Listener Testimonies

An increasing number of Islamic worshipers have come to Christ after becoming disenchanted with the hatred and violence promoted by the religion of their upbringing. The majority of these converts have come to know Christ through television programs broadcast in their native language, Turning Point being one of them. For years, God has spoken to Muslims through dreams and visions subsequent to their scrolling through TV channels.

We routinely receive correspondence from individuals who have come to Christ through the ministry of God's Word via satellite TV. Recently, we received a letter from an Arab country in which the writer told us he had accepted Christ. A postscript pleaded with us not to send any materials for continued growth to his address, which was a sobering reminder of the danger involved with following Jesus in other regions, and the courage it takes for a Muslim in an Islamic country to confess Christ as Savior.

We know how powerful and encouraging it is to be reminded of God's continued work in the Middle East. He is the only one capable of reaching through the darkness of Islam to the hearts of the people and pulling them into His marvelous light. In addition to the story briefly mentioned above, be encouraged by these other testimonies of Muslims who found faith and love in Jesus through Turning Point.

From a formerly Muslim man in a Texas prison:

First, I want to say that I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior…. Your program had a lot of impact on me. You see…before this I was a Muslim for almost 12 years. These 12 years of Islam were very dark for me. Sometime [in 2015] I began to listen to your radio program and I would sit on my floor and reach into the far back of my storage locker where I kept a Bible hidden. I would take notes and try to not be seen because as a Muslim it was frowned upon and worse it is punishable to seek to learn about Jesus in the Bible…. Eventually, I began to look for a Christian to personally teach me all I needed about Jesus Christ. After a few months of understanding and coming to believe and accepting both the ransom Jesus paid and that God raised Him from the dead, I surrendered my life to Jesus…. Yes, I am in prison. I have been in prison for over 10 years…. But in the midst of this dark place where I am well–known and respected, my surrender to Jesus Christ is the opportunity to share what Jesus did for me and teach other inmates that love is available to them. —Michael Vidal

From a woman who was displaced by the rise of ISIS in her home country:

In 2014, Elham attended a worship meeting and heard a voice inside her saying, "Trust Me. I give life." Since then, she began attending church meetings and watching Christian TV programs, especially the Turning Point program. The teaching of Pastor David Jeremiah led her to give her life to Jesus. Elham and her family suffered from the radical Islamist groups in Mosul who threatened to kidnap their children if they do not flee their house. They also threatened to kill them and would shoot bullets toward the house. They moved to Bakhdida (Qaraqosh) and stayed there until ISIS invaded the area. They lived several days without electricity while bombs were falling on surrounding houses. She lives in a portable house and struggles financially.

The Kingdom SAT is covering their expenses for six months.

From a woman in Morocco who was exposed to Christianity through Western pop culture:

Iman used to watch English movies when she was a kid. In these movies she was exposed to churches and crosses. She also saw Christian men respecting their wives, the opposite of what she saw in Islam. Christian families seemed to get along much better. She asked herself, "What makes Christians different? They are loving and forgiving people, while Muslims like revenge." She thought it might have something to do with their faith, so she decided to learn more about Christianity. The life of Christ surprised her, especially when He told His followers to forgive their enemies. Muslims pray that the Lord will punish their enemies and whosoever opposes them. She accepted Jesus as her Savior and felt so joyful and freed from bondage. Her parents discovered her conversion, however, and they withdrew her from college and beat her regularly. Jesus is the water that quenches her thirst and is where her hope rests. Iman watches The Kingdom SAT regularly and she prays for all those involved in this ministry. She asks us to pray for her.

It is with encouraged hearts that we read these testimonies and many others like it. We continue to pray for avowed enemies who carry out the radical expectations and charges of Islam, for we know God hears these prayers and brings Muslims out of the darkness and into the light.

The spread of Islam is a sign of End Times. Muslims strive to rule the world whether by peacefully migrating to and repopulating a country or by killing their enemies. The Islamification of Europe is well under way. And the ten–nation coalition Ezekiel prophesies will attack Israel in the End Times is predominantly Islamic. If we are to understand the sign of Radical Islam, we must understand Islam itself.

