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I heard a stat last night that sounded a little sketchy. You know that sense, “This is probably made up, likely not documented, but certainly punchy.” It was something along the lines of, “More money is embezzled from Christian churches each year than is given to missions.” 

Trouble is, it seems to be true: 

“Applying findings on fraud from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), it is plausible that in 2023, approximately USD 62 billion, or 6.6% of all funds given by Christians globally (USD 945 billion), was lost to fraud and embezzlement. This is, unrelatedly, USD 7 billion more than the total income (USD 55 billion) of global foreign missions.” 

This was written by my friend, Muslim Connect reader and possibly the smartest human I know, Todd Johnson. He co-directs the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is as reliable as the moon. If Todd says it, I believe it. 

Sorry to drop a bummer on your day, but that’s depressing, isn’t it? I’m thinking of launching a fund raising campaign under the theme of, “This Year, Let’s Give More Than We Steal!”

Two take aways from this little tidbit of information: 

1. Ramadan is not just a time of fasting and feasting for many Muslims, but also giving. It’s also sadly a time for increased fraud associated with that giving. Let’s pray that the money Muslims give to zakat this month would neither be stolen nor used for nefarious purposes, but would put food in the mouths of hungry kids. 
2. If you’re in leadership of a church, this is my gentle encouragement, sisters and brothers, to check your systems and processes. If you need more “snake smarts” in how your money is handled, get it. Dr. Johnson has some starting points at the end of this article. Find additional ideas here. 

There are lots of good dates: Your baby’s due date! The date you finally graduated or finally killed your student debt. The date you came to Christ. 

There are the second kind of dates: Like when my wife-to-be took me for a hot air balloon ride. Or tonight when we celebrate our fifth anniversary! 

And then the best dates: The fruit of the God-blessed date palm tree! Two episodes loom large in my memory: When visiting a short term team in Tunisia, I bought a bag of dates from a street vendor, planning to share them with the team. When I offered, however, they responded with, “Ooooh, ick, yucky, gross. We don’t like dates.” (Apparently this team went straight from 2nd grade to North Africa!) But I got to eat the whole bag! 

The second was earlier in my career during a summer in Jordan. I’d gone for dinner at a new friend’s house. After eating he sneakily beckoned me into his parents’ bedroom, reached high up on a dresser and brought down an ornate box. I assumed this contained the heirloom knife he would use to ceremonially kill me. (I was not long out of Indiana!) Instead the box contained the family’s “good dates.” And, oh my, were they delicious! 

Why am I making you drool over dates? Because dates are big in Islam and particularly during Ramadan. They are mentioned 22 times in the Quran and Muhammad himself is said to have cultivated them. Dates are used to break the daily fast during Ramadan, paired with a cup of tea. 

Here’s the challenge for this week: Make your way to a halal grocery and buy some dates! Ask the proprietor about the significance of dates for Islam. Big time bonus points if you take a selfie with your new friend or simply yourself enjoying dates, and post it for the rest of us to see. Ramadan Mubarak! 

In case you missed it, here’s a brand new weekly prayer guide for Ramadan. I’d love for you to join me in making this available at your church this weekend. (Ramadan begins tomorrow!)

Two weeks ago I shaved my head! I’ve always wanted to do so. Nope, good guess, but I didn’t have lice. My mother-in-law reached the point in her chemo therapy in which her hair began to fall out. She opted for a buzz and my younger son and I joined her in solidarity. 

If I were Muslim, I’m pretty sure this would be frowned upon. Muslims shave their heads when they’re seven days old and when they go on Hajj. Otherwise, they pretty much don’t.

According to a Hadith, “the 117th major sin [is] shaving the head at times of calamity. . . .Because that is showing discontent and a lack of acceptance of the divine decree.” 

While I shaved my head to help Deborah not feel so alone in it, I am discontent with her situation and not inclined to to consider her cancer decreed by God. So, if I were a Muslim, my shaved noggin would be out of bounds. 

