tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23286609371721904112024-03-12T18:25:14.020-07:00Let Ishmael Sing...Missions to the Muslim World till Jesus is Worshiped in Every PlaceMissionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-19290796587295553252020-08-25T11:32:00.006-07:002020-08-26T12:08:21.057-07:00Mission Muslim World University<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFXvt1qP8lZP0xvtGSm5kF9lhrzCYd6yOA9oKb1iHmpMsw1pFVT-_35G5JBViFmbDHcGLUqLizVsagwrf8lYAG9_0oKTfhmzX7aWVC9xRoSkVkeG_vZmVZIGs-8Y51ANsVSzHf9Gn3Dk/s640/MISSION+MUSLIM+WORLD+UNIVERSITY+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></div></div> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>For that past couple of years, I have been building an online school called Mission Muslim World University (<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://mmwu.org&source=gmail&ust=1598382402213000&usg=AFQjCNFfj5OwhOeZzEQP5RYqowwk39YvIQ" href="http://mmwu.org" target="_blank">mmwu.org</a>). After about 1000 hours of work and lots of help from Dr. Joshua Lingel (the President of <a href="https://i2ministries.org" target="_blank">i2 Ministries</a>), we built what we believe to be the most comprehensive curriculum available on Christian Missions to Muslims and Islamic Studies. <br /><br />Right before COVID hit hard, we were able to formalize a partnership with God's Bible School and College (<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://gbs.edu&source=gmail&ust=1598382402213000&usg=AFQjCNFAXETZb3Z5Qw3pYQc9Jm-migZ7vw" href="http://gbs.edu" target="_blank">gbs.edu</a>) to offer a pathway to a fully online, fully accredited, extremely affordable, Masters Degree in Ministry with an Islamic Studies Concentration! <br /><br />We launched the program in faith in the midst of the global quarantine by offering full scholarships worth 1.3 million dollars to 270 students in over 35 nations who we are mentoring through the program and coaching them how to launch the <a href="https://i2ministries.org/the-initiative/">"WISE Global Initiative" also known as the "Every Muslim for Christ Initiative"</a> in their respective countries. <br /><br />Overnight, we became the largest online graduate-level training school in the world in Christian Missions to Muslims. <a href="https://www.mmwu.org/pages/tuition">We are raising funds to cover the costs of giving these 270 scholarships.</a><br /><br />I have also been developing a phone application called the <a href="https://i2ministries.org/wise-global-app/" target="_blank">WISE Global</a>. WISE is a ministry management system that is designed to manage the initiative, which is intertwined with the online school. This app allows denominations, churches, and missions organizations to work together to launch and track the progress of the initiative to evangelize every Muslim in a city/region/country and track the progress. <br /><br />So far the app has been deployed into 100+ denominations/organizations in Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, Venezuela, S. Africa, Iraq, Egypt, Tanzania, Burundi, Jordan, Honduras, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Canada, USA, Morocco, S. Korea, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Togo, Cameron, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Chad, Germany, Bolivia, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, Uganda, Dominican Republic, Argentina, & Iraq. <br /><br />Over the last year, between our online students and other national leaders, about 19,000 people have heard the gospel, and over 400 have come to Christ - many from a Muslim background. This is so exciting and has been a lot of work! </span> <br /><br />Jesus will be exalted in the nations! <br /><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://i2ministries.webconnex.com/ryan-james" target="_blank">Donate to the mission</a></b></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/REJpAl-rqXw" width="560" youtube-src-id="REJpAl-rqXw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="480" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RWVeZwxXNMcPxWg3KxlOp-QfOEw5V3yw/preview" width="640"></iframe></div>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-50453187817443441452019-12-11T13:11:00.002-08:002019-12-12T16:40:19.262-08:00Christology: The Central Battleground in Missions<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Christology:<br />The Central Battleground in Missions</h2>
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Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-477529661843105752018-03-02T11:04:00.004-08:002019-12-13T21:46:27.986-08:0034 Answers to Muslim Objections of Jesus Being God<div class="page" title="Page 1">
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">As I was running a social media campaign in Muslim majority countries I was given this list of 34 reasons why Jesus can't be God from the Bible from 6 different Muslims in 6 different countries. Here is my response. </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">1- Muslim - God Doesn’t Change His Nature (Malachi 3:6) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Agreed God has never changed from the very beginning He has always revealed Himself as having Plurality within Himself while being ONE God. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Gen 1:26 God Says Let Us Make God in Our Image. <br /> Ps. 110 Says: The LORD says to my Lord sit at my right hand.... (YHWH talking to Adonai)</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Genesis 19:24<i> Then YHWH rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from YHWH out of the heavens</i>. (This only make sense if there are two distinct persons both called YHWH) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">2- Muslim - GOD Almighty is Greater than Jesus. (John 14:28 ) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Jesus does say that the Father is greater than Him. But He also says that He and the Father are ONE (John 10:30) . Jesus says that everything that the Father has is His (John 16:15) . So Jesus clearly understood his own glory in John 17:1-3 he says “glorify me with the same glory I had before the world began”. Jesus says the father is greater in terms of the incarnation. The theology of the incarnation is that Jesus chose to humble himself by setting aside his outward form of glory (while still maintaining His divine nature) by coming as a man during his time before his resurrection and ascension. [Philippians chapter 2] </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">3- Muslim - No one is "Good" including Jesus (Mark 10:18). <span style="color: red;">Christian - Jesus doesn’t say He isn’t Good He asks a question - The text actually says - “why do you call me good? Don’t you know that God alone is good” - Jesus is trying to get this person who sees him ONLY as a teacher to understand that He is so much greater than a teacher. Basically, this can be understood as Jesus saying why are you only calling me a teacher? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">4- Muslim - Jesus said he doesn't know when the Hour will come. Only GOD Knows. (Mark 13:32) <span style="color: red;">Christian - to understand this we need to again understand what Jesus did when he became a man: <br /><br /><i>Consider Him [Jesus] who was in the form of God and did not count equality with God something that He could use for His own advantage instead He emptied Himself and took on the form of a bondservant - Philippines 2:6-7. </i><br /> <br /> Jesus emptied Himself of His outward form of Glory and did not count His equality with God as something to boast in, to be used for His own gain. He humbled Himself and chose the form of a bondservant. This “emptied Himself” is in reference to His outward form of Glory; He did not empty himself of His Divine nature. However Jesus did not use His divine attributes but He chose to operate as a man anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit. For instance Jesus looked to see if there were figs on the tree (he didn’t know right away.... he had to go up closer to take a look (Matthew 21:21). However, John 13 it says that Jesus therefore knowing all things that were going to come upon Him took a towel....Jesus knew all things that were coming upon him in his sufferings because the Father told Him through the Holy Spirit (Read John chapter 5). To peer into this subject is to peer into the mystery of all mysteries and something we will be fascinated with forever. The Humility that Jesus displays in the incarnation is supposed to cause us to marvel at the nature of God not doubt His divinity. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">5- Muslim - Jesus said that" OUR God is One GOD (Mark 12:29 ) <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes, Jesus is quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4, the jewish creed in Hebrew, which uses the word “Echad” which means “ONE” with plurality like a husband and wife are “ONE”. The Hebrew scripture could have used “Yachid” instead of “Echad” which is the word for “one singular” but it doesn’t it uses a word implying plurality. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">6- Muslim - Jesus also said "My GOD and your GOD" (John 20:17) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes and then a few sentences later He receives worship from Thomas who calls him my LORD and my GOD and Jesus affirms him and calls Him blessed. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">7- Muslims - Jesus bowed his face down to the ground to GOD Almighty. (Matthew 26:39) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes, Jesus prayed! Jesus spoke to the Father in eternity past before he was a man as well. Psalm 2, shows a conversation with the Father and the Son before Jesus became a man. The Godhead was eternally relational. The Father Loved the Son and the Son Loved the Father for eternity before anything was created </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">8- Muslim - Jesus was tempted by satan for 40 days (Mat1:4), while GOD Almighty can not be tempted (Jacob 1:13). <span style="color: red;">Christian - the best understanding of the word temped is to understand that it is also a word that can also be translated as “tested” Just as the purity of God is tested by fire so Jesus as the last Adam had to overcome every test the devil threw at him, and He did! Jesus had to overcome every “temptation” of Satan as a man. The difference with Jesus is that his soul was perfect and without sin unlike other humans that have a sinful nature. Jesus didn’t have sinful inclinations like James talked about in James chapter 1. Jesus was unmoved and overcame every temptation or test in perfection! Reading through the book of Hebrews helps to understand this.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">9- Muslim - Jesus said he is a man (John 8:40) - <span style="color: red;">Christian, YES Jesus is fully and truly man, While being fully and truly God. Just a few verses later in John 8:58 Jesus turns around and says, “<i>Before Abraham was “I AM”</i> which is the Divine name YHWH in Hebrew, only the God of Israel could say such a thing. Everyone knew what he was saying, they picked up stones to stone Him.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">10- Muslim - God is neither a man nor a son of a man (Numbers 23:19) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - The point of this verse in Numbers is that God is not like a man that he would LIE - you can’t quote half the verse... He is not like a man that He should lie; and at the point when the Torah was written God wasn’t a human yet... that wouldn’t happen for another 1500 years .</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">11- Muslim - No one can see God (1 John 4:20) but people saw Jesus - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle John and Jesus Himself tell us that no one had ever seen God the Father, that is why Jesus is called the <i>image of the invisible God</i> (Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3). People all throughout the O.T. saw YHWH the God of Israel and lived. So they were always seeing the second person of the God head who would eventually become man named Jesus. </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">12- Muslim - God is the living and everlasting (Habakkuk 1:12) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - I am guessing Muslims are contrasting this saying that God couldn’t die on the cross? Again the understanding of the eternal Godhead of YHWH’s divine identity clears all of this up. Jesus died on the cross not the Father. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">13- Muslim - Jesus always confessed he is just a prophet sent by God (Matthew 21:10-11) <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes and No, Jesus was a prophet but He was much more than a prophet. There are at least 45 different verses where Jesus affirms his own divinity [Matt. 9,6; 9:15; 11:27; 12:8; 13:41; 16:27; 18:20; 21:9; 22:42; 23:37-39; 24:30; 24:35; 25:31-32; 26:28; 26:63-65; 28:18-20; Mk. 2:5-12; 12:1-12; 13:26; 14:62-63; Jn 1:51; 3:12-15; 3:18; 5:23; 6:20; 6:33-35; 6:38; 6:60-63; 8:23-29; 8:56-59; 10:14-16; 10:29-31; 10:38-39; 11:25-27; 12:44-46; 13:13-14; 13:19-20; 13:31-32; 14:7-10; 14:23-25; 15:4; 15:26; 16:14; 16:27-28; 17:1-5; 17:10; 17:11; 17:20; 20:22] </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">14- Muslim - God Declared Himself to be God, Jesus didn't (Ezekiel 20:20) <span style="color: red;">Christian - This is an obvious example of Muslims just picking out a verse to validate their own theology - However, the prophet Ezekiel does describe a vision of God that is helpful - <br /><br /><i>“Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown”</i> Ezekiel Chapter 1:26-28 <br /><br /> <br /> The prophet Ezekiel describes a Vision of YHWH as looking like a MAN. This was none other than the 2nd person of <br /><br />the Trinity, the eternal word of God (John 1:1).. This is Jesus before He became a man! </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">15- Muslim - Jesus told his real mission was to preach not sacrifice (Mark 1:38) <span style="color: red;">Christian - Jesus said his mission was to proclaim the kingdom of God but that message included His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 16:21 that he must suffer and die and be raised on the third day before entering into His glory- Luke 24:13-35 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">16- Muslim - Jesus desired mercy not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13) <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes, Jesus was telling people it was better to extend mercy to people rather than doing self-righteous religious deeds but the context of this passage has nothing to do with Jesus’ atonement sacrifice</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">17- Muslim - Jesus referred himself as Servant: (Matthew 10:24, 24:45, 12:18 John 13:16). <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes, God is humble and came down as a man to serve mankind. The Servant of the LORD is also what the Prophet Isaiah calls the Divine Messiah; and so Jesus saying I am “the Servant” to Jews who knew He was talking about the Prophet Isaiah’s Messianic Prophecies. Read Isaiah chapters 42, 49 and especially chapter 53. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">18- Muslim - Jesus referred to himself as Son of Man: Matthew 5:9, 17:22, 8:20, 18:11, 26:2, Luke 9:22, John 5:27. <span style="color: red;">Christian - YES! But remember Jesus was talking to Jews of the 1st century. When Jews of the first century heard the term “Son of Man” they would have immediately thought of THE Son of Man as the exalted messiah from the prophet Daniel:<br /><br /><i>“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.</i> Daniel chapter 7:13-14 <br /> <br /><br />This is why when Jesus clearly quoted Daniel 7 to the Jewish leaders they condemned Himself to death for blasphemy of calling Himself God. <br /> <br /><i> Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. </i>Mark 14:61-64</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">19- Muslim - Referred himself as a Slave: John 13:16, Matthew 10:24. <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes remember the Prophet Isaiah foretold 700 years earlier that the Messiah would be known as the Servant of the Lord. The Jewish God YHWH was a God that humbled himself and didn’t have a problem serving. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">20- Muslim - Referred himself as a Student and was taught by the Father: Matthew 10:24; John 8:28 - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes, because Jesus emptied Himself of his divine privileges (Philippians 2:5-8) Jesus grew up into the knowledge of who he was (Luke 2:52) This is a great and beautiful mystery and isn’t meant to be logically comprehended but is supposed to cause us to marvel with love and worship God who would come so low to save us (1 Timothy 3:16) </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">21 - Muslim - Jesus can do nothing by himself (John 5:19, John 5:30) -<span style="color: red;"> Christian, Yes - The Father and the Son are ONE so they do everything together (John 10:31); its impossible to separate the eternal Godhead. