Many Christians, and sadly many pastors, are making some big mistakes when they try to reach out to Muslims. A big part of our ministry is reaching out to Muslims and we want to see Muslims come to Christ.

If we are going to engage Muslims we must do so  in such a way as not to compromise our doctrine and our message. Many, instead of getting the message out, are buying the false message the Muslims are propagating.

Muslims are very nice and friendly, they are people like anyone else. Many of them are desperately hungry for recognition and friendship, we are all social creatures. Many of them who are here are not well received and get the cold shoulder. Any time we are friendly and cordial with them, we will find they respond in kind.

If you work withing the interfaith movement you will compromise the Gospel. When we try to bring Muslims to Christ we must remember that we are handling God’s Word. We must be careful how we handle it. We shouldn’t ever compromise even the smallest part. We must stand on the truth even if we have to tell our friends that they are wrong. Of course we must do so in the right spirit. We are to speak the truth in love.

You often hear me say, “You’re seldom persuasive when you are abrasive.” Although we are to speak in love, we are not to compromise on God’s words and God’s precepts. This is exactly what these pastors do when they get involved in the interfaith movement.

Yesterday I started talking about 20 pastors in Denver who met with a local imam. They went to the mosque and listened to the propaganda of the imam, and then posted it on their website. They are now propagating the lies of these Muslims.

The lie we dealt with yesterday was that Islam had come to abolish slavery over time. We looked at how slavery is part of the teaching of Islam and is still being practiced today. Now I want to look at some other things they discussed.

They discussed the doctrine of abrogation. This is a foreign concept to us as Christians. It is not part of the teaching of Christianity. This doctrine teaches that anything Allah says that contradicts what he said earlier is superseded by the later statement. Let me give you an example. Early in Muhammad’s revelations the angel told him that there is no compulsion in religion. This means that no one is forced to believe one thing or another. They are not to be punished for not believing in Allah.

Later, after Muhammad became militant, he received new revelation from Allah saying to fight them if the believe not. He is told to war against them as long as there is unbelief in Allah. I think you would agree that this is completely different than the statement that there is no compulsion in religion.

This is a contradiction that must be explained. It is explained by the doctrine of abrogation. The simple explanation is that Allah changed his mind.

Even though they asked about abrogation, there is no indication that there was any explanation. The answer given by the imam was that there are complexities with the Qur’an. It was given over a period of time and it is to be interpreted one way at one time and another at another time.

We know that some of the commands in the Old Testament were given to the nation of Israel and do not apply directly to the Gentiles. The New Testament doesn’t abrogate or annul the Old Testament. There is a difference in our practices, but not in our principles and precepts.

One of the main things they discussed was the claim that Muslims are held to a different standard than the rest of us concerning violence. Why should those Muslims who claim to be peaceful, moderate Muslims be obligated to renounce the violence of the jihadis? The imam asked why, when Christians commit murder. aren’t other Christians called upon to renounce their violence.

I am doing some research on the FBI reports of terrorist activity. Muslims try to tell us that 90% of the terrorism in the world today is not being done by Muslims. They ask why all the attention is given to Islamic terrorism when it is only 10% of the terrorism world wide.

You know that this is nothing but propaganda and these “Christian” pastors are now propagating this false message. Let me ask you when was the last time you saw terrorism at an airport that was not done by Muslims? The Muslims are spinning and these  pastors are buying it. Not only are they buying into the propaganda, they are helping to spread it in the Christian community.

Lets look at another issue. There is a movement that says that Christians have common ground with Muslims. Here is what the imam said:

If you don’t believe in Jesus and the virgin birth, then you’re not a Muslim,” Imam ShemsAdeen told us.

This is a true statement as far as it goes. When an uniformed or gullible Christian hears this he says “Wow, I didn’t know this, we do have some common ground with Muslims.” This is an important subject with Christians. Here are some questions they should have asked:

• Is the Jesus that Muslims believe in the Son of God? Their answer to this question would be an absolute NO!
• Did the Jesus they believe in die on the cross? Again, the answer would be no, he did not.
• Did the Jesus they believe in shed his blood for the sins of the world?, Again, the answer would be no.

These questions, and many others, were not asked and these “Christians” came away believing the Muslims believe in Jesus and His virgin birth. This makes them think that Muslims are their brothers and sisters in Christ.

These pastors were foolish to accept the propaganda of this imam. Don’t you be fooled. Have the courage to stand for the truth.