Defining Christian Fundamentailism:
A response to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood "Christian Extremism"
Doug S. Grauman

On the website, 'Islam for Today,'¹ featured writer, Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood - a Muslim and self-professed former Christian, analogizes that Christian Fundamentalism is as far off the mark as Islamic Fundamentalists are. In reading through her biased, uninformed definition of Christian Fundamentalism, I quickly realized that the basis for her argument was misrepresentative of the tenets of literal Christendom. Therefore, we know from basic logic that a conclusion can never be true when one or both premises are false. So, let's take a look at her position.

I have broken down, paragraph by paragraph, her article, which is indented in black font below. My response follows each paragraph in blue.

"According to the evangelicals so influential in today's America, only 'born again' Christians are on their way to Heaven, the Jews are doomed and the rest of us including non 'born again' Christians are not really on God's 'radar screen' at all until He calls us forth to be slain at Armageddon."

Jesus Christ - God, Jehovah, Elohim, Yahew - does not call "..you forth to be slain.." but rather gives every man a clear choice.

John 14:6

"..Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Romans 10:9-13

"...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

The alleged 'doom' she references will be by one's own hand as it will be their individual choice whether to accept or deny His truth. For those who reject Him, it will have been their choice.

Matthew 7:13-14

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Matthew 7:21-23

"Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

To say that God has appointed us for wrath, without any choice, is misrepresentative of the New Testament.

I Thessilonians 5:9

"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ"

If one chooses to deny Him, then they must live with the eternal consequences of that choice.

"During my stay at ISNA headquarters in Plainfield, I was granted the opportunity to read through Grace Halsell's startling book 'Forcing God's Hand', Crossroads International Publishing, Washington DC, 1999. The effect upon me was to leave me in a state of some shock - for what was being presented in these pages as an increasingly common form of Christianity in the USA had virtually nothing to do with the Christianity I had grown up with and studied as a university student reading Christian Theology."

On what basis could she conclude that 'Christianity' taught in a 'university,' foreign or domestic, would be the Gospel's gold standard? Is she that naïve? Public universities do not make it a practice to teach Christianity directly from the Inspired Word of God but rather substitute the Bible with a classroom text written by fallible man who holds pre-conceived biases. And guess what? Those biases are then purposely integrated into the professor's message making it difficult for students to discern what 'God said' versus what the professors says 'God said.' Such left-wing activism is widespread throughout universities all over the world, especially in the United States.² Attempting to learn the Gospel message by any means other than the Bible can be dangerous - that's how cults flourish.

"I managed to graduate in that field, with my main interest being Trinitarian Studies and Doctrine, in 1963. I am also English, and I should imagine from what I read that the kind of Christian background we have in the UK is very different from that in the USA,..."

Christianity is not a religion, God is not a book, and your church can not save you from your sins despite how large your offering may be. It is about an interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ - not a fallible prophet who murdered and raped, but rather God, come-in-the-flesh, who arose and conquered death so that, by grace, through faith, you too can be saved.

"...if we can assume that Grace Halsell has presented her case fairly."

She studied theology, yet she requires someone else to define for her 'Christian Fundamentalism' even though it numbers well over 300 million? I would recommend she first set aside all Biblical preconceptions, then pick up the Bible and pray to God for His guidance and understanding so that the "...veil is taken away." (II Corinthians 3:14-16) and begin to read and study for herself.

I Corinthians 1:18

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

"It comes as a great shock to me, for when I read the accounts of their major tenets and beliefs, it really just seemed like a great deal of nonsense."

I'd be curious to learn what 'tenets' she used as 'God's benchmark' to reach her conclusion that ours are "..a great deal of nonsense." If her God can save her, why does it matter what we believe? Since I, unlike her, can say that I do speak for Christian Fundamentalism, let's review our statement of faith:

1) There is one living and true God. He is triune and reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes but without division of His nature, His essence, or His being.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 23:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6

2) The scriptures were written by men divinely inspired by God who is the author. The scriptures are inerrant, true, and trustworthy.
Psalm 119:89; Luke 21:33; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:19-21

3) We believe in a recent, literal, six-day creation.
Genesis 1, 2, 3, 5, 7:6, 9:28, 11, 17:24, 21:5, 25:7, 25:26, 35:28, 47:28; Exodus 7:7, 12:40-41, 20:11, 31:17; Deuteronomy 34:7; I Samuel 13; I Kings 2:10-11, 6:1, 11:42; Luke 3:23-38

