ELTV: From A Muslim Extremist to a Follower of Jesus, Pastor Hicham Chehab

the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living the land of deep darkness a light has dawned Isaiah 9:2 this is the key verse of the church that today's guests now serves as a missionary and worship leader raised in Lebanon and recruited by an extremist Muslim group he will share his journey and where it led him and how the light from above came to him as he walked in darkness from a Muslim extremist to a follower of Jesus stay tuned a beloved the unmatched cruising away I'm Restless the way don't hide your face give me your head so semi-free sooo a new horizon mr. we're down because I down Jim you promised to be near my day breath see flow when the plate is rising drop me in here see flowing of the tide is rising tell me don't so well welcome to everlasting love we are so excited that you have tuned in and we hope that you enjoyed the music at the top of the show we want you to know that we are here for you should you need a prayer request or maybe you'd like some help find it in your area feel free to reach out to us on our website at WWF LAN love tv.com or give us a call at seven seven three two eight six two one seven one well again we're glad that you tuned in today we have a Shum show have with us today of Salaam Christian Fellowship Church and in their opening in our teaser and we talked about extremist Muslim to follower of Jesus so if that wasn't enticing enough to learn about your story I don't know what is so we just want to jump right in and hear your story of of growing up in Lebanon correct and being an extremist in the in the Muslim community and then finding Christ tell us about that thank you for having me I was born in Lebanon south of Turkey not in Indiana Alabama and Vienna okay and in the Middle East and I was born in a Sunni Muslim family the Shehab family claims that they have descended from the tribe of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam so we were very proud of our lineage and you know the ships in Beirut are something like 5,000 people and you have Shahab mosques you have school Shehab grocery you see everywhere you go there is a she hub you know and so we were very proud and I grew up going to Shahab school actually you know a an Islamic school where I was taught the Quran how to recite the Quran properly I took a certificate in that later I memorized more than half of the Quran by heart and I was the best at classical Arabic so but we I was born 1960 so I used to see Israeli just flying you know breaking the sonic barrier as they call it sound barrier and I was wondering what's happening at the end early age in 1967 I witnessed when I was 7 years old the first Israeli Arab war my first war you know so we were wondering what's Palestine was Israel what's going on and we lived in a community full of tension there were Muslim boys Christian boys I couldn't understand why there were any fight would mean among the boys and the kids you know it would turn bloody the first count encounter with a Christian boy was really terrible for me I was 7 years old you're experiencing this tension you're thinking why why is there tension between yeah so I was playing marbles in the field one appear means Peter in French I mean Pierre is Peter in French appear I was just laying marbles I looked up here had his stick in his hand that stick a nail he banked me on the head the nail missed my eye you know he see a scar here and blood spattered my face and that was my first encounter with a Christian boy you know so I couldn't understand what's going on so going to the mosque Muslims pray five times a day you know and go into an Islamic school we were drilled to to do the prayers but the the time for the practice was noon because Muslims pray at dawn at noon afternoon sunset and evening five times a day you know devout Muslims go to the mosque five times a day you know imagine if you're going to church five times a day beginning with ya very committed you know so at noon there there was a young Muslim preacher from the Muslim Brotherhood he was a firebrand and he was explaining the problems between Palestine and Israel and he said that Muslims lost Palestine because they are not following the Prophet of Islam anymore they followed some of them follow the West some of them follow the Soviet Union and and just if we go back to the real Islam to the original Islam we'll go back to the the days of the glory of Islam when Islam was an a global Empire etc so I was interested in this you know interpretation of the situation then so he gave me books written by the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt really he had he was a member and Lebanese branch here there in Beirut and they were very interesting those books but we were taught by those thinkers if I can call them that the world is divided into two parts the world of Islam and the world of infidels and it's the duty of Muslims to convert the other part of the world through persuasion you know but if they couldn't convert them through persuasion they should really subjugate them by force because non-muslims not know what's good for them because the divine law of Allah is above all and Allah knows best for anybody so at the age of 12 you know I was reading these things and just digesting them but at the age of 13 and by the way my only brother my only sibling was also in the group he was 2 years older than me so I was 13 and my brother was 15 when we were were invited to our first military training camp in the mountains the Muslim Brotherhood so we were invited to our first training camp in the mountains and there we we were taught how to shoot rifles how to shoot rocket-propelled grenades now don't really miss stand that sorry for this that