On the other hand, if the hair you don’t shave tends toward a “whiter shade of pale,” a friend of mine is looking for you! 

Aaron, the Director of Digital Outreach at Crescent Project, pilots a program called Embassy. He says, “We run Facebook ads in Muslim majority countries that ask, ‘Do you want to practice English by reading and discussing the Bible?’ We connect [vetted respondents] with a volunteer. They meet once a week on an instant messaging app where they work through a creation to Christ Bible curriculum we’ve created.”

The Embassy guys are finding older, retired people to be exceptional “ambassadors.” In fact, Rick, a volunteer from Florida, said, “I’m excited to work with Embassy to reach Muslims online! I find this perfect for me, at almost 80, since I can easily share my faith with Muslim men in Iran and Iraq using my iPhone.”

Do you have the gray hair Aaron is looking for? Check out Embassy. 

In case you missed it last week, here’s a brand new weekly prayer guide for Ramadan. I’d love for you to join me in putting it in our church bulletins this weekend. (Ramadan begins next Friday!)

If you’re the pastor of the church you attend, this will not be very challenging. If you’re not, well, get ready. 

1. Ramadan starts at the end of February. 
2. Prayer is one of the best ways most of us can engage this important time.
3. We can add to our prayers by using our influence to invite others to pray as well.

Here’s the challenge: Download this brand new one week prayer guide for Ramadan, then print and magnet it to your fridge. So far, so good. 

Now the hard part: Ask the responsible party at your church to publish the flyer for the whole congregation! This may mean printing and putting it in the bulletin, passing it out on Sunday morning or emailing it to the whole crew.

Could God use you to multiply your prayers 100 fold? Absolutely. Share this email (or the prayer guide) far and wide. And may God hear and answer our prayers beyond our imagination.

One of the world’s richest people died two days ago. While rich and poor people die everyday, what makes this guy unique is that he was the leader of upwards of 15 million Muslims knows as Ismailis. 

The Ismailis are unusual in the Muslim world in a variety of ways: They tend to approach the religion from a more intellectual angle. They view God as beyond description and comprehension. And though they revere Muhammad, they pledge allegiance and give up to 12.5% of their income to a dude in France who, among many other things, raises race horses! 

Their leader is known as the Aga Khan. The recently deceased one, Karim, reigned for 67 years as the spiritual leader of the globally scattered Ismaili community, while at the same time overseeing a vast international portfolio of businesses and charitable works. Sort of like a CEO/Pope! 

Upon his death, Prince Karim handed the empire over to his oldest son, Rahim. (Many think Rahim’s sister, Princess Zahra would do a better job, but alas, she’s a woman.) 

Prince Rahim is now the 50th Aga Khan and I assume the mantle rests heavily on his shoulders. The Aga Khan Development Network which his father set up oversees billions of dollars, thousands of staff and many dozens of global partnerships and projects. 

And there is also the family fortune, including estates, a yacht club and of course, the horses! 

Would you join me for just a moment and pray a thoroughly bonkers prayer? Let’s ask God to bring Prince Rahim to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He ranks high on my list of “that ain’t never gonna happen,” but the God we’re petitioning is the one who got Saul the persecutor and transformed him into Paul the Apostle, the church planter and author of a good chunk of The Book. The Aga Khan V is not beyond his reach. 

Do you ever miss noticing things that you really should notice? A new haircut? A “School Zone” speed limit sign? The airport your flight is departing from? I do. It occurred to me this morning, as a case in point, that I often fail to notice when God is answering prayer.

Certainly God doesn’t pout because I fail to notice his answers. He’s not me. But it’s true he merits acknowledgment. Here are three unfolding answers to prayers prayed by me and a gazillion others: 

Syrians going home. 
Following a visit to Damascus earlier this week, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi reports, “Since September, more than 500,000 refugees have returned to Syria, including 200,000 after the fall of the Assad regime. Additionally, nearly 600,000 people who were displaced inside Syria have since returned to their homes.”

