Christian cow says "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
Posted on 10/09/2007 12:48:56 PM PDT by 2banana
CBNNews.com - SEATTLE, Wash. - Many former Muslims are now involved in efforts to convert believers in Islam to Christianity.
CBN News met with some of them as they linked up with other Christians at the Seattle Revival Center. They trained in how best to reach Muslims and then went out to do just that at the city's annual Arab Festival.
For some reason, Christians think Muslims are particularly hard to witness to. But these Muslims-turned-Christians pointed out they have the exact same spiritual needs as everybody else.
George Saieg, leader of Arabic Christian Perspective, advises Christians to dig into their own past and fears, remembering "how we used to be not assured of our salvation -- we used to be afraid of dying."
"And this is the same common ground that the Muslims have today -- that they're not assured of their salvation, that they're afraid of dying," he said. "But Jesus came to our life and changed our life. This is the story we need to tell them, how Jesus changed my life and He's able to change theirs, too."
Kamal Saleem came to America to recruit terrorists, but instead became a convert to Christ
"Three Christian men reached out to me and loved me unconditionally," he said.
But many years before that, he was a terrorist - even as a child.
"I joined the PLO when I was seven years old. Before that, I was with a group called the Muslim Brotherhood when I was six years old. I went to assault camp when I was seven years old. I went on my first mission when I was seven years old. I became a recruiter when I was seven years old."
He fought in many battles and wars -- against Christians in Lebanon, Russians in Afghanistan, Jews in Israel.
But he ended up in America, recruiting new terrorists here.
"First you teach them Islamic teaching, and once it's embedded in their system, then you teach them how to use a gun," Saleem said.
Saieg agrees with Saleem, that Islam preaches violence.
"When I see Sura 9:5, it talks about ''kill the Christians and Jews -- the People of the Book -- wherever you find them.' There are over 140 verses in the Koran that talk about killing," Saieg says.
Saleem says don't buy everything you hear about Islam these days.
"Muslims will say 'We're a people of peace -- we worship the same God,'" He said.
But what they're really taught is "that Jews are pigs and monkeys. Jews they must be killed. 'The rock will cry out "there's a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him,"' Saleem said.
They say Muslims believe Christ was a mere man.
"He didn't even die on the cross. He was lifted up and He's coming back and He will be a Muslim," Saleem said.
Arabic Christian Perspective hopes to open up a lot of Islamic eyes when it holds a debate with Muslim apologist Nadir Ahmed in Anaheim, Calif., October 20.
Nadir Ahmed is raring to debate the key question: whether Islam is a religion of peace or terrorism.
"There's a lot of anti-Islamic propaganda, especially by Pat Robertson and CBN and places like that," Ahmed said. "And I'm really shocked to see how evangelicals love to promote this idea -- that it's not a religion of peace."
Ahmed seems a natural for this debate. He runs his own Web site defending Islam, Examine the Truth.com
"There's clear teaching to promote peace with non-Muslims. And those verses are not mentioned by these propagandists. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to mention those verses," he said.
But it didn't seem very peaceful when Muslims eavesdropped on CBN News' interview with Saieg then ripped into him for saying Islam was not a religion of peace.
They yelled and screamed he wasn't telling the truth, shouting down the former terrorist Saleem as he tried to defend Saieg.
Meanwhile, Ahmed insists Americans misunderstand Muslims and key Islamic words like "jihad," which means "struggle."
"Someone's struggling with alcoholism and he's trying to stay away from that. That's a jihad against alcohol," he said.
But Saieg says jihad almost always means bloody struggle. And Saleem warns that right here in America there are 45 Islamic assault camps where would-be terrorists train.
"These are embedded in different states," Saleem said. "Today the recruiting ground is in the prison system, high schools, universities, neighborhoods."
It's to counter such efforts that Saieg and his people are reaching out as quickly as they can to Muslims at Arab Festivals, like one that took place in Seattle, and a recent one in Dearborn, Mich., where dozens converted.
"And, praise the Lord, we had 42 Muslims come to the Lord." Saieg said.
