By
Adebisi, Samson O.
Ajegungle Baptist Church, Agbowo, Ibadan, Nigeria
samsonadebisi2007@gmail.com
Acknowledgment
I give glory and adoration to God for inspiring me from time to time. It was His inspiration and gift of spiritual understanding that made it possible for me to write this book, I was once a victim of worry, but now I am a victor over worry. May His name be praised forever! Amen.
I deeply thank my dedicated wife: Mrs. Rebecca Olabisi Adebisi, whose constant prayers and loving support was the greatest human factor that enabled the writing of this book.
Brother ‘Seun really deserves a high level of commendation for assisting me to proof read, edit and collate this book. Actually, he nearly became my Secretary. May God prolong his life in the propagation of Christ’s Ministry, in Jesus name. Amen.
Brother ‘Lolu Akande is highly commended for correcting oversight. God has really used him as an honored vessel for the major source of outlet of this publication. May God richly bless him.
I am greatly indebted to Sister ‘Bose who has earlier assisted in the proof reading, when the draft was first produced; and for the moral encouragement I received from her.
Preface
The reason for publishing this booklet is not to create enmity, but to really open the eyes of fellow Christians to the dangers that exist in partaking in the Ileya festivity.
I am very sure it might not have occurred to you that it is a sin to partake and participate in this festival; but you would be without excuse, after you have thoroughly read this book and digested it, to continue to partake of it.
Any way, my prayer is that: May the Father of our Lord Jesus, who helped me to stop partaking of it, strongly hold you to your faith in Him, in Jesus name, Amen and amen.
Forward
The essential responsibility of the church is to make disciples of all nations. Mark16:15. Everybody must come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ irrespective of race, tribes or religion.
Jesus Christ is for all, the Bible says; “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John3:16. Therefore all Muslims too must be saved. How can they be saved if they are not invited? How can they succumb if they are not convinced?
Brother Samson Adebisi in this booklet has made it categorically clear the relationship between Christianity and Islamism.
The book is therefore very good for both Christians and Muslims as it highlights the genesis of both faiths.
It enables a Christian knows how to witness to a Muslim and it illuminates a Muslim understandings on whom Jesus is. It clears air on the argument about Ishmael and Isaac and establishes Biblical facts in Genesis16 1-16. Therefore it is a worthy book to be read by all.
Pastor SG Adegboyega
Ajegunle Baptist Church
Agbowo, U.I. Ibadan.
Introduction
I was born into a Christian family, in a small village called Atente in the Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State. In that village Muslims constitute nearly 70% of the population and most of them were friends to my parents, especially, my father. Since they were friends of his, each time they celebrate Ileya festival, they would invite him, and of course, he always took me along. However, the funniest thing is that even after we would have eaten the food dedicated for this festival, I was the one who would pack all the remnants. This include of the meat, together with packets of cigarettes, kola and money, I would pack all these things because I found them to be so cheap and free; not knowing that the Bible says they are food of deceit.
In addition, when I was much younger, any time we wanted to slaughter animals, my father used to call for the assistant of a Muslim, in the village. This is because they would not eat of it if they should come to know that a fellow Muslim did not slaughter the animal. All these created a struggle within me and made me very inquisitive; after all, they claim there is only one God.
By the help of the Holy Spirit, I have been growing up in the power of the Lord, God is really helping me in the understanding of the Scriptures, and He is strengthening me as well. Due to my inquisitiveness about this issue, He opened my inner eyes to really see and find the answers to all my questions. I really thank God today because He has permitted, at least, one of my dreams to happen.
Isaac or Ishmael?
There exists a contradiction between the Christians belief and that of the Muslims’ concerning the son the Lord required of Abraham (Ibrahim) as a sacrifice! Isaac or Ishmael? Christians believe Isaac was the son God asked Abraham (Ibrahim) to offer to him as a burnt offering; but Muslims believe it was Ishmael, the son of Hagar (Gen. 15:15; 22:2).
Though Muslims believe that he (Ishmael) was the son that God asked Abraham to offer to Him as a sacrifice, biblically, we are very sure that it was Isaac, whose mother was Sarah, that God required of Abraham (Gen. 16:15; 22:2).
There is no disagreement with the fact that Abraham, whom the Muslims call Ibrahim, was the father of Ishmael. The emphasis here is that Ishmael was the son born to Abraham by Hagar and Hagar was a slave to Sarah. (Gen. 16:1). This agrees with the Muslims belief that they are slaves! Nevertheless, thank God, we Christians are sons of God: Even the Scriptures say; “Slave does not stay in the home forever, but son stays in the home for ever “(John 8:35). Hagar was not the legal wife of Abraham; it was Sarah who advised Abraham to sleep with Hagar. The Bible says: “so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Why do not you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me”. So Abram agreed with what Sara said, so she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine (Gen. 16:2-3b).
God in His mercy promised Hagar, that He would make (Ishmael) a great nation; only that Ishmael will be a troublesome person throughout his generations (Gen. 16:11-12). If we look at Muslims, right from the time of the introduction of their religion, they have been very quarrelsome.
In Genesis 22:2, we are told that God asked Abraham to take his son, Isaac, whom he loved so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that God would show him he was to offer Isaac, and not Ishmael, as a burnt sacrifice to Him (God).
In addition, He made it clear to Abraham that it is in Isaac, and not Ishmael, that his seed shall be called (Gen 21:12).
