Wild Donkey of a Man

Yes I realize that the title of this blog article is strange. You can thank my Fox News app on my iPhone for this one. I generally stay clear of the news but the story about the upcoming Kuran burning engineered by Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach in Florida caught my eye. This is not appropriate behavior at all. It's not loving, kind, caring, or anything else Jesus would have us be towards the Muslim people. It's in no way an outreach either. Maybe Rev. Jones would consider renaming his organization to the Dove World Instigating Center or Dove World Chest Pokers. It drives me crazy when people do stuff like this because our website has outreach in it and now we can easily be tied in with this Christian version of extremists. It's not like I approve of the Ground Zero Mosque or that I think the Kuran is God's Word or anything like that but we do have freedom of religion here, something not afforded by Muslim countries. I don't think burning the Kuran will make Islam go away. I also do not think this will increase violence towards Americans like President Obama and others hold to. Why? Because of the title of this article. These guys don't really need a reason to be hostile towards us, they just are because God said they would be. For those that don't know Ishmael, Abraham's son via a maidservant, is where Islam has it's roots and Genesis 16:11-12 tells us what would come out of Ishmael. The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." The bottom line is you can do away with the Kuran, the book of Mormon, the Jehovah's Witness version of what they call the Bible and people will just make up something else to follow. Idolatry will always rear it's ugly head. So with all that said, instead of trashing the Kuran lets pray for Muslim people this week. Pray that they would come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. I'm gonna leave you with some scripture and some tips when witnessing to Muslims.

The first thing to note is that Muslims believe in the Old Testament. That makes it easy to relate to them through the 10 commandments. Unfortunately, they see the need for repentance and God's forgiveness but think they can attain it and stand before a Holy God on there own merit through works. So if the Law doesn't make them tremble, you will need some more scripture in your holster. Get them to soundly say that they believe at least Genesis to be true. At that point show them Genesis 17:19-21 where it says:

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."

And Genesis 21:12-13

But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

Why are these important? Because in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3 it is clearly shown that Jesus(his fully man side) came from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through both Mary and Joseph's side. What that means is that Jesus fulfilled what God said when it was told that through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.

Now that's all fine and dandy but now you will run into the issue that Muslims believe in Jesus, or Isa in the Kuran, but not who He says He is. They believe He was just a prophet like Moses or Muhammad. Familiarize yourself with scriptures that show Jesus' Deity and places He accepted worship etc. Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58 is a great example of Jesus claiming to be the I Am. Also show them John 8:24. It says, I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." Reason with them that if Jesus was in fact who He claimed, God in Human flesh, that no other prophet would need to follow Him. Talk to them about how the Old Testament speaks of a New Testament in Jeremiah 31 but the New Testament says the opposite and that we are NOT to add to or take away from it. They may try to tell you that John 14:26 is Jesus predicting Muhammad but it is the Holy Spirit Jesus is referring to which did come as predicted on the day of Pentecost. One other hurdle with Jesus is they don't believe He died and rose again. Muslims say He was just taken by God. Instruct them that there were over 500 witnesses to the Resurrected Christ. The Resurrection is what sets our faith apart. I've gone so far as to let my friend know that he can go to Medina and see Muhammad. Jesus left an empty tomb, defeating death!

Remember that you are just to share the Gospel and that when witnessing to Muslims, you are dealing with people who's faith is not only strong but very, very well versed. We said earlier that Muslim people think that they can stand on there own before God. Let them know that God had always required blood sacrifice throughout the Old Testament(which they believe in) and that Hebrews 9:22 says, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. This can lead you into Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, both of which predict the suffering of Messiah.

I hope this is helpful to you guys. This is all from witnessing to one Muslim friend over a period of several months. You may not know any Muslim people but if you are to run into one who is peaceful and friendly as they claim, you should be equipped. These are the Muslims that this article applies to. If you see a red and white checkered headband and an RPG, you might want to slip the Tract back in your pocket. I wouldn't blame ya, I'd have a fear of man then too. But I've found that a reasonable, friendly conversation can happen between a Muslim and Christian. If you have questions, email me at virgil@digoutreach.com