01.23.15 - Arizona State University. Interesting last two days - ASU has a large Muslim population, and much of the preaching/witnessing involved this group of students. Brother Ken came up against much opposition yesterday, but stayed beautifully on message that Jesus Christ is Lord and God. Muslims have a VERY difficult time understanding our triune God, and repeatedly reject the notion that God could have a Son, and that Jesus could die and still be God. In Islam, Jesus is simply a prophet, a created being, did not die on the cross (they believe it was actually Judas that took Christs place), and obviously could not have risen from the dead as a result. Further complicating things is the issue of justice within Islam - Muslims believe their god simply forgives, which, taken to its logical conclusion, denies the justice and holiness of the one true God - and that He simply cannot forgive unless justice has been satisfied - whereby only a Perfect Substitution in Christ can satisfy Gods legal demands on behalf of guilty sinners. Interestingly, and similar to Roman Catholicism - there is no assurance in Islam, in addition to an Islamic concept of purgatory - that sinners can ultimately attain paradise after a period of suffering in hell. What darkness and a tragic burden to live under and be enslaved to! What seems to most effective with Muslims are the 1-2-1 conversations; given the authoritarian nature and consequences of even questioning/entertaining the Truth, many Muslims are more apt to consider the truth of the Gospel in private dialogue - the fear and intimidation within Islam simply does not lend itself to honest inquiries in the presence of fellow Muslims and watchful eyes. And so I had a blessed conversation with a wonderful young Muslim woman yesterday - I took her through all the prophets, the prophecies, and culminated that with Jesus claims, life, authority, miracles, and fulfillment of His mission through the cross - and His death, burial, and resurrection. And although our young friend said she knew in her heart that Islam was true and that she would never, never leave Islam - strangely, strangely, her hands were shaking and she said her prayer was that God would keep her in the truth and ON THE RIGHT PATH! Very interesting choice of words considering our Lords words in John 16 and Matthew 7. I gave her a gospel of John in Arabic and specifically said it was a gift - and from what Ive learned is that if you offer a Muslim a gift, using the word gift, then they must accept; she even agreed with me this was true. Perhaps, I pray, this will lead to the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. The older gentleman in the picture is a believer who has shown up the last two years, held signs, and passed out tracts with us - praise God for his faithfulness. And finally, the young man in one of the pictures who initially thought the preaching was silly - well, he ended up staying for the entire message and his heart was warmed to the gospel; we had a wonderful conversation at end. Praise God. Pray for these souls at ASU tonight. Now - to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen. - 1 Timothy 1:17
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 04:40:16 +0000