A Difference Between Humans and Ants

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“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 prompting 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 beings 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 ordered 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 promised them; 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.”

An Identical Role for “Believers” and “Unbelievers”

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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!)

Creative Chimpanzees And Humans

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In February 2007, the Los Angeles Times printed an article about chimpanzees making spears. The author of the article identified the chimps’ creativity as “…the first routine production of deadly weapons observed in animals other than humans.”

Since I was a child, I’ve heard that the creation and use of tools sets humans apart from most animals, but links us with others. Now, researchers have discovered that some animals even make deadly tools! That discovery further diminishes our “difference” from monkeys — if we accept tool-making as the “tool” of measurement! As I grew older, however, I embraced a far more accurate way to distinguish us from our “fellow animals.”

In so far as we can determine, we are the only creatures on earth who seek the Original Source of our existence — and honor and even worship that Source, if we choose. Of course, because the Source remains “invisible” to human eyes, we can’t scientifically “prove” the Source we identify actually exists; we can only presume Its Existence through the existence of our awesomely complicated yet “miraculously” organized physical universe, which inevitably bespeaks a Thinking Creator.

In short, the one thing that distinguishes us from all living creatures obviously isn’t our tool-making, but our ability to conceive of our Creator. Yet, if, like a growing number of people these days, you don’t bother to think about your Source — because, after all, science can’t prove what “it” is — there is nothing that actually distinguishes you from a tool-making chimpanzee.

Think about it — and perhaps you’ll decide to examine the revelations about our Creator, delivered by ALL the Prophets, from Abraham through Muhammad. They never contradict each other, as our clergies do! (I’ve made it easy for you to hear what they said in one book — see the sidebar About Me.)

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.

More for Ken and All Who Agree or Disagree With Him

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Muhammad made plain that he was speaking of Abraham's God. Of course anyone can say he wasn't, but Muhammad clearly identified the Subject of his "discourse." And I repeat, he did not come to repeat what the Prophets had already said. He came, not only to awaken huge numbers of people to God, but to correct the errors of the Christian and Jewish clergies. Those still "uncorrected" errors have produced endless bloodshed for 2,000 years and are now preparing to fulfill the
prophecies of "gross darkness," which Malachi told us we
could only avoid if the "fathers and the children" turn
their hearts to each other (Mal. 3:24/4:6).

The "fathers" of monotheism are the Hebrews and their
descendants, the Jews. The "children" of monotheism are the
Christians and Muslims. But sadly, Ken, you epitomize the disdain
that the "children" have for each other and for
the "fathers,"--who, in turn, disdain the "childrens'" teachings.

BTW, when I quoted Jesus, I was not speaking of you
paying attention to Muhammad!!! I was clearly talking about
believing Malachi, as one of the Prophets, which Jesus called us foolishly “slow of heart” to believe.

As for your definition of a true prophet, I disagree. The
man who introduced God to millions of people who had rejected the Christian missionaries--the same man who founded the 2nd largest religion in the world, which could soon become the largest—fits my definition of a Prophet. You deny him; I don't; it’s as simple as that.

Your reference to Muhammad thinking his faith would
become "universal" is, as I see it, an expression of his
faith that someday everyone in the world will believe in
Abraham's Lord God and in "the Messiah Jesus." I do not doubt that will happen and I’d be surprised to hear that you doubt it. Sadly, the "fanatic Muslims" are now twisting Muhammad's "prediction" and using it as their reason to kill all "unbelievers," and to identify
those "unbelievers" as anyone who does not practice Islam
exactly as they do--which includes many of their fellow Muslims. To my mind, those fanatics are simply the "tools" that will fulfill the prophecies of darkness--which--I repeat again, we could avoid if we were wise enough to learn about God from ALL the Prophets, and thereby, turn our hearts to each other. Of course, it won't happen--the darkness will come--and Jesus will come--but only after indescribable misery on earth--because the "fathers" and the "children" would not
enlarge their understanding!