These former Muslims insist Islamic people are not by nature violent.They totally blame the mayhem and terror pouring out of Islamic lands on the religion itself.
"I really look at Osama bin Laden himself as a victim of Islam. My problem is not with Osama bin Laden. My problem is not with the Muslim people," Saieg said. "My problem is with the teaching of Islam, the teaching of Koran because this is what is pushing Muslims to do what they're doing."
"So while these Christians say that Islam itself may be a danger, they believe the Islamic people are as deserving of love as anyone else and can be just as open to Jesus.
I hope it’s genuine and not an attempt to infiltrate the church from within.
Praise the Lord indeed!
I think, looking at the Book of Daniel, you are not required to martyr yourself as a Christian, but can “lay low” and survive if that is your choice. In Daniel when told to bow to an idol, they did not bow, but did not make a show of it, they simply did not bow. Similarly when Daniel was ordered not to pray to anyone but the King he continued to pray to God but did not charge in and berate the king or his advisors, inviting martyrdom. When asked though, in every case in Daniel, Daniel, Shadrak, and Abednigo did not deny God when faced with martyrdom. They did not seek or avoid.
In other words, if I were a Muslim, who became a Christian, in a country with Sharia law, I’d think seriously about keeping it as quiet as possible and witness “on the sly.”
Good advice.
Good advice.
However, for former Muslims, this is literally a life and death choice.
Hey just tell them you only have to go to church one day a week not five times each day. Should be an easy sell. Also, tell them there are alot of churches that let you believe anything you want so there isn’t much asked of you for converting. Finally, tell them thats where all the hot American chicks are.
Christians, consider joining or forming a prison or jailhouse ministry in your community. This is one of the most direct “confrontations” of Islam and Christianity in the U.S.A. that you can affect. Islam is there and being promoted to them in the jails. Respond with the truth. Practically everyone has a county jail around them and that is a great place to witness.
Yeah but we don’t have sharia law in the USA. Muslims are actually very fertile ground for the seed of the Gospel. They’ve been fed enough of the counterfeit to be able to recognize the real thing when shown the truth of scripture and the promise of true salvation and true peace through new life in Jesus Christ.
And thankfully in the US and other non-Muslim-ruled nations, you won’t be put to death for trying to convert them nor will they for converting. Witnessing in Muslim nations is a lot trickier, but some hardy souls do it - and with some success, too!
Just today at our women’s Bible study, there was a young 25 yo missionary to Thailand. The Bible study is broadcast over the internet, but before she took the stage, they were careful to turn off the internet connection. They said her life could be in danger because of where she works. She’s assigned to an area of Thailand that is mostly Muslim, and over the past two years has become good friends with the daughter of the local Muslim “bishop” — not sure of what his title would be. The daughter has become a Christian and studies the Bible each week with this missionary. God has really given this missionary a heart for Muslims, but she has to do her work there very carefully. She said that when she meets with this daughter to study the Bible, they have to meet in a different location each time. Thinking about it now, I think she very much underplayed the dangerous situation she is in on a daily basis.
Christian cow says "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
Admiteedly I was speaking mostly of developed countries such as our own. And yes I am aware that even here there are cases where former Muslims have been threatened. But of course on the whole it’s certainly far better where sharia law is not the law of the land.
Praying for the Christians in the Muslim nations.
LOL! I know you’re being humerous, but I’ve got to tell you, my problem is not that I only “have” to worship one day a week...I love the Lord so much that it takes all I have not to sing his praises out loud seven days a week, 24-hours a day! :-D
Though it is hard, I’ve tried to throw my bitterness against the muslims aside and pray for them instead.
I pray for their conversion every day now. God bless and protect these brave muslim converts to Christianity.
I will still never trust the followers of islam, but I will pray for them.
We had a beautiful Pakistani girl at in an apologetics ministry at my church who was a convert from islam. I remember she asked a question about how to respond to persecution.
I think it’s a very good thing to pray for: for muslims to come to Christ.
They must be Ann Coulter fans.
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