A Harvest Of Muslims

When I look at the situation in the Middle East, I see chaos and warfare. But it seems that when God looks at the Middle East, He sees "the fields are ripe for harvest" - John 4:35. What kind of harvest? A harvest of souls as it were. Tens of millions of Muslims are leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, often at great risk to themselves. And they're doing this in the middle of a war zone.

First the numbers.

It seems hard to believe that millions of Muslims would be turning from Muhammed to Jesus. After all, most people don't change the religion they're born into. And Islam prescribes death for any Muslim who would convert to Christianity. So they don't do it lightly. But millions? Yes, according to researchers Duane Alexander Miller and Patrick Johnstone who published "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census" [1] in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. Here is a graph from the article, and note this is only up to 2010.

  

Crosswalk.com [2] gives a more conservative number of converts in the range of 2 to 7 million, based on the work of missionary David Garrison, author of "A Wind In the House Of Islam" [3].

 Since this appears to be a large number of converts, I want to explain more of Drs. Garrison, Miller, and Johnstone's methods. They all acknowledge that exact numbers are impossible, that numbers are both overreported and underreported, and even estimates are very difficult. But how do we get any estimates at all? If you wish to skip the data collection section, go to the section "How Is It Happening?".

Estimate Estimate

In 1960, Dr Johnstone began compiling data on the size and nature of Christian communities worldwide. He published six volumes of Operation World [4], also see Wikipedia [5].

The purpose of the Operation World books has been to provide a profile of each country in the world, including information on the ethnic and religious breakdown, with the hope of aiding Christians and Christian ministries that focus on world missions, evangelism, and prayer. Religious and denominational information was gleaned from national surveys and censuses, solicited from missionaries and indigenous workers, and culled from official records of groups such as the Lutheran World Federation and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. IJRR [1] 

The end result is a reference book of  geography, demographics, population, literacy, economy, religions, Christian denominations, and missions groups for every country in the world. Here is their summary of Muslim converts to Christianity.

   

Continent/Region	Muslim Converts
Asia	6,968,500
Africa	2,161,000
North America	493,000
Arab world	483,500
Europe	147,800
Pacific	21,600
Latin America	8,800

 Garrison's approach focused solely on Muslims converting to Christianity. He conducted interviews with over 1000 converts in 14 countries using a questionnaire he developed. The house of Islam can be divided into nine geo-cultural rooms; three in Africa, the Arab world, the Persian world, Turkestan, West India, East India, and Indonesia. He went to all nine travelling 250,000 miles. He only counted movements with more than 1000 converts or more than 100 churches. The questionnaire itself can be found in his book "A Wind In the House Of Islam" [3]. His questionnaire and interviews went beyond estimating numbers of converts, to an attempt to answer the questions of how and why the conversions were taking place, and why they are accelerating.

How Is It Happening?

During the first 13 centuries of Islam, the only conversions either way, Muslim to Christian or Christian to Muslim appear to have been forced. Christian missionaries had little to no success in proselytizing Muslims. In fact, missionaries were often forbidden from preaching to Muslims. The first breakthrough came from a local Javanese evangelist Radin Abas Sadrach Surapranata (1840 - 1924) remembered as "Sadrach, The Apostle of Java". His success was the product of at least two new factors - he was a local, and the recent publication of the Bible in Javanese, that is Muslims distrust Westerners, and now they could read the Bible in their native language.

Native language  Bible translations were partly responsible for the success of William Carey [6] (1761 - 1834), aka father of modern missions, who translated parts or all of the Bible into 44 Bengali languages. Bengali is the sixth most common language spoken today. Again, people could see for themselves.

Native language Korans are also making a huge difference. Muslims can read the Koran and the Bible and decide for themselves.

