Bible Backgrounds/Church History 2012
Vern Peterman · Oct 21, 2012
Bible Bkgds/Church History, No. 41
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926331453460

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, we are going to be looking at Islam. Islam is typically or commonly the way the emphasis goes on the syllable. But Islam is the way it's more commonly pronounced by those who practice that. We're looking at the origins and history of Islam, interactions with the church next week, evidence regarding Christianity outside the Bible in the first and second centuries. So how relevant is the topic of Islam? Quite, right? And it's been thrust into our living rooms by the various events, even the ones that have happened in recent days and weeks. continues and will continue to be a big factor throughout the world.

Here is in Africa different kinds of damage that has been done. The Muslims are the largest group still practicing slavery and so what you see in the way of chains there, those are Christians who have been put into slavery. And the writings of Islam support that. So anyway, and so here are Christians who have had their church building destroyed in Nigeria. Another question is, should we allow Sharia law in the US?

I got some pretty brutal pictures here. The hand removal is for theft. Here they are stoning someone. And by the way, one video I saw, I won't show it here because it's more brutal than this, but there was one gal in her late teens who refused to marry a man that she was to be married to by arrangement, and so they stoned her to death.

So that was one thing. You can have up to four wives and you're free to beat them all in Islam. The first marriage counseling situation that I had in Uganda was from a former Muslim couple, and it was counseling against the beatings, because under Islam, that they had been raised under, that beating was perfectly okay. So, yes? That picture says, Frust of Islam? Yes, that's the website. Anyway, so should we allow that in the United States? You can have up to four wives. You're free to beat them all and their children. And then there's honor killings and also marrying off a child when the child is still in the single digits. So, things like that.

So, what is Islam? Islam, which means submission, the religion of all who believe that Muhammad was God's prophet, singular, the prophet of God. Islam's prophet Muhammad, 570 to 632 AD, so kind of get that fixed in your mindset. Moses was around in the year 1400 B.C. Here Christianity comes in the first century A.D. and so here about five centuries later is Islam and Muhammad.

So much later than the events recorded earlier in scripture. Now here's something, and I put this on page 8 because I didn't want to interfere with our slide set, but on page 8, very interesting pattern. Islam takes a lot of the same persons that you will find in the Bible, from the Old Testament into the New, but assigns to them different accounts, starting with Adam. So the writings of Islam do talk about Adam and Noah, and even talks about Abraham, but the blessed son in Islam is not Isaac, but Ishmael. So that's where the really big difference takes place, but they even continue to track Jesus, who is called Issach, And so they continue to attract Jesus, and so you see the descendancy through Ishmael to Muhammad. And so a lot of biblical characters and a similar genealogy, but a different line of blessing, and a different statement about who Jesus was. Here are some of the basics of Islam. To become a Muslim, it's not a matter of belief. In Christianity, belief is central. In Islam, it's what you do. It's extremely legal. It's extremely legal. There's no grace. To become a Muslim, one simply has to submit to the laws of God, or Allah.

As stated in the Quran, and you'll see that spelled K-O-R-A-N as well, this appeals much to a man's intellect and desire to do something for his salvation. Is there assurance of salvation in Islam? No, because it depends entirely on what you do, right? So God doesn't save you, you save yourself, period. And you do it by what you do, yes. the bombing and stuff? I mean, don't they give those people some kind of guarantee or something? Yeah, because for them it's what you do, right? I understand that, but there is kind of a guarantee with that, right? That's why they do it.

Yeah, in other words, boy, if you've gone out and killed yourself for the sake of Allah, of course you're going to, you know, the last thing you did was the best thing you could possibly do. Now, and that's what the guys believed who piloted the plane into the Twin Towers, right? Of course we're going to do this for Allah because this will guarantee a wonderful eternity.

The next thing, the Quran presents God, Allah, as transcendent and unknowable. He is wholly other. There is none other like Him. Whereas in Christianity, we talk about knowing Christ. We'll sing songs and we'll read verses about knowing Christ. Here, what does Paul say? The law says that's all rubbish compared to knowing Him.

