A Difference Between Humans and Ants

In time for the Christams season, I'm reposting an article that appeared here earlier this year--because I realize that some visitors to this site don't go back to read much earlier articles, and because I truly believe we could use this brief discussion of faith.

A Difference Between Humans and Ants

“Is God Poison?” asks “Maclean’s,” a prominent Canadian magazine, on it’s April cover. I suspect that “clever” cover commanded the attention of believers, agnostics and atheists, alike — in other words, everyone that chanced to see it — while it prompted a bunch of sales!

It was a long article worth discussing. Today, however, I’m only going to talk about a statement in the article’s opening page, which quotes someone named Christopher Hitchens. His new book discusses "How Religion Poisons Everything.” Mr. Hitchens, while heartened by the world’s newfound interest in disputing God’s existence, tells us, “We atheists never thought religion would die out because it comes from fear of death….”

I agree, that’s one way to look at religion’s “origin and purpose.” But it certainly has never occurred to me, and I’ve been religious for ninety percent of my long life. If Mr. Hitchens seriously thinks that “fear of death” drove me to God, his reasoning is severely flawed from the “git-go.” I am one of the many people who go through life without giving death more than occasional thought, though I’ve had much to do with it in my family.

Of course, if Mr. Hitchens thinks that fear of death was what first prompted humans to conceive religious beliefs, that’s a plausible theory. But it is nothing more than an unproven, irrelevant theory, in company with numberless others.

As I see it, religion sets mankind apart from all living creatures on earth, as the only creatures on earth (as far as we know) who can seek to identify their Ultimate Creator and contemplate why they exist. In daily life, however, religion helps us live far more peacefully with ourselves and our fellowmen than we could live without it — even though, as nations and as individuals, our “peaceful” relations with others are endlessly and violently interrupted! And all those violent interruptions happen, while a huge portion of the world’s population embraces the Ten Commandments! Imagine how we’d behave if we’d never been told “Thou shall not murder” ? And why does “Mr. Hitchens & Co.“ think we needed to be told that? It certainly wasn’t because humans seldom killed each other!

For our ancestors to need to be Divinely commanded to abstain from killing their fellowmen tells us that murder was even more commonplace than it is today, throughout the world. Humans want to be rid of anyone who really “bothers” them. And it’s common for us to severely “bother” each other! Learning how to turn our hearts to each other, as the Prophet Malachi said we must do (Mal, 3:24/4:6) is now the urgently needed “uncommon” factor in human history.

Thousands of years ago, societies worshiped more than 2,000 gods who, according to the tales concocted about them, often warred with each other — a direct reflection of human life. Yet, Abraham’s God told us not to murder, unless we were executing a person who had intentionally killed someone, “…having hated him in time past” (Deut. 4:42). To be sure, “unbelievers” describe Abraham’s God, introduced in the Hebrew Scriptures, as a bloodthirsty deity, akin to most of the other “gods” people worshiped. But the Israelites, the first people to believe in Abraham’s God, were told to war with heathens only to claim the needed homeland God had promised them. In short, murdering their fellowmen for “personal reasons” was forbidden. And that was an UNCOMMON concept in human history, which Mr. Hitchens neglects to mention, while denouncing monotheism, in particular.

I, too, can conjecture about Hitchens as he does about me, a “believer.” So, perhaps Mr. Hitchens has suffered a fear of death since childhood and finds no solace in religion, which makes his unrelieved fear/dread/resentment of dying feed his argument against all the religious beliefs that have failed him. Or, he has convinced himself there is nothing to fear about death; our flesh decays and that’s the end of us, so he is trying to get multiple people to agree with him to convince himself he is “right.” Whatever his reasoning, he didn’t create our universe and he cannot destroy it, so he is “overpowered” by unknown forces beyond his control — and hating his helplessness. If true, that theory would simply prove that when we harbor “hatred,” we become destructive! But trying to destroy faith in God condemns Hitchens to fight a losing battle, which is a sad way to spend one’s life.

So, Christopher Hitchens, you appear to be a sad member of a species that is distinguished from all other creatures on earth by its ability to contemplate the Source of itself and all physical matter. You can “wait for science” to tell you how “the universe” happened, but the wait will exceed your lifetime. And that means you’ll go to your grave without ever “knowing faith” — a knowledge that appears to be exclusively “human.”