Sheikh Bilal added, “The translation of the Qur’an is changing everything. Before, it was only in Arabic, which no one understood. -  "A Wind In the House Of Islam" [3]

Not only can the House of Islam now compare doctrines and ideologies, they can also compare the actions of Muslims and Christians. Not only is the gospel reaching the House of Islam through media outlets like radio, TV, and Internet, but local news and world news is reaching them as well. There are certainly people who give Christianity a bad name, but the overwhelming number of terrorists are Muslims. It seems hard to believe there have been over 28,000 Islamic terror attacks since 9/11/2001 - TheReligionOfPeace [7]. But the Muslim to Christian converts experienced Islam up close and personal like none of us in the West, that is to say they have seen or felt the hate and cruelty themselves, indeed they have lived it. Here are some quotes from A Wind In the House Of Islam.

As we will see in many subsequent Rooms in the House of Islam, one of the greatest recurring motivations for Muslims coming to Christ is a rejection of the militant expression of Islam itself. 

God is using dissatisfaction within the Muslim community itself to draw Muslims to faith in Christ. 

[Berbers] saw in the way of Jesus a stark contrast to that of Muhammad. 

Often enough, it is injustice within the Muslim community itself that leads Muslims to turn to Christ. 

In these and similar testimonies, one observes a pattern. When the Muslim community mistreats one of their own, that person is more inclined to find an alternative sanctuary in the person of Christ and the Christian faith.

But Wait, There's More 

This will be harder for those of us in the Western world to accept. Story after story is emerging that Jesus is calling Muslims through dreams, visions, healings, and answered prayers. Tom Doyle, author of   "DREAMS AND VISIONS: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World" - [8], "has encountered a staggering number of Muslims who were first introduced to Jesus through a vision or dream so powerful that they eventually turned from their lifelong religion of Islam and embraced Christ as their Savior". He also wrote "Killing Christians: Living the Faith Where It's Not Safe to Believe" - [9], which recounts the journey of several people coming to Jesus through dreams. Here is one exchange between a Muslim and a Christian.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Muslims having dreams about Jesus. And they’re not the kind of dreams someone has after a bad plate of baba ghanoush or something like that. These are high-definition dreams— visions!— of Jesus, and good-hearted Muslims who have them end up asking Jesus followers what they mean. Isn’t that cool?”

Family members often have the same dream. But it doesn't end with dreams. They are driven to know more about the Jesus who appeared to them, and seek out Bibles. You can't base your faith on dreams and visions and ignore the written Word of God. As best I can tell, the dreams decrease in frequency when a person matures in their faith. They also find a group to worship with, maybe an established Western church, but often small home groups where they can meet in safety. And within weeks or months, these same people are out evangelizing in a war zone or refugee camp.

I personally have never had a dream or vision of Jesus. I have to wonder why He chooses such a direct method of calling Muslims. Then again, I've had access to the Bible in English all my life, and the peace and safety to attend any church I want. And visions aren't the goal, they are only an introduction, then a Bible (in their native language), then a church. Muslims turned Christian can be called to martyrdom, and they are willing to suffer death for Jesus. You might say Jesus gives them a lot because He's going to ask a lot of them.

But what about [insert your pet doctrine here]? No church has perfect doctrine. The Muslims turned Christians are showing their faith by their works. As one woman said "They're turning away from Islam!!!! God can fix the rest!" None of the dreams retold by Garrison or Doyle contradicted scripture. Not much is said about specific teachings other than who is Jesus, baptism as a sign of conversion, receiving the Holy Spirit, and evangelizing. What is clear is that lives are changing for the better. Muslim lives. Millions of them. The fields are truly ripe for harvest, pray that He sends laborers.

