Here's the Internet Podcast for Thursday (10/23/14) www.scripturesdramatized.com The Feast of Tabernacles and End-Time Prophesy The Church has lost something by neglecting its Jewish roots. If ever you needed a reason to study the Jewish Bible in order to understand the Christian gospel, you'd find it with the Feast of Tabernacles. Unless you understand something of this holiday you'll never fully understand the New Testament. This was the celebration of the huge Fall harvest, the event that would either make or break financially nearly every business and household in ancient Israel. The Torah speaks about it in terms of fruits and grains, but Zechariah the Prophet, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself spoke of it in terms of the harvesting of human souls. What's the connection? Tune in and take notes! Your host: Rev. Rick Anderson, on "Jewish Roots" each Thursday at 9:30 pm, EST, at www.scripturesdramatized.com Internet podcast talk-radio. To call with a question or comment: 347-324-5757. Here's the Weekly Blog: A Gospel Tract For Muslims That Christians Should Read World Missionary Press www.wmpress.org in New Paris, IN has just published a superb gospel tract to give to Muslims. But that's not the only reason Christians should order "How to Know God" (in both Arabic and English): in one tiny booklet less than the size of "The Four Spiritual Laws", it deals tactfully and clearly with the major errors of Islam, and, (Oh, by the way ...) the major errors of modern Bible-believing Christians as well. By writing THE definitive tract for Muslims, they've addressed the "Christian" problem too; mostly at least.
World Missionary Press, Inc. is an evangelical faith service ministry publishing Scripture booklets in more than 340 languages for free distribution anywhere in the world. That's right: FREE. (Though they do take donations separate from the orders.) I just received 200 English and Arabic gospel tracts, and they wouldn't even let me pay for the shipping. (I'll have to send them a big donation or I won't be able to live with myself!) And the tracts are near-perfect gospel primers, especially for Muslims. Here's why:
First, there are no drawings or sketches of Jesus or God. If you'll remember from "The Four Spiritual Laws" by Campus Crusade for Christ, there's a line drawing of "God on the Throne". Muslims bristle at any physical representation of God Coincidentally, so do the Secondary Standards of Calvinist and Reformation churches, as reflected in the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession of Faith. It's a Second Commandment issue with them, and Muslims seem to have enough common grace to know it's wrong as well.
Page 1's heading is "THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD", and then it lists the Scripture verses. It's important that that's on Page 1 because it's the major issue that keeps Muslims from the gospel. Each day they recite a formulaic prayer and confess that God is One. They think that Christians believe in 3 Gods.
Page 2's heading is "GOD IS MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS". These are the exact terms the Qu'ran uses when speaking of Allah, so it's significant the booklet uses the very terms the Qu'ran uses.
Page 3's heading is "GOD LOVES YOU". Here's where the booklet gets a demerit, but it's easily corrected by whiting out "YOU" and writing "THOSE WHO ARE HIS" in place of "YOU". The verses shared on this page only speak of saints in covenant relationship with God. They don't address the unconverted. The premier flaw with modern evangelism is its use of "God loves you". True, there is a common-grace love God shows to all humanity, in that He "did us good, and gave us rain from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). Also, the rich young man who turned away from Christ, whom "Jesus, beholding ... loved." (Mark 10:21), and especially that since God tells us to "love thy [unsaved] neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:31), then He Himself cannot do less than that. But there's a qualitative difference between God's love for His redeemed flock and the general kindness he shows to everyone else that modern evangelism makes no distinction about. Most modern evangelical preachers tend to assure those currently under His wrath that "God loves you," as an incentive to repent. It's the wrong message. No gospel preacher in Scripture ever used this "Billy Graham/Billy Sunday/Charles Finney" kind of pitch. "Repent, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38) is what they said. But the tract "How to Know God" is easily corrected with a few additional words written in, such as "God Loves those who are His," or "God loves those who repent." Half the unconverted church-going world already thinks "God loves me" just the way they are, and that they're fine the way they are. God forbid Muslims should get the same message: "Allah loves me, and has a wonderful plan for my life?" I don't think so.
The rest of the booklet is near-perfect. Page 8's heading is "GOD IS HOLY". This is an aspect of God's nature not stressed or even defined in Islam. The Qu'ran doesn't even make a qualitative difference between such "sins" as eating pork vs. lying, for example. Instead, it bundles all offenses against Allah together, whereas Scripture makes distinctions here, and actually defines holiness. This is instructive for modern Christians as well, because when they hear America's version of the gospel, what they hear is an appeal to their wants, needs and life problems and not the biblical appeal to be reconciled with an offended and holy God.
Page 10's heading is "THE THINGS GOD COMMANDS". Page 11's heading is "THE THINGS GOD HATES", followed by "PEOPLE FALL SHORT OF GOD'S REQUIREMENTS" and "OUR OWN WORKS CANNOT PLEASE GOD". Islam is so fixated on the "do's and don't" of making Allah happy, since it's is a religion of what man does to earn salvation. Muslims have 5 surahs or "duties" they must do in order to be good Muslims: their Confession of Faith, their Ritual Prayer, their Obligatory Alms, their Fast of Ramadan and their Pilgrimage to Mecca, all man-made laws that still give no assurance of heaven. But the booklet majors on Biblical law to show the reader a) God's requirement to obey it perfectly, and b) the impossibility of keeping it perfectly before a God who demands perfection. It uses Mark 10:19, where Christ re-quotes from the 10 Commandments to show their relevance and importance to New Testament believers. Since most evangelicals are antinomian in various degrees and think that God's law has nothing to do God's grace, this section would make a great primer for them as well.
