Kroner Ministries: equipping the saints for the work of the minsitry

Thanks once again to the Christian Research Institue for this great post on Islam and the differences between Allah and the God we worship as Christians.

Read and enjoy,

DK

Long before Muhammad was born, Arabic Christians already were referring to God as Allah—and millions continue do so today. The Allah of Islam, however, is definitely not the God of the Bible. For while Muslims passionately defend the unity of God, they patently deny his triunity. Thus, they recoil at the notion of God as Father, reject the unique deity of Jesus Christ the Son, and renounce the divine identity of the Holy Spirit.

First, while the Master taught his disciples to pray “Our Father in heaven,” devotees of Muhammad find the very notion offensive. To their way of thinking, calling God, “Father” and Jesus Christ, “Son” suggests sexual procreation. According to the Qur’an, “It is not befitting to [the majesty of ] Allah that He should beget a son” (Sura 19:35), Allah “begetteth not, nor is he begotten”(Sura 112:3). The Bible however does not use the term “begotten” with respect to the Father and the Son in the sense of sexual reproduction but rather in the sense of special relationship. Thus, when the apostle John speaks of Jesus as “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14 NKJV, emphasis added), he is underscoring the unique deity of Christ. Likewise, when the apostle Paul refers to Jesus as “the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15, emphasis added) he is emphasizing Christ’s preeminence or prime position as the Creator of all things (Colossians 1:16–19). Christians are sons of God through adoption; Jesus is God the Son from all eternity.

Furthermore, Muslims dogmatically denounce the Christian declaration of Christ’s unique deity as the unforgivable sin of shirk. As the Qur’an puts it, “God forgiveth not the sin of joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this” (Sura 4:116). While Muslims readily affirm the sinlessness of Christ, they adamantly deny his sacrifice upon the cross and subsequent resurrection. In doing so, they deny the singular historic fact which demonstrates that Jesus does not stand in a long line of peers from Abraham to Muhammad, but is God in human flesh. The Qur’anic phrase “Allah raised him up” (Sura 4:158) is taken to mean that Jesus was supernaturally raptured rather than resurrected from the dead. In Islamic lore, God made someone look like Jesus, and this look-alike was crucified in his place. In recent years, the myth that Judas was crucified in place of Jesus has been popularized in Muslim circles by a late medieval invention titled The Gospel of Barnabas. Against the weight of history and evidence the Qur’an exudes, “they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them” (Sura 4:157).

Finally, in addition to rejecting the divinity of Jesus, Islam also renounces the divine identity of the Holy Spirit. Far from being the third person of the Triune God who inspired the text of the Bible, Islam teaches that the Holy Spirit is the archangel Gabriel who dictated the Qur’an to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years. Ironically, while the Holy Spirit who dictated the Qur’an is said to be the archangel Gabriel, Islam identifies the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus in John 14 as Muhammad. The Bible, however, roundly rejects such corruptions and misrepresentation. Biblically the Holy Spirit is neither an angel nor a mere mortal; rather he is the very God who redeems us from our sins and will one day resurrect us to life eternal (Acts 5:3–4; Romans 8:11).

For further study, see Timothy George, Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002).

1 John 2:23
“No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

So some of you are looking for jobs, and some of you are employers and have openings. There is a weekly email I get from the ladders.com which has resume tips, interview tips, hiring tips, and other great advice of that  sort. I love getting info like this, as there are always things I’ve just never thought of before!

Anyway, this one came through my email this morning, and while it’s not ‘ministry’ related I thought maybe someone out there looking for a job could use some of these tips! Remember to always be led by the Spirit of God and seek His direction for what He wants you to do with your life, but there certainly isn’t anything wrong with some professional advice as well!

enjoy!

DK

Good Monday morning, Devin, 
What’s an interview about? It sure feels like it’s about you, but it’s really not. 