References

1. http://www.religjournal.com/pdf/ijrr11010.pdf

2. http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/christian-trends/millions-of-muslims-converting-to-christ.html

3. https://www.amazon.com/Wind-House-Islam-Drawing-Muslims/dp/1939124034

4. http://www.operationworld.org/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_World

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carey_(missionary)
7. http://www.thereligionofpeace.com
8. https://www.amazon.com/DREAMS-VISIONS-Jesus-Awakening-Muslim-ebook/dp/B0078FAA3M
9. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Christians-Living-Faith-Believe/dp/0718030680

The More I Learn About Islam, the More I Hate It

Refugees heading to Europe

Islam has been in the news a lot lately, with Syrian refugees pouring into Europe, the vast majority of these refugees being Muslim males. Many Europeans are uncomfortable with the influx, for several reasons: financial, crime, integration, terrorist Trojan horses. Rapes and other violence from the refugees has skyrocketed, so some cities and countries want to ship them back.  Those who welcome them in argue that "Islam is a religion of peace", and cite humanitarian grounds.

What is the truth about Islam?

  

I've been collecting articles about Islam for a while intending to write a blog. As part of my research, I read "It IS About Islam" by Glenn Beck [1], and I found he already wrote what I wanted to say and more. So this blog is more of a book report. He makes his arguments from Islamic sources and Islamic authors, not posing as an expert himself, not trying to interpret the Koran for the reader, but taking statements from Islamic leaders and scholars. All quotes are from "It IS About Islam" unless otherwise noted.

In Part One of "It IS About Islam", Beck covers the agenda of Islam, which is to bring about a confrontation with the West, also known as Armageddon or the End Times. Again, this is in the words of Muslims, not Glenn Beck. He also covers the history of Islam, starting with its prophet Muhammed. He explains the major sects of Islam (Wahhabism and Salafism), Sharia law, and Islam's sacred texts. Most everyone has heard of the Koran, also spelled Quran, but less well known to Westerners is the Hadith "the collected deeds and sayings of Allah’s prophet Muhammad, which form one of the primary bases of Islamic law."

In Part Two, Beck discusses thirteen lies about Islam. Many of these lies we hear routinely from Islamic apologists like the ACLU or media outlets. I will summarize two lies so you get the point.

Lie #1: Islam Is A Religion Of Peace

Muslim/Islam/Salam. It seems logical if salam (peace) is in the name, it's a religion of peace, right? President Obama, among countless others, have asserted that Islam preaches peace - page 92. Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes explains,

The word Islam more accurately translates to “submission.” “There is no connection in meaning between salām and islām, peace and submission,” These are two distinct words with unrelated [meanings]. In brief, ‘Islam = submission.’ - page 93

ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said bluntly:

O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war.

Where do modern Islamic leaders get these notions from? Here is a quote from Sura 9:29:

Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e., Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. - page 96

What about those who say the terrorists don't represent Islam? That they are extremists and don't speak for all Muslims? Take it from the Koran directly:

And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemy - Quran 8:60

Or take it from the Hadith:

 Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror. . . .” Sahih al-Bukhari 4:52: 220

The Koran and other sacred Islamic writings repeatedly command Muslims to fight, and to inflict terror, especially on Christians and Jews. It is not some modern interpretation by extremists that came up with this, it is in Islam's founding documents. Today's Muslim leaders DO know what they're talking about, they DO represent Islam, and command a large following among Muslims.

It is important to look at the facts, that is the behavior of Muslims, not argue philosophy or who wrote what. I was shocked to learn the extent of Islamic terrorism.








According to TheReligionOfPeace [2], since September 11, 2001, there have been over 28,000 Muslim terror attacks. 28,000!! That's over 1800 per year for fifteen years. The Religion Of Peace "monitors acts of Muslim violence from a range of news sources that are reliable, when it can be reasonably inferred that the perpetrator was motivated to some degree by their Islamic faith." - WND [3].

No way does Islam qualify as a religion of peace.

Lie #4: Muslims don’t actually seek to live under Sharia

Here is the lie in different terms from an Islamic apologist.

“There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places, it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily.” —Steven A. Cook, Council on Foreign Relations

But what do Muslim scholars say?

