Illustration results for Islam
Free Memorial Day Resources
Sermons & Illustrations: Top SermonsTop Illustrations
Sermon & Worship Packages: Time to Remember
Recent studies show there are now more Muslims in Europe than Protestants. (Foster Letter 4/10/07)
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:
"It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."
Charles Krauthammer also states, "We're now at the dawn of an era in which an extreme fanatical religious ideology, undeterred by the usual calculations of prudence and self-preservation, is wielding state power and will soon be wielding nuclear power."
SAID MUSA
I have recently been exchanging letters with our MP John Baron regarding a man named Said Musa. Some of you know about his situation. Said is an Afghan convert from Islam to Christianity. In May 2010 he was arrested during a crackdown on converts because under Islamic religious law it is illegal to convert out of Islam. The penalty is death. Said was beaten, sexually abused and denied sleep.
Lawyers refused to defend him because Said refused to return to Islam. Letters were smuggled out of prison. Petitions were signed and letters written. Thankfully I am glad to say that Said was recently released in February 2011 after high level negotiations, but he has had to leave the country. Just before his release he was put under ...
Professor Bernard Lewis at Princeton University, the leading authority on Islam in America, warned, "Ahmadinejad and his group clearly believe and I don’t doubt the sincere belief, that we are now entering an apocalyptic age, which will result in the triumph of their messianic figure."
THE BLOOD OF LAMBS
I just finished a very moving book called, "The Blood of Lambs" by Kamal Saleem (Howard Books, 2009). He describes his life as a terrorist and how he hated Israel and America. He also couldn't stand Christians--that is, until God brought some Christian men into his life after he had a serious car accident. He saw how the Christian God answered prayer and so he cried out in desperation: "Allah, I want to hear that you love me. If you are real, speak to me." He writes: "I poured all my hope and faith into my prayer. But there was only silence. Stillness...A deep sadness engulfed me. My whole life had been a vain masquerade...Empty and void." In despair he thought about using one of his many weapons to kill himself but then decided to call on the true God with these words: "If you are real, I want to know you!"
As often happens when Muslims come to Christ, Kamal had a vision and heard these words, "I am the Alpha and the Omega. I have known you since before the foundation of the world." Kamal answered, "My Lord, I will live and die for you!" And then he heard something that forever changed him: "Do not die for me. I died for you that you may live." He writes: "At that moment I knew I met the Christian God. I knew I had met my Creator. There was no turning back" (pages 280-281).
(From a sermon by Brian Bill, Give More, 12/13/2009)
THE KORAN
For Muslims the answer is simple, Mohammed recited the Koran to his followers. Mohammed died in 632 AD. Ali a disciple of Mohammed compiled the first Koran after Mohammed’s death. In 650AD the Islamic ruler Uthman ordered a standard version of the Koran to be created and all other copies, he disagreed with, to be burnt. Between Mohammed, Ali and Uthman you have today’s Koran.
A MOVEMENT TO JESUS WITHIN ISLAM
In an article entitled, "A Movement to Jesus Within Islam" this story is told: There was a Muslim holy man, a Sufi master, named Isaac. He lived in a remote region of a Muslim country, where he had a large following. Several thousand people looked to him for spiritual guidance, for blessing their crops, for prayers for health, and most of all for intercession for their eternal salvation.
Master Isaac, however, was worried about his own salvation, and it troubled him that his thousands of followers believed that he himself could save them. So he began to pray in earnest that God would show him the true path to salvation.
One night in 2002, while Isaac was praying to be shown the way of salvation, he says that Jesus appeared to him in radiant white clothing and told him to travel to such-and-such a town and also showed the way to a certain house in that town.
There he was to consult a holy man whose father was named so-and-so and whose grandfather was so-and-so. When he heard the names Isaac realized that this man’s grandfather had been his very own Sufi master, and this excited him.
Although it was very early in the morning and there was a terrible rain storm outside, Isaac walked to the bus station, boarded an early bus, & traveled some 40 miles to the town.
It was about six in the morning when Isaac reached the place that Jesus had shown him in the vision. When he knocked on the door, he was surprised to see a man wearing ordinary clothes rather than the robes of a Sufi master. It was Jacob, who was the leader of a group of Messianic Muslims.
When Isaac asked Jacob about his father and his grandfather, he realized that Jacob was the very man that Jesus had told him to consult. So he told Jacob about the vision and asked him to reveal the way of salvation.
For the next few hours, citing passages from both the Qur’an and the Bible, Jacob told Isaac the story of God creating the world, about Adam and Eve, about Cain and Abel, the descent of the world into evil, the flood and the rescue of Noah and his family.
He told him about God calling Abraham and the promises that God made to him, about the descendants of Abraham, about David, and about the true son of David, the true heir of Abraham’s promises, Jesus, who was the true Messiah.
He said that it was the will of God that Jesus the Messiah should suffer death on the cross to save mankind, and that God raised Him back to life. God exalted Jesus to sit at His own right hand as Lord and Savior of the world.
Jacob also told him that in 1969 the Lord Jesus had appeared to him as well and had showed him the way of salvation. He read in the Gospel where Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.." Jesus, he said, was Himself the true path to salvation.
After hearing all this, Master Isaac said he believed in Jesus and was ready to serve Him and wanted to be baptized right then and there. Jacob, however, counseled him to wait.
He said, “God has made you a great leader, and He wants all of your followers to know that Jesus the Messiah, and He alone, is the way of salvation. Go home and tell your wives and children that Jesus is Lord and Savior, then tell your closest disciples.” Isaac agreed, and they set a date for Jacob to come and share the good news.
About two weeks later, at the appointed time, Jacob arrived to find a gathering of more than 200 of Isaac’s leading disciples. The Sufi master began by telling them the story of his prayer and the vision he was given by God.
He described traveling during a storm to get to Jacob’s house to ask him the secret of salvation. He then asked Jacob to tell them the rest.
So Jacob told the story again, starting with the Qur’an & then moving to the Bible. He told the story of creation, the fall, and the descendants of Adam down to Jesus the Messiah. He then called on t...
Pastor's MediaVault
