4 Responses

1. Hey Joel,

   I want to thank you so much for all you have done with this ministry! You are my go to person when it comes to end times studies and I have bought all your books and DVD’s. I will definitely be joining in as a partner as you continue to be used by God in these critical times. I do have a question for you and maybe you can direct me. I have a hard time understanding the Trinity. I have heard and read many articles and heard different explanations but I still cannot grasp it. I know this is something I want to be totally grounded on as I know Muslims like to challenge believers on this main subject matter. Is there a book/article/resource you can recommend I read that will help me understand it? Any help is greatly appreciated!

2. Hi Jeff,

   There are several books which I know folks often speak very well of, but I have not read them, so cannot recommend which are best. I would recommend going through some of Jay Smith’s classes on the thewadi.org

   Also Norman Geisler’s book with Abdul Saleeb is great and addresses this. It is called Answering Islam.

   Understanding the trinity is actually quite easy. Particularly in the context of comparing it to Islamic belief. We agree with Muslims that God is unapproachable, Almighty, unfathomable, and far bigger and beyond anything we can imagine or wrap our heads around. We call this aspect of God, “The Father.” Of God the Father the Bible says that “no man has seen God” for He “lives in unapproachable light.” But God is love and as such, He is a self-revealing God. Throughout history, He has revealed Himself in various ways. His ultimate self-revelation of course was in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No man hath seen God. God the only begotten, who is at the Father’s blossom, He hath revealed Him. This aspect of God is what we call God the Son. Then there is the aspect of God which fills all things and hold all things together. This aspect of God is the Spirit. If you seek to imagine God less than any of these things, He no longer makes any sense. Only biblical Trinitarian Monotheism makes philosophical, emotional, or theological sense. Islamic Unitarian Monotheism is fundamentally illogical and unappealing to the human heart.

   I hope this helps.

   Bless you!
   Joel

3. Joel,

   Thank you so much for your prompt response! It is so awesome to know how easily approachable you are. Speaks highly of your humility. Your commentary is very enlightening and its starting to make more sense to me. I will definitely look into those resources you recommended for further personal research. Again, thank you for all you do and am looking forward to following your ministry as God reveals more to your ministry. Blessings to you and your family!

4. Joel, the following may be of interest to you.

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   Turkish Islamist push may be to blame for removal of Atatürk inscription at Anzac Cove

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/16/turkish-islamist-push-may-be-to-blame-for-removal-of-ataturk-inscription-at-anzac-cove

   Two excerpts:

   “The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has removed from a revered Anzac Cove memorial the familiar words attributed to Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, likening Australia’s dead “Johnnies” to Ottoman “Mehmets” and welcoming them to rest in his country’s soil.

   The renovation of the 1985 monument has heightened suspicions in Australia and Turkey that the refurbished memorial could reflect a growing Islamist interpretation by the Erdoğan administration of Australia’s part in the 1915 British-commanded Anzac invasion of – and later retreat from – Gallipoli.”

   “Historians in Australia and Turkey believe the ‘refurbishment’ could be part of the Erdoğan administration’s moves to cast Gallipoli as part of a clash between jihadi defenders (the Ottoman empire did declare a jihad) and invading crusaders on the shores of Islam.
   Peter Stanley, an author of more than 30 books, many about the first world war, and a professor of history at the University of New South Wales Canberra, said the erasure of the purported Atatürk words reflected a “new theocratic interpretation” of the conflict in Turkey.

   “It’s not always apparent to Australian visitors to Gallipoli, who tend to focus on the Anzac story, but another, Turkish, battle for Gallipoli has been going on for the past decade at least, between the formerly universally accepted Atatürk interpretation and the increasingly strong Islamist view,” he said.

   “Because the Erdoğan government is in power, Islamists are now in the ascendant – as the new Gaba Tepe interpretative centre [at Gallipoli] shows. It depicts Turkey’s 86,000 Gallipoli dead as “martyrs”, dying in a fight against Christian invaders.”