Although I certainly know people who fit your
description of those who have turned away from God, I also
know many people who have actually turned away from God
because they cannot accept Christianity's teachings that God
became "flesh." Unfortunately, Christian teachings are
all they know and care to know about religion!!! Or, they
simply cannot believe that a Divine Power would
allow the miseries we have always suffered. Of course, they
completely "miss" our need to learn through experience,
instead of being "robots," as they somewhat suggest
God should have made us, to spare us pain while we are
learning!

Now, getting back to specifics--where in the Scriptures
does a Prophet actually say that God is a Trinity??? If that
were true, it would not have taken the Church hundreds of
years to officially declare it! But I am curious about where
you have "read that into" our New Testament.

And, as a brief point, surely, having read some of the
Koran, you've read the "Mary" chapter, and therefore you know
that Muhammad honored her as a Virgin, the Mother of
the "Messiah Jesus," who "…does not disdain to be a servant of God" (Women 4:172).

There remains a real problem with all of our
Scriptures. It's impossible to know what was actually said
by the identified "authors" and what was added. All the
declarations in the world by "believers" that every word in
their own Scriptures is "true," does not prove it so! And,
the Koran is perhaps the most suspect of all--since it's
written form was based on so very many "notes" preserved in
all kinds of ways. But, again I repeat, I am not concerned
with the myriad "rules" for daily behavior declared by the
different religions ,or their "side stories," which--
especially in the Koran--breed hatred of others--stuff I
cannot believe Muhammad said because he honestly expected the Jews and Christians to embrace his "corrections" of their
clergies and join him. Instead of joining him--look what we have! Each
religion declaring that it alone is right and the others are
wrong--and the very real prospect of the manmade "gross darkness" that shall "cover the peoples" (Isa. 60:2), because all
the "right" religions will not even consider that there is
more they could learn from each other!

An Answer to Ken and other Catholics:

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Because Blogspot does not permit me to copy the answer I posted on Ken's site (www.timeimmortal.net) onto mine, I'm making my reply it's own post. To "catch-up" with our on-going disscussion, I urge you to read the preceding post and it's comments, and then come back to this one.

Ken,
I am not inclined to answer your comments line by line, as you do mine, so I will simply comment on a few of your thoughts that “jumped out at me.”

First, Muhammad has introduced billions of people, who rejected Judaism and Christianity, to Abraham’s God. For you, and other Christians, to dismiss him and his religion as “frauds” has always astounded me! Evidently, pronouncing—and believing--yourselves right is far more important to you than the billions of people who learned about God without your help! Muhammad perceived Jesus as the Messiah, but not as “God incarnate,” and for you to belittle him because he disagrees with you and your church bespeaks the very “self-satisfaction” that repulses so many people and has actually turned them away from God. Granted, you are so content with your own knowledge that you don’t care about who rejects you, but your “deep down” contempt for others, in itself, brings your understanding into doubt! And while you glibly and arrogantly dismiss Malachi, who offered mankind a way to avoid the “darkness,” I remind you that Jesus cut to the quick of your problem in one sentence: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

Second, evidently you haven’t read the Koran carefully—since Muhammad spent more time than any Prophet that preceded him, discussing our omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God. Muhammad did not come to simply repeat the teachings of Jesus or the Hebrew Prophets. He spoke to his desert-hardened people about their God in terms they could understand, and he succeeded in greatly enlarging monotheism’s ranks, without contradicting any of the Prophets! When you glibly dismiss him as “unnecessary,” you are exposing your ignorance of your God that loves all of His images and wants them to know Him!

And third, you have the arrogance to say that “Christians already know, or should already know, everything we need to know about what it means to be subject to God.” That one sentence, in itself, bespeaks such self-satisfaction that it is hard to imagine how on earth you explain the endless bigotry and persecution that so many “Christians” have engaged in, throughout history. I really feel that you—and all who agree with you--have lost touch with reality, in your surety that you and yours are right enough for everyone to embrace your understanding, alone. Thank God He has sent us wiser people than you and your ilk to speak of Him and the Messiah He promised to send us. You would be wise to listen to them, and enlarge your understanding. But then again, as you say, you already “know everything.” I wish you would become wise enough to learn more.

