The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: An Informed Response to Islam’s War with Christianity

I have worked in nations around the world steeped in the Islamic faith. Not all Muslims are resistant to the gospel of Jesus Christ; and in times of war and natural disasters, many have told me that Christians are the only ones who come to their aid.

Erwin Lutzer has written about the infiltration of Islamic influences in today’s culture…and he brings a unique perspective to this brewing storm that can tenderize the hearts of believers to pray for and reach out to those lost in this darkening shadow. This book presents the challenges and opportunities we have to shine the light of God’s truth into souls who need the Savior.

Franklin Graham, President and CEO

Samaritan’s Purse

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The tide of Islam is rising across the West, even as churches fall vacant in large numbers. Will nations like England, France, and the United States come under the sway of Islam, where the yardstick of justice is the shariah and the cross of Christ is despised? Pastor Lutzer offers a sober wake-up call to the church to repent, strengthen what remains, and rise to meet the challenge of the hour. This book is packed with practical advice about how to hold fast in spiritually challenging times.

Mark Durie, author of The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom

The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent is the most provocative and salient monograph I have read on the subject of Christianity’s response to Islam. The Christian faith dare not ignore, except at its own peril, this evenhanded and thought-provoking volume. Prepare for the future—read this book!

Paige Patterson, President

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Fort Worth, Texas

Radical Islam is one of the greatest challenges ever faced by the Christian church. In his book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, Dr. Erwin Lutzer does once again what he has done so many times before—written a book that every evangelical should read.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Every generation has its crises, and its champions. Dr. Erwin Lutzer is a champion. His courageous book, The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, tackles head-on the impending crises Christianity is facing in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe…and America, in light of the undeniable 1400-year phenomenon that where Islam increases, Christianity decreases…Those who want to understand the times must read this book. A fast, compelling read that is captivating, confrontational, yet compassionate.

William J. Federer, author of What Every American Needs to Know about the Qur’an—A History of Islam & the United States

Much of this book the world would rather not hear. The persecution of Christians at the hands of religious and political opponents has a long and storied past. Too many blindly believe it could not happen in America. Erwin Lutzer raises two questions all of us must answer: Why is the church so weak when our Lord and Savior is so strong? Why are churches in Europe and the United Kingdom dying out while mosques are growing in number? This book is a call for the church to wake up lest the lampstand of truth and testimony be diminished by the treachery and threats approaching through the pervasive spread of Islamist influence. As a result of this book you will be motivated to pray more and live differently.

Mark L. Bailey, President

Dallas Theological Seminary

If you do not want to hear the truth…if you want to bury your head in the sand…if you don’t want to be confused with the facts and the stark realities, then don’t read this book.

Michael Youssef Ph.D., author of Blindsided

Founder and President of Leading the Way

Dr. Lutzer has long researched the growing impact of Islam in relationship to Christianity. Anyone concerned with this challenge would be wise to consider—and heed—the words of counsel found in The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent. Those who do so will learn important lessons from the past, stand equipped for the future, and grow in their understanding of how to communicate the truth of Christ with Muslims.

Dr. John Ankerberg, President and host

John Ankerberg Show

The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent equips Christians with the information they need to engage in intelligent dialogue with those who are deceived about the single greatest external threat to America and Christendom: the spread of Islam. This book is must reading for every Christian who desires to push back against the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf our world.

Dr. Robert Jeffress

Pastor, First Baptist Dallas

With the growing threat of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into all levels of the US government, now, more than ever, it is critical that Christians understand this threat from a biblical perspective and what their responsibility is in this hour. This book is a dire warning of the clear and present danger we face and how we should respond to it. It is a must-read for every Christian today!

Laurie Cardoza-Moore

President, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations; Special Envoy to the UN for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches

Every person of faith in America needs to read The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent. Erwin Lutzer, one of America’s finest expositors, has done the Christians of America a great service by analyzing the challenge presented by Islam and explaining the ways we can and should respond.

