By Jeff Neely
It is a remarkable thing to be part of a missions family that holds hearing the voice of God as one of its foundational values. Because of this value many young people have gone to the ends of the earth carrying the message of Jesus. In YWAM, most of us have experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives in a way that has taken us to new depths of understanding where we see the world in a different way that we did previously.
In this environment many individuals hear and respond to the God’s guidance, but it isn’t very often that YWAM’s global leadership is so moved by what the Lord is saying that they make a covenant with Him that represents our whole family. In 1992 when the International Executive Committee (prior to the formation of the GLT) met in the Middle East, they understood clearly that God was directing to be more involved in the Muslim world. This came in such an unexpected way and with such a sense of God’s presence that as these leaders were gathered they felt they were to “drive a stake in the ground to claim what God had done in our hearts”.
As a result of this time the “30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World,” an annual prayer event focused on blessing the Muslim world, was birthed along with the Reconciliation Walk, a journey of reconciliation between Muslims and Christians. In addition, YWAM leaders believed that we needed to make a formal commitment to remember how the Lord met with them. This commitment has become known as the “Red Sea Covenant.” It states in part that:
We therefore do solemnly resolve before God that we will:
- Actively pursue the new level of anointing and enabling which God wants to pour out upon us.
- Submit to any spiritual discipline He might require of us, such as fasting, prayer and repentance.
- Gather at the times and in the places which He indicates in order to seek Him together toward these purposes.
- Be careful to keep our vision whole, seeing both Jews and Arabs as God’s beloved creation.
- Embrace the vast Muslim world in our hearts, seeking from God the anointing, wisdom, power and strategies needed to carry out our part of the His great plan of redemption for those under the influence of Islam.
- Believe God for the establishment of His Kingdom throughout the world of peoples under the influence of Islam, and be more impressed with God than the difficulties involved.
- Exercise leadership in calling and mobilising our organisation to receive God’s anointing and enabling power to reach the Muslim peoples of the world.
This covenant was made over 18 years ago. Is it still relevant? Have we been faithful and succeeded? Have we moved on to other things?
These are important questions that we need to be asking not out of any sense of guilt or condemnation but out of a desire to be fully aligned with “what the Father is doing”.
So, is this covenant still relevant? At no time in history have we known so much about the Muslim world. Are 1.5 billion people relevant? Should we have compassion for the world’s poor and needy where more than half are Muslim? Do Muslims need to know Jesus in the fullness of who He is? Yes, because of our calling to the Great Commission this covenant is still relevant.
Have we been faithful and succeeded? Yes, we have many who have been faithfully committing their lives that Muslims would know the love of Jesus. We have seen fruit. However, we have only seen a drop in the bucket of both workers committed to giving their lives to ministry among Muslims and of Muslims coming to faith in Jesus.
Have we moved on to other things? No, we haven’t moved on to other things because part of our calling as YWAM is to be involved in all of society and to all peoples. However, we do need to exercise leadership in calling and mobilising our YWAM family to walk in the anointing and enabling power to reach all Muslim peoples of the world.
There is no question that following a calling to share Jesus with Muslims is not easy but there is such reward in being able to walk with brothers and sisters that come from a Muslim background. This isn’t a covenant the Lord made with us, but a covenant we made with Him. We need to actively pursue our covenant with Him and live it to the best of our abilities.
What will this look like? Well for some of us it will mean committing to pray for Muslims, learning more about their cultures, and their needs. For others, it will mean taking bigger steps to serve in far-away Muslim communities. But the best starting place is for all of us to take time and read through this covenant, asking God how he wants to change our hearts and being open to how He may lead each of us.
Reading this article and the one “Removing the Veil” helps me to understand and grasp a bit of the vision for the muslim world that YWAM has–thank you for making it so clear.
I totally agree that the best way to reach a people group is to be emersed in their culture. I am glad that we, YWAM is involved in muslim evangelism. What concernes me is that there is little, or no talk of Muslims being told to turn their backs on their false religion when they accept Jesus. If one truly accepts Jesus, why would they want to just add him to their list of those they worship, instead forsake all aspects of the religion that was leading them astray and dedicate themselves solely to the God of the bible, which is not the same as the god of the Koran. Being a muslim is not the same as being Iraqi, or Turkish, or Indonesian, or Jewish. Jew is both a religion and a nationality, therefore one can be a messianic Jew, or messianic Iraqi, or Messianic Turk. A “messianic muslim” simply cannot exist. If you find a way to justify that, then you must justify the messianic Buddhist, or messianic athiest. I’m sorry, but I think there needs to be some revisiting to this covenent. I understand that motives were well placed, but the desire to see converts (however you can get them) often outweighs exactly what you are converting them to. If you are not for God, and God alone, then you are against Him.