The Certainty of Fanatic Muslims

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One of the numberless surveys conducted these days reports that 52% of the people in the western world (not just the U.S.) think the issue with Muslims is political and can be resolved peacefully; 29% think it is a religious problem.

I am part of the minority because diplomacy, whether conducted by Democrats or Republicans, can never settle the religious differences that are driving us toward disaster. If nothing changes, we’re going to have a nuclear war simply because:

1) The “fanatic Muslims” won’t care whether Republicans or Democrats run the United States! When they are ready, they WILL use nuclear weapons against “Islam’s enemies,” which they perceive as “God’s enemies.”

2) The “fanatic Muslims” will use those weapons because they devoutly believe they will be doing “God’s Will,” by cleansing the earth of “unbelievers.”

The dark, cold “nuclear winter” that will follow a “nuclear war” will fulfill the Biblical descriptions 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).

If, however, you don’t believe in Prophets and prophecies, you certainly don’t have to think about them — until the darkness happens. Then, if you’ve survived, you’ll have plenty of time to think. Until then, go ahead and blame Republicans, Democrats, Muslims, Jews, Israel, Iran, Syria, or anyone else that strikes your fancy — except yourself! After all, what could you have done to prevent the war? Obviously, the “fanatic Muslims” have no right to expect you to alter your religious beliefs or unbelief. Besides, you have no reason to reconsider, much less discuss, your personal beliefs with anyone. You’re not forcing others to agree with you and you don’t want others to force you. You just want to live and let live, and you’re sure everyone should do the same.

Because, today, “everyone” doesn’t believe in “live and let live,” I’ll suggest what you could have done, so you can think about it in the darkness. You could have learned how to turn your heart to others, as the Prophet Malachi plainly said we must do, to avoid the darkness (Mal. 3:24/4:6). But, to honestly “turn your heart” to the “crazy Muslims,” you will first need to turn your heart to the One God revealed by ALL the Prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. You’ll be desperately praying to Someone in the “gross darkness” — why not try learning about the God Who foretold it? If enough of us enlarged our understanding of Him, we wouldn’t have to suffer the darkness!

So, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or someone in another nation “rooting for” a particular political party to win control over the “dangerously aggressive” United States, it’s time to carefully question whatever you believe and disbelieve. Then, you could finally do what you’ve never done before: Learn from ALL the Prophets sent to enlighten and warn you. Their COMBINED teachings would greatly enlarge your understanding of the God Who, long ago, precisely told us what our stubborn ignorance would bring upon us! An enlarged understanding of Him would deprive the “fanatic Muslims” of their crucially-needed certainty that you are an “unbeliever.”

A Fulfilled Prophecy!

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While visitors to this site are fruitlessly debating God’s “Name,” I think it’s a good time to turn our attention to the Power behind the Name, as the Prophets revealed Him.

Although Muhammad spoke of God as “Allah,” he never refuted any Prophets’ revelations about the One and Only “Lord God.” But, unlike his prophetic predecessors, Muhammad frequently discussed the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of the Creator. Most believers have yet to truly contemplate what it means in our daily lives to be subject to Someone possessing those awesome, almost unimaginable, powers.

For example, an “omniscient” God means that the God worshiped by Jews, Christians, and Muslims knew, from the start, that the Hebrews would end up disobeying Him, until they were driven out of their land. In fact, before the Hebrews had even entered the Promised Land, Moses, inspired by God, spoke of a time when they would be “...driven out to the farthest parts under heaven...” (Deut. 30:4). But Moses also revealed what would happen to them after they became “…an oath and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach” (Jer. 44:12) — a prophecy that human history unmistakably proves has been fulfilled! Moses assured them that 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). Then, they will become “…a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth” (Zeph. 3:20).

