A Muslim perspective...Spiritually

This was written by an AVOW member from the LDS Church. This article is for your learning.

I write this by directive from the Holy Ghost. The time here is now 3:14 am and I have been up since 1:30 writing in my journal and receiving direct revelation as to what to do next.

Let me begin about 3 months ago. I drive semi truck and spend 6 - 11 hours a day behind the wheel. My focus is the gospel and extending my knowledge of Christ and His Church.

However, I was driven to begin study of the old testament. It included the Pearl of Great Price, The Old Testament, the NEW LDS Institute Old Testament Manual, Publications for LDS scholars including Prophets and Apostles work about the Old Testament as well as Hugh Nibley and various works on the Old Testament.

I had spent hours and hours listening and then when I would stop for the evening, I was driven by the Holy Ghost to continue my reading and research. Taking notes and writing down my thoughts of which I wrote on many occasions, that I did not know why I was driven to learn and understand.

UNTIL.

My Semi tractor broke down in Pendelton Oregon. It was instructed that I was to wait the entire day, Friday, to have the truck completed and then spend the night in Oregon and go home to Boise Idaho the next day. HOWEVER, the truck did not get finished in time and the dealership was closed on Saturday and Sunday and the truck would not be done until Monday around noon. Here I am 4 hours from home and no way to get there. I indicated to my boss that my wife could come and get me on Friday, we would spend the night and go home Saturday morning. He would have nothing to do with that and insisted that he and his small family would come and get me. I finally relented and said....ok.

My boss.... Saudi Fahmi. (Pronounced Fa-Me) (Now you have the basis of Gods directive, please know this is not me, it is from our Heavenly Father and it is His influence that I am to write here)

(Rest assured that what you understand about or have read about Muslims from non-LDS christian pulpits are not all right or true. They have not really researched or done their study of the old testament and Muslim belief.) 

His dear wife insisted that I sit up front with Saudi while she sat in the back with her two children. She is not Muslim, she came from an extremely rough back ground of parents who have been in and out of prison for various drug crimes and small theft. It is as if they hop from one prison to another. She was raised as Menenite but never practiced and for the most of her life survived alone. Sadly, this happened right here, in the USA, in Idaho. I was so sorrowful to hear her story.

This day that we traveled home was the day that Paris France was attacked by Muslim Terrorist, ISIS and I had received a text from my dear wife asking if I had heard about it. I told her no and asked Saudi if he had. He said no he had not, as we both had been busy working and not able to hear news of the day. That event opened a window of conversation and learning for me. Remember I had four hours to converse and let me tell you it went fast and we never got to finish our conversation.

First about Saudi. He as born in Jerusalem and lived there until he was 16. Because of the contention at that time between Jew and Palestine, his family moved to Saudi Arabia. With sadness he spoke of a dear friend in Jerusalem who is Jewish. They grew up together and were best friends until the conflict at that time, and his friend because of parents, and political leaders, became immediate enemies. Later when Clinton offered refuges help to the United States and give them citizenship he took it and moved here from Saudi Arabia. He is the only member of his family here. He speaks Hebrew, Arabic and English and is extremely knowledgeable about the Koran and parts of the Old Testament. He reads the Koran daily in Arabic and is actively following the Muslim religion the best he can. He realizes that he is not perfect in it, just like I am not perfect in Christianity.

We both had many ah ha moments as we learned how close our beliefs were regarding Adam and Eve up through Abraham. It was at that point that I then realized why I was driven to study the old testament and be very familiar with exact history. He even commented to me that he had several conversations with other Christians, but was disappointed when he realized they did not know their old testament at all.

Here are things that I learned.

1. They believe in the pre-exsistance just like us.

2. They believe that Satan was a spirit cast out of Heaven and took followers with him to earth.

3. They believe that Adam and Eve were influenced by Satan to partake of the forbidden fruit.

4. They believe that they were cast out of the Garden of Eden because they did not obey.

5. They believe all that we do up to Abraham.

6. He told me that the waters still flow today from the mountain where God appeared to Abraham's maidservant when they were to parish in the desert from lack of water.

7. I asked about the berka's and why. He told me his father explained to him as a little boy that his mother is a precious gem and treasure from God and that she is not to be looked upon by anyone in a inappropriate way. (I said that makes good sense) 

8. I asked about the ownership that he has control over his wife. He taught me that the world looks upon it that the husband will demand that the wife do exactly or suffer the punishment. But he told me that a righteous Muslim does not do that. They treat their wife with great respect and admiration. To treat her with the correct respect she deserves. He felt that Mormons also has great respect for their wives and daughters, by the way they dress. Yes, some Muslims of different sects, will and do take advantage of that and it is wrong.

