Do Christians and Muslims Worship The Same God?

    While doing Healing On The Streets today a Muslim man came over and asked what we were doing. I explained who we were and why we were there. He told me he worshipped not at the local mosque but at a house nearby.  The lady I was with said:”well, we worship the same God, don’t we”.

I then engaged him in conversation and highlighted ( for the lady’s sake) some of the differences that reveal we do not worship the same God. I pointed out that Jesus says:”love your enemies, do good to those that hate you”, whereas Mohammed incited his followers to violence, which the Muslim man didn’t deny. In his defence he went on to point out the violence perpetrated by some prophets in the Old Testament. I didn’t dispute that, but we were comparing Jesus and Mohammed, not Old Testament prophets and Mohammed.

He agreed that Allah was a God of love, and that he is one God. I then asked him “who did Allah love in the millions of years before he created either men or angels?”. Since Allah was “on his own” for aeons of time, he couldn’t love anyone since no-one existed apart from himself. He maintained that Allah loved people before they existed, when he was planning creation. This seemed to me a thin, abstract argument. The Christian God on the other hand had always existed as a plurality, in a family relationship of mutual love. The Bible says: “I, the Lord, do not change”. If our God changes not, then the God Allah who changes to become a God of love after creation is not the same God Christians worship. Other points I raised included: many details such as Jesus’ birth, tribe and place of birth were foretold by prophets. This was not true of Mohammed. Jesus did miracles, Mohammed did not. None of my points found acceptance in his mind, sadly.

We packed up at 1pm and moved to our rendezvous point to be picked up by car. While standing there, a man with a can of beer in one hand and two cigarettes in his other asked us who we were. We told him and he explained he was out of prison on license. He had a injury to his wrist so we prayed for him and blessed him. He appreciated it and went on his way.  

 

 

Today I Invited A Muslim To Church On Sunday

Several folk were in for food today. I got chatting to one woman and she said: “if I could have another chance at life, I would do things differently next time!” I said to her “do you go on the internet?” She said she did, so I gave her one of my cards. This one says: “Are you on the right road?”  and on the reverse quotes Jesus’ warning that most are on the broad road leading to destruction, but few are on the narrow way that leads to life. I gave the card to her; she looked at it and said: “that’s me – on the road to destruction!”  She put the card in her pocket, so hope she checks out my outreach website.  

Later, a Muslim man came in. (He had been in the other week, looking in a really bad state). He had now got into sheltered accomodation and was being supervised. He told me he had been bullied in his last place and suffered badly from being terrorised by gangs. I asked: “have you had any support from the Mosque?” . He replied: ” I’m not going back there – they’re a load of hypocrites!”. I asked if he is still a Muslim and he said he was. He then said “whatever religion you belong to, it’s all the one God anyway”. I disagreed and quoted Jesus words: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except by Me”. I then told him about the Church next door, when the Sunday service was, and invited him to come along. Doubt if he will, but at least he is seeing practical Christianity in action by us giving him three days worth of food each time he visits us. 

Prayed Over Drinker On Detox

A guy I knew came in for food and he was clearly suffering the shakes. He told us he was doing detox from alcohol and was part way through the 72 hr process. We chatted for a little while, during which time he told us the method he uses to get into the back of the local Iceland supermarket to get free out of date food.

He said his liver was painful too, so we offered to pray for him and he agreed. After praying a minute or so, he said was going to have a fit and needed to lie down. We put him on the sofa and I prayed over him in tongues for a few minutes, during which time the fit subsided and he became calm and peaceful. He attends a local baptist church, and had made some sort of commitment in the past. He said he would come back next week for a coffee and a chat and we wished him well on the detox.

Later on, a guy came in who I seemed to recognise from a previous visit. It turned out he was the Muslim guy I had witnessed to a couple of years back, had sent him a Christian book, and who is now a Christian.

Homeless 16 Year Old Girl

She was a white English girl who had been homeless for 2 years and yet she was only 16! When we gave her food she said “No pork,please, I’m Muslim”. I asked her why she had decided to be a Muslim and she said she liked the way they lived. I shared with her some differences between her faith and the Christian faith but nothing I said seemed to make any difference.

Outreach At Our City Stall

Had some good conversations at our stall in the city centre today.

The first lady had a rucksack on her back and was looking for a good breakfast place to eat. On her way to a course on the use of plants, I showed her the sign on the Victorian building opposite which said: “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof”, to which she said “how appropriate.” She took our leaflet.

Another lady took an Easter Bible verse and read it out in a way that suggested she knew it. She said she wasn’t a Christian, but her Gran had taken her to church as a child. She took issue with God’s love, on the reasonable basis that God didn’t stop an 8 year old boy sexually abusing her 6 year old daughter.

Before I went out this morning, I came across a Hindu tract and felt I should take it. Sure enough, in due course I met a Hindu lady, a local GP, and she graciously accepted it from me. I also told her that Luke’s Gospel in the Bible was written by a medical doctor.

An old lady stopped to chat and told me she has suffered multiple illnesses for many years, but the local hospital had been negligent in treating her, so she had recently written to complain. She said she was “a spiritual person”. I talked about Jesus who healed people and offered to pray for the pain she was suffering. She agreed, so I spoke to the pain in Jesus name and commanded it to go. I asked how she was and she said “no change”. I offered to pray again but she said “no”. We chatted again for a while and I again offered to pray for her whole body, for peace within herself. She eventually agreed, so I prayed again. I asked how she felt and she said: “I feel lighter”. I also offered to give her a hug and a kiss. She said “people I know might see it!”. She relented and I hugged and kissed her. She seemed to go away very happy!

I met a young addict who was with an older alcoholic I knew from the streets. I offered him an Easter Bible verse and he said: “that’s appropriate for me”.

A couple of Indian guys walked past so I offered them both the tract “The Missing Peace”, which both accepted.

A Muslim lady took “The Missing Peace” to look at, but handed it back when she saw it was Christian.

I had a decent conversation with another Muslim guy who stopped. He knew of Jesus, of course, and I explained how Christianity is different from Islam. He needs 51% righeousness to get to Paradise, or he ends up in Hell – and he agreed that is so. I explained how Jesus is our righteousness and He got 100% – which passes to us as His followers. So we have a confidence about Heaven that he never has in his uncertainty.

Three young students were sitting nearby, so I gave each a “Missing Peace”.

The last guy I spoke to was a Buddhist from Tibet. He had come here via India and was teaching locally on Tibetan things. We chatted a bit about Buddhism. I took his leaflet and in return gave him the “Missing Peace”.

In the course of three and a half hours we also gave out over 100 “Challenge” Christian newspapers, full of many Christian articles and testimonies.

All in all, a good day on the street meeting people of all types and backgrounds and sowing seeds.

Muslim Seeks Christ

Got an e-mail today from a Muslim in the UK who wants to become a Christian. Was able to give him some links to various helpful websites, plus a local contact in the area he is living.

God is mightily at work and revealing Himself to  many in the Muslim faith. Praise His name!