Choosing Silence

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In the Koran, Muhammad plainly tells his followers to believe the Prophets who preceded him and “…discriminate against none of them” (The Family of Imran 3:84). Moreover, Muhammad specifically mentioned Moses as a Prophet worthy of belief.

When Moses led the Hebrews to the “Promised Land,” before they had even entered the land, he told them of the future fall of their yet-to-be created nation and the exile of their disobedient descendants. But he also foretold their eventual return to the resurrected nation of Israel (Deut. 30:3-5).

So, how do Muslims reconcile their devotion to destroying today’s “resurrected” Israel with Muhammad’s instructions to believe Moses? To date, most of the Muslims who contact me through my website and blog tell me that the Hebrew Scriptures have been “corrupted.” Therefore, they can “righteously” seek to “drive Israel into the sea,” because its current existence is based on lies inserted in the ancient Texts by the exiled, desperate, homeless Jews.

Regardless of what some Muslims clerics tell their followers, the fact remains that there is not a single piece of evidence to prove that the Hebrew Scriptures we read today, which foretell Israel’s restoration, are not faithful renditions of the original Text. The most ancient Scriptures in the Hebrew language discovered to date were retrieved from caves near the Dead Sea. Dating methods cannot determine the exact age of the individual Scrolls, but authorities agree that most were written during the last three centuries before Jesus. That means, before the Jews were exiled, as Moses foretold, and many hundreds of years before Muslims existed to declare them “liars” who corrupted their own Scriptures, the Jews were warned of their future — the precise future they have actually endured.

To us, the Dead Sea Scrolls are of ancient origin. But we need to remember that those Scrolls were, themselves, copies of much older Writings, which have probably long since disintegrated. It’s believed the Hebrews in Biblical Israel ceremoniously buried their worn Scrolls, to prevent their desecration. Hence, there’s no way for us to know if the Dead Sea Scrolls are faithful renditions of previous copies, much less of the Prophets’ original teachings. Nor is there a shred of evidence to prove they are not recordings of the actual words spoken by men who lived long ago. That means, any claim that portions of the Hebrew Scriptures were significantly altered has nothing but man’s unlimited imagination to support it!

Still, that fact does not deter those Muslims who choose to believe the Hebrew prophecies of Israel’s “resurrection” were deceitfully placed in their Scriptures after the Jews’ exile from ancient Israel. When people choose to eliminate portions of the ancient Scriptures, they are accepting their “alterations” as facts. And, to persuade others of those “facts,” they must first convince themselves they know “the absolute truth.” Whether they are telling themselves deliberate “lies” or simply making “mistakes” might be open to debate. Yet, when Muslims tell themselves and others that God never promised to resurrect Israel, they are denying a promise delivered by the very Prophets that Muhammad told them to believe! Once they have chosen to deny that promise, they have embarked on the path of self-deception that offers no further choices on the matter until they choose to acknowledge their “lies” or “mistakes” or whatever you choose to call them.

The world desperately needs wise Muslims who choose to speak the truth about those prophecies to their fellow Muslims — but, so far, they’re choosing silence.

(The above contains edited excerpts from my book, “Of Promises and Previews”)

Deliver Us from Religious Clergies!

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To answer some comments on my previous post, I’m absolutely NOT subtly or openly urging people to become Muslims. Even as I’m not suggesting we should all become Jews or Christians. But if “enough people” (whatever that number must be) embraced the three religions’ COMBINED revelations about God and the Messiah He promised to send us, they could end the Religious War that is currently emerging throughout the world, in which militant Muslims seek to cleanse the earth of "infidels" (another name for “unbelievers”). Still, there remains the sad thought that no one with the slightest knowledge of religious history can reasonably expect “believers” to bring peace on earth!

To make “real peace” among themselves, members of all three religions would each have to alter some portion of their own manmade beliefs. But, in a typical example of “religious unity,” Muslims, Christians and Jews, alike, have always been unwilling to alter any part of their own beliefs! So, each embraces their own clergy’s interpretations of their own Sacred Book — interpretations that have provoked hatreds and wars throughout their shared religious history. And those are the same interpretations that are now driving us into a “shared” nuclear war.

