Build a Bridge and Get Over it: Fouad Masri's Crescent Project

Happy New Years!

I recently had a chance to attend a class or two at Church about reaching out and witnessing to Muslims. It is far, far trickier and more delicate than one might think for many reasons. For starters, many Muslims around the world are more "cultural" Muslims and seem to rely on tradition and verbal sayings more than the Quran. That is at least what the I learned in the class. This would not surprise me, as I understand many of us Christians don't read or rely on our Bibles, but rather what tradtion and Church history have taught us. So, it seems right from the start, Christians and Muslims have a common ground.

The series we watched and discussed was Fouad's 6 DVD series called "Bridges." The series focuses on strategies Christians can use to share Jesus with Muslims. He also features testimonies from former Muslims, as well as a general history and cultural things that Christians should know.

One of the most interesting things that was brought up is that 1) The Quran says that Torah and New Testament are good things for Muslims to read. (Quran 3:23 I think.) 2) That Muslims tradtionally believe that God sent those messages to people and the prophets, but that the message was changed. An interesting note is that nobody can say what was changed, or when. I did love Fouad's counter to this. He said something to like this: "If a Muslim friend tells you the Bible has been changed, reply with 'God forbid!' You just said that people are more powerful than God and can change the messages that He gave to people." That brings up a great point. If God provided those things for us, and He is all powerful (which Christians, Jews and Muslims should all believe) how could people have changed it?

One of the biggest questions I had going into this was: Is Allah a suitable name for God, or is Allah the name of a demonic principality/entity/moon deity? This is a highly controversial area, and one I suggest you ask God to show you the truth. This is what I brought into the class, and why I had confusion.

Firstly, I have always grown up thinking that Allah was just a name for God. That's it. Then I heard Carl Medaris on Future Quake one day, and his experience as a missionary to Muslims proved that Allah was perfectly acceptable, and that some Muslims even pray using "Allah-Jesus." Confusion set in when I later learned (I believe through Russ Dizdar) that Allah was the name of a demonic entity, and perhaps the entity that detained Gabriel in the book of Daniel. This was followed by Nabeel Jabbour's book that I read (and I can't recall his stance on the matter) and I also have heard via podcast that Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) may also be a name for the antichrist. (That last bit was someone talking about how Muslims, Isa, and the AntiChrist all related together, and was quite confusing). I have also heard other podcasts by people saying that the name Allah is just a moon god. All of this information was from Christian sources and podcasts. Why is the Body of Christ so divided on this issue? Perhaps God has allowed us to entertain these theories 1) to allow us to be prepared for any of the possibilities and 2) to keep Satan off guard.

At any rate, this is a question that was addressed in the session, and I also asked my instructor. Fouad maintains that Allah is derived from the Hebrew word "El" for God. Ie, Daniel, Elijah, Elohim. This theory makes sense to me. Fouad also stated that the word "God" is actually also derived from a pagan deity and the word allegedly has pagan origins. I have not investigated this myself, but it is interesting. If Fouad is correct (and I implore you to research it yourself as well) then Allah is another word for God. I asked my instructor (who has done missions work with the Uighars in China) what his experience has been. Was Allah a moon deity, or a word for God? He informed me that some Muslim converts to Christ still use it, but some do not. I then thought about it from another angle. How likely is it that a Muslim will be interested in hearing about Jesus if I tell him Allah is a demonic prinicpality? It seems to me, that being patient in love and building on the commonalities is the best way to share Jesus. Follow the Holy Spirit's lead, and show them lovingly that the Bible is God's word, and that Jesus is who He says He is.


Since this class, I have gained understanding, and patience. God has shown me a better way to reach out to Muslims. I have also learned that it's good to have patience, and build a relationship with Muslims and then have discussions about faith. Let them come to their own conclusions, lead them to the right answers, but in the end, they have to accept or reject Christ themselves.

Since this class, I have heard another podcast, with Brannon Howse, and he went on to say more about how Allah was a moon god. He is welcome to his opinion, it's something to consider, but the way in which he presented his viewpoint was not as good as it could have been. Additionally, he went on to say negative things about the Prophet Mohammed. And I got to thinking, how is that going to help Christians love Muslims? If I was a Muslim and had heard this, I would have been angry, or at least thought that all Christians felt this way about Muslims. I don't call God Allah. I don't agree with the Prophet Mohammed, but that is no excuse for me to speak disrespectfully about Mohammed. Doing so will only destroy my credibility with Muslims. (Fouad suggests saying that we respect some of the things that Mohammed did, but be firm that we believe the Prophets in the Bible.) I fear that speeches like this may result in more botched attempts to convert Muslims. Or continue to give Christians a negative view on Muslims. In reality, I think that there are better ways to go about it. Remember when Paul was on Mars hill, he used the Unknown God to meet the pagans where they were, he didn't tell them all of their gods were demons, or that their prophets were evil and wrong. He used the pagan's desire to please gods to tell them about the Living God, and how to enter a relationship with Him through Christ.