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">22- Muslim - Jesus does not even have his own doctrine (John 7:16) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Jesus and the Father are ONE and Jesus as a humble loving servant wants to see the Father exalted, and the Father wants to see the Son exalted. This is the Love of the Trinity. This makes so much sense because for instance how can Allah be merciful if he has never personally related to anyone. Allah as a monad existed all by himself before creation and so how could he actually show mercy to anyone? Allah actually needs creation to have any real attributes. Because YHWH is a Godhead, The Father, Son and Spirit were loving and serving each other from eternity past so it makes sense that YWHW can call himself loving long before creation. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">23- Muslim - Jesus ascended to his God (John 20:17) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Yes and Jesus sat down on the divine throne as YHWH exalted over all things... only God could sit on the divine throne! Psalm 110, Joel chapter 2 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">24- Muslim - According to Christians Jesus died as recorded in Matthew 27:27-56 but Bible says that God is infinite Psalm 102:27-27 - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Jesus’ spirit wasn’t destroyed when he died on the cross he kept existing as He descended to the dead for three days and then His spirit rose and he was given a new body. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">25- Muslim - Jesus needed to Pray, Eat, Drink and was helped by a woman, as stated in Luke 8:1-3 but God in the Bible is self-sufficient Psalm 50:12 - <span style="color: red;">Christian - Again, when Jesus chose to come as a man He laid aside his divine privileges and grew up fully man anointed by the Holy Spirit and experienced life just like any man but without any sin. The prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus’ entire life before He was resurrected from the dead was marked with suffering. Jesus experienced weakness, got hungry, felt the pressures and tensions from external pressures while maintaining a perfectly clean soul. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">26- Muslim - the God remain the same in nature (Hebrews 1:12) - <span style="color: red;">Christian - this passage is talking about God’s character - His Character never changes - Hebrews 1:3 clearly telly us that Jesus is God. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">27- Muslim - Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever including being a human (Hebrew 13:8) - <span style="color: red;">Christian, Jesus is not eternally since he wasn't a human in eternity past but He has always been fully God and His character has never changed, (which is the point of the passage, not his ontological substance). The whole book of Hebrews clearly tells us that Jesus is fully God and fully man. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">28- Muslim - Jesus could not save anyone as he was even not able to save himself (Hebrews 5:1-8) - <span style="color: red;">Christian, This is not what this passage is saying at all - a complete distortion of the passage.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">29 - Muslim- Jesus said he was sent to lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24)- <span style="color: red;">Christian, Yes! Jesus initiated the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 with twelve Jews who represent the new leadership of the nation of Israel. On the night of the last supper and broke bread saying “This is my body broken take and eat this is my body broken for you,” and then he took the cup and said “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” - only YHWH the God of Israel could initiate the New Covenant with Israel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">30 - Muslim - God can not be born and perhaps from His own creation. <span style="color: red;">Christian, if God is all powerful he can do whatever he wants. Besides, in the Old Testament scriptures the God of Israel was always coming down into his creation and appearing as a man Also, Jesus had to be born as a man, because to be a perfect sacrifice for humanity he had to be a real man, not just appear as a man. But only God had the worth and value in himself to pay the price for the cumulative sins of humanity. This is why only someone who was fully God and fully man could die on the cross for the sins of humanity. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">31- Muslim - Jesus never told people to worship him - <span style="color: red;">Christian, Jesus received worship on numerous occasions and affirmed those who worshiped Him. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><i> John 20:28-29 - Thomas responded to Jesus., “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.[e] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” <br /><br /> Luke 19: 37-40 –The disciples began to joyfully shout praise God in loud voices, “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the LORD, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” He replied I tell you, If they keep quiet the stones will cry out” <br /><br />Matthew 14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “truly you are the Son of God” John 9:38 – Then the man [who had been healed] said, “Lord I believe, “ and he worshiped Him. <br /> <br /> Luke 24:52 - Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy </i></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">32- Muslim - Jesus did not Teach Trinity - <span style="color: red;">Christian, Jesus DID teach that there were three divine persons within one God - <br /> <br /><i> Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:9-17 <br /><br /> <br /> And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[c] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 28:18-19</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">33- Muslim - God is the essence of the worship. He is the object of worship. Had Jesus been God, he would have told people to worship him. Truly, he did the exact opposite as in Matthew 15:9 </span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> Christian, You misunderstand the nature of God and the mission of Jesus before He was crucified. Jesus will ultimately be worshiped by all people in heaven, on the earth and under the earth. [Philippians 2:9-11] The purpose of the Jesus’ incarnation demanded he suffer before entering into His glory. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">34- Muslim - Jesus never called his followers Christians, Paul did - <span style="color: red;">Christian - No, Paul was not the first person to call them Christians. The disciple of Jesus and historian Luke wrote this in the Acts of the Apostles... “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch - Acts 11:26 - Its doesn’t say who first called them Christians and that doesn’t matter what defined “Christians” from the very beginning was their devotion to worship Jesus and to take “communion” together. Communion which the act of worship when Jesus initiated the new covenant when He broke the bread and drank of the cup commanding us to remember His death burial and resurrection as an atoning sacrifice. The presence of communion was central to the earliest followers of Jesus. Historically the early followers of Jesus adopted the name “Christian” as their very own and died martyrs deaths not letting go of that name.Caesar would bring them forward and ask them to renounce being a Christian and commanded them to worship the emperor and many Christians wouldn’t and were put the death clinging to that name. </span></span><br />
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Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-90825496492291184332018-01-15T12:21:00.001-08:002019-12-13T22:04:22.780-08:00An Eternal Qur'an? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i><a href="http://mmwu.org/">mmwu.org</a> - Mission Muslim World University Course 3 Lesson 6 Assignment: "Many Muslims don’t know the story of Zaid ibn Thabit or its significance. Memorize the essential outline and tell it in three minutes or less. Develop questions to accompany your telling of the story that will help a Muslim see the problems with the manuscript."</i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Qur’an had not yet been assembled when Muhammad passed away in 632
A.D. During the Ridda Wars about 700 of the Quran reciters (hafiz) were killed. In 634
A.D. Abu Bakr commissioned Zaid Ibn Thabit, who had been a scribe of Muhammad, to
search for the “fragmentary scripts” of revelation and collect them. To which Zaid
replied:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i> “By Allah, if Abu Bakr had ordered me to shift a mountain among the mountains
from one place to another it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me
to collect the Qur’an.”</i> (Buhkari 9:89:301).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Zaid collected fragments from bones, leaves,
parchments, papers, skins, mats, stones, bark and the memories of Muhammad’s companions.
Is it possible to know if Zaid was able to find all the ayas ever given? We
must remember that 700 of the reciters of the Qur’an had already been killed and there
were some verses Zaid found with only one person, including one he found after the
text had already been copied and sent out.
Zaid’s manuscript was given to Hafsah, one of Muhammad’s wives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But 15 different
codices of the Qur’an existed between 635-650 A.D. Some of Muhammad’s companions,
including some of the men Muhammad had instructed his other followers to
learn the Qur’an from, had written their own manuscripts and refused to replace them
with Zaid’s. One must ask why Zaid was appointed to compile the Qur’an when there
were other men who were close companions of Muhammad who Muhammad considered
authorities on the Qur’an, like Ubay ibn Ka’b (whose manuscript became standard
in Syria) and Ibn Mas’ud (whose manuscript became standard in Iraq). In fact, Zaid had
not yet been born when Mas’ud had recited 70 suras by heart before Muhammad. Regardless
of the reason for Zaid’s appointment, it became clear that these other men had
written their own manuscripts, and these manuscripts were being used by different
groups.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To further complicate things, no two of these codices were exactly the same.
There were thousands of variations among them. So once again something had to be
done. Uthman, the third Caliph, sought to standardize the Qur’an and impose one text
upon the whole Muslim community.
Though Zaid’s codex was with Hafsah, Uthman called for a second collection,
again written by Zaid. Why rewrite something that was perfect? Uthman then ordered
all other manuscripts be burned. We must conclude the other manuscripts were destroyed
to hide these discrepancies. Their destruction makes it impossible to prove what
we have today is what was revealed to Muhammad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is said this second collection
was written in the Qurayshi dialect of Arabic. This is a problem because dialects mean
different vowels. And there were no vowel markings in Arabic at the time of Zaid. Vowels
were not introduced until the late 8th century. Furthermore, where is the original
manuscript? The manuscripts we have are not old enough, are not complete, and are
full of variants. There is no complete manuscript until the 10th century.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> As Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab stated:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <i>“Let no one of you say that he has acquired
the entire Qur’an, for how does he know that it is all? Much of the Qur’an has
been lost, thus let him say, ‘I have acquired of it what is available’” (As-Suyuti, Itqan,
part 3, page 72). </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Taking all of this into consideration, how can one claim the Qur’an we
have today is an exact copy of what has existed eternally in heaven?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sandy - MMWU Student</span></div>
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Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-37683013655969760832017-12-01T14:09:00.003-08:002019-12-11T07:44:55.387-08:00Lists of Useful Verses From the Bible & Quran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
This is a helpful handout made by Jesse Digges with Send56.org<br />
<br />
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7068965517241379" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_37823" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/366068258/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-qlWoD7Vg4mN61wka3f4m&show_recommendations=true" title="Lists of Useful Verses From the Bible & Quran" width="100%"></iframe>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-44871354866191198772017-08-17T12:08:00.001-07:002019-12-13T21:43:34.626-08:00Muslims often Ask, "How Can Jesus be God?" <style type="text/css">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Muslims often ask, “How can Jesus be God?</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus makes statements that ONLY the God of Israel could make. In other words, Jesus was clearly saying that He was YHWH, the God of Israel! There is no possibility these statements could be made by a mere prophet. All of these scriptures go back 550-600 years before the Qur'an and were written by Jesus’ original followers who were EYEWITNESSES of the events they recorded. Here are some examples</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">John 8:58 - <i>Jesus says” Before Abraham was I AM. Then they took up stones to throw at Him”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In Exodus 3:14-15 God said to Moses, <i>“I AM WHO I AM.”</i> And he said, <i>“Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.… say this to the people of Israel, the LORD (YHWH ), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’</i> JESUS WAS CLEARLY SAYING HE WAS YHWH, THE GOD OF ISRAEL!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are 6 primary ways that defined YHWH as the ONE God of Israel in the ancient Jewish scriptures. The writers of the New Testament scriptures attribute all of these categories to Jesus.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. YHWH is creator and Jesus is the creator of all things.</span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"> Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth<br />Col. 1:15-16 [<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1&version=NASB">w</a>]He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For [<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1&version=NASB%22%20%5Cl%20%22fen-NASB-29482x%22%20%5Co%20%22See%20footnote%20x">x</a>]by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b> 2. YHWH alone sits on the divine throne and Jesus also sits on the divine throne over all things.</b> </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Ps. 113:5 - Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high,<br /> Ps. 110:1 -“The LORD (YHWH) says to my Lord (Adonai): “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Acts 2:32-36 - This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made known That JESUS is both LORD and Messiah—this Jesus whom you crucified.”</span></i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. YHWH made covenant with Israel and Jesus initiates the New Covenant with Israel </span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Jeremiah 31:31 - “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD (YHWH), “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,<br /><br />Matt 23:37 Jesus says - “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. <br /><br />Luke 22:20 Jesus says … “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, shed for you…” </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. YHWH was the ONE who brought Israel out of Egypt. Jesus is said to have brought Israel out of Egypt.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Exodus 13:16 – The Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand….<br /><br />Jude 5 – I want to remind you that the Lord [Jesus] brought you out of Egypt ….<br /><br />1 Cor 10:9 – We should not temp Christ like the children of Israel did in the wilderness coming out of Egypt …</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b> 5. YHWH will execute judgement at the DAY OF THE LORD. Jesus will execute judgement at the DAY OF THE LORD JESUS.</b> </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Isaiah 29:6 - The LORD almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of devouring fire. <br /><br />2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with [f]His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. God alone deserves worship and Jesus receives and encourages people to worship Him numerous times</b> </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">John 20:28-29 - Thomas responded to Jesus., “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.[e] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”<br /><br /> Luke 19: 37-40 –The disciples began to joyfully shout praise God in loud voices, “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the LORD, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” He replied I tell you, If they keep quiet the stones will cry out” <br /><br /> Matthew 14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “truly you are the Son of God” <br /><br /> John 9:38 – Then the man [who had been healed] said, “Lord I believe, “ and he worshiped Him.