Seminar on Islam in Rapid City

South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City is hosting a two-part study of Islam this Sunday and next Sunday. With Islam and Islamic countries in the news every day, all day, this is a timely subject.

I attended a talk on Islam at South Canyon Baptist a few weeks ago, given by author and historian William Federer. I consider myself fairly well educated on Islamic history, but I learned a lot in that one hour. This seminar by Dr. Wells is sure not to disappoint, too.

So if you're in the Rapid City area, and your church doesn't have Sunday evening services (or if your church might like to come as a group and join South Canyon Baptist), it's sure to be an informative evening. See the ad pasted in below for details.

In addition to being senior pastor of South Canyon Baptist Church, Dr. Richard Wells is President and Professor of Leadership and Pastoral Theology at the Black Hills Biblical Institute. Before coming to South Dakota, he was president of Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. His credentials: B.A., Florida Southern College; M.Min., The Criswell College; M.A, Stetson University; Ph.D., Baylor University; Ph.D., University of North Texas; Additional Study: Tyndale House, Cambridge.

Islam Seminar in Rapid City

Dr. Richard Wells and South Canyon Baptist Church will be hosting another seminar on Islam starting this Sunday Oct. 7 at 6:30 PM. The church is at 3333 West Chicago St. on the west side of Rapid City. There will be snacks, admission is free and childcare for small children will be provided.

You may recall that South Canyon did a two or three part seminar on Islam in the early summer this year. Though I consider myself fairly well educated--for a layman--on Byzantine era history (which includes Islam), I found the seminar tremendously informative.

If I understand the intent for the upcoming seminar beginning this Sunday, it will cover some of the same material as the first seminar, but with some new information as well.

With the threat of terrorism, our continued war on terrorism (which is usually fueled by radical Islam), and with Muslim population exploding across Europe and other parts of the world, there hasn't for centuries been a more relevant time to understand Islam.

Dr. Wells holds two PhD degrees and was president of Criswell College in Dallas, Texas before coming to Rapid City to be senior pastor of South Canyon Baptist Church. He was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Black Hills Biblical Institute.

Additionally, he is a friend and associate of Dr. Ergun Caner, a former Muslim who is now the President of Liberty Theological Seminary at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. All this to say that Dr. Wells' knowledge and resources on this subject are extensive.

Check the Dakota Voice events calendar for future seminar information as it becomes available.

Hope to see you there!

Islam in Prophecy and History

The study on Islam by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City was very good tonight. Attendance was good and there was a fair number of notable faces present.

Dr. Wells began the evening by introducing the audience to several books from which he referenced, quoted and read. The Qur'an, of course, was one. Others were the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, The Truth About Mohammed, and What Went Wrong: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East. I believe all but one of these were written by Muslims, and the remaining one was written by one of the foremost authorities on Islam in the West; I just forget which one was which.

Wells said Islam was basically an amalgamation of many religious practices and philosophies that were already common in Arabia when Mohammed started having his "visions" in AD 610. One of the influences on Mohammed was Judeo-Christian teachings, which likely came to him through his wife's cousin, who was a Christian, and through a slave boy that Mohammed adopted, who was also a Christian. However, Wells said the type of Christianity that was practiced in Arabia at that time was not orthodox, and usually involved some form or another of heresy. So the picture of Christianity that Mohammed received was likely a very distorted one.

Wells quickly covered Mohammed's visions, his bouts of depression, and his flight to Medina, where his religious teachings first began to catch on. Mohammed died in AD 632 but his followers continued to work hard. Within 100 years, Islam had conquered the Arabian peninsula, the Middle East, North Africa, part of Spain, and was threatening France when Muslims were stopped at the Battle of Tours in 732.

Despite the occasional setback such as Tours, Muslims never suffered a major defeat until they made two failed attempts to take Vienna. Here, for the first time, Muslims were forced to make a treaty, and apparently it sent a shudder through the Muslim world that perhaps it has not yet recovered from.

Wells also challenged the notion put forth by many, including President Bush, that Islam is a "religion of peace." Reminding us all of what we see on TV and in the newspapers almost daily (despite all the "religion of peace" talk), Wells said the dominant desire of the Muslim world is the total annihilation of the Jews. Why, you might wonder, do Muslims hate Jews and the state of Israel so much?

Because the mere existence of Israel brings to light something Muslims find hard to accept, Wells said: that the Islamic world is inferior (Wells was reading from "What Went Wrong?" here).

To illustrate his point, Wells asked the audience if they could name any cars manufactured in Islamic countries? He asked if anyone could name any imported goods manufactured in Islamic countries? There was silence.

Wells reminded the audience that Israel just regained statehood not quite 60 years ago, and that it has been surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned by the Muslim world...and that it's continued existence is "a humiliation to Islam of the first order" (I believe he was quoting from "What Went Wrong?" here).

Examining Genesis chapter 16, Wells then looked at the prophecy regarding Ishmael, from whom Muslims are descended.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."

