[Music]
this is the de the
de this is the
dean alhamdulillah Alum peace be unto
you this is a very special episode of
the dean show we're here in Texas that's
right
y'all with a live studio audience
and we're going to get everybody
involved you can get involved from your
house you can get involved with your
family sit around the TV and enjoy this
week show because we have a special
guest David gullian who comes from a
background of Baptist missionaries 50
years in the making he accepted Islam
and he's here to tell us his story on
the ding show we'll be right back this
is the dean the de
this is
the this is the
the
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the this is the
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the this is the D this is
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the the Mr David gan gan I'm going to
start off with peace as we do as Muslims
Alum alayum Asam peace be with you how
are you sir fine alhamdulillah now I'm
very honored to have you on our show
thank you now we we get a lot of special
guests like yourself people you know we
we interview from all walks of life you
know you you seem like someone you know
when you look at you you know somebody
who who's just a uh an American and
people are looking like man is this the
FBI or
something or you know the chemistry
teacher you you just you know somebody
from from outside's looking in it's like
man this this not a Muslim you know
because they think Muslim you know uh
Arab Pakistani what happened here uh uh
basically uh when I uh came to the point
that I investigated Islam uh I felt that
uh based on what I knew I was forced or
compelled to become Muslim uh By The
Sword no simply uh forced to become
Muslim because uh it was uh the uh
correct religion or the right
belief okay so tell us a little bit
about your history you heard me mention
in the beginning that 50 years of
Baptist missionaries yes my uh parents
uh they're now deceased they were
Baptist missionaries in the Philippines
for uh 50 years my father was a soldier
in the US Army in World War II and
following the second world war he went
back um even as a young person um I came
to realize that there was a difference
between the uh Jesus of faith and what
must have been the person of history and
it wasn't until I began investigating
Islam that I began to make sense of who
Jesus was okay and doing this
investigating uh uh say using the Bible
I eventually became Muslim yes what year
was this at this was in March of '96 96
right and what happened was uh Dr Alum
invited uh me to uh talk to him in the
Abu Bakr mosque uh uh here in Houston
and uh I went and I really wasn't that
interested um in fact the only question
I asked during the whole time that he
was there that I was talking to him or
that visiting with him was I asked him
says is Prophet Muhammad a prophet as
you would find in you know the Bible and
he said yes
well in my opinion I didn't think that
he was but I was going to investigate
because now I had all that I needed to
make an investigation so I I simply went
home uh uh got out my old testament uh
ran down the different proofs list in
the Old Testament as to what def findes
a prophet as they are uh defined in the
Old Testament then I went out to make an
investigation of Prophet
Muhammad and uh to my great surprise he
fit the criteria then I was interested I
had my attention I got the two
translations of the Quran and over a two
we period I read both of them I read one
translation and the other one and I felt
a strong comp compulsion you know to
become a Muslim but I did not want to
become a Muslim I uh said to myself if I
can find just one good reason not to
become a Muslim I will not become a
Muslim and so uh I spent 3 months trying
to find some good reason not to become a
Muslim but based on what I know I felt
that I had to become a Muslim and so
that's why I'm a Muslim do you get
sometimes people reacting in a way like
when when you tell them you're Muslim
what kind of responses do you get you
say come on you kidding me so uh no
quite often uh they uh might uh uh think
that it's unusual they think it's
unusual to be a Muslim and is simply uh
tell them that essentially uh What uh uh
Islam teaches and what all the prophets
taught was make God Central to your life
then you either show or you prove it by
taking care of your fellow human being
and if you uh say for instance check out
the gospels in the New Testament you'll
see that essentially uh in uh wherever
your different portions that you look
Jesus told people to love God fear God
obey God ad them all together they mean
uh they essentially add up to making God
Central to your life and and then you
are to show or prove that this is so by
by taking care of your fellow creature
and Islam does the same thing if you go
to the mosque listen to the Iman and see
if essentially what the message that he
gives you know Friday after Friday is
make God Central to your life and take
care of your fellow
creature why do you think this is
usually when we explain Islam without
even saying Islam when we explain the
tenants of Islam that Islam calls you to
worship none but the Creator to set up
no partners with him only like you said
make that the Central Key point in all
your worship only only God and to
believe in all the messengers of God and
the day of judgment accountability and
to establish good character in your life
to do good you know people are like they
they can relate to this but as soon as
you put Islam in front of it there's a
problem why why do you think this is
it's simply because I would uh because
they would associate the word Islam with
something being different or
foreign uh but in effect uh the word
simply uh ultimately means submission to
God which is what Christianity and uh
say Judaism teach is that you should
submit to God tell us what would you do
how would your response be we we've seen
some in in the media uh you know you're
coming out of a a mosque or mashid or an
event and you know a a uh family
gathering and then outside of the mosque
you you had someone uh holding a a sign
saying uh go back home go back home go
back home go back home
go back home go back
[Applause]
home been taking a picture of me stupid
camera out your hand ter go home stupid
terrorist go home go home go home
patriotic Americans and we love our
