However, as the poet, Keats observed: "We all take the habitual journey homeward to self."   Because of this habitual inverted journey, we all have a natural preoccupation with ourselves.  As a result, we so often "forget to remember" the needs of others.  But when we "...remember the words of the Lord Jesus," we lift our eyes from self to others.  He reminds us that it is truly "...more blessed to give than to receive."  He wants us to experientially know the blessings of benevolence!

Jesus clearly tells us that there are many blessings that only come through generosity towards others -- rather than through a preoccupation with ourselves.  But so often our greed is the greatest enemy of their need!  In America we have developed an insatiable appetite for more...bigger...better...newer...fancier!

We have all been programmed to spent our time and money on accumulating more "stuff."  Chasing "new experiences."  Pursuing that illusive "permanent satisfaction" that only comes through giving rather than receiving.  And in the process of our pursuit of prosperity, possessions, position, prestige and power, we constantly "forget to remember" their condition and Christ's commission.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Lord has given us a "wake-up call" through a dramatic down-turn in our economy?!  He loves us too much to ignore the narcissistic economic binge we have been on for several decades!  God prospered and empowered us as American Christians to be His "salt stoping corruption" and His "light penetrating darkness" around the world.  We were redeemed to be His catalytic agents of Kingdom transformation in every arena of life.

When we "lift up our eyes to the fields white unto harvest"...when we change our focus from self to others...when we shake off middle class mediocrity...when we break the bondage of materialism...when we immerse ourselves in the needs of others...when we die to self and live for him -- the "Kingdom Adventure" of living and giving for the Lord really begins!

For nearly 50 years now it has been my joy to "live the Kingdom Adventure" the Lord designed for me from before the creation of the world (Eph. 2:10).  And what a spiritual, marital and mission adventure it has been!  I could never have imagined that He would have graced me with such a "high and holy calling" -- all made possible through the prayers and financial support of Patt...our children and grandchildren...extended family...national partners -- and friends like you!  

I have enclosed our new brochure with this letter.  It is a fresh reminder that Patt and I have not retired!  Nor do we intend to ever do so.  As long as God continues to give us health and strength, we will continue His "Kingdom Adventure" for our lives.  We will not sit out...lounge about...shop around...or rock away the rest of our lives -- however long or short.  We want to be "Still Growing & Still Going" until He returns or calls us home!

Between now and the end of the year, I have mission trips to Nepal, India and Bhutan in Asia, as well as return trips to Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya andZimbabwe in Africa.   Then I start the New Year in Singapore and Hong Kong.  To accomplish all of these, I count on your regular monthly giving as God leads and enables. 

As our brochure indicates, we need regular support in the following areas:

• Personal Support (My monthly salary)
• Peripatetic Support (My itinerate Travel Fund)
• Publishing Support (Printing of my books)
• Project Support (Funding strategic mission projects)

Please help us with as generous gift as possible to any of the above areas that God may lead and enable you.  And know that every gift is greatly needed, deeply appreciated and carefully used.  And I assure you that God will reward you as you "...remember the words of the Lord: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Giving His love & compassion through your partnership,

JL & Patt

However, as the poet, Keats observed: "We all take the habitual journey homeward to self."   Because of this habitual inverted journey, we all have a natural preoccupation with ourselves.  As a result, we so often "forget to remember" the needs of others.  But when we "...remember the words of the Lord Jesus," we lift our eyes from self to others.  He reminds us that it is truly "...more blessed to give than to receive."  He wants us to experientially know the blessings of benevolence!

Jesus clearly tells us that there are many blessings that only come through generosity towards others -- rather than through a preoccupation with ourselves.  But so often our greed is the greatest enemy of their need!  In America we have developed an insatiable appetite for more...bigger...better...newer...fancier!

We have all been programmed to spent our time and money on accumulating more "stuff."  Chasing "new experiences."  Pursuing that illusive "permanent satisfaction" that only comes through giving rather than receiving.  And in the process of our pursuit of prosperity, possessions, position, prestige and power, we constantly "forget to remember" their condition and Christ's commission.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Lord has given us a "wake-up call" through a dramatic down-turn in our economy?!  He loves us too much to ignore the narcissistic economic binge we have been on for several decades!  God prospered and empowered us as American Christians to be His "salt stoping corruption" and His "light penetrating darkness" around the world.  We were redeemed to be His catalytic agents of Kingdom transformation in every arena of life.

