Allah is not God: A Brief Comment on the ‘Insider Movement’
The Insider movement encourages new Christian converts in predominantly Muslim countries to remain in the mosque, continue to say Muslim prayers, read the Koran as sacred literature, and call themselves Muslims.Here’s John Piper’s take on the movement.
I agree with John Piper. The “Allah” Muslims worship is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a false god. The revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament is that God is triune - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and that Jesus is God’s eternal Son incarnate in human flesh. Muslims deny both propositions. Muslims and Christians cannot both be right about the nature and character of God. One group is guilty of idolatry.
The New Testament is very clear both about the origin and nature of non-Christian faiths and about the duty of Christians in relationship to them:
1. The grace of Christ is not mediated through non-Christian spiritualities. God does not save pagans through pagan worship.
2. Nor do they worship “other gods”. The idols themselves are “nothing”.
3. While God will not mediate salvation through idolatrous worship and the idols themselves are “nothing”, pagan worship is the worship of “something” namely the demonic. Hell is the origin of other spiritualities.
4. Therefore, Christians must not participate in any form of pagan worship.
In sum, all spirituality, all religion, that does not flow from and submit to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ has its origin in Hell. This is not to say that there is no beauty or truth in other religions and spiritualities. It is to say that beauty and truth exists in other religions like wine in Hamlet’s goblet. It is both sweet and poisonous.
It is therefore necessary - it is an Apostolic command - that those God transfers from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, remove themselves from the worship of idols. “You cannot” after all, “partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
Those behind the Insider Movement - though undoubtedly with good intentions, undoubtedly in the name of evangelism and physical safety - teach new converts to betray the Lord who bought them. How can those who have surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord bow to the Muslim Allah? What does Christ have to do with Belial?
What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
One way or another, every church leader who support missions among Muslims needs to answer this question with regard to contextualization: how far is too far? Missions agencies advocate different approaches, and missionaries often develop new theories and methods in the field, so many churches have studied the issue and developed their own guidelines for strategy and support.Popout
I agree with John Piper. The “Allah” Muslims worship is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a false god. The revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament is that God is triune - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and that Jesus is God’s eternal Son incarnate in human flesh. Muslims deny both propositions. Muslims and Christians cannot both be right about the nature and character of God. One group is guilty of idolatry.
The New Testament is very clear both about the origin and nature of non-Christian faiths and about the duty of Christians in relationship to them:
“What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that fan idol is anything? 20 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. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and ithe cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and jthe table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Cor 10:19-21)Paul lays down four principles here:
1. The grace of Christ is not mediated through non-Christian spiritualities. God does not save pagans through pagan worship.
2. Nor do they worship “other gods”. The idols themselves are “nothing”.
3. While God will not mediate salvation through idolatrous worship and the idols themselves are “nothing”, pagan worship is the worship of “something” namely the demonic. Hell is the origin of other spiritualities.
4. Therefore, Christians must not participate in any form of pagan worship.
In sum, all spirituality, all religion, that does not flow from and submit to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ has its origin in Hell. This is not to say that there is no beauty or truth in other religions and spiritualities. It is to say that beauty and truth exists in other religions like wine in Hamlet’s goblet. It is both sweet and poisonous.
It is therefore necessary - it is an Apostolic command - that those God transfers from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, remove themselves from the worship of idols. “You cannot” after all, “partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
Those behind the Insider Movement - though undoubtedly with good intentions, undoubtedly in the name of evangelism and physical safety - teach new converts to betray the Lord who bought them. How can those who have surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord bow to the Muslim Allah? What does Christ have to do with Belial?
What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
No comments:
Post a Comment