Maybe I didn’t understand, I know that accepting Christ in a muslim family often means death, but isn’t that sometimes the only option you have if you desire an honest to goodness relationship with Christ. I know this is not the ideal, and my prayer that all converts to Christ will have the opportunity to live for Him on this Earth, but scripture doesn’t contradict itself. It’s God’s way or the highway. You can’t travel 2 directions at the same time.
My words and my brain work at different speeds, this says it better.
http://www.letusreason.org/Current57.htm
Thank you
Something to think about!
Thanks for reminding us to be committed to what God has spoken to us as a mission. Allowing people to remain in their own religious community, while fully following Jesus (whom the Muslims call Isa) is so incredibly Biblical. So much of the book of Acts is all about this debate. Could a Greek stay Greek and still follow Christ? Did they have to be circumcized? And become a Jew? The resounding answer of the New Testament is no. In the same way, Muslims should be able to stay in the Muslim community and follow Isa. They shouldnt have to join the Jewish OR Christian cultural community to follow Christ.
Im thankful to be a part of a mission that is willing to risk some people not understanding us to follow Paul’s example. We’ve always been cutting edge, and taken the hits for it, but when we are faithful to what God is saying to us as a mission, its so worth it!
Concerned!, You assert that: “Jew is both a religion and a nationality, therefore one can be a messianic Jew” — this is not what Messianic Judaism says that it is at all. They claim to be completed in their Religious Nature not their nationality. There are MANY claiming to be messianic Jews who are not ethnically Jewish at all, but follow the Jewish religion in its Christ following form.
You also need to think further on your assertion that “the God of the bible, which is not the same as the god of the Koran.” There cannot be two Uncreated Creators. If someone is referring to the Uncreated Creator God then they are talking about our Dad even if they don’t know Him very well or have misconceptions about His attributes. They may be MUCH to learn about His true nature but we must recognize the common ground of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
I’m sorry, but that is scary. I do not worship the same god that the Muslim people worship.
If you were God (true God), I know its a stretch, but imagine. Would you want to be attached in, even a little bit, to a false religion that has brought millions away from knowing you and spending time, and eternity with you. If I was God (another stretch) I would get so far away from that but still come close in a way to draw them to me by a love so strong that I want to save their life, not see it lost, if even by a thread.
Love is not the issue. I love people so much, I don’t want them deceived. If I didn’t show God’s love, I may let them continue to dabble in their deceptive ways. Enough compromise! Unless a man be born again….
Brian, it concerns me that you see the God of the bible, one in the same as the god of the Koran. For starters, the Koran is not the inspired word of God, and therefore anything writen in it is either a coincidence, a tainted copy, or total rubbish. Here are some points that may assist you in seeing that it will take more than a partnership of “religions” to know Christ, but a complete rejection of all that is a lie.
The Koran asserts that the god of Islam is the God of Christians and Jews (Sura 29:46). Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The god of Islam, Allah, is most definitely not the God of the Bible. Allah is presented in the Koran as an autocratic ruler who is aloof and arbitrary (Sura 5:40). Allah is unknowable whereas the God of the Bible is knowable (2 Timothy 1:12). Allah is impersonal, unlike the personal God the Scriptures reveal (1 Peter 5:6-7). Allah is unitarian (Sura 4:48) whereas the God of the Bible is trinitarian (2 Corinthians 13:14). Here is what the Koran says about the God of the Bible (Sura 4:171): “Believe in Allah and say not ‘Trinity.’ Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One God. Far is it removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son.”
Allah is capricious (Sura 2:284), whereas the true God is trustworthy. And Allah is never anywhere presented as a god of love — which is the essence of the nature of the true God (1 John 4:7-16).
Anyone, or anything can refer to themselves as an uncreated, eternal God, but we need to find where the source is. The God of the bible is indeed inspired by God himself. The god of the Koran is written by a man who has deceived millions into not finding the truth.
Blessings
Have you ever stood in a congregation of thousands, in a building that costs millions, singing songs led by professional singers with great instruments, perfect lighting and incredibly creative video projections and wondered, “does this bear even a distant resemblance to Jesus?” Have you stood in an African or American or European church and listened to a sermon, delivered by a luxury-car-driving pastor who promises that if we will all just give more than we will enjoy God’s overwhelming financial blessing, and wondered “what would Jesus think?” Have you stood in a Mosque and watched them pray, knowing that every one of them have recited their creed that there is no God but Allah and Mohammad is His prophe,t and wondered, “Is there any way they will overcome the life-long conditioning that erects such huge barriers to believing in Jesus, God’s only son and His sacrificial offering for us all?”
When Jesus spoke about it being very hard for a rich man to be saved, his disciples were shocked and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “With God all things are possible.”
Surely religion is the great anesthetic, the red herring, the greatest source of false comfort in the world. Let us not be trapped into thinking that we are called to persuade people to change their religion. Rather, let us pray, work and believe that the miracle will happen again and again and again, tens of thousands of times in the lives of people of all religions.
