Muslim God, Christian God
By Author John R. VanBuskirk

While growing up, an argument kept surfacing on the playground among my buddies, "Who was greater Batman or Spiderman?" The controversy was always fueled by a second, explosive question, "In a fight, who would win?" Often, shouting matches erupted and occasionally pushes and shoves punctuated the debate.

Recently, similar arguments have occurred among my new playground buddies, "Who is greater, the God of Christians or the God of Muslims? Who would win a battle, the Nation of Islam with Allah in their corner or Christendom with the God of the New Testament?"

"Christians," someone determines, "because the three Gods of the Holy Trinity could handle one Muslim God." Someone else, however, is quick to remind that the New Testament God is only one God - one with three unique natures but only one entity. Hence, no advantage. "Allah would win," a third person declares, "because the Christian God is a pacifist - love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek…"

Whereas, this spiritual sparring was lighthearted before, the recent events in the world have made this a serious, contemporary issue. Surely, each of us holds a distinct fear that an actual battle between the West and Islam could erupt with both sides proclaiming Truth. A showdown between the Christian God and the God of Islam is possible.

Many believe that Christians and Muslims recognize the same God. The truth, however, is that the essence of the two Gods are not alike, and equally important, the two religions must sternly deny the existence of the other God. Every Muslim rejects the God of the New Testament or he blasphemes Allah. Every Christian must reject the essence of Allah or he denounces his personal relationship with God and thus forfeits his inheritance - eternal salvation.

This essay will describe why the God of the Qur'an is not the God of the New Testament and why the God of the Trinity is the true essence of our Creator. I'll separate the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in my comparisons with Allah and include the role of the Blessed Mother, as well.

Why is this essay an important article? Personally, if I'm wrong (if Allah, is in fact, the true God), I will be living for eternity in Muslim hell. Collectively, if you and I are wrong, we'll be playing together in a place described in the Qur'an as "covered with fire and tormented by pestilential winds and scalding water".

Backgound
The God of the New Testament and Allah share a common heritage described in the Old Testament and are recognized for their power and wisdom. They are also both recognized as being merciful, compassionate, and just. Christians and Muslims share the belief that Adam was the first man, that we are all children of Abraham, and that Moses was sent by God to rescue the Israelites.

Like Christians, Muslims believe that God has spoken through messengers and prophets. The Qur'an explains that Allah revealed Himself to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but in each case, the message that God delivered to each prophet was deliberately changed and distorted by perverse men. Early Christians, for example, were said to have falsified the scripture and invented the Resurrection. Generations of Christians (you and I) have therefore been misguided and are thus victims of these terrible falsehoods.

Islam believes that Allah sent down His final revelation through Mohammed and that the Qur'an is the definitive Word of God which will never be distorted or lost. The word of Mohammed, as preserved in the Qur'an, superseded all previous revelations and confirms the Truths of the Old and New Testaments. Mohammed was the last and greatest prophet of Islam. He was born about 570 years after Christ.

Allah vs. The Father
The name, Islam, literally means "submission" to God's will. In relationship to humanity, the essence of Allah is Master, Owner, and Possessor, while the essence of Muslim men and women is that of subservience. God's creatures are His slaves, servants, and property. Muslims submit to God, living face-to-face with Allah at all times. They pray five times a day, always facing the holy city of Mecca. Wherever a Muslim lays his prayer mat is the house of Allah. The Nation of Islam submits to Allah by obeying the moral and legal ordinances described in the Qur'an, adhering to rules regarding marriage and divorce, and accepting penalties for crimes against the Master.

For Christians, the essence of God is Father - the Perfect Father, who fathered a Perfect Son, and who has a Perfect Family (the Church). Jesus started a religious revolution when He taught his disciples to not only address God as Father but Abba - Papa, the most intimate term of endearment between a parent and child. Christ revealed God's true essence when describing the father of the prodigal son and the good shepherd who leaves his flock to search for lost sheep. Christ told mankind to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven…" Today, we proclaim, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty…" and eagerly announce to the world, "Glory be to the Father!"

