Well timed in light of tonight's talk by Mrs. Ma. =)

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Copycat Christianity
Revisiting THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

April 30, 2008

Before there were marketing phenomena like the PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE and THE PRAYER OF JABEZ -- each selling millions of copies -- there was a little devotional book that went through 6,000 editions and spread all across the world. It was written by a monk in 1418 and centuries later played a significant role in the conversions of both John Wesley and John Newton -- and no doubt in the salvation of many thousands of others we will not know until we are in heaven.

The amazing thing is that THE IMITATION OF CHRIST by Thomas á Kempis, featured in the latest edition of Ken Boa’s “Great Books Audio” series, has as much for us to gain from it today as it ever has in history.

The book takes its title from its opening chapter, where the author tells us it is not enough simply to hear the Gospel. Instead, he says, “Whoever wishes to understand fully the words of Christ must try to pattern his whole life on that of Christ.” That idea of embodied faith runs throughout this classic devotional work. So á Kempis goes on to say, “Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it.”

Like the book of James, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST is a treasure trove of practical wisdom, commending a faith with deeds. As Ken Boa says, “It challenges almost all the assumptions of our culture.” Take for example, the unending American quest for youthfulness. To this, á Kempis would say, “It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life.” Or what about our American love of rugged individualism? Instead á Kempis warns, “It is a very great thing to obey, to live under a superior and not to be one’s own master, for it is much safer to be subject than it is to command.” In the true Christian life, we live in subjection to Christ.

How does our penchant for consumerism fair? Not much better; the author speaks plainly and to the point, telling us that the love of things does not make us more comfortable, but more uncomfortable, for it is “when a man desires a thing too much, [that] he at once becomes ill at ease.”

A careful and meditative reading of á Kempis’s work is like undergoing a thorough physical at the doctor’s office -- and perhaps just as needed for ongoing health. It is a good doctor who uncovers the deeper underlying health issues behind the more visible symptoms.

Likewise, á Kempis points out the underlying heart issues, how even spiritual acts can be done for a secular purpose. He also derides the Pharisees of his day as well as ours, men and women who are more concerned about crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s on their doctrine than on becoming more like Christ. “On the Day of Judgment,” á Kempis rightly reminds us, “surely, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken but how well we have lived.”

So while God may not ask you on Judgment Day if you read THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, He will examine how Christ-like a lifestyle you have lived. And that is why I recommend this great classic, and Dr. Ken Boa’s CD series, which makes this and other great Christian works so accessible to modern Christians.

People die for simple things like this first article and some will even get annoyed with the very very dead suicide terrorist bomber - Achmed.

Just realize that some of God's children are called into harms way (persecution) in order to be witnesses.

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Tough Questions for Islam
The Challenge of Fr. Botros

April 22, 2008

Zakaria Botros is a conservative television star with a huge audience. He is even more hated by his political enemies than Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton put together, if you can believe that. At least one newspaper has labeled Botros: "Public Enemy Number One."

So why haven't you heard about this guy? It is probably because you do not watch Arab television. On channel AL-HAYAT, or "Life TV," you will find Father Botros, a Coptic priest, discussing theology in a way that embarrasses -- and enrages -- Muslim leaders. His television talks are leading not only to mass conversions, but to the disempowering of radical Islam.

Recently in NATUIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, Raymond Ibrahim described the work of Father Botros. He is a bearded, bespectacled cleric who sports a large wooden cross, and his specialty is examining "little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition," Ibrahim writes. Because he speaks and reads classical Arabic, Botros can "report to the average Muslim on the discrepancies" and what Ibrahim calls "the affronts to moral common sense found" within Islamic teachings. Satellite TV and the Internet mean Butros can question Islam's teachings in Arabic --the language of 200 million Muslims -- without fear of reprisal.

Drawing on the Socratic method, Botros will ask such questions as: "Are women inferior to men in Islam?" "Did Mohammed [really] say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned?" And, "Does sharia really teach that women must breastfeed strange men?"

