(Audio and pdf available on this website.)

Today we finish sura 9, "The repentant," and chapter 10, "Yunus" (Jonah?)

We start out with what appears to be a misunderstanding of Muhammad, in 9:30, where he states that Jews claim that Ezra is the son of Allah as Christians say that the Christ is his son. Not sure where he got his information on that, but I am not aware of such a Jewish claim.

In verses 38ff once more Muhammad is encouraging Muslim soldiers to get out and fight, and they are threatened with " a painful torment" if they do not. Victory is assured, says Allah, even if he has to send troops they do not see... In the following verses he encourages those on the field by letting them know that it was better that the lazy and fearful did not join them anyway. Let them love this world. Let them hide in caves. They will be lost forever.

60ff .Not only they, but all who oppose Muhammad will be in the fires of hell. Other classes of people are enumerated in this passage, the infidels, the hypocrites, as curse after curse comes from the Muslim god.

In verse 73 Muhammad himself is commanded to perform jihad against all of the above, to be harsh with them. "And their abode will be hell."

Yes, Muhammad, we understand sin and judgment for sin. But where is the mercy from the merciful? Where is the hope for salvation for those who repent? I know where it is. It's in Jesus. And if there be a Muslim hungry for God who is listening to or reading these words, I encourage you to come to this Jesus and ask Him to forgive you. For as I keep reading in this chapter, verse 80, I see that no one in your religion may be able to help you if you are wanting more than your religion can give . It says "ask forgiveness for them, or do not ask forgiveness for them; if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, so Allah will not forgive them..." So, Infidels, hypocrites, come to Jesus. His blood is so powerful!

And did your religion ask you to go to jihad and you refused for one reason or another? Verse 81ff say you do not get a second chance. Come to Jesus, He is the God of the second chance. Start your life over, forgiven.

I read now in verses 102ff that certain of the neighbors of the Arabs, Bedouins, were called in to the mix, and weren't one hundred percent sold out. The counsel for them is to pay alms, and in so doing their souls will be purified. Or, like others, they can gain eternal privilege with God by dying in battle somewhere.

We Christians too believe in spending money and blood for our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are called to do it because we are saved, not to be saved. It is love that motivates us to lay our lives down, not fear of hell, a fear which is eliminated when first Christ's sacrifice is believed.

One last call to bloodshed is issued in verses 123ff of chapter 9. This call is to war against neighbors who might be infidels.

In this final Medina sura, Muhammad is obviously in a tight spot. People are not accepting his new religion. Things are getting bloody. Unashamedly he tells his people to kill, and kill some more, believing Allah will be with those who uphold his and the prophet's honor. And by sending forth this message in his last words to his followers, he seals the message of evangelism by the sword for all time. And so it has been. And so it is in our day. Other methods will be tried first, but Islam is committed to violent conquest if needed.

Do I need remind my listeners/readers here that, at very best, this is Old Covenant thinking? That the Son of God has come and changed Kingdom thinking forever? That the power we have available now is not carnal but mighty through the Spirit of God? We say to all who will rule by the arm of flesh, first that it will fail you, and second, you expose yourself as being not from God but from the Enemy, whether you be the church of Rome, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim. On this side of Armageddon, God's people fight with God's power only!

Let's move quickly out of sura 9, and move back to Mecca, at an earlier more peaceful time. Sura 10 is called "Yunus", by which we think that the prophet meant to say "Jonah." We'll never know, because in this sura there is only one obscure reference to "Yunus."

After many familiar sounding suggestions of Allah's superiority, and the Koran's, readers are asked if people say Muhammad has forged his writings. His response: "So bring a sura like it..." Produce words as great as the Koran's, if you are so great, Mr. Critic.

Hmmm, I think John 3:16 and Matthew 6:33 and Psalm 23 and Genesis 1 will stack up favorably against any Koranic verse I have read so far. How about you? We must not criticize or ridicule the literature of a people who have known little else. A huge percent of Muslims have never even read the Koran, but I still do not want to belittle this book on the basis of literature. Neither must we accept the notion that the Koran is supernatural and exquisite literature on the basis of one man's affirmation of it.

I skip here a lot of verses that are either repeated statements or statements with which we agree, for as I said earlier, there is certainly some truth in the book.

One fascinating difference we come across in verses 90ff is the fact that the Pharaoh who followed Moses into the Red Sea did not drown. At the very last second, he called out, "I believed that there is no god but him on whom the children of Israel believed, and I am of the Muslims."

Yet another Muslim convert. Not only does Muhammad contradict Moses here, but he seems to come against Muhammad, too. In at least two other places, some would say four, the Koran reports the death of Pharaoh in the sea, with no mention of his conversion. Moot point. The fact is, here in chapter 10, the King of Egypt calls upon the name of Allah and is saved. Or is he? Deathbed repentance Muhammad has already disallowed. Second chances are nearly always forbidden. Did he make it or not?

Of course, the Bible does not suggest so. His heart was hard, and harder, and finally so hard that it brought him to his eternal damnation. That seems to be the way of sin.

Once more in verses 94ff, Muhammad sends Muslims to the people of the book if they are doubting his revelations. This would seem, again, to bring us to the conclusion that "the book" of Muhammad's day was in order, and not somehow "corrupted." Muhammad trusted that his people would find confirmation of the law of God in their book. "Indeed, the truth came to you from your lord, so do not be of the doubters." I can agree with that. But if that is so, why do I need another revelation? That which is in agreement with the original word ought to be enough. Allah's words cannot change, says Muhammad, so why are you talking to us?

Verses 99ff , written, you recall, from Mecca in earlier more peaceful days, suggests that Allah could force people to believe. A veiled threat here, a prophecy of what is to come? For now, he says that it is "Allah who causes you to die." Later of course, Allah will enlist Muhammad and his followers to aid him in this project.

So ends chapter 10. Suras 11 and 12 and maybe more next time, as the suras begin to shorten in length, and cover much that we've already discussed. So the tempo will increase.