Tuesday, August 18, 2009

How and why did Churches become Mosques in the Middle East?

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddasbg/535177033/

"But I have this against against you, that you have left your first love" Rev. 2:4

"Remember, . . . repent, and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you, and I will remove your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent." Rev. 2:5


The Hagia Sophia ( The Church of Holy Wisdom, from the Greek words, “Hagia” for Holy, and “Sophia” for wisdom) was built under Emperor Justinian’s reign (consecrated in 563 AD), after other smaller churches were on the same site since 326 AD, under Constantine. This is still the most incredible dome structure in the world that has never been able to be reduplicated at that size without much more support underneath. The famous early church father, John Chrysostom (bishop of Constantinople 398-404 AD) ministered from the old church building that was here before the current structure was built.  According to tour guides, Chrysostom’s stone pulpit is in the courtyard of the Hagia Sophia. When the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 and renamed the city Istanbul, the church was converted into a Mosque and the minarets were added. All of the pictures of Jesus and Mary and other Biblical stories on the walls were plastered over for many years, because in Islam, to paint a picture of a prophet is considered idolatry. In 1847-1849, the building was restored and since 1935 it has been a Museum.


Part one: the Divine Factor: God is ultimately in charge of history
Ultimately, God allowed Islam to overtake the early church and territories that were formerly Christian; because God is Sovereign over history, but man is still responsible for his sinful actions. 1

Leaving their first love (Rev. 2:4; see also Matthew 22:36-40); which resulted in lack of evangelistic outreach; and the combination of false doctrine and sin in the churches (most of the other churches in Rev. chapters 2-3) and other political and social factors, and becoming lukewarm and self-sufficient, (Rev. 3:15-19), is the root of all of the other human and historical factors that eventually led to the demise of the once on fire and somewhat healthy churches of the New Testament.            But just because the apostles Paul, John, and Peter; and leaders like Titus and Timothy got the churches started, does not guarantee that they would last. Each generation must be wholly devoted to God. “. . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you . . .” (Matthew 28:18-20)      But ultimately God in His pleasure and wisdom and for His own glory has allowed all of these things to happen so that He could get greater glory later, when the gospel would go to the Muslims and other unreached peoples. God is beginning to do this mighty work of sovereignty in providentially opening up the Muslim World in this day.               And God is using the fanatical expressions of Islam to make Muslims disillusioned with Islam all over the world.  


In the last 30 years, it seems more Muslims are turning away from Islam, to Jesus Christ, than in previous generations!            This is especially true among Iranians, who are not Arabs, but Persian.  They have t                          heir own language and rich culture history, including Kings mentioned in the Bible; Cyrus, Dariush, Khasharyasha ( Xerxes) and Ardishir (Artaxerxes).  The Khomeini regime (beginning in 1979) exposed the true nature of doctrinal, consistent, political Islam to many peaceful and normal Muslims.   

The cruel dictatorships of Qaddafi of Libya, Hafez Al Assad of Syria, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the Taliban of Afghanistan, and the trickery and deceitfulness of Yasser Arafat and suicide bombers, the violence and Al Qaida, Hamas, and other Jihadist Muslim movements are also creating a turmoil in many other normal everyday and secular Muslims.   God is working in more Muslims' hearts today, than ever before in history for them to seek the truth all over the world, including the Arab World.  More than ever before, peaceful Muslims are realizing that their religion itself and its doctrines in the Qur'an, Hadith, and Sharia jurisprudence contribute to the violence and nature of a lot of Islamic terrorism and oppression in today's world.  

The first and foremost reason for Islam conquering the Middle East is that God Himself ordained (decided to allow it), permitted it, in His wisdom and right to do such; for His own glory. God could have stopped it, just like He could have stopped the 9-11-01 terrorists. But just like with Job in chapters 1-2 of the wisdom book of Job, God pulled His powerful protecting hand back and let Satan attack Job for a purpose. In the same way, God pulled his Omnipotent hand back and permitted the terrorists to do what their evil nature enslaved them to do. “And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was very great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continuously”. (Genesis 6:5) “The Lord looked down on the earth and saw it was full of violence” (Genesis 6:11-12) The Hebrew is very emphatic and descriptive in these verses. This describes the depravity and the potential for evil lurking in all of our hearts. Only God’s grace and sovereignty holds back more violence and corruption from becoming even worse. Humans act according to their nature.


