 Hey, welcome back everybody to our second lecture on BC212 Christian apologetics. Let me go ahead and share the screen. All right, so let's compare the belief systems between the Christian faith and Islam. When we talk about God, we believe in one eternal triune God. The Muslims believe in Allah, one eternal God. Now, this is very important. They don't have a concept of a triune God. So the moment we say God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, fully confused because they don't have that reference. Or we say triune God, one God, three persons. How can there be three gods? So we must be careful that this should not become a point, not a main point when you're talking to a Muslim. Because it's difficult to help them understand one God in three persons. So triune God or the God that even many Christians believe themselves don't understand it. I mean, can I comprehend that? So we should be careful. Don't use terms like triune God. Don't start talking about God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. No, just say God. They're understanding that revelation will come later when their heart is open. But now in the beginning, avoid that. Man, yeah, we know we're sinful. Okay, Islam's okay. Basically, people are good. We have the Bible. We have the scripture. We have the Bible. They have the Quran, Jesus Christ. We say, you know, he's God who became man. So in Islam, they accept Jesus as a prophet. But anything beyond that, very difficult to accept. To say he is God who became man. And especially when we use the term Son of God, very difficult, full confusion. So the obvious question they'll ask is, you know, why do you say Jesus is God? They accept Jesus as a prophet. Why do we say that Jesus is God? Or did Jesus himself say he is God? Show us. So we should be prepared for that question and be prepared to show that if it comes. But that would be a point where they have difficulty. Life's purpose for us is to grow in a personal relationship with God. Here is to submit to Allah. Heaven, we talk about those who receive God's gift of salvation through Jesus. For them, it's those who are chosen by Allah and hell. Those are rejected by Allah. So here's the difference. The common thing is they also believe in heaven and hell. The difference is you go to heaven if Allah says okay. If Allah says no, you go to hell. So that means there is no guarantee. There is no assurance of salvation. Whereas you and I, as believers, we can know that we are saved. I have assurance. I can say I'm going to go to heaven. Muslim, if Allah says okay, I'll go. We say no. So I'll try to live a good life. But there is no guarantee. There is no assurance of salvation. It depends upon what Allah decides. So that is one important point to keep in mind about salvation. Now we have to admit that a traditional Muslim, a practicing Muslim, is a very devout person. It means they have lots of... It's like a discipline. So Islam simply means submission to God. One who submits. So it started about 680. And through the prophet Muhammad, who in Saudi Arabia came to receive messages from God and so on. Now, if you get into the details of the life of the prophet Muhammad, it is quite bad. But we should not bring that up. Because either they will hit us or it will be very insulting. But the reality, that is the fact. That his life was not a very morally good life or it wasn't something we can point to and say, that is the life of a prophet. But we don't bring it up. There's no need to do that. Because we're not here to condemn. We're here to bring the gospel, the message of Jesus in a non-condemning way, helping them understand the gospel. So we don't want to condemn and so on. So what are the main affirmations? I bear witness there is no God but God. I bear witness that Muhammad is the prophet of God. So two statements they'll make. There's only one God, Allah. And there's only one prophet, Muhammad. Muhammad is his prophet. That's it. So like imagine if you have trained to say those two lines from the time you were young, even if somebody taps you on the hand, those two lines will fall out. It's like there's one God, his name is Allah, and one prophet, Muhammad. Muhammad is his prophet. So what are the five pillars? What do they practice? They confession of the faith, which we just said, pray five times a day, give arms to the poor, fast to the month of Ramadan, fast to Meccan pilgrimage and engage in holy war. It should be primarily against Wali loss, but also Jihad also extends to anything that you do in defense of your faith. Some other things that we just need to keep in mind is that okay, there are different sects in Islam where some are more strict than others in the way they follow, and we don't necessarily need to know everything about these different sects. In Islam, there is Mufti, who is a local leader, and Fatwa is any decision made by this leader in how they interpret the Islamic faith to be applied in a certain situation. So if the Mufti issues of Fatwa, you have to follow it. Follow whatever is said. So it's almost like their life is based on these things, these directives of Fatwa, the decisions that are made by the local leader, the Mufti. And in Islam, there's this unforgivable sin and ascribing someone equal to God, which we also receive in the Jews, how could someone claim to be God? So that's something we need to keep in mind. So how do we share Christ with the Muslim? What would be our main points? Now, like I said earlier, there are different kinds of Muslims. Not everybody is fundamental. Not