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What Did The Disciples of The Apostles Teach?

What Did The Disciples of The Apostles Teach?





Let’s find out.






What do you think the letters say?



Here are some excerpts:









Did Ignatius believe this?








Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesian church:

Ignatius’ letter to the Roman church:



For example:
iii. Irenaeus (trained and discipled by Polycarp)




Who Were The al-Nasara (Nazarenes)?

Who Were The al-Nasara (Nazarenes)?

I have often wondered how is it possible that the Quran’s teachings about Christianity differ from what the Bible teaches and what we Christians actually believe.

Sura 5:116 is a prime example.

Whose belief is this?

Where does the Quranic picture of “Christianity” come from?

There were two parties of Jewish Christians in the early years of church history.

Jerome (beginning of fifth century) records that he is aware of two groups of Jewish Christians distinguished by certain unusual similarities, whom he names respectively Nazarenes and Ebionites. Both groups claimed to follow both Jewish AND Christian teachings and sought to affiliate themselves with both Judaism and Christianity.

“What shall I say of the Ebionites who pretend to be Christians? To-day there still exists among the Jews in all the synagogues of the East a heresy which is called that of the Minæans, and which is still condemned by the Pharisees; [its followers] are ordinarily called ‘Nasarenes‘;……..But while they pretend to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither.”

– Jewish Encyclopedia, Jerome’s Account”

Who Were The Nazarenes?

The Nazarenes were a small sect in numbers, whose main region of influence was in Syria.

It struck me that when Muhammad was a boy, he frequently accompanied his uncle on his business trips to Syria.

Could it be that his early exposure to what he believed was “Christianity” was contact with the Nazarenes? Did he sit with with his uncle and the Syrian Nazarene traders in the evenings as he listened to their teachings about their beliefs?

Remember there was no Islam yet at this point. He was from a community that worshipped hundreds of idols including Allah. Did their stories from the scriptures about the One God embarrass Muhammad about his own people? Did their devotion to Jesus captivate him?

You don’t find the word Christian in the Quran. Instead the word used for the followers of Christ is “al-nasara” ~ nazarenes!

Muhammad grew up thinking the Nazarenes were Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ!
The Nazarenes had a gospel called “Gospel of the Hebrews.” (
Here is the interesting bit. This apocryphal book was in Aramaic! (Dated around 80AD – 150AD.)

Is this why Muslims insist the gospel must be in Aramaic? Could this be their missing “Injeel”? Could Muhamamd have seen this book in the hands of the Nazarenes when he was a kid and believed it to be the Injeel given to Jesus and handed to his “followers”, the Nazarenes?

Unfortunately, the date for this gospel is long after Jesus had ascended and also after the entire NT had been written and completed.

The Nazarenes and this “gospel” do not exist today but we have a window to their beliefs through the quotations from the writings of Jerome, Clement and others.

What were the beliefs of the Nazarenes?

They believed they were under obligation to keep all the laws.
They believed Jesus was the Messiah. They regarded that he was born of the virgin Mary.
and that he was filled with God’s Spirit in a special way.

No surprises. All these are taught in the Quran. The al-nasara are praised and promised rewards, as in Sura 2:62.
The Nazarenes also believed that Mary was the Divine Mother and embodiment of the Holy Spirit!

Could it be that Muhammad after he grew up and came in contact with other so-called “Christians” (Waraqa ~ a Nestorian priest…) learnt that this was wrong?

Is this why the al-nasara is praised in some verses, and condemned in other verses? Is this why they were presumed to have corrupted their book?

Coming back to the ayah I quoted at the beginning, Sura 5:116.


This is not Christian belief. This was the belief of the Nazarenes, al-nasara.

The author of the Quran could not distinguish what was actual Biblical beliefs of Christians, attributing to them, what were heretical teachings of some obscure sect that no longer exists. No one even knows when they disappeared in history and yet in Allah’s eternal books, they are given a prominent place but there is no mention of Christians, the true followers of Jesus Christ, who for 2000 years form the largest body of believers in history!

