And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. (1 Kings 14:22-24)

Now Bowing Before Islam

As part of documenting the implosion of mainstream evangelicalism, increasing parts of which may be as apostate right now as the Roman Catholic Church in Luther’s day, here at Apprising Ministries I’ve been talking about a growing love affair among professing evangelical Christians with the false religion of Islam. For example, in Evangelical Imams Wooing Islam I brought your attention to Seattle church invites Muslims to dinner where we’re told that:

A Seattle-area church is reaching out to Muslims by having area pastors sit down over dinner with imams affiliated with the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations to share their religious beliefs. Michael Ly, associate pastor of Soma church in Renton, Wash., believes the project will open doors for further understanding between the two faiths.

The Seattle Times reported Ly believes that reaching out to Muslims with friendship is what Jesus would do… (Online source)

Like I said, pastor Ly thinks this dinner “will open doors for further understanding between the two faiths”; but the question we need to be asking is: What further understanding are we seeking? After-all, there are tons of materials available as to what the religion of Islam teaches; and it’s extremely unlikely that these pastors are going to be occupied with the word, testifying to the Muslims that the Jesus is the Christ as Paul was in Acts 18:5. I then showed you this tweet from Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven pastor Bob Roberts, Jr to his pal Pete Wilson, another pastor of the same semi-pelagian ilk:

(Online source)

Unfortunately for such as these seeking friendship with the world Jesus already told us the preaching of the Gospel isn’t about bringing world peace:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” 

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” (Matthew 10:34:40)

Then in Jim Wallis And Sojourners Making Muslim-Christians I discussed an article by Aaron Taylor, who tells us his “knowledge of culture, history, and world affairs combined with a passion for Biblical integrity sets him apart from the crowd,” called Can Muslims Follow the Biblical Christ and Still Be Muslim? Therein he tried to make a case for turning practicing Muslims, who supposedly “love  Jesus,” into Christians:

I can remember before moving to Senegal as a missionary, a thought flashed through my mind, “I wonder if God might use me to initiate a movement of Muslims coming to biblical faith in Christ as part of a Reformation movement within Islam?”…

I read Carl Medearis’s excellent book Muslims, Christians, and Jesus. In his book, Carl shares stories of his interactions with Muslims who deeply love Jesus and strive to follow his teachings — yet remain committed Muslims. I nearly wept thinking about how things could have been different if I had trusted my original instincts. (Online source)

Of course that’s asinine; but because those following the new postmodern version of Progressive Christian theology—aka “big tent” universalist Emergence Christianity—spewed by the sinfully ecumenial Emerging Church aka Emergent Church are deciding truth by group hug, instead of Scripture, we go off-roading  into the jungle Wonderland of Humpty Dumpty language bending and shaping words into whatever Play-Doh shapes we want them at a given time. Taylor muses his man-centered myth:

if a Muslim can believe and practice the bare essentials of what biblical faith in Jesus requires and still be true to their own faith, then not only have we figured out a way to build a bridge of peace between the historic religions of Islam and Christianity, we’ve also figured out a way for Christians to be faithful to the command of Jesus to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” without using our faith as a battering ram to demonize people of another faith. (Online source)

Well, how convenient; why didn’t the Apostles think of that, might have saved them from being murdered. And how’d that blending of religious practices work out for Israel in the Old Testament? I guess we’re going to have to rework 1 Corinthians 10:21 — No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. Hmm, for these Muslim-Christian hybrids with alleged “biblical faith in Jesus” while remaining “true to their own faith,” let’s make that read — “Yes, I meant to imply that what pagans—but certainly not the Muslims—sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.” And none of this is a problem for neo-Gnostic mystics practicing their critical thinking skills killing, and spiritually corrupt, Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism.

The Emergence Of The Mystic Non-Gospel Of Non-Conversion As Everyone’s God’s People

Consider the following from Tony Campolo, who’s one of those Red Letter Christians along with other apostates like Living Spiritual Teacher and Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren, progressive theologian Tony Jones, the heretical “theologian in residence” at the gathering place of his equally heretical universalist pastor Doug Pagitt—who together comprise the unholy trinity of the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church. Campolo is mentor for another RLC, Shane Claiborne of the New Monasticism, and as I pointed out in Mysticism’s Gospel Of Goodness And Shane Claiborne Campolo would opine and then query the below in one of his books:

a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other.