Throughout history, uncountable people have reproached, cursed and killed Jews, even while they claimed to believe in the “Lord God,” “our Father,” “Allah the King.” Therefore, it would be wisdom for “believers” to stop arguing about God’s Name and start repairing the damage they’ve done to the persecuted people who will yet become “a name and a praise” among us, as the OMNISCIENT God foretold.

Granted, the clergies of Christianity and Islam have perverted the prophecies related to the Jews’ “resurrection,” to make their own religion foremost and their own members “a name and a praise.” But the OMNIPOTENT Creator has spoken, and nothing said or done by Christians and Muslims can alter His decree. So, no matter the Name we use to address Him, it is long past time for us to acknowledge His Powers, which apply to all of God's "children" and could better guide all of us than the manmade concepts that have ceaselessly bred hatreds in His Name--whatever you think that Name is!

A Name for God

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Through the months, I’ve received occasional emails arguing, with surprising intensity, for or against the different “Names” assigned to God by Jews, Christians and Muslims. It finally dawned on me that some believers are missing an elementary point.

Through the Prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, we are warned against praying in the name of any of the more than 2,000 “gods,” worshiped by mankind in ancient times. Each manmade idol was given its own name by the people who concocted it! So, every monotheistic Prophet, beginning with Abraham, has advised us to pray to the unseen, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent “Lord God.” And all Jews, Christians and Muslims pray to Him, regardless of the precise Name their language assigns Him.

Granted, Jesus gave us permission to pray in his name, not because he was representing himself as God incarnate, but because he was sent by the Father as mankind’s Messiah. History proves that most human beings need a “human form” to envision and pray to — an invisible God is just too hard for many to mentally and emotionally embrace. So “the Messiah Jesus,” as Muhammad always identified him, helps all who need a human manifestation of Divine Power.

Of course, the Christians also began to pray to saints, but that’s part of their “mix-up” over God’s Identity. We can know the Lord God understands human weaknesses and confusion, since even humans can usually come to understand what causes their “mistakes!” But the intense persecution and suffering that Christians and Muslims have deliberately inflicted on persons who worship the same God, but differ in their religious practices -- beginning with as simple a subject as His Name -- is another story! Our merciful God might not wholly excuse hateful actions committed in any one of His Names!

Comments Prove My Point!

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The title of my Monday post reads: Only Muslims Believe It! And the first line of the post begins: The Koran tells Muslims that someday the whole world will be Islamic….

So, of course, only Muslims believe it. But that doesn’t mean it’s wisdom on the world’s part to disbelieve it! Muhammad’s remark can simply mean that someday everyone will know his “Maker” and his “Messiah.”

But the readers’ Comments expressed on the post denote a dangerously narrow-minded view of Islam, the world’s second largest—and most rapidly growing—religion. The ugly remarks about Muslims reflect the very ignorance that I urge my readers to address and correct, by learning what ALL the Prophets revealed. If we will not learn now, we are, in effect, inviting a nuclear war, which will change the world as we have known it—the world we COULD peacefully change, simply by enlarging our understanding. If we need proof of our need to learn, the Comments provide it!

Only Muslims Believe It!

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The Koran tells Muslims that someday the whole world will be Islamic, which can simply mean that someday everyone will know the Lord God of Abraham and “the Messiah Jesus” (as Muhammad identified mankind’s Messiah).

But Muhammad made clear that Jesus is NOT God; he is a “servant of God.” So, from the start, the Jews, obeying their clergy, scorned Muhammad for identifying Jesus as the Messiah. And the Christians, obeying their clergy, scorned Muhammad for denying that Jesus is “God the Son.”