Of course, so many self-centered Christians are so convinced they will be “whisked away” before violence consumes the rest of the world that they have no incentive to alter their own understanding. And stubborn Jews are so accustomed to being persecuted and ostracized, they have long since closed their ears and their minds to the beliefs of “outsiders.” And self-satisfied Muslims believe, so thoroughly, that the whole world will someday be “Islamic”— in whatever way they define “Islam” — they can scarcely bring themselves to denounce the violence their “extremist” members are wreaking. After all, what the “fanatics” are doing could be “God’s Will.”

So, here we are with each religious family too convinced their understanding is too right to be altered. Each convinced the others should change. Each “deep-down” resigned to enduring whatever happens or gladly anticipating their own “deliverance.” And each convinced that all they can do is urge their fellowmen to “convert” or urge them to practice “tolerance” — as though “believers” have ever proven truly tolerant of other beliefs for more than an occasional public minute!

All the while, Jews need to recognize the world’s Messiah, rejected by their presumptuous clergy, because Jesus did not do what they expected the Messiah to do for them -- as though the Messiah had to perform his propheised acts on their schedule! And Christians need to recognize Abraham’s One and Only unseen God, revealed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, which introduced Him to the world. Instead, Christians are taught by their brazen clergy to say "God" but mean "Jesus," instead of revering the God to Whom Jesus prayed! And Muslims need to recognize that they have not become God’s “chosen people,” whose “Holy Land” has been usurped by Jewish “infidels” supported by Christian “infidels,” as their egotistical clergy declares!

Speaking Up for Muhammad

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Muhammad did not live to simply repeat the teachings of the Prophets who preceded him. Muhammad came to awaken the “unbelievers,” who had rejected organized Christianity and Judaism, by teaching them about their Maker in terms related to their own experiences. But the Christian clergy has always claimed that Christian teachings are all that can “save our souls” — thereby glibly denigrating the billions of people who have embraced Abraham’s God without becoming Christians.

Through his recitations that became the Koran, Muhammad told all Arabs to believe “…what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, to Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets.” Muslims are to “…discriminate against none of them” (The Family of Imran 3:84). In actual practice, however, Muslims have done exactly what Jews and Christians have always done, with arrogant certainty. They “...draw a line between God and His apostles, saying: ‘We believe in some but deny others’....” The Koran warns everyone who draws such lines of “...a shameful punishment” (Women 4:150–151).

For a certainty, the miseries that have come from drawing those “lines” have proven to be an endless “punishment” for all human beings, everywhere, who have been persecuted and maimed in hateful religious arguments and wars.

Among non-Muslims, misunderstanding Muhammad is commonplace. And even today’s “extremist Muslims” misunderstand him, which, in itself, is nothing new! If people really understood the Prophets, we wouldn’t have the bloody miseries that monotheistic religions have incited throughout history.

Muhammad came to acquaint Arabs with Abraham’s “Lord God.” But, while doing so, he also corrected the severe errors made by the Hebrew and Christian clergies — errors that started the wars which now threaten to culminate in nuclear explosions.

First, he assured the Jews, the descendants of the Hebrews, that Jesus is the promised Messiah, though their clergy had officially denied it. Second, he denounced the Christian clergy’s proclamation of the Trinity, which identified Jesus as “God the Son.” Thus, Muhammad became the instant enemy of the Jewish and Christian clergies, who promptly pronounced him and his religion “frauds.” Through all the following centuries, Jews and Christians still embrace that ignorant summation of what has become the 2nd largest religion in the world and could soon overtake Christianity’s leading role.

All the while, Muhammad continues to tell us to believe in ALL the Prophets, whose revelations about God and the Ten Commandments, which He sent to guide all mankind, never contradict each other! It is the CLERGIES of the three religions who argue against each other, not the God-sent Prophets whose words are preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian New Testament, and the Koran. We urgently need to listen to them, to gain their “combined” knowledge of God that could shake the terrorists’ conviction that they are the only “true believers” — a prideful concept they share with the “humble” Christians.

Some Urgent “Talk” to Iran & Co. — In Less Than 500 Words

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This message is primarily directed to all “peoples of the earth” who are preparing to arm themselves with weapons of mass destruction, so they can force everyone to worship God exactly as they do.

