I have followed Nabeel Qureshi for some time now. It is no news that I am an ardent follower of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Nabeel happens to be one of the Christian Apologists in that ministry. He gets to work closely with Dr. Ravi Zacharias himself! *sigh*. What an honour! I have heard Nabeel’s  testimony several times. In one of his sermons, while sharing his testimony, he almost cried when he got to the part where his mother didn’t turn up for his wedding because he had turned his back against Islam. Really, that would hurt. From the start of the book to the end, one thing is clear, after his faith, the second most important thing in his life is his family. So becoming a Christian literally meant that Nabeel let go of the two most important things in his life. One can only imagine how hard it is on Nabeel right now to suffer rejection and excommunication from the very people he loves. Is it worth it? Is Jesus Christ worth losing your loved ones over? Is salvation that much of a big deal?

The first few chapters of the book introduce us to a younger Nabeel – young, enthusiastic and inquisitive about his faith. Those chapters bear his fondest memories of Islam and his family. At a point, you would almost think he was making a case for Islam rather. The reader is likely to appreciate and respect Muslims even more after reading the opening chapters. He spoke with such endearment in his speech about Islam that one could only conclude he was truly proud and serious about his faith. For a christian like me, who has next to zero knowledge about Islam, this part of the book was a real eye-opener. I must say that I have learnt a lot from this book. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the most important lessons I learnt from it. It is also supposed to be a wake-up call to all Christians to strive to read widely about other religions. Of course, you need to be well-grounded in Christianity first.

One of the most outstanding quotations in the entire book is, ‘effective evangelism requires relationships’. This reminds me of something Lecrae said in his song ‘Dirty Water’. He said, ‘I just dug a well in West Africa, but how many of my friends are Africans?’. We need to build relationships with people we want to convert or reach out to. Now this isn’t the usual approach we take when evangelizing. Nabeel made the quotation above in reference to the circumstances surrounding his conversion. His conversion was made possible by the sort of relationship he had with his closest friend in the University. Prior to meeting David, Nabeel trumped his christian opponents in any inter-religious debate or discussion. Then he met David and everything changed. David had a response to almost every question and doubt Nabeel raised about Christianity. Even the toughest questions. I remember closing the book and plunging myself in deep thoughts almost at the verge of doubting the authenticity of the bible. I hadn’t heard it before. I thought the bible was 100% accurate. When Nabeel raised the issue of the obvious errors and interpolations in the bible I almost threw up my hands in surrender. But the response David gave to this allegation was remarkable (read here). For a friendship to grow stronger through the years, it takes commitment and most importantly, a shared-interest. These two did not believe in the same God. I want to believe it was their commitment to their individual faiths that fueled their friendship and the mutual respect they had for each other.

As I have already stated, the book is an eye-opener. I learnt so much about Islam and was reminded of many things I had learnt about Islam in my Religious and Moral Education class in Junior High School. I would like to share a few with you before I go on to the shocking findings I made in the book:

• Hadith: Muhammad’s words and actions recorded in tradition. There are several of them. Some, held in high esteem as authentic, others, not. Contrary to what I thought, the Qur’an isn’t the only ancient book that Muslims read and derive values from. The Hadiths are respected and read widely by muslims too. Some examples of Hadiths include, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Sitta.
• Like Christianity, Islam, also has denominations. The two major denominations are Sunni and Shia. And each denomination varies in the Hadiths they consider accurate.
• Muslims believe that Jesus is no more than a Prophet. And they consider it blasphemous to believe that Jesus is God.
• One major way that God (Jehovah) talks to Muslims is through dreams. This is probably because Muslims believe dreams are the most common ways through which Allah speaks to them. A popular Hadith teaches that ‘the dreams of the faithful are prophetic’. 
• Muslims made a huge impact in the West in the following fields: Science, Medicine, Mathematics and Philosophy. That is why we still have some Arabic words in some of them like ‘algebra’ and ‘alchemy’.

