We have been in conversation with a Muslim from overseas about the faith in Christ. He wished to give us “the other point of view,” and wrote accordingly about the Islamic belief that God has no Son, and rather that Jesus is a prophet that will appear with God in the judgment, but Muhammad is the last prophet that speaks to us all today.
Victor’s answer:
Hi Hatem,
I know what the Muslims believe. I have also red the Koran. I have to tell you that I am not giving you a point of view as you give me. I am speaking by God and His revelation to me. Islam is a religion as you say, but I am not talking about religion. I am speaking of God, by God, from God. He has revealed Himself to me as He has to many. We have been raised from the dead.
When the Bible speaks of God and His Son, it is figurative language. That means that He uses a parable or a symbol to describe or explain something that is not quite the way we understand things. By God sending His Son, He means that He revealed Himself to mankind by taking on a human body. He came to us to deliver us from our separation from Him. He used Himself as an agency, or as a bridge to Himself. He alone can save us and restore us to Himself. Adam and Eve had chosen to go their way, thus bringing down mankind with, and from within, themselves. In the fullness of time, God, manifesting Himself in Jesus Christ, came to save us from sin, death, this world, darkness, Satan, and from ourselves. He has accomplished His work in many, and continues to work with whomever He will throughout the ages.
God is One, not two, not three, or many, but One, although He can manifest Himself anyway He pleases, and who has the right to fault Him or to argue with Him as to how He should show Himself to us? He manifested Himself to Abraham as a man, as He has to others, but finally He made Himself known in fulness by One Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ proved He was God by raising Himself from the dead, something no other person has ever done or has ever been able to do. That is the difference between Him and Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, Moses or any other man. We are speaking of the difference between men and the One Man in Whom God presented Himself.
You say the Muslim religion is the last one. There have been many since then. For example, the Baha’i also claim to be the last one, and Baha’ Allah the “last messenger,” coming centuries after the Muslims, so you are by no means the last, not that it matters. It is not a matter of who is first or last, but of who is of God. There are men’s works and there is God’s work. True religion is God’s work. All religions claim to be God’s work, but they cannot all be right, because they stand in opposition to each other, both in doctrine and spirit, and all religion stands in opposition to Jesus Christ, Who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man can come unto the Father but by Me.” You may think you do not oppose Him, saying that the Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as a prophet. But I tell you, He is more than a prophet. He is Mohammed’s Creator, and the Creator of all things. He will not be judged by God because He is God, the Judge of all. I know: I have been judged by Him, and one day you will be as well. Truly, even as I speak these very words to you, you are now standing before the Judgment Throne before Him, being tried by His Word.
Who is right and who is wrong? When Jesus Christ and His disciples walked the earth, the Jews persecuted them to the death, as they did with all of God’s prophets before Jesus Christ came. As time progressed, all true followers of Jesus Christ were persecuted to the death by the world that did not believe in Him, though many of them claimed to believe. The Catholic Church, for example, is a corrupt organization, teaching pagan doctrine, like the Trinity (Three Persons of God) for example, and eternal torment for another example, and it claims to be the One True Church of God on earth. Yet it has nothing to do with God, and the blood of millions is on her hands, including Jews, Christians, Muslims and every other kind of person, even Catholics themselves. She is a bloody whore, altogether corrupt. She has used the Name of Jesus Christ only to achieve her own diabolical goals of absolute power on earth.
Muslims have conquered by sword and terror. Muslims are no better than Catholics. They too have much blood on their hands. Today, they are slaughtering people all over Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. All religion, Hatem, opposes God, Who is love, and opposes Jesus Christ, Who is the embodiment and example of a perfect union of God and man. Jesus Christ is the demonstration of the will of God, that being to create man in His own image, just as He said in the Book of Genesis that He would do.
Yes, God is great, and that God is the One Who, as a man, laid down His life, and took it up again. The greatest truth one can ever know on this earth is that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He brought His Own Person from the dead, and has given all true believers His Spirit. I am one of those. We live for Him and speak in Him. We know whereof we speak. It is not a matter of opinion. We are not entitled to our opinions of God; that is what religion is all about, and religion thus kills. Religion was born of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was forbidden by God, the tree from which you eat and speak. We are not giving you a viewpoint. We are speaking what God has given us to speak. We speak from the Tree of Life, and those who eat from this Tree have eternal life, even here and now.
Knowing whereof we speak,
Victor
Hatem’s response:
Assalamou alaykom dear friend
good morning
thanks for your long letter
it is so great to enter in discussion with open people like you
people who are cultivated and full of knowledge
i read attentively your letter find some similarities with our beliefs
and some differences in the other hand
you told me that you are talking and speaking what God gives you to speak and not a point of view
and also i told you that i am not saying a point of view but from HOLY COURAN
and this link … please take a look attentively to it
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/SURAI.HTM
may be useful for you
we as men different than profet and the mission of profet is known
dear friend
have great time with your family
we will continue discussion if God want
SALAM
Paul’s reply:
Hatem, greetings and peace from the Almighty God, Whom we serve in Truth,
Revelation knowledge of God, which comes through the resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is far more valuable and powerful than a book, be it the Couran (Koran), or even the Holy Bible. Many have come to us saying the Bible is the Ultimate Authority, the same as you speak of the Koran, and we have shown them that the Bible is and says no such thing (read False Christianity Unmasked and Bible Worship Used by Men to Cover Evil). The Bible, which is the holy record of God, bears witness that God Himself, the omniscient Spirit and Lord Jesus Christ, is the one and only Ultimate Authority and Source of godly knowledge.