Through the Hebrew Prophet, Isaiah, the Almighty Lord God warned the world: “…behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples…(Isa. 60:2).

Much later, Jesus spoke of a time when: “…the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light…” (Matt. 24:29). And “...unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.” But he immediately promised, “…those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).

Today, we can strongly suspect that those prophesied days of “gross darkness” could be the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war, when mushrooming smoke would deprive the earth of sunlight and moonlight, and a “nuclear winter” would envelop the world.

Yet, the Hebrew Scriptures also tell us that we do not have to endure “those days.” According to the Prophet Malachi, the Lord God has promised: “Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with utter destruction” (Mal. 3:24/4:6).

The “fathers” of monotheism were the Hebrews and their descendants, the Jews. The “children” of monotheism are the Christians and Muslims. Moreover, we’re told that all human beings, regardless of their religious beliefs or unbelief, are the “children” of the Lord God revealed by the Prophets. And unless something happens that will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,” nuclear armed Muslims could soon act to fulfill the worst of all prophecies. Or, as the leader of Iran recently described their intentions: they will “wipe Israel (the land of the fathers) off the map.” And, ultimately, “darkness shall cover the earth.”

To be sure, the “something” that could “happen,” to spare us a nuclear winter, would be Elijah’s arrival. But, in this worldwide age of religious cynicism and “know it all intellectualism,” too many people might easily fail to recognize him and heed his teachings. So, it could immeasurably help us, if we prepare to better understand Elijah by enlarging our knowledge of the Prophets’ teachings.

To enlarge our knowledge, we only need to listen to the COMBINED teachings of ALL the Prophets, from Abraham through Muhammad. TOGETHER, they revealed the Lord God and the Messiah He promised to send us, without once contradicting each other! But that means, we must listen to the PROPHETS instead of the CLERGIES of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who have never ceased contradicting each other, in their arrogant crusade to declare their own understanding “right” and all others “false or obsolete!”

The Resurrection of Palestine

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The Columbia Encyclopedia tells us that the word, “Palestine,” comes from the word “Philistine.” When the Philistines moved to the land of Canaan, they settled along the Mediterranean coast, in the area we now call the “Gaza Strip.” The Philistines were an exceptionally united people. They built five major cities, including Gaza, and created a powerful federation. As testimony to their strength, the whole region became known as “Palestine.”

More than 3,000 years ago, a people known as “Hebrew Israelites” conquered Canaan/Palestine, and renamed the land “Israel.” As a tiny nation that worshiped One invisible God, the Hebrew society's values and customs differed from its neighbor nations that worshiped more than 2,000 visible gods. Still, for all its uniquness,Israel survived for over 1,000 years.

Through the Hebrews, the world received the Ten Commandments, which tell men to love God and to “...love your neighbor as yourself...” (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). If, tomorrow, every human being suddenly began to “love” his neighbors the world over — and, therefore, refrain from doing to anyone what he would not want done to himself —the world as we have made it would instantly change. Yet, it’s hard for us to even imagine that loving world, much less imagine it materializing tomorrow! Nevertheless, if you are among the persons who say, “People will never change” or “The world will always be the same,” you’re forgetting that we can now wreak the prophesied “utter destruction” (Mal. 3:24/4:6) on our world! You’re also totally dismissing the Messiah who, we’re promised, will reign over a world thoroughly cleansed of man’s hateful doings.

Before the Hebrews had even entered Canaan/Palestine, Moses spoke of a time when God would grow weary of their continual disobedience, and they would be “...driven out [of the land] to the farthest parts under heaven...” (Deut. 30:4). Then, they would become “…an oath and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach” (Jer. 44:12), a prophecy we’ve definitely seen fulfilled! But Moses also assured the Hebrews that eventually God “...will have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you” (Deut. 30:3). After that, they will become “…a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth” (Zeph. 3:20) — a prophecy we have yet to witness!

Atheists who, with arrogant certainty, dismiss the Prophets as liars or dupes can deeply offend believers. But people who call themselves “believers,” while arrogantly annulling God’s unwelcome messages about Israel's restoration, could be even more offensive to God. For, as Muhammad told us, “...who is more wicked than he who gives no heed to the revelations of his Lord when reminded of them?” (Adoration 32:22).

