ISLAM
The followers of Islam are referred to as Muslims. Islam is the second largest religion in the world with two billion followers and also the fastest growing religion. Islam is the majority religion of 51 countries in the world. The prophet Mohammed (570-632 AD) started Islam in the early seventh century on the Arabian peninsula. In 610 AD Mohammed claimed he had received “revelations” from god and began preaching in Mecca. The local authorities ran Mohammed out of town so he then went to nearby Medina where people were more receptive to his religious message. Islam officially began in Medina in 622 AD. The Islamic message of brotherhood, equality and exclusivity under one god appealed to the Arabian tribesmen and they flocked to his banner. Those who did not willingly convert to Islam were converted by the sword. Within 200 years Islam had spread from Iberia in the west (modern day Spain) to the Indus River in the east (modern day Pakistan).
The most populous Muslim majority country today is Indonesia with 12% of all Muslims. 31% of all Muslims live is south Asia, 20% live in the Middle East and North Africa and 15% live in sub-Saharan Africa. There are also sizable Muslim communities in China, Europe and America. There are two denominations in Islam; Sunni (85-90%) and Shia (10-15%). The two denominations have a difference of opinion on the succession to Muhammed plus there are other minor differences in some of their religious practices. Islam has borrowed from Jewish history by claiming the angel Gabriel was sent to Muhammad from Allah and that Jewish patriarchs are actually all prophets of Islam.
According to Islam, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus were all prophets of their god Allah. According to Islam, the final and most important prophet of Allah was Muhammed, who reconciled and corrected all the misconceptions of previous prophets and gave us the final revelation of god. Islam had to accept that Jesus lived because it’s a historical fact but they’ve twisted it around by saying god (Allah) saved Jesus from crucifixion by the Jews and he died a natural death. Jewish and Roman historical records say otherwise. Satan knows if he can get rid of Jesus Christ as the resurrected Son of God in the eyes of man he can get rid of Christianity itself. If there’s no resurrected Jesus that means we can’t be resurrected either and we won’t spend eternity in heaven. Satan is intent on leading us all straight to hell if we let him.
John 14:9 – (Jesus speaking) – He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
John 10:30 – (Jesus speaking) – I and My Father are one.
God is perfect. God doesn’t make mistakes. For Islam to claim the prophet Muhammed had to correct and clarify mistakes made by earlier prophets doesn’t ring true. A prophet of the true God doesn’t need correction. Islam is referring to Jesus as the prophet who needs to be clarified and corrected. We are left with two prophets saying different things (Jesus and Muhammed). They can’t both be true so one must be a false prophet. Who is true and who is false? Let’s look at the evidence. We have Jesus Christ who fulfilled over sixty prophecies in the Bible. We have Jesus Christ with the personal testimony of the many millions of people who have testified that a personal relationship with Jesus has changed their lives for the better.
Then we have Muhammed with no fulfilled prophecies and no personal testimonies to back him up. All we are left with is the testimony of one man, Muhammed himself, on which to base our decision whether he is a self-proclaimed prophet of god or not. The evidence is clear that Islam is a fake religion and Muhammed is a false prophet. The evidence is also clear the Jesus Christ is a prophet of the true God Jehovah. Jesus is not only the last prophet of God, he is who he says he is, the Son of the living God and our Lord and Savior.
John 6:47 – (Jesus speaking) – Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
John 11:25-26 – (Jesus speaking) – I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Christianity is Christ. The reason for our very existence and the purpose of human history is God coming to earth in the flesh in the incarnation of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins and eternal damnation. God’s Word begins and ends with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the author of our faith and the high priest of Christianity who sits at the right hand of God in heaven. Without faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we cannot please God and we cannot have our sins forgiven. Without God’s forgiveness we cannot enter heaven but are condemned to hell for eternity. Satan’s tactics usually include lies that contain just a shred of the truth but just enough to be plausible while ensuring our destruction. Satan is not an original thinker but he likes to mimic what God does and he twists the truth of God just enough to fool us into following the path to hell. Islam does not acknowledge the Trinity.
Isaiah 42:8 – I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another.
Psalm 145:20 – The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
Islam is a religion that seeks to regulate both the spiritual and temporal aspects of life into one by following a set of rules known as Islamic law, or Sharia. A Muslim cannot separate the two aspects of life if they want to go to heaven. In Islam Allah has all the attributes we ascribe to Jehovah. There is heaven and hell and eternal judgment by god. According to Islam the angel Gabriel gave Allah’s revelation to Muhammad who recorded it in the Koran as the direct word of god. According to Muslims, Allah has commissioned them to convert the entire world to Islam through the jihad (holy war). Islam discriminates against other religions by making them convert to Islam or pay a special tax levied against all infidels.
According to Islamic religious concepts and practices there are, “five pillars of Islam.” These five pillars of the faith are obligatory and all are required for the Muslim to enter heaven:
1. Shahada (profession of faith) – There are two shahadas which must be recited verbally for one to become a convert to Islam and be considered a Muslim:
A. There is no god but God (Allah)
B. Muhammad is the messenger of God
This profession of faith is what Muslims say when they are at prayer five times a day at the prescribed times. The shahadas are the first things said to a newborn and the last thing said to a person who is dying.
2. Salah (prayer) – Muslim prayers are required five times a day. Muslims are required to wash their hands, face and feet and face toward the holy Kaaba shrine in Meccas. Muslims go through a series of positions as they recite scripture from the Koran. Prayers times are announced loudly for all to hear at dawn, noon, afternoon, evening and at night.
