loose to do His convincing work, His wonderful work, His awesome work, His soul cleansing, world changing work, bring in the Kingdom of God work. He has been waiting all this time for us to understand and ask Him to do it! 

LORD, You are righteous in all Your ways and holy in all Your works (Psalm 145:17). Convert whomsoever You will, for unto You belongs all the glory, power, and honor. Magnify Your name. Transform this world. Bring to pass Your Kingdom on this Earth. Lord Jesus, return quickly. Amen and amen.

Center of the Earth

Ken

Is Jerusalem the center of the earth? We know Creation took place in the Middle East at the confluence of four named rivers, one of which was the Euphrates (Genesis 2:14) in a region once called the Cradle of Civilization and still identified as the Fertile Crescent. Biblical history establishes Jerusalem as the “city of David” (2Samuel 5:7), the capital of Israel and where Solomon built the Jewish Temple. For Jews, Jerusalem is the center of their earth. And, for Christians, the Gospel would spread starting from Jerusalem “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8 KJV). Jesus ascended back to heaven from the Mount of Olives east and just outside of Jerusalem (1:12) and will descend to the same spot at His Second Coming (Zechariah 14:4). Rome destroyed the Jerusalem Temple (70 AD). The Crusades took and lost Jerusalem. Islam built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Three of the main religions of the world are monotheistic and Jerusalem centric. Modern Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital, and the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem in the 21st century. Any wonder David the Psalmist enjoined, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6)?

Hamas Kidnapped A Gaza Imam For Refusing To Support The Resistance

Ken

Mohammed Mushtaha, imam at Dhu ‘l-Nurayn mosque in Shuja’iyah in Gaza, was kidnapped by Hamas last week, according to his son, Ala Mohammed Mushtaha, in a January 4, 2024 article in The Free Press. “He wouldn’t preach what Hamas told him to. He refused to tell Gazans that violent resistance and obedience to Hamas, is the best way out of our current hell.” Using mosques to store weapons, money, and equipment were not enough for Hamas. They required this refusing imam to support their resistance movement in his sermons. He refused for conscience sake. Pray for his safety, for men of conscience, God can reach and use. “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16 KJV).

Impossible Choices

Ken

Life is full of seemingly impossible choices. The right choice is always to trust God. “Abraham believed God” (James 2:23) about a future line of descendants through his son Isaac. Then, in the “obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26 KJV), God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac as a human sacrifice. When Abraham complied, Yahweh stopped the sacrifice, substituted a nearby ram, and confirmed, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:18 KJV). Every offspring possessing faith — Arab, Israeli, Gentile — becomes a child of Abraham (Romans 4:16; 9:8).

Son of Hamas

Ken

“Son of Hamas” (2010) is the story of Mossab Hassan Yousef, son of a founding leader of Hamas. Mossab experienced his father’s humanity, witnessed Hamas’ duplicity torturing its own in Israeli prisons, was recruited as a spy for the Israeli Shin Bet for about ten years, then was converted to Christ. He wrote, “As long as we continue to search for enemies anywhere but inside ourselves, there will always be a Middle East problem.” “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Corinthians 5:17 KJV).