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With Evangelists Glen & Renette Vermeulen |
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my life 4 jesus
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ON THIS PAGE:
1) The Doctrine of Predestination 2) Islamic Paradise 3) “Your Bible says Jesus was in the grave for only 1 day and 2 nights!” 4) “You have corrupted the Bible!” |
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COURTESY, NOW UNBANNED PUBLICATIONS C.C. |
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Muslims… Continued:
THE ISLAMIC/CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION: The Muslim doctrine of ‘double’ predestination teaches that most of mankind is damned and only a small number are predestined or foreordained to enter into heaven. Muslims believe that Allah alone decides who goes to hell and who doesn’t; no matter what they do or neglect to do, they have absolutely no say in the matter. Some deviations from Judaism do teach predestination, while most Jewish rabbis believe that predestination conflicts with the God-given free will, and personal responsibility of humankind. But dejectedly, that Muslim doctrine of ‘double’ predestination belongs to Christianity as well. Gleaned from paganism and incorporated into the Roman Catholic Church by their so-called ‘saint’ Augustine of Hippo, ‘double’ predestination is another serious heresy which Protestants John Calvin, Martin Luther, and their followers inherited from the Catholic Church. The Catholic ‘church father’ Augustine and Protestant ‘church father’ John Calvin both believed that God alone decides the eternal destination of every individual without respecting any of man’s personal choices. Louis Berkhof described the doctrine of ‘double predestination’ as, “The eternal decree of God whereby He has determined to pass some men by with the operations of His special grace, [without allowing them any choice in the matter,] and to punish them for their sins, to the manifestation of His justice.” Brian G. Mattson wrote, “Lutherans, on the other hand, teach single predestination; that while God in eternity past did indeed elect a people for himself whom he would actively save in the outworking of history, he did not decree that the rest of mankind would absolutely be lost and reprobate them to eternal hell. That is, while affirming election, Lutherans reject reprobation [or Divine rejection.] God refrained from electing some men to salvation, but at the same time did not actively decree their continuation in sin, and ultimate suffering as a consequence.” Scripturally, however, the doctrine of single predestination is also a fallacy, because John declared in 3:16, “For God SO loved the [WHOLE] world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John Calvin actually taught particular atonement, which means that Jesus died only for the ‘elect;’ the so-called ‘chosen’ members of Calvinism, or the ‘chosen’ members of the Dutch Reformed Church and her affiliates. Calvinist membership, and not solely the Biblical blood-atonement of Jesus Christ, gives adherents of this religion a chance to enter into heaven – but their god had to decide beforehand either to choose the individual to inherit eternal life or to damn him to eternal punishment in hell! Sadly, adherents of predestination never know for sure what will happen to them at the moment of death, even though they had been devout Muslims, Catholics, Calvinists, or Lutherans. The predestinating god even chooses the measure of sin which man has to commit: “Verily Allah has fixed the very portion of adultery which a man will indulge in, and which he of necessity must commit (or there would be no escape from it).” – [Sahih Muslim Book 033, Number 6421, 6422 or The Kitab-ul-Qadr, the Book of Destiny, Book 003, Chapter 5, no. 6421/22.] As in Augustinian/Calvinist double predestination, this actually means that, as the god of religion forces his disciples to sin morally, immorality is not the personal responsibility of the religionist and has nothing to do with his salvation. In fact, in their personal lives, adherents of double predestination may live whichever way they choose, as long as they adhere to the ritual path of their religion! While modern Catholicism teaches single predestination, most Catholics live according to the principle of double predestination without even realizing it. As a result, these religionists never meditate on their condition of sin or their responsibility to repent from personal sin. Predestinating Allah created the black race from his left side: The Islamic writing Mishkat al-Masabih, vol. 3, p. 117 also states that in predestinating Providence “Allah created Adam and stroked his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds. He stroked his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. He then said to those who were on his right side: ‘Towards paradise and I don’t care.’ He said to those on his left side: ‘Towards hell and I don’t care.’” Someone rightfully asked, “What are Muslims doing in Africa if all black people are predestined for hell - and then Muslims still call Islam ‘the religion for black people!’” Africans, wake up! The real God, the True God of the Bible, desires that all men should be saved by a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world THROUGH HIM might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not [personally] believe is condemned already, because he has not [chosen to] believe in the Name of the only begotten Son of God,” (Jn. 3:16-19.)
THE ISLAMIC PARADISE: In Islam, eternal life does not relate to the Biblical heaven at all. To those who have been ‘lucky’ enough to have been predestined by Allah, eternal life will mean ‘paradise’ or ‘the gardens;’ a place that overflows with material luxuries such as delicious food, intoxicating wine - and numerous perpetual virgins. Some believe there will be 70 virgins for each man, [Surah 55:54-74; 56.21-22.] Predestined Muslim women, who remained patient and steadfast in the path of Islam, might also have a chance of entering into Paradise, but they will have the heavenly pleasure to only have eyes for their continual fornicating husbands! [Tafsir Ibn Kathir.]