Now to some shocking findings in the book about Islam. I would like to state emphatically that the following are not my views. I am simply stating what the book says. Objections and other concerns are welcome in the comments section of this page. Anyway, according to Nabeel:

• Some Muslims believe that Jesus was either saved from death on the cross by Allah or his body was stolen by his disciples (The Swoon Theory) instead of the popular belief that he resurrected. Others believe that Allah put Jesus’ face on someone else and that person was crucified instead of Jesus (Substitution Theory).
• Muslims believe that there are verses in the bible that prophesy the coming of Muhammed. One of these verses is Deuteronomy 18:18 – they believe this refers to the prophet Muhammed.
• Many false Hadiths have been fabricated. There are different translations of the Qur’an. The Hadiths were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed. The 4 men that Muhammed selected as the best teachers of the Qur’an did not agree with the final Qur’an; they didn’t even agree with each other. I am particularly shocked at all these because of the huge fuss some muslims I have encountered made about the inaccuracy of the bible. Apparently, Islam has a few issues here and there concerning its Holy Books too. Usually, they would claim that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved while the bible is inundated with errors and interpolations. The last gospel – the gospel of John – was written 70 years after the death of Christ so there must have been eye witnesses still existing when it was written. We can’t say same for the Hadiths which were put together about 200-250 years after the death of Muhammed.

It was an amazing read and I hope to read more books from the author. I was however disappointed he didn’t shed much light on Jihad and terrorism. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. Do I consider myself well-informed about Islam? Yes. But information isn’t necessarily education. So I do not consider myself anything close to a scholar of a religion I have read a single book about. In fact, I have more questions about Islam now, than before I opened the book. It is very okay to have questions. The Lord knows the number of questions I have about Christianity too.

At the tail end of the book Nabeel said ‘He (Jesus) assured me that inconceivable pain and social rejection is part of the Christian walk’. Inconceivable pain and social rejection? So pain is part of the package, if you didn’t get it, you were probably sold a fake product… a fake Christianity. I sometimes really want to fit in. I want to look cool just to be accepted by everybody else, but social rejection is part of the package too. This is what you sign up for once you make that decision. For me, Nabeel Qureshi’s testimony exemplifies what Jesus meant when He said ‘Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me’. The Christian walk is a long painful slow stroll through a city where people are shouting and jeering at you because of the path you chose. A Christian is someone who is going up a hill while clutching a heavy cross with feeble hands. Taking slow painful steps as the weight of the cross is pressing on his sore back. The people mocking at you because of your ‘misfortune’ are simply people who have abandoned the call to bear their own crosses. Nobody can help you except the one who went through it all and came out victorious.

The duty of a Christian is not to come to church every Sunday but to be the church from Monday through to Saturday. We should all learn this: go to church, tie a rope around the pulpit and strap it to your back and leave the auditorium with your life preaching an audible sermon all week long. The world would be an awesome place if Christians did this.

Today I am not my apologetic self. I have been disrobed of all traces of Ravi Zacharias and C.S Lewis. Today I just want to celebrate some anointed sportsmen who don’t mind taking the pulpit to the pitch, field or ring. I want to put the spotlight on men who are already in the spotlight. The crème de la crème of the sporting world. Though these icons have made it to the highest echelon in sports, yet they don’t hide their faith in Jesus Christ. I am so proud of them and I guess God is too. So have a seat in the stands, as I present to you these spirit-filled ministers of God:

Tim Tebow: If you are an ardent reader of my blog you would know that I wrote about Tebow somewhere in July last year (read it here). His testimony is amazing. He is known to kneel on one knee and say a prayer at the touchline before he comes onto the pitch. He has popularized the stance so it is called the ‘Tebow stance’. Tebow is also fond of writing a bible verse on his eye-black. Once he wrote John 3:16 on his eye-black and went into a game. It was reported that within 24 hours of this event, google received 90 million hits for John 3:16. It is fair to say that this guy preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to over 90 million people in less than 2 days. Without standing on a dais at a crusade, this American Football player has preached the gospel. Awesome! As a Christian, it pays to be exceptional at what you do.