How much do you really know about Islam? Listen to Dr. Jeremiah’s message on the topic and test your knowledge below.

In the fourteen hundred years since Muhammad founded Islam, Christianity and Islam have been at odds, but this battle remained a distant reality for Christians in the West until the World Trade Center attack in 2001. With an estimated 3.45 million Muslims living in the U.S. today, it is critical for God's people to have a basic understanding of Islamic beliefs as we seek to share the Gospel and interpret signs of the End Times. Here is a brief overview of Islam's basic beliefs.

Islamic Ideas About God

• "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." —The Shahada (in English, messenger can also be translated as prophet).

• The Christian doctrine of a Trinity is blasphemous.

• God is distant, angry, and unknowable. His judgment can only be held back through adequate submission.

• In Islam, Jesus was one of many prophets, but He was not the Son of God.

Islamic Ideas About Sacred Writings

• Muslims acknowledge the Law of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• The writings of the Bible were superseded by the Qu'ran (even though the quality and comprehensibility of the Qu'ran is far inferior to the Bible from a scholastic and historical perspective).

• Muslims claim the Bible used by Jews and Christians has been distorted. Any biblical teaching that disagrees with the Qu'ran is assumed to be inaccurate.

• Hadith are not part of the Qu'ran but are used for its interpretation and application.

"Muslims are the fastest–growing religious group in the world. . . . If current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of this century."²

The Five Pillars of Islam

• Reciting the Shahada

• Reciting five daily prayers

• Giving alms (as an obligation, not charity) to help others

• Fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan

• Traveling to Mecca on a pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime

• Note: Sunni Muslims believe jihad is the sixth pillar of Islam

Islam's Current Impact on the World

• Islam is the state religion of 27 countries, making it the most common state religion in the world.¹

• Islamic nations control much of the world's petroleum supply, which generates tremendous wealth for those governments.

• Some Muslims seek to bring the world into submission to Allah through violent means.

• Other Muslims seek to expand Islam through peaceful means.

Turning Point's Ministry to the Muslim World

Since 2009, Turning Point has been broadcasting in the Middle East. There are currently 22 weekly television program releases throughout the region in English, Arabic, and Farsi. More than 2,200 Your Greatest Turning Point new believer kits have been requested in Arabic and Farsi. Here is the story of one listener:

I was devastated by my father's sudden death. I could not believe he left us, and my heart was filled with fear and depression. I later remembered that he used to watch The Kingdom SAT and enjoyed the channel's programs. So, I decided to do the same. I began to watch your programs, especially Pastor David Jeremiah. Hope began to rise inside me and I regained my trust in God. I bought a Bible and started reading. I surrendered my life to Jesus and asked for Him to forgive me.
Ama – Syria

Glossary of Arabic Terms

"90% of the Muslims in the Middle East and most parts of the Muslim world are Sunnis."³

While the majority of the world's Muslims attempt to live in peace with their neighbors, the number of radicals who preach violence and terror is mushrooming around the world. Many of the biblical prophecies concerning the End Times will be brought about by the beliefs and actions of radical Islam. And we are beginning to feel the pressure of those impending events in the rapid spread of Islamic radicalism in our own time.

As we live in the age of signs, it is important to understand the religion of Islam, its people, and its distinctions from Christianity and the God of the Bible. We must be "as wise as serpents and harmless as doves" in the way we think about and respond to the Muslim people in our midst and around the world. We can learn a good deal about the history of Islam and its actions today as we look at two major sects of Islam: the Sunnis and Shi'ites.

When Muhammad died in 632 AD, the Islamic community became bitterly divided over who would be his successor. Many clung to the successor Muhammad appointed while others followed after his son in law who they believed shared his spiritual endowment. Thus, the Sunnis and Shi'ites were formed and continue to breed tension within the Islamic world.

An Excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Book of Signs

Radical Islam has a vision of its future that does not bode well for those who stand in the way. To gain a better understanding of this vision, we will look briefly at some of the goals the Islamic world hopes to achieve.

Islam Hopes to Rule the World

It is one thing to read about Muslim determination to take over the world; it is quite another to watch it happening before our eyes, as it is in Europe. The most startling social migration of our age is the Islamification of Europe. Tony Blankley of the Washington Times sounded an alarm about this Islamic infiltration:

The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940s…

To point out the obvious, the resurgence of a militant Islam drove America to fight two wars in Muslim countries in two years, disrupted America's alliance with Europe, caused the largest reorganization of American government in half a century (with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security), changed election results in Europe, and threatened the stability of most of the governments in the Middle East.¹

We can easily see and resist the effects of jihad in militant terrorism, but we have trouble seeing and resisting the subtler strategy that the Muslims call fatah. Fatah is infiltration, moving into a country in numbers large enough to insert the influence of Islam. In places where a military invasion will not succeed, the slow, systematic, and unrelenting methods of fatah are conquering entire nations. Two Illustrations are instructive, the first concerning France:

What we're seeing in many places is a "demographic revolution." Some experts have projected that by the year 2040, 80 percent of the population of France will be Muslim. At that point the Muslim majority will control commerce, industry, education, and religion in that country. They will also, of course, control the government, as well as, occupy all the key positions in the French Parliament. And a Muslim will be president.²

Islamification is also happening in England, where Muslims are advancing their goal of dominance by taking advantage of the British policy of pluralistic tolerance. An example occurred in September 2006 when the British home secretary, John Reid, gave a speech to Muslim parents in east London, encouraging them to protect their children from becoming suicide bombers. A fundamentalist Muslim leader shut the speaker down. He ranted, "How dare you come to a Muslim area?...I am absolutely furious—John Reid should not come to a Muslim area." Muslims are not only immigrating massively to Western countries but also claiming entitlement to keep their settlements off–limits to native citizens.³

In early 2008, England's archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave the world a stunning example of General Sada's claim of Western naivete concerning Islamic intentions. Williams told a BBC correspondent that the growing Islamic population in Britain made it expedient to be accommodative. He said "the UK has to 'face up to the fact'" that it "seems unavoidable" that Islam's legal system, sharia law, will be incorporated into British law. His terms for this blending of laws was "constructive accommodation."⁴ Sharia law, derived from the Qu'ran and teachings of Muhammad, is the legal system by which Muslims are to live. In the West, the law is fairly benign and deals mainly with family and business. But in Muslim countries, it can include such things as honor killings in cases of suspected immorality.

You may hear other terms to describe the Islamic goal of world domination. For example, "biological jihad" or "demographic jihad" describes the nonviolent strategy of Muslims moving into Europe and the West and having more babies than their hosts. Within several generations they hope to repopulate traditionally Christian cultures with their own people, and they are certainly on track to reach that goal. According to a Vatican report, the Roman Catholic Church understands this: "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us."⁵

Islam Hopes to Return Its Messiah

In 2005, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was called before the United Nations Security Council to explain his determination to develop nuclear weapons. He ended his speech with this prayer: "I pray to you to hasten emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace."⁶ The "promised one" in Ahmadinejad's prayer was a reference to the Twelfth Imam, a figure in Shi'ite teaching that parallels the figure of Al–Mahdi in Sunni teaching. In essence, both of these titles refer to the Islamic messiah who is yet to come.

Shi'a Islam believes that the Twelfth Imam can appear only during a time of worldwide chaos. Even though the hope for an Islamic messiah is surely futile, the chaos that radical Islamic leaders are creating to bring about that hope is all too real. Many of the biblical prophecies concerning the End Times will be brought about by the beliefs and actions of radical Islam. And we are beginning to feel the pressure of those impending events in the rapid spread of Islamic radicalism in our own time.

The Account is a dramatic Turning Point Television production. The story follows a 1960s ad agency as they develop a campaign to convince the culture of ten different beliefs that they think America will never accept—beliefs we see running rampant in our world today.