Posts by: Staff Writer

Traditional Muslims come from “shame and honor” cultures. The fear of losing their family, and shaming their community keep then within Islam.

Fear of becoming outcast is valid. Ayan Hirsi Ali describes why in her book “Infidel.” Once you are cast out of a traditional Muslim society, you lose the protection of your group. You then become legitimate prey for anyone to abuse, beat, rob, rape, and even kill. It is dangerous to leave the pack.

In this video, Louis discusses leaving Islam, with ideas for escaping and hiding from persecution. He gives us 4 steps for Leaving Islam:

• Be Bold but Careful – Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.
• Pray for Wisdom and Courage
• Find a Place where you could go if you are in Danger
• Take Refuge in Jesus

Louis points to the words of Jesus in Mark 10:29,30, to encourage us:

“No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much…along with persecutions.”

and Paul’s words in Romans 8:31,

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

With greater access to information on the internet, immigration, international students and travel, conversions are happening more than ever. Muslims finally have access to more than what they have been spoon-fed about their own and other religions.

Dr. Cynthia, of our series, has interviewed and listened to testimonies of many people who have converted – not only to Christianity, but also to Islam. Converts both to and from may Islam feel rejection. But there is one experience those who leave Islam face, that converts to Islam do not: the threat of death.

For Muslim apostates, the fear of being killed is real. Several our Muslim friends delayed converting to Christianity for months because of this.

Why should Muslims be afraid to leave Islam? Simple. The Quran in Surah 4:89 tells Muslims to,

“Take hold of them and kill them wherever you find them.”

In the hadith, Prophet Mohammed also said to kill those who leave Islam (see Sahih Bukhari 52:260 & 84:57). New convert

Huda, who appears in many of our videos, called Dr. C afraid after she received a death threat. Others we know were locked up, interrogated, beaten and even had their bones broken after declaring their new faith. Some denied Christ under persecution. Sadly, it does happen. But some return to him.

When should a former Muslim and announce their conversion to other Muslims? The answer to this depends on the situation.

“Coming out” is a major decision that requires much prayer and wisdom. New believers often get excited and want to tell people about the Lord. We encourage Muslims in strict communities to get strong in the Lord before they come out, because new believers usually lack training and familiarity with the scriptures. They are not ready to face the questions they will get, let alone persecution.

Even spiritually mature former Muslims should take this step seriously, with much thought and prayer. They should be sure it is the Lord’s will.

At times, former Muslims don’t openly admit that they are Christians, but it comes out in other ways. For example, some we know from the Arab Gulf started posting Bible verses and Christian messages on Facebook. They didn’t openly say it, but they were soon discovered! So, if you are a former Muslim, or are discipling one, prayerfully consider this risk.

Wearing a cross definitely gives away conversion. For example, Huda went to a dinner party with powerful Muslims from her country. One of them noticed that she was wearing a cross. “Have you become a Christian?” he asked. All eyes turned to her. “Of course!” she replied reflexively, before realizing that she just risked her life! Fortunately, the event was in America: no one followed Mohammed’s command to kill that night.

Other converts we know have felt it wise to stay secret believers totally under cover. This can be difficult. Some do this not only for safety, but to sow light and truth into the lives of their Muslim contacts. So please, dear friends, pray for those leaving Islam. And if you are doing so yourself, pray and make a considered decision.

Over the past few decades many Western women have converted to Islam. It is easy to find videos of them sharing their conversion experiences. In contrast, this video tells us why, after more than 20 years studying Islam, Dr. Cynthia did not convert.

Cynthia wanted to learn about Islam. She didn’t want to believe just what the news said about Islam, or its critics or its promotors. So, she actively visited mosques, Islamic institutes, student organizations, Muslim countries, studied the Quran, some Arabic, gathered a bilingual Islamic library, conversed with Islamic scholars, religious and political leaders, Muslims of every social level and most sects, and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. Muslims asked her why she did not convert? One Imam even prophesied that she would. He was wrong.

In this video Dr. C shares with us her 3 primary reasons for not converting. She says there might be things that we like or dislike about a religion, for example, some convert to Islam after watching the unity of group prayer, or for marriage. But if we sincerely want the truth, we will decide based on objective facts. So, here are some of hers.