I do not know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical experience? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?[1]

Notice the double-speak as first Campolo tells us Islam and Christianity both have “examples of ecstatic union with God”; then he muses, “Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?” Campolo certainly hopes so; this would help him win friends and influence people within Islam, and would by-pass that nasty exclusive message of Scripture e.g. — Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him (Romans 8:9). Yeah, that’s just gonna get in the way of this whole Muslim-Christian thing; so we’ll ignore it because we feel that faithful Muslims, who’re doing “good” in the area of global social reform, must be following God in the way of Jesus. Ah, I know, even if they don’t personally happen to know it; yeah, that’ll work, salvation by osmosis. Hey in this case, no siree Buddha, we don’t need that old Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name.

If someone looks good to us—in other words—hates the evil empire and does good deeds like us, then they’re in; pretty slick, eh. In fact, in that Claiborne article I mentioned above I brought to your attention that, what I’ve just outlined above, is the mystic non-gospel. I showed you by quoting one of Claiborne’s heroes; that would be the late apostate Mother Teresa, who actually took her name out of her respect for so-called “Christian” mystic Teresa of Avila. From my personal copy of her book, following the words of the universalist Mother Teresa, “We never try to convert those who receive [aid from her organization] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence.” The “witness to the love of God’s presence” is mystic-speak, and not trying “to convert” people is simply more man-centered music in tune with those who have itching ears. She goes on to say:

Whether you are a Hindu, a Moslem or a Christian, how you live your life is the proof that you are fully his or not. We must not condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. Maybe a person has never heard of Christianity. We do not know what way God is appearing to that soul and what way God is drawing that soul, and therefore who are we to condemn anybody? It matters to the individual what church he belongs to.

If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life — his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation. This is the way God comes into his life.[2]

No doubt people in other religions will love hearing that; but it is dead wrong, and if we truly love God and our fellow man then we will tell them the truth from God’s Word. We’ll do it as lovingly, patiently, and gently, as possible because the Christian has been given the minstry of reconciliation so:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

But Campolo and Claiborne aren’t interested in that; I think you see why such as these aligned themselves with those who eschew sola Scriptura. Yeah, unfortunately the Bible just keeps getting in the way of their lovefest with Islam so as Campolo says:

We don’t have to give up trying to convert each other. What we have to do is show respect to one another. And to speak to each other with a sense that even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people,… (Online source)

Ok, we say hi to Humpty Dumpty again; right Tony, we can keep “trying to convert”…um, “God’s people” and…ah, “even if people don’t convert, they are God’s people.” I see it now; after lying awake as I sleep in the light tonight, I can then start my evening tomorrow morning by taking a shower with cool, dry, hot water. Gothcha boys. And as I close this, for now, in the article I just quoted above Claiborne confesses:

When a devout Muslim brother asked Tony and I to have this cross-generational dialogue about interreligious cooperation for an interfaith publication, we jumped on it. (Online source, emphasis mine)

My question is: If Shane Claiborne has a devout Muslim “brother,” does this now make Claiborne himself a Christian-Muslim? I mean, apparently he’s in the process of approaching this in the opposite direction from those alleged hybrid Muslim-Christians, who’re practicing Muslims that supposedly “love  Jesus.” So could it be that, in Shane Claiborne, we’re witnessing a new breed hybrid of Christian-Muslims practicing Christianity but who also love Muhmmad? Stay tuned…

________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:

[1] Tony Campolo, Speaking My Mind: The Radical Evangelical Prophet Tackles the Tough Issues Christians Are Afraid to Face [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004], 149, 150, emphasis mine.

[2] Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations and Prayers [New York: HarperCollins, 1983], 81, 82, emphasis mine.

See also: 

QURAN ON CHRIST JESUS

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM—THE SAME GOD?

DO CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS WORSHIP THE SAME GOD?

ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: THE DEITY OF CHRIST

KEEPING YOU APPRISED OF: ISLAM

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM REALLY DO WORSHIP THE SAME GOD

RICK WARREN: PURPOSE DRIVEN TO ASK FOR ALLAH’S FORGIVENESS