God is sovereign and only acts according to Holy nature, being completely separated from sin. God is Holy and Pure and completely separated from evil. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all”. (I John 1:5) God cannot lie. (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18) But God is also completely Sovereign and in control. The evil imaginations of the hearts of humans are so bad, that when God takes His protection off, He lets us see the potential of our own wicked hearts. As John Piper wrote, “How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, and with compassionate outcomes is mysterious indeed! But that is what the Bible teaches. God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11) . . . All of us are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath we take is an undeserved gift. We have one great hope: that Jesus Christ died to obtain pardon and righteousness for us (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and that God will employ His all-conquering, sovereign grace to preserve us for our inheritance (Jeremiah 32:40). We surrender this hope if we sacrifice this sovereignty.” God could have restrained the evil as He kept Abimelech, the king of Gerar from sinning against Sarah and Abraham in Genesis 20:6.

“For His Own Pleasure and Glory” --
This was William Carey’s answer to a Hindu Braham in India after he went there in 1792, as to why it took them so long to come and share the gospel with them. “For His own pleasure and glory, and God has His reasons; He is wise” is how Tom Wells summarizes Carey’s answer. 2  William Carey cited Acts 14:16 and 17:30, putting them together:

“In the past, He let all nations go their own ways, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent.”

Carey told the Hindu Brahman:
“. . . thus by the diffusion of gospel light, the wisdom, power, and grace of God will be more conspicuous in overcoming such deep-rooted idolatries, and in destroying all that darkness and vice which have so universally prevailed in this country, than they would have been if all had not been suffered (allowed) to walk in their own ways for so many ages past.” (Tom Wells. A Vision for Missions. Banner of Truth, 1985, p. 13. ( ibid, same as 2) 

God gets more glory by showing evil for what it is and then destroying it later. That is the basic story line of the Bible.

God in His Sovereignty is not only bringing more Muslims than ever before to the west; but He is also sending out more laborers to the Muslim world today than in all previous history; and more Muslims have come to Christ in the last 30 years than in all previous mission history!! Let us make Matthew 9:37-38 a part of our prayers in our churches. When we pray for the Sovereign Lord to send out laborers into His harvest, we must surrender and we willing to be those laborers.

William Carey’s answer was in response to the question as to why it has taken so long to bring the gospel here, if it is the only hope of salvation from sin. We cannot go back and change History and it is certainly evil to rebel against God and his Sovereignty (Romans 9:19-24); so every generation must start afresh with its own responsibility for the contemporary generation of non-Christians in the world, and that it is the business of each such generation of Christians to see to it, as far as lies within its power, that the Gospel is clearly preached by planting churches in every un-reached people group. (Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 15:20-21, Revelation 5:9)

God’s sovereignty in the past is no excuse for disobedience in the present! Don’t be afraid to witness to Muslims. Learn and get equipped on the issues and how to preach the gospel to Muslims.


1 John Piper, “Why I do not say, ‘God Did Not Cause the Calamity, But He Can Use it for Good.”, September 19, 2001.  
see also:  The Westminster Confession of Faith, and the 1689 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith 3:1:
The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 3, verse 1, “Of God’s Eternal Decree”

"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;[1] yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin,[2] nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.[3]" (my emphasis)


2 Tom Wells, A Vision for Missions. Banner of Truth, 1985, p. 12-21.


29 comments:

James Bellisario said...

Ken wrote, "more Muslims have come to Christ in the last 30 years than in all previous mission history!!"

What source are you using? How many Muslims were converted before that? Have you checked every 30 year period of history against the last 30 to to substantiate your claim? Do you have accurate data and accurate records from every 30 year span prior to the last 30 to substantiate your claim? Thanks in advance for the info.

James Bellisario said...