Muslim Brotherhood is emilyschutt it's not it's a a comprehensive movement like you know they call it a revivalist movement you know and what are you looking to revive okay they they are trying to revive the Muslim community you know like if I can say the information in the church and the sixteenth century you know so they are trying to bring back the Muslim global the global Muslim State Muslims in 1918 lost what they call the Caliphate is the seat of the successor of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam after the first world war so Muslims feel that they are without a head you know like if the Catholic Church is without a pope you know it's the same analogy if you like to say you know so Muslims believe that they're the the Muslim Ummah or community is without a head so they are trying to revive the Muslim community in order to set a plan and set the social fabric for the revival that would bring again a global Muslim state ruled by a Muslim ruler you know like the old days the glorious days of Islam okay so I kind of I was part of this in Lebanon Beirut Lebanon and and I I took training for two years before the civil war broke out in Lebanon between Christians and Muslims now Lebanon is let me explain as the only Arab country that has a Christian president till today it was by mandate and now by Constitution that the president should be Christian so the Christians Leben were not persecuted by Muslims actually they were trying not to give the Muslims who were increasing in number any political rights let me say that many Christians in Lebanon fold Western ways of life and they had to one kid and the dog while the Muslim families had tankards seven kids etc so with time Muslims start to outnumber the Christians in lemon the Christians used to be fifty percent of population now they are around thirteen percent you know you see how the difference in in less than 50 years you know so so the Christians and the Muslims were engaged in a tug-of-war for political power in 1975 a Christian militia ambushed a a bus travelling in a Christian area driving Muslims they killed 34 people okay and a Muslim militia retaliated and and all-out civil war broke out the next day at the age of 15 I found myself in the street to the rifle you know going to high-rise building sniping at Christian neighborhoods do you remember what you were thinking at that time 15 in here I felt that I should defend the Muslim community against what we called the Crusaders because we kind of Muslims you know project the the present on the past or I can say the past on the on the present and they see in in Christian militias then and also and if I can say American forces in Iraq or Afghanistan as Crusaders you see so I felt that together with my brother who was older than me that we we should defend our community against the Christian Crusaders and one day I never forget this because it led to another thing my brother and I took a small mortar cannon to to try it at the shelling the largest Christian neighborhood in Beirut al-ashraf II is called with those mortar you know shells and after the search hell I didn't feel comfortable I I told my brother let's pull out I don't feel this is right we're shelling civilians I know this is a small cannon but it could really because the the bomb would go like two miles and explode somewhere that you don't know there may be women children innocent people so I we pulled out and and I I I was self fifteen at that age you know there was something in your car you know what this just I yeah this isn't what I want so I went to directly to the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Beirut and asked him this question directly I signed up to defend the Muslim community but today I saw myself shelling innocent people I don't know what happened can you justify this for me he asked me a question who could that could be a key to understand the Islamic divine law if I can say or the Islamic religion he asked me who is your example in life I said Muhammad the Prophet of Islam he said well Muhammad shelled his enemies with catapults and catapults our medieval machines blind medieval machines also mortar cannons are blind machines you know I should understand mmm I thought maybe he's right he said then he seemed to be like a thinker and I heard you recite the Quran you're good and would you like to be one of our preachers in the future I said thank you this in an honor so he assigned me a mentor from the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood actually who was living in exile in Beirut and in less than six months they microwave me into a preacher and I was ready to give my first Friday sermon you know Muslims I've never heard it quite that way but so you're ready yeah before I turned 16 actually you know so I was ready to give my first Friday sermon and prepared everything I memorized everything ready to go but God had a different plan for my life you know and I I had a few days off where I want to visit my aunt and her summer home and the mountain it's actually Bakar valley and on the road I wasn't driving my cousin was driving we got into a head-on collision instead of giving that Friday service I was hospitalized for 50 days at the American University Hospital I was bedridden for one year really because both legs were broken multiple fracture and different parts of my legs and I couldn't even walk on crutches at the American University of Beirut I was seeing doctors and nurses speaking in English towards the language of instruction and it excited my interest in medicine especially after I saw my bone and flesh tone apart you know and I thought why a preacher maybe I can become a medical doctor especially when I saw how doctors walked the hallways like half-gods and push people around