<br /><br />Luke 24:52 - Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy</span></i><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Muslims often object and say Jesus and God can’t both be God if there is only one God.</span></i></b></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Actually YHWH of the Bible is much different than Allah. The God of the Bible has always revealed Himself as having multiple persons within Himself while being ONE God. YHWH revealed Himself as transcendent and invisible while being near and visible. All throughout the ancient Jewish scriptures YHWH always was seen as a God who came down into His creation to make Himself known seeking a relationship with His people. It’s actually Muslims who changed the identity of God into a monad (tawhid) much later but this was not what the earliest Jewish prophets taught. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From the very beginning God reveled Himself as One God having MULTIPLE persons</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Some verses don’t make sense without understanding there are multiple DIVINE persons of ONE God. </span></b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"> Gen 1:26 God Says Let Us make man in Our Image.<br /><br /> Ps. 110 Says: The LORD says to my Lord sit at my right hand…. (YHWH talking to Adonai) <br /><br /> Genesis 19:24 Then YHWH rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from YHWH out of the heavens. (This only make sense if there are two distinct persons both called YHWH)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. God was known as transcendent and invisible and yet men saw God many times. Jews of the 1st century were devout monotheists but understood this concept as multiple YHWH’s in one Divine Identity.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">- In Genesis 3:8-9 God came down and walked in the garden calling out to Adam and Eve. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">- In Genesis 18 YHWH ate a meal with Abraham</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">- In Exodus 24 seventy elders of Israel saw the God of Israel, ate in his presence, and lived. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. In the Jewish old testament scriptures (Tawrat): The Word, Wisdom, and the Glory of God are shown personified and part of the ONE God. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> - In Proverbs 8 “Wisdom” was speaking as a divine person who created the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">- In Genesis 15 The Word appeared as a person and talked to Abraham in a vision.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. A divine being called the Angel (or Messenger) of the LORD was identified as YHWH 18 Times in the Old Testament. </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">[Genesis 16:10; 21:17; 22:10-18; 28:12-22; 31:11-13; 32:24-32; 48:15-16; Exodus 3:2-5; 13:21; 14:19; Judges 2:1-2; 6:22-24; 13:3-22; Joshua 5:13-15; Is. 63:9; Hosea 12:3-5; Mal 3:1; Acts 7:30]</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">i.e. - In Exodus 3 we are told that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush . Then the Angel spoke to Moses and said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (verse 6). - The Angel identifies Himself as God (YHWH)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those inspired while writing the New Testament scriptures understood all visible encounters with God in the Jewish Old Testament as the 2nd YHWH who came down and became man in Jesus Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since YHWH had been coming down and showing Himself in a human form all throughout the Old Testament It made sense for Jesus’ first followers (the Apostles) to believe that Jesus was YHWH saying things like: He is the visible image of the invisible God. [Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15]</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus said: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? John 14:9</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">YHWH who had been coming down since the garden of Eden. He became a man in Jesus Christ and died on the cross, rose again from the dead as a sacrifice for your sins. He did this so your sins can be forgiven, so you can have eternal life, and personally know Him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do you want to know God? Then you must know Jesus as both LORD and Savior! Start praying asking Jesus to reveal Himself to you. Start reading the Bible and find a Christian who can teach you how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">[45 of Jesus’s statements that only the God of Israel could make: Matt. 9:6; 9:15; 11:27; 12:8; 13:41; 16:27; 18:20; 21:9; 22:42; 23:37-39; 24:30; 24:35; 25:31-32; 26:28; 26:63-65; 28:18-20; Mk. 2:5-12; 12:1-12; 13:26; 14:62-63; Jn 1:51; 3:12-15; 3:18; 5:23; 6:20; 6:33-35; 6:38; 6:60-63; 8:23-29; 8:56-59; 10:14-16; 10:29-31; 10:38-39; 11:25-27; 12:44-46; 13:13-14; 13:19-20; 13:31-32; 14:7-10; 14:23-25; 15:4; 15:26; 16:14; 16:27-28; 17:1-5; 17:10; 17:11; 17:20; 20:22]</span></div>
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Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-36956020025504020222017-08-08T10:47:00.002-07:002019-12-11T07:15:52.699-08:00Biblical Basis for the Trinity Scripture Index<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="975" id="doc_87956" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/355839233/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-N5SRoMFuveHsxQwENkk0&show_recommendations=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-26115056004807727062017-08-06T20:22:00.000-07:002019-12-27T12:31:59.600-08:00Ghana for Christ Initiative<div class="p1">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dear friends of i2 Ministries,<br /><br />I have just returned from the “Ghana for Christ Conference: Strategies for Evangelizing the World,” July 25-28, 2017, just outside of Accra, Ghana. I wanted to provide you with an overview of the conference.<br /><br />Shortly after arriving in Ghana, I was asking my host some questions about the "conference," and, after awhile, he leaned in and said, "We are not calling it a 'conference.' We are calling it a 'movement.' Never before in Ghana have we had a gathering of pastors from all over the nation. We are expecting 1,000." I was eager to get the conference started. By the end of our registration process, we had about 700 pastors in attendance, but, more importantly, some of the major church leaders in Ghana were gathered there. Their presence alone will potentially multiply training opportunities in the future. From the beginning, there was much excitement in the air. Not only was it the first time for Ghana to assemble pastors from the entire nation, this gathering of pastors was probably the largest gathering of pastors ever assembled anywhere for the purpose of reaching Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was truly a pleasure to be a part of the team and to witness this moment.<br /><br />The conference consisted of teaching and training. For the teaching parts, we had four teachers, who assisted in the plenary sessions and workshops. They also led session introductions and session wrap-up discussions in order to model for the pastors how they would conduct their own conferences. Through these live presentations, video presentations, and workshops, each pastor was receiving initial training to be more effective in taking, and training others to take, the gospel into Muslim communities. However, the vision for training was bigger than this.<br /><br />For the training aspects of the conference, we had four “coaches,” who provided their expertise in assisting the pastors in understanding the material better as well as in their preparation for offering the same teaching/training in their churches. The conference goal was for each pastor was twofold: 1) to develop a personal action plan for training others and 2) to commit to personally evangelize Muslims, as well as lead others twice per month to evangelize Muslims. To reinforce the training sessions and keep the pastors encouraged after they returned to their homes alone, the 700 pastors were divided into a little over 50 “WhatsApp” groups. Each group was led by a facilitator, a more mature member of the group who could assist the other pastors in being successful with their action plans. They were in these groups throughout the conference, working together and growing together. The training and smaller (WhatsApp) groups experience was so successful that all pastors had submitted their action plans the day before the conference ended. It was amazing! These WhatsApp groups will continue for the next year in order to help the pastors maintain communication with one another, sharing their experiences and failures with their coach and one another. It is our hope that this smaller community will serve as a catalyst to keep them all progressing toward their personal goals and the ultimate conference goal of sharing the gospel with every Muslim in Ghana. The pastors came prepared and were ready for whatever God wanted to do in them and through them. The presence of the Lord was obvious throughout the conference.<br /><br />The Ghana for Christ Conference is finished. It concluded with a graduation ceremony for the pastors, including certificates and a USB thumb drive, loaded with the materials necessary to conduct a Muslim evangelism and apologetics conference in the churches of the pastors who were in attendance. The pastors were absolutely thrilled to receive these training materials.<br /><br />They also gave our team quite the send-off, awarding us "The Outstanding Apostello Award," the highest recognition from their denomination. They truly appreciated us and the training we brought. We had a mutual admiration for them.<br /><br />With their action plans in place and the pastors safely back to their homes, our follow-up is focused on keeping them encouraged to fulfill their commitments. If they do, more and more will be trained to bring the light of Jesus to the darkness of Islam. We have every confidence that we will hear many reports of effective training conferences, Muslim evangelism, and Muslims getting saved. Only a few hours after the conference ended, the first message came into WhatsApp from a student who had just shared the gospel with a Muslim on his train ride home. He took their picture and posted it for everyone in his WhatsApp group to see. All were encouraged by this quick success story.<br /><br />Looking back on that first day, our host did provide an accurate summary when he said that it was more than a conference. It was, in fact, a movement. There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit was moving throughout the conference. And there is no doubt that the impact of that conference will continue to be felt in the future. Many churches will be transformed because these pastors have been transformed. The ripple effect will be felt for the years to come. Please, pray for them and continue to pray until every Muslim in Ghana has the good news of Jesus.<br /><br />Dr. David Talley<br />Chair OT Department<br />Biola University</span></div>
Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-21111874594236429112017-04-23T07:46:00.000-07:002019-12-11T07:18:38.427-08:00Every Muslim for Christ Initiative - Costa Rica <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSllvjn4eiqSqJ2LCM0lEUEhhdEkWA1fdL3BiiAvDrs9-uxRe_4eftAWynO_MOMRaDpjmbBTwWfMfxNWxJudkJnYFnvS5Vw040Or6vf3Fc44cDyzGUM94lxnSlYyKW-vHl8LlJeI5xQT8/s1600/costa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSllvjn4eiqSqJ2LCM0lEUEhhdEkWA1fdL3BiiAvDrs9-uxRe_4eftAWynO_MOMRaDpjmbBTwWfMfxNWxJudkJnYFnvS5Vw040Or6vf3Fc44cDyzGUM94lxnSlYyKW-vHl8LlJeI5xQT8/s640/costa.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Every Muslim for Christ Initiative - Costa Rica</i></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2GDnjYqCxpE?rel=0" width="853"></iframe>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-68052644122981752812016-11-15T18:42:00.000-08:002019-12-11T07:11:53.231-08:00Where is Covenant, Atonement, and Priesthood in Islam? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTgZXQIDcqiR1FjvYdVWjnU5lMePRoHpmZuaf3Vl5Hcc3SW6ovkjT30pxCd_cBrGFkL9mqQFXLBmfKAebm1TldHGqgsR8v8BtsezeTcuXFx-TA1FUdOz1MO2wZ8ZTiqRrxKRfbOBhprg/s1600/800px-Josefa_de_Ayala_-_The_Sacrificial_Lamb_-_Walters_371193.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="800" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTgZXQIDcqiR1FjvYdVWjnU5lMePRoHpmZuaf3Vl5Hcc3SW6ovkjT30pxCd_cBrGFkL9mqQFXLBmfKAebm1TldHGqgsR8v8BtsezeTcuXFx-TA1FUdOz1MO2wZ8ZTiqRrxKRfbOBhprg/s640/800px-Josefa_de_Ayala_-_The_Sacrificial_Lamb_-_Walters_371193.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br />A discussion with some of the Mission Muslim World University Students (mmwu.org) </span><br /><br /><br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="484" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOiJ6kzhN-I?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="860"></iframe>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-27487127608400734212016-11-15T05:16:00.003-08:002019-12-12T15:53:22.635-08:00Old Testament Immorality, Polygamy and Violence? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigQrWTeKkFZHyf-oH8Z8_EzxUnu9TAWsYCs_BUNSo_BIxK1JvD7MqSKIK4qwQCiub_AzwOFn1YOGGAInM8BKSbsg2oE2Rh-oe4hg30DNlVSxzq1GLrXViC0DJ5LqcrfRU_SL6lISQ9Gc/s640/joshua.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Old Testament has different literary styles of writing. One primary style is historical narrative.... which is just as it sounds a narrative of the history of the events. Muslims don't have anything like this in the Qur'an and so they have a hard time understanding why horrific stories could be in a holy book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This gets into a bigger discussion about the nature of revelation. Christians believe that the scriptures were written as prophets were "inspired" by the Holy Spirit utilizing their distinct personalities and literary styles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We don't believe that God bypassed the prophets intellect and somehow had the prophet write s word-for-word dictation. But this is exactly what Muslims believe. They believe that Muhammad's intellect was completely removed from the equation and that he went into these ecstatic prophetic rants speaking the perfect and pure words of Allah. So we will always have some work to do to destroy the fantasy that the Qur'an is perfect while the Bible is corrupted. I think we must help our Muslim friends look at things historically objective and then come to a conclusion which book is really from God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We need to help our Muslim Friends understand that God was not affirming the wicked violent or immoral stories present in the Old Testament but rather they are included so that we can learn what NOT to do. (1 Cor. 10 makes this abundantly clear). Muslims will say that David and Solomon had more than one wife and so that its ok that Muhammad did... But God never affirms polygamy but makes concessions for it; just as He did for divorce. (i.e. Exodus 21:10). Deut. 17 tells us the kings were NOT to multiply wives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We must help our Muslim friends understand that God's plan for marriage started in the Garden between 1 man and 1 women. Polygamy was culturally acceptable in the ancient world but post exile Jews stopped this practice because they realized that God's plan for marriage was perverted when a man took multiple wives. Here is a good article on the subject. <a href="http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp75.htm">http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp75.htm</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Muslims don't like sinful people being used as prophets and so when they read of David and the rest of the prophets committing sin they want to throw away the bible. However, we must show them that the truth of history being recorded gives us great confidence that the scriptures are noting trying to present a skewed whitewashed picture of those in the scriptures. The reality is that all those in the bible are shown to be sinful, weak, broken, humans but that God can still use them to help accomplish the story of redemption. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Muslims often bring up the conquests of Joshua in response to questions about the early Islamic conquests. First, of all Joshua was commissioned by God to destroy seven Canaanite nations because their sin had reached its fullness (God was previously patient with them in Genesis 15). God was very clear that this conquest was limited to a very specific geographic region and to very specific people (Can we say this about the early Muslim conquests?... ummm no). Second, this is the old covenant. We don't follow Joshua's example, you can explain to a Muslim that the civil and ceremonial laws of the old covenant have been "abrogated" by the new covenant (take them to the sermon on the mount). Muslims typically do not understand the progressive nature of Christian revelation revealed through the dispensation of covenants. (No Christian thinks he should follow Joshua's example). We follow Jesus not Joshua. Muslims have a bigger issue because all the violent verses found in the Qur'an (i.e. suras 8-9 abrogate (replace) any peaceful verses in the Qur'an. (The final marching orders in the Qur'an can be found in Sura 9)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We don't need to try to explain away the old testament stories.... we need to affirm, "yes these stories are horrible" and then help Muslims understand how the whole of the old testament is to show the fallen sinful nature of humanity and our need for a savior. Islam doesn't believe that humanity is fallen or sinful by nature, so we can use these stories as well as the sermon on the mount to ask the Muslim if they have ever gone 1 day without sin?!? If they have gone 1 hour without sin??? Once they see how sinful they really are then they can see that their situation is hopeless.... there is no way there good deeds will outweigh their bad on the day of judgement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">They long for a sinless man who has the perfect message... this is a great launching point to share Jesus the perfect sinless God man! </span>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-80401873576812489652016-11-14T14:21:00.001-08:002019-12-29T04:46:45.286-08:00Priestly identity of the Church and the call to be set apart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">"You must not live according to the custom of the nations..." Lev. 20:23</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Old Testament can be summed up as God's desire to covenant with a set apart people. YHWH as a covenental God; means that He is a jealous God.... a bridegroom who will not share His bride with anther. YHWH betrothed Himself to Israel at Mt Sinai in exodus 19 (Jer. 2:2) and declares that His purpose for covenantal redemption is for Him to have a kingdom of Priests. The Priesthood sets Israel apart as a holy people. Central to the covenant is YHWH's zeal to keep Israel distinct and separate from the customs of the Nations. Scholar David Talley sums up the Old Testament as a polemic against false God's. Israel was called to be zealously committed to making a distinction between what is clean and unclean. </span><br />