Contrast this to the prophecy regarding Abraham's offspring through Issac. Issac would bring blessing to all nations, but Ishmael would bring only war and conflict. (I know all Muslims aren't terrorists, but many are, and far too many of the remainder remain silent with no condemnation of the terrorism committed by other Muslims. So when you hear the word "Islam," do you think "grace," "peace," "love," "order," "stability," "nobility"...or do you think of violence, war, bombings, blood, killings, and the like?)

Wells wrapped up the evening by reading from the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (which was written by a Muslim, he said). He read the definition of "jihad" which the Qu'ran teaches, as "a divine institution of warfare to extend Islam into the non-Islamic territory."

He also read a passage which said "In colonial times [which was the Western colonial time, such as when Britain was in control of Palestine] when Islamic countries were not under Muslim control, this was an anomalous condition from the point of view of Islamic law." In other words, it was an illegitimate condition, or an aberration, for Muslims not to be in total control. What this means is that Islam refuses to coexist with others unless the population with which they live accepts a state of second-class citizenship.

Part 2 will be next Sunday night at 6:30 pm at South Canyon Baptist again. If you're in the Rapid City area, you won't want to miss it.

The Threat of Islam and the Hope of Christ

Just got back from Part 2 of the study on Islam at South Canyon Baptist Church tonight. Dr. Richard Wells, when he saw that so much was left uncovered or hastily covered, promised to try and schedule a third installment on this subject sometime this summer.

The main theme tonight was on six threats to the modern Western world from Islam. Wells said he wanted to make it clear that he didn't want to paint all Muslims with the same brush, and that there were moderate Muslims, but these threats were from the dominant forces in Islam today.

1. The nature of Islam itself. Wells said the nature of the teachings of the Qur'an itself are such that it tends to foster the kind of violence we see today. He said that what Osama bin Laden teaches is not inconsistent with the teachings of the Qur'an, and that many in Islam agree with these teachings.

2. It's historical memory. Westerners are terrible with history, Wells said, and we're woefully ignorant of it. Islam, however, has an acute historical consciousness. They haven't even gotten over the Crusades. Wells said it was "interesting" that the second, unsuccessful siege of Vienna ended on September 11, 1683. (What other significant event occurred on September 11?) Wells also said that the fact of Muslim success for their first 1000 years has been equated with divine approval, and this became a part of their worldview. After the failed effort to conquer Vienna, however, the next 300 years brought Islamic decline. Wells said that the Islamic world is made up of about 33 countries and 500 million people, yet their combined economic output is roughly equivalent to Finland. Islam believes it is superior and deserves to dominate the world, so their current state is a bitter pill to swallow.

3. The threat of Qur'anic literalism. Wells said that in Islamic teaching, there is no legitimate translation of the Qur'an into languages other than Arabic. They view the Qur'an as not merely inspired, but believe it was dictated by Allah himself to Mohammed. However, Wells said he's read the Qur'an and, partly because it's surah's or chapters are ordered shortest to longest, without any regard for chronology or topic, it is nearly incomprehensible. Wells also said part of the difficulty in understanding it is cultural, but mainly because it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And despite the different sects of Islam such as the Wahabi Sufi, Shiite Sunni and others, Muslims say the Qur'an isn't open to interpretation.

In this section, Wells also touched on the Five Pillars of Islam: the confession that there is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet; the five daily prayers (interestingly, Wells said Mohammed originally called for prayers to be directed toward Jerusalem, until Jews in Medina rejected him, then he switched the direction to Mecca); the haj or pilgrimage to Mecca; the alms, though Wells says it's not the charitable giving we think of with alms, but a tax that has its roots in the Judeo-Christian tithe; and the fifth is the fast of Ramadan, which Wells said bears similarities to the Jewish fast days.

4. The communal identity of Islam. Wells there is almost no concept of individual salvation in Islam. They tend to believe that salvation lies in being a Muslim, rather than ones personal relationship with Allah, as Christians believe. Wells cited a figure from a Pew survey which found 28% of young, U.S.-born Muslims say suicide bombing is an acceptable method of advancing Islam.

5. The Muslim Reformation. Wells said that since the 1800s, this reformation has been building in response to the perceived insults to Islam. Muslims believe their civilization has stagnated because they departed from Qur'anic literalism, so they seek to purify their religion and bring it back to what it was...presumably before the defeat at Vienna in 1683. Wells said actually we Westerners insult Islam just by our existence, and by the fact that we are so obviously superior technologically and economically.

Wells read from the cover of one of the books he used as a reference for this study: The Truth About Mohammed by Robert Spencer, which was written using Islamic sources. An "endorsement" by an Islamic group of Robert Spencer said, "May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over again...Amen."

6. The reinterpretation of jihad. Wells said the current phase of "reinterpretation of jihad" started roughly 100 years ago when the Jews started returning to Palestine. At first their efforts were aimed at the Israelis up until the 70s and 80s when it turned to moderate Muslims, such as in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. And in the 90s it turned to Christians and Jews everywhere.

