A Muslim friend sent me a link to a video of a Christian preacher who became a Muslim.
You can watch it yourself at http://www.watchislam.com/videos/video.php?vid=3 or read a summary at
http://islamtomorrow.com/yusuf/priests_n_preachers.htm
To a genuine Christian, the conversion story of Skip (now Yusuf) Estes will not ring true. It’s obvious that he was not a genuine follower of Jesus before his conversion to Islam. (It comes out even more clearly in the video, than in the written account, how small his working knowledge of the Bible (and Islam) was when he was a “Christian” preacher.)
Nevertheless, this is a sad story and one we should take to heart. As Paul said, “Lest having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.”
There is another valuable lesson in this. Estes over simplifies and twists facts to make his points about Christianity. I don’t know enough of Islam to know if he’s doing the same for Islam, but the fact that he was inaccurate in his description of Christianity causes me to wonder how accurate he was in his description of Islam.
The reverse is true for us as we try to share Jesus with Muslims. If we make inaccurate statements about Islam, they will not trust our words about Jesus. Unfortunately, there is inaccurate information about Islam floating around in some Christian circles today. What makes Islam confusing to understand is that there are so many understandings of Islam floating around even in the Islamic world. Some are violent and some are more peaceful. If we accuse a peaceful Muslim of being a violent Muslim, he will conclude we have an inaccurate knowledge of Islam and doubt our accuracy about Jesus also.
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