The current statistics for both religions are as follows, but keep in mind that these statistics are based on "self-identification" rather than practicing participants of the respective belief system...but that is another lens entirely.

Note:"These statistics were taken from www.adherents.com. I could have used another source, but every site I found seemed to closely agree with the ones below.

There are approximately 2.1 billion Christians in the world.

This statistic does not accurately reflect the number of Evangelical Christians there are in the world. Evangelical Christians are those that believe:

- In the inerrancy of Scripture,
- Jesus Christ was God come in the Flesh,
- Belief in the Holy Spirit,
- Personal conversion and relationship with God,
- Evangelism.

The statistics would show significantly smaller numbers if they were counting only Evangelical Christians.

This statistic also includes some known cults like Jehovah's Witness, and Mormonism that really should not be identified with Christianity because they go against the teachings of the Bible.

There are approximately 1.5 billion people in the world who follow Islam.

Statistics also point out that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. And some might make an argument that since it is gaining in popularity throughout the world, then wouldn't that make Islam the true religion. After all, wouldn't people be attracted to what is true vice what is not?

But, don't let this statistic fool you. The only reason Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world is not by conversion, but by birth rate.

- The average Christian family is about 2.3 people. As opposed to

- The average Muslim family is about 3.8 people.

Not to mention, from a Christian perspective it is wise to avoid the way the majority of people are taking because Jesus in Matt 7:13 said,

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."

Unfortunately, meaning that most people will follow the wrong path!

To quote one of my favorite authors/speakers of things concerning the Middle East, Dr. David Hocking, from His book "The God of the Bible" begins His book by saying:

"The God of the Bible is NOT Allah of the Islamic religion."

This is contrary to what one might here today from the news, political leaders, and sadly religious leaders, but let's look at the validity of the statement above by describing some of the attributes of the God of the Bible (YHWH), and the Islamic God (Allah).

The Judeo-Christian God (YHWH)

- He is knowable.
- He desires a personal relationship with His creation.
- He is unchangeable. God's Word (the Bible) is consistent throughout, despite being written by over 40 different authors over a 1500 hundred year period!
- He is All-Powerful.
- He is All-Knowing.
- He is Omnipresent.
- He loves sinners. (Considering no one is/was sinless other than Jesus Himself).
- He died on the cross for the sins of the world, so we can share eternal life in Heaven with Him.
- He is the One and only God that manifests Himself in three distinct persons. (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit)
- He cannot be tempted by, nor tempt anyone with evil.
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man..."-James 1:13
- He hates sin.

"The wages of sin is death..."-Romans 6:23

This includes all sin. It doesn't matter if you lied or committed murder, all is equal in God's eyes. And, sin cannot dwell in the presence of the Holy One.

The Islamic God (Allah)

- He is distant.
- He is unknowable.
- He is All-Powerful.
- He is All-Knowing, but He can change His mind?
The Principle of Abrogation (2:106)
Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We (Allah) abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all things?
- He is Omnipresent.
- He only loves those who submit to Him.
- He can forgive the lesser sins, as long as you do not commit the bigger sins. (i.e. idolatry)

(4:31)Staying away from major sins will automatically result in one's "small" sins being overlooked by Allah.

- He is the only God. Does not manifest Himself in any other way.
- He can tempt others into doing evil.
4:142 Hilali-Khan "Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for As-Salat (the prayer), they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little."

8:30 "Remember how the unbelievers schemed against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or to slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They scheme and plot, but the best of schemers is Allah."

Note: The term for scheme in Arabic is makara which denotes one who is a deceiver, one who is conniving, a schemer.

As you can see from this brief (but, not extensive) list of attributes, you can already tell that Yahweh and Allah are not the same entity. Because though they might have similar attributes, they are not the same, and the "Perfect Being" would not be so perfect if He had Multiple Personality Syndrome!

Discover more differences here at Is Allah the God of the Bible?

