Winning Muslims to Christ with a hug

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By Michael Ashcraft —

Forget the bombs, commando squads, closed borders and anti-Sharia laws. The way to defeat Islamic threat here in America is to evangelize Muslims with love, says one expert.

“Islam is a spiritual enemy. It’s not physical. It’s not people. The only way to encounter is prayer and outreach,” says Daniel Ted, head of the Christian Islamic Dialogue. “Without preaching the gospel, there is no ability to change people’s minds and hearts. That’s the only hope.

“If we address spiritual problems with physical means like politically, economically, it’s not going to work,” he tells God Reports. “We appreciate everybody’s job — like our troops — but they’re not going to solve the problem because the problem is spiritual in origin.”

Daniel Ted* was born into the Orthodox Church in a Northern African nation but came to real faith in Jesus in an evangelical church when he was 17. He began the dangerous task of reaching out to Muslims and helped launch 15 churches. If only one Muslim had turned him over to authorities, Daniel would have been thrown into prison and tortured.

After several years, he took a break/vacation to the U.S. and ultimately decided to stay. He started reaching out to Muslims in their communities, outside their mosques and over the internet, a ministry he has led for 10 years.

His technique is simple: no fancy arguments or disputation of any kind. Talk about Jesus and points of the Koran that mention personages in the Bible. Then after the discussion, no matter how heated it may have become, he hugs the man with whom he’s held the discussion.

“The main key to reach out to Muslims is to love them. That’s why after strong discussions, when I give them a hug, they melt down. I’ve seen this many times. And in some cases, I’ve seen tears in their eyes,” Daniel says. “If you start with apologetics or polemics, you lose the friendship. We start with Jesus, and when they accept Jesus in their hearts, they will be open to other things.”

Many, many Muslims have converted, he says. He doesn’t like to provide numbers because his work is only the seed. Only God knows the true number of Muslims who complete the journey to Christ, he says.

Pastor Adrian Rodriguez, who has four ex-Muslims in his church outside Hartford, Connecticut, has gone with Daniel on outreaches. Around the neighborhood is a community of refugees from the Middle East.

“He just starts talking with them about the Koran and the Bible. He goes and witnesses to Muslims. That’s all he does,” Adrian says. “He knows the root of Arabic. He’s a very intelligent guy. He meets with imams. He witnesses to them.”

Traveling around 11 states where Muslim communities are, Daniel leads teams to evangelize their Islamic neighbors with the love of Christ. Not much chalkboard learning, just walking the streets and striking up conversations.

“Jesus taught his disciples how to do outreach practically and then after that theoretically,” Daniel explains. “Many Christians want to learn without doing it practically. I encourage them that without doing it practically there is no way to do it.”

Once a year, Daniel leads a team to England, where there are 447 mosques. In 2017, he and the team began evangelizing “somewhat antagonistically” right near a table of devout Muslims were handing out Korans.

“As (an Indian Muslim) prayed for salvation, the Muslim group next to us began their daily prayers,” the CID brochure narrates. “As they were praying to the god of Islam, he was placing his faith in the living God!”

Should the America church fail to reach out to Muslims with love, Daniel warns, there are two phases to the introduction of Islam in America: the peaceful phase at first and then when, more numerous in the population, Muslims begin to force Sharia law upon the whole population, he says.

But there’s no need to fear or hate Muslims.

After all, if they are here in America, it is ultimately part of God’s plan.

“Every Muslim in the States should hear the Gospel. God sent them from overseas mainly to hear the Gospel, and God put the church here in the United States to preach them the Gospel,” Daniel says. “But many Christians today are not doing this.”

*Not his birth name.

Michael Ashcraft teaches journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.

1 COMMENT

  1. God bless this ministry. Since American Christians could not go to Islamic nations to preach Christ, God brought the Muslims to America for us. If we do not evangelize Muslims and witness Christ and His love to them, their blood is on our hands. We must witness to every Muslim we meet. Amen.

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