So in the end, if you have a heart for Muslims, or if you know Muslims, but are unsure how to reach them with Christ, pray for them (reading your Bible wouldn't hurt either). Second, be Jesus to them and show them Christ's love. Third, learn about Muslim cultur through Carl Medaris' work (futurequake.com, go to the past shows tab) and also look at Nabeel Jabbour's book "The Crescent through the eyes of the cross." Fourth, you can go to https://www.crescentproject.org/ and go through the Bridges lessons. Lastly, My friend Gaz Parker had provided me with a number of Youtube testimonies and websites. These are all from former Muslims, and may help you learn more about both Muslims and how to share Christ. Gaz is a former spirit medium and blogs about the dangers of New Age beliefs (http://www.newagedeception.wordpress.com/).

Next week, a true return to weird and wacky fun. If you've never heard of the Betty Andreasson Abduction case, you're in for a real treat!



Testimonies:
(Please let me know if links do not work) Please pray, and use discretion before viewing the below materials. Ask God to show you the truth, and to show you any falsehood. Some of the sites may be controversial. Ergun Caner recently was mention on Future Quake along with Walid Shabat (sp?) apparently there may some falsehood in their materials. I can't say for sure. Check it out for yourself, and also listen to the recent Future Quake episodes I believe it was the tommorrow's tremors from 12/24.

Afshinhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Vxy5UMbSI
Toufikhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zkb5nK5x3Q
Nabeelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxwrgbbCec
Zamzamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MdM7rKEXM0
Nasir Siddiki,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LLNdeO-lM
What does the gospel mean?http://dvdtract.com/

Former Shitte Muslim Afshin's Journey to Christ - (Part 1/3)
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.muslimjourneytohope.com/

Zak Gariba - Former Muslim Imamhttp://www.gariba.org/
Mark Gabriel - Former muslim Imam, Al-azhar Islamic university professor
http://www.drmarkgabriel.com/

Hamran Ambrie - Former Muslim Priest
http://hamran-ambrie.tripod/...

Jeremiah Fard Muhammad - Former Muslim minister
http://www.wicctv.org/

Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner - Turkish Ex-Muslim(Dean of Liberty Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va)http://www.erguncaner.com/

Reverend Donald Fareed - Iranian Ex-Muslim, Persian Ministrieshttp://www.persianministrie/...
Dr. Abraham Sarker - Bangladeshi Ex-Muslim, "Gospel for Muslims" Ministries http://www.gospelformuslims/...http://www.understandmymusl/...
omHussain Andaryas - Afgani Ex-Muslim http://www.hesavedme.com/
Afgan Converts WebSitehttp://www.shahadat.net/
Nurudeen I. Adeojohttp://www.wohcc.org/
David Naseerhttp://www.davidnasser.com/
Emir Caner - Dean of The College at Southwesternhttp://www.emircaner.com/
Dr. Nasir K. Siddiki - Muslim businessman, Now Christian Preacher http://www.wisdom-ministrie/...
WL Cati- White Horse Ministry http://www.WLCati.com/
Ajeenah El-Amin http://www.unitedfaithnetwo/...
Abdul Hakeem - Nur Ul alam Ministryhttp://www.namindia.org/

An Ex-Muslim Christian Website run by Iraqi ex-Muslimshttp://www.exmuslim.com/http://www.formermuslims.com/

Pastor Hormoz Shariat Ph.D, Scientist, Iranian Ex-Muslim, Now Christian Preacherhttp://www.iam-online.net/
Rev. Majed El Shafiehttp://www.onefreeworldinte/...
orgSimin - Iranian ExMuslimhttp://www.isa-masih.com/Mohammed Altaf(Now Simon Altaf) - Pakistani ex-Muslimhttp://www.abrahamic-faith.com/One Anonymous muslimhttp://www.journeytojesus.com/Jerry Rassamni - Ex-Militant, Now Christian, Popular speaker on apologeticshttp://www.fromjihadtojesus/...Betsy Tan - "In Him" Ministrieshttp://www.visionbooks.us/Taysir Abu Saada - Fatah Fighter and sniperhttp://www.hopeforishmael.org/Three Former Islamic Terroristshttp://www.3xterrorists.com/http://www.2xtn.com/Afshin Ziafet - Afshin Ziafat Ministrieshttp://www.afshinziafat.com/Dr.Steven Masoodhttp://www.stevenmasood.org/http://www.jesustomuslims.org/http://www.itl-usa.org/Pastor Reza F. Safahttp://www.rezasafa.com/http://www.nejattv.org/Elnathan Baghestanihttp://www.iranforchrist.com/Ellie Davidianhttp://www.hesetsfree.org/Daniel Shayestahhttp://www.escapefromdarkne/...Akef Tayemhttp://www.sonsofabraham.com/A Former muslimhttp://www.movemegod.com/Faisal Malikhttp://www.covenantoflife.org/Good Websites for Muslims to learn about Jesus Christ and Christian faithhttp://www.muslimsseekingje/...http://isaalmasih.net/http://www.muslimjourneytoh/...
http://www.gariba.org/