“Islam, it is generally acknowledged, is a complete way of life, and at the core of the code, is the law of Islam. . . . No other sovereign or authority is acceptable to the Muslim, unless it guarantees the application of the laws (shariah) in their entirety. - Imran Ahsan Kahn Nyazee 

By Bill Warner, PHD

The fact is that Sharia law has overwhelming support among Muslims. Beck gives the results of a Pew poll in Muslim nations asking who favors Sharia as the official law of the country, some countries polling as high as 99% - page 122. Get the truth straight from Osama Bin Laden himself:

Muslims, and especially the learned among them, should spread Shari’a law to the world— that and nothing else. Not laws under the “umbrella of justice, morality, and rights” as understood by the masses. No, the Shari’a of Islam is the foundation. . . . In fact, Muslims are obligated to raid the lands of the infidels, occupy them, and exchange their system of governance for an Islamic system, barring any practice that contradicts Shari’a from being publicly voiced among the people, as was the case in the dawn of Islam. . . . They say that our Shari’a does not impose our particular beliefs upon others; this is a false assertion. For it is, in fact, part of our religion to impose our particular beliefs upon others. . . . Thus whoever refuses the principle of terror against the enemy also refuses the commandment of Allah the Exalted, the Most High, and His Shari’a. - Osama bin Laden

Why do Muslims feel free to commit rape and other violence in Europe? They don't respect the laws of the lands they live in, they follow Sharia.

The Quran, Hadith, and a consensus of Islamic scholars suggest that Muslims should respect sharia law over the laws of whatever nation they happen to live in. - page 130 

Muslim immigrants are pressing for Sharia law in the US, the UK, and other European countries. Sharia law is incompatible with the constitution of the US and probably all Western nations.

There ARE decent Muslims in the world who don't approve of terrorism, violence, and Sharia law. The problem is there are large numbers who do, and they find justification in their founding documents.

Below are the thirteen lies Beck covers in "It IS About Islam". There are more. See The Myths Of Islam [4] for more. I did not go into Islam vs Christianity, or Koran vs Bible, or Allah vs God - maybe in a future post. The information is out there, the truth is out there. Islam is not a misunderstood religion. Muslims view their mission as a religious war. We would be foolish to ignore that.

1. Islam is a religion of peace, and Islamic terrorists aren’t really Muslims.
2. Islam is not much different than christianity or judaism.
3. Jihad is a peaceful, internal struggle, not a war against infidels.
4. Muslims don’t actually seek to live under Sharia, let alone impose it on others, there are so many different interpretations of it anyway.
5. America is safe from Sharia law.
6. The caliphate is a fanciful dream.
7. Islam is tolerant toward non-Muslims.
8. Addressing frustration, poverty, joblessness in the Muslim world— maybe even climate change— will end terrorism.
9. Critics of Islam are bigots.
10. Islam respects the rights of women.
11. Iran can be trusted with a nuclear weapon.
12. The Muslim brotherhood is a moderate, mainstream Islamic group.
13. Islam respects freedom of speech.

References

1. http://www.amazon.com/About-Islam-Exposing-Caliphate-Control/dp/1501126121

1. http://www.glennbeck.com/islambook

2. http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

3. http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/guess-how-many-islamic-terror-attacks-since-911/print/

4. http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/myths/index.aspx

The Koran Points to Jesus Christ

I am not an expert on Islam or the Koran. I have not read the Koran. Until very recently, I had not read any of the Koran. Now I can say I have read a few verses. So why would I say that the Koran points to Jesus? Because it's not my idea, I got it from a former imam (Muslim priest) whose Western name is Mario Joseph. 

Mario gave an interview on Spanish TV which is available on Youtube [1]. A written transcript is available at CBCG.org [2]. He described his background -  his childhood, his family, and that he studied for ten years to become an imam. When someone asked him "who is Jesus?", he began to study the question. What he found from the pages of the Koran led him to the Bible. He has converted to Christianity.

What did he find in the Koran?