everybody is going to go and do jihad. Not everybody is like in that same mindset. There are very modern Muslims who are open and they're thinking new, thinking differently. And even different, if you just look at how the Arab world is, there are certain countries that are very fundamental. And then there are certain countries that are opening up. So change is happening even in the Muslim world. People are beginning to think differently, like especially in Saudi Arabia and so on. Things are changing and they're changing. So in relating to a Muslim, we want to understand where this particular individual is. Is he a fundamental or is he a modern type of Muslim? So then we can present the Gospel accordingly. Also keep in mind that generally the question, the deity of Christ is death and is resurrection. Double question. They don't believe, like we said earlier, they accept Christ as a prophet but not deity. They will not accept his death and resurrection. So these are points that they're trained to question. So we need to be able to provide right answers. Now the thing that we need to keep in mind is we cannot, don't try to get into arguments with a Muslim. There's no point. We can't argue our way out. If they're willing to listen, then we can share. And what should we point them to? A couple of facts here. One is to point to God as a loving creator, as a loving God, because in the mind of a Muslim, God, Allah, Allah is somebody far away, powerful, distant. You just have to submit. So Islam simply means submission to Allah. Just do it. Just do what he says. The part of a loving God who wants to be your father, who wants to have a relationship with us, is very different. That we can even call God our father. It's very different because otherwise traditionally, God, Allah, you just have to obey. But to feel loved by God, the nature of God, and the relationship with God is something very different. So that's something we need to emphasize. For sin, once again, like what we had mentioned when we talked about Hindu, there is a concept of sin. But again, the Muslim looks at sin from how it affects people as opposed to it's affecting your relationship with God. That if you sin, you're disqualified from even knowing God or walking with God. Do you understand that? Oh, if I sin, I just offended you. I hurt somebody. I did something wrong against you. It's more than that. We had to have them understand. It offended God. It affects your relationship with God. For the Hindu, if you sin, it's bad karma. But I can compensate for it next day. I can do some good deeds. For the Muslim, if I sin, I'm affecting you. They're not thinking about why, how it affects me, my relationship with God. That emphasis is not there. So that's what we need to bring that in. In both cases, we bring it in. But the perspective is different. One is about karma and here it's about affecting others about relationship with God. This is where forgiveness comes in that a Muslim understands the concept of forgiveness. It's based on God. But there is no guarantee. Like if God, if Allah wants to forgive even. But on what basis will he forgive? And second, can you have assurance that you're forgiven? No. Right? So there is the concept of forgiveness, but Allah will have to choose to forgive. But in the Christian faith, we have a basis on which forgiveness is given and we can know that we are forgiven. We know the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son has cleansed me from all sin. I'm not guilty. I'm not under condemnation. We know that. Now that is not there in Islam. How on what basis? So this is where we can introduce the work of Christ on the cross. I think I already mentioned this is the Fatherhood of God. To establish that relationship with God is, you can come into that relationship with God as a father, God as a father and be his sons and daughters. Now, there was a book written by a Muslim lady a long time ago. It became very popular. Her book was called, I Dare to Call Him Father. Bilq was sick. So for her, just coming to know that you can call God your father was very powerful, which brought her to faith in Christ. She suffered and persecution, all of that for her faith in Christ. But just to know that I can call God my father was a big revelation. So she wrote that her journey to faith. And do we emphasize that the Christian life is based on God's word and led by the Holy Spirit as opposed to, you know, Fatwas or decrees being issued by the local. So these are the points of difference. Now, it is not easy to share the gospel with the Muslim. Like it's not easy because they come, they're already very strong and trained in the thing. But what we see is that when God touches their hearts and God opens their hearts, then the revelation comes. And these points of difference are things that they understand or they recognize that I can have a relationship with God. God is a loving God. I can have, I can call Him Father. I can have my sins forgiven through Jesus Christ. And so those points, it comes because of revelation, because God opens their heart. So we are goal is to present Christ, to present the message and then leave it, leave it to God to open their hearts to know Christ. Is that okay? Yeah. Any questions? Classroom and online. So partially, one day what happened is like, yeah, one day what happened is like, I'm trying to reach out to a person. So in here only, Biblical only, he's a Muslim. Diana is with me. So she said to pray for him. He's going through on leg pain something. But we asked to, shall I pray for