Converts To Islam

Abdullah Islam (formerly Kevin Combes Was a Born Again Christian)

To explain to you why I chose Islam, I have to go back before Islam and I was born into a Catholic Protestant family, my Father was Catholic my Mother was Protestant but as my Father ruled the house it was a Catholic family. Now I rejected the Catholic belief at a young age and from then I basically rebelled against this strict lifestyle that I was brought up in. From there I ended up on the streets, doing drugs, all messed up drinking alcohol totally shot. I was dragged out of the gutter by a man who trained me to be a weight lifter, gave me pride back into myself and told me while I was training my body I had to seek a spiritual path as well because physically its not enough there must also be a spiritual part of your life. So from there I went on a journey searching all the different faiths and I ended up being a born again Protestant Pentecostal Christian, preaching Jesus to everyone and anyone who would listen and who wouldnt listen, basically I became a Bible basher.

So from there I traveled overseas, preaching Jesus, and telling people how Jesus could change their lives, save their life and the whole thing, and I used to debate scripture with people. One brother, a Christian brother, who I led to Jesus come up against me in a debate just at work. He was going on about the Trinity and he pointed out to me a simple thing that the Holy Trinity didnt come about until 325 years after the death of Christ. Ok

thats 325 years after the death of Jesus and the resurrection to some people. It was a political move by emperor Constantine at the first council of Nicaea (325 AD) to unite the Romans and the Christians together to give him a power base, he basically decreed that Jesus was God and the Roman Sun Gods, because what happened was basically that Greek Roman mythology took over Christianity; Christianity did not take over Greek Roman mythology. The Roman Sun Gods birthday, which was the 25^th December became Jesus birthday. The Romans Sunday became the holy Sabbath, also the counsel agreed that Jesus was the Son of God, the only begotten Father, the very God of the very God. And it also declared the Trinitarian concept, the official doctrine of the Pauline Church, which is basically the Roman Catholic Church. Now if you understand the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant church, all the scriptures came from the Catholic Church, so all the canonical Gospels were in hands of the Catholics originally. They made the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, the only four Gospels. After that they went about destroying all the Hebrew Scriptures, there were over three hundred of them, written in the original Hebrew text and many of them were eyewitnesses accounts. So from there in 380 Emperor Constantinople of Rome made the Trinitarian base of belief, the Catholic faith obligatory to all his subjects, and its been that way since. Thats why Rome is the head of the faith. In 381 the counsel of Constantinople attended by 186 Bishops completed the three present head of the Trinity, and they added the God head of the Holy Spirit, and then from there in 381 Emperor Theodosius threatened to punish all that did not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. Thats why we have the basic Trinitarian doctrine of all Christian faiths today, except for a few who believe that Jesus was not God, Jesus was a Prophet of God, a messenger of God, similar to Islam. Now the implications of the Trinitarian doctrine are truly obvious, they have nothing to do with the original teachings of Jesus, so for

me that was a major, major turning point in my Christian faith, because if Jesus didnt become God until 325 years after his death, what can I say, simple, you know this is a man made thing.

So I went about while I was preaching Christianity, I was going to preach Christianity to the Muslims. That was my intention, and I started learning about Islam. You go to any Christian bookshop and you will find a whole shelf on Islam. You go to any Islamic bookshop or center you wont find anything about Christianity. Well the Christians were too busy worrying about the Muslims and the Muslims were too busy getting on with their business. Theyre not worried about Christians, honestly the Christians think that the Muslims want to take over the world and that they want to invade this country, and that they want to do all these crazy things; they think that theyre storing guns underneath their Mosques, I assure you Ive been to every Mosque in Perth and there are no guns. Theyre not terrorists, I dont know a single terrorist. I have never met one, I dont know any, I dont know any with those views.

So as I went about studying Islam, while I was a Christian, I could see the similarities between Islam and the Bible. Many of the teachings in the Bible were not necessarily the words that were originally said, it was the actions. Like Moses, being told to take off his shoes when he entered Holy ground, now never once did I take off my shoes when going to Church. No one did. But yet you go to a Mosque and everyone takes off their shoes, for it is Holy ground. Moses on his knees before God, Now Brothers and Sisters of Islam forgive me if I do not say Allah, but Im talking to the Christians, and Ill just use the word God. Because Christians have a tendency to believe that they have their God, and then Allah is a totally separate God, but he is not, he is God. Allah means, the one true God. So God being the One true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all

things, the Creator of you. Moses was on his knees before God, Daniel on his knees before God, Abraham on his knees before God, Jesus (peace be upon Him) on his knees before God. You go to any Mosque, they are all on their knees before God, Brother and Sisters. I go to a Church, were all dancing around in front of a band, like a rock and roll concert, waving our hands about in the air, this is not worship. This is rock and roll. Job accepting the will of God, good or bad. Read your scriptures, understand them, look at them. Pray morning, noon and night, the only time we prayed was going to Church on Sunday, you walk around talking, if youre talking to God, you should have a true fear of God, understanding of him, who is the Creator, be down upon your knees, have your head in the sand.