Of course the work remaining can hardly be overstated and a stable future is not guaranteed. But this morning, I thank God for the Syrians who are able to return home and the way he’s answering our prayers. 

Laborers raised up.
Maybe you’ve prayed Luke 10.2 prayers for a long time. Good news, God is answering. Here’s one way: My friend Ken is in South Sudan this week training harvesters in Discipleship Multiplication Movements who will go out to unengaged people groups there. He reports,

“There are about 18 people in the training. Most are living without pay and are beyond poor. One guy walked three days, sleeping on the ground, just to attend this training. They are all sleeping on the ground during the training.”

To think of the crowns and mansions waiting for those guys! 

Muslim Connect is starting its 8th year. 
On a wintry day back in 2017, the first ever Muslim Connect email was published, She’s Not Gonna Blow Up the Walmart. 419 weeks later, Muslim Connect is still helping Christians think about Muslims the way God does and love them like Jesus does. Thank you for being a part of that journey.

And thank you God for the prayers you’re answering, the ones we notice and the millions more we don’t yet.

I suppose whenever a new leader takes over, some will benefit and some will suffer. My heart this morning is for the ~1600 Afghans who were scheduled to come to the U.S. in the next few months, some of whom literally had flights booked that are now canceled. 

As you may have seen, President Trump has put a 90 day hold on the U.S. Refugee Program. This freeze came via one of his 26 day-one executive orders. 

Please don’t read this as a broad-scale political indictment. This is a specific issue that affects the Muslim Connect tribe. I’d submit that even if you’re not American, this could be an issue for you: Your government might be influenced by this decision or your country may continue to care for refugees previously bound for the U.S. 

Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, a leading U.S. based refugee resettlement organization, said in a press release on January 20th, “We’re heartbroken by this decision. At a time when there are more refugees globally than ever in recorded history, including many persecuted on account of their faith, the United States should be doing more — not less — to offer help to those in need of refuge. Nevertheless, we’re grateful that the president’s order today still leaves room for resettlement to resume later this year, and we pray he will indeed resume resettlement as soon as possible.”

In situations such as these, we can often feel powerless. Of course we can pray and our prayers have power beyond our comprehension. In this case, we also can take some action. World Relief has written a statement urging President Trump to “Sustain the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program.” I heartily urge you to join me in signing this statement. Add this action to your prayers that the new president would deal rightly with refugees. 

Feel free to push back on this or help me understand what I’m missing that makes President Trump’s executive action a good idea. 

Imagine this: 85% of your home country follows a different religion from you. About 30% of those people decide to have a religious gathering in your county! Of that 30% a healthy number, let’s say 20%, really don’t like you because of your faith. 

In the U.S. that would pencil out to 17 million people who really don’t like you attending a religious festival in your county! (340,000,000 X .85 X .3 X .2 = 17,340,000) 

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Where will they go to the bathroom? Well, this is full on happening right now in Uttar Pradesh, India. This Hindu celebration is called Maha Kumbh Mela and the big version happens once every twelve years. For reasons historical and astrological, this year’s is the most important in 144 years! 

Over 400,000,000 pilgrims are expected between now and the end of February to journey to the confluence of three rivers to take a holy bath in hopes of being forgiven of sin and delivered from the cycle of reincarnation. The rivers, two real and one mythical, meet up in the city of Prayagraj, whose name was changed in 2018 from Allahabad. 

Now imagine you’re one of the 150,000 Muslims living in Prayagraj this week. How many truckloads of people who believe “India belongs to Hindus” have rolled down your street today? 

I don’t know that number, but I’m feeling for our Muslim cousins in India these days. It’s hard times for many of them, Christians as well, and in the glow of the festival lights, it must be fierce. Perhaps some Mela-stress will cause many to seek the God who said, “You’ll find me, if you seek me with all your heart.” Lord, let it be so. 

