Of Course I’m Dreaming!

In a comment on my last post, a fellow blogger, Daniel Morgan, (see my Links) said that if I really think I can make people “…be more inclusive in their religious views…you're dreaming.”

Yes, for years I’ve “dreamed” that enough people will enlarge their understanding of God and His messages, by believing all the Prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. By so doing, we could avoid the fulfillment of the most dreaded prophecies.

For example, the Prophets foretold a world bathed in “...blood and fire and pillars of smoke...” (Joel 2:30); of a time when “...the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light...” (Matt. 24:29); when “...darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples...” (Isa. 60:2). In other words, the time of the “nuclear winter” that scientists tell us would follow a nuclear war.

But the Prophet Malachi offered us a “way out.” He told us that if “the fathers” and “the children” turn their hearts to each other, God will not “…smite the land with utter destruction” (Mal.3:23-24/4:5-6.) The “fathers” of monotheism are the Hebrews and their descendants, the Jews. The “children” of monotheism are the Christians and Muslims.

Although some clerical interpretations of the Hebrew, Christian and Muslim Scriptures have divided believers and driven them to kill each other, the Prophets’ combined messages can inspire our urgently needed “change of heart.” Some Prophets, however, each in his own way, appear to say that the world will definitely suffer a “...great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21). That ominous prophecy implies that too many believers will ignore Malachi’s advice and refuse to turn their hearts to the persons they “know” should be hated!

But it isn’t only current “believers” that could help. If enough skeptics and heathens would acknowledge the pending fulfillment of monotheism’s most horrifying prophecies, they could reconsider their total rejection of the Prophets. If, then, they embraced the God Who precisely foretold what could now befall us, their “conversion” would shake the self-satisfaction of the “know-it-all” believers of all three religions — including the “fanatic” Muslims!

Muslim extremists are not ignorant, unthinking people, blindly obeying their clerics! They sincerely believe it is time for them to cleanse the earth of “unbelievers,” and thereby end the world as we have made it. Therefore, they consider it their God-given duty to do whatever is needed to make the world “Islamic,” which includes the use of nuclear weapons. And, in a sense, they could be right!

Certainly, the Prophets spoke of an “end of days,” (Dan. 10:14; Isa.2:2), which does not mean the world will end, but we will be done with the hate-filled “days” we have known throughout human history. It now appears that it could be the Muslim fanatics who will bring it on! But we can end these days without horrific destruction — and I dream of that happening, though my common sense tells me it won’t. Still, I’d rather “dream” of awakening us than sit idly and watch it happen.

Monotheism in a Small Nutshell

To counter the extremist beliefs of today’s “religious terrorists,” we need the wisdom and courage to improve our own religious understanding. To accomplish that, we first need to recall some elementary historical facts.

The Hebrew Prophets delivered messages to their tribesmen, which they tell us came from the One and Only unseen but omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent “Lord God,” introduced by a man named Abraham. But the Hebrews were never instructed to seek converts to their faith among their heathen neighbors, who avidly worshipped more than 2,000 “visible” gods. So, Abraham’s unseen God was scarcely noticed by anyone outside the tiny Hebrew nation of Israel.

Around 1400 years after Moses delivered the laws that still govern the Hebrews, the Christians emerged from among Israel’s small population. Unlike the Hebrews, the Christians were distinctly told to “spread the word,” and, ever since, they have never ceased to reveal God to an attentive worldwide audience. The early Christians not only succeeded in converting uncountable heathens to a belief in One God, they also introduced mankind’s Messiah, a “visible Being,” to whom the heathens, accustomed to worshiping visible gods, could readily relate.

About six hundred years later, Muhammad did for his tribesmen in Arabia, what the Christian missionaries could not accomplish there. He persuaded numberless heathens, who had completely rejected Christianity’s messages, to believe in Abraham’s “Lord God.” But, while delivering the messages that became the Koran, Muhammad chastised both the Jews and the Christians for their erroneous interpretations of their own Sacred Writings. In short, he unequivocally refuted the divisive teachings that still incite Jews and Christians to scorn and hate each other.

Specifically, Muhammad’s messages established the absolute validity of the “Messiah Jesus.” And he clearly rebuked Judaism’s clergy for rejecting Jesus as the fulfillment of the Hebrew’s traditional belief in a coming Messiah. But, Muhammad also rebuked Christianity’s clergy, which, by Muhammad’s time, had long since officially identified Jesus as the Second Member of a Holy Trinity,“God, the Son.” That “title” still disgusts Jews and Muslims, who remain solely dedicated to the One and Only, invisible “Lord God” of Abraham. In reality, throughout Christianity’s history onto today, some people who identify themselves as “Christians” reject the concept of Jesus as “God Incarnate” and acknowledge him solely as the world’s promised Messiah, recognized by the first Christians, before their clergy “enlarged” his identity, centuries later.

In those few paragraphs, we have the most essential messages of the three religions. So, everyone who believes in Abraham’s Lord God, and believes that Jesus is mankind’s Messiah, and believes that “the Messiah does not disdain to be a servant of God” (Women 4:172), as Muhammad described Jesus, is essentially a Jew, Christian and Muslim, though they might not acknowledge it! But, their religions “practices” can differentiate them from their fellow believers, if that’s important to them! We’ll discuss some of those religious practices next time.


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Correcting an Omission!

When I posted my comments about the Sabbath yesterday, I completely forgot to “tie them into” our discussion of the coming nuclear war. I suppose it was because it is so “natural” for me to talk about the beliefs shared by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So, I forgot to mention how crucial to peace it is for enough “believers” to embrace all three religions in matters of real importance, especially God Himself!

Consequently, I now must try to “make up” for my lapse. If we’re going to “turn our hearts to each other” to avoid a nuclear war, as the Prophet Malachi said we must do (see my post "Choose For Yourself" on 10.29), we need to become acquainted with at least some of the teachings about God, revealed by the Prophets of the three religions. And for reasons not worth your time to read, I happened to begin with the Sabbath, observed by Jews, Christians and Muslims. I’ll speak more about those commonly held beliefs in the coming days.