you? But what he thought is we are praying is a mantra. We are using a mantra something. Yeah. So like how to approach a Hindu or Muslim in a prayer way. Like we should, we are ready for pray for you, but they're thinking the wrong way. How to approach a person like us that. Yeah. Very good points. Both Hinduism and Islam, there is room for supernatural. Both, right? But it is through the practice of black magic or what we would say something with the occult, you know. So they have both have room for the supernatural, but it is through the wrong way. So this is how we would do it. We just say, can I pray for you in the name of Jesus? So tell them, I'm going to pray for you in the name of Jesus. No black magic, nothing. I'm going to do it in the name of Jesus. So we just ask the permission and we tell them, I'm going to do it in the name of Jesus. Are you okay? You know, we can't, we don't want to force anything. Ask them, are you okay? I'm going to pray for you in the name of Jesus. Then we can proceed. You know, so some of them will be open. Sometimes they may say no, but most of the time they are open to it. Yeah. Yeah. And then when they experience something, then it's when we can point them to Jesus. Sometimes we may not be able to, for example, if they, especially we have, it can happen in both Hindu and Muslim, that they are wearing something, you know, like a black thread amulet on the hand here and all that. You know, they'll be wearing something. You can see, always wearing something. But those are signs of some prayers and dedications that they have done in the temple or wherever, you know. Sometimes we may have to tell them, see, I can pray for you, but you need to take that off. Are you okay? Are you open? We can't force it. We can't force it, right? They might feel insulted or so insulted, but we can ask, are you okay? Now, if a person is even possessed and is manifesting, then if there is somebody there to say, hey, some relative and all that, he would cut it off, take it off. Because that usually is what is giving that demonic power right over that person. Because they have prayed and said, I'm, you know, I'm giving my body to you or whatever prayer they would have prayed and made that dedication. So that's when, with permission, you know, either that the same person or with this thing, say, can we take it off? Or can you take it off? The better is like, you take it off. Like others, they will accuse us. So you come in, you come and cut it off. So you tell them, you take it off and they will take it off. Then we can minister deliverance. So, or as soon as they are ministered, then you tell them, you take it off. You know, don't keep it on because it's a dedication they've made to something. Yes. Sometimes the reaction manifestation is very bad at that time. I've seen ministries. I tell them to remove and they'll remove. That is the time the manifestation is there. And after that, they get complete deliverance after prayer. Only if they remove. Yeah. So because of that dedication that was made, you know, so that what they're there is part of that dedication over their lives. It gives them in the demonic power access to them. So we tell them to take it off and then leave them in a prayer and say, I cancel it and break every dedication in the name of Jesus. Then you have the experience. Sir, another question. This is for our understanding. So it's written in the Bible. Angel Gabriel gave all this revelation. As you told that there is nothing good about Mohammed. You can no example. You cannot say any example. So now, so in the coming days, so the coming days is a revival time. And how we have to because sometimes this for only our understanding and this completely the revelation comes from the demonic. These are called demon plan. So most of the people are affected. Most of the Muslims, the millions of people saw the plan of evil. And this is a very big warfare. So we have burden for souls and we have burden for Muslims also to come. So only through prayer we are doing. But some areas they will come and ask questions and argument will be there. And how to avoid that or how to say, we can in front of people, we cannot argue, bring an argument that will become different. Because my ministry, many Muslims will come for prayer. They get many miracles. They receive miracle and they'll go back. Most of the people, the Muslim miracle, one Muslim convertor and when they also the relation through relations, they are not you receive complete deliverance. When they come here, they will deliver and they'll go back and again they'll have the same thing. So very difficult them to obtain the salvation completely. So this is really very challenge. And we have to face or we cannot educate them. So once we educate them, they'll go and tell the relations. So that will be. Only love of Christ only we can say and the Holy Spirit will lead them to truth. And it's a little challenge. Sharing induced is okay. It's a very challenging only this Muslims. Yeah, it is definitely challenging. But the most of the testimonies are when it's really a supernatural work that God does in their lives, you know, that somehow God opens their mind and heart to know him. Of course, we do our part, you know, whatever, you know, sharing the gospel, praying for them, ministering to them, but you leave it. And then the rest God has to do is to open their hearts and minds and make that decision, you know, like even in one of our locations, like this Muslim family, even I'm surprised like how, I mean, some of the family members are