When we "lift up our eyes to the fields white unto harvest"...when we change our focus from self to others...when we shake off middle class mediocrity...when we break the bondage of materialism...when we immerse ourselves in the needs of others...when we die to self and live for him -- the "Kingdom Adventure" of living and giving for the Lord really begins!

For nearly 50 years now it has been my joy to "live the Kingdom Adventure" the Lord designed for me from before the creation of the world (Eph. 2:10).  And what a spiritual, marital and mission adventure it has been!  I could never have imagined that He would have graced me with such a "high and holy calling" -- all made possible through the prayers and financial support of Patt...our children and grandchildren...extended family...national partners -- and friends like you!  

I have enclosed our new brochure with this letter.  It is a fresh reminder that Patt and I have not retired!  Nor do we intend to ever do so.  As long as God continues to give us health and strength, we will continue His "Kingdom Adventure" for our lives.  We will not sit out...lounge about...shop around...or rock away the rest of our lives -- however long or short.  We want to be "Still Growing & Still Going" until He returns or calls us home!

Between now and the end of the year, I have mission trips to Nepal, India and Bhutan in Asia, as well as return trips to Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya andZimbabwe in Africa.   Then I start the New Year in Singapore and Hong Kong.  To accomplish all of these, I count on your regular monthly giving as God leads and enables. 

As our brochure indicates, we need regular support in the following areas:

• Personal Support (My monthly salary)
• Peripatetic Support (My itinerate Travel Fund)
• Publishing Support (Printing of my books)
• Project Support (Funding strategic mission projects)

Please help us with as generous gift as possible to any of the above areas that God may lead and enable you.  And know that every gift is greatly needed, deeply appreciated and carefully used.  And I assure you that God will reward you as you "...remember the words of the Lord: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Giving His love & compassion through your partnership,

JL & Patt

9/11 was a startling "wake-up call" to Americans who had been ignoring the growing global threat of radical Islam -- as many of us who travel regularly internationally were warning about.  Most Americans did not want to face this reality.  And as long as radical Islam was "over there" in other parts of the world, they had the luxury and false security of ignorance.  But through 9/11, the threat "came home" with deadly and devastating results!  Several thousand of our fellow Americans were killed.  Thousands of other family members were left with relational losses that could never be filled.  Billions of dollars in destroyed property was lost.  Billions more have been spent since then to try to secure America from more attacks.  And our longest war in American history has been fought overtly or coverty in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq since then.  But for every American, life has been changed FOREVER!

Homogenized Faith

After the initial shock of 9/11, there was renewed patriotism, intensified prayer and increased church attendance.  Sadly, this superficial dual revival of patriotism and spirituality has waned.  It has been replaced by a growing spirit of malaise, toleration and Biblical compromise.  Many noted Christian leaders have joined the growing choir of media pundits and left-leaning voices extolling Islam as a "Peaceful Religion" that was only hijacked by a few radical fundamental jihaddist -- led by the late Osama bin Laden.  The growing mantra is that whether we are Muslims, Jews or Christians, we are all monotheist who believe in the same one "god" -- whether we call him Allah, Jehovah or Jesus.  We are further being told that we are all "sons of Abraham" who are a part of the same spiritual family.

 

Recently I saw a car with this bumper sticker on it that reflects this "tsunami of spiritual compromise" flooding churches and Christian circles.  It is a tragic example of the spiritual brain-washing that is taking place today all across America.  This kind of muddy and muddled thinking is based upon a dangerous compromise of the Word of God and spiritual reductionism that seeks to bring God down to the lowest spiritual common denominator -- all at the expense of the essential truths of Christianity!  This religious amalgamation and spiritual homogenization is taking place at the expense of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God  and only Savior  of the world (Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12; I Tim. 2:5, etc).   And any spiritual unity with Islam can only take place by removing the 'offense of the cross' (I Cor. 1:18; Gal. 5:11) -- a truth that is totally anathema to Islam!

