Two Choices!!

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.   If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live…”   (Dt. 30:15-19)

 “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.   God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!   No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.  (John 3:16-18)

We have two important choices in life:  chose life  or chose death.  That is a stark choice.  One might reply, who would want to chose death? How silly.  Most people would want to chose life and life everlasting.  Then the question becomes where can one find this life?   Can you buy it?  Can you achieve it yourself?   Do all religions claim to give it?   Are some better than others?  Are all religions the same?

Moses warning about choosing life is straight on.   Moses summed up what Yahweh had done in delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, bringing them to the promised land, proving food and water for them,  protecting them,  leading them,  and fulfilling his promise made to Abraham.  Yahweh had been faithful and turning away from Him made no sense at all, but these people did as Moses warned—they turned and worshipped idols.  There were many false gods around in those days as there are today.  False gods had an appeal in the fertility rites in which people  had sex with temple prostitutes in the belief that the fertility gods would bring fruitfulness to the crops and land. The appeal of false gods can be related to anything  from sex to seeking cures for illnesses, to personal emotional life in repeating tantras for mental health,  and even the worship of Satan today.

We are concerned here with the two contrasting religion claims in  Islam and Christian faith.

First,  let’s explore what we can know about Yahweh  and  Allah.  Yahweh is the personal name for a being we call God.  He revealed his name to Moses.  It can be understood as “I am who I am.”  He is eternal, having no beginning and no end.  He is Holy without sin.  There is a universe because He loves and made it possible for human existence and he created humans.  He was not compelled to do anything from outside sources, there were none.

  We know of his activity in the Old Testament in creation,  making a promise to Abraham that thru his seed—Isaac—that the world would be blessed.  Many promises were made thru the centuries about the coming of a Messiah, a Savior, and the prophecies were fulfilled in  Jesus, who is the incarnation of the Son of God.   The greatest act of love is expressed in the life of Jesus when he gave his life for our sins and was raised from the death on the third day after his crucifixion.

What can we know about Allah?   This is more obscure.  When Mohammed lived in Mecca  there was polytheistic worshiping going on.  There were 360 gods that were worshipped.    Yahweh was not one of them.  Mohammed promoted the worship of one god instead of the rest of the gods.  Allah is simply a word meaning deity, but Mohammed did not reveal the name of the deity. (Muslims seek to cloud issues by making claims that Allah refers to the God of Abraham, but the religion of Islam is quite contradictory to the Old and New Testaments.)

There are a number of issue related to Mohammed which must be considered.   Mohammed claimed that  Gabriel appeared to him in a cave commanding him to read, or recite some thing he read.  Gabriel was forceful in demanding this of Mohammed. The account is given in ibn Ishaq’s  Life of Mohammed.”  Gabriel came while Mohammed was sleeping with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said  “Read!”  I said, “What shall I read?  He pressed me with it so tightly  that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said  “Read!”  I said, “What shall I read? “He pressed me with it again so that  I thought it was death then he let me  go  and said, “Read!”  I said , What  shall I read?  He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said, “Read”   I said,  what then  shall I read?  And this I said only  to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again.  He said:  “read in the name of thy Lord who created, Who created man of blood coagulated.  Read!, thy lord is the most beneficent, Who taught by the pen taught that which they knew not unto men. So I read it, and he departed from me.”  And I woke from my sleep and it was  as though these words were written on my heart,  (p.106) 

Some issues jump out quickly.   Muslims believe that Mohammed was illiterate and  glory in this because they believe  the Quran is so great literature that no one can reproduce anything like it.   In this account Mohammed did read. Does this mean Mohammed was not illiterate?  If Mohammed was asleep as the account says,  was this a nightmare,   a bad dream?   More serious is the issue of Gabriel.  

 We read about Gabriel and Mary:  God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee “with a message for a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph from the family of King David.  The angel greeted Mary and said, "You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you."  Mary was confused by the angel's words and wondered what they meant. Then the angel told Mary, "Don't be afraid! God is pleased with you,  and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was.  He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end."  Mary asked the angel, "How can this happen? I am not married!"  The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God's power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God.          Gabriel told Mary to not be afraid and that the Holy Spirit and God’s power would come over her and her son would be called Jesus, the Son of God Most High.(Luke 1:27-35)  Gabriel appeared to Mary and made his announcement  and disappeared.  Gabriel appeared to Zachariah, made his announcement about John the Baptist and disappeared.

The Gabriel who is said to have appeared to Mohammed behaved differently than the Biblical Gabriel.  One time when Mohammed was going up the mountain Gabriel appeared in human form on the horizon and when Mohammed looked away yet Gabriel appeared in his vision.  Anywhere he looked  Gabriel was there.  Gabriel stayed around and taught Mohammed to pray the five prayers with ablutions and prostrations as well as the prayers.   One other issue can be asked.  Did  this Gabriel not know that man was not created of blood coagulated?     The original story is “the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.”(Gen. 2:7GNB)    Surely this Gabriel should have known how it happened!  How can Gabriel tell Mary that her virgin born son is the holy Son of God?  Then later Muslims claim that Jesus is not the Son of God?

This  leads one to raise the question:  who was the Gabriel that appeared to Mohammed?    Is it possible to see the words of Paul in understanding that “Gabriel” who appeared to Mohammed.
         
“Anyway, they are no more than false apostles and dishonest workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ.
 And it is no wonder. Even Satan tries to make himself look like an angel of light.  So why does it seem strange for Satan's servants to pretend to do what is right? Someday they will get exactly what they deserve.”  (2 Cor .11:13-15)

If we think of these words we could see issues in Islam that reflect motives of Satan.  For example,  take a look at the temptation of Jesus:  “Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power.   The devil said to him, "I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus answered, "Go away Satan! The Scriptures say: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.' " (Matt. 4:8-10)

If we can think of Satan disguising himself as  Gabriel then the ritualism of  bowing and praying  (worshipping) is what Satan wants and gets.  Prayer becomes a ritual of repeating words and bowing to who?  Not Yahweh.   The devil used force in dealing with Mohammed.  This force is seen also in the threat to people if they want to leave Islam.  If there was freedom in Islam, huge numbers would leave.  Only the threat on their lives keeps them in Islam.

Consider the words of Jesus to the Pharisees:   “Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies” (John 8:44)

So we have a Gabriel that speaks about the Son of God being born of the Virgin Mary, and there is a Gabriel who speaks to Mohammed who denies that the Son of God in Jesus and  who was merely a prophet.    Which one will we trust?

In Jesus we have a person who did great miracles like raising the dead, healing the blind,  healing the lepers,  walking on water,  calming the storm on the sea of Galilee,  healing the sick, and many other issues.  Only God can do those miracles.
Jesus encountered a group of people who accused him of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God.

 “So why do you accuse me of a terrible sin for saying that I am the Son of God? After all, it is the Father who prepared me for this work. He is also the one who sent me into the world.   If I don't do as my Father does, you should not believe me.  But if I do what my Father does, you should believe because of that, even if you don't have faith in me. Then you will know for certain that the Father is one with me, and I am one with the Father.”(John 10:36-38)

The implications of Mohammed being lead by a false Gabriel  are many. Mohammed was able to introduce many features that the vindictive Satan wanted against good laws.    Mary was the means of the incarnation of the Son of God. This became the ultimate downfall of Satan.
Mary was the human means  which reversed all the sad things associated with Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Jesus restored the position of women.  He did not abuse them.  We read about women who followed Jesus:    “Soon after this, Jesus was going through towns and villages, telling the good news about God's kingdom. His twelve apostles were with him, and so were some women who had been healed of evil spirits and all sorts of diseases. One of the women was Mary Magdalene, who once had seven demons in her.  Joanna, Susanna, and many others had also used what they owned to help Jesus and his disciples. Joanna's husband Chuza was one of Herod's officials.” (Luke 8:1-3)

This is interesting because  Rabbis in those days refused to teach women, and always regarded them as inferior, but not Jesus.  Moreover, the enemies of Jesus were mostly men.  The Christian gospel created an equality between men and women.  Paul wrote:  Gal 3:28  “Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman.”  (gal.3:28)  

   The  abuse of women in Islam comes from the  model of Mohammed in his relation to women.   A man could have four wives but Mohammed had any woman he wanted as a wife but he also had sex slaves. He married a 6 year old girl,  Aisha, and had sex with her when she was nine.  This model has been defended by Muslims since then and old men marrying young girls is practiced in Muslim countries. In fact it is difficult to have laws passed against this in Muslim countries. Moreover,  slavery of people, whether black or white, is still affirmed by Muslims.

Women have no security in Islam.  They can be divorced by the husband  repeating three times,  I divorce you.(Jesus rejected divorce except for adultery)   Women do not like polygamy but they have no power to stop it.  (Marriage is one man and one woman for as long as they live)

The Qur’an allows for beating a wife if she is not obedient, particularly regarding sexual relations.  (the Gospel requires a  man to love his wife as he loves himself.)
The Muslim attitude toward women is degrading.  The practice of female genital cutting  is an insult to Yahweh who created and designed the female body.  Cutting the body was forbidden in the Old Testament because it was done in pagan worship of idols, and it seems to be continued in Islam as a rite of obedience to Satan.   Moreover, what does it do to the woman’s self image?

Women are raped and men are rarely convicted because 4 witnesses are required to prove she was raped. If a woman shows up pregnant to file a police report but does not have four witnesses she is often jailed,  charged with promiscuity and often stoned.  What are the odds of finding 4 men who see it happen  and moreover,  4 men who would testify against a fellow man?   The position of men is higher than women who have little power in self-defense in anything.

Muslims do not want to be convicted of rape.   Leaders of Islam have made it harder to convict rapists by saying that  medical examinations and sperm tests which would verify the rapist are  unIslamic. It would appear that the imams would not want to capture a rapist because he is a man,  and they do not want to support or help a woman because she is a woman.   So women are not important, except for sex.

It is not kosher to make judgements about religion in this day of  multi-culturalism.  The real issue in life is to search for the real truth.  A person does not support relativism when it involves a difference of opinion about a check book issue with the bank,  or a person who has been imprisoned falsely.  But the words of Moses and Jesus relate to truth and truth is still important.   Therefore,   Chose Life.
Islam does not give you life.  You cannot earn it.  You never know until judgement day.  Even then  the goal of life in paradise is a man’s life more like a brothel then anything else.  Mohammed had a vision of Hell and it was populated mostly by women.  

The words of Jesus is that Islam is a false religion.  The appearance of Jesus in  dreams and visions to Muslims verifies also the  falseness of Islam.   Life is found only in Jesus the  Son of God.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6)     Know that the most amazing event in history took place in Jesus.  The Infinite, Eternal, Creator    entered into our world showing his love and seeking us to know his love, his forgiveness, and his gift of everlasting life.   How foolish to ignore and reject such a wonderful offer from the Creator of all things.

  One has to ask  Jesus, the Son of God to come into  One’s heart and life and have your sins forgiven.   When you ask Jesus into your life as your Savior, you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who abides in you and influences your personality,  your growth in understanding Yahweh and yourself.   Do not allow  Satan to control your life with rituals that are useless. Seek the presence and peace of Jesus in your life.

Feb.2.2018