Let me present a summary of Mario's arguments.

Some background. The Koran, Islam's holy book, has 114 chapters, 6666 verses. Interestingly, Mohammed's name is found in only four places, but Jesus' name is found 25 places. No women's names are mentioned anywhere in the Koran, except Maryam, that is Mary, the mother of Jesus. She actually gets two whole chapters, chapter 3 "Family of Maryam" and chapter 19 "Maryam". The Koran asserts that Mary was sinless.

http://quran.com/3/42 [3]And [mention] when the angels said, "O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds

And some Muslims believe in the Assumption of Mary, that is, they believe she went directly to heaven Wikipedia 'Mary In Islam' [4]. Mario lists ten points about Jesus based on Ch:3 45-55.

• Jesus is the "Word of God" 
• Jesus is the "Spirit of God"
• Jesus spoke at 2 days old
• Jesus made live bird from mud
• Jesus cured a man born blind
• Jesus cured a leper
• Jesus gave life to dead people
• Jesus went to heaven
• Jesus is still alive
• Jesus will come again

Quoting just two verses here.

http://quran.com/3/45 [5] [And mention] when the angels said, "O Mary, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary - distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allah ]. 

http://quran.com/3/55 [5] [Mention] when Allah said, "O Jesus, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you [in submission to Allah alone] superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ.

Then Mario says that Mohammed is not "Word of God" or the "Spirit of God". Mohammed is not alive and will not come back. So he asked his his teacher, "Teacher, how did God create the universe?" The teacher answered that he created the universe through the Word.

So then he asked his teacher, "Is the Word Creator or creation?" If the Word is creator, then Jesus is creator, then the Muslims must become Christian. If the Word is creation, how did God create the Word? Mario was confused and prayed for understanding. He believes this was his answer from the Koran, in his words, "If you have any doubt in this Koran, go read the Bible, or ask the people who read the Bible." 

http://quran.com/10/94 [6] So if you are in doubt, [O Muhammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord, so never be among the doubters.

The Bible also says Jesus is the Word of God, John 1:1. It also says Jesus gave them power to become children of God, John 1:12. But the Koran teaches people are slaves and Allah is master. The Koran says to fight with non believers in 18 places. It says to kill the one who rejects Islam. Mario concludes "To have eternal life, you need Jesus".

I applaud Mario for his courage in converting from Islam to Christianity, and for his wisdom in seeing through the Koran to the Bible. 

I don't agree with all his statements or theology. For example, the Koran may claim that Jesus spoke at two days old, but it is not recorded in the Bible. Likewise, making a live bird from mud, it's an interesting story. The other eight assertions are Biblical however, so maybe...

Later in the interview, he insists that Catholicism is the true form of Christianity. I think he may have gravitated to it because it had something familiar from Islam that he could retain, that is the veneration of Mary.  I would say that Mario has gone from worshiping the wrong God to worshiping God wrongly, a big step in the right direction. But we are all at different points on our journey.


His interview is worth watching, there is obviously more than I included here. You can also gauge his sincerity and conviction, especially when he speaks about miraculous events in his own life.
I found other Mario Joseph references on the Net like dangerous-road-from-imam-to-catholic-preacher [7]. 

According to Al-jazeerah [8], six million Muslims convert to Christianity every year, however CNN [9] says "little data is available on conversion, but what little there is suggests Islam loses as many adherents via conversion as it gains". David Garrison, author of "A Wind in the House of Islam" 
windinthehouse.org [10] said in an interview with World Magazine [11] that between 2 and 7 million Muslims have converted to Christianity in the last two decades. Whatever the exact number, many many Muslims are converting, some like Mario at great risk.

Most of this is happening in the Middle East and Africa, after all that's where most of the Muslims are. But someday you might be seated next to a former Muslim. Or you may be challenged to "give an answer for the hope that is in you" if a Muslim should ask "who is Jesus?"