Osama bin Laden took it to the next level in February of 1998 when he issued a fatwa calling for Muslims everywhere to kill infidels by any means available anywhere in the world. Wells said this was especially significant since fatwas are normally issued by mullahs and kalifs, and bin Laden was just a layman. Wells said the plot which was uncovered yesterday to blow up JFK airport and the fuel lines was a response to bin Ladens fatwa.

HOPE

Wells concluded by saying there were five hopeful signs in the face of the current onslaught from militant Islam.

1. The weakening effects of the modern world itself. Basically this means that Muslims who enter the Western world are often attracted to the "American Dream" and the prosperity of it, thus tempering their jihadist inclinations.

2. Weakening effects of totalitarianism itself. He pointed out how often the tighter tyrants make their grip, the more the people slip away from them.

3. The role of women in Islam. Wells said that despite the second-class status of women in the Islamic world, they often have a tempering effect on the cultures around them (remember the female prime minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan?).

4. The existence of moderate Muslims. There are those Muslims who, while holding to some of the basics of their faith, do not follow the Qur'an closely.

5. An awakening Western world. Wells said the influence of radical Muslims and their attacks even against countries who try to appease their way out of the sites of Muslims is causing some to wake up to the danger.

Wells pointed to the reformation that was started in Christianity when God moved in a radical way in the life of Martin Luther, and within 150 years Islam faced its first major defeat. Wells said he hoped God might grant the mercy that the West would again embrace Christianity, to become strong once more in the face of this threat.

The way we'll do that, Wells said, isn't simply through military strength or resolve, but through the example of 2 Chronicles 7:14

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Watch for more on that third installment of the study of Islam from South Canyon Baptist sometime this summer...

Islam Seminar Part 4: Islam in History

Tonight was Part 4 in the series on Islam being taught by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. (Parts one and two can be read about and viewed here, though I was out of town for Part 3).

Below are my notes from this evening's presentation; they are not full verbatim quotes of what Wells said, but are pretty close (I'm a VERY fast typist).

Wells said he has studied Islam for many years and taught it for many years teaching World Religions at seminary, and has visited a number of Islamic countries.

Wells began tonight’s discussion of Islam in History by saying that there were two or perhaps three “histories of Islam”

On Sept 12, 1683 the first history of Islam ended, and from that date until today is the “second history of Islam.”

What we are witnessing in the world right now is an effort by the Islamic world to create a third history by returning to the first history.

For a little over 1000 years since Mohammed’s death (632 AD), Islam was more or less unchecked in the world, ascendant for 1000 years. Upon close examination, there were already signs of its disintegration before that, but this was ignored by Islamic leaders.

In that “first history,” you have an incredible, worldwide expansion from Mecca and Medina and it is almost bewilderingly rapid. This time begins with what is sometimes called the “Muslim Century. It extends from the death of Mohammed to the defeat of Islamic forces at they Pyrenees Mountains by Charles Martel in 732 AD.

By 656 AD already the Middle East and half of North Africa are under Muslim control. North Africa had been part of the Roman Empire and much of it remained under the control of the Roman Empire in the East, also called the Byzantine Empire. It had been Christian until this point. Muslims conquered through Spain until they reached the Pyrenees Mountains, and it was expected that they would march into Paris and take all of Europe. They also made it to eastward to China and into India and northward to the Taurus Mountains, then to the Caucus Mountains.

Wells said the area where he recently taught in Rostov, Russia was not far north of where Muslims reached in that first century.

There were three great Islamic movements. This first one was the “Arab Movement.” The next great movement involved the Mongols or Tartars. The Mongols were fierce warriors but most Western people underestimated their military genius and the extent of their empire in the East. In the 13th Century you have this second wave of Mongols who converted to Islam.

Kublai Kahn asked for Rome to send teachers to their empire to teach them about Christianity, but the request was ignored during a time when there was no pope. When a pope was appointed, he sent a couple of Dominican priests who came with the intent of aggressively converting the “mogul horde.” This was rejected by the Mongols.

If they had come proclaiming the Kingdom of God the way Jesus presented it, that would have been a vision big enough to capture their hearts. Instead, these emissaries came demanding fealty to Rome. So the Mongols instead turned to Islam.

The third great wave is the one of the most interest to us, and it is the Ottomans. They were Turkish people from the 11th Century occupying the current area of Turkey and much of the area south of Russia. Here they established the Ottoman Empire, ruling from the 15th Century until World War I.

The high point of the third history of Islam is the sacking of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453. This city had been the capital of the Byzantine Empire, or the Eastern Roman Empire. By the time Islam came on the world scene, the old traditional Roman Empire in Western Europe (based in Italy and the city of Rome) had already fallen to the barbarian invasions.

It was the vision of the Ottomans to conquer all Christian lands and bring them into the sphere of Islam. When they conquered, conquered people had the choice to convert or die. If they were Jews or Christians, you could convert, die, or pay a tax to obtain the privilege of becoming a second class citizen.

One of those problems that were appearing in the Islamic advance was in 1529 when the Muslims laid siege to Vienna. This city was viewed as the crown jewel of Christianity. However, they failed to conquer it due to “bad weather.”