Were The Followers Of Jesus Called Nasara Instead of Christians?

Were The Followers Of Jesus Called Nasara Instead of Christians?

Do you know why Muslims are so obsessed with finding the word “Christian” or “Christianity” in the Bible?
Because these words do not appear in the Quran.They believe the correct name given to the followers of Christ is “Nasara”, as in the Quran.
‘Nasara’ is the Arabic word for Nazarene.

What Muslims have failed to realize is that the name ‘nazarene’ was given by Jews to Jewish Christians as an insult.

In fact, in Acts 24:6, there is reference to the “sect of the nazarenes”.

So the Bible does indeed mention the name nazarene (nasara) associated with Christians!
Except that, it was the Jews who gave the Jewish Christians this label as a badge of dishonor because they were followers of Jesus of Nazareth. They were already known as Christians!

But what was so insulting about this name, nazarene?

The word nazarene comes from the name of the town, Nazareth, where Jesus hailed from.

Nazareth was a a primitive, shabby, dirty slum, about 3 to 5 days journey from the glorious city of Jerusalem. The people of Nazareth were looked down upon and despised by the whole nation. They were like the ‘country bumpkins’ of Judea.

Even Nathanael, before He became one of the Apostles of Jesus, laughed sarcastically: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

Why didn’t the author of the Quran know that the word “nasara (nazarene)” was a derogatory slang used by the Jews as an insult to the Jewish Christians?
How and when was the author of the Quran influenced by those sarcastic Jews to use this word in his book?

Now, let’s look at why the word “Christian” does not appear in the Quran.

The English word “Christ” comes from the Greek word Χριστός (Christos) which means Messiah (Masiach in Hebrew).

It is THIS word, Masiach, that is found in the Quran translated as “al-Masih”, which means Christ!

So, it is false to say that the word Christ/Christian is not found in the Quran. These are English words! Of course you will not find it in the Quran’s arabic text.
(Yet, if you look at your English translated Qurans, your revered translators do use the word Christian! see Sura 2:62 for example.)

The Arabic word al-Masihi is the English word Christ!
From the word “Christ” come the words Christian and Christianity.

Just as from the Arabic word al-Masih come the words Masihi and al-Masihiya.



Were The Apostles Crazy or Stupid?

Were The Apostles Crazy or Stupid?

The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ died and then rose again to life and then ascended to heaven.

The Quran says that He did not die but ascended straight to heaven.

Which version is true?

Help me understand…

Let’s assume that the Quran is right and Jesus did not die.

Why did the apostles and followers of Jesus make up such an outrageous story?  Were they crazy or stupid?

If they were intending to spread the message of Jesus, why not just tell the truth that He was simply taken up to heaven? Wasn’t this a miracle in itself? Why didn’t they just say that? Why would they make up a different story?

Why concoct a tale of a dead man coming back to life? Who would believe such nonsense if they intended to create a movement of new followers?

Did Peter, James, John and the others wake up one day after Jesus had ascended to heaven and decide to betray the Master they loved in order to start a new false religion? Did they lose their minds?

They create a story about Jesus dying and coming back to life.  And then decide that a woman was to be the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus.  Do you think this makes sense? It was an age where women were not seen as credible or reliable witnesses. No one would even accept the testimony of woman!  And this particular woman, by the way, had a shady past! Were the disciples that stupid? This would not have been the way to go about creating a lie and persuading people to join them!

Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a few credible, reliable male witnesses? To make the case stronger, you would get a couple of unbiased, neutral third-party witnesses as well to corroborate the events. That would be the the way to do it.

How did they benefit from inventing such a lie? Did they become rich and powerful? Did they head a powerful army and set out to conquer and plunder and enrich themselves with slaves and camels? Did they accumulate a dozen wives to fulfill all their fantasies?

On the contrary, almost every one of them died as martyrs for their faith!

Let me get this straight. They invent a fake story but they died protecting their lies when the authorities of the day tried to wipe them out?