Dr. C’s 3 REASONS for not converting are: the relationship of the Bible and the Quran, the Character of Allah,/God, and the 3 Criteria of Jesus Christ for prophets.

1. BIBLE and the QURAN: True, there is much similarity between the Bible and the Quran. Passages in the Quran praise Allah/God in a fashion that sounds like the psalms/zabur in the Bible. The books share many of the same important characters, and many of the same stories. However, often the Quran has an incomplete or slightly different versions of these stories.
   1. Differences between the Quran and the Old and New Testaments, the holy books of Judaism and Christianity respectively, however, are significant. These include: the relationship between God and people, the way people are saved, and the character of God/Allah.
   2. Also, the Bible contains the writings of over 40 authors, in different styles, or genres. This makes it rich and deep. It shows “progressive revelation” of God’s plan through the ages. Whereas the Quran contains only Prophet Mohammed’s message, and claims that every prophet brought the same message as his.
2. The CHARACTER of God/Allah is similar in some ways – in he is the Creator who sends prophets to warn people that there will be a Day of Judgement. But the characteristics of JUSTICE and HONESTY of God are very different in the Bible and the Quran.
   1. In the Bible, JUSTICE means sin merits death. God can’t simply weigh our deeds and let us off if he is pleased. No. There must be a sacrifice. Besides Eid al AdHa, blood sacrifice is in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 7:11). Jesus was the final, prophesied sacrifice – God himself in human form – taking responsibility for the misdeeds of the children he created. (For more details on this, see our video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X5OFqkiVvo&t=3s .)
   2. That leads to the HONESTY of God/Allah. If you grew up Muslim, you can easily believe that Allah tricked the followers of Jesus into believing that he died on the cross, but he did not.
   3. However, if you grew up Christian, you learned that God is honest. The Bible says that he cannot lie. So, when you hear that Allah deceived Jesus’ disciples, whom the Quran calls Muslims, and that Jesus did not die as they thought, you have great difficulty believing it. To convert to Islam, you must accept that Allah’s true believers were deceived for 600 years until Mohammed came and said otherwise. The God of the Bible is honest. Judaism and Christianity agree on that. Islam does not.
3. PROOF of PROPHETHOOD: The Prophet Mohammed claimed to bring a message from Allah/God and called people to follow him. His proof was his word and his message. Jesus Christ also came with a message. Both men were asked why we should follow them?
   1. In the New Testament, Injeel, John chapter 5, Jesus said a prophet’s claim is not enough. He then gave 3 reasons that we should follow him. They are still good today:
      1. A living prophet, John the Baptist – known as Yahia in Islam – testified that Jesus was the expected Messiah, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
      2. The works Jesus did – miracles greater than anyone, as the Quran agrees.
      3. The prophecies about him. There are many prophecies in the Old Testament of the Jews about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dr. C has examined the claims that Mohammed is prophesied in the Bible. These “prophecies” are few and easily disproven. They are nothing like the number and strength of those about the Messiah Jesus.

In summary, no prophet or religious leader who ever lived – not Mohammed, Buddha, the Hindu and Sikh Gurus, Sun Myung Moon, Joseph Smith, Ryuho Okawa, or anyone else, has the weight of proof that Jesus Christ has.

The Appeal of Foreign Faiths

There is always an appeal to something different. In medical school Dr. C learned that “the drive for variety” is one of the basic psychological principles of human beings. But Westerners are converting to Islam, atheism, and Eastern Religions without deeply understanding either these or Christianity.

In this video we present some points of these other faiths that Westerners either overlook or don’t understand. These faiths give you their little bit of GOOD NEWS up front, like a hook. But when you look deeply what you find is much BAD NEWS! For example:

ISLAM: Praying in unison, the feeling of community, and women not needing to work or diet attract people to Islam.