Botros cites chapter and verse, so to speak, of Islamic sources, and then politely invites Islamic scholars to respond. "More often than not," Ibrahim writes, "the response is deafening silence." Even worse, religious experts have at times been forced to agree with Botros -- "which has led to some amusing (and embarrassing) moments on live Arabic TV."

Naturally, this drives the sheiks crazy -- which is probably why there is a rumored $5 million price on his head.

Botros's ultimate goal is "to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia law to the spirituality of Christianity." In doing so, he is not only saving souls, but cutting at the very heart of radical Islam.

What Western critics fail to appreciate, Ibrahim says, is that the West will not disempower radical Islam by offering Muslims democracy, capitalism, secularism, materialism, feminism -- or any other "ism." Instead, we must offer them "something theocentric and spiritually satisfying."

This is why, at the end of each program, Botros reads from the Bible and invites his listeners to follow Christ. That he is successful in this endeavor is acknowledged by none other than AL-JAZEERA, which complains of Botros's "unprecedented evangelical raid" on the Muslim world.

Botros offers a great example of why we Christians must learn our own doctrines, along with those of other religions: so that we can lovingly reason with people and draw them into the kingdom of God.

Tune in tomorrow for more on how you can witness to Muslims -- even if you do not star in your own television show. And do not forget to pray for the safety of "Public Enemy Number One," who is doing a great work for the kingdom -- in the heart of radical Islam.



Drawn to the Light
Why Muslims Convert to Christianity

April 23, 2008

A few days ago, Fox News ran a grim special titled "Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror." It was a warning of the continuing danger of Islamo-fascism.

The program probably deepened many Americans' fear of and hostility toward Muslims. That is unfortunate, because most Muslims are not would-be jihadists. But we Christians especially need to guard our emotions so we can be a good witness to Muslims -- a caution raised by Dr. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies at Fuller.

Woodberry, aware that throughout the world Muslims have been turning to Christ, was curious about the reasons why -- especially in countries where the cost of converting is so high.

To find the answer, he created a detailed questionnaire. Over a 16-year period, some 750 Muslims from 30 countries filled it out -- and the results are eye-opening. The number one reason Muslim converts listed for their decision to follow Christ was the lifestyle of the Christians among them.

As Woodberry, Russell Shubin, and G. Marks write in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Muslim converts noted that "there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians" they knew. An Egyptian convert contrasted the love shown by Christians "with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina." Other converts were impressed that "Christians treat women as equals" and enjoy loving marriages. And poor Muslims observed that "the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle." They wore locally made clothes and abstained from pork and alcohol, so as not to offend Muslim neighbors.

Second, converts identified "the power of God in answered prayers and healing." For instance, in North Africa, a Muslim family asked Christian neighbors to pray for a sick daughter; and then the girl recovered. Some converts "noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus."

Converts also mentioned unhappiness with Islam itself, especially the Koran's emphasis on God's punishment and the uncertainty of salvation. By contrast, Woodberry notes, the biblical teaching that God loved us so much that "He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" is deeply attractive to Muslims.

Converts are also attracted to "the love expressed through the life and teachings of Christ." Ironically, Muslims first learn about Christ through the Koran, but then read the Gospels to find out more about Him.

Finally -- and this is the key -- "When Christ's love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims [identified] a desire to join such a fellowship."

Woodberry's research shows that when the Church is being the Church -- witnessing to the love of Christ and of His transforming power -- Muslims are drawn both to us and to Him.

When is the last time you welcomed a Muslim family to the neighborhood, or invited a Muslim co-worker for a cup of coffee?

Even though we are in the midst of a worldwide war against Islamo-fascism, we must never forget Christ's command to witness to our neighbors -- to all of our neighbors -- of His redeeming love.

Good thoughts to consider.

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As Others See Us
A Fresh Look at Elmer Gantry

February 20, 2008

Last month, Wilfred McClay wrote in the WALL STREET JOURNAL, "You probably did not notice it, but that old rogue Elmer Gantry turned 80 this year."

