When it comes to Muslims, people generally find them mysterious, especially after the 9/11 incident. Some people will think of terrorists whenever they think of Muslims. For Christians, it is generally believed that today’s Muslims are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham in the Bible. Some Western Christians believe that if Abraham did not make a mistake and gave birth to Ishmael from Hagar, he would not be born today. There will be unresolved conflicts in the Middle East.
So, what kind of group are Muslims? What is God’s intention toward Muslims as revealed in the Bible?
A few days ago, at a missionary sharing meeting held in Beijing, a missionary leader who has been involved in serving Muslims for many years shared the topic of "Entering Muslims". He led brothers and sisters to start with the Bible Genesis. What is God’s intention towards Muslims? What kind of group are real Muslims? How should Christians view and treat them?
The following is a summary of what this missionary leader shared:
Christians must become ambassadors of reconciliation
Deep in our hearts, we may have certain feelings towards Muslims. prejudice. But the Lord Jesus is the one who reconciles us to God, and the Lord also sends us to be ambassadors of reconciliation. At the 2010 Tokyo Mission Conference in Japan, Japanese Christian leaders sought reconciliation from church leaders in neighboring countries such as South Korea and China. At the conference, the leaders of the three countries begged and forgive each other. As Christians, be ambassadors for reconciliation.
The strange thing is that many Christians have never met Muslims, but they are inherently prejudiced against Muslims. If we hate them and do not forgive them, we cannot preach the gospel of Christ to them. The world won’t let us reconcile either. The world desperately wants Christians to stand not in Jesus’ shoes, but in theirs.
Are all Muslims terrorists? No, many people who have met them and know them know that they are very hospitable. But people who have never met a Muslim think they are all terrorists. This is a very strange phenomenon.
I hope that today’s sharing will give everyone a correct understanding of Muslims, not to be afraid of them or resent them, but to have Muslims in their hearts and pray for them.
From the perspective of Genesis, are Muslims really a group of people cursed by God?
Do you think Muslims are a group of people cursed by God? Let’s go back to the Bible.
Judaism, Islam and Christianity all regard Abraham as their ancestor. From a blood point of view, are the Arabs really the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham? There is no definite conclusion to this. But the Muslims gathered through Muhammad unanimously identified their ancestor as Abraham. In fact, many Christians believe that Ishmael is a cursed person, especially Christians in the United States. They believe that if Abraham had not made mistakes, the story of Hagar and Ishmael would not have happened, and there would not be the Middle East today. conflict. But is this really what the Bible is like? What was it like 4,000 years ago? Let’s travel back in time to see the real situation at that time.
Genesis 12:1-3 is the scripture where God made promises to Abraham. It says here, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will make others famous Be blessed. I will bless those who bless you; I will curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."
God blessed Abraham. “All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” I was inspired when I was meditating on Abraham recently: Abraham was a man who could not have children, and God actually knew that he could not have children; Genesis 1 to 11 are about the entire human race. Historically, in order to save fallen mankind and solve the problem of sin, God formulated a sophisticated plan. If I were God, we would have chosen and used a man who was greater, younger, healthier, and could have very good children, but God chose a man who was very old and insignificant as a sojourner in the land of Canaan. A person who cannot have children. There is God's grace in this. The same God chooses us little people. So I particularly like Abraham.
Here God demonstrates His love and blesses Hagar and Ishmael. He also blessed the descendants of Ishmael, who are today’s Muslims.
So we have to get to know Muslims and preach the gospel to them
So we have to get to know Muslims. Nowadays, many Muslims have lost the opportunity to listen to the gospel. A missionary said that if Muhammad had a Bible or met a missionary, perhaps Muslims would not be like this today.
When we preach the gospel to them, we can better help them by knowing some of their customs.
Muslims are people who love to pray and value prayer very much. They will pray regularly five times a day. When they are talking to you, they will also pray if the prayer time is up. They think prayer is more important than the conversations we have. When missionaries enter the Muslim community, they must make a prayer plan. Let them see that we, too, are people of prayer.
Muslims also say that becoming a Muslim is easy. Indeed, it is easy to become a Muslim on this earth, but it is difficult to get to the Kingdom of Heaven. You have to work your whole life to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, many Muslims like Hagar can only answer the first question, but cannot answer the second question... Brothers and sisters, everyone must see that the Muslim religion is a very painful religion. What can we do for this person in pain? Pray and share the love.
Muslims value spiritual things very much, so there are many mystics among Muslims. Muslims are particularly afraid of the spiritual world, so they pursue power. When they can't cope with everyday things, they go to a wizard. Muslims are in a very painful world that needs the restoration work of Christ and the victory over such spiritual fears. Nowadays, many miracles and miracles are happening in the Muslim world. For example, some people dream about Jesus at night, or other miracles lead them to believe in Jesus. This is because many missionaries pray for them.
When you preach the gospel to them, giving them a Bible may be too thick for them at first, so it is a good idea to give them a thin booklet of the four gospels at first. Many times, the Bibles given to them were used directly to wrap fish and meat, because the paper used in the Bible was very good paper. A Muslim bought meat and came back. He opened it and saw John 3:16 on the paper. He read it and later became a Christian.