still like, you know, there's come and go. But one person is like really committed. So even I'm surprised. Surprise means like how this person is so committed. And it's only a work of God. Whereas the rest of the family are just come and go like, you know, this, you know, so we can share the, do our part in sharing and leave the rest to God. First, some of the people will say like the God who Christians used to worship and the God who Muslims used to worship is the same God, Christianity and the Islam are the two ways to reach Father Yahweh. Most of the Muslims of my friends also, they used to say like this, huh? Yeah, so we have to, so, you know, so if you look at that, if you look at it that way, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, we could put it all side by side, you know, because they kind of trace back to somewhat a similar origin. Abraham, you know, a common ancestor or patriarch of the faith. So that way. But it's still very different. So when, so the social basic question is, is the Allah whom the Muslims worship, the same God, or whom the Christians worship, is he the God of the Bible? So that's the question, right? Is Allah whom the Muslims worship, the same God whom the Christians worship, or the God of the Bible? The answer is no, because the God of the Bible is a triune God. And Jesus is part of the Godhead. He is the Son of God. Do Muslims embrace Jesus? No. And the God of the Bible is a triune God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Do Muslims have that same thing? No. Secondly, the way is very different. If you say you go to Allah through Prophet Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus, very different, very different. Prophet Muhammad was a man. He's saying Jesus is God who became man. So how can two totally different ways lead you to the same destination, right? Let me say like Prophet Muhammad did not die for your sins and did not do the very thing. Adam brought us under sin. But who brought us out of that? Jesus brought us out of that. And he could do it because he was sinless, not so in this case, right? So the, to put Prophet Muhammad alongside Jesus is like totally different. It's like night and day, totally different. And Jesus said very clearly, you cannot come to the Father except through, if you're reaching some other Father, that is different. If you want to go to the Father, it's only through. So there is no way we can say that the Allah whom the Muslims worship is the same God of the Bible, whom the Christians worship. No, very different. Yeah, it's very different. Sir, a little bit similar. Let we love Abraham. The stories are a little bit similar, right? We, we from Isaac, like that they'll come back. The contradiction came from this point where after Abraham, right? Before and all, see, they used to worship the God of Abraham. So what they say is the God of Abraham is Allah. We also used to, we worship God of Abraham. The God of Abraham is Awe. That's where the point divides, right? Like, like that in that context, they'll say like the people who worship the Christians and the Muslims are the same. I understand the argument that is, okay, we're starting with the God of Abraham. But it's also important how we worship the one whom we call God, you know? So I think an example that we can look at is in Acts 17 when Paul is in Athens and he sees, okay, that all these idols, so many gods, they even have one idol to the unknown God, alter, to the unknown God. Now Paul is coming and talking to them and he says, this unknown God whom you're worshiping, I'll tell you how to worship, who he is and how to worship him. And it is through Jesus Christ. So although he's referring to the unknown God, he does not say all these ways that you have many idols, okay? See, they have many ways. They already had many idols, many idols. So he says, hey, I see you're very religious people because you've got so many idols. You even have an altar that says to the unknown God. So I'll talk to you about the unknown God. But that unknown God you approach through Jesus Christ. So he doesn't tell them, you can approach them through all these ways. You approach that unknown God through Jesus. So I understand this argument about Abraham, but then the God whom we worship and how we worship him is also very important, that we have to worship him through Jesus. Otherwise if we take another approach, you're not ending up with the same God. So we have to be very careful about this. Yeah, okay. I'll pause there. Any other questions? Francis? So in their religious books, like their help corporate, I don't know which part is that, Muhammad is saying like the Jesus Christ is there, Prophet is, he's directly mentioning like us, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So if you are saying to a Muslim like us this, like your Quran is only saying like us this, it will become a, it's not become an argument. Is it a good way to share gospel to them? Like your, Muhammad only says like Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It will become a good way or is it not a good way? So yeah, so I did meet one person and I think he's, I forget where he's based in now, maybe not for I have his number, but he was actually studying to be a imam. He had, he was enrolled in one of their colleges in Kerala, under working under priest and all that, Muslim priest. So he was training to become a imam, very powerful testimony. And he, while he was studying the script, the Quran, he saw some reference to Jesus. So he went and got the Bible to study that, because