The Grand Canyon Between Islam and Christianity - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

The Grand Canyon Between Islam and Christianity

Wednesday, December 07, 2016 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY

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Islam

The god of Islam is most definitely not the same as the God worshipped by Christians and Jews.

That is the no-nonsense conclusion of Sam Solomon’s new book, Not the Same God (Wilberforce Publications), dedicated to tackling a thorny theological issue which has left many confused and misguided.

A number of Christian scholars are said to have suggested that ‘sufficient similarities’ exist between Islam and Christianity to warrant co-operation between the so-called monotheistic faiths which may even prove helpful in introducing Muslims to Christ.

But the author (writing with Atif Debs) – both of whom are former Muslims – makes a convincing case that Islamic theology amounts to a complete contradiction of the Judeo-Christian faith.

In essence, the Qur’an denies the divinity of Jesus, along with his crucifixion and resurrection. It even denies original sin, thus rejecting the need for salvation and the forgiveness of sins which is surely what Christianity (and Judaism for that matter) is all about.

Extensive quotations from the Qur’an, while uninspiring, clearly serve the purpose of the book by demonstrating how similarity with the Bible is an illusion.

Whereas the entire Bible points to Jesus, with the Old Testament (the Jewish Tenach) fulfilled in the New, Muslims claim that Muhammad is the ultimate ‘seal of the prophets’ and fulfillment of all God-given Scriptures.

And although they reject Christianity as worshipping “three gods” while boasting that they are monotheistic, it is hard to differentiate (in terms of names given and honour ascribed) between Allah, the Muslim name for God, and Muhammad, for whom they claim no divinity.

Furthermore, in dismissing Christian belief in the Trinity as worshipping ‘many gods’, they hold that Jesus’ disciples worship the Father, Son and Mary (mother of Jesus), only adding to the confusion in their understanding of our faith.

But the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the debate – which makes union between the faiths impossible – is the Islamic rejection of the uniqueness of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6)

Moreover, Allah is described in the Qur’an as the great ‘unknowable’ who does not reveal himself to mortal man. This, of course, is a complete contradiction of Christianity, which says that God became one of us and makes himself known to all who seek him. (Jeremiah 29.13)

Solomon concludes his book (for which he probably won’t be thanked by many, but it is true nonetheless) by saying that the Qur’an can best be described as a set of “…arguments raised up against the knowledge of God…” (2 Corinthians 10.5) and expresses the hope that those looking for a ‘common path’ between Islam and Christianity will in future “reflect the reality, rather than the illusion”.

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Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com

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"Patience. Just Wait A Minute." - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Patience. Just Wait A Minute (or longer).

by Steve Martin

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ (Messiah).” (2 Thess. 3:5 NKJV)

Patience doesn’t develop overnight. Awesome reality, right? It takes a few minutes to develop.

Those of you who remember the Polaroid cameras, with the “instant” photos (back in the 1960’s) knew you had to wait a while for the white paper to turn color. If we wanted the best picture possible, having that technology then, we had to wait about three minutes. For this generation, the digital photo is right there on your smartphone the second you take it. No wonder our grandkids don’t know how to wait!

When I read in Scripture the verse I shared above, I was amazed at just the thought of how much patience the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) really does have. Think of it for a moment. Paul prays that the Lord would direct our hearts into the patience of Christ, our Messiah. For that patience to be continually ongoing and be manifested towards us and through us.

The Lord has waited until now for you to do that which He instructed you to do last week. He is still waiting for you to complete the job He gave you last month. And that assignment you are still working on from 10 years ago? Yes, He is still waiting. His patience is beyond our human understanding.

I have an old photo of the Grand Canyon, mounted on the front of a piece of wood so it can hang on the wall. It has thus been on my wall for a few decades now. The caption reads, “God’s work takes time.” What an image! It certainly does! (I should put it next to the old generational photos of our ancestral families Laurie has hanging in our home’s main entrance hallway. His creation of them took some time too!)

Community in the last days will consist of people who are walking in patience. We will have learned that God’s work takes time, but that He is always on time. Never early. Never late.

Our maturity in this fruit of the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodeh, will have reached a point that we are not anxious about when God will do something, but knowing that He certainly will do it, as He said He would. (Gal 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control.” CJB)

Just look at Israel and the Jews. The entire land was first promised to Abraham centuries ago. Time and again the Jews were driven out, but always brought back to their Promised Land by His Mighty Hand of Providence. Again, just in the last century, after being scattered throughout all the nations, He has brought them back again. What a patient God we serve!

