A Special Appeal to Muslim Readers

Some of what you will find in this book may well upset you. If I were Muslim, yes, I would be offended at some points in this book, and especially with the first essay, “Who is Muhammad’s Gabriel?”

My appeal to you is to have the courage to read the difficult passages. Finding truth and reality is far more important than protecting ourselves from sharp challenges.

Faith must be anchored in ultimate truth and not in traditions. Christians face this on a constant bases and indeed it makes us stronger. So then dear Muslim reader, my hope and prayer is that you will have the strength and courage to look at material that will in fact contradict what you believe.

Essays on Islam

Original Introduction to Islamic Studies: Equipping the Christian Witness to Muslims

Any, all, or parts of the following essays may be used by anyone for whatever purpose, freely, without any consideration or money changing hands. If desired, references may be made without mentioning the articles or author.

The reader will notice differences in my orientation or feelings toward Islam in the essays. The tenth essay was written in late 2016, while the seventh is from 2002. I did not include the earliest essay, because when I wrote it I was quite angry toward Muslims and Islam in general. The more I learned about Islam and especially the more I engaged with Muslim people directly, my views softened, in that I realized Muslims were caught in the vice grip of an exceedingly unhealthy religious system.

The Islam of the extremists is purer, more traditional, and more radical than that practiced and understood by moderates. Only a small percentage of Muslims know much about their religion; the zealous Muslim knows much more about Islam and understands that if he or she has a chance of going to paradise rather than hellfire, it is necessary to be a very fervent follower of Islam.

Most Muslims want to live and let live. But their entire identity, their worldview, is Muslim. They cannot imagine being anything but Muslim. Outreach to Muslims is then dependent on the miracle working of God; the new birth is from above.

To be clear, I see Islam as wrongly oriented and founded. I no more accept Islam as a revelation from God than I do Hinduism, Buddhism, Shamanism, and the belief systems of many neo-pagan groups.

All organized religions are flawed, including Christianity. I am a Baptist pastor who understands that Baptists are flawed as well. Any and every institution with humans involved will be corrupt to some measure, some more than others. I definitely believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and that God sent His only Son to take our sin upon Himself—to die, be buried, and be resurrected. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. There is salvation in no one but Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

A challenge to the reader: Which essay would be appropriate to give to a Muslim and which would not? All the essays are written for Christians who have an interest in understanding Islam. Some are “softer” than others and may be used as a Gospel tract, so to speak, and given to Muslim people. Some are “harder” and would likely repel a Muslim reader. As Christians, we do not “pull punches.” At the same time, we hope to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Our goal is to present the message of Jesus Christ to all people of the world including Muslims.

A note to readers who are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point. There is so much to learn about Islam and all that goes with it. There is indeed a steep learning curve, and the journey up the initial curve is painful and frustrating. I not only have been there, but in many ways, I am yet struggling up the incline. It is little by little for sure. And I must confess that when I speak with Muslims, I find I really don’t have to know all that much about Islam; this is necessary only when dealing with the imams and scholars. A good grasp of the essentials of Biblical Christianity is what counts the most. We simply present the message of the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is it, the basic evangel. And you will be surprised how many Muslims are eager to hear it.

Preface

Introduction

One. The Sabbath

Two. Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Three. The Feast of Firstfruits

Four. Pentecost or The Feast of Weeks

Five. The Feast of Trumpets

Six. The Day of Atonement

Seven. The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles

Eight.  The Sabbath Rest of the People of God

Nine. Concluding questions: coincidence, evangelism, conspiracy, or something

else?

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Preface

Introduction

One. The Sabbath

Two. Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Three. The Feast of Firstfruits

Four. Pentecost or The Feast of Weeks

Five. The Feast of Trumpets

Six. The Day of Atonement

Seven. The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles

Eight.  The Sabbath Rest of the People of God

Nine. Concluding questions: coincidence, evangelism, conspiracy, or something

else?

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Preface

Introduction

One. The Sabbath

Two. Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Three. The Feast of Firstfruits

Four. Pentecost or The Feast of Weeks

Five. The Feast of Trumpets

Six. The Day of Atonement

Seven. The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles

Eight.  The Sabbath Rest of the People of God

Nine. Concluding questions: coincidence, evangelism, conspiracy, or something

else?

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Two of the seminary students of the newspaper classified ad,

“Seminary Student and Crew” were Paul Bryant and Oliver

Heath, in their first year at Golden Gate Seminary. Both had

established ties with Southern Baptists and were, in fact, raised in

SBC churches. Perhaps because of that, they wanted something new

and different, and they found it with our Christian House Ministries.