In 44 AD, just 10 years after Jesus had ascended to heaven, James, one of the leaders of the apostles, and elder brother of John, was arrested by King Herod and faced execution for being part of this new movement. All he had to do was deny Jesus and would have been allowed to go free by the Romans.

Acts 12:1-3

Also wouldn’t this have been the right time for John and all the rest apostles to finally own up and say, “OK, this has gone on too far. We really didn’t expect it to come to this. It’s all over. It was all a lie. We didn’t think this through. We made everything up.  Now please let our brothers Peter and James go.”

Herod had James beheaded. But that didn’t stop the others from continuing to preach their message everywhere they went until the day they were killed for their faith.
Andrew went to Greece, and was crucified there.
Matthew was murdered while praying in Ethiopia.
Thomas preached in India and was speared to death.
Peter was crucified upside down because he deemed that he was not worthy to die in the same way as his master.



Would any sane person die for what they knew was a lie that they themselves had invented?

Not only that, thousands of Christians were martyred over the next 300 years under the rule of 10 Roman Emperors, from Nero to Diocletian.

Polycarp, who was the disciple of John, when threatened with being burnt to death if he does not deny Jesus and blaspheme His name, said this:



What Is The Meaning Of The Tree Of Life?

What Is The Meaning Of The Tree Of Life?

The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represented the choices man had.
God did not create man as a robot that was forced to obey Him.

How can it be a test of obedience if there were no choices?

God’s Way or Man’s Way.

The Tree of Life represented choosing God as the source of life and blessings. The Tree of Knowledge represented choosing to be independent from God.

The choice was to either to have knowledge to govern yourself or choose to trust God’s knowledge to govern you.

Man was given the free will to choose obedience to his Maker or disobedience.

Obedience would have meant not eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but eating from the Tree of Life. The reward of the obedience would mean God imparting eternal life to man.

Adam sinned and failed the test of obedience and lost his right to eat from the Tree of Life.

The consequence brought the entrance of death into the world. Subsequently all his sons would never have access to the Tree of Life and all men would be subject to death.

Who can free man from the endless cycle of death – doom and separation from God?

In the Bible, Jesus is called The Last Adam. The first Adam forfeited eternal life because of his disobedience and all his sons were affected by that failure.

Jesus came and lived a perfect life of obedience. He succeeded where Adam failed!
Now, all sons of Adam who are BORN AGAIN as sons of God no longer take after the first Adam but now follow the Last Adam, which is Christ!

Those who follow Christ, now have access to eternal life through Christ.
(Just as those who followed Adam had no access to eternal life through Adam).

So, we today have a choice to make too.

There is a another “Tree of Life” before us. It is the cross!
If you choose to partake from it’s “fruits”, you have eternal life.
If you reject it and choose to partake from your own “tree of good deeds”, you will die in your sins and be separated from God forever in hell.

Jesus said:
To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the Paradise of God.’ Revelation 2:7

What Came First – Christianity or Islam?

What Came First – Christianity or Islam?

 In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a powerful parable.

A man sows good seeds in a field.
An enemy comes and sows bad seeds among the good seeds.
While the good seeds grow into wheat, the bad seeds become weeds and grows among the wheat.

What does this parable mean? Jesus explains it in Matthew 13:36-43

The field is the WORLD.
The man sowing the good seeds is Jesus Himself.
The enemy who comes later to sow the bad seeds is satan.

The good seeds, sown by Jesus, grow to become wheat, representing the followers of Jesus and His kingdom.
The bad seeds that come later (600 years later?) represent the followers of satan.

The weeds will even claim to love the Sower of the good seeds more than the wheat themselves and seek to associate themselves with Him.
Weeds grow fast, so it is no surprise that they will claim they are the fastest growing.

What happens in the end?



Was Hitler A Christian?

Was Hitler A Christian?

The common reaction for many Muslims when confronted with the almost daily news of Muslims terrorists violence and suicide bombers blowing themselves and others up in the name of Allah, is to to point to Adolf Hitler and say, “Hitler was a Christian, he killed millions.”
Although Hitler grew up in a Catholic family, he later developed a hatred for Christianity and wanted to destroy it.

