EMIR OR ERGUN – DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHICH CANER?

A couple of weeks ago we did a post on the story of James, the half brother of Jesus. We discussed James' remarkable change of heart. When Jesus began His ministry, James thought his brother was delusional. Yet, James became the leader of the church at Jerusalem and was martyred in the service of his Brother. What changed his mind was most likely the appearance of Jesus specifically to him after His Resurrection. Please read the full story here.

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2010/04/02/compelling-evidence-for-the-resurrrection/

As I wrote about Ergun Caner on Monday, I wondered about his brother who is the President of Truett McConnell College in Georgia. Surely Emir would have become concerned about some of his brother’s claims, wouldn’t he? Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case.

It appears that Emir goes along with his brother’s deception, delusions, or misspeak. Darned if I know what the politically correct term is. Doug Pittman alerted me to problems with Emir Caner when we met in Georgia; however, I had not investigated his claims until the recent brouhaha over his brother, Ergun.

The following is a list of difficulties in his testimony. There is a most illuminating video posted on You Tube. Here's the link so you can do your own investigation.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeyqq_ergun-and-emir-caner-the-fake-ex-mu_people

I found the video and the evidence it presents most troubling. It appears a good part of the video was recorded during an episode of the John Ankerberg Show during which Ankerberg does a live interview with both of the brothers, Emir and Ergun, who are present on the set. The video also compares statements made in other venues.

1. Both brothers assert that they converted to Christianity in 1982. Later, they state that Emir converted a year after Ergun. These statements have since been removed from their websites when the dates were called into question.

2. They also say that they had considered carefully the claims of Christ for several years before making their decision. This seems a bit odd since Ergun would have been NINE YEARS OLD while he was seriously considering the claims. He would have been twelve at the time of his conversion.

3. Emir makes a statement that both of them didn’t become Christians until they were almost in college.

4. They claim their father disowned them at the same time. Then they claim their father disowned them separately.

5. Both Ergun and Emir say they told their father that “Esa bin Allah”, which they aver means “Jesus is God”. Apparently, it doesn’t. They are also speaking Arabic, which is not the same as Turkish — their father’s native language.

6. In this same interview, Ergun, with his brother present, claims that Nookha means Noah. Nuhk mean Noah. Ergun claims that Baruch is a prophet. There apparently is no prophet named Baruch. Both of these comments are edited out on the Ankerberg site. Also, Ergun claims the Ramadan fast is 40 days. Ramadan is not 40 days.

We now refer you to Wade Burleson’s blog, Grace and Truth to You at the following link.

http://kerussocharis.blogspot.com/2010/04/experts-in-islam-is-emir-caner_26.html

Burleson has some fascinating information to add.

"There were times, though, when Emir ventured into the waters of overt deception himself.  Consider Emir's testimony as provided on his own website: http://www.blogger.com/www.emircaner.com

Imagine being raised with a father who was a muazzin (sic), one who went to the minaret and did the call to prayer. He is the one who melodiously called out 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, God is great! God is great! Come to prayer, come to prayer.' So, we would go to our mosque and would be taught from the Qur'an. We would have our sort of a madras (sic), our Islamic school in which we would have our teachers who would teach us the verses of the Qur'an, the surahs  .And our father was not merely a leader within the mosque. He was one of the prominent leaders within the mosque. He was an architect of the mosque. In fact, there he built a mosque as being an engineer himself and an architect. This was the family where we were raised. (Source: Online. Available from Internet, www.EmirCaner.com, "Recent Videos: Dr. Caner's Journey, Part 1," accessed 23 February 2010”) 

1. Emir did not live with his father. His Swedish, non-Islamic mother divorced his father when Emir was around six years old. His father promptly remarried and was raising a second family. The boys did visit him, but he was not the custodial parent. There was much turmoil as the mother sought to protect the boys from Islam, although there is evidence they did attend the Islamic Center with their father during their scheduled visits.

2. Emir asserts that his father was the “muezzin” (the one who calls the faithful to prayer) at his mosque. The leader of that Islamic Center has denied this claim, saying that they never had a muezzin.

