Reading from that little verse
in Amos, very powerful question, can two walk together except
they be agreed? Then 2 Corinthians chapter 6,
beginning at verse 14, reading to the end of the chapter, 2
Corinthians 6 and verse 14. be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Belial, or the devil? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath a temple
of God with idols, for you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing,
and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord. Almighty. Verse 14 again, be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. Now, I would this morning that
you please allow me the liberty of repeating a part of the introduction
of the sermon two weeks ago today on that subject, One God, One
Savior, and One Way. And I told you at the time that
these things that we're saying are applicable to both of the
subject. And that is because more and
more there are coming calls for Christian churches to become
more tolerant and more diverse in their makeup, and also to
be more inclusive of those that are not necessarily Christian,
and to reach out and to establish a dialogue with the sworn enemies
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the stated aim of
that movement or that thinking goes something like this, to
foster better understanding toward other religion and to eradicate
bigotry towards anyone of a different religion and to avoid negative
stereotypes which some have against non-Christian religion, to promote
understanding and foster human brotherhood by finding a supposed
common ground between this religion and that one. And when there
is a public or a governmental function and they put on one
of their dog and pony shows, I want you to be aware, whether
it's an inauguration, it might be a funeral of some great dignitary,
it might be a public memorial, on account of one thing or another,
notice who they gather. They always gather together an
apostate, a Protestant minister, maybe a Catholic priest, a Jewish
rabbi might be included in the mix, a Muslim would be invited,
and these would speak and they would pray at this public memorial. And then The media goes into
a frenzy. How delighted they are to hear
all of these different faiths come together in unity. Now, we noted, I think earlier,
how many are saying that such as whole to biblical Christianity
Those that believe their Bible, those that are faithful in church
are regarded as bigots and as hate mongers in our society. We also noted our two purest
example, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul were not
in any sense an ecumenist as we look today. They were not
trying to mix the true and the false. They were not trying to
bring together those of different faiths, as it's called, or religion. In fact, God rebuked and he chastened
Israel when they reached out to the heathen, when they learned
the ways of the heathen, and took up any form of their worship. Jesus warned against false prophet,
and against deceiver, and against Antichrist, and against the leaven
of others. And Paul would not tolerate any
mixture of works or law with the gospel. And thanks be to
God, continually fought the battle for the pure, unadulterated gospel
and Christianity. Now with that behind us, let's
make our transition to our subject today. We are to consider a rather
new movement. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe
you have not. A movement, however, that seems
to be gaining strength here in the United States now, beginning
to get on its legs and to get some traction. And this movement
answers to the name or the nickname of Chrislam, C-H-R-I-S-L-A-M. What is Chrislam, you might ask? As its name implies, it is a
mixing together of the religions of Christianity and of Islam. It is a finding of some common
ground, a dialogue, as they like to call it, between Christian
and Muslim. See again the blending of the
two names together to form one new one. C-H-R-I-S. The first five letters of Christ
are of Christianity. And Islam, I-S-L-A-M, Islam. And Chrislam is the name of that
movement. when you try to bring two things
together that are so diverse. You'll pardon the very short
digression, but I started using the word chalmenion quite some
years ago. a reference to some who seek
to mingle together the doctrines of grace and the doctrine of
Arminianism. And yet, the bottom line is,
they do not preach the same gospel, nor do they have the same view
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the other. So chryslum, I even ran
across a new word which I had not heard before, and that is
the word chryslumology. That is, a study of, a science,
a knowledge. Chryslumology. Now this movement
has kind of sneaked up on us. Actually, it's kind of come in
under the radar. So I thought maybe a little history
and a little background might be in order that we understand
where we are going today. We haven't heard much about it
yet, maybe, but it is spreading, spreading in other countries
and even here. And if you want to read more
about it, Get on Google or ask Jeeves on the internet and you'll
find many websites there that you can go to with information
about it. There is a website called Act
for America, which exposes Islam for what it is. It was existent
in the 70s and strong in the country of Nigeria. And it was named Chrislam there,
I think, perhaps for the first time. And it described, quote,
a Nigerian syncretic religion which mixes elements of Christianity
and Islam, unquote. Now, there's a name in the United
States that many of you will recognize. You have heard it
and are familiar with it. And that is Robert Schuller of
the Cathedral Church in California. I read that he allegedly opened
an office call, quote, Christians and Muslims for peace. And he said when speaking to
an Islamic gathering that if he came back in a hundred years
from now and found that all of his ancestors were Muslim, quote,
it wouldn't bother him, unquote. Another name that popped up in
studying this that I keep finding is the pastor of a very large
mega church in California. I believe it goes under the name
of Baptist and is sometimes called the Purpose Driven Church. And I keep reading quotes from
this well-known preacher, such as, when invited to pray at the
presidential inauguration in Washington, use the Muslim name
for Jesus, Isa or Issa, of course you know. You know by now that
only compromising apostates ever get invited to participate in
these dog and pony show. No Bible believers are tolerated
are allowed. But when speaking this man to
the Islamic Society of North America is reported to have said
that Muslims and Christians must work together to combat stereotype,
promote peace and freedom, and solve global problems." Now the
author of the article from which I took that quote, very sarcastically
wrote, Christians and Muslims soulmates. Now this is the same
preacher who in 2006, in a national interview on national television,