Hitler’s Youth leader Baldur von Schirach acknowledged,

“The destruction of  Christianity was explicitly recognized as a purpose of the national socialist movement (Nazi party).”

When he Hitler grew powerful, he tried to replace Christianity with a new “Reich Church.” It was a religion in which he was like a god.

In 1942, the Bible was banned in Germany.  

Hitler printed his own religious book, where he even  had the audacity to change God’s 10 commandments to his new 12 commandments to include this “latest” command: “Honor your Fuhrer and Master”. (which, of course, was a reference to himself;  ‘fuhrer’ means leader and was Hitler’s title)

Hitler blasphemed God, rejected the Bible, and made it his aim to destroy Christianity.
Here are some of Hitler’s thoughts about Christianity & Islam.



“The Mohammedan religion [Islam] too would have been more compatible to us than Christianity.”
Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs, pg. 115


Was Hitler a Christian? No.


Adolf Hitler with Grand Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini of Jerusalem.
Adolf Hitler with Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin el Husseini.

Hitler supported the growth of Muslim Brotherood in the Middle East.Members of the Muslim Brotherhood spied for Hitler’s Nazis in the Middle East and fought for Hitler as Nazi troops in two specially formed MuslimWaffen-SS Handschar Divisions
[‘Handschar‘ is German for scimitar, the curved saber used by the Islamic troops of the Ottoman empire.]



Who’s First?

Who’s First?

In the 19th century, a man by the name of Joseph Smith saw a vision.  An angel appeared to him and gave him instructions to start a new religion because all the previous religions were corrupted.

He received revelation for a new book, Book of Mormon, to replace all previous revelations.

Joseph Smith declared himself to be the last prophet in the line of Moses and Elijah.

Today, the religion he started, Mormonism, is the fastest growing religion in America with close to 16,000,000 followers (2014) and expected to rise to 250,000,000 by 2080.

But wait a minute….

Muslims all over the world will laugh at Joseph Smith and his so-called religion!


Because Islam came earlier and already made all these claims.  Joseph Smith is just an impostor and a liar.

According to Muslim beliefs, Muhammad is the seal and the last prophet. The Quran is the final revelation for all man since the earlier revelations were corrupt and Islam is the true religion.  And just because Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in America, does not mean that it is true.  Joseph Smith is just an impostor and a liar.


But wait a minute….

Using a parable Jesus said that he was the last.

“LAST OF ALL, he (God) sent his son (Jesus) to them.” Matthew 21:37

– words in parentheses mine –

God the Father set his seal on Jesus. (John 6:27)

John the Baptist closed the prophethood as according to Torah. (Matthew 11:13)

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the coming of God. (Malachi 3:1, Mark 1:12)

Jesus came to bring the good news of a new era for man through the Kingdom of God. (John 5:39-40, 10:10)


But is there anyone to come after Jesus? Someone asked Him this very question.

“And said to him (Jesus), “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3)

Jesus gives the answer by offering evidence of what He was doing and speaking, confirming that there was no other prophet coming after Him.


What about the Muslims claim that the Bible is corrupt?  What about the claim by Joseph Smith that Quran and earlier books were corrupt? Well, Muslims argue that Quran is not corrupt because it says so. No one can change the words of Allah (6:115)


Well, the Bible says that the message revealed in it is forever. Isaiah 40:8 The Word of our God endures forever.

And Jesus Himself said, “My words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31)


Does the Bible claim that Christianity is the true religion?

In Matthew 13:24-29 & 36-43: Jesus tells us a parable and explains that The People of The Kingdom (true Christians) have been sowed like good seeds into the world by Him .

AFTER THAT, satan comes and sows bad seeds that grow like weeds among the good seeds. The bad seeds are the people of other religions like Mormonism,  and like weeds, they can grow very fast! 🙂

But at the end of the age….when Jesus comes back…..the “weeds” will be plucked out and thrown into fire!



