Chrislam – The Blending Together of Islam & Christianity written by Mike Oppenheimer is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 18 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of Chrislam – The Blending Together of Islam & Christianity, click here. There is also an Appendix titled “Rick Warren’s Muslim “Man of Peace.”
Chrislam – The Blending Together of Islam & Christianity
By Mike Oppenheimer
In 2010, Terry Jones, a pastor from Florida, wanted to burn the Qur’an, which gained him national and international notoriety. In direct response to Jones’ Qur’an burning, Larry Reimer, a minister of the United Church of Gainsville, Florida, decided to incorporate reading passages from the Qur’an as part of the worship services on September 12th, 2010. Of the situation, Reimer said:
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all part of the Abrahamic tree of faith. We all believe in the same God, and in many aspects we are all trying to accomplish the same goals.1
The quote above is but one example of how a movement (and a mindset) called Chrislam is becoming increasingly commonplace in the Protestant church. A multimedia, audio-visual example of how Chrislam is being introduced into traditional church settings (in this case, a video of an Islam recital in a Methodist church) is another example of this encroaching reality and can be found on YouTube.2
This fast growing trend, pursued in the name of finding “common ground” so we might, as a body, experience spiritual unity and effectuate a more peaceful coexistence, is a slippery slope spiraling ever downward, dictating that other religions are as valid as Christianity. When one considers the condition of the Christian church today, especially given how watered down the Gospel message has become and how other spiritual elements, not of God, are continually being interspersed with it, it really shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that this now is being embraced by a growing number.
What is Chrislam?
Chrislam is an ecumenical, interfaith movement that is said to be a “dialogue” with Islam. It is a syncretistic movement that openly speaks of spirituality without boundaries. Churches that embrace this movement soften and dilute John 14:6 while opening the door to allow the conversion of their people to Islam, in the context of not only professing to still be Christian but also allowed to place equal weight on the tenets of the Qur’an with the tenets of the Bible.
It was Robert Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, who began this process in America by housing the offices for “Christians and Muslims for Peace.” Schuller once told an Imam of the Muslim American Society that “if he came back in 100 years and found his descendants Muslims, it wouldn’t bother him.”3
Such a statement would never be uttered from the lips of a Bible-believing Christian who understands Scripture as it pertains to Jesus Christ, who said “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” But it would be acceptable by those who embrace and espouse the “new progressive Christianity” of our times.
The erroneous assumption here is that Christians and Muslims all worship the same God, in the context that they, along with the Jews, all originate from the seed of Abraham. Sadly, this is something we have steadily warned about for years, only to have it fall on deaf ears. When people take the name of Allah—the god of the Qur’an— and make it acceptable and interchangeable with the name of the God of the Bible, they forget that we are speaking of another “god” of a different nature, characteristics, and divinity. They even go so far as to suggest it is suitable for a Christian to pray in this name because it is the same “God,” or maintain that Muslim converts can continue to go into their Mosques and pray and worship as if nothing happened to them; this is conditioning that undermines the discernment of those who profess to be Christian to becoming all the more open to accepting the Qur’an as equal in inspiration to the Bible.
Can One Be Both Muslim and Christian?
Consider the story of Episcopalian priest Ann Holmes Redding, who, even after more than twenty years in the priesthood, has no problem stating, “I am both Muslim and Christian.”4
On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest. On Fridays, she ties on a black headscarf to pray with her Muslim group. She says both Islam and Christianity are compatible at the most basic of levels.5
Are they? Can one be a Christian and a Muslim at the same time? Can one serve two masters? According to the teachings of the Qur’an, Islam’s Jesus is not divine or God incarnate, is not the only-begotten Son of God or the Messiah, did not die on the Cross (especially not for our sins), and was not resurrected from the dead. Islam categorically denies the Gospel of Christianity—the foundational reason Jesus came to Earth. This is what Chrislam churches are willing to compromise when it comes to the truth in order to make peace!
The simple truth is, Christianity has no commonality with Islam that could ever justify putting our spiritual well-being in jeopardy in this manner. The Bible says, “[F]or what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). The Chrislam movement is apostasy in action, and we can expect much more of this type of compromise.
A Common Word?