Also it may be helpful to have the statistics of converts in comparison to the Muslim world population throughout the last 1400 years to compare to as well. The fact that we are converting many Muslims now is not really an achievement in any sense, since the growth percentages has far outpaced conversion percentages. For example, "the Muslim population in Britain has grown by more than 500,000 to 2.4 million in just four years, according to official research collated for The Times. The population multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society, the research by the Office for National Statistics reveals."

"Experts said that the increase was attributable to immigration, a higher birthrate and conversions to Islam during the period of 2004-2008,..."

This might be a reason to look at the Protestant rejection of Scripture in regards to using contraception. As long "Christians" continue to contracept and abort their young, much ground will continue to be lost.

I wonder how the Muslim conversion rate is to the Christian conversion rate? That would be an interesting statistic to look at.

James Bellisario said...

I looked up some world population statistics just for reference.

Protestantism makes up about 9% of the world population. That is all the Prots put together. I wonder how much of the world population is "Reformed"?

Catholics make up around 17% of the world population.

Islam boasts between 22 and 23% of the world population.

Sources:

CIA world fact book.

US State Dept

International Religious Freedom Report 2008

Wikipedia

Darlene said...

Ken,

Even though I am not RC, I agree with Matthew that you should cite sources if you are going to make comments about more Muslims coming to Christ in the last 30 yrs than all previous history.

I do think it would be safe to say that there have been more Orthdox Christians since the birth of Christianity than all Protestants combined. (I would be willing to find statistics on that) Also, not long ago, I was reading an article (forgive me, I don't remember where) in which it was stated that the EO Church is the second largest Christian faith group in the world, with Roman Catholicism being the largest.

So, what do numbers proove in and of themselves? When I was a member of the Church of Bible Understanding, we went street witnessing every day. We went marathon witnessing on weekends. When we had our big meetings, reports of HUNDREDS of people being saved in each fellowship were given. We were a part of the explosive "Jesus Movement" of the 70's.

We would point to the local churches and state that they weren't doing their job. They were producing nominal Christians who were "into the flesh." They couldn't reach young people because they weren't willing to "go out on a limb for Jesus." We would purposely debate "church" Christians and were dismayed at their limited understanding of the Bible. "Where was their fruit?", we would ask. We preached the gospel and our numbers prooved it. Their stale, boring, drab services didn't challenge young people and their lack of committed teenagers and college age students prooved it. We ridiculed their evangelism technique (if that's what you wanna call it) of getting people to come down the aisle and say the "Sinner's Prayer." Yet, we would go the extra mile with people, debating with them for hours (like St. Paul) in the public arena, prooving the truth of the Scriptures and defending the Christian faith. We weren't hypocritical, while the "church" Christians were. We lived the gospel, while theirs was one of Wed eves and Sundays.

We, we, we, it was all about us and how God was using and blessing US to preach the truth of the gospel and Bible interpretation. But we didn't see it that way. We thought we were all about doing things Jesus' way and doing it better than any other Christians.

Sadly, such arrogance proved little in the long run. The Church of Bible Understanding is a mere shadow of its former self.

Our Lord Jesus said, "Fear not, LITTLE flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Yet many Orthodox Christians have been martyred for their faith in Christ throughout the centuries. Within this past year the news reported on the funeral of an Orthodox priest who was martyred by Muslims in Iraq. Persecution is a true witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Ken said...

That was not really my main point; but I am glad you caught that.

This is based on the fact that very few Muslims in history have turned from Islam to Christ before 30 years ago; and we just don’t have very much records of many turning away from Islam to Christ in Islamic history. It was usually the other way around. Turning from Islam was and is punishable by death in Muslim countries that actually carry out the Sharia law, derived from the Qur’an and the Hadith.
• Hadith: Al Bukhari :
• Law of apostacy: If anyone turns from Islam, kill him.(9:84:57)
• War is deceit – repeated often. (4:52:267, 268, 269)
• “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe.” (4:53:392)
• Muhammed wrote letters to Khosrow, king of Iran and Hericlius, Byzantine Emperor, “If you become a Muslim, you will be safe.” (1:1:6) (also, 4:52:190-191)

The statement is mostly based on reports from missionaries, mission organizations, and former Muslims.