4) God revealed Himself in the flesh in the form of Jesus Christ and came to live as a perfect and sinless man. He gave Himself to be the blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin by dying on the cross to redeem us that through Him we have the opportunity for eternal life.
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18,22-23; 16:16 ;28:5-6; Luke 22:70; John 1:1-5,14; 10:30; 14:10-11; 16:28; 20:17; Acts 2:22-24; 7:46; Romans 5:8; 8:1-3,34; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-22; 2:9; Titus 2:13-14; 1 John 5:9; Revelation 19:16

5) Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place, defeated death, arose three days later, and will return again with power and glory to judge the world.
Acts 2:24; Romans 5:6-21; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:28

6) We are created in God's Image. Once mankind was innocent of sin until through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed God's commands and fell from innocence and inherited a sinful nature that is always deviated toward sin.
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:7,18-22; 3:1-24; 9:6; Psalm 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; Jeremiah 17:5; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:18-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11

7) We believe in the immersion water baptism of believers.
Matthew 3:13-17; 28:18-20; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 8:36-39; 16:30-33; Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12

Since she does not specifically identify what is "nonsense," I'm unable to address any potential discrepancies. Perhaps her real beef is not with Christian Fundamentalists but rather with God Himself!

"It had virtually no point of contact whatsoever with the church teaching, mission work and theology with which I have been involved one way or another for over fifty years, firstly as a Christian theologian myself, and then as a Muslim."

Really "...church teaching..."? What church, John Spong's, Left-Wing Church of England's teachings? She is beginning to develop a pattern of using man's fallible ways to represent God's infallible ways. When did 'church teaching' supersede the Holy, Inspired, Word of God? I am puzzled why she refuses to let God's Word defend itself.

Being a 'Christian Theologian' does not save one from their sins. It's apparent to me that she had no relationship with Jesus Christ because if she had, there would be no way she would turn from truth to worship a lie.

II Peter 2:18-22

"For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."

How is our statement of faith irrelevant to scripture? I don't doubt it may be irrelevant to her church background because apparently she once believed the church could save her and that is why she found it so easy to convert to a 'religion' and follow a teaching that is not divine, was written by man, has been changed over the years, and can't save her from her sins.

"I give just one quote from Hal Lindsey's 'The Late Great Planet Earth' to give a flavour of what I am talking about: 'Think of it! At least 200 million soldiers from the orient, with millions more from the forces of the West.....Messiah Jesus will strike those who have ravaged His city in Jerusalem. Then He will strike the armies massed in the valley of Megiddo (or Armageddon). No wonder blood will stand to the horses' bridles for a distance of 200 miles from Jerusalem. ...This whole valley will be filled with war materials, animals, bodies of men, and blood! It seems incredible! The human mind cannot conceive of such inhumanity of man to man, yet God will allow man's nature to fully display itself that day. Every city of the world will be destroyed - London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago - obliterated!' Bible references are sifted for prophecies of a future world-wide nuclear war. The Antichrist due to come before all this has been 'recognised' already, many times, in such people as Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Milosovic. There is presumably another 'Beast' to come.

II John 2:18-22

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

Can she list any examples of fulfilled prophecies in the Qur'an? Does she realize how many I could list from the Old and New Testament that were fulfilled to the exact day? And let's not leave out that the oldest book of the Bible - Job - was written some 4,300 years ago and the newest book - Revelation - was written 1,930 years ago - over 750 years before the Qur'an.

If both Jesus and Mohammed [the vines] were equally sent by God [the root] to serve in similar roles, why did Mohammed kill, rape, and murder [fruit] whereas Jesus loved and healed [fruit]? Fruit, grown from the same root, always produces the same fruit.

Matthew 7:15-20

"'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree [Christianity] bears good fruit, but a bad tree [Islam] bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits [actions] you will know them."

Islam's seeds [roots] were sewn in violence, which is why all of Islam today is either at war with itself, or at war with its neighbors [fruits]. Jesus sewed seeds [roots] of compassion, love, and forgiveness, which is why Christians want you to be saved from your sins [fruits], not behead you.