you know I thought well maybe a doctor is better than a preacher at least you make more money right right so I put a plan to learn more English I knew some English but because Islamic school don't focus in English so I knew some English some grammar but I I put a plan together to learn more teach myself more English I started teaching myself English through reading comic books and novels and I got later some novels by a Western novels called Louie l'amour I read all his novels and short story collections like 84 125 really so by 1979 I was walking on crutches I applied to the American University of Beirut I was admitted as a biology chemistry student with the intention to go to the medical school it was like a dream come true the Harvard of the Middle East you know Mohamed still very dedicated to the Muslims yeah right I took this academic you know way in my life but my brother was still there and that militia and he became a captain and in that militia another really Islamic militia so and I wanted to focus on my studies forget about the Civil War and forget everything and just focus on my studies but again God had a different plan for my life my only brother my only sibling was killed by aggression militia in my first freshman semester I was devastated I couldn't focus my studies I want to kill my enemies and I got a silencer and a gun and some of those who came to the to college the American College were members and some of those Christian militias that they were pitted against you know the Muslim militias and I thought I should make friends with them in order to to stalk them at night easier to know where they live how they move at night so but the game plan you what you had revenge on your mind although I've been taught my whole life are no good you know so but in the day time I used to go and in order as I said in order to meet more Christians so I kept one core Sun dropped I dropped all courses except one course I took one course at a time and that course that I did not drop happen to be a course of cultural studies you know a college requirement from all students for all students and that course included Greek mythology you know babe also Babylonian myths Greek mythology the Old Testament selections the New Testament just selections and the selection that was quoted by the professor was the Sermon on the Mount so I was at the climax of my hatred and seeking revenge when I heard love your enemies for the first time I thought wow this is ridiculous who could love his enemies or superhuman my my enemies killed my only brother my only sibling my only friend you know my my mother had died three years before him and I was left with my father who was started to have have heart problems I saw too could love his enemies you know this is something you know unhuman yes I can see someone who's caused so much devastation to forgive then I came across the Lord's Prayer so I started reading the Bible on my own because it's a quotation you know and I start doing the Bible my own came across the Lord's Prayer Prayer our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name then you you come to ask for forgiveness with a humility I thought this is not words by human beings you know then I came across Matthew one and the Gospels met when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about the greatest commander you won't trick him he said love God with all your heart and with all your soul and all mine and love your neighborhood well I thought Muslims are trying to love God more than anybody else you know they go five times to the mosque not one on Sunday night Hey but this Jesus Christ is overdoing it I had never heard anybody talking about loving God in this powerful way I thought maybe I'm missing the truth with a capital T here then I thought well if I am really seeking the truth I should look for it in other philosophies or religions so I thought maybe I should explore the Near Eastern religions and philosophies you know Hinduism etc Buddhism but you know I want something also real not just read about it because you you can read the New Testament and go to a church in Alabama but you cannot read The Bacchae de vida and go to a Hindu it's not available then it wasn't done so I bumped into a yoga teacher I thought this is maybe something could introduce me to the Hinduism or the Near Eastern philosophy and I thought if I am seeking the truth I should leave no stone unturned you know as they say and I thought I should really endure understand the philosophy behind the yoga and I asked her to start you know with taking lessons and she she was one a british lady that was discipled by the disciples of the great mahatma gandhi really lived many years in india and she said well you are not ready you have to cleanse your body I said well in Islam we you know we do ablutions you know in Christianity you are baptized into the faith in Islam we do ablutions you know and if you're not Muslim in the beginning and you convert to Islam you have to take a shower or you know or a bath you know but I said so should I take a bath she said no I mean you have to be vegetarian before you do physical yoga so I was a guy full of hatred at the Avett age 21 I was doing three martial arts because I wanted to kill my enemies with my own hands bare hands if needed you know so and I had to get energy from fruits and vegetables okay so I ended up munching on fruits and vegetables half of the day and spending the other half of the day in the bathroom because of the fibers you know oh but I did great at yoga I was in two months I was able to do put my stand on my head put my feet behind my head and she said you are the most serious student I had ever seen now we'll give you what they call Transcendental Meditation we'll give you a mantra