said that he wanted to see Christians and Catholics united, that quote,
minor doctrinal differences, unquote, should not come between
them, and that they ought to work for a common good. Now, we'll come back to this
later and have more to say. But the question now is, how
does all of this relate to what Paul has written in the text
that we read in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14 through 18? What is it that gives rise to
these strong, stern warnings that Paul sent to the Corinthian
church. Let me quickly and very quickly
describe the character of the city of Corinth and the effect
that it had upon the populace and even into the church. It
was, as you may know, a seaport city, very large and very wicked. It had its share of pagan temples
and pagan worship that was there. Many of them devoted to this
deity or to that deity. Some of them Egyptian deities
and a temple. There was a temple where sacrifices
were offered by the heathen priest. And some in the Corinthian church
joined in there in the temple in eating and partaking of those
feasts. There was a temple of Venus that
was there. Part of their celebration and
part of their festival involved prostituting rituals about the
temple. How wicked was Corinth? Well, it spawned a name to Corinthianide. There was a saying to Corinthianide,
this was equal in meaning to committing fornication and adultery. And some in the Corinthian church
had come to equate sexual lewdness with a natural appetite of the
body. 1 Corinthians 6, 9-19 is where
you can look at that. So, in 2 Corinthians 6, verse
14 and following, Paul lays out here a general principle. Be not unequally yoke together
with unbelievers. John Gill thought that the words
are a response are that Paul may have had in his mind a scripture
like Deuteronomy 22 and verse 10 that forbid them to plow an
ox and a donkey together when plowing and cultivating their
field. It was an unequal yoke. an ox and a donkey. It was an unequal yoke, a clean
and an unclean according to the ceremonial law. It does not satisfy
me to restrict or apply this to the marriage union between
a Christian and an unbeliever. Note how Paul reasons it out. Be not so for, verse 14, what
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion
hath light with darkness? Be not so for, verse 15, what
concord or agreement hath Christ with Belial or Satan? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel or an unbeliever? Be not so, for verse 16, what
agreement or union has the temple of God with idols? And Paul reminds
believers that they are the temples of the living God, as the Spirit
of God indwelt them. And then Paul, as he frequently
does in his writings, cites a collection of Old Testament scripture to
confirm what he has written. And you'll see that in verse
16, the last part, through verse 18 of our text. God's promise
to be a father to those who are separated unto him. Now the question
is, what is the scope of Paul's teaching here? How broad are
these exhortation and instruction? For example, does he forbid the
marriage of a believer to an unbeliever? We must remember
he has already 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 12 through
14 allowed a union like that to continue. An unbeliever and
a believer. Or does he forbid any and every
imaginable association with people that are unbelievers to avoid
any contact, never meet them, not speak to them, not trade
with them, nothing to do with those that are unbelievers. Well, he's already said in 1
Corinthians chapter 5, verses 9 through 11, in order to do
this, you'd have to go completely out of the world. You must needs
be go out of the world. There will be some necessary
and unavoidable contact with this sort of people, even idolaters. Then I'd ask you in reasoning,
would you not see a doctor or a mechanic or trade with a merchant
that was an unbeliever? Not work for such, would you
carry it to that extreme? What then is Paul forbidding? I agree with Gil. Quote, in any
particular thing, if any particular thing is referred to, it is the
joining with unbelievers in the acts of idolatry, unquote. to not espouse their form of
worship. For this reason, and here's the
statement of the day, Christianity is unmixable with any other religion
upon the face of the earth. Now, with that in mind, let's
go back to this movement that is called Chrislam, or the mixing
of Christianity, and pick up a little more background and
a little more history. In the year 2007, over a hundred
Muslim clerics sent an open letter to some of the better known Christian
leaders in the country. The document was entitled, quote,
a common word between us," unquote. And the letter stated that the
two religions shared two crucial beliefs in common. Number one,
the love of the one God, and number two, the command to love
one another. Now, these Christian leaders,
so-called, rather than throw that in the garbage, or reply
in defense of Christianity and against Islam Instead of doing
that, a lot of these so-called leaders received the letter in
a positive way, and they responded to it, and they drafted a response. And the response was called,
quote, a Christian response to a common word between us, unquote. And it said in part, and I'm
quoting, before we shake your hand, We ask forgiveness of the
all-merciful One, that is a reference to Allah, and of the Muslim community
around the world, that so much common ground exists in some
of the fundamentals of faith, give hope that the differences
between us cannot overshadow the common ground upon which
we stand together." That's the Christian leader's response. Now after that, some so-called
Christian churches began to read passages from the Koran in their
supposed Christian worship services. And in some places, they placed
the Koran in the pew right alongside The Bible I read of a Presbyterian
church. It caught my attention Because
it is in Houston, Texas priest a sermon favorable to Islam and
this is a quote in addition to the sermon The Sunday school
lessons were centered on the inspired teachings of the Prophet
Mohammed." I read of a woman priest, a woman priest in the
Episcopal Church for 20 years, described herself as both a Christian
and a Muslim. On Sunday, she put on the robe
On Friday night, the scarf on her head and met with him. You remember that great hullabaloo
when a pastor from Florida announced that he was going to burn a Quran. It's been some time back. It
caused the worst stir you can imagine. It was all over the
news, what a hate monger this guy was, how intolerant he was. Well, then I read about another
pastor in Gainesville, Florida, announced that he, in response
to that, would include reading from the Koran as a part of his
worship service in the church. And this quote is attributed
unto him, quote, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all part
of the Abrahamic tree of faith. We all believe in the same God,
and in many aspects, we're trying to accomplish the same goals."