there's a reference like what you were saying. So he explained to me personally, he was saying, this is how I have some very interesting, how you came to faith in Christ. And today he's a preacher of the gospel and minister, but his whole journey was, so he was studying to be an imam. He read the Quran. Then from there he went to discover what is in the Bible. Then he started studying the Bible very seriously, because he's a scholar. And eventually he came to faith in Christ and came out of, you know, this whole thing and being an imam and he had his own challenge and journey. So that was how God worked in his life. But I think for us, we are outsiders, right? For us to go and tell them, hey, you read in your Quran, it's talking about Jesus. It's very difficult. I think only God has to use it. So in this particular case and probably in some other cases, that mention of something in the Quran about Jesus, prompted him to go and find out. And God used that. But I think for us to go and tell people, I think we should avoid it, because we won't be able to, you know, explain further or defend things further and get an argument. But if God uses it like how in this example, God actually did that, you know, that he read it, then he went and started searching and, you know, and so on. So I think it's better that we let God use that than us going and doing it, because we won't be able to handle all the additional questions that come up and arguments and debates if people want to argue back and forth. But God has used these kinds of things to bring people to faith in Christ. Go ahead, Francis. Like the same thing in Hindu Vedas as there. So we get news like same thing, God will use, like we should not use like this. Like in Veda, I don't know which Veda, they're saying Prajapati. It's like the one person is dying for our sin. So in case like pastor said this is not a good way to approach, God will use. And those are always the examples for TV. So God uses that as a trigger or as a pointer to cause people to go and search for the truth. That is fine. But if we start getting in, then, you know, there's a lot of additional things that come, more questions that come, which we will not be able to handle. I think we should. So that's what that's my perspective to avoid, you know, saying, hey, go read your Quran or go read your Vedas and find out if God uses it, it's fine, you know. Yeah. Okay. So this is it very today in a nutshell. He said, look, when we present the gospel, when we present the message of Jesus to a Hindu and a Muslim are presented very simply, be aware of the main points of difference. And this is what it is. We present that. But then ultimately salvation comes from the Lord. God has to open their hearts. So let the Lord, you know, open their hearts and let them experience. Okay. So Chayesh has one dimension of another lady who came to know from a Muslim lady who came to know the Lord. And she found Jesus. And then wrote a book. Yeah. Judgment shares. We should avoid using it because again, point us back to Quran and say this is what told in the Quran. And another essence. Yeah. So we want to avoid unnecessary debates about, you know, what the Quran says, what the Vedas say, and so on. And we are not in a position to handle all of that. Okay. Right. So we're going to change topic. So our next topic, and I just introduced the topic and we will pick it up next week. Okay. So next two weeks, I'm going to be traveling on the traveling on missions next week and the week after. But what I'll do is I will record the class. First, I'm going to try to see if my schedule allowed me to connect remotely. But if I cannot connect remotely, I will make sure I record the lecture. I'll put it up on video in the classroom so you can listen to it. But the next topic is about suffering. Lesson number 15. In here, what we want to do, lesson number 15 is try to understand why is there suffering? What are the reasons there is suffering? And what should our mindset be towards all the suffering that is in the world? Right. So we need to get clarity on this and also have the right perspective on this. Otherwise, sometimes believers, as believers, we end up blaming God for things he is not doing. No. God, you're responsible. Please. So when we say, have mercy on me, oh God, God is probably telling us, you have mercy on me. You're blaming me for everything. So many of us, I mean, I was believers because we don't have the right perspective on suffering. Sometimes we blame God for those kinds of things. And so we need to get in a biblical perspective, get a clear understanding on suffering. And then so we can have that. And then when people ask us questions, we will be able to provide the right answers. So that'll be our next lesson. I'll make sure that some videos are recorded. I'll record it and upload it into the classroom so you can just follow that. So please bear with me for the next two weeks. This is like just last few mission trips that I had committed to doing this year. Okay. Any questions? All right. Okay. Let's close in prayer for today. Could somebody please pray? Then we'll wrap up our class today. Heavenly Father, we come before your throne of grace. Thank you, Jesus. We understood about how to share the gospel among Hindus and Muslims. Let this lesson help us in an understanding way. And wisely, we have to share this gospel of God to help us. Thank you, Jesus, for the teacher. Thank you, Jesus, all the students who come to here. Bless us for the glory of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.