The Collected Works of Stanford E. Murrell

While the war in Iran continues, it is important to remember there is a spiritual component to the conflict. This idea is readily understood by Muslims for in addition to chanting “Death to America,” and, “America is the Great Satan,” millions cry out, “Allahu Akbar,”

The phrase, “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest) is deigned to convey the idea to the faithful Muslim that Allah is greater than everything, including a desire to live. With this in mind, the Jihadist cries out, “Allahu Akbar,” during an attempt to wound, or kill, an infidel, an enemy, or a wayward Muslim.

To the Iranians, and to the world, the Word of the Lord goes forth so that “they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside ME. I am the LORD, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:6).

A desperate attempt has been made to find common ground between the Allah of the Quran, and the Lord God of the Bible. In June 2024, Pope Francis asserted Christians, Jews, and Muslims, all worship the one true God and are “brothers and sisters.”

“Jesus taught us to welcome one another as brothers and sisters,” the pontiff told a delegation from the Bologna Mosque in northern Italy. “And this is true first of all for us, Christians, Jews, and Muslims, who worship the One God.”  

The truth is that the God of Christianity and the God of Islam are fundamentally different. This difference is crystalized in the person of Jesus Christ.

Matt Slick, a Christian apologist, contrasts the Christian belief in the incarnation of the Word, with Jesus being God in flesh and crucified, with the Islamic view that Jesus was merely a prophet and was not crucified, as stated in the Qur’an.

“First of all, the God of Christianity is a Trinity where the God of Islam is not. The Trinity is the monotheistic teaching that God exists eternally as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Islam, this is blatantly denied.

“And behold! Allah will say: O ‘Isa Ibn Maryam! Did you say to men, Worship me and my mother as gods besides Allah? He will say: Glory to you! Never could I say what I had no right to say. Had I said such a thing, you would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, though I know not what is in yours. For you know in full all that is hidden” (Qur’an 5:116).

“O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, ‘Three’; desist—it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs” (Qur’an 4:171).

Furthermore, in Christianity the doctrine of the Trinity allows for the incarnation of the Word. John 1:1, 14 says that the Word which was God was with God and became flesh and dwelt among us and was crucified (Matt. 26:2; 27:38). This is denied in Islam, which says that Jesus is only a prophet and was not crucified.

“[Jesus] said, ‘Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet’” (Qur’an 19:30).

“And [for] their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain” (Qur’an 4:157).

Thus, needless to say, the God of Islam and the God of Christianity are not the same.

The most obvious testimony the Allah of the Muslim faith is not the same as the Lord God of Scripture is the eternal hostility and hatred of Muslims toward Jews and Christians. To a devout Muslim, Jews and Christians are to be fought against and destroyed if they do not accept Islam or pay a tax known as jizya.

Surah At-Tawbah (9:29): Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled.

Tafsir Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:51): Allah forbids His believing servants from having Jews and Christians as friends, because they are the enemies of Islam and its people, may Allah curse them. Allah then states that they are friends of each other and He gives a warning threat to those who do this.

In the war in Iran, it is more than probable the God of the Bible is using the American military to remind that nation,

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me” (Isa. 45:5).

God is a jealous God. He did not share His glory with the Emperor Showa (Hirohito) who was worshipped as a descendent of the Sun god. The false “god,” according to Shinto belief, died on January 7, 1989.

God is a jealous God. He did not share His glory with the Deutsche Kristen movement in Nazis Germany. Adolf Hitler died, not as a god, but as a depraved monster on April 30, 1945.

God is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with Allah, the Buddha, Krishna, or any other figment of man’s imagination.

Let the Christian protect the Lord God and give glory, and honor, and praise, to Him alone.

“To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.”