Nabeel Qureshi Redux

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood and Pulpit and Pen controversy. Since then apologist James White chimed in. I listened to a portion of the discussion before tuning out. I happen to like much of the written apologetic material on White's website. But the video presentations often take too long to make points. So I didn't get the full gist. I believe Wood's particular style of presentation was mentioned. I can understand the criticism. Sometimes, however, the softer approach can also be condescending and damaging. This sort of bickering and in-fighting isn't helpful for the gospel cause.

Anyone who's read Nabeel's "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus" would have no cause to doubt that he came from a genuine Muslim background, even though his Islamic opponents label it a sect. He was upfront and careful to document the beliefs of his particular Islamic denomination. This should never have been called into question by another informed Christian. Moreover, Nabeel carefully details the slow painful process he underwent in converting to Christianity. In effect he lost his entire family for the cause of Christ.

Regarding the issue of dreams - it wasn't dreams which led Qureshi to faith in Christ. In the final analysis it was Scripture and Christian apologetics which converted Qureshi. J D Hall doesn't accept Wood's defense of Qureshi's one-time differing dream report. But this simply ignores all the other data presented in Nabeel's book.

In the book Jesus in Iran, Back to Jerusalem's Eugene Bach talks about Iranians who told him of their dreams of Christ. This is a phenomenon reported by many Christian missionaries in the Middle East. Western apologists are (rightly) skeptical regarding dreams and visions. However, Bach points out that these people aren't converted by their dreams:

They [Iranians] do not wake up knowing more but instead wake up wanting to know more. The dreams ignited a sudden desire to find a Bible or to find a Christian to help explain their dreams to them...The dreams are not an end result but a starting point to follow Jesus.

In other words, genuine conversion doesn't come from experiencing a dream. It must come from the empowering of the Holy Spirit and hearing the Word of God.

All that said, I've read Nabeel Qureshi's book and reviewed it HERE

Some interesting statistics from Joel Rosenberg.

A Tale of Two Journeys

This article compares the resolute faith and missionary drive of the Chinese Underground Church and the Back to Jerusalem team, with some of the apathy (and apostasy) we are seeing in our Western churches.

Excerpt:

During the Sunday talk, Brother Ren mentioned a clever innovation BTJ employs to open up the gospel to Muslims. They call it the Gospel Cloud. It’s a pocket Wi-Fi unit which provides free internet browsing. But instead of connecting to the World Wide Web, it restricts the browser to surfing web pages designed to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

As an example, Brother Ren talked about ambling into a Mosque somewhere in the Middle East. He noted that few Muslims were praying at the time. Many young men were sitting down playing with their cell phones. So he switched the Gospel Cloud on. BTJ claims this technology has enabled the gospel to spread rapidly “in some of the most closed and restricted areas of the world – like Iran and Saudi Arabia.”

You can read A Tale of Two Journeys HERE