To me these were all the things that I could see were not happening in the Church, but were happening in the Mosques; was happening in Islam. In I Thessalonians 5:17 it says pray without ceasing. Now I prayed in tongues, a gift from the Holy Spirit, this is babble, nothing more than babble. In Islam there is a prayer when you walk in through the door, a prayer when you walk out through the door, there is a prayer when you walk into the toilet, a prayer when you walk out, a prayer when you hop in your car, a prayer when you hop out, a prayer for everything. In Islam you pray without ceasing, every action in your life is dedicated to Allah (God). The reverence and the respect of God is not a circus act, hyped up by music and rock and roll bands. Playing and being told that the presence of God was in the place because we were all hyped up on this great music, in anointing of God simply meant that the band was playing all together, because when the band wasnt playing, the anointing wasnt going too well.

Now last time I spoke, I said what was Ishmaels crime, I didnt get to go into detail then, so now Ill go into detail. What was Ishmaels crime? As a Christian I was told it didnt matter if my

Mother was a prostitute, a drug addict, my father was a derelict or what ever, I accept that God accepts me, I bow down to God, I believe in God that if I totally accept him he will accept me, that it doesnt matter where Ive been or what Ive done.

Yet in the Old Testament Ishmael was rejected because he was the son of a slave woman, according to the Old Testament. As the son of a slave woman, the promises of God were not attributed to him, because he was a son of a slave woman, what a contradiction in teachings. So what was his crime? None, he was born to a slave woman, yet he stills loves God, revered God, worshiped God.

I found the Quran to be the most beautiful thing Id ever heard in the world. I didnt understand it, but it was beautiful. When I actually read the English text I cant put it into words. It has no contradictions, yet the Bible is full of contradictions. Now Im not beating up on Christianity here, Im just telling the things that changed my life, and the direction that I was heading.

Islam is a solution to racism. A little story for you folks, Jesus was not White, blonde haired and blue eyed. He was not necessarily black, but he wasnt white, he was somewhere in between. Equality of the sexes, I love the fact that Islam 1400 years ago made men equal to women, its only 50-60 years ago that women in Western countries actually got equal rights, and yet in Islam they always have had equal rights. Islam preaches tolerance of Christians and Jews. Now as a Christian I was told to love, but yet in their actions and in the actions of how we were, the only time we entertained a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu is when we were trying to convert them. Now a Muslim will not Bible bash you or should I say Quran bash you, this statement does not exist in Islam, Quran bashing, because they dont. If you wish to talk about it, they will talk about it, if you ask questions, they will talk to you about it. We as Muslims believe that you will come into the realization yourself, by the

guidance of Allah (God).

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. All who were not Born again Christians were deceived by the devil and possessed by evil spirits, this is what I was taught.

In Islam we believe that not all Muslims are going to heaven, also that not all Christians and not all Jews will go to heaven; some Muslims, some Christians and some Jews will go to heaven; those who have a love for God and follow his ways and are righteous. But to a Born again Christian all I had to do was accept Jesus, and all my sins were washed away, and I was going to heaven, free ticket. Didnt matter what I did wrong as long as I pleaded the blood of Jesus over myself, prayed, was repentant was still going to heaven, and everybody else wasnt going there. Now who am I to make that choice? Who is this doctrine to make that choice? The only choice is by God. He decides who goes to heaven and who doesnt go to heaven, no one else. And only God can forgive your sins, not a man that became God 325 years after he walked the Earth. God in all of his infinite wisdom and power and glory can forgive your sins, just like that. You dont need to accept anything; you just need to be repentant. In the Quran it says;

Who could be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good and follows the way of Abraham, the true in faith for God did take Abraham for a friend [4:125]

It explains itself right there. What has happened to me since I have become a Muslim?

Ive come out of the darkness and into the light; Im a slave only to Allah. I have complete internal peace beyond all description, that I never found as a Christian.

Now it doesnt matter if I am going through hassles in my job. Doesnt matter if I am going through hassles everywhere else. It doesnt matter if I am being discriminated against, because I am a Muslim, which has happened in this free democratic society that we live in, for I never experienced these things until I became a Muslim. Let me tell you something about discrimination people, you have no idea about discrimination unless you are being discriminated against. You can say oh no hes not being discriminated against or shes not being discriminated against, because youre from the outside looking in. But when you are being discriminated against, when you are being harassed, you know it, not necessarily everybody else. Why did I choose Islam? Because I simply cannot deny the truth. Islam is the truth and the truth has set me free. Ash-hadu anlaa ilaha illa allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuuluh.

Thank you very much.

Holy Quran 51:23***
 And by the Lord of the heavens and the earth! it is most surely the truth, just as you do speak.***