Another remarkable event occurred in 1571 and it was the Battle of Lepanto in Greece. It pitted evenly matched navies between the Muslims and “The Holy League.” This was an extraordinary victory for the Christian forces, and is viewed as the salvation of Europe. The Muslims, however, didn’t see it this way, yet it was a crushing defeat for Islamic forces.

This end of the first Islamic history was September 12, 1683 when the second siege of Vienna ended, again in failure. From July to September the Muslims had laid siege, and they faced a confederation of Christian forces led by a Polish king. The pope called for fasting and prayer, and in a battle that lasted five hours on Sept. 12, the Polish king deployed his troops masterfully and routed the Muslims. It took days for the victors to collect all the plunder that was left behind. One thing they let behind when they retreated were vast stores of coffee, which was relatively unknown in Europe at this point.

The second history of Islam begins here, and while the first was almost unchecked expansion, the second is one of almost unrelieved failure—the whole thing unravels.

In 1686 the Hungarian city of Buda was retaken by Christians, and in 1696 Peter the Great retook Russian lands from the Muslims. In 1798, Napoleon entered Egypt, the stronghold of Islam.

In the 1700s and 1800s, for the first time in history a Muslim power had to sign a treaty involving the surrender of land.

In World War I the Ottoman Empire came to an end. The victorious Europeans sat down at a table and divided up the Islamic world.

The reestablishment state of Israel came out of this also, though it didn’t happen until after World War II. After WWI, they allowed Turkey to keep its own country, and the British controlled Palestine under the “British Mandate.” The effort to reestablish the state of Israel began here, though it wasn’t completed until 1948.

The significance of September 11 (and bin Laden’s attack on the United States on that date) is just what bin Laden told us on October 7 after the attack. He referenced an event nearly 80 years earlier, September 11, 1922 when the British Mandate was declared in Palestine. On this date, the Arabs proclaimed a day of mourning. Since then, there has been a tremendous rise in the aggression of various Arab groups around the world.

The question often arises of how that first century of Islamic expansion could have happened so quickly. One possibility is that the Christian world itself opened the door wide open to this. It is no coincidence that the rise of Islam coincides with the Middle Ages, and the disintegration coincidence with the Renaissance and rebirth of Christianity.

Also, the rise of Islam coincides with a wave of anti-Semitism on the part of Christians. Wells mentioned the Inquisition and how Jews were caught up and persecuted. God said in his word that he would bless those who bless his people and would be the enemy of those who oppose his people.

Another factor is that the Islamic religion is by its nature a religion of domination.

At this point Wells said he was out of time due to another meeting requirement, but would continue the seminar next week. That will be at 6:30 pm, November 25 at South Canyon Baptist Church (3333 West Chicago St.) in Rapid City.

Islam Seminar at South Canyon

I attended the seminar on Islam at South Canyon Baptist Church tonight and it was what I expected: some of the same info covered when Dr. Richard Wells did this seminar at the beginning of the summer, but with a lot of new stuff as well. He said the seminar will be continuing for the next two weeks, concluding on Oct. 21.

Below are the notes I took at the seminar. I haven't cleaned them up much, as I'm a little short on time and energy right now, but they're still pretty good. Most of what I wrote are exact quotes of what Dr. Wells said, or very close paraphrases. In either case, I believe it will be pretty faithful to what he said. It was very educational and informative, with Dr. Wells often reading from the Qur'an and books written on Islam by Islamic scholars. I would highly recommend anyone in or near Rapid City attend the next two week's installments. Tonight's event was held in the church gym with a lot of tables set up, and still they ended up lining the walls with chairs, so it was very well attended.

Here are my notes...



Dr. Wells said Islam is not just another world religion. Wells taught World Religions as a college professor, and among all the religions, there is none that quite has the historical impact as Islam.

The community response the first time the Islam seminar was taught a few months ago told Wells they needed to do it again and expand on it. This seminar began where the original seminar did, so that the attendee gets all the background.

Some of the most important reasons for studying Islam are:

1. Islam today and for the foreseeable future is the single greatest threat to America. Within the last month, bin Laden has issued another video. In that video he called for us all to convert to Islam. Many Americans probably don't think they're serious, but they are deadly serious.

2. Many public leaders including our president have made a distinction which to them seems very important, but in fact does not really exist. That is between Islam and Islamism. There are some Muslims who are more extreme than others, but what most people don’t fully realize is that this distinction is a very Western, Christian distinction. It is almost impossible to find Muslims who will condemn the actions of Osama bin Laden.

A study which came out May 22 entitled “Muslim Americans” by the Pew Research Center, and it will get your attention. It’s a survey of mainstream, middle class Muslim Americans and what they believe. The survey found that the younger they are, the more open Muslims are to the radical elements of Islam.

3. Most Americans, even though they know there is such a thing as Islam and that it’s a threat, know very little about Islam. They might remember that there was someone named Mohammed, but the average citizen in America can’t even name the four Gospels of Christianity.