In Islam, you cannot know Allah. He has only revealed what you are to do. So, while we will talk about, well, God is this and God is that, and talk about God's character in Islam, you can't know Him. He hasn't revealed Himself. He has only revealed what you need to do.

See the difference there? Big distinction. Allah reveals His will, but not Himself. Man's separation from God is viewed as a fact rather than a problem. Of course you're separate from God, because He's wholly other. And there's no way to know Him. There is no correspondence between you and Him.

We were made in the image of God, according to the Bible. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, that's taught. We were made in the image of God. In Islam, they were not made in the image of God, because He's wholly other. Reconciliation is not the issue, but rather submission and obedience are taught to put man in the correct slave-master relationship with God. Submission to what Allah has revealed for man to do. That's Islam.

No new nature is needed, only better works and obedience. So when you start to practice these things, it isn't like we'll sit here and go for Sunday after Sunday after Sunday talking about what God has done. in your life, that you are in Christ, Christ is in you, you're in the Spirit, the Spirit is in you, you have a new man and a new nature, and we'll talk about all those things, things that God has done in your life. In Islam, there's no change. You just do the things you're supposed to do. That's it. So it's not a changing of a nature, Allah isn't in you, none of that.

Here's the perspective on Muhammad. Although not considered divine, Muhammad's example was considered perfect. So where Jesus we see as his deity, was he a perfect example? Yes. They would say Muhammad is not divine, just a human being, but his example was perfect.

He did it all right. So there's Abdullahi, this Islamic author writes, he stands in history as the best model for man in piety and perfection. He's the living proof of what man can be and of what he can accomplish in the realm of excellence and virtue. Even if he did break the treaty with the leaders of Mecca. Okay.

Because it's fine to lie to an infidel. Adam was the first man, as we saw in the chart there, created in heaven and removed after he sinned. So same guy, same name, but a little different story. They see the Bible as a book of some value, but very corrupted. So that's the way they get away with talking about the same personages in the Bible and talking about God and all that. But they say it's extremely corrupted and you can't really trust it, which is why you need the revelations through Muhammad.

Yep. Mankind was created innocent but chose to sin. Mankind is misled but not fallen. See the difference there? There isn't something wrong in our nature. We are intrinsically weak, frail, and imperfect, and that's the way we are. But that's not going to change. We are forgetful of God whose name is Allah.

Here is the revelations of Allah to man. The prophets are sinless, almost. The Quran, spelled two different ways, came through Gabriel, which they have as Jibril. So here is Gabriel who gave the revelations to Muhammad. That is the Quran. Then they have the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad. And by the way, there are various versions of that. And then the Sirah, Muhammad's biography.

There's almost nothing of Muhammad's background in the Quran itself, because it is a revelation from Gabriel to Muhammad. So it doesn't tell a whole lot about him. It's the Sirah that tells about Muhammad's own life and background. The Hadith and the Sirah together are not as large as the Quran. So these last two are smaller books. And the third one you almost never hear about.

So Jesus Christ is human. And that's what they would say is corrupt. One of the things that's corrupt about the Bible. Jesus Christ is human. He's a unique prophet mentioned in 93 verses and 15 surahs of the Quran. In the Quran he's identified as Isa, the Messiah, word of Allah, son of Mary, and the spirit of Allah. He is Allah's prophet to the Jews.

Almost, but not quite. Yes, yeah. They believe that Jesus was not crucified on the cross, that somehow it got switched and another person died on the cross. They certainly don't mean what the Jews would understand or what we would understand as the Messiah. Basically, it's the one sent to, a human being sent to the Jews. And as we'll see, he does have an end time role of revealing himself as a human being sent from God to the Jews to point to Allah and to point to Muhammad. Because it would really be the second coming of Muhammad.