Statistics are tricky; I agree that it is an educated guess; but many former Muslims and missions organizations are reporting on these things. Also, statistics do not measure true faith or true conversion in the heart; and “openness” is not the same as actual conversion. It is difficult to get accurate stats because it is illegal to become a Christian in Muslim countries, culturally and socially, if not officially enforced by the more lenient/westernized Muslim governments.

Perhaps, to be more accurate, we should say, “It seems that more Muslims are turning to Christ than every before ( or in many years).”

Read all 9 pages of this report: on page 2 he starts reporting on statistics:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/september9/1.34.html?start=2

Some Iranians (former Muslims) report of 35,000; others report 150,000 MBBs (“Muslim Background Beleivers” or “former Muslims” who now believe in Jesus; and during the 50s, 60s, 70s, there were maybe 500 at most, scattered throughout the country.
http://www.farsinet.com/ici/

From the histories of Iran that I have read, it is true. Most all of the Nestorian Christians were wiped out first by the Zoroastrian persecutions, later by the Muslims, then they were pretty much completely destroyed by the Mongolian invasions of Genghis Khan and Timor e Lang (Tamerlane). There is no record of significance of Muslims turning to Christ in Iran until the last 30 years.

There are other reports on Bangla Desh and Indonesia, etc. Google and look around and you will find a lot of material.

Whether they are all truly converted is another issue.

Ken said...

Also, I am not talking about biological growth and the bare numbers of populations of the RC and EO, in comparison with Protestants. Those statistics are mostly based on infant baptism records, and that does not reflect conversion in the heart, that is just an external religious rite. The European and western numbers of those folks would surely be mostly nominal, right?

I was talking about those born Muslim who have turned from Islam to Christ.

Also, the populations of EO, RC, and the Assyrian Church of the East have dwindled in Muslim countries over the centuries. Especially in Ottoman Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan.

Egypt may the only majority Muslim country that has kept its Christian population. (The Coptic Church)

Ken said...

Matthew wrote:
"Experts said that the increase was attributable to immigration, a higher birthrate and conversions to Islam during the period of 2004-2008,..."

I agree. This is true for Western Europe - Muslims have 3-6-sometimes 10 children and some have more than one wife.

Western Europeans, for the most part, are loosing their "Christian culture"; they no longer believe in marriage or children and have abortions and homosexual rights, etc. Those that do get married, have 2 or less children statistically.

But that was a completely different issue than what I was talking about. Immigration and biological growth are not conversions.

MarieP said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MarieP said...

This article showed up on my bloglines at the same time as this one:

a href=http://blog.rbseminary.org/2009/08/now-thats-a-good-church-ephesians-115-16/

Sobering stuff...

Ken said...

I changed it to be safe; thanks for pointing that out; that it is difficult to verify with scientific accuracy; and it reflects an excitement because of so little fruit for so many centuries among Muslims.

"In the last 30 years, it seems more Muslims are turning away from Islam, to Jesus Christ, than in previous generations!"

But, there is phenomenal growth and open-ness as never before among Iranians, the Kabyle Berbers in Algeria, Bangla Desh, and Indonesia.

The Blogger Formerly Known As Lvka said...

God pulled his Omnipotent hand back and permitted the terrorists to do what their evil nature enslaved them to do. Humans act according to their nature.

God is sovereign and only acts according to Holy nature, being completely separated from sin
.

Too bad Christ was in two natures: did He possess an evil nature, then, because He was also human? Or did He not act according to His human nature? If the later, tell me if God eats, drinks, sleeps, or dies.

Thank You.

Bye, bye!

Acolyte4236 said...

So was it due to some sin that providence that "actively permitted" the take over of mainline Protestant churches by liberals and their almost complete decline and disappearance in the home countries?

Ken said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken said...

So was it due to some sin that providence that "actively permitted" the take over of mainline Protestant churches by liberals and their almost complete decline and disappearance in the home countries?