9. They believe that Christ is the Savior of the world but not the Son of God.

10. He thought that I believed that Mary, Jesus earthly mother was our mother in heaven. I told him that is not true. He thought that all Christian people believed that, I told him that many do, but that we do not. I related to him the event that took place for Mary to be the mother of Jesus on earth. As I was explaining it to him, he interrupted me and started speaking in Arabic of the exact event, but when he finished, I said, yes Gabriel. (Because I understood the exact event as written in the New Testament) He looked at me with a surprise look on his face and asked, Did you understand what I said? I told him yes. That it was Gabriel, the angel who came to Mary, and that she was never touched by a man, until after the birth of Christ and that the Spirit of God is the one that provided the seed planted in the womb of Mary. We then got side tracked as I told him, Article of Faith number 7. (Look it up if you cannot remember)

Then I went back to Mary, and I said, do you remember telling me that your mother was treated by your father as a precious gem? Yes, he declared. I said, then you will understand that we believe in a Heavenly Mother, a precious gem, so precious that our Father in Heaven will not talk about her, or tell us her name. He protects her from all worldly care and evil that exists since the beginning. He looked at me, and said, you know that really makes sense and I believe you.

11. I explained to him about the Book of Mormon, but he did not respond well to it.

12. I spoke of the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price and the translation of the old testament by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in regards to Moses, and Enoch and the city of Enoch. He perked his ears intently and asked if I knew how the church came about it. I told him that I did know, (since I had been directed to listen to the Joseph Smith papers broadcast on the Mormon channel, I knew exactly how they came about) and I shared with him the event. He then requested if he could read that and study it. I told him that he could and that I would be happy to help him.

13. I was not done with the Book of Mormon yet. Now that he was listening to what I had to say. I explained to him the times that the Book of Mormon took place and related to him two groups of people. One 600 years before Christ and one 2000 years before Christ. I told him about the Brother of Jared, and I shared with him his name. (If you don't know it, look it up) When I said his name, he looked at me intently and said, that sounds as if it is from Egypt. I said, well I am not sure of the origination of the name, but bear witness to their event. He said, can I read that as well? I said, yes it is in the Book of Mormon. So I got him to take a Book of Mormon.

14. Moving back to Christ and his birth, I asked him if he knew when he was born. He said, I told you in Arabic. Oh I said, you mean he was born in April. He said, I never said April, but I said that he was born on a hot summer night. I said yes, and modern revelation teaches us that he was born April 6th. He turned to his wife and said, I told you honey. I told you that Christ was not born in December. He then asked me why we celebrate it in December. I simply stated to help and lead people to Christ. That is simply it. But we believe that he was born in April and also the same time of his suffering in the Garden, and on the Cross.

Now we ran out of time and it was over..... I was saddened but told him I would get him his copy of the books he wanted to read. I purchased them but did not have them with me on my next event.

12-2-14
I drove to Yakima Washington to deliver product. After I began my day I started my truck and performed my safety inspection. As I finished I started back to the lobby to check out of the hotel and pay my bill. I started walking across the newly fresh 5 inches of snow, when my feet hit an icy patch and both feet went up in the air and I landed on my head. (I'm 6'2" and 260) I blacked out for a split second and then realized that my upper body went completely numb. I had no feeling from the waist up. I laid there in the snow for several minutes in severe pain, when finally the feeling started to come back to me. I finally got up, went to the lobby, checked out and called Saudi and told him that I fell. I also told him that my head was hurting but felt that I wanted to deliver my load and I would call him back in an hour or two. He said. Ok. After I finished unloading, I started my trip back to Boise, Idaho but got toward Prossor Washington and was noticing the numbness in my arms and hands. I became nervous about it and pulled into a rest stop. I tried to reach Saudi for help but he did not answer. I called the company nurse, explained what happened and she insisted that I hang up and call 911 for immediate medical attention. I tried to talk her out of it, but she would have nothing to do with it. She explained that, many people die from head injury's who feel okay, but do not realize they are bleeding internally and die. Okay, that scared me and I called 911. They responded quickly and took me to the hospital to go under very scrutiny evaluation. They could only do so much, and transferred me by ambulance to another hospital in the Tri-City area of Washington. At that point they performed more tests and all results came back normal and in fact made comment to me how healthy my blood labs were, and blood pressure considering that I'm about 60 pounds over weight. By that time they explained to me that I indeed had a slight concussion and that I experienced what they call a brain zing. Its the same when you hit your funny bone on your elbow, but its the brain, so it will effect parts of the entire body. Laying there in that situation, in traction, on my back for 10 hours, was very painful, and I laid there pleaded for understanding and direction. The staff was kind and helpful, and I surly thanked them over and over again. But, I was still looking for the reason why.

Then Saudi finally gets me on the phone. I said, I am coming to pick you up tomorrow. I complained. Saudi, no, I can drive. I will stay the night with a sister that lives here and then head home in the morning. No, he said. You are to precious to me, I value you way to much. I am coming. I said, Saudi, please I need to work and provide for my family and I will be fine. The doctor here has cleared me to drive home. No, he said. That is final, I will be there at 11:00 am tomorrow. If you want I will pay for a hotel, or you can stay with you sister. I opted for the later to spend time with her and catch up on family news.

Okay, he shows up at 11 and we have almost 6 hours of more conversation. OF WHICH I READ TO HIM AND ASKED FOR CLARIFICATION ON A RECENT LDSAVOW POST about Muslims. Here are some of the lessons I learned.