Yes. No, I can't. Allah is their god and you can't know him. And he hasn't revealed himself. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a bit. What you notice is there's this crescent and a star and essentially they took the moon god of the various Arabian tribal gods and made that the one that they center on. Because otherwise they had hundreds of little tribal deities. And that was the one that was chosen.

Jesus Christ foretold the coming of Muhammad. That is the helper in John 14. They see that as the one who would come. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

Here's a place where they say it's corrupt. Our Greek text reads parakletos, one who comes alongside, right? They have it slightly different. Parakletos is the praised one, Muhammad. So they say that's what the Greek should be. It's just one of the places they say it's corrupt. Anybody convinced?

Jesus Christ is not God or the Son of God. Here are some quotes and the references out of the Koran. It's not befitting to the majesty of God that he should beget a son. They say God has begotten a son. No warrant have you for this. Say not Trinity. Desist. It will be better for you for Allah is one God, glory be to him, far exalted is he above having a son.

Allah is one, you can't know him, he's wholly other, he's revealed what you're supposed to do, that's it. What's very interesting is there are several places when you read in the Quran where it appears that Muhammad's concept of what The Christian trinity is the Father and the Son and Mary. Very interesting. Interesting confusion.

Salvation is by works, absolutely. It consists of both belief, Iman, and action, Amal. But the belief doesn't do anything to change you. It is belief that results in action. That's the only thing that matters. Oh, that's a bunch of Arabic that I just put up there as sort of a stylistic thing.

Belief consists of the oneness of Allah, the Muhammad is his prophet, the Quran is Allah's revelation through the angel Gabriel, Jibril. Life after death, God decrees everything, including the death of the infidels who are not Muslim. It's very interesting that hardline Calvinism is among various Christian ranges of belief the closest to Islam. God decrees everything. That's a very interesting comparison there. The good works consist of these pillars. The confession, in other words what we just looked at, those things that you believe. Prayer five times a day. prayer five times a day, fasting, Ramadan, and is fasting during the day during the month of Ramadan. I had an interesting experience one time. I was sitting next to an officer in the Saudi Air Force. He was sitting on my left, I remember, and it was Ramadan. And so when we were on this international flight and When the stewardess came around and says, you know, what do you want for dinner and that kind of thing?

He says, no, I can't have it because it's I'm supposed to fast. And then when they brought my meal, he looked over and he says, get me something. He figured out there was some way that, you know, where he was from or something that the time was OK. And anyway, he rationalized it some way once he saw what I had in front of me. Yes. Oh no, he figured out in his mind that there was some way to get around this so he could eat. Yes, that's right. Somewhere in the world it was the right time, you know. So, anyway.

Almsgiving, two and a half percent. That's the right percentage. Pilgrimage to Mecca if possible. Now, there are so many now and you actually have to make a reservation to be in this big massive crowd. that actually it's impossible for all the Muslims to go to Mecca. So that's why the if possible thing. You do it if you can.

And the Jihad, struggle, which of course then you get into the question of, you know, what does that struggle mean? And that's where, you know, we're having the problems with the terrorists. The Quran, some of the sources it draws from is the Jewish Talmud, because Muhammad had contact with Jews and, we'll talk about in a bit, some certain kinds of Christians. Jewish apocrypha, Christian apocrypha, and the Zoroastrian doctrines. Plus, he borrows many practices and symbols of pre-Islamic and pagan Arabia, such as those surrounding the visits to the hills of Safa and Marwas in the Hajj ceremony. The Hajj was that big, you know, picture that you saw of the big crowds of them, and also the throwing of stones against a stone pillar symbolizing Satan.

So those were all things drawn from earlier traditions, and he just said yes to this and no to that, and we're going to take this and tweak that. So he drew from a lot of sources, including Jewish and Christian sources, and then twisted and turned things and rejected some things and accepted others.