In case you were wondering with me: The Independent reports these amazing numbers, “More than 150,000 tents have been set up on this land, equipped with 3,000 kitchens, 145,000 restrooms and about 100 car parks.”

Some years ago I helped launch a church planting effort among Muslim immigrants in Sicily. Preaching at a couple of really great churches resulted in lot of “holy kiss” greetings afterward. Those saints! The two-cheek kisses were sweet and kind, though an occasional five o’clock shadow resulted in kisses rougher than the homemade wine served at the pot lucks! 

I haven’t tried to start that custom at my church, although the wine at pot lucks would be a big hit! But it does make me consider what we keep and don’t keep from the New Testament. 

I’m no expert, but I think kissing is a common greeting among Sicilians even outside of church. It certainly is in France. On the other hand, my Apostolic Christian friends in the Midwest who presently practice this in church, might get punched if they tried it when bumping into a friend at the post office!

Do Muslims wrestle with this? Not the kissing, but the broader idea: Of all the things we read in the Bible and the Quran, what was for then and what is still for now? 

According to Sheikh Ahmad Saad (Who may speak for 25% of Muslims or only 25 Muslims. It’s hard to tell!), “When we discuss or try to explore the occasion of the revelation of a certain verse, we are endeavoring to discover the human context in which this exact verse was revealed.” 

The Sheikh further reminds his readers, “since the Quran is a universal book and the final word of Allah, its perfection requires it to cover all times and places.”

Perhaps when you define your book as God’s words spoken by an angel to be recorded by the final prophet, you pretty much eliminate the possibility of, “Not sure that’s for us to do anymore.” 

Maybe our wrestling with the instructions of Paul’s epistles is more like Muslims wrangling over the meaning and application of various Hadiths. I do know I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit, the grace of Jesus and definitely Sicilian kisses!

Rest in Peace President Carter
“On the basis of both values and interests, the natural relationship between Islam and the United States is one of friendship. I affirm that friendship, both as a reality and as a goal […] [and] am determined to strengthen, not weaken, the longstanding and valued bonds of friendship and cooperation between the United States and many Muslim nations.” – President Jimmy Carter (February 7th, 1980)

Twice a year, I invite Muslim Connect readers to contribute to keep this email going and growing. This is the last week of the winter push. If you’ve been considering a gift, now’s the time. You can give a gift here. (Click in the “Select Designation” window, find me and follow the prompts.) Thank you very much.

Barely three hours into the new year and hell breaks loose in New Orleans. Devastating for those who perished, were injured or simply were there and the families of them all. If you love Muslims and want to see them follow Jesus, don’t lose heart. People do bad things. All of us do, some on a grander scale than others. 

In pleasanter news, a couple of buddies are boarding a plane this morning for India. Through their jet lag haze, they’ll puzzle with a couple dozen mission leaders from around the country over the apparent 700+ people groups in India who still have zero gospel workers among them. (Many of those people groups are Muslim.) By God’s grace they’ll collaborate on a plan for information and action that will reduce the 700 to zero. 

This feels like a watershed for our little cadre, a starting line to which we’ve been slowly shuffling for several years. Would you join me in praying for this gathering? 

How about we pray for the whole sub-continent colossus while we’re at it? India is home to more Muslims than all but two countries. Yet, Muslims make up less than 15% of India’s population! More people live in India than all of North and South America! India has more unengaged unreached peoples than the next 40 largest UUPG countries combined! 

Yet, and this is the gut punch, India receives only one-fourth as many international workers as the USA receives! Of course among the ~3% of Indians who are Christian, there are many valiant gospel messengers. May God empower them, strengthen them with partners from around the globe and bless them with kingdom success beyond their wildest dreams. 

Here’s the last invitation to give until the summer. Thank you.

For more on the challenge of India, please see page 14 in this article.