that will dig into your soul and then you'll climb up to God step-by-step through spiritual exercises this is the only way she said through spiritual exercises so a mantra is a Sanskrit word according to your height and weight and health etc so I had to repeat that mantra thousands of times in order to go step by step and have learned with God the more I repeated that mantra the more stupid I felt actually if you remember david carradine and his ohm it sounded something like that you know so the more I repeated that matter more stupid I felt the more I repeat that matter the more I felt that I'm not climbing up to God I am really going down in my filth actually and I realized that we try with our spiritual exercise to climb up to God we tried with our works to ascend to God but we cannot do it on our own only in Jesus Christ God Himself descended to us and the word became flesh and dwelt among us so how do you get to that point from being an extremist now youyou talked about how the Sermon on the Mount and you read that and the fact that Jesus says love your enemies really struck Unni thought that isn't something a human would say so this hast there has to be some divinity in there so he started getting your attention yeah I was reading the New Testament in my own I mean doing yoga as well as finishing memorizing the Quran at the same time but the Holy Spirit you know worked in my heart you know at that point you know that I try to start to compare how can we reach God and I felt only Jesus crisis away no it's like I'm sure people listening or thinking oh my goodness like how do you go literally from one extreme to another well we serve a great guy yeah and I mean do you remember like that the turning points that there was a series of events that just got you thinking literally laid you up in bed for a year you were unable to get around you had a lot of time to think about things and you have these encounters there were many things also let me say comparing between the Quran and the Bible I discovered the fragmentary nature of the narratives in the Quran and how the Bible brought the the real stories and I was deep into the interpretation of the Quran as well I taught the Quran as well I used to gather five people add before dawn every day you know seven days a week you know teach them the Quran you know but but I discovered that you cannot understand actually the Quran without going back to the Bible in many ways you know and God used his word which is mightier than a double-edged sword to open my heart to Jesus Christ there is brother Andrew for example I met him in Lebanon and just a digression maybe but I met him in Lebanon and translate for him took him to the one of the founders of Hezbollah and we gave him a Bible in Arabic brother Andrew says that the era the Islamic culture and religion build a brick wall between the Muslim and the heart his heart but between the Muslim and Christ but the Holy Spirit removes the first brick and Christ goes and you know it with God all things are possible Muslims today are seeing Jesus and visions and dreams you know as Salaam Christian Fellowship many people have seen Jesus and visions and dreams and they are coming and saying what does this mean shall I be baptized yes I say you know in addition to the teaching you know right so they're just they're just seeing Jesus and these visions and that's causing them to wonder yeah what's happening yeah some of them also come to sound for the social event we have you know we're trying to create a community with a an informal worship service and the lunch after that and we do social services some of them quit for one year then they come back like a lady two weeks ago came she said I saw Jesus in a dream and He healed me that's why I'm coming no I'll tell you more about this but I'm saying in seven years really it took me seven years to say I'm out of it you know I'm I want to follow Jesus Christ you know it took time you know but uh I mean bit by bit God was revealing the truth to me you know how does the Muslim community react like what were people's reactions to you when you literally did a 180 I shared with my friends and later my wife and they thought I'm not so you know and this maybe they thought this is an adventure maybe you know and but God was taking me you know bit by bit till I I met a group who came to Lebanon American group from the vineyard that was the first kind of I used to go to a an evangelical Bible Church in the neighborhood in Beirut near the American University of Beirut I used to sneak in and sneak out before the pastor grabs me because you know as I am my face shows that where I am from and what family I belong to we have a small genetic pool there you know and they intermarry and once you see it Shihab you know him that's a Shehab or it's a Torino so there are seven large families in the neighborhood they know all each all of them know each other you know so I used to sneak in and out and I didn't want to I was still thinking is it worth the persecution you know so I was in the beginning a closeted Christian as they say you know so till I met in the ninth is a group from the vineyard and they considered me one of their elders and we started really evangelizing and actually it took many in many ways God brought me through also Islamic Christian dialogue I used to be engaged in Christian and stomach dialogue in the Middle East in Jordan and Beirut Lebanon and other places and I used to see who is a candidate for me to share my story with you know in order to see who who is open because as as Jesus said it's you know like the seed you throw them on the ground if it falls on fertile ground you know it it will really so I was looking for the fertile ground among people you know so your conversion really happened