Just a few words to update the readers as to what I've been doing lately.  I'm not too sure if there are any regular readers as no one ever leaves a comment, but in case there are one or two, I will let you know what I've been up to. I started out with this blog as an attempt to reach out to:

1.) My Christian Brothers and Sisters in the hopes that they would find some love in their hearts for the one and a half billion Muslim people of this world, to the end that some of these may come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. And,

2.) To those same Muslims to let them know that ALL Christians are not hateful hypocrites that would rather see them dead and in hell, and to show them from the Bible, ( which by the way for the Christians that don't realize it, is also considered "from God" to them, though they think we've corrupted it, and they on the other hand, have corrupted their own message of the Qu'ran by private interpretation. ), that Jesus is who He said He is. ( though they don't say that He said that, but if you were reading the last couple of months, you might understand a little of the arguments of both sides. LOL. )

I feel, by the negative responses I've engendered from the few "Christians" that have cared to comment or correspond with me, that my efforts have been largely a waste of my time. I have no Muslim readers that I am aware of. I have reached out the hand of friendship to them, but only in my daily life with several face to face encounters have I been successful.

I have been talking to a few people on Face Book and reaching out with a greater success there to Christians and Muslims alike. I did not plan to use this as my primary medium, but God has steered me into that direction. I would not have you think that I have gotten no positive feedback from my brothers in Christ, just sparingly. I thank the Lord for what I have. Praise you Jesus.

I told my best Muslim friend that I intended to go to a Conference in Atlanta to learn about being a missionary to the Muslim people, to bring Christ to them. His reaction was not exactly as I had expected. He was not very happy about it. Before you laugh and say " see, I told you so ", hear me out. He was not concerned so much that I was wrong and his religion was right. He knew by my conversation with him, that some may be converted to Christianity by my working with them. He also knew that I am not yet prepared to do this. I am not fully able to expound my own belief system and though I know a lot about theirs after a couple of years of study, and have a beginning knowledge of the Arabic language, I am still not ready to attempt to ask someone to change their life, leave their God by committing the "unpardonable sin" of "shirk", or as we call it, apostasy. Thereby forsaking family, friends, home, country, and possibly their very life. In several Muslim countries it is a capital offence punishable by death to convert out of Islam. In others, it is not the "official" policy but a very real threat. He is concerned for me taking my life in my hands by committing to this also. Do I have a right to ask these human beings to put their lives on the line for something I'm only a novice at ? I mean, does one go and attempt to de-fuse a bomb after one has read a book about it ? This is real life, real consequences, in the real world folks. You can't go on a holiday missionary excursion for a couple of weeks, turn someone's world upside down, then go home back to your safe warm condo to watch cable TV and drive to church on Sunday in your BMW. What about the ones you've left behind ? Does anyone understand what I'm talking about or am I deluded ? I want to be correct in my relationship with God. I don't really think it's important what man thinks about me but I understand I have been wrong so many times in my life. His thinking, I believe was that 1.) maybe I was not indeed, counting the cost and also, (though he knows me pretty well and does not doubt my sincerity of conviction), 2.) He may have been actually concerned about the state of my faith and what would the end of my journey bring me in my relationship with God.

He also brought to my attention the fact that someone who is starving, naked and homeless will come to your religion quite easily when you have food, clothing, and shelter. You have in essence, become their savior. He asked me " Is it fair, are you not taking advantage of these people in order to gain favor with God ?" I had not thought of it that way and I could not answer him.

In the process of rethinking your religion, your faith, your soul and your very existence, you go from rejection of the new, to questions of your own, to rejection of parts of either and various fluctuations and doubts about both. Many Muslims do not make the jump from Islam to Christianity, but rather land in the void of atheism  between the two. Is it better for them to have never been messed with, (for my lack of a better term), and left with some belief in one God, (the God of Abraham), or belief in nothing ? Many of my "Christian" friends will reply that it doesn't matter that both are going to hell anyway. I do not subscribe to that fatalistic and unkind ideology. If as Jesus taught, a house built upon an unsound foundation will fall, what about a half built house abandoned and left to weather in the elements on it's own ?

I do plan to continue to study in the living Word of God, and concentrate my efforts towards the missionary field and apologetics. I still need to learn more about my Master, Jesus, and what He wants. I will try to help with feeding the poor and helping their physical and emotional needs as my Lord has commanded me to. I specifically want to reach out to the Muslim people we have seem to forgotten about, except in caricatures of hate. The days of the black faced Vaudeville buffoons and images of "Black Sambo" and the other racial stereotypical epithets of our not too distant past seem to have re-appeared in a lighter shade. It is still evil. Paint your racism any way you like, God will be the judge.

Pray for me if you have a mind to and may the Lord of Heaven bless you with His Riches in Glory. MaSalaama.