So here's the Quran according to their story, the angel Gabriel, let's see, I think I remember a scripture in Galatians, I think it is, right? Even if we are an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel, okay, other than the one we gave to you, may you be eternally condemned. So, Angel Gabriel to Muhammad, to his companions, he gave that to his companions, and then he got some other names here. Yes? Yeah, it's funny how this, you know, hey, I got this from an angel. That is a common story for various religions and cults. I got this from an angel. the Hadith, the sayings. Again, I mentioned it's a smaller book and there are some variations.

A source of traditional sayings of Muhammad contains most of Muhammad's miracles. In other words, since the Quran is a revelation from Gabriel to Muhammad, it doesn't contain a number of miracles, but in the Hadith and the Sira. Yeah? No, I think he probably saw himself as a Messiah although initially his wife had to Convince him that he was according to the accounts So Bukhari, admitting collecting 300,000 hadith, considered 100,000 to be true, narrowed them down to 7,275 with many repetitions.

So it's sort of, here's this mass collection, and now we're going to whittle it down to a smaller group. And finally, there are various traditions of the hadith. So if you say the hadith, it's not one singular document, it's various versions of it. And those are listed here.

On final things, this life is preparation for the next. And matter of fact, if it ends shorter, either by somebody killing you or you getting killed voluntarily, that might be a good thing. Because after all, the way they look at it is double predestination, just like the hardline Calvinists do. God chooses this one for hell and that one for heaven, and you know, if you didn't practice, start practicing Islam, then you're obviously destined for hell, and who cares if I kill you sooner or later.

Yes. They have an awful lot in common, it seems to me, with the Mormons. Yes. As a matter of fact, Mormonism has been called America's Islam. Very. Yeah. I mean, many of these things you could say exactly the same thing about the Mormons. Yeah. Yes. Including that Mormonism was, early, very militaristic. Yes, yep, gone through different changes.

The Mormons, of course, are split off into different groups. The last Mormon group to actually have a battle with the U.S. Cavalry took place around World War I. Every person will taste death. Everybody's going to die sometime. And so they look upon death as not that serious a thing.

And if you die as an infidel, well, that's what God dictated was going to happen anyway. And so if they're the agent for that happening, big deal. Yeah, yeah, everything's predestined. Allah dictates and decrees everything. Two angels, I give the names here, will question the dead in the grave. Unbelievers will be tormented in the grave and after the final resurrection. The final hour will be preceded by the disintegration of nature and universal sin, somewhat parallel to the tribulation. And Jesus will come again, pointing all towards Muhammad, who will also come again.

Jihad. Now this is one that's obviously become a big issue word. Jihad. The word means striving or struggle. Often used in the sense of personal striving in the path of God. So those who are not militaristic and terrorist will look at this as personal struggle and they'll just leave it in that realm. The more common interpretation of that of the overwhelming majority of the classical jurists and commentators presents jihad as armed struggle for Islam against infidels and apostates. We have probably 10% of Islam, and there's probably about 1.3 billion, that's the latest figure, and so about those say about 130 million, roughly, are militaristic in their carrying out of jihad. Now, here are some quotes from the Quran and the references, fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them and seize them, beleaguer them, lie and wait for them in every stratagem. fight those who believe not in Allah, nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Prophet, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they are of the people of the Book."

The people of the Book are the Jews and the Christians, right? with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. And this is what we mentioned previously, the Copts in Egypt did to survive. The Muslims came through North Africa and basically, you know, you're going to follow Allah? Nope. Then the sword comes. The Copts came and they said, we will submit to Islam. And so they were allowed to survive. They're not allowed to evangelize. So anyway, that's the group, the Coptic Orthodox Church.

This one is real confusing, but there are a lot of confusing things. When you meet unbelievers, smite their necks. Then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds and set them free, either by grace or ransom, until the war lays down its loads. And those who are slain in the way of God, He will not send their works astray. He will guide them and dispose their minds aright, and He will admit them to paradise that He has made known to them." Confused? Yeah, me too. Okay.