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<i>I am the LORD your GOD who has set you apart from the nations. Lev. 20:24</i></span><br />
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Central to the new covenant just as in the old covenant is the jealousy of the Bridegroom God to have a holy priesthood set apart for Himself being radically different than the world. (1 Pet. 2:9-10; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 5:9-10; Matt 5:13-16; Eph. 5:11-14; 1 John ). There is continuity in the story of redemption. All the covenants are ultimately intertwined in one story to restore humanity to intimate relationship with God in the priestly ministry of the garden sanctuary that was lost at the fall. (The garden of Eden is to be seen as the original holy of hollies.... not a grove of apple trees waiting to harvest). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Church should be seen as a new covenant priesthood; The old testament priesthood was a shadow [or a earthly replication] of the original heavenly temple and priesthood but the new covenant priesthood is the substance of the true heavenly priesthood with Jesus being the High Priest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Church is forever a bride; forever adopted as "son's"; and forever priests (priests being the least emphasized and least understood). These three identities will never go away. James in Acts 15 connects the great commission of the gospel going to the gentiles to the restoration of the Tabernacle of David. The Tabernacle of David was in operating for a short time during David's reign with night and day Pslamidy by occupational singers (the Levites) in a liturgical cycle which was a "new revelation" not inclusive in the aaronic priesthood of the mosaic covenant...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So where did David get this "new" priesthood? It seems to being going directly against the mosaic law since the ark wasn't separated from the Levites. Well, it seems that it was a unique and divinely ordained priesthood coinciding with the Davidic covenant. The Davidic Covenant is a promise to the eternal throne of Israel given of the "son" of David leading to a global theocratic reign from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. But The tabernacle of David and the theology of the Pslams coinciding with the Davidic covenant shows that end of this theocratic reign is the global and universal worship of YHWH in every place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So the great commission is summed up by the Apostle James as the restoration of the tabernacle of David so that the Gentiles can also be included in the heavenly priesthood without separation; without veil ... that the nations might also seek the God of Israel. In the Aaronic Priesthood only those of the blood line of Aaron could serve as priests; but now the veil has been torn and every single believer in Jesus has the unthinkable privilege of having a new and living way to go in beyond the veil to encounter the presence of the LORD. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A window into the finishing of the great commission is seen in Rev. 5:9-10 where the hosts of heaven sing a song quoting exodus 19 basically saying.... <i>Worthy is the Lamb for you did make us a kingdom of Priests like you desired at Sinai.</i>..</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When doing missions we must disciple the nations into their priestly identity. The mosaic Law was central to the old covenant priesthood. Now the sermon on the mount (the central teaching of Jesus) has become the "law of the spirit" to the new covenant priesthood. If we are to enter in beyond the veil is still requires a "protocol" being distinct; different; set apart; and totally other than the practices of the false God's of the nations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Discipleship movements among Muslims must include the call for a new covenant separation between the false God of Islam and YHWH the God of the nations. Jew first and then the gentile.... till all the nations sing.</span>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-43567923949159344512016-11-08T15:01:00.003-08:002019-12-27T12:35:29.521-08:00Good Questions on Contextualizing the Gospel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Question from a student - " I have a question/comment. When I was watching the insider movement video, there were a few things that I just could not agree on. I'm not currently directly involve with any M work (yet), but I've heard many workers share and teach on their work, and we would use "Isa Al-Masih" to refer to Jesus, it's contextualized to the local context, and I have not seen a hindrance for using that term. Also, because of the situation here (which i'm sure in many other countries as well), where M are not allowed to convert out, and it's actually written in the law of the country, and we are not allowed to 'evangelize' to them, I know that some MBB have made the choice to continue going to the mosque while praying to Jesus, and even sharing about Jesus inside. Also, instead of saying "I am a Christian", say "I am a follower of Christ" is better, because religion and the Malay culture is so intertwined for them, and they have been so entrenched in the culture, that the word "Christian" is actually like taking them even out of their culture. (Not sure if this is making sense). For example, there was an elderly man whom they were reaching out to. One day he finally accepted the Lord and they said, "Congratulations you're now a Christian!" and he got soooo offended. I've heard ppl from different C1-C5 share, and I think that each has its own unique situation, and I believe that the Lord can use all things for His glory. Anyways, that's just my 2 cents.<br /> Could you expound more on how you would explain the trinity? I know you talked about how the stone tablets are believed to be eternally beside allah and that is similar to the Logos, the Son, being alongside the Father eternally. Also, in Gen 1, the Spirit is hovering over the waters, and "Elohim" being a plural form. How else would you talk about the trinity?</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">My response: <br /><br />The issue of contextualizing the gospel is essential to get straight. I would recommend you go deeper in the subject.... The book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chrislam-Missionaries-Promoting-Islamized-Gospel/dp/0984022902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478616165&sr=8-1&keywords=chrislam">Chrislam</a> is probably the best resource that has been written on it. Joshua Lingel had many top scholars and missiologists contribute to this book. <br /><br />I would say that using the language of "Isa Al-Masih" as a starting point isn't bad, However, we must be clear that The Qur'an has a different Jesus and there really isn't any way for a person to be follower of "Isa Al-Masih" but still be a M' and actually have a genuine salvation experience. What defines being a follower of Jesus is to "obey all that Jesus commands in the bible. If they want to follow Jesus they must come to the conclusion that every other religion represent false God's and false prophets and must be repented of. Followers of Jesus must obey the words of Jesus according to scripture.<br /><br />Salvation according to the Apostles and the early Church fathers was centered around Jesus as fully God and Fully man and His substitution atonement on the cross, and His bodily resurrection, and receiving the Holy Spirit (thus believing in the trinity is essential to conversion). People don't have to have a deep understanding of God being trune but the trinity is essential to salvation ... Jesus says in John 7... If you don't believe that I AM [YHWH] you will die in your sins. Paul quotes Acts 2:32 in Romans 10 saying whoever confesses in their hearts that Jesus is LORD [YHWH] and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved... whoever calls on the name of the LORD [YWHW - Jesus] will be saved. <br /><br />So this becomes a discipleship issue. Those M's that are interested must be shown that Jesus is fully God and died an atoning death and that their faith is false. Their Jesus is wrong, and their prophet is not a prophet.... And their God is not the God of the bible in any sense.<br /><br />We would never encourage a hindu to remain a hindu and just follow Jesus, we would never tell a budhist to do that, or any other religion.... so why do we with Muslims? Is it because we start with the social difficulties and work our way backwards toward the bible? Biblical discipleship is the opposite we start with the bible and work our way to the social issues? Biblical contexualization is how does scripture work with culture NOT how does culture work with scripture. the starting point is everything.... <br /><br />I don't think we should ever shy away from using the word christian. That may be offensive but that's ok... a M' would never ever give up their name and just say they follow Muhammad so why should we give up our precious name that all the Apostles and early church fathers shed their blood over.... Lets remember the main question the Romans asked the early Christians during the roman persecutions was .... are you a Christian .... when they boldly said yes they were crucified or burned or thrown to the beasts... This was the Apostolic spirit. A faithful witness. If our name is a stumbling block then we work hard to help them overcome that stumbling block but we cannot renounce our name. Because being a Christian ties us to the global universal church and Jesus said He would build his Church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. His church was built upon the Apostles teaching and doctine and central to that is High Christology Hymn singing and partaking of the Lords supper as the central worship elements for all time until Christ comes. So there is no room for a Jesus Mosque etc. The Apostles baptize believers and plant churches and suffer persecution in the process. Worship expressions can and should take on a cultural flavor but singing to the Trinue God and taking Communion, and baptism are not optional but are universal to how the church as and always will function. I would say that being connected to the global Christian Church is a chief way and means of receiving the grace to mature and finish as a true disciple of Jesus. For salvation must be walked out daily and "centers around" daily commitment empowered by the Holy Spirit and so it is possible for people to fall away from grace and be cut off from the vine if they don't stay steadfast in the truth. Its virtually impossible to stay in persevering faith if one isn't doing it in community with other believers. <br /><br />This is why hypercontexualized insider movements don't often last past 1 generation of believers.... when the center of you family and community life is that of a different religion and you never find a new family then you just simply won't make it. Jesus says this is my Mother and sister and brother.... those that hear my words and obey, Jesus says, if one doesn't "hate" his brother, mother, and father in comparison to Me is not worthy to be my Disciple. Jesus is re-orienting the Apostles family as the family of God to be found in the Church - the Christian community first and formost. <br /><br />In America we see youth often calling themselves Christians but never get connected to the Church and their main community is that of the "tax collectors, and sinners" and they never mature and eventually live lives entrenched is sin and darkness. We are called to go minister to the "tax collectors and sinners" but not to have them be their primary community be that... Matthew stopped being a tax collector and became a disciple. He couldn't be both. M's are unrepentant sinners just as tax collectors and sinners ... just as we used to be. <br /><br />I don't think we have to tell a M to leave the mosque the scriptures will do that for us clearly ..... All we have to do is say ... ok you think you are ready to follow Isa ... lets see what that means .... Put the Qur'an away and pick up the Bible. Ok lets read all the words of Jesus and lets do all of them together... I'll do them with you. Lets start reading in Matthew. Read the Sermon on the Mount with your Muslim Friend. Ask them "OK what Is Jesus asking us to do? What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you? Don't let them get away with watering down the text... what does the text say? Ask them what blessed are those who are persecuted and reviled them for Jesus name means? Pray with them prayers of repentance going to the cross for forgiveness and receive the grace to follow Jesus' commands. When you start with the Gospels and you read them with a M there really isn't room to be an insider. For they called out... many said to Jesus I want to follow you.... and what did He say... "let the dead bury the dead, but you come and follow me," or "whoever seeks to save his life will lose it," or "whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back in not fit for the Kingdom of God," etc. etc.<br /><br />Jesus boldly confronted and polemically addressed the false ideologies of His day. So how would the Jesus of the Gospels deal with M's that are so aggressive against His divinity and atoning death? He told the rich young ruler to go sell all and come follow Him, but He didn't run after Him when the choked on the message. Most M's won't like the gospel, we don't want to make it any more offensive than it is ... but we can't water it down. Following Jesus is a radical re-orientation of leaving all and becoming a new creation.... the old is gone the new has come. <br /><br />I think until we as a church are willing to suffer be thrown and jail and suffer martyrdom as the Apostles and the early church were we will continue to try to make being a Christian an easy and wide road when in reality it is a narrow path and few are those that find it. <br /><br />Missions is primarily about proclaiming the glory of Christ to the lost. We shouldn't try to make a baby eat a steak and we shouldn't try to get a M to understand the entire message right away. However, if we are spoonfeeding them the right meal then it is small bites of the same glorious story... Small bites of steak are still steak, We don't feed people Chrislam in hopes that one day they will eat Christ and get rid of -Lam ....<br /><br />in regards to the trinity: <br /><br />The trinity can be defined as humanities experience of God's self revelation in history.<br /><br />Meaning... We don't start with our minds and our pre-existing worldviews on what being God means.... We start with how God has revealed Himself to Humanity. So with a M we say ok lets start 2600 years before the Qur'an... How did God reveal Himself to Humanity from the beginning? Start with the Torah..... Then work through the O.T. and the prophecies about the Messiah, etc.... The Jews weren't expecting a divine Messiah in the 1st century, but they were every very monotheistic, but even 1st century Jews had diversity within the divine identity [light, word, wisdom were more than attributes in the old testament but they are personified] So there was evidence about this plurality or diversity within the divine identity in the conversation from very strict monotheistic jewish sects. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-God-Israel-Testaments-Christology/dp/0802845592">See Richard bauckam Jesus and the God of Israel</a><br /><br />The word Trinity isn't in the bible ... but When the Jewish Apostles who were very strict monotheistic Jews had to reckon with God's self disclosure in Jesus Christ. The Apostles were convinced that Jesus was divine and the Apostles attributed the divine name YHWH {the tetragramaton, I AM THAT I AM....] to Jesus not the Father... seen all over the New Testament. This is seen in its highest form as the Apostle Paul re-writes the Jewish creed the shema in 1 Cor. 8:6 saying there is one God, the Father and one LORD Jesus Christ. (see the comment below about plurality within the O.T. Shema). So Strict Monotheism includes plurality within the divine identity. Jesus being the incarnate Logos or eternal Son (Ps. 2, Prov. 30). Gives Clarity to Elohim being Father, and Himself as Son. (Most clearly Synoptic prayers and the book of John). So the New Testament or [better said the New Covenant] gives us progressive revelation clarifying the identity of the Godhead. We are sure that this was a huge stretch for the Jewish Apostles to make the leap believing that a human was inclusive in the divine identity but they DID come to that conclusion.... The theology and doctrine of the trinity was formulated as the early Jewish Christians formulating clarity and language in light of their living breathing experience with the divine Son and the Divine Spirit that now lived inside them. This expectation was dimly seen looking back but by in large the Jewish scholars of the 1st centry missed this and it wasn't a formulated messianic expectation. (though there are plenty of Jewish targums (commentaries on the O.T.) that point to a divine messiah prior to Jesus) For these references see Appendix on Messianic expectation in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Jesus-Messiah-Updated/dp/0943575834"> The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim</a><br /><br />The Christians were ultimately deemed heretics by the Jewish synagogue because of their faith and belief in Jesus. (for at the beginning they didn't see themselves as starting a new religion.. .they would have seen themselves as fulfilling the OLD Covenant and Jesus instituting the prophesied New Covenant at the LORD'S supper. But when the Jews rejected this New Covenant movement ... they formed synogogue prayers condemning the Christians to eternal punishment and expelled them. Thus the early Christian worship expression was very close to how they would have worshiped in the synagogue (except that Passover meal was now every Sunday in the Eucharist instead of once a year) (this type of contextualization cannot be used in the Christian M' debate since Christianity is not a different Religion all together than that of the OLD Testament but rather the fulfillment of it - we still hold the O.T. scriptures as the word of God - we would never do this with any other book... and lets not forget that the early church used the O.T. as their only scriptures for the first 30 years of its life.<br /><br /><br />M's pride themselves upon Allah's oneness as God. However, the Qur'an is seen by most Sunni Muslims as eternally existing on Stone Tables and coming down to us exactly preserved as those tablets. I use this point to show that they have their own plurality in what is Divine. Is the Word of Allah different than Allah? or is it the same? Is it eternal? Since those tablets are also pre-existent and eternal could they be worshiped? So did the Tables become incarnated in the manuscipts of the Qur'an? <br /><br />So If Allah is compassionate has he ever related and shown compassion to anyone? The answer is NO, because of His transcendence He has never actually related to anyone so His names are just names they have never been demonstrated to actually be attributes. <br /><br />The Trinity is the opposite ... the Father has always been a father enjoying perfect relationship with His eternal Son and the Spirit, the Fellowship of the Trinity is How God's eternal attributes are able to be demonstrated. God is love because the Father has always been able to love upon His Son. Allah is actually not able to love cause He can't be relationaly connected to anyone<br /><br />These are more theological and philosophical answers but I like staying biblical: <br /><br /><i>Gen 1:26 Let US make man in OUR image</i><br /><br />That is why in the Shema, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!’, the ‘our God’ part is plural in the Hebrew (literally ‘our Gods’ and the word for ‘one’ is echad – a compound unity, not absolute unity as in the word ‘yachid’.) Arnold writes ‘If Moses had intended to teach God’s absolute oneness as opposed to His compound oneness, this would have been a far more appropriate word (yachid) to use.’ But he didn’t! He used echad which is used in such passages as <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Gen%201.5">Gen 1:5</a> where evening and morning are called one (echad’) day. <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Gen%202.24">Gen 2:24</a> where when man and woman come together in marriage and are called ‘one flesh’. <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Ezra%202.64">Ezra 2:64</a> where the whole assembly was one, though of course it comprised of many people. Or <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Ezek%2037.17">Ezek 37:17</a> where the two sticks are combined to become one. These are all uses of echad and show that it is a compound unity.<br /><br /><br />The Prophesied Messiah was declared to be Divine in the O.T. <br /><br />The many Angel of the Lord appearances in which the Son of God comes to earth in human form (not human flesh yet), stunning some of His people into the realization that they had just seen God (Genesis 16:13; Judges 13:22).<br /><br />Isaiah’s prophecies of the Messiah being called “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14) and “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6)<br /><br /><a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Micah%205.2">Micah 5:2</a> But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days.<br /><br />The conversation between the LORD and the Lord in Messianic Psalm 110. <br /><br /> In Zechariah 12:10, the Lord says “They will look on me whom they pierced.<br /><br /> <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Ps%2045.6-7">Psalm 45:6-7</a> - Elohim is applied to two divine personalities in the same verse! The second Elohim is called the God of the first Elohim! Only makes sense in terms of the Messiah being God, the son of God as other verses have shown! <br /><br /><a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Jer%2023.5-6">Jeremiah 23:5-6</a> 'The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely<br />and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.<br /><br />all three personalities are used in the same passage such as <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Isa%2048.12-16">Isa 48:12-16</a> where God the creator of the earth is speaking and says that He has been sent by another, Jehovah, together with a third person, the Spirit of Jehovah. This is the trinity! And it is clearly seen in the O.T. The three are seen also in <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/nlt/Isa%2063.7-14">Isaiah 63:7-14</a>.</span>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-85214775073206679312016-10-05T08:25:00.004-07:002019-12-27T12:36:04.573-08:00Church History's Reformers Seeking to Return to the Apostolic Example and so Should We<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Church history is full of the blunders of corrupt men dealing with lust for power and earthly glory. But on the other hand it is filled with "reformers" or those who want to restore the "faith that was once handed down to us" by the Apostles. People throughout history have debated over the issues of Apostolic Succession and who is really "right" in their worship. Its interesting to note that every time there is a major reform it always seems to be in response to a church who became filled with wealth, power, and gross immorality. Nearly every time this response was to return to imitate the life of Jesus and the Apostles by forsaking glory and power and wealth in this age and returning to a life of taking up the cross and following in the footsteps imitating Christ and His apostles. <br /><br />In nearly every story I have read when a movement of people begin to seek to try to imitate the life of Christ it becomes a call back to prayer and a call back to missions. Some of the movements emphasized one over the other like some of the monastic movements who overemphasized personal prayer and inward sanctification above the call to go and disciple the nations. My favorite early story is the one of St. Francis who was a radical divergence in his day from the normal standards of power and wealth of clergy and the solitude of the monastic orders. Francis blended the expressions of prayer and personal holiness with missions in the effort to truly return back to the Apostolic example of being a disciple of Jesus.<br /><br /> Many times cultural norms are complicated and hard to overcome when asking what does it look like to follow Jesus in this generation. But the truth of scripture thunders through the ages! When people have access to read the bible in their own language and they seek to live out a Christian life from the pages of holy writ those souls will move more and more towards a life of both personal prayer and holiness matched with the call the preach the Gospel to all the world. I pray that we can be a people who live a life worthy of the Gospel by also returning to the biblical call of discipleship. Prayer and Missions are both intrinsic to the soul who has been gripped by the Holy Gospel. May this generation be the generation that rises up to effectively love and evangelize the 1.8 billion Muslims all over the earth.</span>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-35726408737590661012016-10-05T07:55:00.001-07:002019-12-11T07:53:28.199-08:00Insider Movements? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">One significant conversation that we have had with missionaries from virtually every major missions orgainization is how to contextualize the gospel. This is a big topic but here is what some missionaries are doing... they are telling people the are 'Mslm' and thy are dressing like Mslms and going to the mosques and teaching about 'Isa' from the Qur'an. As interesting and problematic as this is many are going a step further and telling Mslms who want to convert not to become 'Christians' cause that word isnl't understood in the Mslm context but rather they should stay Mslm (for afterall Mslm just means submit to God) and rather just be 'followers' of Jesus (Isa). They tell these new followers to Jesus to say in the mosque stay Mslm otherwise the persecution will be to great?!?!? Does this sound biblical to you?? My question is what Jesus are they following??? Is it the Jesus as revealed in the bible or Isa in the Qur'an... they are two completely different characters. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">We all agree that we need to help people understand the gospel in their own cultural understanding but in a Mslm worldview if you dress, act like, pray like, a Mslm then you are a Mslm! In Islm you can't seperate form from the religion, the form is the religion. Some would argue that its culture not religion and that we can Christianize the cultural things and disregard the religion but this is a very very slippery slope.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">However, the goal of missions is to make disciples of Jesus not ambiguous followers. According to Matt. 28:19 Jesus defines making disciples as "Teaching them to obey everything I commanded". So what we at i2 tell missionaries is to lead them to the biblical Christ and walk with the new convert to go do ALL that Jesus commanded! You can't get but a few verses into the sermon on the mount and realize that being an "insider" or secret believer is not what Jesus is asking us to do! We if are to follow and obey the sermon on the mount then we are called to be a bold witness, a bright shinning light that is displaying for all to see, and to embrace persecution as a blessing. Now this is very very complicated in a Mslm context and we have to be willing to walk arm in arm with our former Mslm friends once they come to Christ but there is just no way they can confress the Shahada any more; no way they can say Muhmd is a prophet; no way they can still do the islmc prayers facing Mecca, and there is no way you can still read the Qur'an believing it to be an inspired book. These things must be repented of and renounced. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Now each person is unique and the way and time it takes each former Mslm to come out of the mosque, and out of these former beliefs will be unique but one thing is clear; as missionaries our job is to baptize believers and plant churches and the Lord's Supper needs to be central to the expression of worship just as it is for the global church. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">I think the final piece to making former Mslm into mature disciples is teaching them to love and embrace Israel, for if they can't embrace Israel how are they to embrace the Jewish Messiah who will soon come and rule and reign from Jersuslem. </span></span></em>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-84083656496601913802016-07-16T04:40:00.000-07:002019-12-27T12:36:40.203-08:00The Central Hope of the Redemption of Israel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Church has promoted replacement theology since the gentiles took the primary leadership role of the church in the 4th century. However, what is the true gospel? What does the Bible say about Israel? Well, if we are to have a straight forward Biblical interpretation that doesn't over-spiritualize the text we must hold that Romans 9-11 outlines that God's old testament plan of the redemption for the nation of Israel was never redefined but rather clarified and even re-emphasized through Jesus Christ. Jesus affirmed that He is the Messiah of Israel which in a 1st century Jewish context could only mean 1 thing.... He was the son of David, the King of Israel who will sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule the nations forever. Many people look at the parables of Jesus and say that Jesus redefined the "kingdom" to be spiritual rather than a physical Jewish kingdom. But is this really the main emphasis of the kingdom parables? And can we really build a brand new theological framework from parables that were designed to be difficult to understand to harden the wicked and draw the hungry to repentance (Matt. 13:10-17)?<br /><br /> If you are to look at the larger context and all the words of Jesus that is not at all what Christ is doing. Instead we can see that the correction that Jesus is making to the Jews through the parables is that they aren't exempt from the Day of The Lord Judgement like they believed would come upon the gentile nations, but rather if they also didn't repent the "kingdom" would suddenly come upon them too just like the rest of the wicked in the earth. Jesus was simply issuing a universal declaration for everyone everywhere to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. <br /><br /> If you doubt what I am saying then why does Jesus do a 40 day bible study on the "kingdom of God" in a resurrected body with the Apostles and the main question that is raised becomes, ...... "Jesus is now the time you will restore the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6)?" Jesus doesn't deny or rebuke this question He simply says its not for them to know the timing. You put this together with Romans 9-11 and it becomes very clear that the hope of a theocratic Jewish state ruling all the nations under the leadership of Messiah inaugurated at the Day of the Lord is still very much the central hope of redemptive history.</span><br />Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-79454095298471982362016-07-07T11:21:00.002-07:002019-12-29T05:01:44.808-08:00Ideological Transformation in the M.E. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Recent Interview with a Respected Servant of God in the M.E.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">John and I met for the first time in many years. We discussed a number of topics including his health issues, his ministry highlights, an assessment of what is happening in the Arab World and some conclusions. John began with some conclusions. As I have watched him over many years I have observed that he has been faithful to God’s calling upon his life and has been used as one of God’s choice servants with spiritual perception and unusual gift to proclaim and present God’s truth focused on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The conclusions may shock you,” John said, “We are at a crossroads in the M.E. If the Christian community in the M.E. continue keeping their distance from their ideological neighbors, we will all miss God's moment. It is my conviction that more MBB’s have come to faith in the last fifteen years than in fourteen centuries combined. If that is not the work of God then what is? Could this be the moment in history when an ideological transformation in the ME is, in fact, taking place before our very eyes? However, Most Christians seem to want to meet other Christians only.