4. Islam has a long history which is well remembered. Americans typically don’t know much about the Crusades, but Muslims have not forgotten them. Osama bin Laden chose Sept. 11 for his historic attack because it had great significance.

Islam begins with Mohammed. Mohammed was basically a camel driver who married into money by marrying a rich widow many years his senior. He lived 570-632 AD. He had appointed no successor when he died, leaving a lot of strife over who his successor should have been.

Mohammed was illiterate. He began to have visions, and details about these visions were written down by others in what we know as the Qur'an. There is no such thing as a legitimate translation of Qur’an because Muslims say the real Qur’an is in God’s language: Arabic. The Qur’an isn’t arranged like the Bible, more or less chronologically, but is arranged from the longest chapter to the shortest, and these chapters are called surahs. Mohammed never wrote anything about his visions but others made recordings of them based on what they were told about them. Most of what we know about Mohammed was written 100-300 years after his life.

Surah 97 refers to the night on which the prophet received his call and the first verses of the Qur’an. Mohammed at first things he’s going mad when he receives his first visions, but his wife assured him he was not.

Between 632-732 the world saw the most meteoric rise of any empire it has ever seen. It took all the Middle East up into southern Russia, central Asia, into India, North Africa, and was knocking on the door of southern Spain and France.

For about the last 100 years, the re-biblization or renewal of Islam has been occurring. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire around the end of WWI, the Islamic empire fell to it’s lowest point in history. A good book on history of Islam recommended by Dr. Wells is Bernard Lewis, recognized as the finest scholar of Islam in the Western World: “What Went Wrong” It helps answer the question, “Why do they hate us so much?”

Is Allah the God of the Bible? The answer Wells gave at the last seminar was “Yes and no.” Yes, in the same sense as the Elohim of Mormonism is the God of the Bible, or the Jehovah of Jehovah's Witnesses is the God of the Bible. Or the God of the Moonies Unification Church is the God of the Bible. "Cults are the unpaid bills of the church." There is a sense in which Islam is a Christian cult. All cults by their nature begin with the God who has already been revealed. The nature of evil, as CS Lewis pointed out, is not to create something new but to distort something that already exists. Cults always take truth and distort it.

In the minds of many Muslims and even many Christians, Allah is the God of the Bible. But also, in many of the ways he is described he sounds like the Christian God of Adonai, Elohim, the God we know from the Bible. Of course, we’ve all heard the politically correct statement: “We all worship the same God, we just worship him in different ways.”

On the “No” side, the god of Mohammed doesn’t come incarnate to man, so there is no intermediary as there is in Jesus in Christianity. There are lesser intermediaries, however, and they are the genies or gen that are spirits who work good or ill for Allah. There is no reference for Allah as “Father.” He does not beget, and he is detached from the petty worries and annoyances of man. (This is from Caesar Farah’s “Islam” book). In heaven, Muslims believe, there is a sacred, ideal copy of the Qur’an and it was dumped on Mohammed. The true Qur’an can’t be translated because it wouldn’t be a faithful copy of the original in heaven.

Allah is a provincial god, the God of the Bible is a universal god. In Christianity, there is no requirement that the Scriptures be in a specific language, but in Islam everyone must speak Arabic to properly receive his word.

Allah is unhistorical. Allah doesn’t know much about history. There are some unbelievable examples in the Qur’an where the Qur’an misinterprets history. The God of the Bible reveals himself over centuries. Seventy five percent of the Bible is narrative with God telling the story. God revealed himself in the history of the world. He shows himself in the way he rules in the lives and affairs of people. There are visions in Islam, but no prophesies, and certainly no fulfilled prophesies regardless of how you classify the visions. With Allah, you only have a claim with no evidence of validity.

Allah loves conditionally. When you read the Qur’an , one of the things that will strike you is that the mercy of Allah is only for those who already believe. If you don’t believe, there is no mercy. That is why bin Laden can read the Qur’an and blow up the World Trade Center. That isn’t radical Islam, that’s just the Qur’an . “For Allah schemes against the unbelievers and Allah is the best of all schemers,” the Qur’an says.

With Allah, there is no plan for redemption. There is no recognition of the need to address the problem of human sin. There is no cross, there is no sacrifice for sin, it’s not even on the radar. All Allah does is what all pagan gods do: just demands obedience. He doesn’t offer hope or encouragement or strength, just demands obedience.

In some ways the most distressing difference is that Allah is detached from the worries and annoyances of man, but as the Bible tells us, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." Allah cannot be known, only feared.

Tonight's seminar was entitled IS ALLAH THE GOD OF THE BIBLE. Next week comes IS THE QU’RAN THE WORD OF GOD.

Islam in Prophecy

Tonight was Part 5 (I believe the last) in a series on Islam by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. Tonight's topic: Islam in Prophecy. Below are my notes from this evening.


Dr. Wells said understanding Islam is important, in addition to our relations with the millions of Muslims around the world and the many Islamic countries, because of the differenced between the faith of the Bible and the religion of Islam.