Now, stepping into this church history timeline here, you had, and this is a bit dark here, but you had the Roman Empire preceded the time of the birth of Muhammad, and the Roman Empire was all but falling apart and disintegrating by the time Muhammad came on the scene. East of the Roman Empire there was the Parthian Empire. This is where the wise men came from. So here are some Parthian buildings, and it was generally in this area and to the south there, Arabia, where you see the empire boundary.

So that's what kind of set the stage here for the time of Muhammad. Petra, which is a place that the Apostle Paul very likely went to for the revelations of Christ, it was also included in, what's the third Indiana Jones movie? The Last Crusade? Yeah. That was included in that.

Petra was captured by Rome and it was an Arabian, Petraean culture there. So the Romans conquered Petra, but out east of there you had the Arabian and Petraean, mostly nomadic tribes. And these tribes all had different gods. And it was the one moon god among one tribe that Islam developed from.

So in 590, so now we're into the life of Muhammad. He was born in 570. 590 to 1517 is the time period we've been looking at here. Here's a brief history of Muhammad. The history of the origins of Islam is recorded in the Quran and the Hadith, but mostly in the Surah, often presented at face value. There are a lot of things that are a little hard to believe, but nonetheless, we will present a few assumed facts about Islam here, but soon see why those facts are questionable. The Muslims teach that the Jews never had a temple in Jerusalem. Never ever did.

But that Muhammad you know, went there in a vision, and the Dome of the Rock, that was where Ishmael was offered up as Isaac, was offered up in Genesis, but no, it wasn't Isaac, it was Ishmael, there at that rock. Muhammad was born into the powerful Quraysh tribe, In Mecca, 570 A.D., he married a wealthy widow, only one of his several wives, Khadija, 15 years older than he, and that was the one who convinced him that this Jibreel was an angel of God, sent from Allah. 1610, 40 years old, that was when Muhammad received his calling from that angel, Gabriel, and his wife, Khadija, had to convince him that that was the case. Muhammad was afraid of the source of his revelation, thinking that it came from a jinn, this evil spirit, but Qadijah convinced him it was from God. Key events, there was a flight, there was a battle of Badr, battle of Uhud, siege of Medina, and then Mecca. He had, Muhammad had a ten-year peace treaty with Mecca, the leaders of Mecca, and broke it at three years when he got enough power. The Antichrist will make a treaty that will last seven years, right? And he will break it in the middle.

Interesting. Interesting pattern. Muhammad died in 632, leaving the sacred documents and matters to others. Immediately there was a family feud. over it, but instead of turning on one another, they turned on the rest of the world, taking the sword sweeping into Europe, into North Africa, and into Asia, where to this day you've got North Africa significantly Muslim, pockets of Islam still in Southern Europe, and pockets of Islam scattered through Asia all the way to the Philippines. Some puzzling facts. Interesting anyway.

Quran says that Muslims are to pray toward Mecca. Here are the references there in the Quran. But all of the earliest mosques do not face toward Mecca and some even face toward Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has eight sides but no faces and no direction. I've got some other pictures that are a little more clear than this of this rock. One of the indentations in that rock is the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant.

Hmm. Fascinating. Especially since the temple was never built there, right? Okay. The earliest copies of the Quran from about 100 years after the life of Muhammad, or later, those earliest copies date to the period after we find moths facing Mecca. So very interesting. It was like it was modified or something. from the original.

Mecca, the first most holy place in Islam, may not have the significant origins that the Qur'an describes. In other words, it may have some other origin aside from what's literally spelled out there. During the life of Muhammad, Mecca was not the major trading center that the Qur'an describes. So it's something anachronistic about it.

Yes? Do they have priests or rabbis? Yeah, they have imams. Imams? Yeah. I-M-A-M, we would spell it. Do you have any medical comments? I would assume multiple children, sons, have any line of descendants? Well, that was a part of the problem, is you had sons and cousins and uncles, and that's where we get our Sunnis and Shiites, okay? So you've got that there.