Can she give me an example of any miracle Mohammed performed? Why would Jesus - God in the flesh, send an infallible man to do the "work of the Father.."? Why do you suppose Jesus - God in the flesh, and the prophets made no mention of Mohammed - ever?

Acts 4:12

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

"Some of this may sound familiar to Muslims who have considered how the end of the world will come, with the prophecies of the Dajjal and so forth. However, 'born-again' Christians will have the good fortune to escape all the suffering of nuclear holocaust, because God will cause them to be taken up alive into the heavens before all this takes place, where they will have a grandstand view of everyone else being destroyed.

This statement competes with some of the most ignorant I have ever read. Where in the world does she come up with the idea, "...they will have a grandstand view of everyone else being destroyed."? Such a statement speaks more about her fear of Truth than it does about her ignorance of Christian Fundamentalism. The rapture of the church is not for the purpose of gathering the saved at a back yard bar-b-que in heaven to watch those who rejected truth slaughter each other - we already see such things today all over the Muslim world. The God of creation - my God - is a patient God.

II Peter 3:9

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Christ will descend and 'snatch away' his true followers. This belief is not actually any part of the teachings of Jesus, but is based on a couple of verses of St Paul's, namely, First Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Really? Jesus never taught about the rapture of the church? And such a view is based on a few verses? Pardon me a moment as I can not pardon such an ignorant statement. Let's review what the Bible says about the 'rapture of His church.'

The First and Second Advents of Jesus - God come in the flesh - are both described in Titus. Notice that the Second Advent is divided into two phases: The coming of Jesus for his saints (his parousia, the event we call the rapture) and his coming in glory (his epiphaneia,) with his saints:

Titus 2:11-14

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, [the First Advent of Jesus] teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope [the rapture] and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [the Second Coming in glory] who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

Jesus Himself said He will come for his bride - the true church - at an unexpected hour. This is made clear by the use of the term "like a thief in the night." Seven years later Jesus will be publicly unveiled on earth, with his saints:

Matthew 24:36-44

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

I Thessalonian 4:16-5:11

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.."

The Greek word used to describe the return of the Lord Jesus for his church, "parousia," occurs in II Peter 1:16, I Cor. 15:23, I Thess. 3:13, 4:15, 5:23; II Thess. 2:1, James 5:7,8, II Peter 3:4, Matthew 24:3, 27, 37; I John 2:28. The Greek word means an arrival (presence) and a consequent remaining with someone.

In modern day terms, this event is called the rapture of the church. As you will note in what Paul says about it, it is intended to be a source of comfort to Christians. It means that one whole generation of Christians will not physically die, but will pass directly into a glorified state, as Jesus did on the Mount of Transfiguration before the astonished eyes of Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:2).

Don't let your imagination run away with you in trying to conceive what this event will be like. It is highly likely that it will not be visible to the world. It will be unseen and unfelt, with no disturbance of graves and nothing to indicate that anything has happened other than the strange disappearance of millions. Just as the body of Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and passed out through the tomb in which he had resided without any physical manifestation whatever, so this event will take place. The stone was not rolled away from Jesus' tomb to let him out; it was rolled away to let the disciples in-so they could see what had happened. When Peter came in and found the grave clothes still lying as though wrapped around a body, but with the body absent, he was convinced that something unusual had occurred. So this will be a silent event, recognizable only by the unexplained disappearance of many.

I Corinthians 15:51,52

"Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed."

The whole point of our Lord's revelation of this fantastic event is, as he puts it, "Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Do not be deceived, do not be misled or swept off your feet by the persuasive lies of unbelief in this day. Do not be distracted by the siren sounds of a deceived society which vainly imagines that all will go on forever as it does now.

II Peter 3:3-7

"knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Do not be deterred in your service by the growing power of evil or the dark gloom of deluded men who can switch suddenly from glowing optimism to shuddering despair. The great removal can come at any time.

The Second Coming of Jesus in power and great glory openly before the whole world is described by the Greek word epiphaneia, which means a shining forth. This word occurs in I Tim. 6:14, II Tim. 4:1-8; II Thess. 2:8, Titus 2:13.

When Jesus speaks about his return he is not referring to a single moment of time when he will appear, but his talking about a return that covers a period of time. It will begin with a secret arrival, when he will come "like a thief in the night." This will be the beginning of his "presence." But that presence will continue throughout all the time of trouble on earth, but behind the scenes, as it were, invisible to the world. Then, "after the tribulation of those days," he will manifest his presence visibly, appearing in power and great glory.