Wells said Isaiah 44 is a foundational passage for the doctrine of predictive biblical prophecy. One of the reasons for predictive prophesy is to prove and authenticate that what God says is reliable. Wells said that divination is a pagan method for attempting to predict future events, but God “makes fools of diviners.”

The Bible is filled with prophecies and makes many claims that God predicts many things that have not yet happened in order to prove that he is God. But is there prophecy in Islam? No, there is no prophecy in Islam.

In Surah 30, the Qur’an references what sounds like a prophecy regarding the defeat of “the Romans” and some later rejoicing of “the believers,” but it is not. This is the closest thing to a prophecy in the Qur’an.

Wells said this passage referenced the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and the conflict between it and the Persian Empire. In 611, the Persians were growing in strength and took over many of the lands once held by the Byzantine Empire. Mohammed was relating this, supposedly from one of his visions, but he would have known of these events without the help of a vision. The wording of this passage, however, is unclear whether the Romans (Christians, i.e. “believers?”) or the Muslims would rejoice. About 10 years later, the Romans did retake some of this area, but this back-and-forth of territory had been going on for some time, and the language of the passage left it unclear who would be victorious.

Wells said that unlike the Bible, there is also no hint of prophecy anywhere in the Qur’an that has anything to do with great events in the world. The Bible foretells the coming of the Middle Eastern empires, the Greeks, the Romans, and specific detail about the coming of Christ.

Some Muslims claim there are prophecies in the Bible that affirm Islam. Wells said that he doesn’t mean to make light, but that pointing to the Bible to affirm the Qur’an, which has no prophecy in it, just isn’t plausible.

In Deut. 18, there is a prophecy of a coming great prophet and says he will be “like Moses.” Some Muslims says this refers to Mohammed, but the passage actually says this prophet will come from among the Jews.

Another supposed prophecy that affirms Islam is also in Deuteronomy, and has to do with Mohammed coming from Haran. But this idea is preposterous in that the only connection is that Moses came out of Sinai.

The third prophecy is a reference from Jesus himself in John 14:16 where Jesus says the Father will send another helper who will remain with us forever. Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, but Muslims say this referred to Mohammed. They say this because the word used for the Holy Spirit is similar to another word which is similar to “Mohammed.” However, there are 5,300 Greek manuscripts containing this passage and none contain the word Muslims say is used here.

Wells said that Islam is definitely referred to in the Bible. There are at least four types of prophecies in the Bible relating to Islam.

The first is the “macro prophecy.” In Genesis 12 we have the call of Abram (or Abraham) to be the father of the people of Israel. In verse three it says that God will bless those who bless his people and curse those who curse his people, and that all people of the earth will be blessed through Abraham’s lineage. Muslims say that this lineage is through Abraham’s son Ishmael (from whom the Arabs are descended), but the Bible is incredibly clear that this promise is through Abraham’s son Isaac. Meanwhile, the Islamic word is bitterly opposed to the very existence of the nation of Israel. We have all recently heard the president of Iran vowing to exterminate Israel, and he is working on gaining nuclear weapons.

The second kind of prophecy is in Genesis 16 where we have the account of Hagar leaving Abraham’s camp after Ishmael is conceived. The angel of God finds Hagar and says to her that her son will be “a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Recall that Islam is a religion of the sword, which has expanded by the power of the sword, through conquest. And even within the world of Islam, there is great infighting. We see this in Iraq, between the Sunni’s and Shiits who are trying to kill each other. And there was the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 are prophecies that deal with the end times. Scholars debate on exactly when this will take place, but it seems to involve Islam. Some translations refer to the prince of “Rosh” which can mean chief or head, but there were once a people known as the Roshians. They weren’t Russians, but they were from the far north. This passage says Persia (Iran), Cush (Ethiopia), and Put (Libya) would form an alliance. It also mentions Gomer, which is probably Turkey, and the central Asian region. These areas all encompass the areas of the traditional Islamic empire. Gog and Magog are leading in this military effort. Many scholars believe this represents Russia. And we know from the events of recent years, the Russians are involved in helping Iran, Iraq and possibly other Muslim countries.

This passage also seems to refer to Israel, as people are gathered to Israel from across the earth just as Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948 after it was a “continual waste” from the time the Romans wiped out the Jewish nation in 70 AD. It also refers to a land of “unwalled cities” which was unthinkable in ancient times.

The last kind of prophecy referring to Islam in the Bible involves Daniel chapter 2. Here is the prophecy of the great image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, a figure with a head of gold (Babylon), silver (Medo-Persians), bronze (Alexander the Great), and iron (Romans). In Daniel 2:44 it says that in the days of the Roman Empire, God will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed (i.e. that it will ultimately triumph). The coming Kingdom that Christ preached about is this kingdom, and it began with Christ’s coming.

Islam by its nature has to dominate everything it comes in contact with. America remains a religious nation, despite its growing secularism, and represents Christianity. The total value of all Islamic exports from all Islamic country (excluding oil), is equal to Finland. It produces nothing except war.

For Israel to be re-established after all these years and to thrive the way it has, is unbearable to Muslims.

