Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog

Jesus is declaring Islam to be a false religion!

By

Dallas M. Roark, Ph.D


A wonderful experience is happening to many Muslims around the world.  Jesus is appearing in visions and dreams to all kinds of people—men, women, imams, and even jihadists.   In these dreams He is telling people to “Follow Me.”   Their encounter brings a sense of peace, joy, and awareness that their sins are forgiven.    At the same time their lives are now facing persecution, and death for their commitment to Jesus and leaving Islam.

The visions and dreams of Jesus are calling Muslims to reject Islam in spite of persecution and the possibility of death.

Jesus’ words to people when He was here in the flesh indicate Islam’s view of Him is false. The Muslim world has been closed to the love of God and the good news about Jesus as the Son of God has been suppressed for centuries. God is breaking the barriers put up by imams through the centuries and is coming directly to many people and appearing to them in dreams and visions.   They have been responding to these dreams by the thousands in Muslim countries and even in Saudi Arabia where no followers of Jesus are allowed.

Jesus is more than a prophet which Islam believes Him to be. Consider the words of Jesus when he was here in Israel:

"Do not be worried and upset," Jesus told them. "Believe in God and believe also in me.  There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so.  And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.  You know the way that leads to the place where I am going."  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?"  Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.  Now that you have known me," he said to them, "you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him."  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father; that is all we need."  Jesus answered, "For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I have spoken to you," Jesus said to his disciples, "do not come from me. The Father, who remains in me, does his own work.   Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If not, believe because of the things I do.   (John 14:1-11)

When Jesus said “no one goes to the Father except by me” Jesus is absolutely rejecting Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, and whatever other religion one may think.   God came in human form to reveal his love, to bring forgiveness of sins, to heal broken lives, and promise life everlasting in his presence.  No other religion does this.   He is the Way—there is no other.  He is the Truth—do not believe a falsehood.   He is the Life—do not choose death.

This may sound like a prejudicial claim, but if Jesus is God in the flesh as he claimed to be, then he alone knows how to have a relationship with God.  Buddha was not God, Mohammed was not God, and the many gods of Hinduism are not the Creator.  Moreover, God came to love us, to help us, to bring joy to our lives,  to have forgiveness of sins, and to let us know that He is the way to everlasting life.

One of the real issues in life is to know the Creator.   We cannot see an eternal infinite Being, and we cannot comprehend infinity.  This impossibility is overcome in God taking on human form and living among us in a way that we can understand.   Jesus relates to this in the comments he made about His Father.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."  (Luke 10:22) 

The truth about Jesus is given to us in the Gospels where it is available to many people, but it has been suppressed in Muslim countries.   Jesus goes beyond the barriers and meets people directly and invites them to follow Him.  And they are doing it.  They are searching for other believers to find more information about Jesus either by word of mouth or by the gift of a Bible which they can read and learn more about Jesus.

In Islam women are second class citizens.  In the Son of God there is equality.   Women are having visions and dreams of Jesus as well as men.  Women are a creation of God and share equally in his love.  Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, healed a widow’s son to life, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, cured a woman’s blood issue, and healed a woman from demon possession.  As a result of God’s love men are commanded to love their wives as they love themselves.   What a wonderful gift that God has given in marriage for a man and a woman to love each other.

Jesus was God in the human form, born of the Virgin Mary without a human father, and she conceived by the power of God’s command to her.

“This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately.  While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived.  She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins."  Now all this happened in order to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet,  "A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel" (which means, "God is with us").  So when Joseph woke up, he married Mary, as the angel of the Lord had told him to.   But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)

This event of the Messiah, the Savior, fulfills the many prophecies (fore-telling) of the Old Testament concerning the Incarnation of God. 

In Islam one never knows whether Allah has forgiven one’s sins. One must wait until Judgement to know whether it will be paradise or hell.  Jesus came to deal with our sins and Islam does nothing about our sins.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and is the way to heaven in the presence of the eternal God.

Just before he was crucified Jesus was questioned by chief priests, elders, and teachers of the Law. They were jealous of Jesus, his message, and his miracles, and they wanted to kill him.  

It is strange that Islam rejects secular history telling of the crucifixion of Jesus as well as the three different times that Jesus told his disciples that he would be put to death. Muslims are taught that someone else was crucified instead of Jesus.

“From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, "I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life." (Matthew 16:21)

“When the disciples all came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be handed over to those   who will kill him; but three days later he will be raised to life." The disciples became very sad.”   (Matthew 17:22-23)

“As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along. "Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death  and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life." (Matthew 20:17-19)

After the crucifixion, death, and resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples to confirm his statements and he gave them a command to go into all the world and preach the Good News of God’s love and salvation for all mankind.

The morning after he was betrayed and arrested,   we read:

“When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council.  "Tell us," they said, "are you the Messiah?" He answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me;   and if I ask you a question, you will not answer.   But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of Almighty God."  They all said, "Are you, then, the Son of God?" He answered them, "You say that I am."   And they said, "We don't need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!"  (Luke 22:66-71)

It must be remembered that Jesus was condemned because he claimed to be the Son of God. That is the reason why those people rejected Him for blaspheming God, and Muslims also reject His claim.

Because Jesus is the Son of God we have a person who is in human form but also the Son of God.  The Gospel of John has three verses that relate to all of this:

“In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God “ (1:1)

“The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.”  (1:14)

“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”  (1:18)

If you want forgiveness, if you want everlasting life,  if you want to know God who loves you,  you have to  ask Jesus to come into your life.  Simply lift your heart and voice and say:  Lord Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sins, and be my Savior.