Now again, I say, what an anomaly. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,
soul mates. I think we ought to remind them,
the scripture teaches, Abraham had two sons, not one, but two. And we don't have time to get
into that. So let's weigh this then in the
light of 2 Corinthians chapter 6. and the passage that we have
read. What concord hath Jehovah with
Allah? What part or likeness has Christ
with Mohammed? What common ground between Christianity
and Islam? What agreement between a church
and a mosque? What likeness is there between
the Holy Bible and the Koran? Now we're going to ask, when
this goes out on the internet, those advocates of Chrislam,
what is the view of Christianity, what is the view of Islam with
regard to the person and the work of Jesus Christ? Christianity,
the scripture, the old creeds of the church, hold Christ to
be the eternal son of God, who became incarnate in the flesh
without sin, giving his life a ransom for his people. The one and only Savior from
sin, who died, who was buried, who rose again, exalted to sovereign
mediatorial administrator of salvation. higher than the heavens,
the scripture said. Well, then what, on the other
hand, is the Islamic view of Jesus Christ? What they say of
Christ, what do they call Him? Our blessed Lord and Savior. From what I've read and heard,
though Jesus is mentioned in the Koran, but that by another
name, Yet he is not to them the only begotten son of God, nor
is Jesus the Messiah, nor is he the savior of sinners, but
he was a prophet. I think the last of the prophets
appointed by Allah to prepare the way for the coming of the
great last prophet, Mohammed. That's their view of the Lord. Islam not only denies the deity
of Christ, they reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. And of course,
they reject the belief that salvation is only by grace through faith
in the person and work of Christ. nor do they accept our Bible
as divinely inspired, the Word of God. So pray tell then, how
can these two find common ground? How can these two find agreement
and walk together? How can there be a ground of
a merger between them? How can they walk How can they
worship together? Now, how did this come about?
Well, one reason is only those in Christendom who are already
apostate from the gospel and from the faith would embrace
Islam and pretend to find a common ground with a Christ-rejecting
religion. These so-called Christian leaders
have an infidel heart. They have a faulty view of Christ,
many of them denying the deity of Christ. They do not hold the
scripture to be the inerrant word of God. They hardly believe
in the fall of man or that man is a great sinner. Many of them
don't even believe in everlasting hell, nor in spiritual regeneration. And they are apostates against
Christ. They are perverters of the gospel. They are enemies of the cross
of our Lord. They are apostate is evident
by the fact that they find more common ground with Islam and
other false religion than they do with pure biblical Christianity. They find more fellowship with
Islam than pure biblical Christianity. Of course, it is no surprise
where Islam then could find a foothold in the Christendom, get its foot
in the door, where the camel could get its nose under the
tent. And it is no surprise who would
respond favorably to Islam's overtures to have, quote, a common
word between us, unquote. They appealed to the apostate
part of Christendom, knowing many of them would take the bait
and swallow the hook, knowing that would be so. What they might
call the religious left, I guess we could call them that. Well,
they are the ones to turn Christ and set aside the scripture and
sacrifice truth for unity. That's a cardinal sin, to sacrifice
truth for unity. We have to drive home the point. The God of Christianity, the
God of Islam, is not one and the same. They are not one and
the same God, as some in the Chrislam movement portend. The two are not interchangeable. It is not true. what the former
president said, that Christians, Jews, Muslims all worship the
same God. It's not true. When a Christian
says God, he means Jehovah, the God of the Bible, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a Muslim says God, he means
Allah. And it is the position of Christianity
that only Jehovah God has a right to be worshipped. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Exodus 20 and verse 3. Again, 2 Kings 17 and verse 35. Ye shall not fear other gods,
nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice unto
them. Isaiah 44 and verse 6, I'm the
first and the last beside me, there is no God. Psalm 86 and
10, thou art God alone. And one more, Isaiah 42 and 8,
my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto others. On the other hand, it is the
teaching of Islam that none has the right to be worshipped but
Allah. And one of Allah's apostles is
quoted as saying, quote, I have been ordered to fight with the