The Prophet, Isaiah, warned, “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isa. 5:21). Muhammad explained, “They draw a line between God and His apostles, saying, ‘We believe in some but deny others.’” And Jesus cut to the quick of our problem in one sentence: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

The Hebrew Scriptures foretold ancient Israel’s eviction, and the same Scriptures promised that someday Israel would be resurrected. No where on earth does a single line of any religion’s Scripture foretell the resurrection of a nation called Palestine!

A “Catch Up” Session

Today, to help new visitors quickly understand what I’m “getting at,” I’ll summarize some previous posts, beginning with my first entry:

“Let’s Hear It From the Koran”
When Islam emerged as the third monotheistic religion, Muslims, obeying Muhammad, became dedicated to reducing the number of “unbelievers” in the world, by peacefully introducing Islam to idolaters — or by killing them if they broke their peace treaties. Today, “extremist” Muslims devoutly believe it is time to cleanse the earth of all unbelievers. And they now identify “unbelievers,” or “infidels,” as everyone who does not strictly adhere to their particular “version” of Islam, an identification that includes all Jews, Christians, heathens, skeptics and even some of their fellow Muslims.
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To Begin With, We Must Choose our Weapons
During the war in Afghanistan, some Muslim extremists left a message for everyone, everywhere, on a blackboard in a school where they had trained. They warned us: “We will continue our jihad until the end of the world.”

Because the extremists sincerely believe that God is “with them” in their jihad,their "struggle", to convert or destroy all infidels, they will use whatever weapons they must to accomplish their goal. Therefore, they WILL use nuclear weapons, if needed and when they are able, even if those weapons will ultimately destroy the world as we have known it. After all, they perceive the destruction of today’s “degenerate” world to be their “holy duty,” which they must accomplish one way or another. So, the rest of the world’s population must now “choose their weapons.”

We could try to eradicate an ever-growing coalition of religious fanatics, scattered anonymously throughout the world, by using the conventional tactics and weapons of war. But, to succeed, we’d have to identify and destroy all of them before some of them acquire the nuclear weapons they are willing to use! That method doesn’t look promising.

Or, we can use nuclear weapons against nations that support the extremists, while desperately hoping we won’t destroy the world in our frantic effort to keep them from doing it!

OR, in this time of unprecedented danger, the world can answer the religious fanatics with an unprecedented understanding of religious teachings!
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What Am I Doing?
In effect, I am telling the clerics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that their divisive interpretations of their own Holy Scriptures have incited every Religious War throughout monotheism’s history, including today’s “Holy War.” All the while, the teachings of the Prophets, themselves, provide a unified knowledge.

The Prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, whose messages are preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian Bible and the Koran, provided knowledge of the Lord God of Abraham and the Messiah He promised to send us. The combined teachings of all three Books could greatly enlarge our understanding of our omnisicient, omnipotent, omnipresent Creator. But the clerics of each religion have never combined those teachings. Instead, they’ve each interpreted their own Prophets’ messages and declared their interpretations, alone, to be “the truth, as best man can know it.” The “truth,” however, as the clerics see it, has only managed to persuade Jews, who traditionally believe in a coming Messiah, to reject Jesus as the Messiah, which makes Christians hate Jews, which convinces Muslims that Islam has supplanted both religions, which incites Jews and Christians to hate Muslims!
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The Coming War, Part II
Ironically, the essence of monotheism’s never-ending argument is concisely expressed in two of Muhammad’s teachings. First, Muhammad denounced the Jews for denying “the Messiah, Jesus.” Second, Muhammad severely warned the Christians: “Do not say three…God is but one God…The Messiah Jesus does not disdain to be a servant of God” (Women 4:171-172).

Jews and Christians have not only argued over the Messiah’s identity, they have despised each other because of their opposing beliefs about the “One God” or a “Trinity.” But both “families” became enraged by an “illiterate camel driver” who dared to correct their beliefs about Jesus. Forever after, both the Jews and the Christians, each for their own reasons, have imperiously dismissed Muhammad and his religion as “frauds.” And forever after, the Muslims have hated Jews and Christians.
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Of Course I’m Dreaming
The Prophets described a world bathed in “...blood and fire and pillars of smoke...” (Joel 2:30); 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, a time we can now recognize as the “nuclear winter” that scientists tell us would follow a nuclear war.