In 2007, 138 Muslim scholars and clerics sent an open letter titled, “A Common Word Between Us and You” to Christian leaders. Many of America’s top Christian leaders and known scholars responded with a signed letter to show their support in finding common ground between the two religions and yet failed to read the fine print, remaining ignorant to the fact the open letter contained a rebuke and an Islamic warning.
After this Muslim document was released, numerous Christian leaders drafted a statement called “A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You.” The response, which can be read online, states:
Before we “shake your hand” in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One [a name for the Muslim god] and of the Muslim community around the world. . . . That so much common ground exists—common ground in some of the fundamentals of faith—gives hope that undeniable differences and even the very real external pressures that bear down upon us can not overshadow the common ground upon which we stand together.6
Some of the Christian leaders who signed the response are Rick Warren, Leith Anderson (NEA president), Richard Cizik, Bill Hybels, Tony Jones (Emergent Village), Brian McLaren, Richard Mouw (Fuller), Robert Schuller, and Jim Wallis. In addition, pastors and professors representing many evangelical denominations and seminaries signed.
Suffice it to say, we now have Chrislam, which blends the minimalist parts of Christianity with Islam, with the intention of putting them on an equal playing field. In some churches, the Qur’an is placed in the pews right next to the Bible under the guise and garb of “loving your neighbor,” which was part of the open letter that the unsuspecting, undiscerning Christian leaders signed to have peace at any price.
This is part of a Jihad: to expose those who normally would not be interested in the Islamic religion by using peace and love quotes as the catalyst and a way to disarm before drawing a potential convert in. Muslims certainly know how to take advantage of this new openness to convert the kafirs to Islam. Islam condemns the belief in the divinity of Jesus as “shirk.” We must understand, to an authentic Christian—born of the Spirit of God—there can be no debate in this matter.
But to others who are marginal Christians or Christian in name only, those who give little credence to Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), they have no misgivings about forging a peaceful coexistence with those who demean the very religion they profess.
The False Premise of Chrislam
I find a statement made on the Human Rights First website to be most revealing:
The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., along with fifty other churches in twenty-six states, have [already] committed themselves to participating in this effort [to hold Qur’an readings]. . . . Faith Shared is a project of Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First. . . .
Christian clergy at churches across the country [hosted] readings from the Qur’an and other sacred religious texts as they welcome[d] their Muslim and Jewish colleagues.7
On the Faith Shared website (the sponsors of the above event), we are told their purpose was to:
. . . counter the Anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes that have erupted throughout the country in the past year and led to misconceptions, distrust and in some cases violence.8
But think about this for a moment. The premise is very slanted. Bigotry is part and parcel of Islam, as they have no allowance for other religions, even those they call “people of the book.” Tensions and violence have come from Islam itself, from all over the world. This reaches a level of absurdity and inanity that is beyond human comprehension when you factor in the Jews of whom Islam continues to make open war against, while their religious leaders openly and solemnly vow to eliminate and blow the Jews off the face of the map—not to mention how they label America the “Christian Satan” and wish upon us the same fate. Are people deaf and blind to what is taking place? Leave it to those who stand for nothing and fall for anything to ignore the obvious. Liberal thinking and the practice of being politically correct rules over all logic, reason, wisdom, and common sense.
If we should ask: “What would Jesus do?, we know He NEVER once read or quoted from another religion of His day to promote His teaching or make it more palatable for the people. He instructed and rebuked when necessary Jews who spoke falsely—a dynamic which He certainly would have put to action in this case with all those who profess to be His true followers, claim to come in His name, and presume themselves to be a part of His church.
Tad Stahnke, director of policy and programs for Human Rights First, states:
We want to send a message to the world . . . that Americans do respect religious differences and reject religious bigotry and the demonization of Islam or any other religion.9
If I may make sense of his false statement by allowing reality to intrude . . . America has always allowed all manner of religions to freely worship as they so choose in our country, including Islam. It is the Islamic countries, however, that strictly prohibit other religions to freely worship and do so under penalty of imprisonment and even DEATH! They allow for no religious integration within the borders of their lands or with regard to their culture, show ZERO tolerance, and they certainly do not allow for any kind of integration whatsoever with their religion. That is anathema to them!
We therefore have a dilemma—that dilemma being, Islam is the one that is intolerant; Islam is the one that has sown seeds of bigotry. Islamic figures adamantly assert that it is we in America (and the Western world) who are the bigots and haters because we judge them based on their own words, from their own “Holy” book and their nihilistic actions.