Constitution and it's going to stay that
way get out of
here
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go welcome here
go
go you
guys get out of
here Terr
[Applause]
go
go how would you respond to this uh if I
go back home I go to Houston cuz Houston
is my home I was uh born here in Texas
so if I go back home that's where I go
back home yeah and uh submission to God
is a universal message so wherever a a
person lives or a creature lives that's
her home yeah and in other words
submission to God is something that
should be done regardless of
where uh person is how's your
relationship with Jesus now as opposed
to then uh if you read the New Testament
and you simply don't know what's going
on you find a character who you believe
intended good that is very mixed up mhm
and that would be the view of uh Jesus
now now with Islam uh you can then
understand what Jesus was about which
was uh essentially uh he believed that
uh it was his role from God to uh show
Israel how to be the example for the
world to follow in submission to God and
take care care of their fellow creature
and um eventually uh when uh he felt
that he was rejected by Israel uh if you
check say for instance Matthew
21:43 uh he told uh the leaders of uh
you know Jewish community that the
kingdom of God would be taken from them
and given to another Nation or um um or
community that would in fact do what
they were told to do and then for
instance if you check uh John you'll see
that there was to come a comforter uh
who would be a perfect
guide um a lot of Christians for
instance might uh say that this refers
to God the Holy Spirit but then again if
you check the same Source you see that
this comforter had to be told what to do
other words he didn't speak of himself
he spoke of what someone else told him
in other words it could hardly be a God
who doesn't know what to say or has to
have someone tell him what to say you've
written a book called The Last Christian
yes what's this book primarily focus on
okay uh it uh it is the theme that it is
involved in is trying to
differentiate the Jesus of History the
person who actually walked the earth and
the Jesus of Faith uh the first half the
book is largely concerned with trying to
uh explore how the Jesus of uh Faith
came to be the second half is trying to
put together uh the Jesus of History the
book is called the last Christian
because uh Jesus the historical
character you know uh is not the same as
uh the Jesus of Faith so in that sense
he's as Christian also problem you have
in trying to reconstruct the historical
Jesus is you can find indications or you
can find things that indicate what the
historical character was but very often
you can say well I know I got something
here but it's hard for me to say How
firm it is so it' be much like you're
building a structure or house where say
well I know I got a piece of straw here
this piece of what I even think I have a
board here and that's and in that sense
Jesus is last Christian because you
can't completely reconstruct the
historical Jesus now what you do find is
that all the indications of the
historical Jesus do not conform with the
Jesus of of Faith you know amazing we're
going to we're going to take a break and
then we're going to take some questions
from our live audience when we come back
okay we'll be right back here with more
here on the dean
show and with good deeds uh we'll find
that good breeds
good clear out your mind and your heart
of hatred MH and preconceived
notions racism and
nationalism because you cannot have
anything inside of you that's like that
against people and still be successful
with
welcome back to the dean show and we're
here with the author of The Last
Christian David Mr David thank you again
for being with us we're going to go
ahead we're here in Texas y'all and
we're going to go ahead and uh get some
questions from the live studio audience
here in the dean show follow me all
right it's not the Oprah show this is
the dean show and we have our brother
mujahid please step up here had a
question for
David uh yes David
alaykum um within the 50 years as I as I
hear you have uh extensive history in
regards to speaking to people about God
and the message of God how did that
differ whenever you embraced Islam um
it's very rare that we actually see
Muslims going to places and you know
knocking on people's doors or kind of
doing the sort of kind of Evangelical
work let's say uh do you find that it's
a bit different now to talk about God or
the format and not necessarily going to
the people maybe like you had in the
past H how did that change how do you
deal with that now a a big difference if
uh you're going to be like a Christian
uh missionary or a preacher and that
that sort of thing when you talk about
God you're primarily talking to people
because you want to get them into heaven
because you want them to believe in uh
the divine sacrif ice of God's Divine
son when you're talking to people in
Islam you're trying to uh tell them the
message of all the prophets which is
also the message of uh Jesus that uh
they should make God Central to their
life and they should show or prove it by
taking care of their fellow human being
and you would then uh uh when you talk
about Islam you would simply tell them
that essentially what you have in Islam
is you have a tried and proven living
community that has done just that that
has a record of how to do that and uh
that is what you speak about when you
speak about Islam thank
you we're going to go move on to the
next
question young young young brother
please come up step up here and go ahead
and ask your question to uh David go
ahead all right Salam Alum um I heard
there is an Old Testament um recording
that says to tell to be able to
distinguish a true prophet and a false
prophet and
uh that a false prophet or will be the
one who tells false prophecies they
prophesies about something that doesn't
come true now um so we have this issue
or this conflict of the teachings of
Paul and Jesus Christ peace be upon them
um what are some of the Prophecies of
Paul and did they come true okay uh
essentially uh uh at some time during
Jesus's uh time on Earth his ministry he
came to the conclusion that isra was not
going to accept him as their Messiah and
he then said according to uh St Matthew
