"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) As can be seen from this verse, Christians have a responsibility to question any messenger that says he is from God. In 1 John 4:2-3, John identifies those spirits or messengers that deny Jesus Christ has come in the flesh are not of God. In 1 John 2:22, John states that he who denies Jesus is the Christ is a liar, and in 1 John 4:15 he states, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” As we can see from these verses, when an individual claims to deliver a message from God, the first question a Christian should have is who does the messenger say Jesus is? So what does the Koran say about Jesus who is the Christ? In Sura 9:30 it states, "The Jews call ‘Uzair (Ezra) a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say.” Finally, the Koran teaches that Jesus was a prophet and messenger and nothing more.
In Sura 5:75 it states, "Christ, the son of Mary, was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God makes His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!"
Islam teaches that Jesus is not the Son of God and all that believe it are lost. In this country, our Muslim friends have the right to practice and teach such. However, this same right (which is not recognized in several Islamic countries) allows us to remind our Muslim friends of the words of the Son of God when He says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” To our fellow Christians we remind you of the words of Paul when he says in Galatians 1:8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Charles Royal,
Decatur AL
