I know the title doesn’t make sense, but it’s a mash-up of my week so far.
This is effectively day three (it’s almost over) since I quit smoking. I quit because I wanted Jesus to be Lord over my life, not a smelly cancer stick. To me, having a bad habit like that which is not only ruinous to your own health, wallet and leaves you a slave is definitely not something Jesus wants for me and the Holy Spirit has been really nudging me…you gotta quit. So, done. Sure, it’s only day three, but this isn’t my first rodeo. The thing this time is it must stick. No going back.
I’m also sharing the above with you to really vouch to you that my re-introduction to God has been recent. In the past few months. And no, I’m most certainly not perfect and I never will be. I’m human. I have made mistakes. We all make mistakes, but we can all be forgiven and apologize and change our ways (this is part of my repenting – quitting smoking).
The other reason I’ve been relatively quiet is I like to read and I don’t smoke while reading, so I’ve been busy reading this really cool book: “No God but One: Allah or Jesus”.
Written by the now deceased Nabeel Qureshi, an American-born and bred Muslim of Pakistani descent, this book gives insights into not only Islam, but some of the culture that helps to make understanding Islam a bit easier. While Qureshi passed away in 2017 from stomach cancer, I believe his calling was fulfilled in that he passed on the message.
In the book, Qureshi examines Islam and Christianity. Which one was true? The Bible or The Quran? Which God? Allah or Jesus? While I’m sure there are many books out there on such topics, I found Qureshi to offer explanations for Westerners that perhaps may not be offered if coming from an Eastern Muslim who had converted (in the East) to Christianity.
I really don’t want to offer any spoilers, but if you want to know a bit more about the beliefs, the origins and the practices in Islam, this might be a good start that is readable and gives good contrasts to western ideals. I suspect this book is ideally suited toward Muslims who might have grown up in Islam and are looking for more proof, or to see where perhaps their facts might need fortifying or even calling into question.
Either way, it is a conversion story, but the conversion is at the end and the story relays Qureshi’s personal experiences. For someone to go from Islam to Christianity, it’s a massive extreme as one could face family excommunication and potentially even death. So if someone feels so swayed to have recanted their beliefs, it begs the question: What did Qureshi discover? Check it out here: 
