Download A. How Muslims Come to Christ

A. How Muslims Come to Christ
1. Introduction: two parts that may seem unrelated, but are closely related
A. What does it mean “to convert”?
1. To change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product;
transform: convert water into ice.
2. To change (something) from one use, function, or purpose to another; adapt to
a new or different purpose: convert a forest into farmland.
3. To persuade or induce to adopt a particular religion, faith, or belief: convert
pagans to Christianity; was converted to pacifism by the war.
4. To exchange for something of equal value: convert assets into cash.
B. Of these four definitions, the one that comes the closest is . . .
II. Two perspectives on conversion
A. First, God’s perspective.
Mt 6:17; 11:27; John 6:44; 12:32
new heart.
B. I mentioned two perspectives. The first is God’s: he must draw us and reveal
himself to us. The second perspective is ours: the human perspective.
1. The behavior of Christians.
2. The next most important influence was the power of God to answer prayers as
well as healing.
3. The third most popular influence listed by respondents was dissatisfaction
with the Islam they have followed.
4. It is also noteworthy that MANY said dreams and visions were a factor in their
1
decision to commit themselves to follow Christ.
5. Moreover many converts were attracted to the assurance of salvation and
forgiveness. In Islam,
B. Insider Movements
1. Introduction
II. A story – LISTEN FOR SEVERAL IMPORTANT POINTS THAT WE WILL COME
BACK AND VISIT AFTER THE STORY
Tahwil and Jim
III. The questions that shape the Insider Movements
A. You don’t have to tell your family you’re a Christian because you’re not.
Christian, which appears only three times in the entire Bible and is so commonly
misunderstood today . . . is so common and so easy to use that it’s almost
ludicrous to suggest we get rid of it. . . . I never refer to myself as a Christian
although I have to use the word occasionally in reference so people will know
what I’m talking about.
To the average Muslim here, Christian means someone who worships three
gods, believes Jesus is the product of a sexual liaison between God and Mary,
drinks wine, eats pork, defiles himself with ritually unclean habits, betrays his
cultural heritage, and uses religion to procure assistance from Westerners
B. Missionaries are advocating for the insider movements
These insider movements are not intended to hide a believer’s spiritual identity,
but rather to enable those within the movement to go deeper into the cultural
community—be it Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist.
My daughter, who loves our neighbors dearly, asked one day, “Daddy, can a
Muslim go to heaven?” I responded with an Acts 15:11-type “yes”: “If a Muslim
has accepted Isa (Jesus) the Messiah as Savior and Lord, he or she is saved, just
as we are.” We affirmed that people are saved by faith in Christ, not by religious
affiliation. Muslim followers of Christ (i.e., C5 believers) are our brothers and
sisters in the Lord, even though they do not change religions.
2
Twentieth-century Muslims are forging an identity for themselves within Islam.
. . . They have become ‘new creations.’ However, most of them never considered
changing their religion. Some of their leaders, who also became followers of the
Straight Way, taught them to remain in their Islamic heritage. After all, the
Qur’an teaches that followers of Isa are Muslim (5:111). They are new creations
within their old religious environment. Conversion is primarily a change of
allegiance in which a Muslim becomes a follower of Jesus while retaining various
Islamic forms that are given new meaning.
I propose that there is also a significant element of divine involvement in the
remote origins of Islam, beginning with Hagar and Ishmael.
A true Islamic perspective would hold that the religion revealed by all prophets
(e.g., Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad) was originally the same
but later changed by Jews and Christians. . . . Some Muslim background
believers could possibly consider that they are returning to the ‘true Islam’ as
revealed through Jesus. . . . It would be understood that this ‘true Islam’ is what
real Christians believe.
The New Testament reveals great similarities between Judaism as practiced in
the first century and modern Islam.
C. I can continue being a Christian and a Muslim at the same time?
In the book of Jonah it is ironically not the Hebrew Jonah who hears and obeys
God. In addition, it is the pagan sailors’ prayers that are heard by Yahweh. When
they cast lots, it is Yahweh who directs the answer. They are in relationship with
Yahweh.
The woman at the well in John 4 at first refused Jesus’ offer of eternal life
because, as a Samaritan, she followed an Abrahamic religion that the Jews
reviled as corrupt. As a result, she could not go to the temple or become a Jew.
But Jesus distinguished true faith from religious affiliation, saying God was
seeking “true worshipers who worship the Father in spirit and truth” (vv. 19-24).
Realizing that Jesus was “the Savior of the world” (v. 42), not just of the Jews,
many Samaritans in her town believed. Later in Acts we see that Samaritan
believers remained in their own communities and retained their Samaritan
identity (Acts 8:14-17). But at first the disciples did not understand that just as
they could remain Jews and follow Jesus, the Samaritans could also remain
Samaritan.
3
They become what we could call Messianic Muslims. In their own opinion,
however, they are simply being better Muslims by submitting to the Messiah
whom God sent to guide and save them.
Saying that Muhammad is a prophet does not mean that Jesus is not the Messiah
and the Lord. It also does not mean that Muhammad is Messiah or Lord
Muhammad never claimed that. So someone can say the shahada and at the
same time can believe in Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
Their background would lead them to want to face in the direction of Mecca (and
Jerusalem). They would probably be inclined to pray five times a day with
particular postures at specified ties. They would probably continue to recognize
Muhammad as a prophet, worship (without songs) at a mosque, and so on. I
doubt that any of these things would bother God.
IV. Conclusion
The insider movements is an attempt by Western missionaries to give biblical
support to what they have observed.
Option A
Option B
“The Arab proverb says that the hand cannot hold two watermelons. The heart
cannot hold two religions. Jesus showed His knowledge of human nature when
He challenged His disciples to forsake all, to endure hardship, carry their cross,
brave it out at all costs. The man whom Jesus despised above all others and
consigned to the outermost darkness was the man who said, “I was afraid.” He
buried his talent and his life in a napkin because he was a coward.”
- Samuel Zwemer
4