Yes, the sin was the liberalism; and it grew and God judged it; theological liberalism is pure sin and rebellion against God; it is not even Christian.

God judges it, condemns it.

"The wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness and wickedness of men that surpress the truth in unrighteousness."
Romans 1:18

Giving them over to their desires is part of the judgment of God.

Ken said...

Lvka wrote:
Too bad Christ was in two natures:
Yes, Christ has two natures.
did He possess an evil nature, then, because He was also human?

No, Christ had a perfect sin-less human nature.
Hebrews 4:15
2 Cor. 5:21

But He did get tired, sleep, get hungry and thirsty while here on earth.
John 4

Those things are not sins. He voluntarily subjected Himself to the weaknesses of the human nature, but without sin.

Philippians 2:5-8

Acolyte4236 said...

Ken,

That won't answer the question. What sin *prompted* the rise of liberalism? If supposed infidelity to the gospel gave rise to Islamic domination in the East, what sin gave rise to theological liberalism and secularism in the west? Why are historically Calvinist and Lutheran countries so barren? Why are there churches essentially museums run by the state?

Did God run out of elect in Europe or something?

Pot meet kettle

Ken said...

That won't answer the question. What sin *prompted* the rise of liberalism? If supposed infidelity to the gospel gave rise to Islamic domination in the East, what sin gave rise to theological liberalism and secularism in the west? Why are historically Calvinist and Lutheran countries so barren? Why are there churches essentially museums run by the state?

The same thing - leaving their first love - Rev. 2:4; Matthew 22:36-40

Anonymous said...

“The first and foremost reason for Islam conquering the Middle East is that God Himself ordained and actively permitted it, in His wisdom and right to do such; for His own glory.” And:

“In the last 30 years, it seems more Muslims are turning away from Islam, to Jesus Christ, than in previous generations!”


First off all, it was claimed that God Himself “actively permitted” (whatever that phrase means) the overthrow of Christianity by Islam in the Middle East. However, from the second statement, it now appears that God Himself is actively seeking the conversion of Moslems to Christianity.

It seems to me that far too many people who know next to nothing about the works of God very often mount their invisible pulpits and make most unheard-of magisterial statements about things they are most ignorant of. This kind of behavior, which often is often intended to do God a favor, is nothing but a most sinister defamation of God Himself.

Anonymous said...

“In the last 30 years, it seems more Muslims are turning away from Islam, to Jesus Christ, than in previous generations!”

Is God now actively permitting Moslems to convert to Christianity? If so,where is the push of God? Why is Islam reportedly the fastest growing religion? Where is the proof that God is this conflicted being - one day he wants Islam to overtake Christianity for His own glory, then the next day He wants Christians to convert Moslems, seemingly for His glory too.

How many Churches has Ken's denomination built in a Moslem country in the last 30 years? How many mosques have moslems built in Protestant America?

No wonder things have remained as they are - Protestant paint a most silly picture of who God is and what He is like.

Acolyte4236 said...

Ken,

Perhaps leaving their first love was leaving Rome? Or maybe Protestant theology all by itself was the sin?

Ken said...

Dozie,
Yes, God is sovereign. Nothing happens apart from His soverignty and providence.

". . . He works all things after the counsel of His will." Ephesians 1:11

Both the increase of Muslims growth in the west, especially Europe, mostly through immigration and birth; but also the disillusionment of many other Muslims in their own countries.

Also the decrease in mainline liberal protestant churches.

all three

Ephesians 1:11

". . . him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," NIV

". . .according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will," NASB

Ken said...