The Religious War to establish Islam as the world’s only religion has already begun — but it often appears that only Muslims (and me) recognize it as a Religious War! Apparently, the rest of the world prefers to believe that some desperately poor people, recruited by evil-minded would-be “world rulers,” are perpetrating terrorist acts for material gain. Of course some individual terrorists are “out for what they can get.” But earthly riches are not the goal of the terrorists. And most Muslims know it, though, to be sure, not all Muslims support the terrorists. Still, all Muslims believe the world will someday be Islamic, so the vast majority are not willing to actively fight terrorism, since they cannot be certain it is not “God’s Will.”

While, today, only Muslims believe that Islam will someday be the world’s only religion, their belief does not automatically mean they are wrong! But it does mean that if enough people will enlarge their understanding of Abraham’s God, we could avoid the nuclear war that Muslim “extremists” are willing to start.

But now I urge you to take a moment to tell yourself the truth: No matter what you currently believe and disbelieve, after reading this, you’re not going to pursue an enlarged understanding of God, are you? Instead, you’re going to do what you’ve always done — browse other web sites until it’s time to work or feed the kids or shop or go to bed! That’s “living” in a reasonably peaceful society — until it stops being peaceful! Yet, I suspect you think you’ll have time to think about it, if your peace is actually disrupted! And I agree — by then you’ll have more time to think than you want — because you wouldn’t take the time to think about it now. In short, most people — including the extremist Muslims — are so set in their religious beliefs, I’m fighting a “lost cause,” when urging us to learn from ALL the Prophets. I wonder when I’ll believe it!

How We’ll Get to Setting the World on Fire

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Today, in response to emails from visitors to my website and this blog, I’m providing some background for the on-going, never-ending religious arguments that are now threatening to set the world on fire.

Excerpt from Chapter 18 (“Of Promises and Previews”):

The Old Testament often speaks of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom in Israel, during the Messianic Age. At that time, God has promised to “...save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey...and I will set up one shepherd over them....” Then, “The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel...” (Ezek. 34:22–23, 37:28).

The Hebrew Prophets often spoke of that promised glorious kingdom, but they had little to say about the “one shepherd” of the kingdom. Evidently, they knew almost nothing about him, beyond the fact that out of Bethlehem “...shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days....” “And he shall stand, and shall feed his flock...in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God...for then shall he be great unto the ends of the earth...” (Micah 5:1,3).

Thus, from early times, Judaism focused on the kingdom that will flourish in the Messianic Age, while Christianity and Islam focused on the “one shepherd” of that kingdom — of whom the Jews knew practically nothing. The trouble that came from those two related but separate subjects quickly surfaced.

The Jews, convinced that Christians and Muslims followed false prophets, paid no attention to their teachings about the coming “one shepherd”: “the Messiah, Jesus,” as Muhammad identified him. And the younger monotheistic families, each convinced it had supplanted the fathers of their faith, paid little or no attention to the promised sanctification of Israel in the Messianic Age. In fact, aside from acknowledging “the Messiah, Jesus,” the Koran doesn’t speak of that Age; its future concern is with “the Last Day,” the Judgment Day of mankind (The Family of Imran 3:114).

As it was in those early years, so it is today. Believers revere their own family’s messages, as their clerics interpret them, and they dismiss, as false or obsolete, all teachings that do not conform to their own. As long as each family’s shepherds aggrandize their own understanding of their own teachings and besmirch the others, they cannot “...turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...,” as Malachi warned must happen, if the world is to be spared “utter destruction” (Mal. 3:24/4:6). Nor can bitterly divided and self-aggrandizing believers inspire unbelievers to turn to the God Who has promised to bless “all the families of the earth” through Abraham (Gen. 12:2–3).

A Note to Sara

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Dear Sara and all who agree with her comments on my previous post "To Iran & Co."
I've decided to reply to Sara with a new post, because her comments are worthy of special attention.

I’m really glad you (Sara) “stumbled on” my blog and wrote me. Your comments are particularly thoughtful. My reference to “nuclear armed Muslims” is certainly not well phrased! And, to be sure, the same expression—-poor as it is-—could be applied to others as well. I could have better expressed myself had I used common
phrases such as “militant” or “extremist” Muslims.