1. He challenged me to check my history when the US Government started interacting involving themselves with the middle east. I got on my trusty smart phone and started doing research. He help me understand all about Osama Bin Laden. How the US helped him and trained him to fight Afghanistan government. The USA actually flew all of Bin Laden and his soldiers to the USA for special training. That happened in and Bin Laden finished the war prior to 2001. The USA had made promises to Bin Laden that did not get fulfilled. So they retaliated on 9/11/2001 and other small attacks prior to that. I asked him, was Bin Laden justified in his actions. Saudi replied, no he was not. He violated all muslim rules of war and conflict. Not just American people died there, but American muslims that had nothing to do with it were working in the twin towers when it was hit. He explained to me that his father and his uncle were at one time friends with Bin Laden and felt he was a powerful religious influence, UNTIL his actions at various attacks against the USA. They witnessed his anger and frustration with the US and they moved far away from him.

2. We talked about how the USA is Allies with Israel but wants nothing to do with Palestine. I said that I was not intelligent enough to talk about that. But I would get back with him on that.

3. He helped me see that like we have different sects of Christianity, so do the Muslims. The radical Muslims are all from the Middle East. He asked me if I knew the most populated Muslims are in the world. I said no, and I looked it up on my smart phone. It is Indonesia. He said, how many groups of radical muslims come from there? I said, I am not aware of any. He said that is right. What country is next. I said China. He said how many radical muslims come from there? I said that I am not aware of any. He said correct, all have come from the middle east and some formed after the US entered into Iraq.

4. I asked about Sharia Law. He said it was added after the Koran was written. That is why he reads it in Arabic, because it is in it purest form, and it is the original text that was written.

5. I said, but you believe in beheading and various other terrible killings. He said, yes we believe in the same law the old testament teaches. Eye for eye, hand for hand, and certain punishments for doing evil things. I studied the old testament and went to Leviticus and read what I had studied to him. He said, yes, our laws were not changed as your laws did with Christ. I said, but you believe He is the Savior of the world, a prophet. Yes, but we don't believe he fulfilled any law. He was not the Son of God.

6.It states from the LDS AVOW post that you believe in sex with little children. He said, look at the author of that book. He is from middle east, and has changed the rules from the Koran to fit what they want. It is evil and they will be punished by God for it. It is not what the pure Muslim religion is about.

7. He had me watch a few short videos on what true Muslims believe and how they feel they are to interact with Gods Children. It helped me see the importance of going to a TRUE source and not someones thinking about what it is. I explained to him, that as a Mormon, we go through the same experiences. People post what they think they know about our church and are wrong, I told him about some other Christian churches and how they print and provide video with incorrect information. I also told him that some of our worst enemies are past members. He looked at me and said, then you understand that they who publish about muslims, who are not muslims, or are desenters from our faith are our worst enemies. Yes, I get that I said.

8. I said I am worried about the refugees coming into the USA from Syria. He said, so am I. I know that there will be good people in that group, but there will be bad and I disagree that the US is not doing investigation background on these people prior to coming. There will be evil, implants by Terrorist people.

9. I spoke about how our nation has allowed no more prayer in school, no more bible in school, not much any religion, but now we have muslims coming in and requesting and in some places demanding that we honor your holiday worship by making changes to our schools or work place. Do you think that is fair to us? No he said. I believe that this nation is a Christian nation and that I am blessed to be here. Those making the requests are the ones that need to be watched really close. A true Muslim only wants a place to worship and follow the God. The ideal place would be eventually to have our own temples, our own schools, our own places of worship and not demand that a Christian nation change.

10. Then inspiration hit me. Why do you think that the USA supports Israel? He said I don't know. I said, what I am feeling is, because it is the blood line of Christ. We feel, that Abraham was chosen and then that Issac was chosen, and that is line of authority. It goes back to genealogy. Juda, was Christ's line, back to Jacob, to Issac and to Abraham.

Many more things did we discuss, but I cannot remember them all. What comes to my mind is, was it Indonesia that had the natural disaster that the church sent over Millions of dollars of aid?

I know that the gospel has to go to all nations, kindred and tongue, and some how these GOOD Muslims need to hear the message of the restoration. Saudi is open and willing to learn and read what I have for him. But I have receive revelation that if he accepts the message, God has a very important plan for him to accomplish. That is if he accepts.

This article is for your learning.

If you have questions that you would like me to ask him, send them directly to my email account at grandparentsrule1@gmail.com 

I am sure that I will be visiting with him again and if I had a page with questions about his religion it would engage him even more and he would welcome it.

God Speed,
Emmanuel.

Please dont give me any negative feed back. I share what I share because I was directed to do so by the Holy Ghost. It is to help you on any level possible for you. I have no idea, where you are at, but I do know that I have gone through these things for a reason. That I know of. I may not fully understand as of yet, but I only given small bits and pieces here and there. I testify that Heavenly Father is in control. That He sent His Son, Jesus Christ that we might return home.

Written by lbhamblin, AVOW, December 2015