The Gospel According to Islam or the Emerging One World Faith?

The Gospel According to Islam

By John MacArthur

Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the already ecumenical climate in America has reached new heights. In an effort to distinguish between the extremist Muslim terrorists and the mainstream Muslim population, the media has called for an even higher level of tolerance and acceptance of the religion of Islam than usual.

In a 2002 issue of Newsweek, for instance, religion editor Kenneth Woodward asserts that ‘mere tolerance of other religions is not enough’ and that even the acceptance of other religions as valid paths to God is insufficient’ (‘How Should We Think About Islam?’ Newsweek, December 31, 2001 / January 7, 2002, p. 104). According to Woodward, ‘the most important theological agenda of the new millennium’ is for committed Christians, Jews, and Muslims to ‘find within their own traditions sound theological reasons for valuing other faiths without compromising their own’ (ibid., pp. 104-05).  [Emphasis added]

Sadly, the influence of this sentiment can be seen even in the church. In fact, in a relatively recent Christianity Today article, Wheaton College professor James Lewis recommends that Christians ‘seek Muslim prayer partners and together beseech the true, one and only God to have mercy on us’. (‘Does God Hear Muslims’ Prayers Christianity Today, February 4, 2002, p. 31).

When evangelicals capitulate and attempt to soften the offense of the gospel in this way, they blur the lines between the god of Islam and the God of the Bible. But now is not the time for blurring lines. Now is the time to draw lines—lines between truth and error, and between the one path to heaven and the many paths to hell.

Islam rejects the Trinity and the God of the Bible, insisting instead that Allah alone is the one true deity. It denies that Jesus is God, that He died on the cross, and that He was raised from the dead. Instead, say Muslims, Jesus was but one of thousands of prophets sent by Allah, the greatest of them being Mohammed. In other words, Jesus was merely a man…

Islam rejects the salvation of forgiveness through Christ, teaching that only Muslims can be saved. According to the Koran, if a person follows Islam and does enough good deeds to outweigh the bad, Allah may allow him to enter paradise, but even then he can’t be certain. The only sure pathway to heaven is killing and being killed in jihad, a holy war.

Islam gives lip service to the Bible as a holy book, but it undermines and denies every fundamental doctrine about sin and salvation taught in the Bible.  In fact, Islam today is the most powerful system on earth for the destruction of biblical truth and Christianity thousands of Christians are dying under Islamic persecution, especially in the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, and other parts of Asia.  [Emphasis added]

Clearly, Islam and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Both claim to be the only true way to God, but both cannot be right. There is no atonement in Islam, no forgiveness, no savior, and no assurance of eternal life. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope; Islam is a religion of hopelessness.

Making these kinds of distinctions may not be politically correct, but it is critical if the purity of the gospel is to be protected. Put simply, there is no salvation outside of Christ. When this truth is compromised, the gospel is abandoned and so is the only hope that we can offer to those who are not our enemies, but rather our mission field.

Source:     Grace to You -  http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A289

Article Code: A289

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In reference to the above paragraphs I made bold – this is similar to Emergent thinking.  Emergent dialogue rejects salvation through Jesus Christ, instead it is love that saves you and if you do not love then you can’t be saved.  Jesus is Love.  The problem with this idea is that - if you are not genuinely saved through Jesus Christ, born again of the Holy Spirit, then you can’t express true love.  Their love is a man made love, not Holy Spirit inspired love.

According to the Emergent movement, if you do enough good deeds proving your love it will outweigh the bad.  And everyone is accepted by God no matter how sinful they are; you don’t need to ask God for forgiveness you just need to try harder to be more like him – the more you love and do good deeds like Christ did the more you will attain Christ’s consciousness. In fact Christ needs to actually enter you, possess you.

This is what Pierre s’n had to say in his article: 

Reflect

“So let’s just do what Jesus did (you know WJJD), because well we like him a lot and would like to be more like him. That sounds perfect. Right? Only one snag, you are not Jesus. It’s like asking me to sit down at a piano and play like Beethoven. Not going to happen. But what if I could be possessed by Beethoven and he could play through me? That could work, right?

Len Sweet says something like, ‘don’t try and be like Jesus, just let Jesus be himself in you’. Now that sounds a way to go.”

Emergents also give lip service to the Bible and at the same time undermine and deny every fundamental doctrine about sin and salvation as taught in the Bible. 

No wonder the New One World Religion is spreading like wildfire, because every religion is compatible, the Bible’s teaching as per Emergent thinking is compatible with any teaching known to man. 

BUT there is just one catch though; you need to replace every single fundamental doctrine as taught in the Bible with a new list of fundamentals that have been created in the world, by the world, for the world.

This is what Pastor Chad Holtz has to say in his article  (Please note that Chad Holtz (Methodist Pastor) impersonated by name and tried to replicate my blog)

Why I am a FundaMergent

“The ‘right thinking’ became a sort of litmus test that determined whether you were of this ‘holy huddle’ (the true Christians) or not. The fundamentals that were deemed non-negotiable were:

1. The verbal inerrancy of Scripture
2. The divinity of Jesus Christ
3. The virgin birth
4. The substitutionary theory of the atonement
5. The physical resurrection and the bodily return of Christ”….

“Perhaps emergents can embrace a bit of fundamentalism – one that when lived into actually begets a new ethos, one that is radically different from the one described above. As such, I propose that emergents confess their own set of fundamentals. I offer this list:

1. Jesus Christ is Lord
2. Love God and neighbor
3. Love justice, seek mercy, walk humbly with our God.
4. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
5. Love wins.

One thing that should be readily obvious from this list as compared to the first list of fundamentals is there is an ethic attached to any mental assent. The question, ‘How then shall we live?’ is answered in each of these fundamentals, unlike, for example, the 3rd fundamental of the Fundamentalists, ‘The virgin birth’ which requires no transformation of the heart, mind, soul or body.

As a FundaMergent I believe passionately and radically these 5 fundamentals”

The virgin birth is actually a big problem for those in the New Age Emerging One World Religion.  Jesus Christ was born by the Holy Spirit, the power of God came upon Mary, a virgin.  Humans are born of a human father and mother; therefore man can NEVER be Jesus Christ.  Those who want to be Jesus Christ by trying to attain that god level CAN’T get away from this FACT.  This is why Jesus always is shown as a human prophet within other religions, not as the Son of God.  They have to remove the Divinity from Jesus Christ in order for mankind to reach His level.  And as per the New Age Emerging One World Religion this level is easily attainable.

So, in order to get around this problem of Mary being a virgin and Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit, they just delete the problem and replace it with something else. You can actually replace it with anything you want really because in this new world of ours there is no such thing as truth anymore, so you can lie and get away with it every time;  no questions asked!

It is written in the Word of God:

Luke 1:30-35

30  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.

31  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

32  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

33  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 

34  “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35  The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

John MacArthur said above: 

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope; Islam is a religion of hopelessness.”

The same thing can be said of the Emergent Church:  

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope; The One World Religion is a religion of hopelessness.”