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About Jesus Steve Sweetman A
Common Word Between Us And You On October, 13, 2007, 138 Muslim clerics and intellectuals wrote an open letter entitled, "A Common Word Between Us And You". Their intent was to begin the process of uniting Islam with Christianity. You can read the letter at http://www.acommonword.com/downloads/CW-Booklet-Final-v6_8-1-09.pdf and http://acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=option1 In response, on October, 13, 2009, Yale University School of Theology published a letter that has now been signed by more than 600 Christian leaders world-wide, which to my surprise, includes an unbelievable number of Evangelicals. Read the letter and see who supports it with their signature at, http://www.yale.edu/faith/acw/acw.htm The
preamble of Yale's response to "A Common Word Between Us and
You" welcomes the opportunity to find "common ground"
with Islam. I guess the
signatories haven't read the
books of Amos or Hosea lately. It
also asks the "All-Merciful One" to forgive Christians for the
injustices done to Muslims. To
the uneducated Christian that sounds good, but it's not.
The term "All-Merciful One" is a specific reference to
Allah as seen in the Koran. It's
not in reference to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
thought that an Evangelical Christian would ask Allah to forgive him is sickening.
The
section entitled "Religious Peace – World Peace" states
"without peace and justice between these two religious communities,
there can be no meaningful peace in the world … the future of the
world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians".
Have these Evangelical signatories rejected the idea that only
Jesus will bring world peace at His return?
The
section entitled "Common Ground" says that the "love of
God and love of neighbour" are the
"fundamentals of faith" for both religions.
How can this be true when the Koran promotes violence against
one's neighbour? Let's not
confuse the "love of God" with the "love of Allah".
The
section entitled "The Love Of God"
opens by saying, "we applaud that "A Common Word
Between Us And You" stresses so insistently the unique devotion to
one God, indeed the love of God, as the primary duty of every
believer..." Note the
words "devotion to one God" and the word "believer".
It suggests Muslims and Christians are devoted brothers to the
same god. The
section entitled "Love Your Neighbour" states that one who
loves God should love his neighbour.
It quotes Mohammad to say that "none of you has faith until
you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself".
Did Mohammad practice what he preached when he and his army
massacred countless numbers of his neighbours?
When
this section quotes Jesus saying "love your enemies", it
misrepresents His words. Jesus
did love His enemies. He
proved that by His sacrificial death, not by any attempt to unite
Himself with His enemies, as this letter suggests we do.
He made no such attempt. This
section also quotes Jesus asking God to forgive those who killed Him.
(Luke 23:34) Jesus did make
this request, but few were forgiven because few repented of their sin to
follow Him. Tradition says
that Mohammad made a similar request of Allah when he was stoned in
Ta'if. How could he have
asked Allah to forgive those who were stoning him when given the chance,
he would have stoned them? The
section entitled "The Task Before Us" says, "let …. the
dual common ground of love God and love neighbour – be the basis of
all future interfaith dialogue … we need to move beyond a polite
ecumenical dialogue … and work diligently together to reshape the
relations between our communities. If
we fail to make every effort to make peace … our eternal souls are at
stake". The destiny of
our souls lies in Jesus, not in a union with Islam.
The intent of the letter is clear.
Dialogue isn't enough. A
merger is the ultimate goal. The
letter closes by saying that the next step is for leaders at all levels,
and from both religions, to "begin the earnest work of determining
how God would have us fulfill the requirements that we love God and love
one another". If
nothing has disturbed you so far, this should.
So-called Christians, including Evangelicals, agree
with Muslims that they should unite in prayer to God, or should I say
"to god", to find direction concerning their merger.
How can an Evangelical Christian sign such a document?
It makes the term "Evangelical" meaningless.
How
can two diametrically opposed religions unite?
Of course, to the uneducated, Islam and Christianity aren't
diametrically opposed because they both believe in God, meaning the same
god.
That's not so. Christians
serve the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Muslims serve a god named Allah, who the Bible considers no god.
Let it be clearly understood, the God and Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ shares the stage with no one.
He is one, and He is the only one.
What
disturbs me most isn't the letter itself.
I expect such things in today's world.
What upsets me are the so-called Evangelical Christians who
support the message of this letter with their signature.
Read the names and ministries for yourself. If
this isn't turning into the "one world religion" seen in
Revelation, and the great falling away seen in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, I
don't know what is. It's
been called Chrislam. Don't
be deceived by it. Be
educated in Biblical truth.
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