people till they say none has the right to be worshipped but
Allah, unquote. Matthew 6, 24. no man can serve
two masters, so neither can anyone serve two gods who both claim
exclusivity of worship. Even so, none can embrace Islam
without compromising and rejecting Christianity, just as the Jew
could not embrace the law of works without rejecting Christ
and the gospel. This is an unholy alliance an
unholy mixture. When Christianity is mixed with
Islam, it is no more Christianity. It is something else. It is spoiled
altogether in mixing it with some other religion. The Jews
sought mightily to Judaize Christianity, so Chrislam is seeking to Islamicize
Christianity, and they use the traitorous apostates and Judases
who sell out Christianity for 30 pieces of silver or a mess
of pottage. Now, when I speak like this or
anyone else speaks like this, we can expect two responses from
the world. Number one, they will say that
we are hate mongers, that we are spewing out hate and bigotry,
division, stereotyping, using hate speech, guilty of religious
intolerance. And this is their way to bully
us into keeping our mouth shut for the truth of our almighty
God. They call us names and all sort
of things in order that they might bully us into silence and
deflect the criticism. Secondly, there are those calls
for more religious tolerance. Be more tolerant, they say. Islam
is a religion of peace. I say, my hind foot it is. It is the most intolerant religion
upon the face of the globe. You go to a Muslim country, hand
out some Bibles, try to start a Christian church, preach the
gospel of Christ, and you'll find out how tolerant they are. It's not allowed in their country. Now, it's not that I'm much of
a fan of Winston Churchill, on my rating scale, politicians
are tied with rabid dogs and lawyers. But these quotes are
attributed unto him, Winston Churchill. Quote, no stronger
retrograde force exists in the world than Islam," unquote. Again, and this was in 1899,
Islam to a man is like rabies unto a dog, unquote, 1899. Of course, that was before the
birth of political correctness in the world. Now, speaking of
their intolerance, Have you heard of honor killings? Have you heard
of that, honor killings? When a Muslim parent murders
their own daughter because she fell in love with someone from
the West, someone of another race or another religion. There have been some of this
already in America that has occurred. Now, time is almost gone. We
have not spoken of two things, jihad and Sharia law. Those are very interesting. You
want to make a study in private and on your own. Jihad is a religious
holy war against infidels fought by Muslims in the name of Mohammed. Now, some today in Kristallnacht
are trying to spin this jihad as being simply an internal struggle
to become a better person. Now, if that were so, it would
not require blowing up any building. or anyone. Sharia law is the
religious law of the Muslims in the Quran and the sayings
of Muhammad. Some countries are having a lot
of trouble right now with Muslims and Sharia law. And as their
numbers increase, And when they have the strength, then they
begin to press for Sharia law. I predict you'll see it in places
in America. In fact, our people tell me it's
already in places somewhere in America. Now, for those who chafe
at Christian principle being put under some law that has a
Christian principle about it, you know, people are always saying,
oh, you're trying to force religion on me, passing laws that come
out of the Bible. Well, if you chafe at that, you
just wait for Sharia law to come. Now, in closing, Christianity
and Islam is an unholy union. And let this warning be heard
by those that are out there on the internet. You are in an apostate
church if it espouses Chrislam or Islam. You're not in a church
that's loving and friendly and holding forth the example of
Jesus. You are in an apostate church. If you never hear the gospel,
if you never hear the deity of Christ, if the preacher would
as soon read from the Koran as from the Bible, then watch out. Here are some danger signs. The
pastor gives little credit. to the inerrancy of the scripture. And a woman may be the music
director, or a woman might even be the pastor. Maybe secular
speakers come in to lecture on psychology in the services, doing
away with the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
for little ditties flashed upon the screen or upon the wall. Young people running around banging
on drums and electric guitars. Run, friend, I say run. Run, run, the ship is sinking. We have only scratched the surface
this morning in this matter, but suffice it to say, Christianity
is unmixable with any other religion, and particularly and especially
Islam, there is nothing in common, there is no agreement to be found
or to be had. Christianity is the religion
of the scripture, it preaches the gospel, it preaches the deity
of Christ and the salvation of grace. That you won't find in
Islam.