Saturday, November 14, 2020

How to Reach a Muslim for Jesus Christ

While there have been a lot of books written with many different viewpoints about Muslim evangelism, my goal here is not to share all of that with you, but to give you some concise and practical training that can help you to reach a Muslim with the gospel. 

I want to share with you a video that covers six ways to reach a Muslim for Christ, and then I will add four more at the end. 

In the video below, Nathan Jones covers the following ways to win a Muslim for Christ:

1. The Bible is OK to Read.

The Quran says it is permitted for Muslims to read the Bible. Therefore this is a great way for them to come to know the Lord by reading Scripture and praying for God to show them the truth. There are testimonies of Muslims coming to Christ this way. If they do not have a Bible, which they probably don't, please consider giving them one, and recommending they begin by reading the gospel of John. But be sure to ask them to pray before each time they read, and ask God to show them the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

2. The Life of Christ

When they contrast the life of Christ with that of Mohammed they will see a huge difference, and they will discover that the real Jesus portrayed in Scripture is very different from the one (called "Isa") described in the Quran.  

3. The Love of God

Islam is a religion of hate, Allah is generally an angry God, and frankly the Quran doesn't speak enough about the love of God. Therefore, Muslims need to know about the love of God, which is spoken about so much in Scripture. They need to know that God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8).

4. The Assurance of Salvation

The man in the video, Nathan Jones, who is unknown to me, mentions the fact that Muslims don't have the assurance of their salvation that the Lord gives us when we give our lives to Christ, since the assurance of salvation is unknown in Islamic literature. I would agree with that completely, but not with his use of the term eternal security, which is a false teaching. There is a difference between having the assurance of your salvation as taught in Scripture, and the unbiblical teaching of eternal security, which I have proven false in my article The False Gospel of Eternal Security. I would advise you to steer clear of that heresy, but the rest of what the man in this video teaches is helpful, in my opinion.

A couple examples of verses that teach about our assurance of salvation are:

"He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 Jn 5:12-13)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." (John 5:24)

For more on that, see the Keeping Power of God.

5. Grace

Muslims believe that they must work to please God and to gain His favor. Living in the religion of Islam is like living in chains. The grace of God as taught in the Bible will set Muslims free from that prison. As the Scripture says, "He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time..." (2 Tim 1:9).

6. A Relationship with God

We as Christians enjoy a relationship with God in Christ, which is something unknown to Muslims. We personally experience the love that our heavenly Father has for each one of us, which is something that they long to experience, too.

Video 

Please watch the video at this link on Youtube or watch the embedded video below on this page.


In addition to the six ways to reach a Muslim for Christ that are covered in the video, I would also like to encourage you with six more:

7. Dreams and Visions from God

Many Muslims have come to know Christ through supernatural encounters they've had with the real Lord Jesus Christ in their dreams or in visions. Scripture teaches us that this is one of the supernatural things God promised to do in these last days.

"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." (Act 2:17)

In addition to praying for your Muslim friend to have such dreams and visions of Christ, you can challenge or encourage them to pray that if Jesus Christ is real that He would come and reveal Himself to them. You can also share with them some of those dreams that other Muslims around the world have had as well. 

One website that contains several of these video documentaries is called More Than Dreams, and you can suggest they check it out, as well provide them with the link. If you do so, let them know that you can watch the videos in different languages. (If you click on one of the videos, to the left, it will say "More Languages". If you click on that, it has a whole list you can choose from.). 

One Muslim source estimates that approximately six million Muslims per year are converting to Christianity. For more on this, please see the short, six-minute video called Millions of Muslims Convert to Christianity: Having Dreams & Visions of Christ.

8. The Power of the Holy Spirit

The kingdom of God is not merely a matter of talk but of power (1 Cor 4:20). When a Christian has been baptized with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1:8 and 2:4, they will be endued with power to be a witness for Christ. This includes power to heal the sick and cast out demons (Mk 16:17-18). Look for opportunities to lay hands on your Muslim friend with their permission to release healing and miracles from God in the name of Jesus and by faith in His name. As they get healed and set free, they will come to experience firsthand that Jesus Christ is real, and know that He loves them. There are certainly testimonies of Muslims coming to Christ this way, as a result of healing.

For more on this, please see Baptized with the Spirit, Supernatural Power for All Disciples, Laying on of Hands, and especially The Power of God to Heal.

9. Your Witness

Some Muslims see the hypocrisy of other Muslims and the violence within their religion. But when they see the life of a genuine disciple of Christ whom they know, and observe that person's godly character distinguished by the fruit of the Spirit, they are drawn to the Lord through that person's witness for Christ.

10. Confrontational Approach

Some people choose to use the confrontational evangelistic approach in their outreach to Muslims, whereby they proclaim the gospel to the person and/or seek to disprove Islam through a frontal attack on it (see The Truth About Islam). That can work to some extent on a limited basis. But keep in mind that a Muslim would typically think of himself as being born Muslim, and would assume that he can no more change his being Muslim than he can change his race. That's probably one reason why people typically experience limited success using a confrontational approach with Muslims. 

Another reason you may encounter resistance using this approach is that when you confront people's deeply held religious beliefs, they are likely to become defensive, which means they typically put up a wall to protect themselves and close their minds to what you are saying. 

One could argue that since we are at the end of the age, the merit of that approach is that it seeks to quickly deliver the gospel to anyone who will listen. After all, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). I would agree that we no longer have the time to spend years seeking to influence them for Christ through long-range approaches. But let me encourage you to also consider trying other approaches that have been proven more effective.

11. Sharing Jesus without Fear

As I have written about in my article called Share Jesus without Fear, I have learned from an evangelist named Bill Fay a powerful and effective, non-confrontational way to share the Lord with anyone in any place that is not offensive and allows the Scripture to speak to them. Let me encourage you to study and learn that approach, so that you can use it to reach Muslims, as well as anyone else you meet, as the Lord gives opportunity to do so.

12. The Jesus Film

A wonderful way to share Jesus with Muslims is to show them the Jesus Film, which is offered in more than 1,120 languages. There are a number of ways to do this, including showing it to groups of people or sending someone the link to watch it online at home, if they have internet access. This allows them to see the life of Christ in living color, dramatized by actors according to the gospel of Luke. 

The Lord has used this project in a powerful way.  There have been over 6 billion recorded viewings of the film, and over 200 million recorded decisions for Christ connected with it. It's also a great way to help reach restricted areas with the gospel, such as the Mideast. Please see my article about The Jesus Film Project for more on how to use this approach.

Closing Words

I hope this has been helpful to you in your efforts to reach Muslims for Christ. May the Lord grant you great success in doing so for a greater harvest.

Attribution notice: Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Original video upon which the above video was based on is at this link.
  
Author's note: You are invited to read The Truth About IslamShare Jesus without FearRescue Souls!Millions of Muslims Convert to Christianity: Having Dreams & Visions of ChristHere I Am Send MeGive Me Children or I'll Die!The Sin of SilenceConfrontational Evangelism, and Being a Witness for Christ. You may find more articles about being fruitful and multiplying on the Home Page of this blog. You may also find my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.


Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.