This invisible presence of Jesus on earth is not something wholly new. During the forty days after his resurrection he was in exactly this condition. He appeared and disappeared among his disciples and they never knew when he was coming or when he would go. He was suddenly there, and just as suddenly gone. For forty days this manifestation went on until he ascended into heaven. When he comes again he will resume the same relationship to the believers, including Ruqaiyyah, of that time. The church will be caught up to be with Him, to join Him in that remarkable presence during the terrible days of trouble on earth.

This meaning is the only way to make sense of Jesus' revelation in Matthew 24 of His return to earth in the last days. There He describes a coming in power and glory immediately following the terrible time of trouble that He calls "the great tribulation" and the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars from heaven (Matthew 24:28-30). But it would be impossible for such a coming to take anyone by surprise who knew of our Lord's description. For in the same chapter Jesus speaks of His coming as unexpected and sudden as the flood came upon the people of Noah's day; and He likens it to a thief creeping into a household at night, without warning, and surreptitiously removing its treasure (vv. 36-44). Yet how could His Coming be both unexpected and preceded by such cosmic events of dramatic character?

The only answer is that one passage describes His initial, totally unheralded and unexpected appearing while the other describes the disclosure of His presence by a dramatic display of power and glory after the Tribulation has run its course and the sun, moon, and stars have done their predicted thing.

Jesus' Coming like a thief would be a fulfillment of I Thessalonians 4:13-18: He would catch up His true church to Himself and then remain on earth during all the events of the Tribulation, but in the same conditions He manifested during His forty-day post-resurrection ministry when He appeared and disappeared at will. After the darkening of the sun and the moon He would disclose His presence to the entire earth in fulfillment of Matthew 24:28-30 and Revelation 1:7. Thus His initial, thief-like coming, His continued presence behind the scenes on earth, and His final revelation in power would all be covered by the term parousia. It is noteworthy that where Paul refers to the public revelation of Jesus in II Thessalonians 2:8, he calls it "the splendor of his coming" (NIV), which literally means "the epiphaneia ("out-shining") of his parousia ("presence").

But what happens to the church after it is caught up to meet the Lord in the air, as I Thessalonians 4:13-18 describes? The answer of Scripture is "so shall we ever be with the Lord." Wherever the Lord is, there the church will be also, sharing with Him in His work whatever it will be.

"This, naturally, is the great appeal of the entire notion. 'It's wonderful to know,' said one of Grace Halwell's interviewees, 'that those of us who are Saved do not have to suffer one moment of agony in the final days.' It results in a great deal of religious and spiritual blackmail. Those who believe in it are absolutely certain that God will mete out to most of the dead and currently alive - in fact, all who are not and were not 'born again' - a fearful destruction and an everlasting punishment."

If we have mistakenly built our doctrine 'from one verse' and we have therefore taken scripture out of context, and she knows for certain that we are wrong, what in the world is she so worried about? She speaks as though God has given a privileged few the opportunity to design the blue print for earth's final days. She has the same choice available to her that all fundamentalist Christians have yet because she chooses to reject His truth, she blames others for it. Is it because she knows in her heart that Mohammed and allah can not save her from her sins and therefore, she is not right with her Creator?

"There is another aspect that is extremely worrying for Muslims. One of the things that has to happen before the time of the end can come, is not only that the kingdom of Israel must be re-established, (which may refer to the setting up of the state in 1948), but also that the Temple must be rebuilt on its ancient site. This necessitates destroying the Haram ash-Sharif and the al-Aqsa mosque, of course. Until I read Grace Halwell's book, I used to scoff in the UK at what I regarded as extra-ordinary fears and suppositions I heard from some Muslim quarters. Now, I am nowhere near so complacent."

The omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God of the Bible has repeatedly demonstrated His words are true and will not be changed and that His prophecies will be fulfilled - all of them. This clearly proves that she does not worship the God of the six-day creation but rather an imposter - Muslims have been deceived by satan and the war between good and evil is being formatted into a war where Christians and Jews fight with the weaponry of truth, and the Muslims fight with the weaponry of swords (see Islam's Mohammed: Satan's False Prophet who Deceived the World).

