بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
TELLY DA’WAH EMBASSY
Telly Dawah Plaza, Zone ‘E’, GRA, Iba Estate,
Iba, Lagos State
P.O. Box 10211, LASU Post Office, HO 102
001, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria
E-mail: tellydawah@yahoo.com
Telephone: 0803-346-4974, 08182119714
DA’WAH TRACTS VOL. 1, NO. 20
SERVANTS
OF
GOD
SERVANTS OF GOD
“I am a son of God!” It was a deafening
proclamation. Michael roared repeatedly. His red eyeballs protruding, his fists
clenched. He shivered a little. “I say I am a son of God. I ask my Father whatever I want and He gives me
immediately! You, an ordinary Muslim, You call yourself a servant of God. No
wonder He gives you nothing. How can He give the servant when
the son is there?”
Musa adjusted his tajia (Muslim cap). He looked timidly around the restaurant. There
were so many of his coursemates around. What an embarrassing situation! He did
not want to get into an argument. He said in a calm voice, “Look, Michael,
there is no need making noise about this. It’s between me and you”.
“Never!” exclaimed Michael, “What has a
legitimate son got in common with a servant, an ordinary slave. You better come
with me to the pastor. Come to our church. We will make you a real son of God.
We will set you free. The son must win. The servant
cannot. We are winners!”
The scenario was the interior of a
students’ restaurant in one of the universities in Nigeria. But debates and
arguments are common between Muslims and their Christian counterparts. Muslims
confirm that they are servants of God (Allah). Christians reject such a lowly
status. They claim to be sons of God whose prayers must be answered while God
ignores the prayers of the servants or delay it for a long time before
answering it.
But is this true? Is it Muslims alone
who are servants of God? Is it true that Christians are sons of God? Who is
right between the Christians and the Muslims? Before we jump to conclusions we
must investigate. The Bible says, “investigate all things and hold
fast to that which is true and abstain from the wrong” (1st
Thessalonians 5:20-22). Let us therefore search both the Glorious
Qur’an and the Bible to know the status of both Muslims and Christians.
The Qur’an uses the word ‘servants’ of
God one hundred and thirty-one times. It says Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a
servant of Allah, “Glory be to Allah who took His servant (Muhammad) on a night
journey from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque…” (Qur’an 17:1). Jesus
called himself a servant of Allah in the Qur’an. “He said, “I am a servant of
Allah. He gave me a scripture and made me a prophet” (Qur’an 19:30).
Prophet Sulayman (Solomon) was called a
servant of Allah (Qur’an 38:30). The Qur’an says even Jesus would not hesitate
to be servant of God (4:172). It calls Daud (David) a servant of Allah (38:17)
and Ayub (Job 38:41) and Noah (54:9) and Zakariya (Zachariah 19:2), etc.
servants of Allah. The Qur’an also calls all human beings servants of Allah
(25:63; 37:40; 40:31). Even angels are called servants of Allah (43:19).
This tract is basically concerned with
the issue of ‘servants’ and not that of ‘sons’. Our green tract entitled ‘Son of God’ (Dawah Tracts No. 13) has
treated the question of sonship extensively. We cannot treat it here without
unnecessary digression.
But in case some of our readers have
not read it, we will give you some references in this paragraph (see Exodus
4:22; Jeremiah 31:9; 1st Chronicle 22:9-10; Psalm 2:7; Luke 3:38;
Mathew 5:9 and Isaiah 64:8) for your private perusal, research and findings. In
the meantime, we must go back to our discussion of the true status of man. Are
we servants of God or not?
We have seen how the Glorious Qur’an
calls all men (including the prophets) servants of God. Now let us open the
pages of the Bible. What do we find there? It is exceedingly shocking, quite
revealing and highly sensational.
Let us begin with the Old testament. Elijah, a prophet called himself a servant of God. The Bible
says, “And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came
near and said, ‘Oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this
day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant and
that I have done these things at thy word” (1st Kings 18:36).
Having said these words and after
confessing that he was a servant of God, Elijah prayed to God and even asked
God to answer him immediately. What happened next is very interesting. Fire
actually came down miraculously. God answered Elijah immediately even though he
called himself a servant of God. This proves that the claim of the Christians
that God would not answer the prayer of a servant or that He would delay it
does not hold water. It is false, mischievous, misleading and baseless.
According to the Bible, after confessing
that he is A SERVANT OF God, Elijah
said, “Answer me, Oh Lord, answer me, that these people may know that thou, Oh
Lord, art God and that thou hast turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of
the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood…” (1st
Kings 18:37-38). Thus Elijah, the servant of God won the contest between him
and the four hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal. The latter called Baal
to send down fire from heaven but no fire came. Yet Elijah did it.
The same Elijah, who called himself a
servant of God commanded the River Jordan to open a path for him to cross and
it did (2nd Kings 2:9) and went up into heaven in a chariot of fire!
(2nd Kings 2:11). So there is no scriptural support for the claim of
our Christian neighbours who think a servant’s prayer cannot be answered.
God himself called all men His servants
according to the Bible. “You are My witnesses, says, the
Lord, and My servants whom I have chosen, that you may know and
believe Me and understand that I am He. Before me, no god was formed, nor shall
there be any after me. I, am the Lord, and besides Me, there is no saviour,”
(Isaiah 43:10-11).
Again in the Bible, God called Jacob His
servant. God said, “But now hear, O Jacob My servant,
Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from
the womb and will help you: Fear not, O
Jacob My servant…” (Isaiah 44:1-2).
There is no doubt about it. Cross-check
these facts from your own bible. It is unequivocal. God called Jacob His
servant twice. Could God have made a
mistake? Is it possible? We say it is impossible for God to make a mistake. He
is infallible. The Bible says God is perfect (Mathew 5:48).
