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137 - ADDITION EXAMPLE 1: APPLICATION of these findings in ministry
In discussions with Muslim opponents or missionaries they sometimes taunt you with the fact that our Bible contains four Gospels. They say, “These are forgeries. Show us the original one Gospel of Christ! The Koran teaches that Allah revealed only one Gospel to Christ.” To such accusations you can answer, “Do you know the story in the Koran about the Devil refusing to worship Adam? I have found not only four versions of this one story in the Koran, but six of them. They are here: Suras al-Baqara 2:34 -- al-A'raf 7:11-18 -- al-Hijr 15:28-43 -- al-Isra' 17:61-66 -- Ta Ha 20:116-117 -- Sad 38:71-85. Which one of these six versions is the true one? Why is there not only one version in the Koran? What exactly did Allah say to the Devil?
Why cannot God make up his mind about what he actually did say to the Devil? If you answer these questions for me in a convincing way, then I will answer your question about the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!”
When reaching out to a Muslim seeker, you can ask him to read to you one of the passages in the Koran about how the Devil refused to worship Adam, for example the one in Sura Sad 38:71-78. Then right after that tell him that you found a text from pre-Islamic times about a similar story. Then give him the text above (context and quotation) from the book “The Life of Adam and Eve” to read it to you. Then ask him, what he thinks about this pre-Islamic text. Could it be that it was taken up in the Koran? Does this discovery in any way question the Muslim faith that the Koran is a direct revelation from Allah? For some seekers such discoveries can lead them to doubt the validity of the Koran and then more easily open up to the Gospel.
When doing follow-up among new believers from a Muslim background you can focus on a biblical approach to dealing with Satan. Tell your new brother or sister in Christ: “Since you now believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, you no longer need to fear Satan. His legal power over you to accuse you of your sin was shattered by Christ paying the penalty for your sin on the cross. And the Devil's effective power in trying to kill you, was swallowed up in Christ's victory over death through Christ's resurrection. So, Satan can no longer harm you, neither now, nor in eternity. Put yourself under the covering of the Blood of Christ and you will discover that Satan has zero power over you!”
In discipling committed followers of Christ from a Muslim background you can focus on the widespread practice in the Muslim world of using amulets or fetishes to ward off the influences of the Devil. Teach them to destroy any and all such fetishes or amulets and to flee all occult practices such as divination, astrology or sorcery. Teach them to apply this advice of Paul: “Give no opportunity to the devil!” (Ephesians 4:27)
When preaching and teaching in a church of Christians from a Muslim background you can devote at least one sermon or Bible study, in which you begin by focusing on what Allah commanded the Devil to do in Sura al-Isra' 17:64 -- “And with your voice (keep) jumping at whom(ever) you can, (to scare them), and bring (mischief) upon them with your horses and your foot (soldiers), and associate yourself with them in (questions of) property and children, and promise (things) to them.” Then contrast this with what Christ revealed about Satan in John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Compare, contrast and expound on the fundamental differences between Allah's job description for the Devil in the Koran and Christ's unmasking of the Devil as a total liar and murderer in the Gospel.
And finally, in warning Christians with little contact with or knowledge of Islam not to become Muslims or mix up Islam with Christianity, you need to highlight that the Koran contains verses, which are explicitly devilish, because the Devil is given space in them to reveal his will and plans. Show them that in the New Testament the Devil is not granted such a space anywhere, rather in these books, which unfold the Gospel message, we only have Christ and his apostles reveal the machinations of Satan, which can be summed up with his two activities: lying and killing, which together constitute the act of slander (trying to destroy you with a lie). Therefore, warn them not to open up to the message of the Koran and not to mix up the Koran with the Bible, or else they would end up allowing revelations of the Devil in the Koran to influence themselves or their church.