3. Zakat (almsgiving) – Well to do Muslims are expected to give 2.5% of their income to support the Islamic community which is used for the upkeep of mosques and holy places as well as helping the needy. Givers must declare their gift to god and distribute it in the local community. The giver must not exaggerate how much they give. While the wealthy pay a portion of their income to support Islam those who are without financial means are required to do good deeds and exhibit good behavior toward other Muslims.
4. Sawm (fasting) – Muslims are required to fast during the holy month of Ramadan from dawn to sunset. No food, water, sex, or cigarettes are permitted during the day but there are no prohibitions at night.
5. Hajj (pilgrimage) – This is the only pillar of Islam actually mentioned in the Koran. All the other pillars of the Islamic faith have evolved through the combined efforts of Islamic leaders over the years. During their lifetimes all Muslims are required to make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca. Once there all Muslims dress identically in white. Once in the sanctuary of the mosque pilgrims walk seven times around the Kaaba, the large square black stone (box) in the center of the sanctuary. Pilgrims also throw seven stones at stone pillars representing Satan to express their hatred of Satan. Pilgrims then have to travel seven times between to small hills outside the Kaaba that are 300 meters apart. Pilgrims go back and circle the Kaaba seven more times and they have completed their required pilgrimage to Mecca. Walking represents travelling the path of Muhammed.
According to the Koran there are four sources of Islamic law and thinking;
1. Summah (tradition) – This is tribal law, some of which even predates the Koran and includes the Hadith, the recorded words and deeds of Muhammad.
2. Ijma (consensus) – To overcome individual and regional differences by creating one consistent spiritual truth. The canon of the faith is set and no further questions or opinions are allowed.
3. Ijtihad (individual thought) – Religious leaders can add revelations to the body of Islamic law.
4. Paradise (heaven) – In Islam heaven is a pleasure garden of sensual delights and the satisfaction of all bodily desires. In Islam we have all the wonderful food to eat and each man in heaven gets 72 virgins to pleasure him forever. My question is what do the poor women in heaven get? Heaven sounds like the ultimate “man cave” and women are only chattel. This version of heaven was obviously made up by a man to fill his wildest dreams. In no way is this version of heaven a product of the true God. In Islam women are clearly second class citizens and chattel. Where is Islamic equality for women? I find it hard to keep up with one woman and I’d be terrified at the prospect of trying to continually satisfy 72 women. What were they thinking when they made all this stuff up!
Proverbs 14:25 – A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies.
Isaiah 45:5 – I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.
In summary, Islam is a fake religion and Allah is a false god. Allah was originally the name of the moon god for one of the desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula and Muhammed simply borrowed it for his new religion. Satan has cleverly designed Islam to compete with Christianity for the souls of mankind by coming up with his own fake version of god, heaven and hell. Satan got a good look at Christianity for a few hundred years before he came up with Islam. Satan is a good mimic and he gives the appearance of reason most of the time but his version of heaven is way over the top and any rational human being should be able to see it as a fake version of heaven. Faith in God as the only prerequisite for heaven rings true in our souls whereas following a set of prescribed actions to get into heaven rings false to everyone who will take the time to stop and think about it both spiritually and logically.
Joshua 24:23 – Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.
Isaiah 32:11 – I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.
In the end times we know there’ll be one world religion that worships one god. That world religion will persecute the Christian faithful by requiring them to renounce their faith and take the mark of the Beast or be beheaded. There will literally be millions of Christians executed for keeping Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and not renouncing him. We’re in the end times now and it usually takes hundreds of years to start and spread a new religion worldwide so the one world religion has to come from what already exists. Even with the speed with which society is changing today there’s simply not enough time for any new world religion to take hold.
Of the top four religions Hinduism, at number three with 1.3 billion followers, is the paganistic worship of a thousand gods so they don’t qualify as the one world religion. Buddhism, the number four religion with 500 million followers, worships no god so they are out of the running as the one world religion. The only two religions left standing as candidates to become the one world religion are the top two, Christianity with 2.5 billion followers and Islam with 2.0 billion followers.
Hosea 13:4 – Yet I am the Lord your God…there is no Savior besides Me.
Isaiah 45:22 – Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other.
Even though the Catholic Pope is indeed a false prophet of God I don’t believe he’s the false prophet mentioned in the book of Revelation. Since the saints martyred in the end times are Christians it is highly unlikely Christians would kill their own people for worshipping the God they all represent. That is a bridge too far to contemplate. That leaves Islam as the only possible candidate for the one world religion foretold in the book of Revelation which will partnership with the antichrist. Currently Islam does not have one supreme religious leader but that could all change if someone appears on the scene who proves he is a direct descendant of Muhammed or if the lost Mahdi shows up, according to legend, to lead Islam to world domination.
Either of those two would qualify as the false prophet of Revelation. Muslims execute by beheading and the fact the one world religion will use that same method of execution just confirms my conclusion that Islam is the one world religion of the end times. Islam is not the peaceful religion they claim to be. The Koran is clear that everyone in the world will ultimately be required to worship their god Allah and convert to Islam or face the blade. All Muslims are aware that they’re to participate in this jihad (holy war). We Christians need to know Islam for the dangerous and fake religion it is and keep a close eye on it. Christians need to understand Allah is a false god and not just another name for our God Jehovah.
Exodus 20:3 – You shall have no other gods before Me.
Matthew 6:7- (Jesus speaking) – And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.