Paul and Ollie joined with us in 1968. The requirement was singular:

a desire and willingness to follow Jesus. Ollie went on to start

a Christian house in Mill Valley, and Paul established Berachah House

in San Anselmo, a town in Marin next door to San Rafael.

Berachah means “blessed” in Hebrew, therefore a house of blessing,

and it definitely was. Gloria Ladd owned both houses, the Greenfield

house called Zion’s Inn and the house on Knoll Road in San

Anselmo we called Berachah House.1

Every bedroom in the house was claimed days before we took

possession of it, with two occupants in each of four small bedrooms.

No one paid rent, no one turned over their money to Paul, and there

were no demands, but now eight young men needed to go to work.

Thus was born a house painting business. At one point we had three

crews going, and I spent my time giving estimates based on $5 per

hour per painter and making sure the crews were properly equipped.

We could paint most houses in one week, and we did good work. With

three painters per job, a customer got a house painted for around

$600 plus materials, which was a good deal then.

1 Gloria, sadly, ended up with a wild Pentecostal cult, and due to strange

prophesies, murdered both of her teenage sons and wound up spending the rest of

her life in a psychiatric prison. It was a horrible event that shook the tiny Christian

community, and it still impacts it to some degree.

Chapter 13

Berachah House

Berachah House 43

A young man who came to the Tuesday night Bible study on Greenfield

in 1968 was Mark Buckley, who later married a young woman in

the ministry and also started a construction crew. Mark contributed

greatly to our Christian House Ministry and became a house leader

and a pastor—really an amazing man. I still have the hammer Mark

gave to me back then (some forty-five years ago now), when I worked

with his crew putting shingles on the sides of a house he was working

on in San Anselmo.

Mark married Kris Kenner, and together they operated Solid

Rock, our Christian House in Novato. Mark later became the founding

pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Novato and oversaw

the Christian bookstore there, one of several we opened. Mark and

I, along with Kenny Sanders, whom I will discuss soon, became very

close and essentially guided the JPM in Marin. Mark later moved to

Phoenix, Arizona, and founded what soon became a large church.

A tall, thin, longhaired hippie named Greg Beumer lived in Berachah

House, as did Malcolm

Dawes; they both played guitar

and became key members

in our band, Joyful Noise.

Most of the practices for the

band in its early days were at

Berachah House. Greg wrote

his first song with a Christian

theme entitled, “You’ll Never

Get to Heaven on LSD,” and it

became the most popular of

all the songs Joyful Noise ever

performed. Everyone liked to

think up new verses with substances

or behaviors well-suited to the hippie life but ill-suited to a

Christian one.

At the house, Paul taught a Bible study for kids who attended

Drake High. I recall an incident that occurred at the house, which

reflects some of the trials and tribulations of running such a place.

It must have been Easter, 1970, and one of the occupants of the

house had arranged for the people who showed up at the regular

Tuesday night Bible study to gather Easter Sunday morning wearing

44 Chapter 13

nothing other than sheets. He made it clear: even under garments

were not acceptable. No, everyone was going to greet resurrection

Sunday with nothing on besides a sheet.

The mother of one of the girls who attended the study at Berachah

House called me. Her daughter had told her mother what was

afoot. Not too pleased, I rushed over to the house, learned that Paul

was away in San Diego with his family, gathered the occupants, and

let them have it. The instigator would not back down but tried to justify

himself with weird, icky-gooey, spiritual talk. Seeing that he was

about to prevail, I was forced to utter a phrase that served me well

during those years: “You have two choices—101 South or 101 North.”

Highway 101 cuts through the county north and south and was the

main way in and out. His choice was south, meaning San Francisco, so

I dropped him off at a freeway onramp.

Berachah House survived for a couple of years but folded when

Paul married. It was one of the first of its kind, and perhaps thirty or

more young men lived there. One of these was Kenny Sanders. When

I first met him, I could not see his face for the longish, tangled hair

that obscured it. Kenny, whose father had been one of Martin Luther

King’s attorneys, was one of the first black hippies to show up, and he

became a major part of our ministry in Marin County and later on in

Petaluma in Sonoma County.

