To Whom It May Concern:

“I am familiar with the slanderous charges that have been made against Dr. Ergun Caner generated by some Muslim groups and other extremists. I have looked into the matter, talking with Ergun and other principal parties at Liberty, and am convinced that the charges are libelous. I am also convinced that whatever ambiguous or misstatement that may have been made, Dr. Caner has done nothing heretical, immoral, or illegal. I stand with him against these vicious attacks. He has taken a strong stand on important issues that stir up controversy, but to my knowledge has done nothing unorthodox or malicious. I urge all to consider him innocent unless proven guilty. He has welcomed an inquiry from the Liberty authorities. Let’s await their findings. Christians have a bad habit of shooting their wounded. Let’s pray for and encourage our brother.”

Sincerely in Christ,

Dr. Norman L. Geisler

Message: Listen jack*** if you are going to quote my facebook entry USE MY NAME and quote me in context! I'm nobody with nothing to lose. I don;t have to worry about what the SBC thinks like the gracious Dr. Caner does. My South Philly upbringing and my righteous indignation coupled with my detest for frauds like you would not hinder me in the LEAST from showing up at your next public appearance and sticking a boot in your a****. You sicken me, you harm the body, and you offend the Spirit of the God you claim to serve but are wholly unfamiliar with, except on dusty pages of endless technical theology that you have likely not ONCE seen in real, God-breathed action. Your veil is thin, my arrogant reformer friend. You should sign all your writings "Mrs. Turpin"

So, did a fight over Calvinism lead to the questions about Caner’s background? That certainly seems to be a possibility. A fascinating one, too, although if Caner truly has fabricated his background, his theological leanings may not make a lot of difference at this point.

Convert brothers take heat for message that Islam is hardly a peaceful faith

BYLINE: By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer

SECTION: Domestic News

LENGTH: 1408 words

Ergun and Emir Caner sat in the cavernous domed stadium with hundreds of other preachers in St. Louis and listened intently as the Rev. Jerry Vines thundered about the difference between Christianity and Islam.

"Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-posessed pedophile who had 12 wives - and his last one was a 9-year-old girl," the Florida minister shouted to attendees at the pastors conference of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"And I will tell you Allah is not Jehovah either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people."

When angry Muslims confronted the former SBC president about his remarks last month, Vines said he was merely citing their own texts - as quoted in the Caner brothers' book, "Unveiling Islam."

The Caners intended the book as a tool for Christians seeking to reach out to Muslims. Instead, the brothers, who converted to Christianity as teen-agers, have been vilified by many prominent Islamic groups as hostile, sick and hateful. In recent weeks, they received what Emir considers threatening inquiries from overseas.

"Our whole purpose was an act of love," says Ergun Caner, a Southern Baptist minister and theology professor at The Criswell College in Dallas. "Because I WANT to see Muslims in heaven with me."

But this was not the first time the Caners had been condemned for their religious beliefs. Two decades ago, their devotion to the "Son" cost them their father.
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When the Caner boys came into the world, their Turkish-born father, Acar, the man who called the faithful to prayer at the mosque, whispered in their ears the words they were to live by: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah."

But they were living in Columbus, Ohio, far from Acar's Sunni Muslim origins. After their parents separated, others were soon whispering in the Caner boys' ears.

Ergun Caner, the oldest of Acar's three boys, was the first to convert. He was 15 when he accepted a friend's invitation to a weeklong church revival.

To him, his relationship with Allah was impersonal, ritualistic. The message he got at Stelzer Baptist Church was something completely different.

"Christ died for man. That was one thing for me to hear. It was quite another thing for me to hear that Christ died for me. Ha. Then it becomes personal," says Ergun, now 35. "I thought this was good news for all Muslims."

Instead of welcoming the news, Acar Caner told his son he no longer wanted to see him. When younger brothers Emir and Erdem (who now goes by Mark) went for visitation with their father, there was no talk of Ergun; their elder brother's face had been cut from family photographs.

Despite that, the two younger brothers soon followed Ergun's path, with the same results.

While still in their teens, Emir and Ergun said they were called to the ministry.

Both studied at Criswell, where they met Paige Patterson, a driving force in the nation's largest Protestant denomination. When Patterson moved to Wake Forest, N.C., to take over Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Caners followed him.

The two earned master's degrees from Southeastern, then went on to receive doctorates. They had no contact at all with their father until August 1999, when they learned he was dying of cancer.

The three brothers rushed home, not knowing whether their father would let them in. At the urging of his wife, Acar agreed to see his sons.

Ergun, who was pastoring a church in Colorado, laid his 4-month-old son, Braxton, in his father's arms, a tradition from Acar's homeland. He introduced Acar to his wife, a "Southern belle from North Carolina."

As he watched his "earthly hero" waste away, Emir knew Acar would die as he had lived, a devout Muslim. And according to the son's reading of Scripture, Acar would not be waiting for him in heaven.

Acar died four days later, on Emir's 29th birthday.

"That was, for me, a clarion moment," says Ergun, a bear of a man with shaved head and jutting goatee. That is when their mission came into "sharp focus."

He told The Associated Press in 2002 that he was born in Sweden to a Turkish father and Swedish mother, who brought the family to Ohio in 1969, when he was about 3 years old. He said he accepted Christ as a teenager at a Baptist church in Columbus, and then pursued ministry, getting a degree from Criswell College, a Baptist school in Dallas.

The Hadith of Al-Tirmidhi, 242, reads: Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited the observance of prayers in seven places: on a dung hill, in a slaughterhouse, in a graveyard, in the middle of the road, in a bathroom, in the watering place where camels drink and sit, and upon the roof of the House of Allah. Likewise, we read in Fiqh-us-Sunnah 4.53a, "...they cite the Prophet's hadith: "The entire earth is a mosque except for a graveyard and a bathroom."

I need to express that my heart aches over this attack on Dr. Caner. What must the Lord Jesus Christ think when He sees one brother attacking another as you are doing. How Christlike is this? How Loving is this? I was raised in the Reformed faith, but recently left a PCA church over issues similar to this--a total lack of love and caring about a brother. I am convinced that the Lord weeps when he sees this nonsense happening. I am tired of Reformed Theology and it's THINKERS that constantly put down those who have different views. I am tired of Reformed pastors who drink alcohol like fish and claim they can witness to those they drink cocktails with. I am now convinced even more that those of you involved in Reformed Theology need to throw your philosophical ideas about scripture to the wolves and do as the Bible commands. Go into the world, preach the gospel, and love the lost. Have you ever gone to Liberty University and seen over 10,000 students worship the Lord Jesus, who help in the community, and who love the Lord and simply want to live for Him??? I challenge you to do so. Then go to some of your REFORMED colleges and see what is going on. Look at the liberal lifestyles going on, there is nothing out there that can TOUCH what is going on at Liberty. Please, LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

I am speaking again this morning so I have to be brief. Just wanted to thank all the Lord's people for their prayers for last night's debate with Dr. Robert Price here in Tampa. I could not imagine how the debate could have gone any better than it did. I knew Bob Price would be a personable fellow in conversation, and he was. He was thankful I actually addressed his arguments, not someone else's, and did not use the argument from authority, either. As a result, it was a great exchange. Everyone enjoyed it---except for some of the radical atheists who had more of the "let's go to the colosseum and see someone chopped up" attitude. I will give a full report on Tuesday on the DL, and hopefully a little longer note later today after my speaking responsibilities are fulfilled. But once again, my thanks to all who made this encounter possible. It was of benefit to all who were there.