"For example, to quote Hal Lindsey again: 'There remains but one more event to completely set the stage for Israel's part in the last great act of her historical drama. This is to rebuild the ancient Temple of worship upon its old site.' Not only that, but the rare red heifers are already being bred in readiness to restart the sacrificial system. It is a strange mix, for most of these 'born again' so-called Christians seem to have a very hearty dislike of Jews. They are only really using them as a means to an end. Needless to say, they have an extremely hearty dislike of Muslims, who have inconveniently somehow got themselves in the way of the whole thing."

My goodness, I'm not sure where to start here. A "..dislike for the Jews."? And this coming from a Muslim whose religious founder seeded his religion with beheadings, rape, murder, and thievery, and whose people (Ishmaelites and Edomites) have been killing Jews for some 1,500 years. Furthermore, only 'Islam' has a holy book (the Qur'an) that commands its followers - still today - to murder all 'infidels' (non-Islamic believers)! What people-group in this world is more closely aligned with Israel than Christian Fundamentalists?

We "...are only really using them as a means to an end." Well it easy to understand how she could think that Christian Fundamentalists will influence God's timetable of the things to come simply because that is her restricted, view of God. But since she fails to offer any support for her statement, it therefore reveals her pre-concevied bias.

God's plan for the ages will be fulfilled on His schedule and not on man's. Because God knows the decisions man will make, He therefore knows the result of those decisions. And it is not a rise in Christian Fundamentailism that will usher in the "..time of Jacob's trouble.." but rather it will be the result of continued Islamic attacks against Israel that will cause the world to force Israel into a false peace with an Arab confederation that will be broken three-and-one-half years later similar to Mohammed's actions in the treaty of "al-Hudaybiyah.³"

So, what is the point of my article? It is this - as we have entered the new century, many enlightened Muslims, Jews and Christians have all realised at last the most important aspect of our Prophet Muhammad's (saw) teaching about our relationship is that we should come together as all worshippers of the same One True God, whether we name Him Jehovah (Yahweh), Our Father, or Allah. He is the same Almighty One, the same Creator, the same Compassionate and Merciful One. The Jews and Christians have all followed their revelations from this same God, through the same line of prophets as are named and accepted in the revelation of the Qur'an. Yes, we have differences of beliefs and theology - which are inevitably based on the limits of our own intellects, and faith in what has seemed reasonable to us and, these days, in accord with the principles of science. We have differences of practice and the ways we worship. But our moral code is the same, our desire to please our Lord by right and compassionate and just living is the same, our wish to follow the right path is the same. We were urged to come to accord, and concentrate on that which is common between us - for it is really scandalous that so much blood has been shed, and so much hostility engendered, between people who are all servants of the same One True God.

How does she conclude we worship the same God? Nice try!

It is quite clear that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is uniquely different in His character than Islam's god of creation. Oh yes, I'm quite aware that Muslims believe He is the same, but How can we be talking about the same transcendant Creator when all of Islam denies the deity of Christ, salvation by grace, through faith, and that Jesus is the only way to the Father? If anyone denies these truth's, then they willingly choose to reject Him, which is what all of Islam does. So how then can we be "worshippers of the same One True God?" Furthermore, if the Qur'an is from the same root [God] as the Holy Bible, then how is it that the Qur'an can not stand up to the Laws of Physics^4,5 whereas the Bible consistently does?⁶

Christianity worships and serves Emanuel - God with us, who loved, healed, and preached forgiveness [fruits]. Jesus Christ never raped women, nor did He ever murder or steal anything. His life and His ministry served as the ultimate act of love and sacrifice [fruits], so that through His shed blood, you too Ruqaiyyah, can be forgiven for your sins and spend an eternity with Him.

In comparison, Islam's teacher - a false prophet who has deceived many - didn't only teach how to hate, he acted it out and wrote about it as a means to justify his actions⁷ [fruits] claiming they were from God when in reality, he was deceived by satan. And it is because of satan's Islam that 20 of the 25 major, armed conflicts in the world today involve Muslims⁸ [fruits] and 22 of the 33 terrorist organizations recognized by the U.S. State Department are Muslim.⁹ [fruits] So much for the "Religion of Peace" propaganda. Try selling that one to aliens.