 (That’s Steph Curry guarding Jeremy Lin. Lin is also very outspoken about his faith in Christ)

Stephen Curry: He is the current Most Value Player in the NBA. Steph had a wonderful season; he led the Golden State warriors to win the 2014/2015 season. It was he who said that ‘…the Holy Spirit is moving through our locker rooms in a way I have never experienced before’. The established throne of God is gaining prominence in locker rooms. Steph Curry said that 10 players of his team attend their pregame chapels to pray before every game. That is so cool. I would love to be in a room full of well-built  6 and 7 footers, praying their hearts out to God before they step onto the hardwood to ball like crazy. Curry signed a sneaker deal with Under Armour and guess the inscription he put on the sneakers: I can do all things. Philipians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’. God bless Steph Curry. He is an awesome player and an incredible shooter. Last season he beat the buzzer by throwing the ball from the 3 pointer line on his side of the court into his opponents’ net. Awesome! You can’t hate the brother. The only thing I might hate about him is the fact that he has two daughters with a very pretty wife. Meanwhile I am here… not married… but God is still good, isn’t he?

Bubba Watson: Not many of us in Ghana would know him, because golf is not a big sport in Ghana. Don’t even think it, I also didn’t know him till a few months ago. Bubba Watson is an incredible golfer. He is a multiple major champion. He won the 2012 and 2014 Masters Tournament. In February 2015, he reached a career-high 2^nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking (Wikipedia). And this is how I heard of him. I am a huge Christian Hip Hop fan and one of my favourite rappers, KB, featured Bubba Watson on one of his songs entitled ‘Imma Just do it’. His verse spills a million goose bumps all over my skin every time i hear it. For a golfer to rap that well… I was impressed. Let me share a bit of his verse with you:

Bubba Watts on the mic now, Can a golfer spit a rhyme? /

I’m not a gangster rapper, but my caddie got a nine/

…. I got 2 masters, no double majors/

But I got 1 MASTER I praise and thank HIM.

We all know the ‘1 MASTER’ he is talking about here right? Another intriguing thing about Bubba Watson is, he is married to Angela Watson. She was a basketball player too. On their first date, she told Bubba that she couldn’t have babies – no problemo. They are married now and have adopted two kids. *hats off for the loving Christian gentleman*

David Luiz: O I love David Luiz. Obviously because I am a Chelsea fan. He was amazing throughout his time at Chelsea. I personally admire his bravery. He would go into tackles fearlessly as if his bones were hewn out of igneous rock. Chelsea sold him to PSG in France for £50 million which makes him the most expensive defender in the world. Speaking of the most expensive players in the world, Chelsea signed Fernando Torres for £50 million pounds in 2011. And… honestly… he did not put up a 50million-pound performance at Chelsea at all. We were all worried. We caught a glimpse of the old Torres every now and then but he couldn’t sustain that level of performance at Chelsea. We were worried. I am sure the management was worried too. Guess what David Luiz did… he laid hands on Torres and prayed for him before matches. That warmed my heart the day I saw it. And I found out David Luiz is a member of the Hillsong Church and he also got the new hillsong album (Empires) when it came out. *sighs* When you see Luiz, tell him I owe him a hug, would you?

Neymar: As I have stated already, I am a huge Chelsea fan so I might say blue is orange if blue being orange favors Chelsea in one way or the other. Soccer fans have been arguing over who would succeed the incredible duo who have reigned as kings in world football for some time now: Messi and Ronaldo. Many have tipped Neymar; some have tipped Eden Hazard. Hazard is a Chelsea player – you realize where I am going with this, right? But nahh, Neymar is an awesome player. He is very skilful and scores a lot of goals too. He is way too skinny for some of the things he does. The guy plays soccer with thighs the size of my arm. How he manages to speed pass world-class defenders is a mystery. O he is good. He is a huge hillsong fan too. On the 2^nd most important night of world football this year – the UEFA Champions League finals – Neymar was part of the Barcelona team that won the cup. After the game he had a headband on with an inscription that said ‘100% Jesus’. Wouldn’t you blush if you were Jesus? The Champions League is viewed by millions all over the world and for Neymar to boldly declare his faith in Christ, really deserves commendation.