I am actually speaking of those Muslims who sincerely believe it is now their “God-given duty” to cleanse the earth of infidels (unbelievers). They identify “infidels” as everyone who does not worship God as they do—-which includes many of their fellow Muslims. So, of course they don’t represent all Muslims. But they are deeply sincere in their beliefs and willing to use WMDs in their “holy mission.” That, in itself, differentiates them from other “nuclear armed” nations, at least for the present! So far, those nations are reserving nuclear arms for their own defense.

As for the President of Iran’s remark, which you believe is a “mistranslation”—-to the Jews in Israel and to a vast number of people elsewhere, “wiping Zionism off the map” means to destroy Israel. Again, it depends largely on what people “see” in words. You do not equate “Zionism” with “Israel,” but historically, many people always have.

In the same vein, I need to make clear that I am not stressing “a commonality in the message of peace between all three monotheistic religions.” I am urging people to listen to the teachings about God and the promised Messiah, as they were delivered by all the Prophets, from Abraham through Muhammad. Their messages reveal the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Creator of everything, far better than the individual religions do. If we are to avoid the nuclear war, which will descend upon us if we continue to pursue this very real Religious War that we’re only beginning to recognize, we need an enlarged understanding of the God that all three religions embrace. The clergies have turned believers against each other, in their effort to prove their own religion superior to all others; a better understanding of the God they all worship can turn their hearts to each other. The only way to gain that understanding is through the teachings of ALL the Prophets.

While you refer to this “war” as a political struggle, it is actually a Religious War, which could result in the fulfillment of precisely described ancient prophecies. If too many people deceive themselves into thinking this is all about “politics,” we will not even begin to enlarge our thinking about God—-which I suspect is what will really happen! But, I have to keep trying to awaken us to the real teachings of the Prophets, as long as I have the strength. If you, Sara, or others, don’t agree with what I’ve said, I certainly hope you express your thoughts—or any other thoughts you have on the subject.

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!”

I'm right!

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My somewhat sarcastic review of our “human situation,” which I posted on New Year’s Day, elicited some comments about how "right" I am! So, I think I need to express some “kindness and gentleness”— which are as much a part of my “philosophy” as my sarcastic complaints.

For instance, there’s practically nothing that we human beings can actually do to change a world overflowing with contempt for other people’s religious beliefs, or their skin color, or their nationality, or whatever else people like to scorn. They are all very, very ancient “hatreds” that nothing I say will substantially lessen. We are, for the moment, here together on earth, and we argue with each other over any opinion that differs from our own — or we abstain from forming opinions — or we abstain from voicing them — or we only seek the company of people who agree with us. And my pleading with people to enlarge their religious understanding, before we engage in a nuclear war, will go “nowhere.” But the truth is, even while I labored for a decade to write a book combining the teachings of all the Prophets, I never thought my effort would make any difference — and sadly — I’m right!

Plain and Simple Ignorance for the New Year

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This message was inspired by those persons who are currently "blaming" today’s terrorism on the “poor” who are simply “protesting their poverty!”

In actual fact, we are experiencing the opening battles of a Religious War, conducted by devout Muslims who sincerely believe it is their “God-given duty” to cleanse the earth of “unbelievers” or “infidels.” They define “infidels” as everyone who does not join in their practice of Islam — a definition that even includes some of their fellow Muslims. So, today’s terrorism has nothing do with the material possessions of anyone, anywhere!

What is “good” about today’s Religious War rests in the fact that it will probably be the last Religious War humankind will have to endure. What’s “bad” about it is it will probably be the last Religious War, because it will be fought with weapons of mass destruction. But it will be a “democratic” war, because it will include everyone in the world, regardless of their beliefs. To explain:

If you are an agnostic or an atheist, you’ll suffer the horrendous effects of a nuclear war, which, in your ignorance, you were utterly incapable of stopping.