So what does the Bible say about religions, prophets, books that come after Christianity?


Jesus answered, “I am The Way and The Truth and The Life. NO ONE comes to the FATHER except through ME. (John 14:6)

The WAY To Heaven

The WAY To Heaven

Here’s a big difference between Islam & Christianity.

Muslims say, “I will perform all the rituals perfectly, do all the good deeds I can, so that I can get into heaven.”

Christians say, “All my best deeds cannot earn me heaven because even my best deeds are not good enough. Only God’s deed can give me heaven.”

The Bible says no one can get to heaven by their own deeds. Only God can save us and give us heaven. All so-called human good deeds are like filthy rags to a holy and perfect God. God has already revealed to us THE WAY to Him. Anyone who accepts THE WAY, has accepted the promise of a home in heaven.

Muslims, you have a big problem. You will never know how many good deeds is enough. You will never know if your good deeds are accepted by your god or will he throw you into hell at the last minute? Actually, do you realize, you are doing all your good deeds for YOURSELF? You are doing it only to get the reward of heaven. Don’t you see that even your good deeds are done out of selfishness, which is a sin! How can a good and holy and just God accept such corrupted and tainted good deeds?

Christians who have accepted THE WAY have the promised inheritance of heaven. True followers of THE WAY do not need to bribe or buy their way into heaven by good deeds.

On the other hand, as heirs of heaven, true Christians are now free to do good deeds, not out of selfish motives to gain a place in heaven like muslims but out of gratitude to God, who loves us and has given us a place in heaven with Him. And Christians are able to do good deeds in sincerity and in love to reflect God’s love for the world.

What is THE WAY that God has prepared?

Jesus said: “I AM The Way, The Truth and The Life. No one comes to the Father except though Me.” John 14:6


What Is Original Sin?

What Is Original Sin?

Muslims misunderstand what is meant by “original sin”. It does not mean that we have committed the sin of Adam! No, we are all guilty for our own sins!

When Adam and Eve, broke the only command that God gave them and DISOBEYED God, something happened. They were SEPARATED from God. That is why they were cast out from the Garden.  It was not just a physical separation from the garden but also a spiritual separation from a holy God. Man who had been created with a pure nature was now tainted with a corrupt nature as a result of his disobedience. Henceforth, every son of Adam, including you and I, inherit this sinful nature. This is what is meant by original sin.

If you disagree that everyone born of a man and woman is born with a sinful nature, then you are saying that it is possible for human beings to go though their entire life without sin!  Go ahead and try to find a single man or woman out of the 7 billion living today or who has lived in history who is perfectly sinless.  Who is the best person you know? Your father? Your mother? Your imam? Your pastor? Ask them if they have ever sinned.  Mother Theresa was probably one of the most amazing human being to have ever lived but yet even she would say that she is a sinner before a holy and righteous God.

No one escapes the clutches of sin because we all have such a nature from the day we are born. As long as we are born in this world as a son of Adam, we are born with such a nature.

Now listen to this! The only way out is for us to be “re-born” through a “new” Adam!

This sounds like crazy talk. But I can show you in the Bible this very thought.  Read 1 Corinthians 15:21 and 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49.

This new or last Adam refers to Jesus Christ!

If you read this remarkable passage you will see that where the first Adam failed because of disobedience, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, succeeded because of obedience.

Because of the first Adam we are born with a sinful nature. Now, because of the last Adam, we can be born with a new nature, just like the original nature that the first Adam possessed in the Garden at creation before he sinned!

Jesus came to “reboot”, “re-start”, renew what Adam lost. Jesus restores again the kingdom of God by opening the door for us to have a new nature. If we choose to.  He never forces us.


This is why 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

You and I, we have a choice.

We can continue in our old “default mode” as sons of Adam with a sinful nature, from the day we are born until the day we die, and then be cast out from God’s presence.


We can ask Jesus to do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to “reboot” our lives right now with a brand new nature and spirit.