He is right; most of us did not notice it. And when McClay called our attention to it, the response of many was probably, "So what?"

After all, the fictional preacher, created by novelist Sinclair Lewis 80 years ago, is no one's idea of a role model. As McClay puts it, "A crude, profane, hard-drinking, and oversexed football player from Paris, Kansas, Gantry, using his histrionic gifts and his 'arousing baritone,' latched onto the ministry because of the power it gave him over others."

As that last part suggests, Christians especially have reason to regard Elmer Gantry with a jaundiced eye. The character's name has become an epithet often used by secularists against Christians, a kind of shorthand way of stereotyping us all. Nearly every time a Christian leader is involved in any sort of scandal, it seems the ghost of Elmer Gantry is raised yet again. No doubt Elmer's creator, a man who left religion behind after his school days, would have been pleased about this.

But the truth is that Wilfred McClay, co-director of the Evangelicals in Civic Life program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is himself a Christian. So we know he is not commemorating this character out of a dislike for religious people. Though he does not spell this out, I think he has good reason for reminding us about Elmer and his legacy.

You see, Elmer is the sort of figure that inspires the Church, or should inspire the Church, to take a long, hard look at ourselves. I am not just talking now in terms of financial scandals or high-profile cases of adultery or child abuse. I am talking about the subtler temptations, without which none of those bigger scandals would have taken place. For instance, the temptation to think more of ourselves when we are celebrated, or to use God to further our own agenda, or to preach one thing and do another, or to mistake our emotions for the voice of God, or to fall for a compelling but false message because it is expressed in Christian-sounding jargon.

These were the kinds of things that Sinclair Lewis saw and satirized on us 80 years ago, and even though he exaggerated, he was not making them up from scratch.

Sadly, if we think we left those sins back in the Elmer Gantry era, we need to think again. Just look at the number of Christians who buy into the prosperity gospel, spread by some bestselling Christian authors.

Remember when I talked about the new book UNCHRISTIAN: WHAT A NEW GENERATION REALLY THINKS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY . . . AND WHY IT MATTERS? As I said then, just because a lot of impressions that people have of us are exaggerated and unfair, that does not mean they do not have roots in our own behavior.

Think of the ELMER GANTRY novel as the UNCHRISTIAN of its day. We ought to learn something from the discomfort these books cause us. So come to our website for a link to McClay's article or call us at BreakPoint (877-322-5527) for a copy. Or go to the library and take a look at the book ELMER GANTRY. It is a cautionary tale, and if we do not want churches full of Elmer Gantrys and their gullible victims, we have to first be willing to see ourselves as others see us.

This could simply be incredible for the furtherance of the Gospel in Arab lands.. Amazing.

Muslim reformer's 'heresy': The Islamic state is a dead end

By Jane Lampman Wed Apr 2, 4:00 AM ET

Abdullahi Ahmed an-Naim has seen what can happen to an Islamic reformer: His mentor was executed in 1985 in Sudan; he himself had to flee the country. Still, the self-described "Muslim heretic" has no trouble traveling the Islamic world spreading his controversial message:

There is no such thing as an Islamic state.

A secular state and human rights are essential for all societies so that Muslims and others can practice their faith freely, he tells his co-religionists.

"My motivation is in fact about being an honest, true-to-myself Muslim, rather than someone complying with state dictates," says Mr. Naim, a professor of law at Emory University in Atlanta since 1999. "I need the state to be neutral about religious doctrine so that I can be the Muslim I choose to be."

So committed is this scholar to opening the door to free debate within his faith that he helped organize the first "Muslim Heretics Conference" in Atlanta over the weekend. Some 75 Muslims, engaged in various reform projects, gathered to discuss issues related to sharia (Islamic law), democracy, and women's rights – and how to cope with dissent and its consequences.

"We celebrate heresy simply to promote innovative thinking," he says. "Every orthodoxy was at one time a heresy."