The scribes, who were religious Jews of Jesus’ day, preached from the Bible, but those who heard Jesus speak said this of the difference:
“And they were astonished at His doctrine. For He taught them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes” (Mark 1:22).
“And they were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with authority” (Luke 4:32).
And others said this of Him:
“The officers answered, ‘Never did any man speak as does this Man'” (John 7:46).
A book does not confer power on a man; God does. Only in Him is there found understanding of Scripture and unity of heart and mind. How can one understand His words if not in unity with Him and His mind? The evidence is clear that men that do not know God, but rather use a book for their religion, whether it is the Holy Bible or the Koran, will disagree on meanings, and will create schisms of the kind that the Bible and the Koran condemn. In fact, the chapter of the Koran that you copied in your letter speaks of this. I quote:
“The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah – the which We have sent by inspiration to thee – and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: Namely, that ye should remain steadfast in religion, and make no divisions therein:
And they became divided only after Knowledge reached them,- through selfish envy as between themselves….
Now then, for that (reason), call (them to the Faith), and stand steadfast as thou art commanded, nor follow thou their vain desires; but say: ‘I believe in the Book which Allah has sent down; and I am commanded to judge justly between you.’“
The counsel of this last sentence leads to strife, as is evident everywhere. Division is not avoided by, but is the result of, following a book, which is eating from the Tree of Knowledge instead of from God. A book is not the solution to the problem that comes from following a book! The solution is a change of nature, being born again from above, of which Jesus spoke (John 3:7) and made possible by His death and resurrection.
It is only by this new nature from above that men can perceive and follow the Truth and intended meaning of the words inspired by God. Then they are able to tell the difference between what God has said, and what man has said or interpreted. Then they will, as Jesus said, hear the voice of God, and will follow Him. The Koran does not acknowledge or honor the only Way to spiritual birth and harmony with God, which is through Jesus Christ, the One Who died, and was raised from the dead. Only God can overcome death. Jesus Christ is God, the one and only Creator Who rules over all. You must hear Him, and receive Him, to have life.
The Koran denies that Jesus Christ died on the cross. Without the cross of Christ, no person will ever be saved. If Christ did not die on the cross, we are yet in our sins, because His blood was not therefore shed as commanded by the Law of Moses to absolve us of our sins. Christ is the Passover Lamb, which God prepared for us to cleanse us from our sins and from all of our unrighteousness. You are yet in your sins, because you do not believe on the only Name given under Heaven whereby men must be saved. Repent, Hatem, turn to your Creator and Savior, and you will then know peace and unity with God and His saints.
As for us being different than Mohammed, Jesus said this:
“For I say to you, Among those who are born of woman there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28).
The least of those born of God is greater than the greatest prophet of all time. Mohammed, who was in error about the Son of God, is not even a true prophet. A true prophet knows God, and does not misrepresent Him or His work. Mohammed (or whoever wrote the Koran) has come without knowledge, shortchanging you and many others of the wonderful and liberating truth of forgiveness and regeneration in Christ, thereby blocking your entrance into the Kingdom of God. We now speak the truth to you because we have been begotten of Him and speak His words to reconcile you to God, Who is your Savior as spoken of by the prophet Isaiah:
“Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:21-22).
Mohammed has not told you the truth, as in this Surah at the link you sent us:
Surah 112. The Unity, Sincerity, Oneness Of Allah
1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4. And there is none like unto Him.
In contrast, here is what the Holy Bible says: “I will declare the decree of Jehovah [God]. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You” (Psalms 2:7).
This is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham, “that blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the shore of the sea. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:17-18).
The fulfillment of the blessing to Abraham came through that Seed, Jesus Christ, Who is the express image of God:
“And to Abraham and to his Seed the promises were spoken. It does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).
It is true that there is none like God. Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh, has demonstrated before all the Nature of God, and we being flesh are begotten through Him as His children. By His grace we are made to be like Him, because He has begotten us as His children in the Beloved, the holy Seed of God. This blessing is promised, as we have seen, not only to us, but to all nations. You, too, will come to know Him, and to be like Him, as will all other Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and even those many professing Christ who now do not believe Him, because for this purpose He has made you (and them). Who is more powerful than God, and could possibly thwart Him in doing His will? And why would anyone knowingly choose to deny such great blessing?
In the love of God, Who died for His enemies, we preach the good news,
Paul, brother in the Lord to Victor and all His saints