Richard Land, President

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

This book is a wake-up call to every thinking American, and especially Christians. It is a powerful antidote to those who portray Islam as a religion of peace. Here the truth of Islam and its political agenda is set forth with heavy documentation from Islamic sources as well as intelligence reports from the public domain. This is a very honest and courageous assessment of the challenge Islam poses for the church around the world.

Don McCurry, founder of Zwemer Institute for Muslim Studies in Pasadena

Missionary to Muslims in Pakistan for 18 years

The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent is the fruit of long years of sobering research…It is a labor of love aimed at providing a balanced framework by which the body of Christ should embrace Muslims as people created in God’s own image while firmly facing the ideology of Islam.

Raouf F. Boulos, pastor of Outreach & Evangelism

The Moody Church

The ongoing and ever-increasing conflict with radical Islam is the challenge of our time. Liberty hangs in the balance. This is a captivating must-read book.

Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel

American Center for Law and Justice

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

All emphasis in quotations is added by the author.

Some of the names of individuals who provided testimonies for this book have been changed to protect their identities.

Cover by Puckett, Lilburn, GA

Cover photos / illustration © Puckett; iStockphoto / raisbeckphoto; Rvs / Dreamstime

THE CROSS IN THE SHADOW OF THE CRESCENT

Copyright © 2013 by Erwin W. Lutzer

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lutzer, Erwin W.

The cross in the shadow of the crescent / Erwin W. Lutzer ; Steve Miller, substantive editor and supportive writer.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5132-6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5133-3 (eBook)

1. Missions to Muslims. 2. Christianity and other religions--Islam. 3. Islam--Relations--Christianity. 4. Islam--Missions. I. Miller, Steve, 1960- II. Title.

BV2625.L88 2013

261.2’70973--dc23

2012031799

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Grateful Acknowledgments

My special thanks go to Harvest House Publishers, whose leadership believed in my initial manuscript and encouraged me to proceed toward the publication of this book. To you, Bob Hawkins, and your fine team, I owe a deep debt of gratitude. Although I have worked on this book intermittently since 2009, I could never have completed the project without the expertise of Steve Miller, whose editing and research enabled the final product to emerge in its present form. Thanks, Steve, for investing so much of your time and talent to see this book completed. God will richly reward you for your efforts.

Finally, and most importantly, thanks to the many people who have encouraged me and prayed that this, my most important book, would not only awaken the church, but be a clear call to rise to the challenges of our time. If we become all that God has promised we can be, this can be our finest hour.

Contents

Grateful Acknowledgments

Foreword

The Day the Levees Broke

Part I: A Different Kind of Invasion

1. The Church of the Closed Door

Part II: Seven Lessons for Today’s Churches

2. Lesson #1: We Cannot Take the Continued Existence of the Church for Granted

3. Lesson #2: Faithfulness to Christ Requires an Acceptance of Persecution

4. Lesson #3: Even When a Church Is in the Devil’s Hands, It Is Still in God’s Hands

5. Lesson #4: The Crescent Cannot Destroy the Cross

6. Lesson #5: Compromise Weakens the Church

7. Lesson #6: Things Are Not What They Appear to Be

8. Lesson #7: The Remnant Will Triumph

Part III: A Right Response

9. What Is Happening in America Today?

10. What the Church Should Be Doing Now

11. A Final Plea: The Church Standing Alone

A Prayer

Select Bibliography

Notes

Foreword

Why another book on Islam? It seems fashionable to begin every new book on Islam with this question. Yet this book is one that had to be written because of what it offers. In fact, I consider this one of the best books on Islam produced in the last 50 years.

At its beginning, Islam was an enigma for the visible church. Because some of its teachings are similar to Christian beliefs, some early Christians mistook Islam for a Christian sect of some sort or other. As the Middle Ages approached, more and more Christians began to recognize Islam as a separate religion. Some theologians were convinced that a Muslim could not convert to Christianity. Others detected in Islam particles of divine light and would eventually inspire the Vatican’s reformed views on Islam in the 1960s.