There are many others: Manny Pacquiao, Jeremy Lin, Kaka etc. So many others. Space won’t allow me to profile all of them. My point here is, if these men could be exceptional in their fields and still give God the glory, what are you waiting for? You don’t need to stand behind a pulpit to make Christ known. You just need to be exceptional in your field of work and give God all the glory for your achievements. Go out there and be an anointed *insert your career choice here*.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine who works with a Christian NGO about martyrdom. He told me that he wasn’t afraid to lose his life for the sake of the gospel and that many of his colleagues held this same view too. I must say, I wasn’t too comfortable with what he said. Could it be because I am a Christian too and haven’t ever thought that I could be martyred? Some way somehow his words didn’t sit comfortably in my ears; they were as uneasy as I was. Then he went on to say he believes God gives special grace to such people – and I thought to myself, ‘of course he does! In fact He has to’.

When I think about it, this should be every Christian’s attitude towards the gospel. But that isn’t the case. In Christianity today, we are radical Christians until we stare death in the face. We are devil-casting, tongue-speaking believers until somebody puts a gun to our heads and demands that we renounce our faith. It is very easy to renounce your faith as you shiver while staring deep into the barrel of a terrorist’s gun. It is very easy. Nevertheless, the issue of trust comes up here. If you renounce your faith because a terrorist promised you your life, it only means you trust him more. In the first place, who owns your life? – The one who created it or the one who wants to end it? It means you trust a killer more than your God. In the face of adversity, it is expedient that we hold fast to the confession of our faith and not waver. If you trust God enough, you would know that death is only one way to get to him and everything He has promised. But if you trust the terrorist, you would want to renounce God now and ask for forgiveness later. But what if he kills you afterwards? You lose! Remember that anybody who is prepared to kill you is under no moral obligation to keep a promise. Renouncing our faith in the face of adversity is really a matter of trust and not a desire for safety. God indeed gives special grace to those who go to war-thorn areas and nations that kill believers.

Christianity has been like this since it started. People have died for the gospel. This isn’t new to Christianity at all; Christians have been an endangered people since the day of Pentecost. Malcom Muggeridge said ‘all news is old news happening to new people’. I couldn’t agree more. As a matter of fact, the center pillar of our faith is the death and resurrection of our Savior. Meaning, the gospel has traveled this far and to the ends of the earth on the shoulders of many martyrs. Is it not amazing that so many dead men have brought the message of life to millions in the world? In Christianity, death is not fatal. It is the second death (hell) that is fatal. Sometimes I really stand in awe of the deeds of the many saints that have gone before us. One who was so radical and ferocious; shouting from the wilderness with every word reeking of passion for the work of God: John the Baptist. Then I picture one who had betrayed Jesus by denying him three times, but when the Holy Ghost came upon him he stood before the High Priest and the Sadducees, answered questions and defended the faith like his life depended on it. Better yet, he defended the faith because his life depended on it. I picture this same Peter, face to face with death. One of the disciples, by name of Dorcas had just passed away and Peter was informed about it. Peter, the timid one; Peter, the betrayer of the giver of life drove everybody out of the room and prayed for Dorcas and she came back to life. Peter had conquered death. But not too long before that, Jesus himself had appeared to Peter and prophesied how Peter would die. Is this not confusing? How one who has power over death must eventually die? Well, Jesus’s story wasn’t any different. Death is not fatal. The worst deception of terrorism is that death is the worst thing to happen to a person. Terrorists assume there is nothing good behind the veil for martyrs. While God has torn the veil and revealed that He waits with arms opened wide behind the veil. Many are here who cannot see beyond the veil; hence they can’t see the existence of the one true God.

