"Fighting the good fight and the gospel of grace."

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Dec 14, 2010 at 15:44

To Anne

Thank you for your kind words about me being a mine of information, and I very gladly mention my debt of gratitude to those mentioned below, who have all enabled me, and continue to enable me, to give a sound Christian response to the formidable Islamic challenge to Christianity.

"Fight the good fight with all thy might," wrote John S.B.Monsell, the hymnwriter. Monsell's second verse saying,

"Run the straight race through God's good grace, Lift up thine eyes and seek His face, Life with its way before us lies, Christ is the path, and Christ the prize."

"Christ is the path" no doubt being suggested to Monsell by the Lord Jesus Christ's own words recorded at John 14:6

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

and at Matthew 7:13 & 14

"Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow, and the road that leads there is so hard to follow, that only a few people find it.! "

with the Bible telling Jesus' followers this about the the fight they're in,

"We live in this world, but we don't act like its people, or fight our battles with the weapons of this world. Instead, we use God's power that can destroy fortresses. We destroy arguments and every bit of pride that keeps anyone from knowing God. We capture people's thoughts and make them obey Christ."

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Probably the premier website which documents and counters Islam's formidable challenge to Christianity, and which is run by evangelical Christians, is "Answering Islam" at http://www.answering-islam.org/ which is a marvellous resource, being very comprehensive in its coverage, also clearly presenting much teaching on very much misunderstood doctrines (even by Christians!!) such as The Trinity, and looking at Answering Islam's list of contributing authors at http://www.answering-islam.org/authors.html gives a veritable feast of apologetic material, with that by James Arlandson, Sam Shamoun and Silas, being encyclopaedic in its range and depth.

Someone else who I find to be extremely informative is James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries, and senior teaching pastor at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, who increasingly "contends for the faith once for all time entrusted to the saints" Jude 3 against Islam and its apologists, giving a terrific resource to Jesus' followers, equipping them to do the same.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dr+oakley+1689+islam&aq=f

Dr White's blog articles at http://www.aomin.org/ invariably contain material about Islam and his sound Christian response to it.

I'm so glad you're on the team Anne, how we need you (and many others like you) in the trenches, and I pray you will be a carrier of God's grace and a blessing to many Muslims (and others) who don't yet know King Jesus. Your compassion to the lost clearly comes across in your emails, may you continue being winsome in your interactions with all those as yet outside the Kingdom, in order that you may win some to Christ, so that when you stand in glory, you will meet many amongst that "vast crowd," who you introduced to the gospel of grace.

"After this, I saw a large crowd with more people than could be counted. They were from every race, tribe, nation and language, and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands, as they shouted, 'Our God, who sits upon the throne, has the power to save His people, and so does the Lamb.'

The Angels who stood around the throne knelt in front of it with their faces to the ground. The elders and the four living creatures knelt there with them. Then they all worshiped God and said, 'Amen' Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power, and strength belong to our God forever and ever Amen!'"

There is indeed something shaking the very foundations of our existence, and I'm acutely aware of the urgent need to share the gospel of grace with all who will hear it, and which alone can defeat the Islam of Muhammad, and which is the very best news a human being can ever hear, before our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ returns to separate the "sheep from the goats" giving those who will hear and respond to it, the chance to be included among the sheep rather than the goats.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His throne of glory; and all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will put the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come! you who are the blessed ones of My Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and fed You, or thirsty and we gave You a drink? And when did we see You a stranger and we invited You in, or naked and we clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and we came to You?' And answering, the King will say to them, 'Truly I say to you, as much as you did it for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me.'

Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been kept in readiness for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give Me anything to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give Me a drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we did not help You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, as much as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 25:31-46

Wishing you every blessing

Jesus Christ is Lord

Lactantius Jr

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