Kenny later led a painting crew, was a fabulous painter, a part of

Joyful Noise, the founding pastor of Church of the Open Door in Petaluma,

and along with Mark Buckley and me, a director of the entire

ministry. He married Mary Jensen, who was a student at San Rafael

High School and led the small Christian group there; Mary was a tireless

evangelist whose witness led to the conversion of Bob Burns,

who became one of the pastors in the Church of the Open Door family.

Kenny and Mary later had three children, and Kenny became a medical

doctor with Kaiser Permanente. Now retired, Kenny is attending

seminary2 and doing mission work along with Mary.3

2 Most of the leaders in our Bay Area ministry never attended seminary or

Bible college. They were self-taught people who took advantage of the continuing

stream of discipleship programs we involved ourselves in.

3 Mary Sanders became an artist, and her consistent testimony and witness

saw many come to Christ as a result.

You may not even be from a background like mine. But I know that if you are not in relationship with Jesus, some part of you longs for peace, joy, hope, and purpose. There are millions of stories about people searching for these very treasures, but many are disillusioned after time. No matter what you try, what you strive for, or what you believe you want in this life, nothing will ever fill the void in your heart until you surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives life. He heals our wounds. He gives us freedom from fear and bondage to ourselves. New thoughts and ways of relating become ours as we learn to forgive and put others before ourselves. No life is too broken for Jesus to mend.                                                                 

       Reconciliation is possible with God and others, because He took our sin upon Himself on the Cross. His immense act of love literally frees us from the obligation of working to “pay” for our sins, as so many religions are hopelessly striving to do.                                                                

       I believe that when human beings come into an intimate relationship with the God of the Bible, they develop a true sense of morality. God is all love, but He is at the same time, absolutely just. The two work hand-in-hand beautifully.                                                                         

       Now, the essence of my whole life is to “Serve God by serving others”. My purpose is to share the gift I have received, and what has worked so extremely well for me. You can take it or leave it – it’s your free choice. But who wouldn’t want joy and life satisfaction? Who doesn’t crave a release from intense self-hatred and hopelessness? And just as importantly, please realize that the choice you make to accept or reject Jesus will decide your eternal destiny.                                                                                                  

       I have finally found what I have always been looking for, indeed, what I believe every soul searches for. Jesus wants nothing more than to have a relationship with you, no matter where you are or where you have been.                                                                                               

       I implore you to invite Jesus into your heart today. If you are at the end of your rope; if you are through trying to live life according to your rules; and if you want to experience real peace, joy, and love, now is the time to surrender your life to Christ. Please pray with me:

Jesus, I have been searching for peace and happiness my whole life. I have tried everything to fill the emptiness in my heart, but I haven’t found anything that really works. I now realize that it’s because I have never confessed my sin to You and received forgiveness for my selfish ways. I now admit that I have done a poor job of running my life. I ask you for forgiveness for everything I have done against You, myself, and others. I want to start a new life with You, one filled with contentment and purpose. I want to live for something greater than myself. I want to commit my life to you right now. Thank You! In Jesus Name, Amen.

       If you would like to learn more about how to begin your journey with Jesus, please visit our website at betransformedministries.com, or write Be Transformed Ministries at P.O. Box 597, Grover Beach, CA  93433. Sharon has written 2 other books (New Beginnings: Understanding the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith and Fishers of Men: Becoming a Dynamic Disciple of Jesus Christ). These books are now in 4 languages and are being used in 8 countries by churches, prisons and pastor training conferences. We would love to hear from you and send you free literature to help you grow in your faith. God bless you.

Galatians 1:6–10

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage above and the Bible passages listed under the title, “Scripture Reading.”

1.    Paul and Barnabas had brought the Gospel to southern part of Galatia, in modern day Turkey, in the mid to late forties, and churches sprang up.

2.    When the two evangelists left, some who had Hebrew backgrounds, attempted to have the new converts observe traditional Old Testament laws including circumcision, and obeying the Law of Moses.

3.    Paul expressions surprise that the new believers in Jesus where being tempted to do so, and thus making salvation something a person did instead of it being the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul says what the Judaizers were doing was presenting a different Gospel.

4.    This amounted to a distortion of the Gospel of Christ. Paul clearly sees how very dangerous such a concept is. And he warns the Galatians that even if he and Barnabas themselves, or even a supposed angel from heaven, where to present such a distortion of the truth that these should be ‘accursed.’

5.    Paul assures the Galatians that he is not seeking the approval of people but of God. For to align with the error that salvation was my means of doing the works of the Law of Moses, then he would not be a servant of Christ.