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In response to "Jesus Is Calling The Muslims" , we received this challenge to take a "Christian Truth Test" from an Islamic Study Group who call themselves the "Truth Seeker Society." This so-called "truth test" was originally issued to Palestinian Evangelist and Evangelical Christian Dr. Anis Shorrosh because of his noted witnessing to Muslims and his writings and debates regarding the false prophet Mohammad and the false "holy book" the Koran. It was then sent to us after the above-mentioned series aired in the Milwaukee area with this note: "Preachers of Prophecy Watch, Rev. Anis declined to take Christs' test--on the other hand will all of you take Christs' test?"
Here is the so-called "test," followed by our response,
(Originally addressed to Dr. Shorrosh) "...I want you to know that I joyfully accept your challenge on the subject mentioned in your Arabic note to me, Providing you pass the falsification test established in your own Bible by your own Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that I may be convinced that you truly believe the Bible to be God's infallivle word. I do not wish to waste your precious time or mine. This test will be supervised by an independent unbiased third party: The James Randi Educational Foundation in the State of Florida. Should you decline this test established by your savior Jesus Christ, the debate is null and void, and the conclusion would be overwhelmingly obvious."
"Jesus Christ Falsification Test:"
" 'These signs will accompany those [Christians] who believe.'
1. 'In My Name they (Christians) will drive out demons;' [adult blind, deaf, and dumb persons since birth]
2. 'They (Christians) will speak in new tongues;' [not those learned in college]
3. 'They (Christians) will pick up snakes with their hands;' [2 African Black Mamba snakes]
4. 'And when they (Christians) drink deadly poison*, it will not hurt them at all;' [*to be selected by the tester]
5. 'They (Christians) will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.' [Ternimal diseased persons, plus 1 criminally insane basket-nut-case with a brain tumor.]
Mark 16:17-18
I trust my respected Reverend Anis Shorrosh that you have true faith in Jesus and this test should be easy for you. Amen, and amen and amen."
Our Response: (It should be noted that the above "truth test" is typical of the abysmal ignorance many Muslims display regarding the Bible.)
by Phillip Goodman
Dear Truth Seeker,
I do appreciate you watching Prophecy Watch Television. I will address the flyer you included, copy enclosed.
You, a Muslim, appeal to an "infidel," the atheist Randi, to authenticate whether or not someone is a true spokesman of God? Why don't you just appeal to Satan? In fact, that is what you are doing. Here's how we know. We have checked with the Scriptures, not Randi.
The Scriptures make a promise for true believers in God in Psalm 91 which is very similar to the one you quote in Mark 16:17-18. Here are verses 10-16 of Psalm 91:
No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, Lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down. "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. "With a long life I will satisfy him, And let him behold My salvation." (Psalms 91:10-16)
Satan took part of these verses (Psalm 91:11-12) and laid them out as a truth test for Jesus, the Person the Koran calls "Messiah." (Surah 3:45) Here's the account.
Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" [Psalm 91:11-12] Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (Matthew 4:5-7)
But these verses (Psalm 91:10-16) were not given by God as a test of who is a true believer and who is not. They were given as a promise that God will protect believers in various ways when it is in His plan and sovereign will to do so.
The proof that the Psalm 91 passage is not a "test" and is not universally applicable is obvious in verse 16, where it says "With a long life I will satisfy him." But Jesus died young, and so have many believers. Even Mohammad did not live a "long life!"
"But beyond all of that, God says that Satan is in fact putting God Himself to the "test" by a bogus, misapplication of Scripture!
Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (Matthew 4:5-7)
Just as Psalm 91 is not a "test" passage, so too is Mark 16:17-18 not intended as a "test" passage. The so-called "Truth Seeker Society" is using Mark 16:17-18 in the same way that Satan used Psalm 91--as a bogus "test." That gives us a clue as to who the inspiration behind the Truth Seeker Society really is. Therefore, to the silly flyer you sent requires the same response: "It is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16)
Here is why any believer knowledgeable of the Bible rejects Mark 16:17-18 as a "truth test" passage, but accepts it for its intent- a prediction, or prophecy, of certain things that will happen in God's sovereign time and will as He works among believers:
1. The passage says that these things (tongues, protection from serpents & poison, healing) will occur only when done "in My name." Nothing is done "in My name" unless it is in the timing and will of the Lord. For example, the Scripture says that SOME believers have the gift of healing, others do not. (1 Corinthians 12:30) Therefore, not every Christian will perform that part of the Mark "test."
2. Mark 16:17-18 is a prophecy of things that will occur among particular believers in the future as God appoints. For example, healings in Acts 3:6-7; 28:9, and protection from harm of a poisonous serpent in Acts 28:3-6. Mark 16:17-18 was certainly fulfilled in these accounts, and there have been other fulfillments in Christian history, but with God's particular appointees among Christians in His time and in His place. When Acts 3:6-7/28:3-6/28:9 and other passages were fulfilled, those events certainly "accompanied those who have believed." And they continue to occur in God's time and in His place. Rather than resorting to Satan's ploy to "PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST'" (Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16), why not resort to the Test Of The Torah, which the Koran says is God's written Word! (Surah 5:44) Next point...
3. The Koran says to check the earlier Scriptures for truth. (Surah 10:94-95) The "earlier Scriptures," those that preexisted the Koran, are exactly the same Scriptures we have today in the form of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms, or the Old Testament. A simple reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms that these Scriptures the Koran says must be consulted to "test" the Koran for truth are exactly the same Scriptures we possess today. And it is these Scriptures, by the hand of Moses, that set forth the real test for truth in Deuteronomy 13:1-4 and 18:20-22. Mohammad and the Koran fail both.
4. These "earlier" Scriptures also included the Injil (Gospels) and the rest of the New Testament. We find that the New Testament also has a "truth test" passage, but it is not Mark 16:17-18. Here it is.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)
Here is another one,
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6)
Mohammad and the Koran also fail both of these truth tests. I urge you, my friend, to consider the claims of Jesus Christ, that,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (John 14:6)
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