The Model Person for either religion set the moral standards for their respective followers. The lives of these individuals are to be emulated as much as possible to live out life here on earth before we can enter into heaven.

So, if you want to know what a particular belief system is all about, then you have to go no further than researching the lives of the ones they hold to be most holy and acceptable.

For the Christian, we are to be like Jesus. Jesus is considered divine (God come in the flesh) to Christians, and His life here on earth was spent as a "suffering servant".

Suffering in the sense that Jesus came to this earth to die for the sins of the world.
And to follow Jesus would be to become a servant to all (Putting others needs before your own) because His whole ministry was spent teaching people the Word of God, and Healing/Helping the poor and needy (spiritually and physically).

- For the Muslim, they are to be like the Prophet Muhammad. They do not consider him divine because to do so would be blasphemous to their God (Allah). However, Muhammad's life is to be emulated to the utmost because they believe He was the "perfect person".

Muhammad was a traveler in His youth and took a liking to the Jews and Christians monotheistic views on God. Muhammad was from the Arabian plain where they believed in many God's (360 to be exact). He returned home and applied stories from what he heard during his travels to his own religion and people, pushing them to believe in one God. Allah being the greatest.

Muhammad was more passive in the younger years of his life in Mecca, so his "revelations" from God were more passive. But, fleeing for his life from the people of Mecca (who saw what Muhammad was saying as blasphemous to their polytheistic beliefs), he went to Medina were he became more powerful and gained a bigger following. It is here that Muhammad became more totalitarian and militaristic, which is reflected in his "revelations" from Allah at that time.

It is also important to note that in Islamic tradition, they say that Muhammad was visited by the Arch-Angel Gabriel and was given these revelations that is now called the Quran.

But, the Bible says,

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. -Galatians 1:6-8

Keep in mind that the ideology of Islam came around about 500 years later than Christianity, and 1000's of years after the Jews, even though the concept of Allah had been around since the Babylonian days. (Allah was one of 360 God's of the Babylonians. They had a God for every day of the year!)

These verses are the cornerstone of the two religions. They are the cornerstone because both of these verses are related to how each one believes you inherit eternal life.

- For the Christians, it has to be John 3:16. You may have heard this quoted, or you may have seen it displayed on Monday night football between the goalposts, from a man with a big sign and a funny wig on, but it is the essence of Christianity.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." --John 3:16

- For Islam it is often referred to as The Verse of the Sword.

9:5 "Then when the Sacred Months have passed, then kill the Mushrikun (unbelievers) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent and perform As-Salat (ritualistic prayer), and give Zakat (alms), then leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Now, I feel this needs some explanation because everyone is trying to promote Islam as a "religion of peace". You might have been fed some verse like

109:6 "To you be your religion, and to me my religion."

or

50:45 "We know of best what they say; and you are not a tyrant over them. But warn by the Qur'an, him who fears My Threat."

Both of these passages are believed to have been written by Mohammad in his younger years in Mecca when he was vulnerable, however, your attention should be brought back to The principle of Abrogation that I mentioned earlier. It states

"Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We (Allah) abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all things?"

This means that whatever verses that come later that contradict an earlier verse, the newer "revelation" is to trump the old! So, getting back to the Islamic Anthem... The Verse of the Sword was written in Muhammad's latter life in Medina when he was a powerful political/military leader. This means that The Verse of the Sword trumps any "revelations" he made while in Mecca!

It seems like Muhammad had a new "revelation" every time He saw it would benefit himself to do so, even if it contradicted his previous ones! And this should be a major concern for everyone in the world.

Like I mentioned in the Introduction, Christianity and Islam differ in opinions as to how one can have eternal life.

- The Christians hope for salvation is a faith-based one, where if you

"confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord(believe He died for your sins) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (believe God's promise that He will raise you from the dead too), then you shall have eternal life.- Romans 10:9

- In Islam, there really is not an assurance of eternal life. Muslims do believe, however, in a faith + works-based way that hopefully puts you in good standing with Allah.