John Piper on Matthew 28:18 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/14/1055_The_Lofty_Claim_the_Last_Command_the_Loving_Comfort/


“All authority. He has authority over Satan and all demons, over all angels -good and evil - over the natural universe, natural objects and laws and forces: stars, galaxies, planets, meteorites; authority over all weather systems: winds, rains, lightning, thunder, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, typhoons, cyclones; authority over all their effects: tidal waves, floods, fires; authority over all molecular and atomic reality: atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, undiscovered subatomic particles, quantum physics, genetic structures, DNA, chromosomes; authority over all plants and animals great and small: whales and redwoods, giant squid and giant oaks, all fish, all wild beasts, all invisible animals and plants: bacteria, viruses, parasites, germs; authority over all the parts and functions of the human body: every beat of the heart, every breath of the diaphragm, every electrical jump across a million synapses in our brains; authority over all nations and governments: congresses and legislatures and presidents and kings and premiers and courts; authority over all armies and weapons and bombs and terrorists; authority over all industry and business and finance and currency; authority over all entertainment and amusement and leisure and media; over all education and research and science and discovery; authority over all crime and violence; over all families and neighborhoods; and over the church, and over every soul and every moment of every life that has been or ever will be lived.

There is nothing in heaven or on earth over which Jesus does not have authority, that is, does not have the right and the power do with as he pleases. Both the right and the power. The scope and the magnitude of the authority of Jesus is infinite, because Jesus is one with God the Father. The Father has given him all authority not because the Father can give up being God, but because Jesus is God. And when deity shares infinite authority with deity, he neither loses nor gains anything, but remains infinitely full and triumphant and all-sufficient. This is the lofty claim. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, has all authority in heaven and on earth, because our Lord Jesus is God.”

Ken said...

Perhaps leaving their first love was leaving Rome?

No. the text is clear that our first love is God -Father/Jesus/Holy Spirit- Rev. 2:4; Matthew 22:36-40. "first and foremost command" and "love".
Leaving Rome was a noble and a good thing. Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide are Truth.


Or maybe Protestant theology all by itself was the sin?

How can something good and holy be sin?

Acolyte4236 said...

Ken,

Perhaps Rome had the read Jesus and the Reformers left him when they left Rome?

After all, the Reformers were just fallible men, some of whom were never ministers like Calvin. if Rome can be wrong for a thousand plus years, why can't the Reformers be wrong for 500?

Maybe sola fide is just the historical artifact of the 16th century as a product of 15th century late medieval nominalism?
Maybe its a false doctrine? It wouldn't be so holy then, would it?

John Bugay said...

Ken -- for your readers, Samuel Hugh Moffett's "The History of Christianity in Asia" provides a fascinating look at "Churches of the East" that are (were) farther east than Jerusalem. Moffett deals with the rise of Islam and how early Islam dealt with the churches located in various areas, especially the Persian churches.

Ken said...

John,
Thanks, yes, Moffat's book is one of my sources for my research on this issue over the years. I have to keep checking it out from the local seminary library here to keep up and refresh on the facts.

I enjoyed looking at your web-site, especially the references of "Sola Fide" before Luther - excellent!

Press on! ( Philippians 3:7-14)
Ken

Anonymous said...

Is this the whole article? I am interested in the early medieval Near East and thought this post was about how churches became mosques. I see what you think about primary and secondary causation generally, but did you do any research at all about what actually happened on the ground? Is that in another post somewhere?

Ken said...

David,
There are other articles on the general history of the early church and Islam - look under "Islam" under categories of past blog posts at Beggar's All - "The Arabs did not get a credible witness", etc.

But I don't have specific details on exact churches in the Middle Ages - I confess I don't have details on that here - although if you google - I remember reading an article on how the "church of the Apostles" in Constantinople (another church, which had the remains of John Chrysostom in it) was eventually destroyed by the Ottomans and the Fatih Mosque was built in its place. Google "Fatih Mosque" in Istanbul.

There are other examples, - the Chora Church in Istanbul, etc.

But you can see all my articles under the side bar categories under Islam, and I touch on the issue of the lack of a credible witness and the early church drifting from Biblical Christianity.

Ken

Ken said...

David,
Here are the links to my other articles on the general issues of Islam and the early church history, but they may not be exactly what you are looking for. (it seems)

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2009/08/church-converted-into-mosque.html

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2009/08/failure-of-early-church-and-rise-of.html

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2009/08/muhammad-and-arabs-just-did-not-get.html

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-islam-and-church-history.html