Reality and Pure Fancy

Link



Biological and chemical weapons that can wipe out whole populations, along with nuclear weapons, which have the ability to destroy life on earth, are an ever-present threat to all the peoples of the earth. And not all of those weapons or the material to make them are under the strict supervision of peace-loving, prosperous nations that would never consider selling their wares to the highest bidder.

To offset that unnerving reality, I ask you to indulge in a momentary flight of pure fancy. Let us imagine that, tomorrow, all Christians and Muslims suddenly believed the Hebrew Prophets and bowed down to the Jews, in wholehearted recognition of the honored role we’ve been told they will play in the Messianic Age. If that happened, the stunned “fathers” of monotheism would stop in their tracks, praise God with all their heart, soul, and strength — and turn their hearts to the “children” of the faith. Or if, tomorrow, all Jews were to suddenly believe Muhammad, look up to Heaven and say, “Our Messiah, Jesus, we await you,” stunned Christians and Muslims would stop in their tracks, praise God with all their heart, soul, and strength — and turn their hearts to the fathers. And if, tomorrow, believers made real peace with each other, then God’s other children — the heathens and skeptics who prefer their own beliefs to believing in a God Whose devotees hate each other — would finally have a tangible reason to rethink their own beliefs.

Most Christians and Muslims, however, do not believe the Jews will become “a name and a praise” in the Messianic Age, as the Prophet Zephaniah foretold (Zeph. 3:20). And the Jews have never believed that Jesus and Muhammad were true Messengers from God. Hence, in the absence of immediate Divine intervention, the three families that call themselves “believers” are not going to make peace tomorrow; their unbelief prevents it. So, tomorrow, they’ll do as they’ve always done: Instead of embracing beliefs that would turn their hearts to each other, they’ll call each other liars! And “gross darkness” with “utter destruction” shall envelop the earth, as the Prophets Isaiah and Malachi precisely described (Isa. 60:2; Mal. 3:24/4:6).

The above is an edited excerpt from my book, “Of Promises and Previews”

An Identical Role for “Believers” and “Unbelievers”

Link


What would it actually take to persuade you to “alter” your religious beliefs? I’m inclined to think we’ll have to be sitting in the darkness of a “nuclear winter” before people seriously question their religious thinking! And when I say “people,” I do not only mean what the Muslims, Christians and Jews think! To be sure, the “self-satisfied” atheists and the “removed-from-it-all” agnostics and the “beyond-it-all” believers in “heathen” religions are doing absolutely nothing to help the world avoid the Religious War that will hurtle everyone into the prophesied “gross darkness” of a manmade “nuclear winter!”

The Prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam brought messages about the Lord God of all creation that never contradicted each other, as they introduced the world to the One Thinking Source of all the energy in existence. Their teachings have persuaded a huge portion of the world’s population to embrace one of those three “related” monotheistic religions. Yet, amazingly, many Jews and Christians actually believe that “Allah,” the Name used by Muslims for Abraham’s God, is not the same God that Abraham worshiped. That is how “elementary” their ignorance is! Worse yet, each religious “family” embraces their clergy’s interpretations of their own Holy Book. And each “family” is so certain their clergy’s teachings are “right,” they won’t even consider reconsidering their beliefs. So, will the unbelievers learn and save us?

They could, but chances are, they won’t! Even as you won’t, no matter your current beliefs. But, tell yourself the truth! Are you really so satisfied with what you believe — whatever that is — that you are more willing to suffer a nuclear war than to try to improve your understanding? Even if you’re a “non-believer” in Abraham’s God, if enough of you finally came to appreciate what ALL the Prophets taught, the “believers” of the world would finally have a compelling reason to pay attention to you! And you would finally awaken them — which is what you’ve wanted to do all along, but you lacked the “right” message! So, no matter your “religious philosophy,” you could diminish the Religious War that is closing in on every single human being, by learning from ALL the Prophets and speaking of them to others. (You could learn from the individual Sacred Books, or discover the essence of their teachings from my book. The point is, SEEK and you CAN find!)

The Script for World War III

Link


Some people are already speaking of the current "war against terrorism" as our “third World War.” But those who lived through the Second World War know that combating today’s armed terrorists, scattered throughout the world, drastically differs from fighting national armies. Yet, dead is dead, in large or small battles, and the script for a “more traditional” World War has finally been unveiled by Iran.

We’ve now been told that when the Iranian armed forces are ready and able, they will attack Israel with the intention of utterly destroying it. That attack will serve as the opening salvo of an unmistakable “Third World War,” which will undoubtedly include the use of weapons of mass destruction. A “nuclear war” would ultimately deprive the world of sunlight and moonlight, and “darkness shall cover the earth,” as the Prophet Isaiah foretold (Isa. 60:2).

So, Iran has given us the script for the fulfillment of prophecies, though, until it happens, the opening cast and the opening acts could change. But that doesn’t mean the War won’t happen! It must erupt, as long as there are believers in the One and Only Lord God who “draw lines” between the Prophets, believing some and rejecting others, exactly as Muhammad warned Muslims, and all believers, NOT to do (Women 4:150)!

For example, many Muslims and even some Christian sects do not believe the Prophets who foretold the resurrection of Israel by the Jews, the descendants of the Biblical Hebrews. So, some people, somewhere, are going to start the war that ends in “gross darkness,” simply because Jews, Christians, and Muslims are each absolutely convinced that their “family,” alone, knows the absolute truth about an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Power. Moreover, each “family” knows that everyone who does not believe as they do is just plain wrong! That’s a “fitting philosophy” for a nuclear war, since it gets right down to the “nucleus” of religious belief and behavior: “I’m right; you’re wrong. Believe it or I’ll kill you.”

And while skeptics and heathens might finally be recognizing that their existence is severely threatened by “believers,” they won’t even try to enlarge their own understanding and thereby influence the beliefs that are preparing to end the world as we have known it! Why should they, when they “know” they’re more right than any monotheist? So, a whole world of “right” people are going to set the world on fire — and prove the Prophets right, which is not, in itself, wrong for them to do. But all that horror just isn’t necessary — as the Prophet Malachi explained (Mal. 3;24/4:6), if we had the intelligence to turn our ears and our hearts to ALL the Prophets!

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.
***
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!
***
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!
***
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.
***
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.