Wells closed with a story about his translator during his recent trip to teach in Russia. The translator was an Azerbaijani man. There was a lot of unrest in Azerbaijan several years ago involving Muslims (it’s a predominately Muslim country) who went on a campaign with the specific purpose of eradicating all Armenians, who are historically Christians. This mans’ parents decided they had to leave because they were in the path of this slaughter, and his parents had to explain to this boy that the Muslims are determined to eradicate Christians. However, since the Armenians had drifted from a vital faith in Christ, the boy had to ask his parents what a Christian was.

The man later sought answers about Christianity from a Christian preacher, and ended up coming to faith in Christ through this quest.

*NOTE: I'll post the video from tonight here in the next couple of days, when it's finished processing.

Part 4 of Islam Seminar in Rapid City

South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City will once again be hosting an Islam seminar Sunday night at 6:30 PM. This one will be part 4 in the series being taught by Dr. Richard Wells, Senior Pastor of South Canyon Baptist. This installment is entitled "Islam: Past and Present."

I have reports and video from Parts 1 and 2 available under the link above, but I was in Washington D.C. when Wells did Part 3, so I have nothing available on it. I plan to video Part 4 Sunday night, but it's always better in person, so I hope to see you there!

The Bible and the Qu'ran

Tonight was the second week in the Islam seminar by Dr. Richard Wells at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. The title of tonight's presentation was "The Bible and the Qu'ran." While last week's contrasted God and Allah, this week's compared and contrasted the Bible and the Qu'ran.

Below are my notes in mostly raw format; again time is short. But I think you'll get the gist of what Dr. Wells said, these notes being quotes or very close paraphrases of what he said.

I'm encoding and uploading the video I took tonight and hopefully it'll be ready in the morning. I'll post it here, as I did last week's video, as soon as it's ready.

Meanwhile, I hope these notes are useful...

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There is no place in the Qu’ran for suffering, yet Paul says all who desire to live a Godly life in Jesus Christ will experience suffering.

As Dr. Wells mentioned last week, there is no such thing as a legitimate translation of the Qu’ran because Muslims believe a perfect copy of the Qu’ran exists in Heaven, and it is in Arabic. Therefore all copies must be in Arabic in order to be true to the original.

The Qu’ran is regarded as “the very words of God.”

The most widely accepted understanding of the plenary verbal theory of inspiration. This means we do not believe that the Scriptures just sort of fell down from the sky. Many people may believe, like the King James Version, that the apostle Paul used thee and thou and 17th Century English, but that's simply not the case. Old Testament was mostly in Hebrew, with some in Aramaic. New Testament was in Greek. We believe that God “bore along these holy men of old” so that even though they wrote using their own linguistic vocabulary, and ended up writing exactly what God wanted to be written. These were not just inspired concepts, but the actual words were inspired.

By contrast, the Qu’ran is viewed as a dictation from Allah.. It was given to Mohammed over the course of about 22 years through a number of visions. The Qu’ran was known orally until sometime after Mohammed died, and it was then written down by men who knew him.

To Muslims, it is viewed as the dictated words of Allah, with the perfect copy of this dictation existing in Heaven in Arabic. The Qu’ran in Muslim theology is itself as a sacred object.

"I love my copy of God’s word," Wells said of his Bible. "While I hold the Word of God in the highest reverence, I don’t think of this particular copy of God’s word I hold in my hand as a sacred object. To hold any sacred text in holy reverence is bibliolatry."

But Muslims believe the Qu’ran cannot be touched with impure hands. God intends His Word to be in our hearts. He wants us to worship Him and not an object of sacred text.

The Hadith is a collection of sayings. Since Mohammed didn’t write anything, being illiterate, and there wasn’t even a Qu’ran at the beginning, in order for Islam to develop as a religion after 632 AD, it was felt that the sayings and teachings of Mohammed needed to be written down. After Mohammed’s death, there were vast numbers of sayings, etc. concerning the life, practices, teachings etc. of Mohammed. Collectively these are known as the Hadith. There isn’t just one simple collection of the Hadith; there are thousands of these sayings. How do we know any go back to Mohammed? We have no idea, only the word of those who wrote them, and in many cases we don’t know who these people are. There are several major collections of these. This also helps explain why there are so many differences in the various sects of Islam, because different groups of Muslims use different Hadiths.

The Qu’ran isn’t what drives Islam as much as the Hadith does. The sunna are the practices of Muslims, and there is a saying among Muslims is that the Qu’ran doesn’t interpret the sunna, but the sunna interpret the Qu’ran. In other words, the Qu’ran has to be interpreted in light of these practices.

In Christianity, you have the Bible, but there are also religious traditions. Many people in Christendom believe these traditions are important in carrying out Christianity. However the dominant theology for centuries has understood that it is the Bible alone that dictates orthodox Christianity. Sola Scriptura; the Bible alone is sufficient. Most statements of faith in churches today say something like, “We believe the Bible is the revelation of God…and it is the only sure guide to faith and practice.”

