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Dear Friend of Creation,
Do you know who else claimed to have been visited by the angel Gabriel and given (supposedly) a special message from God?
In the recent December letter, you might recall I wrote about how the angel Gabriel visited the prophet Daniel in about 551 BC to explain his amazing prophetic dreams that then came to pass quite literally, hundreds of years later! Gabriel also gave an accurate timetable to Daniel for “Messiah the Prince”, for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ by about AD 30. And I pointed out in that Christmas letter how this was the same angel Gabriel who (around 4 BC) celebratedly announced to Mary that she was pregnant with baby Jesus, who would “be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:26-38). Such biblical prominence and amazing prophetic revelation made the angel Gabriel a truly revered heavenly personage in established Judeo-Christian society for hundreds of years.
So who else was famously visited (supposedly quite regularly) by the angel Gabriel? It was Muhammad, the founder of Islam, who claimed to have his revelations for the Koran from the angel Gabriel! At his first visitation and revelation in AD 610, Muhammad was supposedly told by Gabriel, “You are the messenger of Allah”. These and other revelations continued over his lifetime and eventually became the Muslim holy book. At one point, Gabriel supposedly flew him up to heaven on a great winged creature to hear from God himself - about how to “submit” to Him, with instructions for the five daily prayers and other “divine immutable laws” (Sharia law). The word Islam (إسلام) means “submission”. This is in direct contrast to the freedom of Christianity and the freedom-giving God of the Bible!
Because the Koran’s teachings of conquest and suppression of “infidels”, and submission to Sharia law are so antithetical to the Bible, someone in all of these experiences of the angel Gabriel was deceived and/or doing some deceiving! From the historical evidence, Muhammad was clearly trying to gain credibility for his “new faith” by misappropriating the ancient biblical angel. Indeed, the Bible warns us not to listen to “an angel from heaven” that may “preach” a message contrary to the gospel (Galatians 1:8). And it cautions us that “Satan himself is transformed into (masquerades as) an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The Koran borrows still more from the Bible. And it twists what the Bible says. It displaces Isaac (Abraham’s son of promise, Genesis 21:12) with Ishmael in the near-sacrifice of Isaac on Mt Moriah (Genesis 22:1-13) in the event which proved Abraham’s faith and obedience to God. The Koran claims that the Jewish Bible was mistaken out of prejudice, since Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn through Hagar, and that it was actually Ishmael who was the near-sacrifice that tested Abraham’s faith.
If this sounds like a grand manipulation, IT IS! The Jewish Temple was originally on the site of Mt Moriah, but in AD 688, the Dome of the Rock Mosque was built on the ruins of the Temple, and the Jews have been restricted to praying at a section of its remains, the Wailing Wall. Interestingly, many Bible teachers say a good description of the core characteristics of witchcraft is “control, domination, and manipulation”. The whole emphasis on submission to Sharia law in Islam is quite arguably “control and domination”. And the misappropriation of biblical truths and personages is “manipulation”.
The Bible also says “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (1 Samuel 15:23), and talks about the controlling and manipulating behavior of the evil Jezebel as “her witchcrafts” (2 Kings 9:22). If we practice control, domination and manipulation toward others in order to get our own way, we are doing what witches do with their spells and incantations. There are many systems which promote this in today’s world. Both Islam and evolutionism are two big systems in the promotion of rebellion against the God of the Bible, exercising control, domination, and manipulation.
For years now, Christians have decried the effects of multiculturalism and value relativism. These work toward a lowest common denominator of culture where values reduce to merely “tolerance” - yet become, in actuality, “intolerance” of Christian values. But contrary to what many Christians may think, biblical Christianity does not teach full accommodation of foreign entities. It teaches us to love and not mistreat foreigners (Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 10:17-19), but it also teaches us to practice caution, particularly toward those with corrupt ways. “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children (aliens, foreigners - in most other translations), whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood; that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace” (Psalm 144:11-12).
Though it may be politically incorrect today to preach as much, the Bible warns us not to “mingle (to mix or to blend) among the heathen”, and that this was a great mistake of the Jewish people in the promised land. It affected the faith of future generations. There comes a point when multiculturalism is simply overwhelming to a culture trying to maintain a basis in biblical principles and morality. If you blend water and sand, it becomes mud, and no longer quenches the thirst. Likewise, truth mingled with falsehood is transformed into a lie.
Today, whether in Europe or in America, we are seeing an intense push for open borders by the socialist, humanist, and political Left. And they are supported by liberal Christianity as well. Christianity has been infected by socialist “liberation theology”, and biblical compromise along with so-called “higher criticism” – much of it all rooted in and birthed out of an acceptance of evolutionism.
As we have noted before, there is a Tower of Babel tendency of unification around rebellion against God – a coming together in order to magnify mankind apart from his Maker. Mankind has a depraved desire to rebel, which is “as the sin of witchcraft”, and to do away with the true God of the Bible. Islam is one great manifestation of this - a political system which seeks forced submission to derail biblical faith. And evolution, the foundation for Humanism and Marxism (Socialism), is another huge manifestation of man’s rebellion against the one true God.
We have our mission cut out for us – to bear witness to the wonderful truth of the biblical Creator and Savior! A witness to our own culture, and to every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group until the “end of the age”! Many Muslims are actually pretty fed up with the oppressions of Islam. And it is no wonder that Iran is the fastest-growing Christian population in the world today! This year, we want to expand our radio outreach in the Middle East, in languages such as Arabic and Farsi (more on that later). And so we thank you, our wonderful supporters, for all your prayers and donations as we seek together to bring freedom to the captives and His true, undiluted light to the darkness!
Yours in Christ,
Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman
P.S. We just launched a powerful (and totally FREE) Creation Science toolkit to help your church grow in truth and faith! Today it is more important than ever to instill uncompromised biblical principles into the hearts and minds of every follower of Christ. And we’ve made it easy for you or your church staff to download a ZIP file of over 150 resource materials that will equip your congregation with just that! Get started by visiting the “For Churches” page on our website. Or call us at 800-422-4253.
In light of our recent collaboration video with the Dinosaur Soft Tissue Research Institute, I would also like to promote the brand new book, Fossil Tissues: Digging into the Biomaterial Mystery. Researchers are discovering more and more fossils with DNA, proteins, collagen, and other biomaterials still intact! How could they be much more than a few thousand years old?! Join ICR scientists as they examine these many findings and the failure of evolutionary theories to explain them. And if you haven’t seen our recent video, The Issue of Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones, you can find it easily on our YouTube channel.
Lastly, if you’d like to read more about Mt Moriah, “The Mountain of God,” then I highly recommend Where God Came Down: The Archaeological Evidence. Joel P. Kramer spends a full chapter on Mt Moriah in this inspired and extremely well-illustrated book. An exceedingly interesting read for you or a friend interested in the hard, archaeological evidence that supports our faith. You won’t want to miss out on this one!
To receive both of these wonderful resources – or to make a donation of any amount – visit our online store. Or call us toll-free at 1-800-422-4253 during regular office hours (Mon – Th 8:30am-4:30pm CT).
Image citation: Temple Mount from the southwest, Avram Graicer, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons, changes made.
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