In Galatians, St. Paul proclaims, "You are no longer a slave but a son! And the fact that you are a son makes you an heir by God's design." Six hundred years later, the Qur'an rebuked this revelation. According to Islam, the notion of Abba and Paul's declaration are two falsehoods created by perverse Christians to lead the faithful away from the True God.

A Muslim might say, "I own a dog and I love my dog but tomorrow I will be moving to a new city. My new home does not allow pets, and even though my dog is my pet and I love my dog, I will kill it before I move. It will be nobody else's animal." Islam declares that Allah loves his creatures, but in the same way the master loves his pet. There is no intimacy between God and man. Allah loves like a master not like a father.

Referring to God as "Abba" is considered a great blasphemy to Muslims. For Christians, however, the term brings great comfort, closeness, and hope. This is a serious demarcation between the identities of the two Gods and a point of outrage for both Christians and Muslims. A Muslim must therefore reject the God of Christians. Christians, on the other hand, joyfully accept the revelation that we are God's sons and daughters and that we are heirs by the Creator's design. To accept Allah, a Christian would not only insult The Father but also reject his or her deserved inheritance - eternal salvation.

Clearly, this division of faith is worth standing-up for.

The Son vs. Allah
According to Islam, Adam, who knew God in the Garden of Eden, was the first prophet. Although Muslims tell of Adam eating the forbidden fruit, they do not acknowledge the Old Testament's notion of Original Sin. The Qur'an explains that the fall in the Garden was not the result of sin but rather due to an error in the prophet's judgment. Adam's act, therefore, did not taint humanity with the consequences described in Genesis nor necessitate the cry for a Redeemer.

After Adam, Allah revealed Himself to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. According to the Qur'an, Jesus was born of a Virgin who was "purified above all women". He spoke from the cradle and worked miracles through the power of Allah. Jesus, who holds a unique place among the prophets, was the Word of God and a Spirit from God. Islam, however, sternly rejects the idea that the man was the Son of God. It also rationalizes that since Adam did not originate sin in the Garden of Eden, there was no collective guilt of humanity for Jesus (or any alternative from God) to atone. According to the Qur'an, Jesus did not die on the cross or resurrect from the dead as early Christians fictionalized. Instead, Allah took Jesus to Himself after the Jews rejected the prophet. Muslims believe that Allah will justify Jesus before the end of the world.

Christians believe in Original Sin and in the Incarnation, Atonement, and Resurrection of Christ. Jesus is the second part of the Holy Trinity. Catholics go further and believe that the Eucharist is the actual body of Christ and revere each little host as they would God. Martyrs have died for two thousand years for the Eucharist. Islam refutes the deity of Christ. According to Muslims, Christian worship of Christ as the Messiah, although sincere, is blasphemous to the One True God. Since Allah has no sons and Allah needs no sons, the notion of Christ as the second part of the Trinity contradicts the Oneness of Allah and is polytheistic in origin. The Eucharist, Muslims declare, is meaningless (since there wasn't a sacrifice or a need for sacrifice at Calvary) and results in a clear form of idolatry that billions of Catholics commit routinely at Mass.

Muslims, although they revere Jesus as a great prophet, is undoubtedly anti-Christ. Points of serious conflict arise in the Qur'an that should force all Christians to strongly question the Islamic faith. One serious question, "Is the tremendous growth of Islam possibly fueled by the Demonic?" After all, the essence of the Demonic is the obsessive contempt (and rejection) of the Cross - a characteristic of Islam. It is crucial for all Christians to understand that even though Islam glorifies God and adheres to strict disciplines of the Qur'an in honor of God, the faith rejects the Truth of the Cross. The 1.2 billion Muslims in the world today, although certainly pro-Jesus, are clearly anti-Christ. God says, "I am who am." The Demonic says, "I am Who am not."