In Islam, it is the Qu’ran and the Hadith. And at a practical level, the Hadith is seen as more important than the Qu’ran.

It has sometimes been said that the Qu’ran has but one point (quoting Islamic scholars): the absolute unity of God. Absolute monotheism. This is where we as Christians we have our greatest problems or differences with the Qu’ran.

Reading from Surah 19, verse 35.

It is not befitting to Allah that he should sire a son. Glory be to him! When he determines a matter, he only says to it, be, and it is.

And skipping to verse 88

88 They say: Allah most gracious has sired a son!
89 Indeed you have put forth a thing most monstrous!
90 At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin,
91 That they should invoke a son for Allah most gracious.
92 For it is not consonant with the majesty of Allah most gracious that he should sire a son.

Deuteronomy 6:4 says Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. We would all as Christians agree with this. So where’s the difference? It bears on the nature of the Qu’ran.

Remember also that Christians do not believe in many gods (or three gods). We see God manifesting himself in three distinct beings of the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. To many, the distinction may seem nonexistent, but it is very important and very real.

The Qu’ran came into existence in the space of a generation, basically Mohammed’s lifetime. Some might see this as a virtue.

The word “canon” is the word we use as Christians to describe what we call the Bible. These are the 66 books of the Bible. Canon is a Greek word originally meaning a reed which could be used to measure things. We use the word to mean those books which have come to be accepted as true Scripture, as opposed to the vast amount of writings that are not accepted as canonical.

For instance, why weren’t the other letters written by Paul included in the Bible? We don’t regard everything he wrote as Scripture.

With the Qu’ran, men who knew Mohammed wrote down after his death what they could remember of what he had said. This resulted in many discrepancies in what these men wrote down and the Third Khalifat tried to put them all together.

The Bible was put together over about 1,600 years by dozens of different men on three different continents. The Jewish scholars recognized that certain books were of prophetic character. They also recognized that there was something about these books that gave them “life.” By 275 BC when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the Old Testament canon was already established.

New Testament canon had to have apostolic authority and “evidence of life.” When they were read, taught and preached, did God work in people’s lives? AD 368 the Bishop of Alexandria said over the years since the resurrection of Christ, these books have proven themselves time and time again.

The Qu’ran claims to be the very word of God out of Heaven, but it grotesquely misinterprets the Christian faith. It accuses Christians of what they have never believed. The most significant example concerns the Trinity. The Qu’ran actually teaches the virgin birth of Jesus. Surah 3 verse 45 talks about the virgin birth of Jesus, though it sounds like the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.

It says Christians believe in three Gods. It says God had a son with Mary
Surah 4 verse 171 says Jesus was only a messenger of Allah and tells Christians to cease saying there are three Gods. We have never believed this or said this. Not even cult Christians have ever believed there are three Gods, but the Qu’ran claims we do. Claims like this are many throughout the Qu’ran.

Even Islamic scholars struggle with this. Islamic writer Caesar Farah says "Perhaps one reason for the differing conceptions of the Qu'ran background lies in the seeming contradictions to the untrained eye…In the twenty-three years of Mohammed's prophethood, revelations were received as the occasion merited. Chronology was not the factor, and what appeared out of focus at first was usually set in perspective by further revelation at a later date." [in other words, Mohammed corrected himself]. Apparently Mohammed was not concerned with the exact wordings of the revelations.

Continuing to quote Farah “We have, by way of example, revelations recognizing the two pagan deities, al-Uzzah and al-Lat as the daughters of Allah; we have also revelations rescinding the same. This suggests a much different time frame. To Mohammed there was no contradiction here because if Allah is absolute and arbitrary, why should there be any restraint on what he commands and forbids? Allah may vary his ordinances at pleasure, prescribing one set of laws for the Jews, another for the Christians, and still another for Muslims.”

This is another difference between God and Allah: God is unchanging and consistent, where Allah can change at whim and even contradict himself if he chooses.

As Christians we hold to the Word of God because we see that for hundreds of years, God acted through history, chose a people for himself, gave prophecies and fulfilled them, and those over the centuries who have read God’s word and believed on it have found life, forgiveness, and hope. They have been able to star in the face of death and accept it with joy and peace. This is the difference.

Near the end of the seminar, Wells read the story of a man who was condemned to die for converting to Christianity, and said this illustrates the difference between the Bible and the Qu’ran. This man, though condemned, refused to recant his belief, and still faced death with peaceful reassurance.

Next week's seminar will be about Islam and prophecy. And what has happened in the last 500 years to bring us to where we are now.

Is Allah the God of the Bible?

The video below is one I made at last night's Islam seminar at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City called "Is Allah the God of the Bible?"

It's about an hour long, so you may have to watch it in parts if you're a busy person. The sound isn't as great as I had hoped, but you should still be able to hear Dr. Wells discuss this important topic.

Video: The Quran and the Bible

It took a little while (I'm very busy getting ready to go to Washington D.C. later this week), but here's the video from the Islam seminar last Sunday night.

This is Dr. Richard Wells, at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City.