The Bible also goes on to say that all
those who praise the Lord are servants of God.
It declares, “Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give Praise, O
servants of the Lord,” (Psalm 135:1).
In the acts of Apostles, the Bible
calls Jesus a servant of God three times. On the first occasion,
Peter called him so, saying, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob,
the God of our father, glorified his
servant Jesus” (Acts of Apostles 3:13).
On the second occasion, after Peter and
John had made a lame man walk, (Acts 3:1-10) they both called Jesus a holy servant of God, “For truly in this
city there were gathered together against thy
holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst annoint…: (Acts 4:27).
On the third occasion, both peter and
John spoke of Jesus as God’s holy servant (Acts 4:31).
The case of Jesus as a servant of God
deserves closer attention. We must recall that Jesus himself was a very humble
man. He confessed that he had no power except what God permits him to do. Jesus said, “I of my own authority I can do nothing” (John 5:30).
In another verse, Jesus confirmed that
God is greater than him, “The father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Jesus
also asserted that he was sent by God. “This is eternal life,” he said, “that
they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent,” (John 17:3).
These statements may also be viewed
against the background of the proclamation of Jesus concerning the difference
between the master and the servant. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a
servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than that
who sent him.” (John 13:16).
Jesus had confirmed that he was sent,
now he is saying that the sender is greater than he who was sent just as the
master is greater than his servant. It means that Jesus saw himself as a
servant of God. Do you need further
proof?
He had always spoken in parables; and he
had said, “this is why I speak to them in parables, for hearing they hear not
and seeing they see not, nor do they understand,” (Mathew 13:13). It is as if
Jesus was saying that a word is enough for the wise. Those who understand the
words of Jesus will agree that Jesus was a servant of God.
It was not Jesus alone who was a
servant of God. His disciples were also called servants of God in the Bible.
At least, both Peter and John called themselves servants of God (Acts 4:29).
Both Peter and John also reffered to Prophet David as a servant of God (acts
4:24-25). Note that the Qur’an also called the same David (Daud) a servant of
God (Qur’an 38:17).
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he
pondered, “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient
slaves, you are slaves of
the one whom you obey?… having been set free from sin, you have become slaves
of righteousness…” (Roman 6:16-18).
What was Paul trying to say? It is very
simple. If you obey God or serve God, then you are a slave or servant of God.
Now the question is: Do Christians obey God? Do they serve or worship God? If
they do, then they must be servants of God. Any Christian who understands the
Bible must therefore agree that he is a servant of God.
In fact Paul went further to say, “But
now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the
return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
(Romans 6:22).
Do you still doubt? In his letter to
Titus, Paul clearly, indubitably and unequivocally called himself a servant of
God. He wrote thus, “Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ… to Titus, my true child in a common faith…”
(Titus 1:1-4).
There you are. Paul calls himself a
servant of God. Any Christian who says he is not a servant of God and despises
Muslims for calling themselves servants of God is not qualified to be a
Christian. He is not a good Christian.
When James wrote his letter to the
seven churches in Asia, he called all human beings servants of God and himself
another servant of God. The Bible says, “The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show His
servants what must soon take place: and he made it known by sending His
angels to His servant John… to the
seven churches that are in Asia.” (Revelation 1:1-4).
The wind has blown. We have seen the
ruff of the hen. Who is deceiving who? Muslims already confess
that they are servants of God. They repeat it every day. Christians claim to be
greater creatures. But the Bible has proved otherwise. We cited in this tract
about sixteen different verses of the Bible which prove that Christians are
also servants of God.
We are talking of divine truth. Some
people decide to pursue social truth, human make-belief, holier than thou
attitude. But divine truth must eventually overwhelm social truth, just as it
has done now. Every man is a servant of God.
The Bible which is the Christian
scripture has shown that the Christians are wrong in their claim that they are
not servants of God. We must ask, “Who is arrogant? Who is humble?” We must
also ask, “Who is telling lie? Who is speaking the truth? We leave the answer
to our readers. The Bible says, “Every one who exalts himself shall be humbled,
but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:14; Mathew 23:11-12).
This explains why Muslims humbly remove
their shoes while entering the house of God (mosque) and put their foreheads on
the ground to worship the Great God, Allah.
Dear reader, do you want to be humble
so that God may exalt you? Or do you want to be proud and arrogant? The choice
is yours.
You know the result of arrogance and the
consequence of humility. Abraham demonstrated his humility by putting his head
to the ground just as Muslims worship (Genesis 17:3). So did Moses (Exodus
34:8), Moses and Aaron (numbers 20:5-6), Daniel (Daniel 10:9-10), Joshua
(Joshua 5:14). Ezra (Nehemiah 8:1-6), Jesus (Mathew 26:39) and the angels
(Revelation 7:11; 11:26).
We call on you today to humble yourself
by worshipping with the Muslims if you are a true descendant of Abraham (John
8:39). You may start by confessing like Elijah, like David, like Paul.
Confess that you are a servant of God.
Confess that God is One. Confess that Jesus (peace of God be with him) was a
prophet. Confess that Muhammad (peace of God be with him) was a prophet.
That is how to be a servant of God. That
is how to become a Muslim. Now you can meet the Imam of any mosque. Tell him
you want to become a Muslim. God Bless you (Aamiin).
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This tract was prepared by Telly
Da’wah Embassy. For further enquiries, please call 234-818-211-9714.
Telly Da’wah Embassy was founded
in 1995 by Professor Ishaq Akintola for spreading the peaceful message of
Islam, for promoting healthy dialogue among adherents of different religions and for finding lasting solution to the problem of religious
violence in Nigeria.
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