over time yes and then so you go again from extremist Muslim extremists to follower of Jesus to release maker peace maker 1989 I I founded a Christian Islamic dialogue Association and tried to build a bridge between the Christian community which I was trying to follow Jesus you know and I started to know more and the Islamic community you know I was accused of being many things one of them and in the Arab world they say Freemason means you know something and there it's a bad you know that because they can't understand you know the the freedom in Christ that this openness you know to bring people together so I try to contribute to the to the country after the end of the civil war through dealing with the trauma of the civil war and both communities bringing people together I work with many bishops also helping them also introducing them to the Muslim community etc you know so tell us a little bit about Salaam Christian Fellowship so that's a church that you currently minister at your pastor of yeah so tell us a little bit about how that how that came to be let me explain that in 2001 I was you know I I didn't do medicine at the American University of Beirut God you know changed my life there and I was derailed from that so I did a master's degree in Islamic history you know and later I went for PhD studies in another College there but I in in the 90s and early 2001 and - I was a full-time journalist and a an adjunct professor at the American University of Beirut teaching history of the Middle East and Europe when I was going one day into a bank building and but I bumped into a retired Lutheran pastor from northern Minnesota and that pastor Reverend Bernie Lots promised his wife after him a bastard many churches in northern Minnesota where it's so cold and snowy that when they retire he'll take her south so he took her to Lebanon and there he was going into that bank building one I bumped into him in the elevator and he was giving his card in the elevator there were five people and saying god is love in Arabic you know now God is love in Arabic is Allah muhabba he was he butchered the whole thing he's a hollow blah blah so he was funny but he came across on fire for the Lord so I took his card the card said Lutheran ministry of the Middle East now I taught Luther and the Reformation in college but he was the first Lutheran specimen I had ever seen there's there was there's no loose Lutheran Church in Lebanon there's an office called Lutheran our ministry where they do radio broadcasting cetera so he needed somebody to help him translate his Bible studies into Arabic because nobody was coming so I volunteered to do that half-day and of my busy schedule and in three years he said hey sham why don't you come to to Michigan where there's a big you know Arab population you know now actually the first plan was I was immigrating to Qatar to work in al-jazeera to help them build a website you've heard of so you didn't predict that you would be in Michigan no but if you fast for the story a little bit now you find yourself in Michigan of all places which probably was never on your radar yeah and so is that where the the planting of salaam happen the the plan started there but it didn't fruition there it did in Chicago so from Michigan I went to seminary commuted to Indiana it was not very far and and Concordia Fort Wayne you know I eat again took intensive actually so before I finished my pastoral studies I was advised to move to Chicago where's more support for the mission that's why I was told so now when they told me Chicago I heard Al Capone you know because I didn't know what Chicago but Al Capone know so I thought this should be a difficult place I started commuting by driving my conversion van I had a Ford called conversion van where the backseat turns into a bed you know and and I kind of wanted to test the waters see where is a Muslim population and Arab population but 2006 was actually time giving 2006 I decided to move the whole family to to Chicagoland and after I found a person as you know what I mean by person is a a a a house owned by the church to rent yeah so I decided to outsmart the people in Chicago and travel at night to avoid the traffic actually so I start out from Ann Arbor Michigan at 9:00 p.m. as soon as I hit 294 I discover that they closed all lanes at night and keep on playing open for roadworks you know and you sit in traffic again but behind trucks and I thought wow this is really a Mission Impossible who could plant an Arabic Church where I can barely drive the the highways so is that how you ended up in Lombard because that's where you are now is in the suburbs yeah but but what's with men is impossible with God as possible so I actually started in Wheaton okay so I was giving if we do social services so I started given a food basket for the Easter in 2007 actually and I bumped into a woman from Palestine who she was a refugee and she was like it's a Samaritan woman to me she went out and told the people about me we started a Bible study in two months you know and then after instruction we discovered that people are interested in converting and baptism we baptize seven people in one year we started and a formal worship service March 2008 and we're twenty five forty people come from Middle East we evangelize from the pulpit as if you are standing at street corner we invite everybody you see there which is a good question I want to ask you how do we especially those who may not have a Muslim background the Chicago area Chicagoland area has a high Muslim population I think it's growing how do we come alongside those of us who are followers of Jesus how do we engage with the Muslims in our neighborhoods I think love covers everything if you show them original friendship and love you'll win