An interview is actually about how you can help your future boss and future employer succeed. It’s about finding out what their requirements and hopes are and matching up your background and experience with what they need. 

Overlooking these basic facts about the interview is all too easy. There’s so much else going on in your work, your life, and in your job search, that you can forget to look at the interview from the interviewer’s point of view. And that’s a shame, because, after all, you need the interviewer to walk away from the interview thoroughly impressed. 

With that in mind, I’ve updated my collection of my twenty best interview questions below. My aim here is to arm you with easy-to-ask, revealing-to-answer questions for you to take with you into an interview. 

The last time I ran these questions back in the Fall, commenter LBRZ wrote in and said: 

I have to thank you! I had an interview yesterday and it went great. When I asked about his leadership style and reward system his face lit up like a Christmas tree. After he answered the question “how can I help you receive your next promotion?”, he began to give me advice on how I should negotiate for a higher starting salary.

And that’s exactly the point, Readers. By asking these questions, which focus on the needs, traits, and preferences of your future boss and future employer, you’re demonstrating that you are somebody who is genuinely interested in their well-being. And the more interest we show in others, the more commitment they show to aiding our cause. 

And with that, here are my twenty best questions to ask your interviewer: 

1. What’s the biggest change your group has gone through in the last year? Does your group feel like the recession is over and things are getting better, or are things still pretty bleak? 

2. If I get the job, how do I earn a “gold star” on my performance review? What are the key accomplishments you’d like to see in this role over the next year? 

3. What’s your (or my future boss’) leadership style? 

4. About which competitor are you most worried? 

5. How does sales / operations / technology / marketing / finance work around here? (I.e., groups other than the one you’re interviewing for.) 

6. What type of people are successful here? What type of people are not? 

7. What’s one thing that’s key to this company’s success that somebody from outside the company wouldn’t know about?

8. How did you get your start in this industry? Why do you stay? 

9. What are your group’s best and worst working relationships with other groups in the company? 

10. What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest worry these days? 

11. What’s the timeline for making a decision on this position? When should I get back in touch with you? 

12. These are tough economic times, and every position is precious when it comes to the budget. Why did you decide to hire somebody for this position instead of the many other roles / jobs you could have hired for? What about this position made your prioritize it over others? 

13. What is your reward system? Is it a star system / team-oriented / equity-based / bonus-based / “attaboy!”-based? Why is that your reward system? What do you guys hope to get out of it, and what actually happens when you put it into practice? What are the positives and the negatives of your reward system? If you could change any one thing, what would it be? 

14. What information is shared with the employees (revenues, costs, operating metrics)? Is this an open-book shop, or do you play it closer to the vest? How is information shared? How do I get access to the information I need to be successful in this job? 

15. If we are going to have a very successful 2013, what will that look like? What will we have done over the next 18 months to make it successful? How does this position help achieve those goals? 

16. How does the company / my future boss do performance reviews? How do I make the most of the performance review process to ensure that I’m doing the best I can for the company? 

17. What is the rhythm to the work around here? Is there a time of year that it’s “all hands on deck” and we’re pulling all-nighters, or is it pretty consistent throughout the year? How about during the week / month? Is it pretty evenly spread throughout the week / month, or are there crunch days? 

18. What type of industry / functional / skills-based experience and background are you looking for in the person who will fill this position? What would the “perfect” candidate look like? How do you assess my experience in comparison? What gaps do you see? 

19. In my career, I’ve primarily enjoyed working with big / small / growing / independent / private / public / family-run companies. If that’s the case, how successful will I be at your firm? 

20. Who are the heroes at your company? What characteristics do the people who are most celebrated have in common with each other? Conversely, what are the characteristics that are common to the promising people you hired, but who then flamed out and failed or left? As I’m considering whether or not I’d be successful here, how should I think about the experiences of the heroes and of the flame-outs? 

I hope you find these questions useful in your interviews, Readers! 


(For more, contact the Marc at marc@salesladder.com)