an encounter with a minister

about seven years ago, i had a minister over to my home.

in the particular room which we were sitting there was a quran on the table, face down, and so the minister was not aware of which book it was. in the midst of a discussion, i pointed to the quran and said, "i have confidence in that book." looking at the quran but not knowing which book it was, he replied, "well, i tell you, if that book is not the

bible, it was written by a man!" in response to his

statement, i said, "let me tell you something about what is in that book." and in just three to four minutes, i related to

him a few things contained in the quran. after just those

three or four minutes, he completely changed his position

and declared, "you are right. a man did not write that book.

the devil wrote it!" indeed, possessing such an attitude is

very unfortunate - for many reasons. for one thing, it is a

very quick and cheap excuse. it is an instant exit out of an

uncomfortable situation.

as a matter of fact, there is a famous story in the bible that

mentions how one day some of the jews were witnesses when jesus (as ) raised a man from the dead. the man

had been dead for four days, and when jesus arrived, he

simply said, "get up!" and the man arose and walked away. at such a sight, some of the jews who were watching said disbelievingly, "this is the devil. the devil