Therefore, Isaac was the son God required of Abraham as a sacrifice!
Burnt Sacrifice or Eaten Sacrifice?
If at all, Muslims must kill rams for the Ileya festival, such rams ought not to be eaten but burnt.
In Genesis 22:2, the Lord asked Abraham to offer Isaac to him as a burnt sacrifice; and in those days in the Bible, before the physical manifestation of the Lord Jesus, the people used to burn their offering with fire. Even, the ram given in substitution for Isaac was burnt (Gen. 22:13).
After God spared Noah and his family from the flood, the Bible tells us that he built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean fowl and offered them on the altar as burnt offering to the Lord (Gen. 8:20).
Dear friends, that Noah burnt the offering unto the Lord was evident in verse 21 where the Bible says when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor i.e. a scent of satisfaction to His heart, the Lord said to himself, I will never curse the ground because of man.
What God required of Abraham was a burnt offering. Looking through the Bible at the guidelines for offering burnt offerings, it is clear that burnt offerings were not to be eaten but burnt, as the name suggested! Leviticus chapter one and many other passages of the Bible declare this truth! Since the Ileya ram is meant to be an image of sacrifice GOD required of Abraham, it ought to be burnt and not eaten.
The likely question that comes to mind is ‘why do Christians slaughter animals during Christmas and New Year’? It is for merry, for Christians are nowhere in the Bible mandated
Apology
Christians do not believe that any apology must be made to God or that we must seek for an approval from God before slaughtering animals. Genesis Chapter 1, verses 24, 26-28 says: “Then God commanded, let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small … Then God said, and now we will make man human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have Power Over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small, so God created human beings, making them to be like Himself, blessed them, and said, have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.
Genesis 9:2-3, state clearly that the Lord gave plants and animal to man for food. Since the Lord had said we should have dominion over all the earth, it is no longer proper to be seeking for an approval before we slaughter animals for food.
In addition, Christians do not believe that there is a particular direction to which the animal should be faced when we are about to slaughter it. Not many people are sure of exactly what they are saying, whenever they are about to slaughter an animal. Although there are many places in the Bible where it was mentioned that people slaughtered animals, we do not read it anywhere in the Bible that they said “things” before they were killed.
Considering the account in Genesis chapter 18, verse 7, we would see that Abraham (Ibrahim) did not even handle the slaughtering of the animal, talk less of giving instructions to the servant to say a particular thing before the slaughtering. Again, considering the time of the dedication of the Lord Jesus. Luke 2:24 says: “They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord”. No mention is here made of uttering a particular set of words before slaughtering the birds!
There is no need for apology or the utterance of particular words before the slaughtering animals!
Acceptable Blood
It is not mandatory to kill rams every year!
It is the belief of Muslims that whenever they kill rams, or cocks, they substitute the life of their children with that of the animal. They also believe that blood of the animal is for the remission of sins.
However, the Bible says almost everything is purified with the blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22), the Scriptures however, strongly warns against all the beliefs that Muslims have in respect of killing rams or hen or whatever. The book of Hebrews 10:5-6 (RSV) says: “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifices and offerings thou has not desired, but a body has thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure”. He (God) abolished the first covenant and its sacrifices in order to establish the second covenant (Heb. 10:9). Hallelujah!
Christ did not take the blood of goats and bulls and their ashes to offer as a sacrifice; rather, He took His own blood and obtained eternal salvation (Heb. 9:12). “If the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of a burnt calf sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean purifies them by taking a way their impurity, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ? Who though the eternal spirit offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals (sacrifice), so that we may serve the living God” (Heb. 9:13-14).
Hence, the one and only blood that remits sin is the blood of JESUS CHRIST. Hallelujah!
Dangerous Eating
Muslims believe that the ram killed at Ileya is for atoning, propitiation and remission of sins; but the Bible disagrees! When the Muslims kill rams or any other animal, dear friends, it is more or less a public food popularly known as Sàráà, and eating such a food could be very dangerous indeed.
In first Corinthians 10:20-21, the Lord strongly warned Christians against partaking of such feasts! “No! What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink from the Lord’s cup and also from the cup of demons; you cannot eat at the Lord’s table and also at the table of demons” (1st Cor. 10:20-21).
Further more, the Bible says: “Do not work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together? How can Christ and the devil agree? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? How can God’s temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we (Christians) are the temple of the living God! As God Himself had said … I will make my home with my people and live among them … (2nd Cor. 6:14-16b).
While partaking of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) makes us God’s partners, partaking of the Ileya food makes one partner with demons! Should a Christian be a partaker with demon?
Acceptable Sacrifice
The Bible declares that Jesus had made the needed sacrifice for the remission of sins with His blood, and the sacrifice was perfect and acceptable to God! Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted Him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that He made of His own body once and for all (Heb. 10:10).
The Bible says, “the same sacrifices are offered forever, year after year … If the people worshipping had really been purified from their sins, they would not fell guilty of sin any more and all sacrifices serve year after year to remind people of their sins. For the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin” (Heb. 10:1b-4).
We (Christians) strongly believe the word of God that Christ (however) has offered one God that Christ (however) has offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective and active forever.
In conclusion, the scripture says: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18 NKJV).
Do you dine with the devil?
If your answer is yes, it is high time you stop!
ADEBISI Samson