Islam is quickly gaining ground in our country. Zambia, which enjoyed many years with minimal Islamic activity, is now confronted with serious Islamic growth, which is gaining momentum and strength. There are now mosques all over Zambia. In Ndola alone, which is my own town, there are at least eight mosques and several Islamic schools established. What is even sadder is that even our local people prefer to take their children to these Islamic schools. Their curriculum includes Arabic as a required subject. The Muslim community is growing in number, primarily as a result of open handouts in terms of food and clothing.
During my usual Thursday evangelistic outreach I have encountered Muslims who are now becoming prominent in our community, and I was reliably informed that they invited Muslim teachers from America, Uganda and Nigeria to come and conduct question and answer crusades for two weeks in September this year. They gave out flyers enticing all to attend, including pastors and politicians.
What is worrying me is the level of knowledge of the Word of God among the professing Christians here. When we see many of the churches around us, they are all caught up in the prosperity gospel and deliverance meetings. They spend their time on these things, rather than on expository preaching and sound doctrine. A nearby school is targeting the young people in order to promote an understanding of Islam and its historical perception. This is very serious for us and a wakeup call. I gathered this information from men who are Muslims with whom the Lord providentially allowed me to share the gospel. People here are not sufficiently theologically informed to resist the cunnings of Islam.
However, of the four Muslim men that I spoke to, one has responded and attended three worship services at our church in August. He has confessed that he has begun to understand the relationship between Adam and Christ. He also says he understands the significance of Moses as a mediator and Christ as Mediator, especially when Moses, whom they call Mussa, lifted the brass serpent in Numbers 21. He added on that it was making sense that everything in the Scriptures was written about Christ.
