Truth is Truth
Written by Timothy Abraham
If you had met me before 1987 and told me that I was going to be converted and become a Christian, I would have found that to be absurd, as every Muslim believes that once a Muslim is always a Muslim. No true Muslim gives up Islam, they often claim. To give up Islam is to give up your own identity, and nobody gives up who he is because they are told that there is a better way, a better life that is more abundant. Thus a Muslim keeps on performing his religious duties day after day in the hope that one day Allah might be pleased and be willing to let him into Paradise or Heaven. But no matter how hard a Muslim tries he is not sure about anything. Allah is not easily pleased and Hell, according to the Quran is always asking for more (surat Qaf verse 30, Quran). A Muslim can’t feel secure with his Allah but he always has to work harder, go to the furthest mosque as each step he makes guarantees the recording of more points in heaven. If they are financially capable they pay for it with their own money by going to Mecca and performing pilgrimage, even though in their own countries they might be found to be striving to make ends meet. They leave their countries behind and journey all the way to Saudi Arabia to tour around a square building called Kaaba and kiss a Black Stone, in the hope that their sins might be obliterated and nothing is held against them. Around the Kaaba, they remember their loved ones with a quick prayer. Prayer here means asking for something to be bestowed and mostly the prayer runs like this: Rabenna yorzoqak, i.e. May Allah provide for so and so. And that’s all. Nothing more is to be expected out of God. Don’t expect communion or fellowship with God. After all, it is a “slave of Allah” standing before his Maker, the Creator and he only approach God timidly.
However, one thing is certain: truth is truth, and it is always as glowing and bright as the day. There is a difference between standing before God as his child or his slave. When you are a child of God, you have the blessed assurance that whatever you ask of Him, you will be granted effortlessly, since it is His favor given to you and a gift is a gift and prayer is only asking and receiving from the Father. As a child of God you come to function on the basis that you lack nothing and God Himself becomes your infinite supply; everything is yours, He is holding nothing back from you, since the Lord is your Shepherd (Psalm 23). On the other hand, standing before Allah as His slave begging for His favor, when a favor is never to be begged for but pretty much like grace it’s given to you, here a person is reduced to a beggar before Allah, and as such he has to work harder and harder in order to please Allah, or just to avoid His wrath and that in itself would be enough. Wages and reward are the basis for dealing with Allah, and they are not free but hard work is expected, or the terror of Allah is lying in wait.
Yet we are not left to ourselves but our Heavenly Father went ahead before us and prepared a plan called the plan of salvation. God will redeem man of his sin and on the part of God it will be a complete gift that man has to receive. The Gift of all gifts is our Lord Jesus Christ who is the perfection manifestation of God’s unconditional love for us feeble humans as our humanity continues to reveal that we are nothing but dust, a withering grass and Christ alone is our only hope. The Savior wants every Muslim to see Him, not as a prophet, but as the sinless Savior of man from all sin who wants to be our Lord, our King who reigns in our hearts. As we just turn our eyes toward Jesus, we are no longer preoccupied with our efforts. In Christ, the temple has come to us and there is no need in the least to travel for hundreds and thousands of miles in order to get our pardon from God or have our prayers answered. Our bodies themselves become the temple of God, and such a thought is overwhelming for many of us as we focus on our inadequacy. Unlike Islam, our Father gives us the blessed assurance of salvation, reassuring us always: I am always with you. In fact, I am in you, and I dwell your souls by my spirit. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Feet might get dirty but the whole being itself is clean, washed in the redeeming blood of the Lamb. His Spirit in us continually cleanses us and purifies our souls. Jesus lives His life in us, breathes His life into every cell of our being. We are living only on account of His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from Jesus we are slaves purchased under sin. We no longer expect the wages from Allah as we now have all of God in us as Spirit-filled Christian believers. On our part, we are also the Lord’s.
If we listen carefully and learn to discern the signs of the times, especially as everything around us point in the direction of the end times, we are assured that the Lord Jesus is coming soon. The Muslim world is shaken like never before, shaken in its system, shaken in the longhand traditions, shaken in every aspect of its existence. As we listen carefully we distinctly hear the signs of the Jesus’ reassuring presence at the door of many Muslims’ hearts. He is offering them salvation and equipping us for the Great Commission. Many Muslims are beginning to question. The harvest is plentiful and we have to be ready to speak the truth of the Gospel to each Muslim in wisdom and love. As a Muslim gets saved the terror of death and the terror the day of judgement before Allah will be no more. As Christian believers we have to hold firm to our evangelistic calling to help each Muslim entrust himself or herself totally to Jesus the Savior in order to receive a sincere conversion experience and thus be able to overcome the fear of death, the fear of Allah who has held them hostage from the moment of birth to come to Him in the spirit of fear and timidity. As Christians we have to claim our missionary position, that every true Christian is a missionary, somebody sent by God carrying the living water to the parched land and hearts of Muslims. We should not worry about what to say or how to say it because in the that hour we shall be given what to say and it will be a message of grace. Every Christian has something to give to a Muslim, and the best thing you can always evangelize with is your big heart that will speak volumes better than any PhD knowledge. You have been with the Savior. You radiate Jesus. A Muslim is struck by the light of Christ shining on your face and he or she wants that too! Lord Jesus, please keep us in continuous communion with You so that when we speak about You it will never be the flesh speaking but Your speaking through us, the earthen vessels that You are pleased to fill with your presence and glory so that at the name of Jesus every Muslim knee may bow and declare that Christ alone is Lord.