 

So while we can understand this simplistic -- but totally naive -- desire to "live peaceably" with other religions in general and Islam in particular, history tells another bloody story!  And we forget or ignore those historic lessons at our own national and spiritual peril!

 

Chris-lam

Today, many noted Christian leaders -- and even missiologists -- are signing-on to something being called 'Chris-lam.'  It is an attempt to merge Christianity and Islam -- the world's two largest evangelistic religions, into "one big happy spiritual family."  In the past several years, over 300 prominent Christian leaders signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with 138 leading Islamic leaders.  This document was issued by the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.  It was motivated by the realization that global peace is impossible unless there is some kind of detente between Christianity and Islam.  This Yale document was written in response to one written by Muslim clerics entitled: "A Common Word Between Us and You."  And the basis of that "Common Word" is for Christians and Jews to affirm that "Allah" and "Yahweh" (Jehovah) are the same God.  In other words, Allah wins as the one supreme god at the expense of the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the New Testament!

 

Jesus & Isa

But is the "Isa" of the Koran the same as the "Jesus" of the New Testament.  Note these telling words of the Koran addressed to "People of the Book" (Christians):

 

"O people of the Book!  Commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of Allah aught but truth.  Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah." (Surah 4:171).

And what about the Trinity -- the unique Biblical revelation of the tri-unity of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  Note again the specific words of the Koran:

"Say: 'O People of the Book!  Come to common terms as between us and you; that we worship none but Allah That we associate no partners with Him...Say not 'Trinity'; desist.  It will be better for you for Allah is One Allah." (Surah 3:64; 4:171).

Nothing could be clearer!  For Muslims, Jesus was nothing more nor less than a 'disciple of Allah!'  So contrary to this "common word" that is being touted by Muslims and Christian leaders, there is not enough "common ground" for Muslims, Jews and Christians to camp on and work for global peace.  While there are some general commonalities of terms used between Muslims, Jews and Christians, they are radically re-defined by the Koran.  What I have said for years about counterfeit Christian cults is also true of Islam:  'While they use much of our vocabulary about God, they use a different dictionary to define the word!"  Our authoritative dictionary is the Bible while theirs is the Koran.  Both 'revelations' cannot be equally true and trustworthy.  And both definitions of God, Jesus and salvation cannot be correct.  Simple logic teaches that opposites cannot be the same thing.  Polar opposites like black & white...hot & cold...light & dark...truth & error...love & hate...life & death...heaven & hell -- are not the same!

So is peace with Islam possible?  Yes, with some "moderate Muslims."  But for faithful Muslims, peace is only possible through our total submission to Allah as the only true God...to Mohammed as God's final prophet...and to the Koran as God's full and final revelation to man.  Certainly we must do all in our power to live peaceable with the more than 8 million Muslims living in America.  And we should do all we can to reach out to them in the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus -- which is illegal in most of their countries of origin.

 

However, in the process we must be wise, vigilant, sober-minded realists -- both as Americans and as Christians.  This growing move to find a "common word" between Christians and Muslims is commendable for the sake of national unity and global peace.  But any mentality of "peace at all costs" is suicidal -- spiritually and nationally!  We must recognize that this is a "dangerous drift" toward the "One World Religion" prophesied in Revelation 13.  It is also based upon the 'spirit of antichrist' that we are warned about in I John 2:18-22 and 4:1-4.  And we must also beware of the Islamic concept expressed in the word 'taqiyya,' which teaches Muslims to lie to unbelievers in order to defeat them.

 

On this anniversary of 9/11, I want to urge you to order and read my book A Christian Perspective of Islam ($10 + postage).  I originally wrote it after the attacks of 9/11 to help American Christians understand the historic and contemporary challenge of Islam.  I would also urge you to order an extra copy to give to a friend -- starting with your pastor.  Also order my 16 week DVD series on the same subject -- ideally formatted for Sunday School Classes and Bible Study Groups ($50 + postage; note side bar).  

 

Finally, if you live in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, I would invite you to attend a special Islam Seminar that I will be co-teaching with my friend and partner, Ahmed Agyei, a converted Muslim from Ghana and a Koranic Scholar.  The sessions will take place September 25-28 at Trinity Church in Greensboro.  If you cannot attend, please be praying for those 4 nights of teaching and training.  Here is a link to more information on the series.