That is why the 5 pillars of Islam are

1- Faith in the oneness of Allah and the finality of His prophet Muhammad.
2- Keeping of the 5 daily prayers.
3- Giving alms.
4- Fasting.
5- Pilgrimage to Mecca.

These five things are "must do's" for the Muslim, however, this only puts you in better standing with Allah and does not guarantee salvation.

But, there is a verse in an accepted Islamic teaching that explains how one might get to enjoy eternal life.

Sira, p208 When God gave permission to his Apostle to fight, the second Aqaba contained conditions involving war which were not in the first act of fealty. Now they (Muhammad's followers) bound themselves to war against all and sundry for God and his Apostle, while he promised them for faithful service thus the reward of paradise.

This is why the Islamic "Anthem" revolves around the Verse of the Sword cited in the previous module.

View of Heaven

The Islamic view of heaven is completely different from that of the Christian.

- Christians believe that heaven simply means eternity in the presence of God. There are descriptions found in the Bible about what heaven will be like, but overall, Christians enjoy the thought of just being with God.

- Muslims believe in a very carnal heaven. One of 72 voluptuous, black-eyed, virgins that are there solely to fulfill your every wish and desire. This is a Man's Heaven, sorry ladies... You have no hope!

In short, there are major differences between these two belief systems!

Islam divides the world into two parts:

- Dar al-Islam meaning "the House of Islam" those nations that have submitted to the will of Allah and are ruled under Sharia Law.
- Dar al-harb meaning "the House of War" those nations that have not submitted to Allah.

Now, before I go any further in describing these two houses, I first need to mention jihad and the importance of jihad in relation to the two houses.

It is mandatory that all Muslims be involved in jihad. In fact, after submitting to Allah and to the Words of his Prophet, the next step is to engage in jihad. You might have heard the term jihad being defined as "a holy war". In a way it is, but it can be more accurately defined as "an inward struggle". There are two different struggles that a Muslim is dealing with:

1- an inward, personal struggle with sin (i.e. alcoholism, adultery, whatever)

the next is to
2- struggle physically in combat with unbelievers!

One only needs to follow the life of Muhammad to find out how militaristic and conquest oriented he was, and remember this is the "model figure" in Islam (the one to be most like). It is no wonder that Muslims put a strong emphasis on fighting in the Middle East and around the world.

In the House of Islam (most of the Middle East), this militant aspect is well seen, known, and understood. Wherever, Islam is strongest, you will see violent control, however, in The House of War the tactics change a little bit, but the overall goal of making an Islamic World Order is still there.

If you here anything else that is contrary to this, then that person is either purposely engaged in Taqiyya (religious deception), or he is ignorant as to the purposes of the religion he follows.

In The House of War (where the Muslim influence is not strong enough like in the Mecca of the past), Muslims are allowed to engage in deception known as Taqiyya because Muhammad personally said that "War is deceit." Muslims are allowed to go as far as renouncing their faith in Allah for a time, in order to gain the advantage over the non-believers! Remember: Allah is known as the Master deceiver! Taqiyya can be easily seen today because where do you think the rumors have come from saying that Islam is a "religion of peace"? That is Taqiyya being carried out before our very eyes.

But, one only has to look briefly into Islam's past before they discover that the spread of Islam came by force. Muslims would peaceably gather in areas until they gained enough strength to take over by force and install a government under Sharia Law. Does this sound familiar in our day?

Hasn't the Pro-Islamic Activists pushed in Europe to have Islamic Communities be subject to Sharia Law instead of the hosts countries laws? And actually, European governments have passed laws to make this happen in their respective countries! And, they are now regretting it and trying to reverse the process. Just look what happened outside of Paris, France a few years ago when the Islamic communities started riots outside of the capital!

And, don't think that the United States is impervious to these actions because already there has been attempts to allow Islamic communities to be run under Sharia Law in our own country! This is something we need to be aware of before it is to late.

Get informed.