Are we called of God to intentionally turn a blind eye to hundreds of implicating, lawless statements, which promote the shedding of innocent blood and have no value for the sanctity of human life like those found in the Qur’an to prove we are not bigots?! God makes it very clear that those who live by the sword, die by the sword. And yet the Muslim god, Allah, IS the “god of the sword!” In fact, this is what Allah, in essence, means: God of the Sword!
From the Qur’an—Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle says:
I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,’ and whoever says, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,’ his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah, (either to punish him or to forgive him).10
It’s not even remotely, nor has it ever been, a matter of whether or not we respect Muslims, but more of a question of do Muslims respect us, or others for that matter? Do we see Islam granting equal rights to those who practice other religions in their own land? Of course not. In fact, in most Islamic countries other religions are OUTLAWED. Once a culture (whether it be their own or a culture they make subject to them) is forced to abide by Sharia Law, it becomes difficult for them to allow for anything that is contrary, especially given it could result in certain death. Let’s not overlook the obvious, hidden in plain sight (a little thing called the nightly news). Of all the compromises being made in these last days, this has got to be one of the most asinine, ludicrous, short-sighted, and flagrantly ignorant vehicles for concealing the truth.
We have freedom to worship any way we want to in America. Try to have the same freedom or promote an interfaith agenda in one of the countries in which Islam is the state religion. That is, if you live to tell and make it back in one piece.
The fact is, the only religion now being used for violence is Islam. We must begin to think more critically with regard to such things, stop being like blind dumb sheep and wake up! We must start thinking for ourselves versus glibly swallowing any camel the media would have us swallow. Why are the majority of terrorists throughout the world Muslim? Have you ever thought to ask yourself this? It’s because of the Qur’an, which Muslims pattern their way of life after and not, contrary to popular belief, their ethnicity. Simply put, it is their religion that radically affects their worldview, the adherents themselves, and their respective culture.
The Outcome of Chrislam
The idea of appeasement may exhibit a certain level of tolerance to Islam, but it exhibits disloyalty to Christ on such a deep level that it can’t be qualified. Those Christians who are practicing Chrislam, compromising their faith to such an irreparable degree, are not going to be able to stand against the tide of persecution that I believe will soon be coming upon the church. You can’t uphold what you don’t know. These betrayers of the faith will very likely convert to Islam in toto as they are halfway there already. They are Christian in name only because they will not stand up for Christ or His Gospel. This proves who the true head of their “Christian”-Islamic church is. For the Lord Himself is not consulted, and they have abandoned the head of the body for political correctness and the way of the world and of man, which leads to death.
The Chrislam agenda supposedly includes reaching out to the Jews. Adherents want to read from each other’s “sacred texts.” Do we expect the Hebrew or Christian Scripture to be read or spoken of well in the Mosques? Is it too much to ask to see them do the same for Israel that they do for Islam and stand up for the Jewish peoples’ right to exist and practice their religion not only in their homeland but in Muslim lands? Not only is it too much to ask, it’s unthinkable in the minds of those who adhere to the tenets of Islam as put forth in the Qur’an.
In an article titled “Pulpit Pals: Christians, Jews, Muslims Plan Shared Worship,” the following was stated:
Religious and human rights activists are asking U.S. churches to invite Jewish and Muslim clergy to their sanctuaries to read from sacred texts next month in an initiative designed to counter anti-Muslim bigotry.
The June 26th initiative, called Faith Shared: Uniting in Prayer and Understanding, is co-sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First. Leaders of the two Washington-based groups said the event hopes to demonstrate respect for Islam in the wake of Qur’an burnings in recent months.11
The Berean Call posted excerpts from that article along with an interesting comment about the article by an atheist. “Even atheists, on occasion, have recognized that the real threat to themselves is not biblical Christianity, but Islam,”12 TBC stated preluding the atheists comments who said:
In the past I have stated I am not religious, but my goal is to help educate and unite Atheists and members of non-Islamic religions against a common enemy. That enemy is Islam. The good news is that our voice against Islam is clearly getting louder, the bad news is that far too many Americans who identify themselves as “Christians” are taking the easy way out and bowing down to Islam, in an effort to avoid a conflict that has been raging out of control for 1,400 years.13
Stop now and take a close look at this most disturbing excerpt from the TBC webpage. It is from the Muslim Hadith Book.
