By Jim Brown
April 10, 2003

(AgapePress) - While the U.S. is waging a battle against Muslim terrorists around the world, a controversial United Methodist bishop is claiming the god of Islam -- Allah -- is the God of the Bible.

Bishop Joe Sprague of Chicago has become a controversial figure in the United Methodist Church with his public denials of the virgin birth, blood atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Many in the denomination have already called for his resignation, including conservatives like Mark Tooley, with the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Tooley believes leaders like Sprague, who seek to undermine Biblical authority, represent the denomination's past and not its future.

 

Bishop Joseph Sprague

But Sprague says the views of orthodox Christians mean nothing to him.

"We surely understand Jesus differently," the bishop says, "but to take one person's orthodoxy or one large segment of Christendom's orthodoxy and then put it in your own test tube -- and because it varies from yours, to adjudge those persons adversely, as Mr. Tooley and some others do -- is the height of arrogance."

In further demarcation from United Methodists who hold traditional Christian beliefs, Sprague is now professing that Muslims worship the same God born-again Christians worship. The bishop says those who believe otherwise are limiting God's ability to reveal his heart.

"I believe they're worshiping the same god, albeit from a very different vantage point -- and I would say the same for the Jewish community," Sprague states.

A United Methodist committee of bishops recently dismissed a heresy complaint filed against Sprague, who classifies himself as a "christo-normative inclusivist," instead of a "universalist."

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