"If Thou Art The Son Ot God"

During the Lord's wilderness temptation Satan twice challenged Him to demonstrate that He was the Son of God: first by turning stones to bread and then by casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. "If Thou art the Son of God"! With what boldness the Devil dared to question this great central truth of scriptural revelation, that Jesus Christ is indeed in a sense altogether unique Son of God.

Fittingly the apostle John emphasized that testimony to the signs done by Jesus was the object of the fourth Gospel: "These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His Name" (John 20:31).

We should therefore not be surprised that Satan continues to assail this glorious truth. One of his powerful means of attack today is through the teachings of Islam; an attack which has become more strident and violent with the rapid growth of Muslim fundamentaiism. Islam universally denies that God has a Son. This denial is written prominently inside the beautiful mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is vigorously proclaimed by Muslim muflabs and missionaries.

Helped by an interpreter, a gospel preacher was speaking to a largely Muslim audience. The interpreter thought to make the message more

palatable. When the preacher referred to the Son of God the interpreter changed this to "Jesus Christ". Until the preacher realized what was happening, paused, and unmistakeably repeated the words, "the Son of God"; an incident which illustrates the sensitivity of the Muslim to our conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Christian minorities in many countries find themselves under increasing pressure as they struggle to maintain their testimony to Jesus as the Son of God. Saudi Arabia has earned the reputation of being "the world's most rigid Islamic society". Its rulers have defmed the Arabian Peninsular as a "haram", meaning holy territory, which is closed to non-Muslims. The prohibition of churches is claimed to he "by order of Allah". Every form of Christian prayer in public or in public buildings is strictly forbidden: "public buildings11 include hotels and personal residences.

Pakistan has a population of 100

million, the Christian minority numbering only five million. Government policy is to extend the process of making Islamic law the law of the State. The death penalty now obtains for "insulting the prophet": a charge which may well be brought against Christians who insist that Mohammed was merely a man in contrast to Jesus the Son of God. Some believers have been unscrupulously charged under this law by people who held some grudge against them. Money pours into Pakistan from Iran for the strengthening of the Islamic cause.

In Iran itself small numbers of believers attempt to maintain their Christian witness. The authorities are oppressive. In 1991 a secret store of New Testaments was discovered by the police, and 15,000 confiscated.

From Egypt come reports of continuing outbreaks of violence against Christian churches and communities. Fanatical Islamic groups stirred up trouble in several areas during 1992; in one incident many Christians were kilied. In some areas the Local Authority has been able to impose a Muslim tax on Christians and Jews, the revenue being used to build mosques. Despite such trends there appears to be spiritual revival within the ancient

Coptic Church, with many showing renewed hunger for God's Word.

The sinister strength of Muslim influence has been reflected in the experience of Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses". Four years after the Ayatolla Khomenei pronounced the death sentence on Rushdie, the author still has to remain in hiding for'fear of assasination. Last February 'the Iranian President declared the death sentence to be irreversible. Rushdie's book was not written from a Christian perspective of course, but the fact that his life is still under threat despite his citizenship in the western world illustrates the farreaching power of Islamic extremism.

Above the Babel of voices which today proclaims that God has no Son, the believer hears again the measured assurance given by the Holy Spirit through John:

...for the witness of God is this, that He hath borne WitnesS concerning His Son. He Ihat belie'eth on the Son of God hath the witneSS in him:

he that believeth no: God nath made Him a liar; because he hath no: believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son (1 John 5:9,10).

unknown | Jun 1993
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