For a Christian to ignorantly recognize Islam as a beautiful and inspiring religion is extremely dangerous to the world and contrary to the design of God

Allah vs. The Holy Spirit
Consistent with rejection of the Holy Trinity, Muslims believe that the notion of the Holy Spirit was also created by evil men and is a blasphemy to the Oneness of Allah.

Christians believe that Christ gave His Holy Spirit to each of us, so that in our hearts and in the depths of our being, we'd have an inner drive (a restlessness) that would leads us to know and call God Abba and Himself Savior. Whereas, humanity can only know the Father through the Son (because the love of the Father gave us His Son), it can only know the Son through the Spirit. You and I know the Son, not by studying the motives and credibility of scripture, or by accepting the words of the prophets (or the Qur'an), or by witnessing miracles, but through the Spirit who has taken possession of our intellect, our personal will, and our bodies. We know sin, not just because we know God's laws, but through the Holy Spirit who has awakened our consciousness to offenses against the Father and the Son. And why do Christians seek conversion and repentance? Not because we fear the wrath of God, but because the Spirit inspires us to reconcile with Our Father and with Our Brother, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is a powerful and wide-sweeping reality. We know that Christianity spread because the Spirit motivated the twelve Apostles to speak and venture into foreign lands. Today, the Spirit continues to motivate. The apparitions of Medjugorje have been occurring for twenty years but the Roman Catholic Church doesn't officially recognize them or publicize Our Lady's warnings. It is important for us to understand the importance (and beauty) of the Holy Spirit in association with the apparitions and the Church's silence. It is because of the Holy Spirit that the Truth of Medjugorje has spread to all four corners of our planet, despite the silence of the Church. It is reported that 127 million pilgrims have traveled to the small Croatian village (because of impulses generated by the Spirit) and all have returned to their countries to spread the news by word of mouth. Thousands (including Michael Jones who maintains www.MedjugorjeUSA.org) have instigated newsletters, e-mail distributions, and websites to educate the world. It is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Apostles to spread the Gospels person-to-person, town-to-town, two thousand years ago. Whereas many point to the silence of the Church with frustration, I personally rejoice. The Spirit of Medjugorje does not reside in an organization but rather in the souls of each believer.

Man without the Holy Spirit focuses exclusively on himself (I, me, myself) and cannot do good for others. Without the Spirit, there is only one reason why a person would totally submit himself to God - fear, the type of fear experienced by a slave or a prisoner. The Holy Spirit, however, introduces mankind to a new love principle, one that results in a spiritual impulsiveness for us to do good (to seek holiness). Through this new love principle, the Holy Spirit unifies our activities and motivates each of us so that we can do the will of the Father and the Son and so that we can better know and please Abba and our Savior. When the Spirit dwells upon us, we can do Christ's will - not because we fear living for eternity in a hell "covered with fire and tormented by pestilential winds and scalding water" but because we want to.

Freedom of choice, which is so fundamental and crucial to Americans, is woven into the fabric of Christianity, and not Islam. It is certainly a freedom that we must recognize so, if necessary, we can fight to ensure it is never taken away.

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The contention that Mary is the Mother of God is unacceptable to Islam. Although the Qur'an tells that Mary was chosen by Allah (above all women) and describes the Immaculate Conception, the holy book declares that the son of the Virgin is only the Messenger of God - a prophet who is highly honored in our world and stationed near God in heaven.

From a Catholic point of view, God's plan of redemption not only focuses on Jesus but also Mary - the Second Eve, the Mother of the God, and the Mother of the Church. Catholics believe that the Blessed Mother's role in God's divine plan did not cease at the glorification of her Son on Calvary two-thousand years ago. We believe that Our Lady holds back the hand of God's Judgment from striking our world in just punishment for its many crimes. Last year, the Vatican gave us a magnified image that reveals the importance of Mary in our lives when it released the infamous Secret of Fatima. In her letter, Sister Lucia described how she and her two cousins "saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand. Flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand." The Blessed Mother continues to delay the Final Judgment and begs us to pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners, the reparation of sin, and the salvation of the world!

