Update in Albania – Muslims pray for Pope, security a non-issue

I’m just getting the opportunity to respond to you, Mrs. Don-O.

I take you at your word concerning your experiences with semi-practicing or non-practicing Muslims. Zuhdi Jasser comes to mind-—the medical doctor often seen on Fox. I’ve seen him debate religious Muslims and fervently disavow violence. But there must be some kind of disconnect going on with him...either he isn’t religious, or he doesn’t understand his own faith and its history.

I haven’t known any moderate Muslims in my life. Very close to us, in Red House, Virginia, is an Islamic paramilitary compound called Muslims of America. They’re seeded all over the country, and they were begun by a known terrorist.

Here in rural central Virginia, Muslims are all over the place now. And they’re not the non-practicing kind. The women are wrapped head to toe in black, and they and their men will stare you down. I don’t think I have ever seen one of them smile or pass a word with anyone but their own kind...and down here, we talk to everybody. I don’t trust any of them as far as I could throw them.

I just believe the moderate types are rare.

I agree with just about all of your post, though...and the last paragraph, about loving and respecting “perhaps certain Muslims”...I suppose I should be praying for them all, as Scripture instructs, but I don’t do as well as I should. I need Jesus’s help to do it at all.

There's a Muslim kid here in Johnson City who goes to ETSU (East TN State U) who put out a music video on YouTube describing his Jesus-y feelings, and it's absolutely worth a look: "I Believe in Jesus" - Mo Sabri - Link

I generally can neither hear, nor comprehend, nor long tolerate "rap," but this one is benign and the lyrics are printed right at the link. My point is not that this college student is doing great theology, but that you will find that not all Muslims are into jihad. Not all are even into polemics. Mo Sabri is one who's into irenics. Muslims who are more open to Jesus than others, are worth a little evangelical befriending for the sake of the Gospel.

OH! And here's another one --- I put this up on the thread before, but I'll put it up again. Here's one who went a lot further.

Here is a video of a man, named by his parents "Muhammad" but now known by his Baptismal name, Mario Joseph, who was initially influenced by the Koran to consider in his mind whether Jesus might be actually greater than Mohammad! (LINK)

This was when he was 18, and things were mixed and confused in his mind (as they so often are with us fallible human beings in this world of error.) But he finally came to seek and find the Lord Jesus and to reject Mohammad's claims.

He's now a full-time Christian evangelist!

And it started with considering what the Koran said about Jesus curing the sick and raising the dead (things that the Koran --- interestingly --- never claimed that Muhammad could do) --- and the Koranic affirmation that Jesus is coming back as Judge of the Living and the Dead.

Ditto what you said about praying for Muslims.

"There's a Muslim kid here in Johnson City who goes to ETSU (East TN State U) who put out a music video on YouTube describing his Jesus-y feelings, and it's absolutely worth a look: "I Believe in Jesus" - Mo Sabri - Link

I generally can neither hear, nor comprehend, nor long tolerate "rap," but this one is benign and the lyrics are printed right at the link. My point is not that this college student is doing great theology, but that you will find that not all Muslims are into jihad. Not all are even into polemics. Mo Sabri is one who's into irenics. Muslims who are more open to Jesus than others, are worth a little evangelical befriending for the sake of the Gospel."

I sat through it...it's so strange to me to see a nice-looking young guy in a suit and tie, using those rap gestures. It just doesn't jell.

Anyway, I agree that he needs to hear the Gospel, and I would love to sit and talk with him, and present it to him if I had the chance. He does believe in Jesus, like any Muslim, but not Jesus as He really is. And when he says our religions are more alike than not (paraphrasing) that's not the case.

"OH! And here's another one --- I put this up on the thread before, but I'll put it up again. Here's one who went a lot further."

Here is a video of a man, named by his parents "Muhammad" but now known by his Baptismal name, Mario Joseph, who was initially influenced by the Koran to consider in his mind whether Jesus might be actually greater than Mohammad! (LINK)"This was when he was 18, and things were mixed and confused in his mind (as they so often are with us fallible human beings in this world of error.) But he finally came to seek and find the Lord Jesus and to reject Mohammad's claims.

He's now a full-time Christian evangelist!

"And it started with considering what the Koran said about Jesus curing the sick and raising the dead (things that the Koran --- interestingly --- never claimed that Muhammad could do) --- and the Koranic affirmation that Jesus is coming back as Judge of the Living and the Dead."

Praise God for that. I know He can use anyone or anything to draw a person to Him. I've also heard that Jesus reveals Himself to many Muslims in dreams.

Thank you for the links, BTW.

"Ditto what you said about praying for Muslims."

Yep. Believe me, I'd love to see every Muslim on the planet come to Christ.

But...when I see folks claim that Mohammed had reason to be bitterly anti-Christian (as has been said elsewhere) and spend time trying to sell the validity of the doctrine itself, my tolerance dips to zero.

"...when I see folks claim that Mohammed had reason to be bitterly anti-Christian (as has been said elsewhere)...

Weird! I have never seen anybody claim that before. How do they explain that?

The only connections I've ever heard were that Mo's first and favorite wife Khadijah (sp?) probably knew some Christians, Nestorians. They may be the ones who suggested to her that Mo's disembodied-entity-visitor (probably a demon) could have been the angel Gabriel. Which is the official Muslim explanation (Jibreel). But that would be a "friendly" Christian-Muslim contact, I would think.

All of Mo's subsequent contacts with Christians were unprovoked incursions into the Christian territory of Syria, in which he forced the local populace to pay him tribute after ambushing and killing local civilians to assert his authority.

So, what did he supposedly have against those wicked Syrian Christians?

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