3. Emir alleges that his father would go to the “minaret” to make the call to prayer. His Islamic Center did not have one because the city of Columbus, Ohio would not allow one to be built.

4. Emir says that he attended a “madrasa” or Islamic school. However, no such school existed at the Islamic Center that he attended. There was a Sunday school type of class but nothing like a madrasa.

5. Emir maintains that he talks regularly to Muslims about the faith. When asked about converts, he has been evasive, claiming that he is not an evangelist. However, there is one report on Burleson’s blog in which a pastor claims that he knows two Muslim women who were converted directly by the testimony of the Caners.

6. Emir has been silent when Ergun claims that the both of them have debated lots of Muslims along with folks of other persuasions. Yet there are no recorded actual debates. Ergun now claims that the debates are informal.

7. Emir claims to boldly enter mosques and state that he is an infidel. However, this is questionable. On Burleson’s blog, students, who studied with Emir and went with him to mosques, found he did not use this approach. Although he has condemned contextualization, a technique that uses the Quran to show links to Christianity, he does exactly that according to the students who were with him.

8. Strangely enough, both Caners have reportedly accused Dr. Jerry Rankin, head of the SBC International Mission Board, of being both a heretic and a liar. Huh?

TWW believes that the Caners have deliberately misled Christians into thinking that they were real, honest to gosh, converted jihadists. Sadly, we Christians accept such claims without question even though Scripture advises us to be as “wise as serpents”.  We are often amazed by how many Christians forward stupid emails filled with urban myths without verifying whether the claims are in fact true. You know, Obama is not an American citizen. Proctor and Gamble execs worship Satan (instead of the almighty dollar).

The Caners have serious issues that must be dealt with. We believe that neither has any business being the head of any Christian college or seminary. They need to confess and repent. Christians are pretty good at the forgiveness thing. If that is not in their cards, then perhaps Emir could get water-boarded to show that he is as cool as his oft tased brother. Maybe that would deflect the attention away from determining the truth.

Comments

EMIR OR ERGUN – DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHICH CANER? — 4 Comments


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    Dee;

    Yeah, I brought this issue to many peoples attention years ago. I Knew about the Caners in 2006 / 07 and discussed these fabrications and deception in detail with several within the Baptist Mafia….. only to be put on I G N O R E big time.

    As I told many before concerning Mike Everson and others when I was exposing them, it will NOT be us that takes care of these men in time and who are an Abomination to Christ Kingdom, it will be of GOD and by him alone. It is us though, that have to be willing vessels for our LORD and we must have the courage and backbone to stand firm against all types attacks from these deceivers.

    Exposing these men is NOT for the weak minded, hearted or weak spirited. They hate anyone questioning them….but I do

    Following Christ, Not Man
    Doug Pittman

    doug@dougpittman.com


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    Even if the Caners were heavily influenced and taught Islam by their father when with him, it is highly unlikley that they would have been raised with the radicalized, extremist Islamist views of those who promote terrorism and jihad against Americans. The form of Islam practiced by most Turks and in most American mosques is much more moderate, in the sense that they don’t interpret the Qur’an to promote violent acts against non-Muslims. There may be extremists in any local religious community, but that two boys from Columbus with a father from Turkey would be radicals or trained to be terrorists is no more likely than that a typical modern-day Southern Baptist would be a member of the KKK. (Perhaps less likely.)


  3. Notice: Undefined variable: button in /home/guswo2wr8yyv/public_html/tww2/wp-content/plugins/quote-comments/quote-comments.php on line 127

    Junkster

    Why in the world do people feel the need to “embellish” their backgrounds and credentials? Don’t they know that God knows the truth? They are going to be confronted with the truth one way or another, in this life or the next. I would think they would welcome the opportunity to confess and repent. Surely there is terrible inner turmoil in living a lie.

    Your interpretation of their background is spot on. If more Christians thought about the drivel that is sometimes spewed at them from speakers such as this, they would more likely discover and uncover the truth. Frankly, I always thought the Jihadist thing a bit suspect. Add to it the taser shows and one has to wonder if they really believe the faith that Jesus demonstrated by His life.The King of Kings being tased to show how big and strong He is? I don’t think so.