Through apparitions, locutions, and spiritual inspirations, the Blessed Virgin continues to cultivate the faith by begging the world to accept the glorious existence of God, by warning mankind of the ramifications of its sins and apathy, and by delivering remedies for salvation - prayer, fasting, reading the Bible, confessing sins, and receiving Holy Communion. These are messages of Fatima and Medjugorje. These are the messages of Our Father, the good shepherd, for his lost (sinful) sheep. Two thousand years ago, He created Mary to deliver the Word of God (to give birth to the Word of God). Today, His most perfect creation continues to fulfill that role.

In the end, we believe that Christ will again turn to his Blessed Mother and this time say, "Woman, behold thy Sons and Daughters." And to those who listened to the Word of God, He will say, "Sons and daughters behold thy Mother!"

What a great sadness it is for someone who has experienced the love and comfort of a Mother, the patience and resolve of a Mother, the encouragement and faith of a Mother, to witness someone who may never experience the joy of having a Mother. I think of the billion orphaned Muslims of the world and pray that someday they discover their Mother.

Conclusion
So, who is the True God?

I believe (and pray) that the God of the New Testament - the God of the Holy Trinity, is the One True God. I believe God is Abba, Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and equally important, the Eucharist is God. The true essence of God's glory is not might or power. It's love - Fatherly love, Sacrificial (agape) love, Inspirational love, and when God hangs from the Cross in love of us, His love is manifested most clearly.

So, if there is only One True God, who is Allah?

Whenever there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there is always a strong effort brought forth by the Diabolic. For example, when Moses performed miracles, the magicians of Pharaoh were able to duplicate many of them. Centuries before the birth of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, three "great spiritual teachers" - Siddhartha (the Buddha), Confucius, and Lao Tsu (The Tao de Ching) spread their atheist philosophies across Asia. Centuries after Christ, Mohammed received his revelation and the religion of Islam was born. The timing of these spiritual revolutions makes me seriously wonder if the Diabolic was possibly the source of each man's revelation and motivation. I find it puzzling that the Qur'an rebukes all previous revelations from the New Testaments and explicitly rejects the notion of Christ as savior and Christ on the Cross. I find it interesting that the Qur'an establishes so many Islam ordinances and laws (like the length of a man's beards) just centuries after Jesus taught the world just two - love God first and foremost in your life and love thy neighbor. Before Christ, the Jews and Gentiles also had an abundance of laws and ordinances. It seems as if the hands of time were turned back when Islam was born.

So, who would win a battle, the God of Christians or Allah?

The God of the Christians wins without a doubt because there is no greater strength and determination than that of a father who is protecting his children. Who wins a fight between two equal heavyweights when one is fighting for his family and the other for his possessions? The father because he has everything to lose when his family is threatened. He will not accept defeat.

Why is all of this important?

A society becomes like the God it worships. You and I are like the one we worship and it is not a coincidence that the Muslim culture accepts slavery and that Muslim men treat woman as chattel. It is not coincidence that Muslims see nothing wrong with using the sword to force conversions and to enslave those who will not convert to Islam. (Again, we must question who the source of Mohammed's revelation was.)

Americans and the world must understand the differences of the God of the New Testament and the God of the Qur'an. Christians need to be educated and fight the insurgence of Islam. We must fear a people who look upon themselves as nothing more than Allah's slaves and his property. We must pray to Our Father, to protect us from those who are authorized to enslave and approved to kill those who won't allow themselves to be enslaved.

Lastly, we must understand that we are also a critical part of God's plan for redemption. We must cultivate the faith and lead others to know our God. It is not enough to be submissive to God, to grovel and focus on our submission and weakness. Each of us, as sons and daughters of God, must be fruitful and multiple. We must grow the family of God - and not through force (which is rape) but through Love. We must be prepared to discuss our faith, defend our faith, and execute our faith.

If you didn't during Christmas season, remember to build a manger in your heart so that the Christ child can still be born within you. It's never too late.

God Bless.
JVB