Battling False Religions

Imagine my shock when I discovered that some Muslim leaders were using their own form of “creation evangelism” to convert people to Islam!

My youngest brother Stephen lives in a part of Australia that has a growing Muslim population. He was deeply burdened recently to “adopt” a Muslim family … to be able to witness to them concerning Christ and salvation.

The father of this family is a leader in the Islamic community. He invited my brother to hear an American speaker (who claims to be a former Christian) who is now a leading Islamic “evangelist” to the western world.

Stephen agreed to go, with one condition: that his Muslim friend then attend a meeting where an ex-Muslim (now a Christian) would speak about Christianity.

Stephen called me after the meeting and said: “The American speaker asked everyone: ‘What is the purpose of life?’ He explained the uniqueness of the earth in the vastness of space. We were then asked to consider the wonder of our own bodies.”

My brother added: “Sitting among people who desperately needed the Lord, I heard this man often use the word ‘design’ to refer to the incredible world around us. His most powerful comment came when he asked us to consider the ‘rent’ we pay for our amazing bodies and surroundings, and to Whom we pay that rent.”

Stephen said that the speaker, in an excited, authoritative tone, declared: “The purpose of life is to be grateful to our Benefactor and conform to His rules.”

The Muslim leader went on to discuss that we need a system designed to help us be grateful to the Benefactor and to conform … and that system is Islam. He also emphasized that the Koran and the teachings of Muhammad were the authority.

Stephen and his pastor said that this was actually an Islamic “creation evangelism” lecture! It majored on design, which could have a major impact on many non-Muslims. But the argument of design was used to connect people to Islam!

I told Stephen that I once was invited to speak in a Muslim country. We told the host that I would go if there were no “strings” attached—i.e. provided I could talk freely about the Bible and Christ. Well, as a Muslim scientist, he refused; he really wanted lectures that opposed evolution and reinforced the idea of design in nature.

As I’ve often said, AiG isn’t about converting people to “creation.” AiG seeks to teach people the truths of God’s Word so they’ll understand and believe the gospel.

Just a few weeks before the Islamic lecture that Stephen attended, I visited Australia and spoke at his church on the topic of biblical “creation evangelism.”

I explained that today, most people don’t understand or accept Genesis and its teachings about the Fall of man and the entrance of sin … the reasons for the need of a Savior. If anything, the world teaches against the Genesis account of origins.

Then I went into detail as to how people need to be taught that the Bible’s history in Genesis is true, that it’s confirmed by observational science and that the millions-of-years/evolutionary ideas that permeate the media and schools are not true.

As people discover this, they will understand the good news of salvation (the gospel) that is founded in the literal history of Genesis … i.e. “creation evangelism.” AiG is challenging the church to take up “creation evangelism” to reach the lost.

As we often state on our website, AiG uses the design arguments (among many others) to proclaim the Christian faith—which is how we need to use such arguments.

Well, here’s a “rubber-meets-the-road” testimony about the effectiveness of creation evangelism: “I was 18 years old with a lost soul. A friend started witnessing to me. I started asking questions about evolution and dinosaurs … and Cain’s wife.

“Good thing for me, he was prepared with answers. I borrowed your videos … and it finally got through. What I am trying to say is: I am saved and going to Heaven because there were answers when I needed them. God bless all you do.”

AiG is at the cutting edge of evangelism today. We’re not just battling the secularization of the culture, but also against false religions like Islam. The message that God’s Word beginning in Genesis can be trusted is the answer for our world.