their hearts and my son when he came to the United States in 2004 he described it as a social desert and went back to the Middle East you know and we are we come from very socially active communities and they come here they find stark individualism and there was less friends with less family members especially after 9/11 they are considered sometimes the enemy within so extending a loving hand to them means a lot so love first and then understanding greatly you know we we invite them to our events we respect their culture for example we don't really we do a lunch where we don't offer any bacon or I mean that's because they don't eat pork for NVC so we don't drink in front of them we don't let anybody drink you know so we kind of try to contextualize you know as for st. Paul contextualize the gospel in acts 17 to the Greek you know we try to contextualize the gospel to them you know it doesn't mean need it's not rocket science it's love which talks you know so what are somebody tell me some of the the stories of how God has worked through Salaam Christian Fellowship let me explain out or tell the story of a guy from Iran I baptized him at the age of 55 he I received one day a call out of the blue he was a cousin of a guy who came to Salaam and he said I have throat cancer and I have chemotherapy I didn't understand much about chemotherapy then could you drive me to Loyola in Maywood for chemo I said okay fine you know it would take if he takes a public transportation to take him more than two three hours to get there from you know Carol Stream Illinois okay so I drove him there then he came down he said well tomorrow the same thing I said what do you mean he said he said it's four days a week I told him listen I lose all my day on in traffic you know and so we got two volunteers to drive him and I drove in two days etc maybe one day another volunteer but after some months he went through chemo and we put thousands of miles on our vehicles and he went to surgery and remove the lump from its road but he started coming to the to the church to the Bible studies ask deep questions and and one day he he had surgery you know removed the lump and but he he was so sore and stiff and moving like a robot and he couldn't really move and he asked to be baptized in I said okay so I baptized him in the church at night too actually and he went home I saw Jesus in a dream his name is checkers and Jesus asked him shaker what-what-what aches you he said my neck it's so sore I can't speak because you know the surgery was fresh fresh and I can't raise my shoulder I can't move when he we baptize him he was like a robot like this he bent down like you're open and Jesus put his hand on his neck and shoulder and told him wake up you are healed shaker woke up moving normally his voice went back to normal he rushed out of his apartment knocking on doors he lives in apartment complex waking up all his relative jesus healed me jesus healed me you know so this is one of them really the last baptism actually was a man 77077 years old from Iran you know sometimes somebody plants the seed and you reap the fruit a a priest 20 years ago shared with him you know in Iran you know and he came as a visitor here and helped them I helped him through many things and and he said you know I am really interested in Jesus and I want to follow him you know I said ok so I we do we call it catechism I don't know if you the Christian instruction and after that I baptized him 77 years old who could do this but Jesus Christ right amen to that amen so you mentioned a little bit earlier that from 9/11 there's a sense of fear yes and how some of the American population views people in the Muslim population so what a talk to me a little bit about Islam and terrorism you know I when I said about Islam and who is your example on life as a Muslim I really meant to say that Islam you cannot describe it as a religion of peace okay but Muslims are peaceful and most of them are peaceful 15 percent of them are extremists and 15 percent of them have an agenda when they comes to the West they want try to change the social fabric because I was one of them I know when I go to a mosque and see the way they talk not all mas some mosque I know that this guy is a Muslim activist and he has an agenda you know so around 15 percent of them really have this agenda to change the social fabric in the West and they are motivated they are generous they are hardworking you see and and if we really we don't share the gospel with them with the Muslim population they'll be able to hijack all of the Muslims you know we need really to be as more active than they were they are really is it accurate that the the Muslim religion is even gaining a lot of momentum and almost 25,000 people convert to Islam in the West every year why do you think there are many things that try to attract people to Islam and the worst one of them is this active social community and if I can say the dignity that that Islam gives to women sometimes because women in the West are seen as a commercial object sometimes you know and some I I start a campus ministry at College of DuPage and I so many white American converts there and you see that they when they cover they feel that they they are not you know justified as yeah yeah you know and so the social active community is an attraction as also simplicity of Islam Islam is a rational religion you know Christianity ask you to give your heart to Jesus right while to be reconciled to God through Jesus only the Holy Spirit can do that but in Islam you can rationalize and come to faith in Islam without you know going through all of this you know so it's an easier religion very rational very simple you know and it's build on works you see so it's they engage them from the first day in