21:43 that God's kingdom would be taken
from Israel and would be given to
another Nation or another community that
in fact would do what they're told to do
now uh Paul who uh would either was
either uh who was a Jewish scholar or
partisan or Zealot this didn't go down
very well with
them uh according to the record as one
that in the New Testament he first was a
persecutor of people who followed Jesus
then uh he had a nervous breakdown and
after his nervous breakdown he said that
Jesus came to him in a series of visions
and dreams and he told them you know his
message and you find that in this
message uh you have a different Jesus
from all the indications of the Jesus
who actually walked the earth now Paul
the thing remember about Paul is that
Paul said everything he taught or
preached or believed or said or did came
from Jesus now uh uh in two occasions uh
for example uh book of uh 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 Paul uh tells the people that
Jesus's time when he's going to be
coming back is so short doesn't matter
that if they Rejoice don't Rejoice marry
marry or don't marry uh buy or don't buy
doesn't matter now this was 1900 years
ago this didn't happen you find in the
fourth chapter of first Thessalonians
that he was telling his audience the
people from thessaly that before
everybody there was dead Jesus was
coming back this didn't happen now
remember he said that Jesus told him
everything that would happen in the
future and uh Paul certainly at some
time during his lifetime believe that
Jesus was God so Paul was saying that
God told him this and that it didn't
happen so either you should believe God
told him this or that was Paul making a
mistake and uh where this is a test of a
prophet is you'll find in Deuteronomy
chapter 18 it says that a prophet If he
if he speaks in the name of God and he
tells you something's going to happen it
doesn't happen it's a it's a false
prophet giving a false prophecy and
don't listen to him here in Texas thank
you very much and we're going to go to
the next we have time for one more
question young man young man please come
up and ask you a
question wait hold on before you start
see we're in Texas I haven't heard
nobody say
y'all don't have go
ahead how you doing no l i yes um you
mentioned earlier that some people may
see throughout your your time as a
Muslim that people have seen Islam to be
foreign what are some things that you
think that practices that Muslims
Muslims can undergo in order to
eliminate that or what have you seen
through your lifestyle that M Muslims
have practiced or that the perception
have been from non-muslims concerning
this okay uh the question of perception
is you uh you you have a community that
is distinct or different and and Muslims
uh should just simply concentrate on
being if they're distinct or different
and being distinct or different in a
good way which is what Muslims are
supposed to do supposed to make God
Central to their life and take care of
their fellow human being and as long as
they practice
that they're fine exactly thank you very
much and that is it for now we're going
to take a break and we're going to be
back with more here live the dean show
in Texas y'all sit
tight not afraid to stand alone if Li by
I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
Li by I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
a li I am not afraid
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back here on a de show live in Texas and
we're here with David the author of The
Last Christian we have a few more
minutes before the show comes to a end
and I have just a few more points I want
to cover did you get a chance to watch
these Senate hearings with the Pepe King
Peter King uh only for a few minutes uh
I really didn't get to watch that much
of it they were
coming together discussing the
radicalization of Youth so basically
when you see some of the politicians who
are really supposed to be working to
create understanding you know between
the people bringing people together but
we really want the politicians and
people out there to understand us better
because maybe they have good intentions
but they they're Mis misunderstanding us
okay here's here's what I what I would
say yeah uh the question is about
whether Muslims are or not good citizens
the Constitution defines what a good
citizen is and the pram says we the
people of the United States in order to
form a more perfect union to establish
justice ensure domestic tranquility to
provide for the common defense to
promote the general welfare to uh uh
secure for ourselves and our posterity
the blessings of Liberties do establish
and ordain this Constitution of United
States any Muslim that can say that is a
good Muslim and most Muslims can say
that most Muslims will Embrace that most
Muslims are good
Americans that's right I like that
mashallah so before we come to an end
tell us now where can people if they
want to read your book The Last
Christian where can I get this okay uh
uh uh simply remember the title last
Christian go online you can go to either
uh Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble the
people who uh actually publish this book
are author house like I'm the author and
I live in a house author house go online
they sell the book as well they also
sell it as ebook hopefully a Texas
company Texas Global Traders will also
soon be selling the book uh but uh
remember my name David gulan and the
title last Christian and you can simply
buy it online it'd be the quickest
easiest way to do it I'd like to thank
you and any closing comments for those
who are out there and the way of life
that they're living they're not happy
with it it's confusing and and they want
to step out of the confusion and they're
just a little bit timid you know culture
class sometimes they see Muslims as
people who they just can't identify with
but they can identify with Islam what
advice do you have for them
uh Islam if it's practice way it's
supposed to be means peace it also means
the best form of life other there words
if a person makes God the center of
their life and by doing so they take
care of their fellow human being they
make the world a better place and that
is what Islam is all
about thank you very much thank you very
much may God Almighty the Creator reward
you for being with us thank you so much