In Matthew24:7-8. Jesus said ‘For nations shall rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms… and earthquakes. 8 All these are but the beginning of the BIRTH PAINS’. I haven’t witnessed in my entire life, the occurrence of tragic events in such a quick succession like I have these past 4 weeks. Xenophobic attacks in South Africa; Isis killing Ethiopian Christians; The Garissa hostel attacks by Al Shabab; The migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea; Executions in Indonesia; Earthquake in Nepal; Riots over the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore etc. The list is almost unending. When you look at the verse quoted above you can identify some of the tragedies in it. But skeptics will say, ‘well, these things have been with us since time immemorial’. Therefore it appears there is nothing new or peculiar about them for us to allude their occurrence to signs of the second coming of Christ. Well, that is why Jesus made mention of ‘birth pains’. When a woman is in labor, she experiences painful contractions at intervals – these intervals reduce as she gets close to being delivered of the child. So the contractions occur at shorter intervals or in quick succession as the time of delivery approaches. This is the same with the second coming of Jesus. He says the signs will be like the birth pains of a woman in labor. Therefore, when we notice them occurring at shorter intervals, we must take heed and know that the time is almost here. That is all I have for all my readers today: TAKE HEED, THE END TIMES ARE NO LONGER NEAR THEY ARE HERE. IT IS THE END THAT IS NEAR.

We at SASA hold this view in high esteem. Hence our mantra is ‘our product is the gospel of Jesus Christ, packaged in creativity’. SASA is an acronym, and it stands for Speakers And Singers Association. Coincidentally the word ‘sasa’ means ‘now’ in Swahili. We believe we are a new breed of young Christian artists commissioned to make the gospel known in different artistic forms in these present times and forever more. This is what we do, we lay our gifts at the feet of the master. For is there a better way to please our master than to offer him back what he gave us? It is only right than we use a God-given gift for a God-given purpose. In the Art Industry in this country it seems many do not expect much, so far as creativity is concerned, from Christian artists. Technically, this should not be the case, for ‘ the Creator-inspired art, should of a necessity be creative’. This is what we seek to achieve as a group. Package the message of Jesus in creativity, thereby raising our platform high enough for all eyes to witness and be influenced by. We believe strongly, though this is starting off as a group of young passionate people on a mission, it will turn out to be a revolution and a movement. Which will catch up with many youth around the world.

(Outreach at ICS in kumasi –  school evangelism)

We recognize that there is art in all spheres of human endeavor so we welcome all sorts of artists as we are a conglomeration of artists from different backgrounds. There are poets in our midst, painters, singers, song writers, dancers, graphic designers, photographers, motivational speakers, rappers, instrumentalists etc. Not forgetting those who work tirelessly in the background to make things happen. Those who are responsible for putting the shows we do together. We all come together to form one huge family. A family of like-minded people working together to achieve one aim – lifting the name of Christ above all else. There is a lot we are involved in. In every year we organize shows at different times. This is where we get to share our talent and message with all who are present. There is usually a variety of artistic presentations in such shows. There is poetry, music, dance and also we  have on display some paintings by some artists. Then once every year, we come together and have a live recording of all the artistic pieces we put out there all year round. We have already had two of such recordings. The videos of the first live recording are available on our Youtube channel – Speaker Singer. We also take part in community and school outreach programs. This is where we get to interact with people directly. When it is needed, we minister our artistic pieces and in other cases we just share the gospel of Christ by word of mouth. This is what we are called to do.

