Interfaith Alliance Followup

The Faith Shared Project and Interfaith Tolerance in Churches

An organization called the Interfaith Alliance promoted this thing called the Faith Shared Project. And I found out about it a couple of days ago. And what it is, is a movement they're trying to get going to support tolerance and understanding and things like that in Christian churches.

And so they advocated having, for example, the Koran read in Christian pulpits across America. And there were about, oh, less than 75 churches that signed up to do this. But there were churches doing this, and there were some in my area who were doing this.

So, anyway, on their website, Faith Shared, some of the churches that were listed as participating in this were the United Methodist churches. There were some, of course, liberal churches, a few that were Catholic even, several that were United Churches of Christ, along with Episcopalian.

Some Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist churches. There was even a Baptist church and another one called the Church of Our Savior. So what they were doing was having people like Muslim Imams come in to Christian pulpits on a Sunday and read the Koran.

Why Reading the Quran in a Christian Pulpit Is a Problem

Now, I went to a church here in Boise and did this. There were two that were doing this here in Boise, and I went to one. They didn't have enough people to do two churches, so I went to one. And found out that they actually had an Imam, which is equivalent to a Christian preacher in Islam, an Imam, a preacher of Islam, in the Christian pulpit reading the Koran.

Now, this is a problem. This is a problem. You see, what they're doing, what these Christian churches are doing, is trampling God's Word underfoot, so they can follow the liberal call of political correctness and social tolerance.

They're not listening to the Word of God. So this is what the Faith Shared website had to say. It said that the event was a way to engage faith leaders on the national and community levels in interfaith events intended to highlight respect among people of different faiths.

It also said this, This project will not only serve as a model for tolerance and cooperation and promote local faith leaders as champions of such, but it will also create a concrete opportunity to build and strengthen working ties between faith communities moving forward.

And finally, it says, Well, as noble as the Faith Shared's intention is, it's incredibly naive and spiritually dangerous. You see, the Christian church is not there for the purpose of having anti-Christ literature read and promoted from the Christian pulpit.

The Bible says this,. Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

Just as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst, and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean.

2 Corinthians 6, verses 14 -17. Now, the Christian church is there for the edification of the body, for the promoting of the gospel message. It's not there to have anti-Christ literature promoted from a Christian pulpit.

Islam Denies the Core Doctrines of the Christian Faith

Now, the Koran, or I should say Islam as a whole, denies, absolutely denies the Trinity. It denies the deity of Christ. It denies His atoning sacrifice. It denies His physical resurrection. It denies justification by grace through faith.

Islam actually, openly, purposefully denies and promotes an open denial of the basics of the Christian faith. So, what are these people thinking when they invite an imam to come up to the pulpit and read the Koran to those who are supposed to be Christians?

Look, the church is for this purpose, for the edification of the body. This is what it says in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. And He gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the service to the building up of the body of Christ.

You don't build up the body of Christ by having false doctrines promoted in the Christian pulpit. Now, what the pastor, what the minister is supposed to do is answer to a very high calling of God. In fact, God warns people about doing the very thing that the faith shared project promotes.

Consider what God says in Revelation 2, verses 18 -20. And to the angel of the church of Thyatira write, The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this, I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bondservants astray, so that they may commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

Now, check this out. God warns the church about having a false teacher who leads God's people astray. Is not Islam a false teaching when it denies the true God, the true Christ, and the true gospel? Is an imam, a Muslim imam, not a false teacher when he gets into the Christian pulpit to read from the Koran and promote Islamic theology, which denies the truth of who Christ is?

Of course it is false. Of course it is bad. It should not be done. Well, anyway, there were two churches in my area that were participating in this. I live in Boise, Idaho, and there were two churches, so I was only able to go to one of them.

I was not able to go to both of them. The services were at the same time. I did not have enough people. I had a friend named Sean who went. We went to the 8 .30 service early in the morning, and then my wife and daughter came out to the later service at 10 o 'clock, and we passed out the literature.

And we did this. Now, let me tell you, people were not happy. We got people coming up, and they were not exactly yelling at us, but they were pretty upset. We had people driving in with the cars saying, shame on you, and things like that, and go away, and stuff like this.

I remember one conversation I had with this man. I said, look, sir, I am passing out this information about Islam. Do you know that it denies that Jesus Christ is God in flesh? And he said, what? And I said, do you believe Jesus is God in flesh?

And he said, well, yes. And then I said, well, Islam teaches... He interrupted me and said, wait, what did you say? And I said, the Bible teaches Jesus is God in flesh. And he said, no, it does not. Now, this is the United Methodist Church called Hillview.

This is what happened out in the parking area, right where the street comes in. And I was talking to this guy. Now, I interacted with several people that day. And I'm going to tell you, a lot of them didn't understand what the Christian gospel was.

And, well, of course, because they're going to this church, and any church that would promote Islam, they don't have the true gospel. This is ridiculous, because they just don't mix at all. Well, at any rate, I passed out some literature there.

Quran Passages Used in the Handout

We passed out maybe 75, 100 sheets. You know, 8 1⁄2 by 11 sheets, both sides. Pass it out. What I want to do is read you some of the stuff that were in the sheets. Just read you some of the quotes that I had in this handout.

Check this out. Quran, this is Quran, Surah 4, chapter 4, that is, verse 76. Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil.

Lo, the devil's strategy is ever weak. Check this out. In Surah 8, verse 65, it says, O Prophet, urge the believers to war. That means urge the Muslims to war. If there are 20 patient ones of you, they shall overcome 200.

And if there are 100, you shall overcome 1 ,000 of those who disbelieve, because they are people who do not understand. And this one, this is out of Surah 9, verse 73. O Prophet, strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be unyielding to them, and their abode is hell, and evil is their destination.

This is what the Quran is teaching. Also, check this out. O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends of each other, and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them.

Surely Allah does not guide the unjust people. That's the Quran. Chapter 5, verse 51. How about this? A man's seed comes from his chest. Now let man but think from what he has created. He is created from a drop emitted, proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.

It also teaches salvation by works. This is the Quran. Chapter 42, verse 26. And it answers those who believe and do good deeds, and give them more out of His grace. And as for the unbelievers, they shall have a severe punishment.

And also, in chapter 23, verses 102 and 103, it says this. Then those whose balance of good deeds is heavy, they will be successful. But those whose balance is light, they will be the ones who have lost their souls in hell.

They will abide. Alright. Did you also know this? This is what the Quran also says in Surah 4, verse 34. It says it's okay to beat your wives. It says this. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill conduct, admonish them.

Refuse to share their beds. Finally, beat them. And Muhammad also said this in the Hadith. Volume 1, book 6, number 301. He said this. Now obviously, Islam teaches things that contradict the word of God and are just flat out dumb.

Separation from False Teaching and a Call to Evangelize Muslims

Now the Bible is very clear. The Bible says this, 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14,. Do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? For what fellowship has light with darkness?

It is darkness when the Koran is read for instructional reasons to the Christian congregation from a supposed Christian pulpit. It is the deeds of darkness to have that which is of the Antichrist, that which is against God, that which is against Christ, and against the atoning work of the gospel of Jesus, to have it be read and promoted in Christian pulpits.

God calls us to be separated from the deeds of darkness, and this includes separation from the teachings of Islam, which should never be promoted in any Christian pulpit. Period. Now, let me say this, though.

It does not mean that we as Christians are to hate Muslims, or to pray for them. It doesn't mean that we can't be their friends, because we should be, and we should promote the gospel to them. But it does mean this.

We are not to have their false teachings promoted in Christian churches. That's not what Jesus died for.