 

In the shadow of 9/11 -- but in the light of His Word,

 

PS:  Please take a moment to read these comparisons below about whether or not a "faithful Muslim" can also be a '"faithful American."  It was written by a person who lived for over two decades in Saudi Arabia.   This is timely food for thought as we remember 9/11 this weekend.

 

CAN A 'GOOD MUSLIM' ALSO BE A 'GOOD CHRISTIAN?'

 

1. Theologically -- No...because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.

 

2. Religiously -- No...because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam.  (Quran 2:256).

 

3. Scripturally -- No...because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.

 

4. Geographically -- No...because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

 

5. Socially -- No...because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

 

6. Politically -- No...because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America , the 'Great Satan.'

 

7. Domestically -- No...because he is instructed to marry four Women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him. (Quran 4:34 ).

 

8. Intellectually -- No...because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

 

9. Philosophically -- No...because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

 

10. Spiritually -- No...because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly Father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names for Allah.

11 was a startling "wake-up call" to Americans who had been ignoring the growing global threat of radical Islam -- as many of us who travel regularly internationally were warning about.  Most Americans did not want to face this reality.  And as long as radical Islam was "over there" in other parts of the world, they had the luxury and false security of ignorance.  But through 9/11, the threat "came home" with deadly and devastating results!  Several thousand of our fellow Americans were killed.  Thousands of other family members were left with relational losses that could never be filled.  Billions of dollars in destroyed property was lost.  Billions more have been spent since then to try to secure America from more attacks.  And our longest war in American history has been fought overtly or coverty in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq since then.  But for every American, life has been changed FOREVER!

Homogenized Faith

After the initial shock of 9/11, there was renewed patriotism, intensified prayer and increased church attendance.  Sadly, this superficial dual revival of patriotism and spirituality has waned.  It has been replaced by a growing spirit of malaise, toleration and Biblical compromise.  Many noted Christian leaders have joined the growing choir of media pundits and left-leaning voices extolling Islam as a "Peaceful Religion" that was only hijacked by a few radical fundamental jihaddist -- led by the late Osama bin Laden.  The growing mantra is that whether we are Muslims, Jews or Christians, we are all monotheist who believe in the same one "god" -- whether we call him Allah, Jehovah or Jesus.  We are further being told that we are all "sons of Abraham" who are a part of the same spiritual family.

 

Recently I saw a car with this bumper sticker on it that reflects this "tsunami of spiritual compromise" flooding churches and Christian circles.  It is a tragic example of the spiritual brain-washing that is taking place today all across America.  This kind of muddy and muddled thinking is based upon a dangerous compromise of the Word of God and spiritual reductionism that seeks to bring God down to the lowest spiritual common denominator -- all at the expense of the essential truths of Christianity!  This religious amalgamation and spiritual homogenization is taking place at the expense of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God  and only Savior  of the world (Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12; I Tim. 2:5, etc).   And any spiritual unity with Islam can only take place by removing the 'offense of the cross' (I Cor. 1:18; Gal. 5:11) -- a truth that is totally anathema to Islam!

 

So while we can understand this simplistic -- but totally naive -- desire to "live peaceably" with other religions in general and Islam in particular, history tells another bloody story!  And we forget or ignore those historic lessons at our own national and spiritual peril!

 

Chris-lam

Today, many noted Christian leaders -- and even missiologists -- are signing-on to something being called 'Chris-lam.'  It is an attempt to merge Christianity and Islam -- the world's two largest evangelistic religions, into "one big happy spiritual family."  In the past several years, over 300 prominent Christian leaders signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with 138 leading Islamic leaders.  This document was issued by the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.  It was motivated by the realization that global peace is impossible unless there is some kind of detente between Christianity and Islam.  This Yale document was written in response to one written by Muslim clerics entitled: "A Common Word Between Us and You."  And the basis of that "Common Word" is for Christians and Jews to affirm that "Allah" and "Yahweh" (Jehovah) are the same God.  In other words, Allah wins as the one supreme god at the expense of the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the New Testament!