(Community evangelism at Ejisu-Juaben in the Ashanti Region of Ghana)

This is a movement. This is something bigger than us. It is about time Christian artists took the world by storm and refused to allow fear to hamper the spread of the word of God. Jesus said, ‘Go into the world, and make disciples for me..’, the ‘world’ there includes every gathering or place where people usually converge. This has necessitated our strong social media presence. On facebook, you can find out about us on our page SASA, where we occasionally post inspirational messages and artistic pieces from our members. Follow us on Instagram @sasaMinistries, on twitter @sasa_movement, sasamovement on youtube  and on wordpress SASABLOGGING.WORDPRESS.COM. Let no one stifle your thoughts, do not smother your own talent and voice, in all that you do BE HEARD, and be heard speaking about the love of Christ.

I remember way back in senior high school, the real popular guys were the ones who could keep a balance between academic work and extra-curricular activities. There were those who were bad boys yet had good grades in class. So then you would often hear people say ‘this guy is a bad boy yet extremely smart in class’. This is what most of us tried to attain – keeping a balance between our academics and ‘being cool guys’. Nevertheless, WAEC found a way of telling us that it was a silly decision we took through our WASSCE results. It is either you make a choice to be on one side of the divide or your indecision will drag you into one, and usually it is to the darker side of the divide.

All I am trying to say is that, it is an inherent quality in man to be on the safer side by keeping a balance between two opposing ends. When I say ‘safer side’, I actually mean to be in the position to please everybody else but their maker and themselves. And usually the line between two opposing positions is thinner than a strand of hair. Especially the line between what is SACRED and SECULAR. The line between SECULAR and SACRED is so thin, you would have to tiptoe to remain on it. And  balancing one’s body in that position is probably the most difficult task, for even the stagnant air would feel like a tempestuous wind causing your body to move back and forth. It is clear that  it is difficult trying to stay in the middle or that ‘neither-here-nor-there’ position, so then why do people try to stay there? Especially in Christianity. It seems to be the most appealing position to be in nowadays. When you are somebody who holds in high esteem the precepts of Christianity you are either branded as ‘holier-than-thou’ or judgmental. While the bible says we are in this world but we are not of it, most twentieth century Christians make it seem a little bit of secular elements sprinkled in our church services can reach out to the masses instead. Hence there is either a mixture of worldly things to make the gospel more attractive. It is amazing how we waste our energies trying to make an already attractive message attractive. How do we even manage to allow that to cross our minds? Let’s take it from this scenario – several hours have been devoted in preparing the bride for the wedding ceremony. She is properly made up and looking very presentable. At this point, the duty of the people in charge is to get the bride to her groom. It is worthy of note that any additional number of minutes spent in trying to further make the bride look any more pretty than she already is, will generously contribute to making her look like a descendant of a scarecrow. Amazingly, that is what  some Christians have made their topmost priority now – dressing up an already beautiful gospel with coats and coats of worldliness disguised as make-up.

Though it may sound a little bit harsh, there is actually a divide between the world and the church. Yet there are many that have made it their top priority to blur that line. Therefore, instead of God looking down and seeing two contrasting colors as in black and white, He probably would see what may seem like ash or grey in the middle portion. Why? Because we claim in our bid to reach out to many, we would have to alter some portions of the WORD to make it suitable and acceptable to them. Our mandate on this earth is however to deepen the line between secular and sacred, and try our best possible with the assistance of the Holy Spirit available to us to get as many people to join us on our side of the divide. Paul said, ‘to the Jews I became a Jew’, he said this in reference to how he was able to reach out to them, to preach the gospel. It is noteworthy however that he did not say ‘to the Jews, the GOSPEL became JEWISH’. Meaning, to the Jews he had to present himself as a Jew in order to make the gospel readily accessible to them. He did not change even an exclamation sign in the gospel to suite the style of the Jews, yet he presented himself as one of them in order to communicate his thoughts to them better.

Undoubtedly one of the most profound statements I’ve heard in recent times is ‘it is not our duty to make the gospel attractive, but it is our duty to make it available’. This totally encapsulates the idea I am trying to put across. We are supposed to see to it that the gospel reaches the whole world in whatever language possible. Nevertheless we are not supposed to allow external influence from other world views to prevail in Christianity.