Even now the Lord is growing patience in your heart. If you think of a coin with its two sides, not only has He shown you how long He has waited for your obedience in situations, but on the other side of the coin, He has also been causing you to wait on others, giving them time to grow in their faith walk. He is allowing us to realize that we each need time to hear, respond and obey as He speaks. When we do, our understanding of His everlasting patience grows. We then tend to allow others the needed time to get where He knows they should be.

What our God did in Abraham’s life, David’s life, and those women who waited for the promise of a child to come forth are further examples for us to follow. We need to learn from them in our understanding of patience, as we wait upon the Lord to fulfill personal promises in our lives. The Lord’s molding of our Jewish patriarch Abraham, the father of faith, allows us to see the years he had to have patience grow, for the promised son Isaiah to come. And even though he wavered in that, resulting in the birth of Ishmael, the Lord God didn’t withdraw His Word. The Lord’s patience with him allowed Abraham’s faith to see the promise.

We all know the story of Joseph – how patience had to be worked out in his own heart - with time in prison and then during the role of being second only to Pharaoh in government. This was part of the Lord’s plan in Joseph’s life. The Lord was allowing the years to go by, while also waiting for Joseph’s brothers to come to the point of seeing him again, and repenting of their deed.

Whether Joseph actually thought he would see his brothers again or not wasn’t the main point, but I believe the Lord taught Joseph a valuable lesson in having patience through this long ordeal. When the fruit was ripe, he was allowed to eat.

In considering the ongoing evil that takes place in the hearts of men, I have often asked the Lord why He waits so long before He does something about it, before His righteous judgment comes forth. (Oh, He will act. History has proven that.) It is because of His long suffering patience, wanting to give man every opportunity to repent and turn to Him, that His timing operates on a different clock than ours.

Patience first comes from the Lord for our lives. Then it grows in us as a fruit of the Holy Spirit - in our attitude and action toward others. We are then understanding why He waits so long, and allows things in our lives to seemingly go on past our expected done date. He is unfolding His perfect plan and purposes for us, and the peoples of the nations.

He is not quick to act, but He is sure to act for His plans and purposes. When the appointed time has come, the patience we have been allowed to grow will have been all worth it. And it will not be a minute too late.

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

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Now Think On This #128  “Patience  - Just Wait A Minute”  Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (03.11.14) Tuesday at 4:30 am in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

AMAZING STORY Nik Wallenda: A Life on the Line

AMAZING STORY

Nik Wallenda: A Life on the Line

By Amy Reid
The 700 Club

Nik Wallenda’s life is always about keeping balance. Nik faces unique challenges as a normal guy with a not-so-normal job.
“My great-grandfather said, "Life is on the wire and everything else is just waiting,”" says Nik.

“It's hard for people to relate to somebody who walks on a cable the size of a nickel, you know, a thousand feet in the air,” Nik says, “And I understand that.”

Nik’s family has been performing professionally for more than 200 years. His great-grandfather, Karl, brought high-wire performing into the family in the early 1900’s and worked with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus for decades.

“He created the seven-person pyramid on the wire and walked over almost every stadium in the United States at that time,” Nik explains. ““He really created the legacy and I really kind of live in the shadows of him. Everything I do is kinda to pay tribute to him because I wouldn’t be where I am if he didn't pave that road and pass on that mantra that I live by which is "Never give up."” 
Nik was brought up performing, but he didn’t always plan to follow in his family’s footsteps.

“As I was growing up my parents were really struggling to make ends meet, and I saw that,” Nik recalls. ““And my parents really said, "You know, this isn't a career path you should take.  Go to school, study, go to college and go a different direction."  And I really focused on that and I got accepted to go to Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland, Florida, I planned on going there and then eventually going off to become a pediatrician. But I struggled because I had so much passion for performing.””

Then Nik’s family was invited to perform a seven-person pyramid for the first time since it fell in 1962, and two family members were killed.

“And I thought it was going to be my final good-bye,” says Nik. “Thought I was going to perform in Detroit and we can at least kinda regain this legacy and show that our family can still do this stuff.”

The performance was successful, and the extensive media coverage got Nik’s attention.

““And I set out from that day, I decided, "You know what?  I am going to carry this on, but I'm going to carry it on in a big way and I'm going to make sure to do big events that the whole world knows about,"” says Nik. “And that was really my mindset from that point on.”

Nik went on to set seven world records, but it wasn’t always easy.