It has been narrated by ‘Umar b. al-Khattib’ that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.14
“A conflict which, most regrettably, Christians (and Jews) are clearly losing!,”15 TBC exclaimed.
There are some who are hopelessly missing the mark trying to bend over backwards to respect a religion that considers itself superior to all other religions and challenges the Bible’s authority on nearly everything it says, and exchanges the truth of God’s inerrant Word for a lie.
Agenzia Fides Continental News (the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies) reports an increase in rape and forced marriage with the express purpose to make Islamic converts of Christian and Hindu girls in Pakistan, a Muslim nation. This has been taking place on an even larger scale in Africa. This is what Islam allows and condones under Sharia Law? We see no repercussions for this from Islam. Is this what they want us to respect? I’m afraid so.
Muslim-Christian Coexistence Starts in Africa
In Africa, Islam and Christianity are becoming progressively more assimilated.
Nigeria, like many other African countries, has been experiencing increased violence between Muslims and Christians. What they consider to be the solution came religiously and not politically.
The most popular Chrislam movement in Lagos, Nigeria at present is called Oke Tude: Mountain of Loosing Bondage. The older Chrislam movement is called Ifeoluwa: The Will of God Mission.
Oke Tude was founded in 1999 by a Muslim man who called himself Prophet Dr. Shamsuddin Saka who was born to a Muslim family. He believed in Allah and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca four times. During Saka’s second hajj in 1990, he received a “divine call” by Allah, telling him that he had to unite Christians and Muslims together by enlightening them to the “fact” they are serving the very same “God” but in different ways:
The vision to bring mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians was revealed to me by Almighty God, when I rested near the Ka‘aba. In a dream God showed me pictures of religious intolerance in Nigeria, and He assigned me to bridge the misunderstanding between the two religions, to stop the killings. Initially, I didn’t understand the dream. On New Year’s Eve, I called several Muslim scholars to my house. They prayed and afterwards fell asleep. It turned out that they all had the same dream: in their dream they saw me bringing together Christians and Muslims. This is how it started.16
As far back as January of 2006, Christian Science Monitor did an article on the Chrislam movement stating:
Pastor Saka explains that his father was an herbalist and that both Muslims and Christians would come to him for healing. Although he grew up Muslim, and has been to Mecca on pilgrimage several times, he couldn’t comprehend Nigeria’s sectarian strife. He now considers himself a Christian, ‘but that doesn’t mean Islam is bad.’ Quite the opposite. Next to his mosque is a televangelist’s dream—an auditorium with 1,500 seats, banks of speakers, a live band, and klieg lights. On Sundays, the choir switches easily between Muslim and Christian songs, and Pastor Saka preaches from both the Bible and the Koran. His sermons are often broadcast on local TV.17
But let us stop a moment and think about what is being said here. His assertion is that “God” (Allah) told him he is the same God of both religions and to stop the killing (something which originated from the Muslims initially). This new revelation from a Muslim started this new synthetic blend that has become the “answer” for Africa’s conflicts.18
This concept has been termed, “Muslim-Christian coexistence.” However, to accept the premise and practice of the coexistence movement you must depart from faith in Jesus Christ and all that is said of Him in the Word of God. These religions are disparate and were never meant to be united but were intended to forever remain wholly separate and distinct from one another. Clearly, we have prior examples for us today:
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them” (Jeremiah 11:10).
Islam believes Christianity has another God but will feign being of a kindred source when it is advantageous to them.
The Name of God
If Christianity and Islam share the same God and the same teachings, then the names of God from each religion would be interchangeable. One issue that continues to come up is the name Allah as an appropriate generic name for God. Some believe this name is acceptable to use inside the church.
After the Israelites were slaves among the pagans in Egypt for over 400 years, the Lord who promised and prophesied Israel’s bondage and release to their own land, did just that through Moses (Gen.15:13-18).
While in Egypt, the Israelites lived among those who had made gods of nature; even their own leader, Pharaoh, was a manifested god of nature. It was easy for God to get Israel out of the land of numerous gods, but it was not so easy to have them believe in the one God who delivered them through Moses.