 

Jesus & Isa

But is the "Isa" of the Koran the same as the "Jesus" of the New Testament.  Note these telling words of the Koran addressed to "People of the Book" (Christians):

 

"O people of the Book!  Commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of Allah aught but truth.  Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah." (Surah 4:171).

And what about the Trinity -- the unique Biblical revelation of the tri-unity of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  Note again the specific words of the Koran:

"Say: 'O People of the Book!  Come to common terms as between us and you; that we worship none but Allah That we associate no partners with Him...Say not 'Trinity'; desist.  It will be better for you for Allah is One Allah." (Surah 3:64; 4:171).

Nothing could be clearer!  For Muslims, Jesus was nothing more nor less than a 'disciple of Allah!'  So contrary to this "common word" that is being touted by Muslims and Christian leaders, there is not enough "common ground" for Muslims, Jews and Christians to camp on and work for global peace.  While there are some general commonalities of terms used between Muslims, Jews and Christians, they are radically re-defined by the Koran.  What I have said for years about counterfeit Christian cults is also true of Islam:  'While they use much of our vocabulary about God, they use a different dictionary to define the word!"  Our authoritative dictionary is the Bible while theirs is the Koran.  Both 'revelations' cannot be equally true and trustworthy.  And both definitions of God, Jesus and salvation cannot be correct.  Simple logic teaches that opposites cannot be the same thing.  Polar opposites like black & white...hot & cold...light & dark...truth & error...love & hate...life & death...heaven & hell -- are not the same!

So is peace with Islam possible?  Yes, with some "moderate Muslims."  But for faithful Muslims, peace is only possible through our total submission to Allah as the only true God...to Mohammed as God's final prophet...and to the Koran as God's full and final revelation to man.  Certainly we must do all in our power to live peaceable with the more than 8 million Muslims living in America.  And we should do all we can to reach out to them in the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus -- which is illegal in most of their countries of origin.

 

However, in the process we must be wise, vigilant, sober-minded realists -- both as Americans and as Christians.  This growing move to find a "common word" between Christians and Muslims is commendable for the sake of national unity and global peace.  But any mentality of "peace at all costs" is suicidal -- spiritually and nationally!  We must recognize that this is a "dangerous drift" toward the "One World Religion" prophesied in Revelation 13.  It is also based upon the 'spirit of antichrist' that we are warned about in I John 2:18-22 and 4:1-4.  And we must also beware of the Islamic concept expressed in the word 'taqiyya,' which teaches Muslims to lie to unbelievers in order to defeat them.

 

On this anniversary of 9/11, I want to urge you to order and read my book A Christian Perspective of Islam ($10 + postage).  I originally wrote it after the attacks of 9/11 to help American Christians understand the historic and contemporary challenge of Islam.  I would also urge you to order an extra copy to give to a friend -- starting with your pastor.  Also order my 16 week DVD series on the same subject -- ideally formatted for Sunday School Classes and Bible Study Groups ($50 + postage; note side bar).  

 

Finally, if you live in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, I would invite you to attend a special Islam Seminar that I will be co-teaching with my friend and partner, Ahmed Agyei, a converted Muslim from Ghana and a Koranic Scholar.  The sessions will take place September 25-28 at Trinity Church in Greensboro.  If you cannot attend, please be praying for those 4 nights of teaching and training.  Here is a link to more information on the series.

 

In the shadow of 9/11 -- but in the light of His Word,

 

PS:  Please take a moment to read these comparisons below about whether or not a "faithful Muslim" can also be a '"faithful American."  It was written by a person who lived for over two decades in Saudi Arabia.   This is timely food for thought as we remember 9/11 this weekend.

 

CAN A 'GOOD MUSLIM' ALSO BE A 'GOOD CHRISTIAN?'

 

1. Theologically -- No...because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.

 

2. Religiously -- No...because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam.  (Quran 2:256).

 

3. Scripturally -- No...because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.

 

4. Geographically -- No...because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

 

5. Socially -- No...because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

 

6. Politically -- No...because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America , the 'Great Satan.'

 

7. Domestically -- No...because he is instructed to marry four Women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him. (Quran 4:34 ).

 

8. Intellectually -- No...because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

 

9. Philosophically -- No...because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

 

10. Spiritually -- No...because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly Father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names for Allah.