Here is a kind of a flying history through, and you have that on page three, the birth of Muhammad in 570, the hijrah, the capture of Mecca, which is where he broke the 10-year treaty three years through, the death of Muhammad in 632, and then it went through, shortly after that you see the conquest of Jerusalem and Damascus, the construction of the Dome of the Rock, in 690, and then on into various parts of the world, Europe, Africa, etc., and then the Battle of Tours, France, where the Muslim invasion of Europe was finally turned around 732, 100 years to the year after the death of Muhammad. The capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099 and 1453, the fall of Constantinople. Much of the wall around Jerusalem now was constructed by the Muslims in the 1400s. Now, so we've had this picture before. It's on page four in your handout.

By 732, 100 years after the death of Muhammad, you finally find the Muslim invasion turned back in Tours, France. But this gives a kind of a direction and time frame for where they went when. and eventually going all the way up to Tourist France, going all the way to North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, and eventually ending up with a group in the Philippines.

Yes? Is there a building or something in Mecca like the Dome of God? Yes, we saw a picture of it with that great big crowd of people in a slide quite a ways back there. Muhammad started off in Medina and ended up in Mecca. Well, two things. One, is if he could lay some claim, Islamic background, at the temple site, then that would motivate the Muslims to go and take it from the Jews. Take any claim from the Jews. And so what you have there, you have the Dome of the Rock, and then off to one side, you have the Al-Aqsa Mosque. as well, and I think we've got a picture of that somewhere. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was where Muhammad went in spirit near the time of his death, and the Dome of the Rock, of course, is where Ishmael was offered up by Abraham. So then that takes the temple side away from the Jews. Yeah? There's a little more to that than an in-spirit move, supposedly, Yes. So he never physically went there, this was a spiritual thing. Here's the Battle of Tours, France, where things were finally turned around. Then Charles Martel, Martel means hammer, describing the way he drove back the Islamic invasion out of Europe.

Up until then, they could never catch up to it. In other words, you know, this thing kept sweeping and moving so fast they could never amass any forces to push them out. And so that's why they got so far in. I mean, tourist France is not too far out of Paris. That's why they got so far in before this thing got turned around. They just, they moved, they swept through very quickly.

The fall of Constantinople. Constantinople was a bastion for Eastern Christendom and a key connection point between Europe and Asia, and it fell to Islamic invaders in 1453. Now, as we step into the period from the Reformation, starting 1517, we have some key points. Here's the Battle of Lepanto. defeat of Islamic naval forces by Christendom's naval forces near the New Testament city of Corinth.

So what you have is a lot of back and forth battles here, pushing back one way or the other. That pendulum swing has now come to a place where the pendulum swing is with Islam. gaining dominance. At least that's the way it is at present. The Wahhabi reforms, Mohammed Da' and he goes through it here, I won't try to pronounce the name, in 18th century Arabia, called for the purification of Islam. So this is their, we had our reformation, they had their reformation, right? The purification of Islam, encouragement of original thinking, Focus on the application. You do it. Here and now. And favored militant methods. So that happened a couple centuries back. They had their reformation. This is only among the Sunni Muslims. The Shiites never had this. Never took place. Osama Bin Laden in our time gave us birth and death. died there in Pakistan last year. His father became a billionaire during the oil boom of the 70s with the oil construction and the field and distribution network there. Degree in economics and business. Had four wives and 15 children.

Three complaints against the US. Americans are in a Muslim holy land. Part one. You got people, pardon? No. Complaints against the U.S. are that the Americans are in a Muslim holy land. We have people there working in the oil fields. We have people there militarily.

Any involvement with Americans there in a Muslim holy land, that's bad. What describes the holy land? Well, you've got the original area where Muhammad was located, and then the other thing is because of these, what I see as false claims about Jerusalem and Israel, they see that's part of their holy land too.

And you've got these stupid Jews in the way. And the Jews making claims about having a temple there. And the Americans supported Israel, and so that's bad. So our oppression of Iraq, American support of Israel, those are all bad things. We're the great Satan.