As a Christian Fundamentalist, I have no tolerance for someone - regardless of religion, that kills in the name of "their god." And in any such instance you clearly hear Christians speaking out against such acts. Yet, on a daily basis we hear and see the Arab, and much of the Muslim world, kill and celebrate. Where are the so-called moderates? How is it that the Islamist minority shouts louder than the moderate majority - which outnumbers the minority by a ratio of 9-1? No small majority by any means.

"We must remember that our real enemy is not other people, but Shaytan, and that Shaytan is extremely clever and can come in any disguise. He is also extremely religious. Don't forget that the original sin of Shaytan was to refuse to do what God wished him to do, because he thought he knew best. That is, better than God Himself."

Yes, I would agree!

II Corinthians 11:14

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."

His disguise was so clever he deceived Mohammed into thinking he was an angel from God, and it is through Mohammed, that the spiritual battle between the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and the god of the earth - satan, will lead us into the last great battle of earth's history, which will lead to the glorious coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are you ready?

"When Shaytan insinuates himself into a person's mind, whether it be to promote ignorance, or extremism, or hatred, one of the main signs is the manifestation of what Muslims call takfir - the insistence that the individual is right and is completely following the ways of God, and that all others who disagree in any detail are kafirs or unbelievers, and will be condemned to Hellfire. This is a very prominent feature of the Christian Fundamentalism Grace Halwell talks about."

Fundamentalist Christians haven't condemned you to anywhere. Man does not have the power to do any such thing. When I read to you Christ's own words "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) it is the Holy, in-errant, Word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that convicts you. Your decision to reject His truth means you are condemning yourself "..to Hellfire."

"We Muslims have to realise, of course, that it is also a prominent feature of Islamic Fundamentalism too; I have found that a useful 'rule of thumb' in identifying extremism is to listen out for the word kafir or kuffar (pl), and to be aware that to these zealots the kuffar are not only 'the West' (whatever that means), or non-Muslims, but large numbers of Muslims too. Similarly, these Christian Extremists do not identify other Christians as being real Christians. Only these 'born again' will be saved."

Christianity is a belief; being born-again is a committed, way-of-life. Many believe, but do not apply. This is often the case because they have never picked up the Bible and seeked a personal relationship with Him - such as she did when she studied theology. So because of their ignorance, they have been influenced by a left-wing, activist agenda of Truth-haters who have interpreted the Word of God for themselves to, for no other reason, excuse their own actions. Therefore, these lazy-believers don't understand that the Bible represents absolute Truth in this post-modernistic world. This is why missions work is so important.

"And what is the experience of this being 'born again?' It is usually an emotional moment, even a trance-like state, brought about by hypnotic fiery sermons and religiously seductive music. It appeals to a certain type, and is generally a great 'turn-off' for more sober academics and down-to-earth people."

To say that the Penecostal/Charismatic sect of Christian Fundamentailism represents all of Christian Fundamentalism itself is, again, one of the most ignorant statements, absent of truth, I have ever read. There are a variety of worship styles within Christian Fundamentalism, but one, by no means, represents all of them. The common denominator for Fundamentailist churches is that we believe the Bible is the literal, inerrant Word of God and that repentance leads to salvation, by grace, through faith. Until someone can prove otherwise, we're sticking with it.

It is words such as hers that build false definitions of doctrines which lead people astray. And for that, their blood will be on her hands.

"Muslims can easily point to similar problems with immature sufis and ignorant pretenders of spiritual excellence giving wide publicity to trance utterances and inspired pronouncements, along with their grandiloquent claims."

Is she's the gold standard for theological applications? On what basis? Because she studied 'religion at a university?' That is pathetic! Thus far she has done nothing other than reveal a blind ignorance of what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - her Creator, means. Let me shed a little light on the subject for her:

John 3:3-21

"Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." "Thus it is a simple matter for fascinating preachers, money-grubbing pastors, hypocritical dervishes and cunning traders of religion to take full advantage of the popular relish for esoteric matters, miracles, supernatural performances, inspired dreams and prophecies. It can all too easily be seen that simple pious people can be led into accepting every new fantasy. It all appeals strongly to those who want to feel they are on the 'inside' of a group, with secrets, profound knowledge and revelations."

Gee, for a minute I thought she was referring to Mohammed's visions but since she left out the words steal, and murder [fruits], I realized she wasn't.