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">John went on. “This is a crucial time for the Arab Christians to realize the incredible spiritual opening that stands before us like an open door. It is very strange that this new reality doesn't seem to affect the average Christian in the ME. Earlier this year I met with some 200 Arab Christian leaders to talk about the need to make a major move to reach out to the majority population and seize God's moment. I believe the Holy Spirit was moving powerfully in our midst as we talked and prayed together.” John has been invited to speak in many forums in the ME and beyond on this topic. One of the ministry highlights he describes was the opportunity to preach to some 75,000 people in a single meeting in Northern S_da_. 5,000 came forward to receive Jesus into their lives in a single night. God moved in an amazing way.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;">John wondered how to seize this kairos moment of God's appointed and approved time” (Mark 1:15, 2 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Peter 5:6) described as “The hour which is the God-given moment of destiny not to be shrunk, from but seized with decisiveness, the flood-tide of opportunity and demand in which the unseen waters of the future surge down to the present.” (Os)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the Transform World 2020 Global Leadership Summit in October 2015 as we heard the reports of the delegation from the ME we were listening carefully as stories were told about the unprecedented migration from Syria and surroundings and openness of hearts to the Gospel. Again the testimonies suggested that an ideological transformation was in the making in the ME. One of the delegates from the ME said: “This is the time to demonstrate the power of Christ’s love.” As migrants came through our country they saw love in action and responded as they witnessed and experienced the transforming power of Christ’s love. And so it was. One of the persecuted cultural Christians from Iraq said to him: "The Jesus that I have never known is now in my heart.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In that gathering last year we received a report from our brothers and sisters in Christ from the ME about how they had a growing sense that the number of believers in Jesus from the majority community had not only doubled in one country but in the whole region. John, constrained by the love of Christ, has been used by the Lord to proclaim Him as Lord and personally witnessed around fifty thousand people come to Christ in a North African country according to one reliable source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: Has the number of MBB's doubled in your view, since the uprising, as some of your colleagues reported a year ago?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: "Yes, I certainly believe so. In the last four months my wife and I were ministering in the Gulf State of Qatar. There is a hunger for God--the likes of which--I have never seen before. God is moving and we need to move along with God, not stand in His way."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: What is stopping Christians from witnessing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: “The fear of pain. Every convert from the Majority Community needs a personal disciple and that is time-demanding and we are busy people. A convert has all kinds of basic questions which he or she would like to ask. They have mental and spiritual blockage and they want satisfying answers. On the other hand Christians are afraid of pain because they may actually stand to lose their personal freedom if they are imprisoned for converting members of the Majority Community."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: How do You overcome this kind of fear?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: "You need to recognize that God is real. This is the time for Ms. I is slowly but surely giving up the ghost. Ms are victims of their own religion. If one commits a sin, there is no remedy in I other that it tells you to go and pray, give alms, go on pilgrimage to Mecca. Sin, however, continues to pound on you with its devastating effects with no real way out. The ONLY way out is through Jesus who paid the full price for the remission of sin through the Cross. Ms are stuck with a religion that CANNOT help them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How tragic! A lady from S_da_ summed it all up one day. She was so fed up with I that she shouted at the top of her voice in the center of the city at noon and Said: “God: Don't you have anyone else to send us but the prophet Mohammad. We don't want him. Take him back." Well known writers from a M background have been increasingly critiquing I more than ever."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"One way to interpret night is persecution the other is closed door. John: More and more people like R anchor of Al Hayat TV are very apostate of I and say so openly. Born the son of a M Imam in Morocco, Brother R memorized one-sixth of the entire Koran by age 6. He attended Hassan II University in Casablanca, where he studied economics and computer science. A careful self-study of the differences between I and Christianity led him to take correspondence courses for four years. This, in turn, led him to give his life to Jesus Christ in 1990. Also what's happened in my understanding is that well known writers “from within” are beginning to critique I. They are the intellectual class."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: You said you thought ISIS did not only represent Jihadist I but that it is an expression of I. When I asked your brother Y, who pastors here the same question he said precisely what you did."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: ISIS is I and I is ISIS. “If you become a true M you must become ISIS because everything ISIS does is in the Koran. This is the correct conclusion because it represents everything Muhammad said. The only solution for them is to come out of I to receive Christ like in the case of R.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: Why are more and more people like R turning to Christianity?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: "The reasons are, 1.) because of M extremism, 2.) It’s not making sense anymore. That’s true, it's not making sense anymore. Of the two million M refugees who have come recently from Iraq and Syria most are insecure in their faith. They are asking the question, 'why is this happening to me?' Many are finding the unconditional love extended by Christian ministers in the country compelling. Also what's happened, in my understanding, is this, well known writers ‘from within’ are beginning to critique their own ideology. They are the intellectual class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I discussed this with other Christian leaders in the region we believe that since 1990 until now the numbers of MBB’s have more than doubled in the ME It is my conviction that more MBB’s have come to faith in the last fifteen years that in fourteen centuries combined. ‘If that is not the work of God then what is.’ These are the Golden Harvest times. It’s a climactic time.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: How do you explain the nature of your prophetic role?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: "I have asked myself that question many times. I believe it is the gifting by the Holy Spirit, since 1983, not only prophesying, but speaking the Word of God with power. My father’s role in my life was very important. He served the Lord for over 55 years. John said his father’s testimony would be like this: “I would wake up normally around 3:30 am, go to Jesus and sit at His feet. I speak to Him and He speak with me on so many things while my Bible is open. At day break I tell Jesus:” Please lay your hands on me and send me on a mission for today.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">L: What is your advice to Christ followers today in the ME and around the world?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">J: "You must work while it is day. Night is coming when no man can work. One way I interpret that night is the night of persecution. Another way to interpret the night is ‘a closed door.’"</span><br />
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Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-56807175742190297162016-07-06T20:49:00.003-07:002019-12-29T04:41:45.976-08:00The Foundations of Islam <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><span style="font-size: large;">In 1908, Dr. Samuel Zwemer underestimated the Muslim Challenge, saying that: “Islam would die out in 100 years” under colonialism. At that time there were 230 million Muslims with only 28 missionaries working among them. One hundred years later, the Muslim population has multiplied seven times to 1.61 billion! There are two Muslims for every born-again, Evangelical (including Charismatic/Pentecostal) Christians at 8-900 million. By 2050, Islam will surpass the total population of Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Orthodox and Catholics (1.1 billion) estimated at 2.58 billion. Islam will be the largest religion in the world Today, there is one missionary for every 420,000 Muslims. A whopping forty percent of all non-Christians are Muslims, 90% have never heard the gospel, and 38,000 Muslims die, and go to hell, every day!<br /><br />The Qur’an as interpreted in the Life of Muhammad (570-632AD) is the foundation of Islam. These are also the principle sources of history and Islamic law (Sharia) located in prophetic hadith (encyclopedia’s of subjects of what Muhammad said and did) or sunnah. Today these sources of authority are the foundations from which ISIS and twenty-six other radical Islamist groups, including 300 million radical Muslims, and 1.61 billion Muslims in total, turn to for their religious authority: commanding right or forbidding wrong. <br /><br />Islam is primarily a religion of law, anti-Christian polemic, da’wah (Islamic Mission), jihad, Islamized biblicist prophetology, conquest (al-Futūḥāt al-Islāmiyya), migration for the cause of Allah (hijra) and apocalyptic expectation. Islam means ‘submission’ to Allah and a Muslim is ‘one who submits’ to Islam, Islamic law, Allah’s law. To the Muslim, ruling is only for Allah (ie. not democracy, nor the Kingdom of God in the NT) of which the Ummah, Muslim community, is responsible to jihad to establish the Islamic State (Khilafah) beginning in Syria, according to Muhammad, to the end of the world.<br /><br /> One does not understand Islam by reading the Qur’an because it is eliptical. It is only after having read the earliest biography of Muhammad one understands Islam. For the Qur’an is the ‘word of Allah’ given to the prophet Muhammad in episodic revelation in the last 23 years of his life. But like reading the red words of Jesus in the gospels, isolated from their context, the “book of Allah” (kitab Allah) isolates Allah’s words in one book: the Qur’an. The biography of Muhammad gives the context how and why revelations from Allah fits into Muhammad’s life. Without reading the biography of Muhammad a person doesn’t understand Islam. After reading the biography of Muhammad a person understands Islam.<br /><br />Muhammad lived from 570-632 AD. The earliest surviving biography of Muhammad (Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad.1-815) was written 135 years after the time of Muhammad’s death and survives in ibn Hisham (833 AD) 201 years after Muhammad! <br /><br />Compared to the gospels, this is all very late with Jesus dying around 30 AD, Paul’s writings 45-60 AD, and John’s death, the last of the gospel writers only in 95 AD (15-65 years) that include pre-Pauline high-Christological hymns! Eyewitnesses would have still been living when the gospels were written, circulated, preserved, among a persecuted community motivated to preach and keep the early testimony of Jesus. <br /><br />In the case of Islam, ibn Ishaq (767 AD) would be a great, grandchild of Muhammad’s generation, separated by the chaos of conquests, with no reliable eyewitnesses surviving, and in oft places contradictory, oral tradition. The problems of Islamic traditions are many, as scholars question prophetic traditions. Sahih al Bukhari is the most authoritative, written in 870 AD, 238 years removed from Muhammad’s death, and draws from 600,000 traditions of whom Bukhari cuts these down to 7,397 or 1.2% of which 592,603 traditions were discarded as inauthentic! The challenge for scholars is to construct Muhammad’s life from among thousands of diffuse sources. <br /><br />The four earliest surviving biographies (Ibn Hisham, Wakidi, Ibn Sa’d & Al Tabari) in the first 300 years record 86 battles, of which, the first biography is replete with a history of killing, assassinations, beheadings, mutilations, stealing, taking wives, concubines, lying, slavery, torture, forced conversions and rape. Indeed, nearly 75% percent of the 815-page “Life of Muhammad” covers the Muslim battle campaigns (maghazi). Muslim armies killed one-million Christians (Jews, pagans and Zoroastrians) in the first ten years of the Islamic Conquests. Within 100 years, 50% of global Christianity was under Islamic rule, including the Middle East, and Northern Africa. <br /><br />Samples of the 164 Jihad verses in the Qur’an include: <br /><br />S. 9:5 “Slay the idolaters wherever you see them” <br /><br />S. 9:29 “Fight those who believe not in Allah” <br /><br />S. 47:4 “when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks…”<br /><br />S. 2:216 “Fighting is prescribed for you”<br /><br />In the Life of Muhammad (Guillaume) battle narratives include: 6-900 Jews were beheaded (p. 464), Abu Sufyan had to accept Islam or lose his head (p. 547), a female poet is assassinated for being critical of Muhammad (p. 676), Muhammad gives permission for Muslims to tell lies in warfare (p. 367), mutilations (322, 387), etc… <br /><br />Muslims attack the Bible, Christian theology and historical foundations of biblical faith. For if the Bible is true, the Qur’an and Islam cannot be true. The Qur’an challenges the Bible that: Jesus is not the ‘Son of God’ (S. 4:171), was neither ‘crucified nor killed’ (S. 4:157), that salvation is by ‘works’ (S. 5:9, 42:26), Jesus said ‘not to worship him’ (S. 5:116), and God is not a Trinity. Sura 4:171 says “…say not, “Three”. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be it from His glory that He should have a son...” These are ‘revelations’ why Christians believe Muhammad is a false Prophet (Is. 8:20, 1Thes. 5:21, Gal. 1:8, 2 Cor. 11:4, John 3:36). <br /><br />The ninety-three verses about Jesus in the Qur’an were written approximately 632 years after the time of Jesus! Simply put, no credible historian would use the Qur’an as reliable testimony for the life of Jesus because it is 600 years after His life!<br /><br />Peculiar stories in the Qur’an include: baby Jesus speaks from the cradle (3:41; 5:109; 19:29-33, First gospel of the Infancy, 4-6th C.) and Jesus creates clay birds coming to life (S.3:49; 5:11, Thomas Gospel of the Infancy, 4-6th C.). Islamic sources include that Jesus will return, break crosses, kill swine, abolish the Jizya-tax, bring about wealth (Bukhari 3: 656). The Jesus in Islam never existed. <br /><br />What we find in the Qur’an and Islam, secular scholars have described in different ways: ‘evolutionary monotheism’, ‘a cocktail’ of Jewish-Christian polemic, a strong oral ‘echo chamber’, ‘a whirlpool’ of Aramaic and Syriacisms, Jewish-Christian apocryphal sectarian milieu, and a retelling of a much later, different Jesus. <br /><br />The Qur’an says that none can change the words of Allah (S 6:115, 18:27). Arthur Jeffery’s book Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur’an, details approximately 10,000 variations in the early pre-Uthmanic codices Qur’an codices from Islamic tradition. Today, one student of mine has detailed 900 textual intentional variants in the earliest Qur’an manuscripts. <br /><br />Eighty-three different regions have at least 1,000 Muslims that have become Christians, or 100 churches planted among them, with about 4.2 million becoming Christians in the last 20 years! <br /><br />The biggest problem in the world is not radical Islam it is nominal Christianity! The answer to global Islam is a discipled and trained church that loves Jesus!</span>Missionary Ryan Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18022770351564393975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-58001857256274396692015-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:002019-12-12T16:37:35.318-08:00What is My Boast? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">"Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. <br /><br /> Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. <br /><br /> May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. <br /><br /> Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. <br /><br /> Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God." Gal. 6:12-16 <br /><br />Paul makes the most staggering statement here. May I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus! Why would Paul's only boast be in the most brutal execution of all time? If Christ were executed through an electric chair would we say I boast in nothing but His electric Chair? Why can Paul boast solely in this cross? <br /><br />The context of this verse is Jews who want to boast in their national identity through circumcision. We all are looking to define our identity or our success by something. To the Jews of Paul's day it was the self righteousness of thinking their were God's chosen through the flesh. In our modern context we seek self worth through job success, financial gain, helping others, being a good athlete, being a good father or husband....etc. Our culture defines itself through how many likes we get on facebook and how many followers we get on instagram. This is the same basic core issue that the Jews had. We want to make a name for ourselves in the eyes of men. We are all corrupt with the desire that we want the sense that we are better than the other guy or gal for this, that or whatever. <br /><br />Paul looks higher. He gazes into the heart of WHY Christ was crucified. The driving heartbeat of Paul's boasting in the cross was that he comprehended that Christ saw him fit to die for. Just step back and listen to what that screams to us. Christ saw us fit to die for. No matter how man sees us, some will think we are great and many will not like us but Christ saw us fit to die for. This re-defines everything. I no longer associate myself mostly as a good this or that; my identity is no longer mostly attached to a position or tile (or anything else that gives us self worth). There is a radical re-orientation for the redeemed. There is a complete upheaval of identity and the definition of success to the point that Paul says I am crucified to the way the world thinks and the world is crucified to me. <br /><br />Now we can and should be like Paul.... Our one boast that far exceeds every other thing we could possibly feel good about is that Christ saw us fit to die for! He saw us worthy to shed His perfect blood?!? How much is His blood worth? How much are you worth? Well, in God's eyes He was willing to pay the unfathomable ransom price of His blood to buy us back?!?! He saw us desirable to be His eternal Bride... His eternal companion. His desire drove Him to the cross... His desire for us. <br /><br />So now let us let the cross define our existence. Let us let the cross be the central supreme event that gives us self worth, self value, and the only thing we boast about! We love to tell people about our hidden strengths our hidden talents and events where we were the hero. We love to remember those times when we did "well". We love the feeling we get by remembering when we hit the home run in 8th grade, or when we ministered to those poor children on that ministry trip, or when we helped that person in need, or when we made the speech and everyone applauded, or when we wrote the proposal that helped get the company back on track. These are all fine and dandy and having nostalgic memories is a normal part of life. But if these our our portion fueling our self value we will end up in a spiral of disillusionment when we don't seem to succeed. <br /><br />But what if our chief meditation; our daydream; our daily delight was relishing in the reality that we (the undeserving) were saw fit to die for by the LORD of Glory. If this really does define us then no matter how good we do, or how bad we do; no matter what men think of us; no matter how the world or the church would seek to define us we could always close our eyes stare at the Cross of our Lord and feel loved and treasured and delighted in by the ALMIGHTY. Now this is something to boast about... My God delights in me!!! And when we forget we must look back at those nailed pierced hands which eternally shouts that Christ Loved us that much.... How much?? Look at Him bleeding, pierced, bruised, whipped, torn, nailed to a tree ..... that much. Hanging on the cross bearing your wrath He looks up to the Father and screams IT IS FINISHED - I HAVE REDEEMED THEN AND I CAN NOW HAVE THEM!!!! </span><div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-80372238823588461802014-11-29T20:50:00.001-08:002019-12-29T05:02:02.736-08:00Isaiah 52:14a - Appalled at the Sufferings of Messiah <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"Just as many were appalled at you" ....... Isaiah 52:14a </span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Following the beginning of the servant song summation that the Servant of the Lord <i>would act wisely be raised, lifted up and highly exalted</i>, the prophet switches gears and gives us a shocking introduction <i>"Just as many were appalled at you</i>..." This is a very curious statement, lets break it down a little. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So who is speaking here and who is the "you" in the verse? Well, in the greater context of the chapters before and after its clear this is the LORD speaking, but who is the YOU? Who is the LORD speaking too? Well, it seems that the best answer is that He is speaking to the prophet Isaiah. Some might say that He is speaking to corporate Israel. But what fits the best here? Well, what has happened to corporate Israel in this point in history that would be a preface to the sufferings of the Messiah? Israel had not been exiled yet; sure she had many moments of suffering or grief but what would cause those who witnessed the event to be appalled? Maybe I am missing something but nothing is coming to mind...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is why I feel like the prophet Isaiah is a better fit. Here is why...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span class="versetext" id="isa20-2" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">2</span> during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="a"></a> and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot- </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="versetext" id="isa20-3" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">3</span> the Lord said, "As My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, Isaiah 20:2-3</span> </i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Isaiah years before was commanded to walk around naked and barefoot before the eyes of Israel as a shocking prophetic statement of their soon exile. This act in the Jewish culture was shocking and certainly an appalling act. Isaiah is portraying the socking shame of exile. This is a warning that the circumcised Jews would have to go naked before the uncircumcised gentile invaders which would have evoked unbelievable ridicule and mockery from the Assyrians about the "look" of the Jewish circumcision. Believe it or not this type of ridicule happened much in Israels history especially from the Romans. Apart from un-necessary details the main point here is a warning of the most shameful possible event imaginable. There could be nothing worse in the Jewish mind then loosing the promise land and going into exile naked. At first glance it would seem that Isaiah is portraying Egyptians and Ethiopians going into exile but the overall context is Jews who flee to these nations for help will also go naked into exile just as they do... those who trust in other nations to save them instead of trusting in the LORD will be put to shame. (Remember the Book of Isaiah is written to the Jews not to Egypt and Cush).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So what is the significance of this verse... "Just as many were appalled at you"? Basically, the Lord is telling the prophet to recall a historic example from Isaiah's life. He is calling Him to recall how He walked naked as if going into exile as a preface to the sufferings of the Messiah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Isaiah, by doing this prophetic act of going into exile naked was actually participating in the sufferings of the Messiah. All prophetic lives will either foreshadow the coming of Messiah or be a witness of His life lived. King David is a perfect example of a man who also partook in the sufferings of Christ 1000 years before His life... this is portrayed all through the Psalms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is as if the LORD is saying to Isaiah, "Isaiah, Remember when I told you to go naked and barefoot to bear the reproach of a coming exile? Remember how horrible that was for you? Remember how you felt when the people scorned and mocked you? Remember the looks on peoples faces as they saw you? Remember the shame you felt? Remember the shock and horror that was in the heart of Israel when you did that? ... Isaiah that's a good starting point of meditation for you, that's a real life example that you went through to give you a grid for what will happen to the Messiah!!!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">During Roman crucifixions it was customary for the soldiers to crucify the individual stark naked to increase the horror and shame of the punishment. Now, no one really knows if Jesus was crucified naked but what we can be sure of is that whatever covering (if any) would have been more shameful than we can possibly imagine in the context of a culture that would never ever show skin in public. Some hold to the roman customs that Jesus must have been crucified naked - and I think there is good chance that He was. And there is good argument that since it was so close to the city and to keep people ceremonially clean for the Passover that the Jewish authorities would have persuaded the soldiers to let Jesus keep a small rap around His genitals. Either way it is a horrific thing to even discuss and even writing about it makes me sick to my stomach. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But I think that Isaiah going naked "into exile" was a prophetic act to foreshadow the Messiah "going into exile". Exile ending in eternal punishment was framed up from the Torah and the Prophets as the chief punishment for the astray children of Israel. So here we see the the sufferings of Christ are first framed up typologically as Isaiah's naked and barefoot journey. Its notable that Isaiah went naked for 3 years the same time as Christs ministry. Jesus took the wrath that we deserve naked on a roman cross for all to see bearing our shame and spent a 3 day exile in hell away from fellowship with the Father so that we might be saved. I think about the shame of every prostitute and every sexually exploited individual in history that Jesus is identifying with and bearing their shame. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just as many were appalled at you Isaiah so will the Messiah"s final march to Golgotha be that appalling and more....... Just as many were appalled at you.... Just as many were appalled at you.... (Oh the memories in Isaiah's mind this would have evoked) This is so horrific to ponder; may our meditations always be framed up in the prayer .... "this is how much you love me; this is what you were willing to do for me!!!!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus how low you came so that I might be saved!!!!!! </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-33063058793300790172014-11-28T13:49:00.001-08:002019-12-27T12:39:28.941-08:00Isaiah 52:13 - The Summation of the Greatest Servant Song<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">"See My Servant will act wisely, He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted" </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">- Isaiah 52:13</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This verse is the beginning of the greatest of the Servant Songs of the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah, the Servant of the LORD is clearly understood to be the Messiah. Jews who reject the messiah-ship of Jesus would argue that this Servant is referring to the corporate nation of Israel. However, there are ancient rabbinic commentaries that this does indeed refer to the Messiah, ( google Messiah ben Joseph). But this is clearly the most staggering prophecy in the scriptures concerning the Crucifixion of Jesus written 700 BC.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here at the beginning of this great song we have a summation verse that encapsulates the summation of what shall happen through the Messiahs suffering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Act Wisely </i>- The Messiah will act in wisdom, not the wisdom of man but the wisdom of God. Carnal wisdom seeks to exalt man, but this wisdom will exalt the Lord. Wisdom sometime seems contrary to what is natural; it is many times at odds with the agenda of man. The wisdom of the Messiah will be displayed in His actions; how He interacts; How He navigates God's will. The fact that the Messiah is called the Servant of the Lord is worth many years of meditation; this is clearly missed in the 1st century expectation of how the Messiah would rule and reign in Jerusalem. So wisdom and all the actions of the Messiah are done through the greatest servant, the most humble of all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>He will be raised and lifted up </i>- Here we see the language that Jesus Himself uses in reference to His own death and resurrection. in John 3 Jesus says, that <i>"the Son of Man must be lifted up" </i>speaking of being lifted up on a cross as the bronze snake was lifted up on a pole. Also, as Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration after His glorious moment, He warned the disciples that we would suffer before He entered into His glory saying, "... <i>The Son of Man will be killed and then is going to be RAISED from the dead" (Matt. 17:9). </i> Some people would just group these 3 phrases (raised, lifted up and greatly exalted) into a group of synonyms referring to the same reality - an exaltation of the Servant. However, I think that Isaiah writes all of these at 3 distinct understandings that He would further develop in the song. I see Isaiah writing "raised" first because the resurrection from the dead is the central hope of the gospel and the horrific crucifixion must be seen with a hope of the resurrection of the body. Jesus tried to instill this in His disciples. Every time Jesus spoke of His death He also spoke of His resurrection. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>and greatly exalted - </i>Here the prophet Isaiah is using a phrase that the writers of the new testament picked up as the main terminology for the ascension of Christ. The ascension is one of the greatest overlooked and misunderstood aspects to the gospels. But the reality is that it is the main defining event that open declared that Jesus was not just the messiah, the King of Israel, but that He was YHWH incarnate. Only someone within the Godhead could sit down on the divine throne over all things and share in the universal rule with the Father. The ascension is staggering!!! A man decided He wanted to lift off the ground and fly into the sky and pass through all the powers in the heavens enter into the heavenly temple and sit down on the divine throne! I want to see the replay of this so bad! What a glorious event foretold by the prophet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here in beginning sentence of this great servant song the prophet Isaiah summarizes the entirety of what would become the cornerstones of new testament Christology. The dead, burial resurrection, and ascension of the Divine Messiah! </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-16763262692243847212014-08-28T07:32:00.000-07:002019-12-27T12:39:50.525-08:00Jesus Affirms His Own Divinity <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="1200" id="doc_81793" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/317874226/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-zF10xSn0fSzYIkU9y0F8&show_recommendations=false&show_upsell=false" width="90%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-87823855516131192962014-05-13T22:59:00.000-07:002019-12-27T12:40:20.513-08:00What did it take to forgive your sin? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ponder to what lengths God in Christ went to for the purpose of paying the debt for our sin. The one who existed in the form of God who did not consider equality with God as something that should use for His own advantage. Instead He emptied His outer form of Glory and took the form of a bondservant... as a baby in manger. From the Highest place as being adored and worshiped as very God for eternity past (Jn 12:41); Now the one who created all things and sustains all things puts on flesh and lay in a feeding trough totally ignored; and perceived as insignificant; thought of as a bastard child - .... aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a devil.... (they thought Mary had an affair with a Samaritan while she was betrothed to Joseph). Oh the mystery of the incarnation!!!!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From the manger the God man is despised and rejected, cast off, stricken as a madman. But Jesus had his face set like flint to go to the cross. His work was to lay down His life; to offer himself as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Christ was then mangled more than any man; He wasn't even recognizable as human, OH to see His sufferings! Do you see Christ crucified!?!? Do you see the perfect man hanging in your place? Do you see Him taking the wrath that you deserve? Now the Father crushes His perfect Son with divine wrath to appease His holy just heart. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Beloved, when we see the heights that Christ once dwelt in and how low He came we are obviously struck with the grand question of WHY? WHY would he do it? This question will be central to our worship forever and will never be exhausted, however tonight I am stuck with the reality that this was the only way that sin could be atoned for. What does that say about sin? How severe is sin that it cost so much to pay its penalty? the only payment (ransom) costly enough to pay the debt was the very life of God! I am shocked at how trivial we treat sin in our culture? I am shocked at a hyper grace message that waters down the severity of sin and steals urgency and necessity to walk holy as He is holy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Imagine if every time you sinned you had to go down to the temple (like in the old covenant) pay a significant amount of money to buy and then kill an animal..... what if everytime you sinned you saw the blood shed that was required for your cleansing. Can you see it, placing your hands on the head of the bull or ram to "transfer guilt" to them and then you take a sword and thrust it violently into the neck into the animal and watch all the blood pour out onto the ground?!? What then of the priest taking some of that blood and sprinkling you so that you could stay in right standing with YHWH? When I say this I usually get a response of ... wow that is so intense...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But beloved we have something far more intense in the new covenant. Now instead of laying our hands on a bull we must go back to the day Christ was crucified (by faith) and lay our hands on Christ and allow all our guilt to go upon Him and then we must watch the soldier thrust Him through with the spear causing all His blood to be poured out! We must now sprinkled with the Godman's blood. Oh how trivial we utter the words "the blood of Jesus" in prayer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Beloved, in the days of temple sacrifice sin would immediately touch the pocket book of the sinner... but now in Christ we see a billion times over just how costly sin really is.... at least we should! For how much is Christ worth? We still must come with an exchange of the heavenly currency of repentance .... a transaction of coming with no money but offering our blindness for His blood; giving our defiled selves and receiving His nail pierced hands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">OH that we would have the fear of the Lord again in our land; Oh that we would tremble at the thought of dishonoring our precious Jesus' blood!?!?! Father, have mercy on us and help us to live in a worthy response to the blood of Jesus.... don't forget what it took to give you that "free gift of righteousness"; for it wasn't free for Him, He labored far more that we can possibly imagine to secure our justification. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-13971991402685421292014-04-24T09:17:00.001-07:002019-12-12T16:38:59.493-08:00What does the Love of Jesus Look Like?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 28px;"><i>But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared....Titus 3:4</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about the Love of Jesus? When you hear the phrase Jesus Loves you what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is this a feeling that Jesus has for us right now? How do we know for sure that Jesus loves us? What tangible reality gives us a concrete knowing that Christ loves us? <br /><br />When I ask people this question I get a lot of answers that basically come back to an explanation of how God "blessed that person circumstantially somehow....". Like the other day, someone said, "Ya Jesus loves me so much, he provided me with the money I needed". Now, I totally believe that Jesus is actively doing things in our daily lives and is showing His love to us. However, most of us get so caught up in our daily lives and we subtly or overtly interpret how much God loves us based on how our circumstances are going. This is ultimately a train wreck. <br /><br />Mary the mother of Jesus was the most "blessed" of all woman had extremely bad circumstances after the angel announced to her of her blessedness. (She was called a fornicator cause of her pregnancy; had to ride on a donkey for days very uncomfortably being 9 months pregnant; gave birth in a dirty stable; Herod was trying to kill her baby; she had to suddenly relocate to a foreign nation as a refugee... etc). <br /><br />Beloved, the first thing that should come to our mind when we think of the love of Christ is a real historic event. The love of Christ is so tangible and so concrete that it is forever etched in history and we can know for sure without a doubt today that Jesus loves us. This event is the cross. If Jesus crucified is not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the love of God then has this idea been reduced down to a trite saying? Beloved, the cross is the pinnacle outward demonstration that gives a perfect demonstration of the Love of God. How does Jesus feel about me? Look to the cross! No matter how you are "preforming" in your Christianity the Lamb slain is screaming with thunderous strength .... "this is how much I love you!" <br /><br />Beloved, the cross of Christ should be constantly in our minds, it should be our continual meditation, it should be our only boast, and our only hope; it should be the very thing that defines our existence. Where would we be without the blood of Christ? Where would we be without the cross? Why did He do it? How should I respond in light of this cross? These are questions that we will get lost in forever..... we will never stop staring at His nail pierced hands; we will never stop feeling the wonder of why He became a man and gave Himself for us. May we open the scriptures and spend long loving hours of meditation on a subject that is all to familiar that we don't know at all. You might know the story of the cross a little bit, but does that story know you. Do you weep over those wounds of the Lamb? Do you find yourself pondering that Day? Do you wonder what He felt that day? Or how his mother felt? Or his beloved Disciples? What was it like for John the Beloved standing there seeing the spear go into Christ side? What was it like when John saw him Alive? And what was it like when John perceived by revelation that the reason Christ died and rose again was to atone for His sin? I can picture John thinking to Himself? "What ... He did all of that for me?" I am sure this is why John explodes with praise<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called <a href="http://www.esvbible.org/Jn1.12/">z</a>children of God; - 1 John 3:1 </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /> Beloved, Lets get lost in the passion of the Christ and we will find ourselves burning with passion for Christ.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2328660937172190411.post-38166942328387571332014-04-22T21:14:00.000-07:002019-12-27T12:41:01.381-08:00What Jesus Do We Love? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">One odd phenomenon that I have encountered is that lots of people say that they "love Jesus". Obviously more people within the church, but an odd thing is that people that aren't in the church will also say "I love Jesus." The other day I was talking to someone and they said, "ya I love Jesus and I know where I am going".... (meaning that He thought He knew for sure that He was going to heaven). The weird thing was the next sentence He told me how he was fleeing from the law because of this and that while mixing in countless cuss words. It is obvious that this guy (who is so confident that He knows Jesus), doesn't know the Jesus of the Bible and has no authentic fruit to bear witness that He has been regenerate. He actually told me that He thought that Jesus was helping Him flee from the law and blessing Him in it?!?!? WHAT? What Jesus is He talking about... cause it surely isn't the Jesus of the bible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another odd phenomenon is that I have had conversations with "believers" (some have been active in the church for decades) who are in blatant unrepentant sin and they actually think that Jesus is OK with their sin.... they say, "OH its not the unforgivable sin..." Jesus loves me.... WHAT? What Jesus are they talking about? Because the Jesus of the bible is not apathetic about sin; the One who suffered the wrath of hell in our stead because of our sin has a deeper hatred for sin that anything we can possibly imagine. (the Jesus of the bible is also more patient with sinners than we can possibly imagine.... but we can never mistake His patience for apathy). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am stirred right now over so many that say "LORD, LORD...." But don't know Jesus. Strangely enough the church goer who said He loved Jesus, and the deceived unbeliever who said He loved Jesus both would say that Jesus is God. But their Jesus exists to serve their own arrogant schemes; their Jesus is a means to getting what they want; their Jesus is a carnal apathetic Jesus who is unconcerned about His glory or name and won't throw sinners into hell for their lawlessness. I am shocked to see how many versions of Jesus are floating around in the minds of Americans that are utterly perverted and have nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth as revealed in the scriptures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have come to find that to find the true reality of a person we must gaze much deeper beyond the facade of the "I love Jesus" statement. What fruits are being produced? A tree is known by its fruits and those trees that aren't bearing the fruits of genuine repentance will be cut down and thrown into the fire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But the problem is bigger than just the rhetoric of religiosity. We have a culture in the church that slaps Jesus on everything but we don't hardly know anything about Him..... what do I mean by this? I mean people pray to Jesus, they say Jesus did this and that for me, they say that Jesus said this and that to me, however, they have never ever spent any time meditating upon Jesus as revealed in scriptures and their view of Jesus is so far from the actual biblical Jesus that is would be nearly impossible for them to have a real relationship with the person they know nothing about. I think we like the idea of knowing Jesus and loving Jesus but I think many times we are more in love with the Jesus of our own imaginations than the actual person of Jesus Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">To know and love Jesus must be rooted in long and loving hours of meditation upon the person of Jesus as revealed in the scriptures. Our starting point for loving Jesus is starring at His pre-existence, His incarnation, His divinity, His authentic humanity, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and second coming. We have an ocean of the knowledge of Jesus in the scriptures but we don't want to open our bibles and treasure His live as revealed in the gospels. As a follower and lover of Jesus I think its fair to say that the conversation of prayer should surround His live far more than mine. I should be swept up into His most fascinating, and most glorious testimony. I remember when I was engaged with my wife... I was so hungry to know her story, to know everything about her life...what she did when she was 5 and 7 and all her favorite colors and so on.... how much more with Jesus. Do we love the Jesus of the bible? Do we know that Jesus? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The modern hyper grace western church has painted a portrait of Jesus as a long haired hippy that loves to drink wine with sinners and forgives sin without repentance. Beloved, If we would read Jesus' words in the gospels and the book of revelation we would see that Jesus is more intense about holiness, and true righteousness than any preacher who ever existed. Not to mention that Jesus talks about hell more than anyone else in the bible. Jesus is often seen forgiving the humble repentant sinner who is the outcast of society, but Jesus vehemently rebukes the self-righteous who is overconfident about their eternal security. So which one are we? Are we the sinner groveling in the dust that is truly sorry for our sin? or are we the over confident self-righteous that think we are ok? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures is a Jealous bridegroom God who will not share His prized image bearers with another. He has fire in his eyes and a sword in His mouth and He is coming to strike the nations with a rod of iron. His love is an all consuming fire and He will execute wrath at His coming on all those who don't obey His word, and don't submit to His leadership. Don't be deceived God is not mocked the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you live in sin all your life and have some ambiguous faith in some so called Jesus but you don't obey Jesus' words in the scriptures then be sure you will hear these words.... "away from me you workers of lawlessness". The demons believe in Jesus and they tremble but they won't follow His leadership. We say we believe in Jesus but we don't tremble and we don't submit to His words either.... (so I guess the demons are one step ahead of us in one sense... at least they tremble). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is time for us to open our bibles and get lost in long loving hours of meditation upon Jesus as seen in the gospels; as seen in the book of revelation, and as pre-incarnate in the old testament, etc. Its time for us to get back to an orthodox theology of who Jesus is with a devotional spirit fueled by prayer. We need the true theology of Jesus to inform our relationship with Jesus. How are we to relate to a person who we know nothing about? And its time that we read His words and obey them... especially the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7). Its time for His life to be precious to us, rather than our own. Its time for preachers to preach Christ.... to preach on all the different facets of His person, His identity, His glory, His divinity, His humanity...etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Its no accident that we don't care about His second coming... we simply don't care that Jesus isn't here. We don't long and mourn for our bridegroom Jesus to return, and we are totally content without Him here. As long as the Holy Spirit will make us feel good and God provides for all our needs and we get to have a cool ministry/assignment then we could care less if Jesus is here or not. Do you mourn and long for Jesus to come? Did you wake up today with an ache in your heart because He isn't here? You know Jesus isn't going to come back until His bride longs for Him to come in the same way that He longs to come for her. The Father is not going to present Jesus with a half-hearted narcissistic church that isn't longing in love for the Son of God. In the end, the church will be blazing with love for the true Jesus and she will be crying out night and day longing for His appearing and she will thrust herself into the hardest and darkest places on the planet that Jesus might have the full reward of His suffering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of our problems can be summed up in the reality that we don't know the true Jesus; and therefore all our problems are solved in the authentic revelation of Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit unveil the revelation of Jesus to us! Give to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of HIM! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Please open your Bibles and make His life a treasure to you; listen to His words and obey them. If you are a Christian then that means you follow Jesus.... following Jesus means you obey His commands primarily as put forth in scripture. The great commission is: "go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to OBEY everything I have commanded you..." How are you going to follow Jesus if you never open your bible and you don't know His words? Its His words that will be our judge on the last day.. john 5 </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The last thing I will say is that there is an infinite difference between the immature repentant believer that hasn't been fully brought into maturity, and the person who is just flat out unrepentant. I have so much love and mercy for the repentant, I will walk with them and help them out of the mire. But the unrepentant one needs a kick in the pants a slap across the face for spitting on the blood of Jesus, and a strong exhortation to repent or face the vengeance of God. (obviously I am talking about major sin.... as John puts it: sin leading to death as apposed to sin that isn't leading to death). And if its an overconfident unbeliever that has a false sense of security then we need to wisely, shrewdly and boldly rebuke them and preach the gospel to them and call them to repent or perish. Their needs to be a restored witness of righteousness in the church... If the world is so bold to call people to live in sin, all the more should we the redeemed call people to live righteously. May we shake off the spirit of this age and hold the line and call out the false brethren and bold sinners to account, mostly through our righteous living, but also by bold and very clear proclamation. (obviously this must be done in humility and according to Matt. 18.... you go to the person in private first, and if they won't listen then you bring another person into the situation, if they still won't listen then you openly declare their sin in public as an example. This is for the believer who falls into sin.... for the unbeliever, you still want to confront them relationally and in private... for our goal is never to shame anyone, but we do need to confront people with a witness of truth so they don't end up lost in deception and on their way to a lake of fire)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com