“There were still always struggles and I've been extremely blessed since then and had some amazing opportunities. Of course, Niagra Falls was one of those huge ones,” Nik says. “One of the most memorable walks of my career was going back to San Juan, Puerto Rico where my great grandfather did lose his life in 1978, and recreate that walk.” 

Nik was raised in a Christian home and his faith has always been a part of his life.

“There's no question in my mind that God has laid these desires on my heart to carry on this family industry,” Nik declares, ““I think that God has given me a very unique talent and that I can use that to bring glory to his name. There was actually a headline in the paper not too long ago, "The Tim Tebow of the Tightrope" which is really cool.  But you know, he used that platform of playing football and was really able to touch a lot of people's lives. And I consider that I have that, you know, I have an amazing platform as well.””

Nik trains hard for each performance and says that he doesn’t consider his feats death-defying.

“I don't see what I do as being more dangerous than a police officer,” says Nik.  “What I do is extremely calculated. I don't think God keeps me, holds me on the wire as I'm walking across, but God's given me a unique talent and it's up to me whether I train properly for that. But I've also trained my entire life to catch that wire. If I were to fall, gravity pulls you down. I train for the high winds; I train on a cable the same length--and over-train. I've walked a wire in training in 90-mile-an-hour winds before and that didn't blow me off. And we have rescue crews standing by that can be at me anywhere on that wire within 60 seconds to grab me off and pull me to safety. It's important I always maintain that high level of respect for what I do and the dangers involved with it.”

In fact, Nik says that his biggest concern during his walk across Niagra Falls was the tether he was made to wear.

“It was something that I was very unaccustomed with, unfamiliar with and am very uncomfortable with,” he explains. ““So I'm excited that I'm able to do this next walk, you know, in the way that my family's done it for generations. The tether can actually cause you to trip up.  It could tangle around your neck, it could tangle around – you never know what's going to happen.  My great grandfather had an older brother that fell into a net and was bounced out and killed, and his mindset that he's passed it on to next the generations was, "If you have a net or a tether your mindset is you can use that.  So you become complacent, you become relaxed."”

Nik’s immediate family is a big part of his life.  He and his wife, Erendira, both come from a long line of performers and have three children together.

““It's so important to me that every time before I do any of these big events I get in a circle and pray with my family and I always say,“Give God the glory.  Let God get the glory out of what I'm doing,”” says Nik. “It is very, very important to me that people – that they don't praise Nik Wallenda, but they praise God for these amazing abilities. And I think that that's part of showcasing like the Grand Canyon.  To me, myself, it's hard to deny that there is a God when you see the Grand Canyon.  But that's my heart and that's why I like to show these amazing places off around the world. I would walk across Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon if no one was there. It's about fulfilling a dream.  It's important to me that people are inspired by what I do that they see it as an inspiration that their dreams are possible too.”

It all may seem a bit nerve-wracking, but Nik says his most peaceful moments have been on the wire.

““While I'm on that wire people can't understand, “How can you be peaceful?”” says Nik. “Well, when I'm praising God there's no one else to talk to and it's my own quiet time.  You know, there's that prayer closet.  Well, the wire often, is and has been, my prayer closet.”

Nik has written a book about his experiences, entitled “Balance.” He says that it’s often difficult in life to keep that balance, but it helps to focus on what’s most important.

“I was walking across Niagra Falls and there were raging waters on my left and below me waters were boiling underneath and mist flying in front of me,” Nik recalls. “But instead of focusing on all those problems that I had around me, I focused on the other end, just very, very similar to our walk with Christ.  It's not always rosy.  It's not always easy.  Life isn't always, you know, a dream.  But with God all things are possible and there is that light at the end of the tunnel.”

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Bill Yount - Just One Step At A Time

Bill Yount - The Prophetic Weekly Post

Just One Step At A Time

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Posted: 17 Jul 2013        "I was reminded of Nik Wallenda's walk across the Grand Canyon recently. I watched it with fear for him. There was no safety net.  He said, "A couple times I had to stoop down to get my balance for the winds were so strong at that moment." He said, "When I stooped down, I was afraid and felt like crying out for my mother. I then remembered my father saying to me years ago. "Son, remember, it's one step at a time. Just one step at a time." Nik said, "I got up and took that step and then another and then another and I crossed over into my dream come true." In the Spirit I saw many people as though they are walking a high wire over the Grand Canyon in their lives in desperate situations. I saw the strong winds of adversity blowing against them.  "It's a good time to stoop down to get your balance and kneel in prayer. And remember, your heavenly Father is saying. "It's one step at a time. Just one step at a time."