In their journey to the Promised land, the Lord (YHWH) called Moses up to the mountain and gave him ten commandments on stone tablets for Israel. Exodus 20:2-5: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” They are told not to make a likeness of God, and told, “thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”
Here we find God is jealous. Jealous of what you may ask? He does not want us to mistake other gods for Him, or worship Him the way others do their gods. One of the main ways to identify these other gods would be by their name. Exodus. 23:13: “[M]ake no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.”
God’s jealousy is not like a human jealousy. It is about truth; it is about our relationship to Him and the consequences of willfully disobeying in worship and service.
None of the gods of Egypt were like the God of Israel. This is why the true God said, “[A]gainst all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord” (Exodus 12:12; see also Jeremiah 46:25). The Hebrews did not adopt the Egyptians’ names of Amon or Ra. They knew who the true God was and did not use other name(s) in worship.
So to answer the fundamental question: do Christianity and Islam share a belief in the same God, or share the same moral code based in the Ten Commandments? The answer is NO. Their god is not our God. Their god is not the God of Israel. To call God Allah would be a travesty for the genuine body of Christ, which is bought by the blood of the Son of God. Allah does not acknowledge Israel, the Jews, Christianity, or the Bible as legitimate or from God. Consider Joshua 23:7:
. . . that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them.
In other words, other gods of the nations are not to be included in our worship or service.
Islam says the Qur’an is Mohammed’s sign of his prophethood. Our principle example is in Deuteronomy 13:2-5 where Israel had a prophet or a dreamer that gives a sign or a wonder, and speaks:
Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. . . . he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God.
Herein lies the reason we cannot call the living Creator, who is our God, Allah—it removes one from the true God. This introduction of the name Allah as a generic name for God is being used to bring the exclusive Islamic name of God into the church and have Christians believe we all worship the same God. It is a byproduct of Chrislam, which is an intentional blending of the religions.
This syncretism has been going on for a long time, but now it is getting traction inside the walls of the church. It is being brought in by men that may even call themselves evangelical but in theology and function are not.
These concepts are presented as lofty goals under the heading of “moving forward” to forge unity. Yet we need to have a better name for Chrislam—maybe Chrislamity (Chrislam and Calamity)—as it is part of the Islamization of Christianity, and it will only hurt, not help, the preaching of the Gospel to the lost.
To order copies of Chrislam – The Blending Together of Islam & Christianity, click here.
Endnotes:
1. “UCC Pastor to read Quran in Response to Dove Quran Burnings” (The Creative Seminole, http://web.archive.org/web/20101028184745/http://creativeseminole.com/2010/08/19/if-they-can-burn-it-we-can-read-it-a-ucc-ministers-response-to-burning-the-quran/).
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSAinBMb_g.
3. Dave Hunt, “What’s Happening to the Faith? (The Berean Call, April 1998).
4. Janet I. Tu, “I am both Muslim and Christian” (Seattle Times, June 17, 2007, http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html).
5. Ibid.
6. Yale Center for Faith and Culture: http://www.yale.edu/faith/acw/acw.htm.
7. Faith Shared press release, June 26, 2011, http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2011/05/17/faith-shared-june-26-2011.
8. Ibid.
9. http://www.faithshared.org/aboutus.html.
10. Bukhari, Hadith, Vol. 4, Book 52, p. 196.
11. Adelle Banks, “Pulpit pals: Christians, Jews, Muslims plan shared worship” (Religion News Service, May 17 2011, http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/51832311-80/initiative-religious-christians-human.html.csp).
12. Taken from https://www.thebereancall.org/node/9230.
13. Ibid., taken from “More Than 50 U.S. Churches Agree to Hold Koran Readings!!,” http://loganswarning.com/2011/05/17/more-than-50-u-s-churches-agree-to-hold-koran-readings/#sthash.WLBEAHTp.dpuf.
14. Ibid., quoting the Muslim Hadith Book 019, Number 4366.
15. Ibid.
16. Dr. Marloes Janson, “Chrislam: Forging Ties in a Multi-Religious Society.”
17. Abraham McLaughlin, “In Africa, Islam and Christianity are growing—and blending” (Christian Monitor, January 26, 2006, http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0126/p01s04-woaf.html).
18. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/february-13-2009/chrislam/2236.
To order copies of Chrislam – The Blending Together of Islam & Christianity, click here.
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