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The Islamic Bulletin
Volume X No. 23 Page 9
Then I asked: “What about Moses?”
Again he said: “Yes.”
Then: “What about the other prophets, David, Solomon and
John the Baptist?”
He said: “Yes.”
I asked: “Do you believe in the Bible?”
Again, he said: “Yes.”
So, now it was time for the big question: “Do you believe in
Jesus? That he was the Christ of God?”
Again he said: “Yes.”
Well, now, this was going to be easier than I had thought. He
was just about ready to be baptized only he didn’t know it.
And I was just the one to do it, too. I was winning souls to the
Lord day after day and this would be a big achievement for
me, to catch one of these ‘Moslems’ and ‘convert’ him to
Christianity. I asked him if he liked tea and he said he did. So
off we went to a little shop in the mall to sit and talk about
my favorite subject: Beliefs. While we sat in that little coffee
shop for hours talking (I did most of the talking) I came to
know that he was very nice, quiet and even a bit shy. He
listened attentively to every word that I had to say
and did not interrupt even one time. I liked this
man’s way and thought that he had definite
potential to become a good Christian. Little did I
know the course of events about to unravel in front
of my eyes.
First of all, I agreed with my father that we should
do business with this man and even encouraged
the idea of him traveling along with me on my
business trips across the northern part of Texas.
Day after day we would ride together and discuss
various issues pertaining to different beliefs that
people have. And along the way, I could of course
interject some of my favorite radio programs of
worship and praise to help bring the message to
this poor individual. We talked about the concept
of God; the meaning of life; the purpose of
creation; the prophets and their mission and how
God reveals His Will to mankind. We also shared a lot of
personal experiences and ideas as well.
One day I came to know that my friend Mohamed was going
to move out of the home he had been sharing with a friend of
his and was going to be living in the mosque for a time. I
went to my dad and asked him if we could invite Mohamed to
come out to our big home in the country and stay there with
us. After all, he could share some of the work and some
expenses and he would be right there when we were ready to
go traveling around. My father agreed and Mohamed moved
in. Of course I still would find time to visit my fellow
preachers and evangelists around the state of Texas. One of
them lived on the Texas — Mexico border and another lived
near the Oklahoma border. One preacher liked to a huge
wooden cross that was bigger than a car. He would carry it
over his shoulder and drag the bottom on the ground and go
down the road or freeway hauling these two beams formed in
the shape of a cross. People would stop their cars and come
over to him and ask him what was going on and he would give
them pamphlets and booklets on Christianity.
Group Discussions on Faith
One day my friend with the cross had a heart attack and had
to go to the Veterans Hospital where he stayed for quite a
long while. I used to visit him in the hospital several times a
week and I would take Mohamed with me with the hopes
that we could all share together in the subject of beliefs and
religions. My friend was not very impressed and it was obvious
that he did not want to know anything about Islam. Then one
day a man who was sharing the room with my friend came
rolling into the room in his wheelchair. I went to him and
asked him his name and he said that it didn’t matter and when
I asked him where he was from he said he was from the
planet Jupiter. I thought about what he said and then began to
wonder if I was in the cardiac ward or the mental ward.
I knew the man was lonely and depressed and needed
someone in his life. So, I began to ‘witness’ to him about the
Lord. I read to him out of the book of Jonah in the Old
Testament. I shared the story of the prophet Jonah who had
been sent by the Lord to call his people to the correct way.
Jonah had left his people and escaped by boat to leave his city
and head out to sea. A storm came up and the ship almost
capsized and the people on board threw Jonah over the side
of the ship. A whale came up to the surface and grabbed
Jonah, swallowed him and then went down to the bottom of
the sea, where he stayed for 3 days and 3 nights. Yet because
of God’s Mercy, He caused the whale to rise to the surface
and then spit Jonah out to return back home safely to his city
of Nineveh. And the idea was that we can’t really run away
from our problems because we always know what we have
done. And what is more, God also always knows what we
have done.
After sharing this story with the man in the wheelchair, he
looked up at me and apologized. He told me
he was sorry for his rude behavior and that he
had experienced some real serious problems
recently. Then he said that he wanted to
confess something to me. And I said that I was
not a Catholic priest and I don’t handle
confessions. He replied back to me that he
knew that. In fact, he said: “I am a Catholic
priest.” I was shocked. Here I had been trying
to preach Christianity to a priest. What in the
world was happening here? The priest began to
share his story of being a missionary for the
church for over 12 years to south and Central
America and Mexico and even in New York’s
‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ When he was released from
the hospital he needed a place to go to recover
and rather than let him go to stay with a
Catholic family, I told my dad that we should
invite him to come out and live with us in the country along
with our families and Mohamed. It was agreed by all that he
would so, he moved out right away.
During the trip out to our home, I talked with the priest about
some of the concepts of beliefs in Islam and to my surprise he
agreed and then shared even more about this with me. I was
shocked when he told me that Catholic priests actually study
Islam and some even carry doctors degrees in this subject.
This was all very enlightening to me. But there was still a lot
more to come.
After settling in, we all began to gather around the kitchen
table after dinner every night to discuss religion. My father
would bring his King James Version of the Bible, I would bring
out my Revised Standard Version of the Bible, my wife had
another version of the Bible (maybe something like Jimmy
Swaggart’s ‘Good News For Modern Man.” The priest of
course, had the Catholic Bible which has 7 more books in it
that the Protestant Bible. So we spent more time talking about
which Bible was the right one or the most correct one, than
we did trying to convince Mohamed about becoming a
Christian.
At one point I recall asking him about the Quran and how
many versions of it there were in the last 1,400 years. He told
me that there was only ONE QURAN. And that it had never
been changed. Yet he let me know that the Quran had been
memorized by hundreds of thousands of people, in it’s
entirety and was scattered about the earth in many different
countries. Over the centuries since the Quran was revealed
millions have memorized it completely and have taught it to
others who have memorized it completely, from cover to
cover, letter perfect without mistakes.
This did not seem possible to me. After all, the original
languages of the Bible have all been dead languages for
centuries and the documents themselves have been lost in
their originals for hundreds and thousands of years. So, how
Well, now, this
was going to be
easier than I had
thought. He was
just about ready
to be baptized
only he didn’t
know it.