“YOUR BIBLE SAYS THAT JESUS WAS IN THE GRAVE FOR ONLY TWO NIGHTS AND ONE DAY.” Just as some Christian scholars search Islamic scripture for discrepancies and ways to bring Muslims to Christ, Muslims scholars search the Bible and use inconsistencies in translation to indoctrinate Muslims and to shake the faith of Jesus’ believers. We recently had such an encounter with ‘a friend,’ who ‘sincerely’ asked some perfectly legitimate questions concerning Bible Scripture. Question: “In Matthew 12:39-40, Jesus died on Friday, right? If Mary Magdalene visits the sepulcher on Sunday morning to find it empty... that only counts as 2 nights and 1 day?” Answer: According to this interpretation, it does seem as if Scripture is contradicting itself. However, it is always good to remember that the Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years. As some of the writers remained anonymous, most believe that the Bible was written by 40 different authors. Yet, miraculously, the context of Biblical truth remained completely unaltered. Without doing a personal study on this subject, at first, we also fell for that Roman Catholic, ‘Good Friday/Easter Monday’ explanation, which was written into Roman Catholic translations of the Bible, (the Codex Vaticanus,) and taken up into all subsequent translations, such as the 1516 King James translation, (the Textus Receptus, Majority Text, as well as the Critical Text and Alexandrian Text of the NU.) However, when studying Mt. 12:39-40 and related passages in the entire CONTEXT of Scripture, (in the light of the Old as well as the New Testaments,) we find that Jesus was definitely not crucified on a Friday. In Lev. 23:23-44, God commanded, “In the 7th month, on the 1st day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest... [Not the weekly Sabbath, but one of several annual Sabbaths!] Also the 10th day of this 7th month shall be the Day of Atonement… you shall do no work on that same day… and on the 9th day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath… The 15th day of the 7th month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for 7 days…” In Ex. 12 God said to the Hebrews in Egypt, “This month shall be the first month of the year to you… On the 14th of the same month… the assembly… shall kill [the lamb] at twilight… Then they shall eat the flesh on that night…” Lev. 23:5-7 elaborates, "On the 14th day of the 1st month AT TWILIGHT is the Lord's Passover. [The next day,] the 15th day of the same month, [which begins 24 hours later at sunset,] is the [7-day] Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord… [and you shall do not work on the 1st and 7th day of this feast, (Ex. 12:16.)]" So, the annual, 8-day Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread contains TWO annual Sabbaths. It is also clear that on the Hebrew calendar, a 24-hour day began at sunset and ended at dusk the following day, (Lev. 23:5.) The concept of different annual Sabbaths is not unique to Jewish thought. For instance, in the 'old' South Africa, we had "The Day of the Oath," (Geloftedag,) the 16th of December, which was an annual Afrikaner sabbath, because on that day, they supposedly entered into a national covenant with God. That 'sabbath' did, however, not necessarily fall on Sunday, the Christian sabbath, but on alternative days of the week each year. So, in the old South Africa, during the month of December, we usually had two 'sabbath' days in one calendar week. Serious Bible scholars believe that is what happened that week when Jesus was crucified. Jesus did say that He would be in the grave "3 days and 3 nights”; a 72 hour period. Gary Habermar explained, “The only explanation that does not violate the Biblical account of the women buying spices and which holds to a literal understanding of Mt. 12:40, [“As Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights….”] is that Christ was crucified on Wednesday. The Sabbath that was a [no-work] day occurred on Thursday, the women bought spices after that on Friday, and returned and prepared the spices on the same day. They rested on Saturday, which was the weekly Sabbath, then brought the spices to the tomb early Sunday [morning]. Jesus was buried near sundown on Wednesday, which began Thursday in the Jewish calendar…. He rose before sunrise on Sunday, (Jn. 20:1…)” Wednesday from twilight till sunset on Thursday = one night and one day, the 1st 24-hour day. From Thursday at sunset till Friday at sunset = one night and one day, the 2nd day. Friday at sunset till Saturday at sunset = one night and one day, the 3rd day. Jesus had risen sometime during Saturday night, AFTER three nights and three days in the grave. On Sunday morning at daybreak when the women arrived with the spices, the tomb was empty. Sunday was the 1st day of the Hebrew week, which BEGAN at sunset on Saturday evening, (Mt. 28:1.) Sadly, Catholic Bible translators misinterpreted the original Greek text and manipulated some verses to fit into their misunderstanding of these Sabbaths, (plural.) But then, one can expect such denominational manipulations of two thousand year old New Testament Scripture, while God’s truth in Scriptural context, and especially in Gospel-context, will forever remain completely unaltered, as He had promised that ‘heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will never pass away.’
“YOU CORRUPTED THE BIBLE; YOU HAVE NO GROUND TO STAND ON”: Greeson (in The Camel Method) and his disciples believe that, by preaching the Gospel outright, we will offend pagans and ‘loose’ them for all eternity. Instead of preaching the Gospel straight-forwardly, Greeson teaches that we should respect the sincerity of Muslims, [the Muslim faith,] because Mohammed respected the Christian faith. Mohammed supposedly wrote the Qur’an with good intentions, and leaned heavily on Bible-Scripture in writing the Qur’an, therefore some Islamic scripture can be used to prove to Muslims that they must obey the Bible. When you read the Qur’an yourself, however, an entirely different picture emerges. Surah 5:65-75 actually proclaim, “If only the People of the [Bible] Book had believed [in the Muslim message] and been righteous [through following the Islamic path,] WE, [not the God of the Bible,] should have blotted out their iniquities and admitted them into the Garden… [which is the Islamic Paradise, not heaven.] V. 66: “If only they had stood fast by the Law, [the Jewish Torah, or Pentateuch, the 5 books of Moses,] the Gospel, [the historical Books which describe the life of Jesus; not the epistles…] and all the revelation that was sent to them from their Lord… but many of them follow a course that is evil, [the teachings of the Bible, and more specifically, the Gospel of Jesus Christ!] V. 67: “O [Muslim] Messenger! Proclaim the Message which has been sent to you from your Lord… And Allah will defend you from men who mean mischief. For Allah guides not those who reject [Muslim] Faith. |