If you had met me before 1987 and told me that I was going to be converted and become a Christian, I would have found that to be absurd, as every Muslim believes that once a Muslim is always a Muslim. No true Muslim gives up Islam, they often claim. To give up Islam is to give up your own identity, and nobody gives up who he is because they are told that there is a better way, a better life that is more abundant. Thus a Muslim keeps on performing his religious duties day after day in the hope that one day Allah might be pleased and be willing to let him into Paradise or Heaven. But no matter how hard a Muslim tries he is not sure about anything. Allah is not easily pleased and Hell, according to the Quran is always asking for more (surat Qaf verse 30, Quran). A Muslim can’t feel secure with his Allah but he always has to work harder, go to the furthest mosque as each step he makes guarantees the recording of more points in heaven. If they are financially capable they pay for it with their own money by going to Mecca and performing pilgrimage, even though in their own countries they might be found to be striving to make ends meet. They leave their countries behind and journey all the way to Saudi Arabia to tour around a square building called Kaaba and kiss a Black Stone, in the hope that their sins might be obliterated and nothing is held against them. Around the Kaaba, they remember their loved ones with a quick prayer. Prayer here means asking for something to be bestowed and mostly the prayer runs like this: Rabenna yorzoqak, i.e. May Allah provide for so and so. And that’s all. Nothing more is to be expected out of God. Don’t expect communion or fellowship with God. After all, it is a “slave of Allah” standing before his Maker, the Creator and he only approach God timidly.
However, one thing is certain: truth is truth, and it is always as glowing and bright as the day. There is a difference between standing before God as his child or his slave. When you are a child of God, you have the blessed assurance that whatever you ask of Him, you will be granted effortlessly, since it is His favor given to you and a gift is a gift and prayer is only asking and receiving from the Father. As a child of God you come to function on the basis that you lack nothing and God Himself becomes your infinite supply; everything is yours, He is holding nothing back from you, since the Lord is your Shepherd (Psalm 23). On the other hand, standing before Allah as His slave begging for His favor, when a favor is never to be begged for but pretty much like grace it’s given to you, here a person is reduced to a beggar before Allah, and as such he has to work harder and harder in order to please Allah, or just to avoid His wrath and that in itself would be enough. Wages and reward are the basis for dealing with Allah, and they are not free but hard work is expected, or the terror of Allah is lying in wait.
Yet we are not left to ourselves but our Heavenly Father went ahead before us and prepared a plan called the plan of salvation. God will redeem man of his sin and on the part of God it will be a complete gift that man has to receive. The Gift of all gifts is our Lord Jesus Christ who is the perfection manifestation of God’s unconditional love for us feeble humans as our humanity continues to reveal that we are nothing but dust, a withering grass and Christ alone is our only hope. The Savior wants every Muslim to see Him, not as a prophet, but as the sinless Savior of man from all sin who wants to be our Lord, our King who reigns in our hearts. As we just turn our eyes toward Jesus, we are no longer preoccupied with our efforts. In Christ, the temple has come to us and there is no need in the least to travel for hundreds and thousands of miles in order to get our pardon from God or have our prayers answered. Our bodies themselves become the temple of God, and such a thought is overwhelming for many of us as we focus on our inadequacy. Unlike Islam, our Father gives us the blessed assurance of salvation, reassuring us always: I am always with you. In fact, I am in you, and I dwell your souls by my spirit. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Feet might get dirty but the whole being itself is clean, washed in the redeeming blood of the Lamb. His Spirit in us continually cleanses us and purifies our souls. Jesus lives His life in us, breathes His life into every cell of our being. We are living only on account of His Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from Jesus we are slaves purchased under sin. We no longer expect the wages from Allah as we now have all of God in us as Spirit-filled Christian believers. On our part, we are also the Lord’s.
If we listen carefully and learn to discern the signs of the times, especially as everything around us point in the direction of the end times, we are assured that the Lord Jesus is coming soon. The Muslim world is shaken like never before, shaken in its system, shaken in the longhand traditions, shaken in every aspect of its existence. As we listen carefully we distinctly hear the signs of the Jesus’ reassuring presence at the door of many Muslims’ hearts. He is offering them salvation and equipping us for the Great Commission. Many Muslims are beginning to question. The harvest is plentiful and we have to be ready to speak the truth of the Gospel to each Muslim in wisdom and love. As a Muslim gets saved the terror of death and the terror the day of judgement before Allah will be no more. As Christian believers we have to hold firm to our evangelistic calling to help each Muslim entrust himself or herself totally to Jesus the Savior in order to receive a sincere conversion experience and thus be able to overcome the fear of death, the fear of Allah who has held them hostage from the moment of birth to come to Him in the spirit of fear and timidity. As Christians we have to claim our missionary position, that every true Christian is a missionary, somebody sent by God carrying the living water to the parched land and hearts of Muslims. We should not worry about what to say or how to say it because in the that hour we shall be given what to say and it will be a message of grace. Every Christian has something to give to a Muslim, and the best thing you can always evangelize with is your big heart that will speak volumes better than any PhD knowledge. You have been with the Savior. You radiate Jesus. A Muslim is struck by the light of Christ shining on your face and he or she wants that too! Lord Jesus, please keep us in continuous communion with You so that when we speak about You it will never be the flesh speaking but Your speaking through us, the earthen vessels that You are pleased to fill with your presence and glory so that at the name of Jesus every Muslim knee may bow and declare that Christ alone is Lord.
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