For the record, I am Stefen. Religion is not the answer, Jesus is. My concern is it is not frowned upon to be worshiping the God of the Koran so long as you add the Jesus of the bible. I have attached a list of differences between that god and the true God. This to me yells “run from this and run to God,” they are not the same.
I just fear that the true gospel is being watered down to become more inclusive. I pray this is not the case.
The God of the Qur’an is a singular unity; but the God of the Bible is a compound unity who is one in essence and three in position (Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; Acts 5:3-4).
The God of the Qur’an is not a father, and he has begotten no sons (Surahs 19:88-92; 112:3); but the God of the Bible is a tri-unity who has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:21-22; John 5:18).
Through the Qur’an, God broke into history through a world through a word that is written; but through Jesus Christ, God broke into history through the Word who is a Person (John 1:1; Colossian 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; 1 John 1:1-3; 4:9-10).
The God of the Qur’an “loves not the prodigals” (Surah 3:140, Ali), and neither does He love “him who is treacherous, sinful” (Surah 4:107, Ali); but “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)
“Allah desires to afflict them for some of their sins” (Surah 5:49, Ali; also see Surahs 4:168-169; 7:179; 9:2; 40:10); but the God of the Bible does not “take any pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 18:23) and is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
The standard of judgment for the God of the Qur’an is that our good deeds must outweigh our bad deeds (Surahs 7:8-9; 21:47); but the standard of the God of the Bible is nothing less than complete perfection as measured by the holy character of God (Matthew 5:48; Romans 3:23).
The God of the Qur’an provided a messenger, Muhammad, who warned of Allah’s impending judgement (Surahs 2:119; 5:19; 7:184, 188; 15:89-90) and who declared that “No bearer of a burden can bear the burden of another” (Surahs 17:15; 35:18, Ali); but the God of the Bible provided a sinless Savior, Jesus, who took our sins upon himself and bore God’s wrath in our stead (Matthew 20:28; 26:28; Luke 22:37; John 3:16; 10:9-11; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
Hi Concerned (Stefen),
As the author of the above article I am disappointed that you felt you needed to sidetrack the purpose of the article, which was to call YWAM back to a covenant that we have made with our Father to see Jesus proclaimed to Muslims. If you would like to have more discussion on the topics you are bringing up I would be happy to share my understanding of these things, as I appreciate your concerns. This could lead to follow up articles that will help us all be effective in sharing our faith with Muslims and those of other faiths. If you would like to enter into this dialogue, please contact the editor at iy@ywam.org and then we can exchange email addresses.
Stefan, Just to clarify, I do not hold that the Koran is true in all it says in the way that the Bible is. There is error in the Koran and there are a number of holes in the Koranic understanding of God.
Here’s a thought though. The same could be said for the Old Testament which portrays an incomplete understanding of God’s nature in the minds of his BC Jewish people. It would be nigh impossible to use just the Old Testament to prove your Trinitarian points against the Koran, which is why all but one of your proof texts are from the New Testament.
Example: “The God of the Qur’an is a singular unity; but the God of the Bible is a compound unity who is one in essence and three in position (Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; Acts 5:3-4).” Try proving that from the Old Testament.
On a more general note: proof texting – of using verses isolated and out of context in an argument – can be used to prove absolutely anything. I could disprove every assertion you made above – from the Bible – using this method.
““Allah desires to afflict them for some of their sins” (Surah 5:49, Ali; also see Surahs 4:168-169; 7:179; 9:2; 40:10); but the God of the Bible does not “take any pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 18:23) and is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).”
This is unfair since I could quote dozens of Biblical passages (again the proof texting) that agree with the Koranic depiction of God. AND the Koran here is only saying “afflict” which you conflate to “death” and “perish”.
Anyway, I agree with Jeff that this would be a good discussion to hold elsewhere and it is bootless to drag in the viability of the Red Sea Covenant into this talks. The Bible has some very choice verses (proof texts) on covenant breakers – so I am sure we don’t want to go down that road.
I am sorry to say that I am feeling attacked, as a man of middle eastern decent, but raised in the west, I know muslims. I got saved as a child, through my grandmother. I saw my Father and Mother attempt to assimilate into their children’s “Christian” culture, by attending our church productions in addition to their weekly mosque visits.
This didn’t work, Yes it appeared good, but not until complete rejection of Islam did they experience true peace, and God’s forgiveness. I was blessed to be from a mixed family, and had the protection of my friends and grandmother against persecution. My father did not know God, despite his acceptance of our ways, and even saying that he was saved, until he rejected Islam completely. I know where he is now, but before, I would not be so certain that he would be with Jesus.
I am done commenting here for now. Please remember that it is not the traditions and culture of middle easterners that is a problem, it is their Islamic views (all of them) It is Jesus, not Isa, Allah, or Mohammed, but Christ alone.
Stefen