As I watched the strong, deeply rooted tree topple onto a car during a recent windstorm, I was in awe of the might of God, displayed in the strength of just one small gust of His wind. I saw people rushing about in a panic, but then being drawn to the scene, covering their mouths as if in shock, taking pictures with their camera phones as if they had witnessed a celebrity sighting. It occurred to me that if only half the horror which was felt for those deeply rooted trees was felt for my people in Iraq, we might be able to prevent them from being torn from their land and tossed away, forced to flee for their lives, because of their faith. Iraq has been home to the longest continuous population of Christian followers since we began following the teachings of Christ, shared through His word and the evangelism of the disciples He charged with the task of spreading the message of Grace.
Islam is not just a religion, it is a religious system which encompasses all aspects of Muslim culture, the law, the family, the economy and the belief systems. One important deficiency of Islam is that, in all of its 1,400 years of history, its leaders have never presented a solution to the social issues creating the violence and unrest in the Middle East. There are two ways to look at any human social problem. One can look to oneself to figure out what he has done to contribute to the issue and how he can change his approach to improve the situation. Or, as is the tradition of Islamic teachings, one can place blame on others, believing he is the victim of a conspiracy of oppression, mistreatment, and undeserved criticism. This is a strategy as old as time, “...there is nothing new under the sun.”(Ecclesiastes 1:9); even the Pharisees blamed Jesus for their perceived loss of control within the Jewish community. Instead of looking within and heeding the conviction Jesus was bringing upon them, they called Him a blasphemer and sowed discord among the leadership so as to discredit Him. Jesus, on the other hand, taught that every human inadequacy is because of our own inherent sinful nature, that change must come from within, and that true change can only be achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is only one way Islam keeps its followers under the thumb of the Islamic powers. I spent the summer of my twelfth year attending Mosque daily, memorizing the entire book of Qur’an, as is custom for the youngest boy of an affluent Muslim family. I learned that Islam is a religion of law, fear and hate. There are so many rules, so easily broken, that I spent a great deal of time keeping track of my good deeds, hoping they would outweigh the bad things I had done. I was terrified I would go to hell and that I would never be good enough to be allowed access to Allah’s paradise. In fact the Qur’an teaches that all men will spend some time in hell and that there is only one way to bypass that torment. The only way to be guaranteed residence in paradise is to commit Jihad, to die in an act of war on behalf of Allah. I believed in those early years that this would be my fate, that I would go to death defending my Islamic beliefs, that Christians and Jews were infidels, unclean and beneath me. Praise God, He used a Christian boy I had known many years to breach this tough exterior I had erected. Knowing my affinity for reading and knowledge, he challenged me to read the Bible. I accepted only to prove its fallacies, to use its errors to convert my Christian friend to Islam. Instead I learned much of the Qur’an is stolen from the Bible and reshaped to accommodate Mohammed’s message of hate. Unlike the Bible, the Qur’an gives its followers no assurance of salvation, no promise of forgiveness. I was astounded by the love I found within the Bible.
The Qur’an not only draws a clear line between the value of Muslims and unbelievers, there is a clear distinction between the value of women and men. Women are considered to be property in Islam; first they are under the control of their male relatives until marriage, at which time they become the property of their husband. The testimony of a woman in a Sharia court is considered unimportant and her husband can divorce her for any reason, and women are not afforded that same rights under Islamic law. The Qur’an encourages the physical “discipline” of wives and the taking of multiple wives, with no regard for damage done to the woman’s emotional well-being. The mistreatment of women, traditional in Islamic teachings, can still be witnessed today in the raping and murdering being perpetrated on women by ISIS in the name of Allah.
Jesus, however, taught that men and women are considered equal before God, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Christ praised women for their faith, healed them, cast demons out of them, forgave them and blessed them. Many of the people in Christianity most respected for their holiness were women, including Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The first Christian missionary sent out by Jesus Himself was a Samaritan woman (John 4:5-43). The first person who saw and talked with Jesus after his resurrection from the dead was a woman, Mary Magdalene.
These are just a few of the basic foundations of Islam contrasted against teachings of Jesus Christ. God willing, I will be able to share more of these facts with you in upcoming issues over the next few months. As a ministry, Salvation For Muslims was founded by God using my knowledge of Islam and my testimony and journey through persecution, torture and Divine rescue, to be used as a tool to reach out in love to those living under the delusion of Islam’s false teachings. We share the truth of Islam, the Qur’an and Muslim culture with Western Christians to better equip those with soft hearts toward the lost, to share the Gospel message with the Muslim community. During this time of serious unrest in the Middle East, however, our recent focus has been to raise awareness of the plight of those suffering under the oppressive extremist Islamic State in Iraq. If you would like to get involved, please contact me at MichaelPaul@Salvationformuslims.com or my ministry assistant atJodiJones@Salvationformuslims.com or call 208-274-8865/208-265-5140.