Naim's personal project involves what he calls "negotiating the future of sharia." As Islamic societies struggle to define themselves in a globalized world and some talk of creating Islamic states to codify sharia, he says the state and religion must be kept separate. But religion should still have its place in political life, allowing Muslims to express principles of sharia as they see fit. He believes this is truly Islamic, and that articulating the reasons why will help ordinary Muslims not be taken in by political slogans.

"I know for a fact that Abdullahi has a following among young Muslims in places like Malaysia and Indonesia," says John Esposito, head of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "These people are often marginalized in their societies, but over time, these positions can become mainstream."

Naim's view is not just a theory picked up in the United States, but the result of painful personal experience. "As a Muslim from Sudan whose people have suffered tremendously from confusion over this issue, my mission is to clarify it so other Muslim societies don't go down the same road to come to the same dead end," he says in a phone interview. He has watched Sudan's institutions virtually collapse under fundamentalist Islamic rule and seen the disillusionment firsthand.

While a law student at the University of Khartoum in 1967, Naim heard a talk by a Sufi Muslim thinker, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. "That lecture turned my life around," he says, and he joined Taha's Islamic reform movement.

But when Sudanese strongman Jaafar al-Nimeiri was about to introduce sharia by decree in 1983, he jailed Taha, Naim, and others for 18 months. Taha was put on trial and executed.

The essence of the Sufi's message had been that certain verses in the Koran represented the universal, eternal message of Islam, while others were relevant to a particular historical context and no longer viable. "Specifically [he argued] for equality for women, freedom of religion, and equality for non-Muslims," Naim says. After fleeing the country, he translated Taha's work, "The Second Message of Islam," into English.

Naim later became director of Africa Watch, monitoring human rights on the continent, and in 1995 began teaching at Emory. He's written books on human rights and sponsored social-change projects promoting human rights in local communities in Yemen, Tanzania, and Southeast Asia.

A new book just released in English, "Islam and the Secular State," represents the culmination of his life's work, he says.

Islam teaches that every Muslim stands before God and is responsible for making his own moral choices in observing sharia. The Koran does not prescribe a form of government, but speaks only of the community of Muslims. The book argues that there has never been an Islamic state.

"You will not find any reference to an Islamic state or to state enforcement of sharia before the mid-20th century – it's a post-colonial discourse based on a European-style state," he explains.

While Iran, for instance, claims to be a republic, implying popular sovereignty, a council of clerics is supposed to ensure that it is Islamic. But that council is made up of fallible humans as political as everyone else, he argues. "How is it that 30 years after the revolution they cannot trust the Muslim citizens to make the choice as to who is likely to be faithful to Islamic values and to represent them?"

Further, Iran and Saudi Arabia both claim to be Islamic states, but to each other they are heresies, he adds. So what does Islamic mean? To call a state Islamic is to attempt to silence political or theological dissent, he says.

"Most Muslims have an intuitive feeling about this but can't articulate it, so when confronted by Islamists who say this is the will of God, they are defenseless," Naim says. "My hope is that with this book, we give people confidence to respond that "this is not Islam, it is your view of Islam."

For some time, Naim has been visiting countries across the Muslim world from Nigeria to Indonesia, testing his ideas in public gatherings, which may range from 25 to 800 people. Before he set out, early manuscripts of his book were translated into Indonesian, Bengali, French, Persian, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu and uploaded onto a website.

Only once has he felt physically threatened – after a talk in northern Nigeria – although people have tried to shout him down. "I try to persuade gently, to give examples from Muslim history that people understand, and that helps," he says.

One huge challenge is the negative connotation in the Muslim world of "secularism," often seen as being antireligion.

Yet Radwan Masmoudi, director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, believes Naim's goal of separating political and religious institutions is what a majority of Muslims want. Gallup's recent global poll showed "that 80 to 90 percent of Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia want democracy," he says, but similar majorities also want sharia to be a source, or the only source, of law in their countries.

"This is the struggle of our time, coming up with a modern interpretation of sharia that is true to Islamic principles but also to democratic values," he adds.