Life Matters - April 1, 2026

The translated definition of the word islam is submission. The religion of Islam is a call to submit, without objection, to Allah and to his messenger – the prophet Muhammad. Submission to the Koran. Submission to Hadiths. The Koran is supposedly the revelation of god’s (Allah’s) word as given to Muhammad. Hadith translates to speech, narration, report, or news. In Islam, it refers to narrations of what prophet Muhammad said, did, or approved;  it is revered by Muslims as a major source of religious law and moral guidance. So, to understand the Muslim train of thought it helps to understand his frame of reference; what his ‘holy books’ have to say about life, death and the hereafter. 

I’m sure I don’t know everything about Islam. It is an extremely complicated religion, complicated even further by the wide spectrum of beliefs separating the varied sects. But I have learned quite a bit about the fundamental confusions of Islam over the years. Some through personal visits (witnessing) – some through their own writings – and some through the testimonies (both through personal visits and by reading) of Muslims converted to being Christians. 

There are five pillars of Islam that I’ve heard consistently over the years: - Our god is one god and Muhammad is his prophet. – Five times a day prayer while facing Mecca. – Almsgiving. – Fasting through daylight hours for the month of Ramadan. At least one pilgrimage to Mecca during one’s lifetime. 

These five pillars are so ingrained in fundamentalist Islam that for those born Muslim, especially, to say or not to say them, for sure the first one, can suddenly make the difference between keeping one’s head attached to one’s body or to have it violently removed to join the multitudes of martyred bodies awaiting the resurrection at the last day. When the final reuniting of body and soul will come to pass. 

The worst possible sin – so Muslims are taught from little up – is to say that God could have an equal, a partner, a son – that is blasphemy of the worst sort and whoever brings about his or her death will be rewarded, being a faithful Muslim. 

Christians may well agree that our God is one God: by which we mean God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Throughout the New Testament runs the theme of Jesus and God being One. Not competing beings with two separate minds that may or may not agree. They are presented to us as having one mind – one heart – one purpose. So much so that John refers to Jesus as the Word of God. (John 1:1-14, 1st John chapter 1) The Word that was with God. The Word that spoke the world into existence. The Word that became flesh and lived among us. The Word that was, and is, God. 

The Word of God, when living among us, made it very clear to us that He could be here on earth praying to His Father in heaven for support while sweating as it were great drops of blood(John 22:44) in his intense desire for relief from the dread of what was still before him. Was it the dread of physical torment? Was it the dread of being betrayed – of being forsaken – by all of his friends? Or was it the dread of separation from his Father when our sins were laid upon him and he died for us? A moment marked by that desperate outcry of ‘’My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ We believe it was all three but most especially the latter. Being God’s Word come to earth, Jesus was in God from everlasting. Being God’s Word He always was, always is, and always will be. Taking on the form of man meant that he could also be tempted. He was voluntarily vulnerable. Through this lens we can maybe begin to understand the agony of Jesus’ intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane.  

Through this lens we may also begin to sense the abject hopelessness of the Muslim ‘faith’. Because it is not faith at all. It is a desperate attempt to appease Allah by doing some form of ‘self-sacrificial’ deed that when weighed in the balance of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ will cause the balance to so favorably tip towards the ‘good’ that it will not soon tip again into the zone of ‘evil deeds’. This is the definition of Muslim hope. That their ‘good’ will outweigh their ‘bad’ on the day of judgement. It is a ‘hope’ so intrinsic to our fallen human nature that it can be, and is, a bulwark against Christ.  

When Muslims say ‘our god is one god’ they mean that God cannot have a son. ‘’God cannot have a son’’ are the exact words that I have been ‘refuted’ with when witnessing to Muslims and I have learned over the years that those words are considered to be an insurance against being ‘deceived’. It is an ‘obligatory’ response. 

Muslims do have a soft spot – some more awake to it than others. That soft spot is an empty spot – an emptiness in the shape of Jesus Christ that only God through Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit can fill. Sound familiar? It should. Because that truth applies to all of us. 

Fundamentalist Muslims believe that peace can only be attained when the entire world submits – by force if necessary – to the will of Allah. It is important to note that the ‘will of Allah’ includes the exclusion of Jesus Christ being divine. Through that lens we may begin to understand the coalition (however temporary) of Leftism - Socialist Communism - and Islamism. 

Through that lens we may also better understand the intensity of need for spreading the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Him is lasting peace. He died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Jesus Lives! A blessed Easter holiday to all. 

Life Matters!