CLC Lutheran Mission History

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I Cor. 16:9 "a wide door for effective work has opened...and there are many adversaries."

REACHING MUSLIM WOMEN
Some practical ways on how to share Christ's love with them.

NEWS
In the EELCT our sister church in Togo, Pastor Kossi reports that with the CLC's help they have now been able to buy a generator to use to show the Jesus Film. The two congregations held a worship service of thanksgiving for this opportunity to share the Gospel. Pastor D. Koenig

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I Cor. 16:9 "a wide door for effective work has opened...and there are many adversaries."

NEWS - South Africa

Pastor Naumann, Larry Hansen and I were ready to meet with the United Lutheran Church of South Africa to discuss our teachings. I had sent to this church a lot of copies of our teachings so that the pastors as well as the leaders could read through and study. This was done several months ago. When we arrived in South Africa, we phoned them to see if they were still interested in a face to face meeting. They had indicated that the likely only difference with them was on the teachings of fellowship, that is that we only work with those we are in complete agreement with. They seemed hesitant to meet with us. We investigated them and found that they had not told us the truth on at least two points. Furthermore, we learned that they had accepted money from other Lutherans and not accounted for its use. Their reputation we determined was not reputable. Based on this information which was from a very reliable source, we made no further attempt to try for any sort of discussions. This is so important for all our brethren to remember. We are not only to say the right things according to God's Word, but to seek to live up to it. What a sad commentary on our Christianity if we are found to be lying and not honest with the use of money. The information we found out prior to any meeting saved us any embarrassment.

Let us pray for these people who bear the name 'Lutheran' in their church's name but are not trying hard to live up to what the Word teaches.

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TALKING POINTS IN WITNESSING TO MUSLIMS

The Koran, written six hundred years after Jesus, affirmed His virgin birth.

See Surah 19.19-21

Delicately, we must point up sin. For example in Surah 28.16 Moses asked for forgiveness after slaying the Egyptian. In Surah 26:82 Abraham asked for forgiveness on the Day of Judgment. The word used here, which Muslims translate as "fault" rather than "sin", is the same word that in other contexts they translate as "sin". In Surah 47 and 48, Mohammed himself was told to ask for forgiveness for sin, once again translated as "faults" rather than "sin". Again, the word that is used in Surah 47,19 is the same word that is translated as "sin" in Surah 12.29, where it is applied to Potiphar's wife in her attempted seduction of Joseph. Numerous linguists see this attempt to bypass what is really being said as nothing short of the development of a tradition so that Mohammed's life did not suffer in contrast to Jesus'.

The Koran describes heaven as "wine and women" in Surah 78.32ff. The modern Muslims say that is metaphorical.

The sword and warfare are an intrinsic part of the Islamic faith. Surah 9.5 reads, "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor due, then leave their way free."

Mohammed's only miracle was the Koran. The Koran can only be in one language, Arabic. And for those who know Arabic, even a large part of the Koran is incomprehensible. The Koran, it is said, is only inspired in the original language -- no other language can bear the miracle.

(The above is taken from Jesus Among Other Gods by R. Zacharias.)

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MISSIOLOGY SEMINAR - ISLAM Be Aware

"There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." Those thirteen words comprise the Muslim Shahada (confession of faith).

The Christian is taught to thank God for his blessings and to petition him for divine favor. Not so with the Muslim. His passive fatalism will not permit him to seek spiritual merit or to desire material provisions. Islam means "submission," and that definition is the sum of a Muslim's faith.

Inshallah - "if God wills" - is the byword of Arabic conversation.

The Bible is seen as a corrupt rule of faith inferior to Muhammad's message.

Muslims believe that every word of their holy book, the Koran, was literally dictated by God

They have Five Pillars of Faith.

Reciting the Shahada. Every day the Muslim must publicly affirm the monotheism of God and the prophetic status of Muhammad.
Daily prayer toward Mecca. Morning, noon, late afternoon, sunset, and before bedtime, all Muslims must say their prayers while kneeling with their foreheads touching the ground. Most Muslims go through the procedure in a mechanistic manner, but such constant repetition serves to reinforce the piety of their faith.
Almsgiving (zakat). Charity was originally a voluntary act to aid the poor and purify one's remaining material possessions. Today, the principle of donating one-fortieth of one's income has become an institutionalized tax in most Muslim countries, averaging 2.5 percent annually.
Fasting during the month of Ramadan. Between sunrise and sunset, no eating or drinking is permitted. This occasion is determined by lunar calendar and commemorates the month Gabriel supposedly delivered the koran to Mohammad.
The Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). Every Muslim must attempt to make this journey once in a lifetime as a deed of merit facilitating his salvation. Once there, he walks seven times around the kaaba (a cubical building housing a black stone). If the jostling crowd permits, he must also kiss the rock (probably a meteorite), which Muslims believe was carried to earth by Gabriel.

Other beliefs and practices associated with Islam are:

using a ninety-nine bead rosary to recount the unmentionable names of Allah

(the camel is the only creature said to know the 100th);

holding mass-type services for the dead;

forbidding statues and music in mosques;

insisting on circumcision;

veiling women's faces with the purdah and draping their bodies in the ankle-length chador;

permitting polygamy;

abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork, and gambling;

meeting for congregational worship at noon on Fridays;

building minarets (towers from which to broadcast the call to prayer),

abolishing a priesthood and having the Imam serve as spokesman for the faith;

believing that Christ did not die but was taken up to heaven;

teaching that Jesus will return in the last days to convert the entire world to Islam;

enforcing the "law of apostasy," whereby converts to other faiths (especially Christianity)

may be imprisoned or lose their jobs and possibly their lives.

The beliefs and practices of various Muslim sects are very diverse.

The code of ethics known as the Sharia ("the path to follow") enforces the morals and doctrines of the Koran.

For Muslims Christians must be opposed. In the eyes of a muslim, if Jesus were God, it would have been unjust for God to have punished his own nature.

Muslims have a sacred mission by force or persuasion to bring the entire world under Allah's dominion.

Salvation for the Muslim is a vague hope and based upon works. God is to be feared and obeyed.

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Pastor David Koenig