• But if you convert to Islam, you must be killed if you leave it. Even in the USA, Dr. C was told by a Muslim leader, “We always give people time to consider before they convert to Islam, because if they do become Muslims, they must be killed if they leave it.”
• The rules of Islam are so extensive that they even dictate which foot you must enter the bathroom with, and what you must say before having sex. If one hair protrudes from a woman’s hijab, according to an American school of Sunni Islam, she will need to spend 40,000 years in hell.
• If a woman’s husband falls out of love with her, he has rights to treat her terribly – beating her, trading he in and out of divorce with other women, taking the children, etc. (see our other videos).
• If your hands are held in an unacceptable position for prayer, “Allah will hold it against you at the day of judgement.”
• No one in Islam knows if they have enough points from obeying these rules to please God and enter paradise, even the Prophet Mohammed.

EASTERN RELIGIONS: The feeling of meditation is peaceful, and the idea that all living things are connected is attractive. They are the GOOD NEWS. But after that comes so much BAD NEWS:

• A deeply religious Buddhist friend of Dr. C became so frustrated with reincarnation, the samsara, and needing to push the rock of karma up the hill in life after life, that she told Dr. C she wished it wasn’t true.
• And a Bodhisattva, a very good Buddhist, chooses to stay out of nirvana/heaven, until the bad karma of every creature is paid for by their good deeds and rituals.
• The Japanese Tea Ceremony and floral arrangements are elegant and look so peaceful. However, the experts who do these have told Dr. C that these have complicated rules. If mistakes are made – perhaps an awkward movement or unesthetic arrangement, the Buddhist actually loses points for reincarnation!
• And the peaceful feeling, even if it lasts, does not actually create peace between you and God, because your sins are still there.

ATHEISM: can be appealing. Hypocrites and the squabbles between religions can make us feel like throwing up our hands and giving up on all religion. Plus, atheism allows freedom not only from ceremonies, but from moral behaviors many find too restrictive.

• But in truth, since in atheism nothing is wrong, rape, murder and sociopathic behaviors are acceptable.
• Western atheists like to deny this, but there is no basis on which to do so.

Dr. C reminds us that Christians have PEACE and PURPOSE. The peace we have is real, not just a feeling due to the release of neurotransmitters, which bring a feeling of peace in any belief system. We have peace with God, within ourselves, and with others. The PURPOSE is because God gives a purpose for every human life. You can use it to make a difference!

So, LOOK DEEPLY BEFORE YOU CONVERT! Help your family and friends do that as well.

In Christianity we give you the BAD NEWS up front: You are a sinner. That means you are not perfect. But really, do you think that you are? That would be unrealistic. Down deep we know that we are not perfect.

After Christianity’s bad news, it is GOOD NEWS! God made us and loves us and made a way for our errors/sins to be forgiven. After just one life we can join God and other believers in a truly wonderful heaven.

The PROBLEM of SUFFERING is one of the oldest and biggest challenges ever faced philosophically, as well as by every living person. In this short video, Dr. Cynthia reviews some of the reasons for suffering.

The first thing to remember is that earth is not heaven. Somehow, we keep expecting everything to work out well for us – yet that will never happen. It helps to recall that Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden of Eden for disobeying God. People have faced big problems ever since. This is commonly called “The Curse.” Men would primarily be affected by the difficulty of work, bringing forth food from soil filled with rocks and weeds. Women would primarily face challenges in relationships that they care about, especially with their husband, childbirth, and children raising. As we look around the world today, we see how this is true.

Some suffering we bring upon ourselves. Our choices bring consequences. If we drink too much alcohol we face physical diseases, relationship problems, and possible arrest. If we break laws, we may be punished. If we are unkind, we may end up alone.

Still, there are some kinds of suffering that do not seem to be our fault – perhaps a car accident or a fatal disease. As Ecclesiastes 9:11 says in the Bible, “time and chance” happen to all of us.

In Eastern Religions, what happens to you is your own fault. It is part of your “bad karma.” Suffering is a way of paying for this karma or sin. Praise God, we do not have that in the Christian faith! Yes, we do reap what we sow, but time and chance happen too. Jesus made this clear to his disciples when they asked who sinned that a man was born blind. He said neither, but that the power of God could be shown in him. When you are facing unmerited suffering, ask God to use it to show his power in your life!

Credits: “Ana Mosh Hashok” and incidental music by Joseph Nassrallah, used with permission