social activities and worship five times a day that they cannot think of anything else former President Bush called the Islamic extremist extremism Islamic fascism and he was right by that because there is brainwashing in the in the process you know and especially with with the Muslim ideology you know of the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda and other extremist groups so brainwashing them and creating people who think alike and act alike and dress alike you know so what you mentioned earlier were talking a little bit about how to engage with the Muslim population would you say are most Muslims open to hearing about Jesus or if someone were to start dialoguing about Christ or Jesus what Jesus mentioned is mentioned the Koran more than Mohammed more than 29 times Jesus mentioned the Koran but when they speak about Jesus and the Koran they don't mean the Son of God so they remove the sonship of Jesus and deny the Holy Spirit and believe that Jesus is was a just a normal human being but a prophet so they put Mohammed above Jesus okay they don't worship Muhammad but they put Jesus below Muhammad and we when I talked to Muslims I go to their their scripture if I can call it because Jesus called the word of Allah the Word of God in the Quran but they don't understand what it means I bring them into the Gospel of John I always tried to draw them into the Gospel of John and and the other Gospels because the Word of God you know is spirit and and I can do more than the spirit you know so I draw them all the time and they are interested to hear what you you think but you need to be respectful and ask questions instead of shoving it down their throat you know so so they're very familiar with Jesus just not the truth of who he is yes it's so engaging in dialogue people would engage in dialogue certainly and I used to be part of the Christian Islamic dialogue in Beirut Lebanon as well as an event called the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC I used to travel from Beirut to Washington DC to be part of that and we used to have Muslim Imams we talked to them we muslim clerics you know and dialogue is very important this is why in as-salaam we invite all people to our celebrations you know we have I mean the Christians who come are very very my new you know percentage and so we try to invite non-christian or for them to hear the gospel we invite them to their our celebrations like and we use their culture you know in order to spread the gospel push the gospel like they have a new year called naruse means a new day in Iran and this new day is the beginning of spring for them so we tell them about the new life in Christ at our event they come listen really and it's up to them to come back or not we have to be bold with the gospel well I didn't to your point I mean we need to share it it's the Holy Spirit that does the work because no human person was going to convince you that Jesus was the way but when you were enticed to be in his and started reading it as you said the word is a double-edged sword and so it's if we engage our neighbors our friends our co-workers that may be Muslim we can engage them in a conversation about Jesus because they're used to hearing about him yeah but then and we need to preach the gospel not ourselves because there's a difference let me say exactly here between churchianity and Christianity there is a difference between the gospel and sometimes Christianity if I can say yeah so you have to preach Christ not preach yourself you see and this is very important you know it's all Jesus centered and this is what we need to do yeah keep pointing to the gospel as you said you bring them to John and you read the Gospel of John with them and that really helps too and as Isaiah 55 says the Word of God will never return empty it will bring fruit where it's supposed to bring fruit yeah well we need to end our time this time went by so quickly so I'd love to to end us in prayer if that's okay with you sure great Heavenly Father we thank you for giving your son on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins we ask you Father to bless this TV station and make this TV station a lighthouse for the lost in Chicago we ask you Father to bring the lost sheep to your fold and we ask you Father to move mightily in in the Middle East we ask you Father for peace in the Middle East especially where there is to mold there and turbulence and massacres we ask you Father to show them that there's all no peace without the the Prince of Peace Jesus of Nazareth and in his name we pray jesus loves me loves me still though I'm fair weekender be free dad and I under G give me G I mean she Viji give me ji easy jesus knows he will stay close beside me all the way thou has been dying for me I will hands for jesus loves me this I know four thumb Bible tells me so ones to him belong but he give me gee give me cheese either mee-shee Iza give me ji gee give me tea in me you let the father side to the award owner you came to dwell among us here you babies here we take the body broken it is here we men our hearts to our brother it is here we remember the sacrifice what a precious prize you could have had it anyway but you chose us the body that they'll do to the cross you give love it is here meeting the body broken it is here we men our hearts to our brother be this year do we remember the sacrifice what a precious prize the body broken Oh a hatch to our brother

Channel: Everlastinglovetv

Views: 41,394

Rating: 4.7768593 out of 5

Keywords: Islamic, muslim, Extremist, Middleeast, lebanon, Christian, Hope, Conversion, transformation, Jesus, God, Bible, Koran, Milita, Shihab Family (Family)

Id: vYLeRskFIXk

Length: 59min 5sec (3545 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 27 2014