But the Prophet Malachi offered 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.

Yet, deliverance from a nuclear holocaust does not have to depend solely on the proud, self-satisfied “fathers” and “children” of monotheism. If enough skeptics and heathens would acknowledge the looming fulfillment of monotheism’s most horrifying prophecies, they would reconsider their total rejection of the Prophets. If, then, they embraced the God Who precisely foretold what could now befall us, their “conversion” would severely 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! They sincerely believe it is time for the world, as we have made it, to end. And they could be right.

The Prophets spoke of an “end of days,” but we have no reason to believe the world will physically end, since there are also glorious prophecies of God’s “kingdom” on earth. So, we can reasonably anticipate the end of the hate-filled “days” we have known throughout human history. And it now appears it could be the “hateful Muslim fanatics” attacking the “hateful Christians and Jews” who will bring on “the end!” Yet, we’re also told 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.

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.

On Being a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim

Years ago, a new acquaintance, while visiting my home, noticed numerous copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian Bible, and the Koran stacked near my desk. Knowing nothing of my writings, she asked, “What IS your religion?” I answered, “I am a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim.” She stared at me for a moment and then said, “My God, you are religious!” I enjoyed her response, since others have reacted to my religion’s “title” with a disgusted shrug — or worse! I told her, “Yes, I am religious, but not in a way Jews, Christians and Muslims would acknowledge!”

For instance, I celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, not because I blindly favor Judaism, but because it is the seventh day of the seven day week that God established, and He decreed it a day of “rest” (Exodus 20:9-10;Deuteronomy 5:13-14). In truth, I’ve never understood how Christians and Muslims can take a different day of the week as the Sabbath —- especially when the "Messiah Jesus” also celebrated the Sabbath on the seventh day!

Of course, I realize that Christians and Muslims have simply listened to their clergies -- those “devout" authorities who "piously" wanted to separate their own “precious flock” from the “disgusting Jews." So, they took it upon themselves to negate God’s words and establish a different day as the Sabbath! Their arrogance is incredible! But I’m grateful that God gave us a Sabbath, and I’m grateful that I finally became smart enough to observe it, because I’ve found it a great help to put all thoughts of my “earthly labor” out of my mind one day a week. It’s wondrously refreshing.

Choose for Yourself!

FIVE PARAGRAPHS TO MAKE ALL "BELIEVERS" WISER -- OR MORE HATEFUL. CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF!

The Hebrew Scriptures introduced the world to the One and Only Lord God of Abraham. The Christian New Testament introduced the world to the promised Messiah. The Koran, while introducing uncountable heathens to the God worshipped by Jews and Christians, also delivered Muhammad’s corrections of the Hebrew and Christian clergies, whose erroneous interpretations have provoked ever-lasting hatred among believers in the same God.

Specifically, Muhammad denounced the Jews for denying “the Messiah, Jesus” (Women 4:171), whose arrival was first foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures (Isa. 11:1-10). But Muhammad also severely warned the Christians: “Do not say three…God is but one God…The Messiah Jesus does not disdain to be a servant of God” (Women 4:171-172).

Throughout their mutual history, the Jews and the Christians have scorned and hated each other, because of their opposing beliefs about the “One God” or a “Trinity.” But both “families” became enraged by an “illiterate camel driver” who dared to correct their beliefs about Jesus, derived from their clergies’ “official teachings.” Forever after, both the Jews and Christians, each for their own reasons, have imperiously dismissed Muhammad and his religion as “frauds.” And forever after, the Muslims have hated the Jews and the Christians.

And there we have the real basis of the coming war, which, if we let it happen, will ultimately end all wars! But the end will come with the horrific misery of a dark, cold “nuclear winter,” which Hebrew and Christian Prophets precisely described (Joel 2:30, Isaiah 60:2, Matthew 24:29). Yet, a Hebrew Prophet also told us that we could avoid “the darkness,” by turning our hearts to each other (Malachi 3:24/4:6).

Of course, that will not happen, as long as Jews and Christians remain determined to revere the erroneous interpretations made by their clergies! And as long as Muslims remain convinced, by their clergies, that they have utterly supplanted their erroneous predecessors, though that belief, in itself, bespeaks their own severe error, which Muhammad never taught — in spite of how some Muslim clerics interpret his words!