Page 20 is called "SACRIFICE NEEDED TO RECONCILE US TO GOD", and it majors on Abraham's offering of his son. Muslims understand the concept of sacrifice, and Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son figures big in the Qu'ran. The booklet uses that as a launching off point to talk about Jesus. Very clever. More about the tract "THE THINGS GOD COMMANDS" next week ...
World Missionary Press, Inc. is an evangelical faith service ministry publishing Scripture booklets in more than 340 languages for free distribution anywhere in the world. That's right: FREE. (Though they do take donations separate from the orders.) I just received 200 English and Arabic gospel tracts, and they wouldn't even let me pay for the shipping. (I'll have to send them a big donation or I won't be able to live with myself!) And the tracts are near-perfect gospel primers, especially for Muslims. Here's why:
First, there are no drawings or sketches of Jesus or God. If you'll remember from "The Four Spiritual Laws" by Campus Crusade for Christ, there's a line drawing of "God on the Throne". Muslims bristle at any physical representation of God Coincidentally, so do the Secondary Standards of Calvinist and Reformation churches, as reflected in the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession of Faith. It's a Second Commandment issue with them, and Muslims seem to have enough common grace to know it's wrong as well.
Page 1's heading is "THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD", and then it lists the Scripture verses. It's important that that's on Page 1 because it's the major issue that keeps Muslims from the gospel. Each day they recite a formulaic prayer and confess that God is One. They think that Christians believe in 3 Gods.
Page 2's heading is "GOD IS MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS". These are the exact terms the Qu'ran uses when speaking of Allah, so it's significant the booklet uses the very terms the Qu'ran uses.
Page 3's heading is "GOD LOVES YOU". Here's where the booklet gets a demerit, but it's easily corrected by whiting out "YOU" and writing "THOSE WHO ARE HIS" in place of "YOU". The verses shared on this page only speak of saints in covenant relationship with God. They don't address the unconverted. The premier flaw with modern evangelism is its use of "God loves you". True, there is a common-grace love God shows to all humanity, in that He "did us good, and gave us rain from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). Also, the rich young man who turned away from Christ, whom "Jesus, beholding ... loved." (Mark 10:21), and especially that since God tells us to "love thy [unsaved] neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:31), then He Himself cannot do less than that. But there's a qualitative difference between God's love for His redeemed flock and the general kindness he shows to everyone else that modern evangelism makes no distinction about. Most modern evangelical preachers tend to assure those currently under His wrath that "God loves you," as an incentive to repent. It's the wrong message. No gospel preacher in Scripture ever used this "Billy Graham/Billy Sunday/Charles Finney" kind of pitch. "Repent, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38) is what they said. But the tract "How to Know God" is easily corrected with a few additional words written in, such as "God Loves those who are His," or "God loves those who repent." Half the unconverted church-going world already thinks "God loves me" just the way they are, and that they're fine the way they are. God forbid Muslims should get the same message: "Allah loves me, and has a wonderful plan for my life?" I don't think so.
The rest of the booklet is near-perfect. Page 8's heading is "GOD IS HOLY". This is an aspect of God's nature not stressed or even defined in Islam. The Qu'ran doesn't even make a qualitative difference between such "sins" as eating pork vs. lying, for example. Instead, it bundles all offenses against Allah together, whereas Scripture makes distinctions here, and actually defines holiness. This is instructive for modern Christians as well, because when they hear America's version of the gospel, what they hear is an appeal to their wants, needs and life problems and not the biblical appeal to be reconciled with an offended and holy God.
Page 10's heading is "THE THINGS GOD COMMANDS". Page 11's heading is "THE THINGS GOD HATES", followed by "PEOPLE FALL SHORT OF GOD'S REQUIREMENTS" and "OUR OWN WORKS CANNOT PLEASE GOD". Islam is so fixated on the "do's and don't" of making Allah happy, since it's is a religion of what man does to earn salvation. Muslims have 5 surahs or "duties" they must do in order to be good Muslims: their Confession of Faith, their Ritual Prayer, their Obligatory Alms, their Fast of Ramadan and their Pilgrimage to Mecca, all man-made laws that still give no assurance of heaven. But the booklet majors on Biblical law to show the reader a) God's requirement to obey it perfectly, and b) the impossibility of keeping it perfectly before a God who demands perfection. It uses Mark 10:19, where Christ re-quotes from the 10 Commandments to show their relevance and importance to New Testament believers. Since most evangelicals are antinomian in various degrees and think that God's law has nothing to do God's grace, this section would make a great primer for them as well.
Page 20 is called "SACRIFICE NEEDED TO RECONCILE US TO GOD", and it majors on Abraham's offering of his son. Muslims understand the concept of sacrifice, and Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son figures big in the Qu'ran. The booklet uses that as a launching off point to talk about Jesus. Very clever. More about the tract "THE THINGS GOD COMMANDS" next week ...