Let's review Jesus Christ 101. Man rebelled against God and then fell away. Therefore sin separates us from God, and since we are all sinners - meaning we all do sinful deeds, we have no chance to stand next to a perfect Holy God. God - Emanuel, Elohim, Jehovah, Yaweh, in His omniscience, recognized this and came down in the flesh to pay sins penalty.

Hebrews 9:22

"And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission."

Let's apply your logic to see if it works:

"I saw a Christian Fundamentalist preacher stealng from the poor. My neighbor is a Christian Fundamentailst preacher, therefore he steals from the poor."

Sorry, clearly such a statement is a violation of logical laws, but apparently in her world it is not. I hear Muslims scream when one applies the Islamists acts to all of Islam. Yet, she's done just that in her misrepresentation of born-again Christians.

I personally don't support these acts of 'sleign in the spirit' and anyone using such acts to purposely deceive others will be held accountable - God knows the hearts of men. Do I have specific proof of any deceitful acts? No! And because I don't, I won't attempt to mislabel anyone. I too can speculate that some appear to be a little over the edge, but I too can speculate that moderate Muslims silently root for their murderous, Islamists brothers simply on the basis that it is these types of acts [roots] Islam was incubated in. However, I recognize there are many secular Muslims who think the acts of their murderous brothers are outrageous and so I wouldn't go as far as she did in applying such a generic label.

"But really, they have an exceedingly narrow view of the 'nature' of God, or His purposes for His created Earth and the six billion people on it.

What a hypocrite! She clearly contradicts her "..useful rule of thumb.." here when she accuses others of "..an exceedingly narrow view of the 'nature' of God, or His purposes..." On what basis is she the final authority? Previously she warned against such zealots who speak "..takfir- the insistence that the individual is right and is completely following the ways of God, and that all others who disagree in any detail are kafirs or unbelievers.." Apparently all others are accountable to her rule but not herself or those whom share her views - sounds like a "zealot" to me.

"Their 'tribal' God is only concerned with these 'special' Christians, and the Jews. However, the 14 million Jews now estimated to be on earth are doomed, whereas only the billion or so 'born again' Christians are on their way to Heaven. The other 5 billion peoples of the world are not really on God's 'radar screen' at all until He calls them forth to be slain at Armageddon."

A billion born-again Christians? I wish. If that were true the world would be a much better place. It would be nice if she referenced support for some of her statements!

I'm curious why the Christian Fundamentalist views even concern her? We're not the ones running around kidnapping innocent people and cutting their heads off on camera. If moderate Muslims truly believe Islamists acts have hijacked Islam, then one would think they would better champion a cause in speaking out against their brothers.

God will not call anyone "...forth to be slain at Armageddon." She blames Scripture for her choosing to deny truth. If our doctrine is wrong then she has nothing to worry about. Future events will unfold the way God intends them to regardless of who believes what. But she'd better hope she's right!

"Rotten luck for us - and for all who genuinely believe in another sort of Divine Being. Direct conflict with these types is usually a waste of time and energy, so what should we do?"

Yes, I agree, but it's not too late - yet. If what one believes is absolute truth, and they are sure it is, then why wouldn't they defend and preach it? Who would go to their grave knowingly believing a lie? Perhaps it's not how we believe but rather what we believe - truth - that most scares her.

I think, what we do best. Carry on presenting the realities of the noble faith of Islam,

Truly a religion that can not save you from your sins, so go on believing and promoting the lie and say "hi" to Darwin, Hitler, and Mohammed for me when you see them.

trying to reconcile geniune Jews and Christians with ourselves in genuine faith in God, perhaps by downplaying our differences, as the Prophet (saw) advised. We are not here to force, or bribe, or brow-beat, like these Fundamentalists. We are here to guide, to set an example, to display the sunnah in the way we live.

Oh and set an example you have. We see violent acts carried out every day in the news by the proponents of the so-called, "great religion of peace." Oh that's right, they're all wrong and you are 100% right - "takfir" right?

And then leave intelligent people to think for themselves, and make their choice

If the gold standard is defined by moderate Islamicism, then we are all doomed.

If God is omniscient, why does he fail to prophesy about a later prophet that would be sent by Him named Mohammed? Does she think He forgot? Or is it because she believes the Bible is more of a rough-reference guide and not absolute in its truth or literalness? This is usually the most convenient way scoffers excuse their beliefs and accountability for their lifestyle choices.