So in 1998, he issued a fatwa, an official Islamic declaration. Kill Americans and their allies. Civilians and military, it's an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it's possible. And then finally, to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, this is placed next to the Dome of the Rock, and to remove their armies from the lands of Islam. We've got to get the Jews out of there, we've got to get the Americans out. You're duty-bound as a Muslim to do that.

Whatever it takes. Now here's the aerial view. This is the temple mount that was built under Herod the Great. And the location of the Dome of the Rock is very likely at or close to where the center of the Jewish temple was located. And then at this end is the Al-Aqsa Mosque where Muhammad supposedly came to in this spiritual journey. Here is the city of David, just to the south of that, in the Kidron Valley, along in here, and the rest of Jerusalem off in this direction.

Just to see where things stand in major world religions, here's the religions of Abraham, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But when you say Christianity, that includes all sorts of groups that we would have problems with. It's really Christendom is kind of the term that I use. And then Islam is 1.3 billion. All these, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are all splintered into various subgroups, right?

So this is the generalization. Here are the Aryans. We've got Hinduism and Buddhism in the East. Yes? And who are they? A-R-Y-A-N-S? This is the Asian I was going to say ethnic title. Asian ethnic title. So you have Hinduism and Buddhism in there, both of those being religions of reincarnation.

Not to dwell on this, but did they come out of the Abraham No, they have no claim to Abraham. They have no claim to Abraham. That's why Abraham is looked at as the root for those three religions here at the top, but this is a different group altogether. And who precedes them, if I may ask? Who precedes them? Well, where did they come from? I mean, they must have come out of some previous religion or something. Yeah, you had early versions of Hinduism, and of course Buddhism was centered on Buddha. which is towards the end of the Old Testament era. It was the time that he came actually out of India, but his impact was more towards China, at least initially.

Here's the Islamic nations, and what you find is this slightly darker area here, centered in Iran. is the Shiites and the rest of the Muslim world, with the exception of a few little islands here and there, the rest of the Muslim world is Sunni. That's the majority of Islam is Sunni. This would be one reason, and not the only, for example, for the Iran-Iraq war that was taking place during the 80s. is just the Sunni Shiite division.

That continues to be a problem. It's also one reason why integrating Iraq, which has a significant Shiite population in the south, a real challenge, real challenge, because you've got a fundamental difference. And the difference is what part of the family. That's the difference between the two groups. Other differences as well, but that's how they originated.

The Shia, partisans of Ali, emphasize a dynastic leadership based on the family of Muhammad. They make up roughly 10-15% of all Muslims concentrated in Iran, southern Iraq, and southern Lebanon. Pockets of Shia also live in Saudi Arabia and Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Literally, principle or tradition do not believe that Islamic leaders must be from the dynasty based on Ali. they elect their leadership based on merit and devout Islamic principles.

So they're not of a, sort of the apostolic succession idea is what guides the Shia. In other words, you have to be of the right succession. Whereas those who say, no, it's not apostolic succession, in parallel with that idea anyway, that's the Sunni. Yes? Okay, what does the partisans of Ali mean? There was a particular leader way back. Those who follow in his line of descendancy are the ones eligible for leadership. Yes. Yes. Yes. Here are some trends in the Islamic world. One is secularization.

Western culture from America and Europe is making an impact on many countries through the oil trade and technology imports. Many countries that formerly staunchly opposed anything from outside the Muslim world are cracking their doors to commerce and tourism. Examples are Algeria, Turkey, and Qatar. Along with this openness comes the corruption of Western television and media.

Opposition to these influences brings, at its extreme, the second main trend. So there's the trend and then the counter-trend. Islamists are radical Muslim groups, those who react to this and want purism. Less than 10% of all Muslims are fundamental, strictly practicing their religion. However, this less than 10% is very outspoken and zealous among Muslims. Here's the key thing. The ones who are not all this devout and radical are in some degrees irrelevant.