If you are a believer in gods other than the Lord God of Abraham, you’ll be as useless as the agnostics and atheists.

But if you are a Jew, Christian, or Muslim, you’ll play a major role, even if you say and do nothing besides cling to your own beliefs, because you know they are “the truth as best man can know it.” As a “true believer,” you will not even consider enlarging your understanding of the God you worship, by learning from ALL the Prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Instead, you’ll cling to the “truth,” as your clergy declares it, while the war escalates, until the whole world is enveloped in the “gross darkness” foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures (Isaiah 60:2).

As a Jew, Christian or Muslim, how “devout” you will be, for making the worst of all prophecies come true! Of course, as a Christian or Muslim, you can also believe that the God of all humankind only loves you and your kind. (At least the Jews you scorn have never displayed that arrogance!) So, as a Christian, you might think that being a “devout hypocrite” is going to entitle you to be “whisked away” and spared the misery you’ve caused others. Or, as a Muslim, you can think your concept of a narrow-minded god, who only loves you and yours, will get you straight into heaven. But, as the Prophets made clear, you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate your ignorance in the "gross darkness" of a nuclear winter.

All the while, this could be our last chance to learn more about God, while the sun still shines. Or, in your plain and simple ignorance, you can refuse to listen to Messengers that aren’t “your own,” or to Messengers that you know “never really existed,” or to the written teachings you “know” have been “changed,” though you haven’t a single piece of proof. By rejecting at least some of the Prophets, you will help the world get to suffer the prophesied nuclear winter — which is one way to learn that the Prophets told us the truth!

Another Year of Nothingness

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I suppose another year of people killing each other in God’s Name was not actual “nothingness,” but it was not “something worthy,” which means 2006 could be seen as another “nothing” year.

Of course, I’m wishing for an enlargement of our religious understanding in the coming year. But, if I don’t sound enthusiastic about it, I suspect the reason is obvious. I’d have to be an absolute dreamer to anticipate our religious “makeover,” and while I’ve “dreamed” through all these years that perhaps, someday, people will “catch on,” I’ve never been convinced it will happen! Still, if the Lord God does not inspire us to improve our understanding, then He must be willing to let us envelop the earth in the “gross darkness” (Isaiah 60:2) of a nuclear winter, and I must accept that. It’s just that I have to keep trying to awaken us, in the hope that just maybe………………….

In the meantime, I do want to call attention to the web site: www.bismikaallahuma.org. I’ve been talking to some pleasantly argumentative Muslims there, on a post titled: The Soul of Hajj. Originally, I posted my comment there about Muslims transforming the world if they believed Muhammad, and I’ve received some interesting responses. Not that anyone has encouraged my ideas!! But they have been courteous and informative and that is refreshing. So, I suggest you try the site and I wish the world a wiser New Year.

Christians and Muslims: Two Peas in a Pod

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During one of Muhammad’s personal conversations, preserved by his Companions, he revealed his accurate perception of the future. Muhammad warned his people that they would follow the same degenerate path tread by Christians and Jews: “Ye will follow them that were before you span by span and cubit by cubit until if they went down the hole of a poisonous reptile ye would follow them down.” (“Muhammad, his life based on the earliest sources”, Martin Lings.)

In keeping with Muhammad’s prediction, Christians and Muslims share a history of poisonous pride and deadly arrogance. For example, they’ve each proclaimed themselves “the only true believers” on earth; they’ve repeatedly engaged in Religious Wars to destroy each other; they’ve persecuted “outsiders” who resist their Christian or Muslim “saviors”; and most certainly, they each anticipate their own exclusivity in Heaven! (The list could include far more historical parallels, and if you’d like to mention them, please do.)

Actually, the Hebrews, as the first monotheists, were the first to behave in ways that bore no resemblance to their Prophets’ teachings. For instance, more than a few Hebrew kings openly practiced idolatry, and many Israelites welcomed those kings. Under their reign, people were free to worship the gods of Syria, which were known to enjoy watching humans mate on hilltops! Such “heathen” practices eventually got the Jews expelled from their promised Holy Land. Ever since, the Jews have worshiped God, Alone, firmly believing, as Moses said, that He will forgive them and fulfill His promises to them. Among the unfulfilled promises is the seldom mentioned prophecy that someday the Jews will become “…a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth” (Zeph. 3:20), the same “peoples” who have arrogantly scorned the exiled Jews!


Shortly after the Jews’ exile, Christians began to argue about their own religious leaders and rules. But, when Christians strongly disagreed, they divided into sects that killed each other — as some were still doing in recent history, even as Muslim sects are still killing each other. Moreover, from early in their mutual history, Christians and Muslims engaged in crusades to conquer the Holy Land, which they each arrogantly proclaimed was theirs, alone!

In more recent history, uncountable Christians were supporters of the Nazi Holocaust, to eradicate Jews and other “inferior people” — a most “unChristian” endeavor, strongly supported by uncountable Muslims. And today, “militant Muslims” are determined to “drive the Jews into the sea,” or “wipe Israel off the map,” as the current ruler of Iran likes to describe his goal.

Through the Koran, Muhammad tells Muslims who are wise enough to listen: “...men have divided themselves into factions, each rejoicing in its own doctrines. Leave them in their error…” (The Believers 23:53–54), and wait for God to “…judge their disputes on the day of resurrection” (The Cow 2:113). Moreover, Muhammad reminds believers “…to endure with fortitude and to forgive is a duty incumbent on all” (Counsel 42:43).

Obviously, countless Muslims haven’t followed Muhammad’s teachings, any more than countless Christians have “turned the other cheek” to their “evil” enemies (Matt. 5:39). But, ironically, the Jews have constantly “turned the other cheek” to their persecutors and some have even expressed forgiveness of them, while they’ve silently refrained from arguing with Christians and Muslims and have never been known to kill their fellow Jews whose religious practices differ from their own. So, it can be said that the Jews practice Christianity and Islam, while Christians and Muslims appear to be two peas in a pod!

If Muslims Believed Muhammad,They Could Transform the World

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Through the Koran, Muhammad tells Muslims to "Say: We believe in God and 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. We discriminate against none of them" (The Family of Imran 3:84).

Another time, Muhammad warns Muslims against drawing “…a line between God and His apostles, saying: 'We believe in some but deny others....’" (Women 4:150).

About 3,400 years ago, before the Hebrews had even entered the "Promised Land," Moses warned his people of a future day, when they would be "…driven out [of the Land] to the farthest parts under heaven…" (Deut. 30:4). But Moses also assured the Israelites that 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).

If, today, Muslims truly believed Muhammad, they would believe "what was given to Moses." And they would rejoice in the resurrection of Israel as Moses foretold. Instead, countless Muslims, "believe in some [prophets] but deny others," while they prepare to "wipe Israel off the map.”

In other words, if Muslims believed the Prophets who preceded Muhammad and drew no “line” between them, they would humbly admit to God and the world, "We have been wrong to fight against Israel." And an astonished world would behold Israel's deadly enemies evidencing incredible faith, unmatched by Jews and Christians throughout their bloody history!

If militant Muslims and their supporters renounced their ignorant rejection of Israel and transformed themselves into peaceful believers in Abraham’s God, astounded Jews and Christians would be hard-pressed to renounce their own ignorant dismissal of Muhammad as a “false prophet” and Islam as a “false religion.”

Then, Jews and Christians, following the Muslims’ unique example, could finally abandon their own erroneous manmade teachings about “the Messiah Jesus” (Women 4:171) and embrace Muhammad’s messages about him, which Jews and Christians have always scorned — the very messages that could create peace among all “believers.”

If Muslims believed Muhammad….