The Protestant reformer Martin Luther, however, correctly noted that the core teachings of Islam are vehemently opposed to the core teachings of Christianity. And not until after the spread of Protestant missions endeavors in the nineteenth century did Christian theologians and missionaries acknowledge Luther’s insights concerning Islam.

After 14 centuries of theological disputes, scholarly treatises, and analyses, the enigma of Islam is not yet fully solved. Seemingly, the more that is written on Islam, the greater the confusion becomes. And today, we are plagued with another extreme stance. Whereas in the past some Christian theologians thought Muslims couldn’t convert to Christianity, now there are Christians—even some who profess to be within the evangelical spectrum—who don’t see the need for Muslims to become Christians.

Amidst this deplorable chaos, Dr. Lutzer’s book is the best help for all who desire to gain a biblical and compassionate understanding of Islam yet have been disenchanted by both books and media broadcasts that either incite fear of Islam or attempt to whitewash Islam’s history and teachings. This book is different.

Dr. Lutzer offers the reader excellent information on Islam as a theological and ideological system. He points to the challenge it poses to the world, especially in the United States. He traces the history of how present-day Turkey went from Christianity to Islam, and shares how Islamic influence is spreading today in the West. Though he says his intention is not to give instruction on sharing Christ with Muslims, he nonetheless achieves this with excellence. And after having worked in ministry to Muslims for more than 30 years, I can say his pastoral heart for reaching out to Muslims is exceptional and genuine.

The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent is highly informative, eye-opening, and alarming. Yet it is also full of great biblical hope for the church and for the transformation of Muslims from Islam to Christianity. Dr. Lutzer clearly differentiates between Islam as an anti-Christian ideology and the Muslims for whom our Lord died and who are in need of His salvation. He does not commit the mistake of declaring all Muslims to be fanatical followers of Allah. He notes that the majority of Muslims live peacefully among us and that many of them don’t even live up to the teachings of their own religion.

I was born in Pakistan to Muslim parents who became Christians, and as a minority Christian, I lived through pain, persecution, and social discrimination at the hands of Muslims. In fact, my only brother was martyred in Pakistan in 1990.

I am grateful that Dr. Lutzer has given me, and others like me, hope from the Bible. He has challenged us to be steadfast in our walk with the Lord, to trust and obey our calling to serve the Lord, and to take the gospel to Muslims, knowing that ultimate victory has already been won on the cross of Jesus. This Christ-centered, Bible-based message of salvation in Jesus’ name alone is the only hope this world has. One Bible passage that has helped me to stand firm is Romans 8:35-39, where Paul reminds us not to fear death. Jesus has already won the victory, and though we may not see it now, we are assured of it. God is sovereign, and He is in control of everything.

In my years of ministry to Muslims in the United States, I have seen Christians respond to Muslims in the following ways:

1. They become paralyzed with fear and do nothing to reach out.

2. They wish Muslims would stop coming to the United States and spreading their influence.

3. They invent creative methodologies to reach Muslims that even Muslims mock, for they recognize this not-so-subtle evangelism in disguise.

4. They are conciliar in their outlook and engagements.

5. They are actively engaged in ministry to Muslims.

Dr. Lutzer’s book gives us hope to actively engage with Muslims. Disengagement is not an option, for American Christians in particular and the church in general. One day we will stand before the Lord and give an account of our lives lived for Him, and how we handled the opportunities entrusted to us.

In this book, you’ll have the opportunity to read about how various Muslims came to Christ. Let us not be hesitant or afraid and hide within the safety of our Christian circles. The Lord is drawing Muslims to Him; let us be passionate about reaching them. They are here among us, waiting for someone to share the love and hope we have in Jesus.

Dr. Samuel Ezra Naaman

Professor, Department of World Missions,

Moody Bible Institute, Chicago

The Day the Levees Broke