It is the ones who are radical who are having the big impact. Those are the ones who are of concern and they feel it is their duty to take out anyone opposed to Islam and especially those who are contaminating the holy lands which include the Americans and the Jews and their allies So those who are more radical see it as their duty no matter what it costs anyone including themselves to rid these areas of the world that are holy of contaminant people It's a great bulk of the people who live there just go about their daily lives. Every group is their radical people. And those are the ones that cause all the trouble.

Isn't that about the same percentage with the Mormons that live in Colorado City and different places like that too that practice polygamy and that they have problems with today? It's a small percentage, right. It's a small percentage. Yeah, but that's what gets all the attention and that's what causes all the issues. It's the small percentage that does it.

You have different groups among Muslims. I didn't put that in there. What's interesting is to see is one of the groups is Freemasons, derived from Islam. You know the red hats? The fez? The red fez? That is a hat dipped in Christian blood. That's why it's red.

Here's an interesting point from the Roman Catholic Catechism. The Church's relationship with the Muslims. This is paragraph 841. That's how they reference their Catechism. The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator in the first place among whom are not you and me, the Muslims. These profess to hold the faith of Abraham together with us. They adore the one merciful God, mankind's judge in the last day.

Wow. You and I are not first. As a matter of fact, if you read through that section of the Catechism, we're not anywhere. But the Muslims are first. And the one merciful God, so Roman Catholicism claims to worship the same God as the Muslims. Very interesting. Mankind is judged on the last day.

I have there in the last part of this text box, unfortunately the judgment on the last day is not for those who are saved. Uh-oh. The last day reference is in John 12, 48, and that is not a judgment for believers. It's a judgment for unbelievers, whose names are not in the book of life.

Here we have some quotes from Scripture compared to this. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me, not Muhammad. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. Here's Jude 3, written by Jesus' half-brother.

And then in Philippians 3, 8-10, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. You cannot know Allah, but you can and ought to know Christ. Very significant difference. Huge difference. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law."

Islam is all about having a righteousness of your own derived from a law. Not the law of Moses, but a law. Right? But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Righteousness on the basis of faith, not righteousness on the basis of what I do. Radical different. Radical different.

The first hundred years of Islam, it spread in three different directions to three different continents by the sword. The first hundred years of Christianity, can you recall one sword being lifted in the name of Christianity? I can't think of one. Unless you count the missing year. Yeah. And then Christ restored it, right? This, I think, shows the fundamental character, regardless of what other people have done with Christianity and Muslim belief later. It shows the fundamental character of each religion. Yes?

We're going to address the Crusades in one whole time. We're going to look at nothing but the Crusades. The Crusades were a Christian, supposedly, I put that in quotes, military action. But the thing about the Crusades is the soldiers were told that if you go and fight for Jerusalem, to capture Jerusalem for the Muslims, that that will take care of all of your sins.

Is that biblical? Not even remotely. So basically the soldiers were told a lie in order to carry out the Crusades. They were told that that would, you know, Wipe out all your sins if you go fight the Muslims for Jerusalem. There's nothing about that that's even remotely biblical. When Christ said on the cross, it's finished, it's finished. That's it. That was the end of it. There's no need to go fighting Muslims or anybody in order to deal with your sins. But that was the basis for motivating the soldiers.

Okay, next time we'll look at evidence regarding Christianity outside the Bible in the first and second centuries. In other words, is the Bible the only evidence about Jesus Christ? No, it is not, as we'll soon see. If you were to set the Bible aside, you would have enough of the basics to tell the gospel and what took place from other accounts outside of the Bible, even things written by those who didn't believe.

Anyway, we'll see that next week. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we look at this movement of Islam, it will be swept aside one day. Maybe even as soon as seven years from now. But you manage all of history to the end that everything will be summed up in Christ. And we're thankful that you have revealed that and you've told us both in word and in action through Christ that you love us so very much. We give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen.